Thanks for all the compliments! Finally got paid today, so I ordered a new front seat cover and padding that should be here in a week or two. Best price I could find was Jegs, although I hate when they do because I have had a lot of problems with them, so we'll see how it goes this time. It's hard to find these pieces browsing, but if you type in the part number it shows up 70USS10B and BUN6870AB and has free shipping even though EVERYONE ELSE charges extra for oversize on the cushion. Year 1 charges $180 more for the exact same thing... Anyone have tips for installing new foam and covers?
Seat bun (foam) and seat covers finally got here today. Going to try installing tonight! Also got new lifters in the mail, AC Delco fuel pump, and mailed off the Quadrajet to Mark at Quadrajet Power to get refreshed. I'm halfway done installing new lifters and valve covers, and spent time restoring the intake manifold and accessories. Looks great so far! Hope to fire her back up in about 2-3 weeks when the carb gets back!
Are u close to Little Rock? I would if you were! Took one back off and found three broken springs. Wondering if I should weld them back together or ??? Then ran out of steam for the night (getting over sickness).
So yeah the original Stage 1 fuel pump was leaking oil thru a hole on the side of the pump. When I removed the pump oil poured out of this hole when I tipped it sideways too, so definitely needed to come out. Sucky part is the new AC Delco replacement you can tell isn't made quite as nicely, but it'll work. While it's out I am also replacing the steering box with a quick ratio. The stock one was 3.25 turns lock to lock...not too terrible. We'll see if the new one is the 2.5 its supposed to be. If not I'll just have the stock one rebuilt and made into a quick turn box. Bout half way done doing that right now. Ordered new roof rail weatherstrip from the parts place as the original is cracked and dry rotted. Hope to get the seats finished next week. Carb is in Texas getting rebuilt, and hope to finish the lifter swap today too. I also want to get the stock rally gauges back to working again along with the old SW aftermarket ones. Will have to get the plug out of the one side of the intake to do that and a splitter on the oil port...
Finished installing the new steering box and it is in fact 2.5 turns lock to lock as advertised, thank God! I'm going to hang onto the original one and return my old Skylark box for the $45 core. I'm also restoring the power steering pump and brackets while they're disconnected and apart for the steering box. I ordered some new power steering hoses as the old ones were dry rotted. Put the new fuel pump in and a new pre-filter as well. Here's how it sits currently.
Got the new roof rail weatherstrip in the mail this week, finally getting around to R squaring it. Little bit of surface rust up in the channel so took some steel wool to it and just sprayed with rust reformer and will top coat tomorrow, after its dried and then install the new stuff after. I wonder, do you need to use weatherstrip glue on the new stuff at all or is it a nice tight fit? This is the good stuff from The Parts Place. It looks pretty darn legit to me, almost identical to the original stuff on there. Also, do you have to take off the pillar panel to install correctly?
I'd probably use some 3M black weatherstrip adhesive on it. maybe a thin bead on the backside just to tack it in place. What brand roof rail weatherstripping was it? Does it have a molded bend in it where the windshield pillar meets the roof? My weatherstripping doesn't look quite as bad as yours but its getting there. Im interested in seeing what it looks like installed. If you could, take a couple pics of the finished install for us. Especially what it looks like with the windows rolled up
It's sold by The Parts Place and yes it does have the molded bend in it at the proper spot. This weatherstrip was rated on this forum as the best aftermarket one offered. It's a little pricier but so far looks exact. Here's a link http://www.ebay.com/itm/69-72-GM-Body-Roof-Rail-Latex-Style-Weatherstrips-Pair-9823126-3823127-/331107827454?vxp=mtr&hash=item4d17907efe So the paint is drying overnight and will install the weatherstrip tomorrow and will get pics. I pulled the passenger side exhaust manifold off and broke just one bolt at the rear cylinder. It had a bad exhaust leak so it won't be any worse than it was. This bolt is not accessible with a drill with the engine in so I'll leave it as is for now. Ill repair it whenever the engine comes out. I bought a set of stainless manifold bolts from Year One and the two longest bolts were too short so that was kinda a waste. I cleaned up and painted the manifold and chased all the threads and reassembled with lots of copper anti seize. Hopefully it won't leak anymore. At the very least, it will come apart next time much much easier, which is always my goal. I also got new power steering hoses in and installed those as well. Hopefully tomorrow I can also put the new lifters on the passenger side of the engine. I keep putting it off for all these other small projects.
