Id venture a guess and say thats' 95% of it! Gonna run some fresh gas with Berrymans B-12 through the pump tomorrow and replace the inline filter. Should b a remarkable improvement! Then while waiting for the tank is a new T stat, new temp gage, and some Right Stuff for the valve cover gaskets. Its been recommended to glue the gaskets to the covers and let sit flat for a day. Input?? ws
I use the right stuff as well. I let it sit for an hour or so myself. I feel I still want it "squishy" so it conforms when I tighten down the valve covers or whatever I'm working on. Seems like it'll be too set up after a day to have any give to me. And yes, only on the valve cover itself unless the heads are pitted or gauged.
I was just figgerin' on letting the VC's sit on a flat board overnight to simulate the ridge on the cylinder head; maybe a weight on top. I really wanna get a heads up on these leaks before it turns into a chronic mess. Its sooo clean right now! Is that stuff set up enough after an hour to not make a mess putting the gaskets into the notches? ws
It gets a skin on it after an hour or so, but the inside is still gooey. If you smear a little, it comes off painted or bare metal with a rag. It does NOT come off your fingers nearly as easily. I have permanent Right Stuff stains on my hands.
Hmmm... "May stain fingers..." Sounds like a health class in high school warning! Reminds me of........... nevermind. ws
Hey Bill, That's surprising how quiet your car is. Usually dumps really echo a lot. I personally don't care for headers at least on a street car. I don't think they add that much for regular driving for the amount of trouble they are. I had some on a '72 Chevy pick up and they were always needing tightened, or burning plug wires, or overheating the starter. Took them off and put manifolds back on. I was much happier. I don't think either of the tanks you showed are Spectra Premium brand. It doesn't mean they aren't good. I got a Spectra Premium from The Parts Place for $199 with free shipping. I thought about getting one of those other ones, and save a few bucks, but by the time they add shipping it was almost as much. Wow, the sending unit is really gummed up! Should make a big difference getting that where it will flow again. Bummer on the master cylinder. Is it under warranty? Even so, it still sucks with the mess it makes and the work to change it out. Keep at it, you'll get there!
I hafta confess that building a job like this on a tight budget is akin to "cheaping" out. I had what I thought was enough $$$ budgeted, but thats been well surpassed. There IS light at the end of the tunnel though! If you recall, last year Pat and I spent a good portion of the summer and the fall looking for the right project. That went to pot and finally found this guy around early December. We were off to the races! Being probably my last hurrah, and having been out of any of this stuff for 30+ years, I am floored at the cost of doing business. Even tho I have received massive support from a few people, used stuff has evaporated and what is left is pretty "tired" unless its NOS and gold plated. Its a late life lesson in economics, and the thesis is "Inflation". Thats where the patina part plays a role. Since I do my own stuff including painting, the COM (cost of materials) is the only hold back, much to my chagrin. Right now Im a tired salmon swimming upstream to spawn and finish the life cycle. Sounds bad, but we are ALL faced with that. I get emails from the garage guys... LOL... Sure, a 10K floor paint job to park the collection on with a nice 8 foot pool table and stocked bar with a big screen TV and a scenic overlook in the mountains would be great, but I am a realest. We have a modest 400 sq. foot house in a hick town overlooking Lake Michigan. We live within our means. Hell, doing this job and supporting the other toys, we always have food on the table and gas in the cars. Dont drink much or gamble, and surely dont have a meth habit... HA-HA. Sorry, I am up at 0300 with killer leg and foot cramps for the 3rd night in a row, and Im like a fresh asshole, totally wiped! This goes on and yet I still muster steam for the grade. We all play the hand we are dealt. Please forgive the digressive rant! YEP, I am surprised how quiet the car is too. Even lousy sounding open manifolds, it was almost tolerable. Must be the RHOADS LIFTERS. Now with pipes and mufflers, its a pleasure to drive (kinda, so far even with bad gas), but that go pedal is down there and I can feel the weak spring on it. Bertha wants to take off and it all "feels right" beyond that. After this whole job and running the way it is now, I am actually excited about a lousy new fuel tank. Can you imagine that??? This thing is soo simple compared to the 72 XGS that I can actually imagine the gears turning instead of relays clicking and 50 bolts to change a power steering belt. Thats where the industry was headed in the late 70's when I lost interest. It all got "complicated". So being the cheap bastard I am. I went with a crack auto master cylinder. NEW, not a recon. Spend it now, right? That one would not pump oil. The WOK got hot and became brittle, so I got a replacement NEW one that works well but leaks. Dont makee stir fry with ice pic Fun Tung. Thats all DURALAST stuff which I am now trying to AVOID. Im switching back to name brand vendors like carquest and (YUK napa no-how) but at least theres a chance with Cardone stuff. What I dont get is what is so freaking hard about putting an O ring in something and not having it leak? Thats where the industry stands right now and thats my take on it. Like the paragraphs and the grammar so far? I didnt do well in English class in High School. Had a hotty teacher that spent a whole year having us digest "Lord of the Flies". That still sucks to this day, and has affected my thought process(ing). I'd rather read Shakespeare! HA! I learned to read in Catholic grade school thank you! OK, OK... Im feeling better now. Thanks for the kick panel vent LOL. Last night I ordered a new sender for the tank. Like I'm gonna struggle for 1-2 days trying to clean the varnish and crap off