Well, at a stopping point until the carburetor gets back engine wise. New lifters all in, intake back on, all new hoses and more. Looks great! These red valve covers are only temporary. Need to pick up some weatherstrip adhesive and hopefully this week the seats will be done. I hope to God the new lifters help with the bleed down they were doing before...otherwise the engine comes right back apart and out for a rebuild.
It lives! I needed to be able to move the car so I buttoned it all up and threw my other Quadrajet on it. After a few cranks she fired up. Fixed a few leaks here and there and it runs smooth as silk. New 180 degree thermostat is spot on and oil pressure is at 20-25 psi at hot idle. Haven't driven it yet as it has no front seat until Monday, but so far I'm very happy how it sounds and runs thus far. Also installed the roof rail weatherstrip on the driver side, wonderful fit! But now it looks like the quarter window seal might need to be replaced as there is a little bit of a gap there with the window up all the way. Very happy with that weatherstrip though. Here's a few pictures of how it sits right now.
Andy, Did you go with the TA212 Camshaft? I may have missed the response with that. Great job in getting it running! She is looking better every day. Ron
Man, I wish! That'll be what it gets if I have to rebuild it! I just did new lifters and manifold gaskets to see if they were the reason for the oil pressure bleed down and ticking it was doing at sustained 3000 rpm driving. Lifters were cheap, $30 for a set of new ones. It had an exhaust leak on one side too that made it hard to hear and identify the ticking but now that's gone it'll be easier to hear things.
Took it for a spin, the tapping is gone but I still don't like the oil pressure. It gets up to 40-45 at 3000 rpm but only while decelerating. Otherwise cruising it sits about 30 psi and drops lower to about 25 while accelerating. I wonder if a TA adjustable oil pressure setup would help. It's worth a try. I'm also going to step up oil viscosity to 20w-50 which I normally wouldn't do but I think those two things combined will bring me up to the magic 10 psi per 1000 rpm I like to shoot for. The Quadrajet I put on it is a worked/rebuilt '76/800 cfm carb. Man it's like driving a different car than what was on it...scoots much more like a BBB should!!
Andy, you can try a few small washers in the plug to shim the oil pressure spring just to see if you get more pressure its worth a shot! Is the spring new? Did you do anything with the pump? I didn't read all responses. Ron
The TA assembled timing cover did wonders for my oil pressure. I actually had to install a 40 lb relief spring to tone down the pressure to 60 psi
Got the front bench back from the upholstery shop today, looking good. I'm going to use studs to hold the seat down instead of bolts, should make it easier to get in and lined up. Forgot to order the oil pressure adjuster from TA PERFORMANCE so hopefully I will remember tomorrow.
TA Performance adjustable oil pressure setup did not help. Engine still drops oil pressure at higher rpms and when under acceleration. Adjusting pressure higher only made the oil pressure go up when decelerating in gear. It still settles at about 35 psi at 2500-3000 rpm and does not rise from there with rpm. It drops to 30 under acceleration and on deceleration at higher rpm, it will go up to 50-55 psi. So, I ordered a 5/8" oil pick up, and will be dropping the oil pan to inspect. Maybe there's sludge in there (unlikely) or the screen on the pick up tube is partially clogged or tube is cracked or gasket leaking. If it's fine, it'll at least get upgraded to 5/8" anyway, and I will be able to pop off rod and main bearing caps and see if the worst case scenario is true or not. I have one extra brand new rod bearing to measure clearances with to see if crank is too far gone to be able to just throw new bearings in. This will be the final tell-all, once that pan drops I will either find and fix the problem, or the engine will be getting yanked and rebuilt. Which rods and mains are typically the first to go? Outside of the oil pressure issue, I have put new door and roof rail weatherstrip on the car and got new kick panels as the old ones had all bad cables and 4 new cables were $120 vs new panels with new cables were only $20 more ($140). The car is looking so much nicer now all around and I told my wife to watch out now because a young hot thing at the gas station down the road made a pass at me after commenting on the car and invited me to an upcoming local car show in April. Good to see the old muscle cars are still panty droppers hahaha
Andy, If you drop the pan check rods 7 +8 and 3 + 5 on the mains. the oil pressure at the rear of the motor will be lower than at the timing cover. Is the rear main seal leaking? If not the #5 main bearing could be fine. Does the motor knock on start up after sitting over night until the oil pressure comes up? The timing cover maybe no good! Did you switch to 20w-50 motor oil? Ron
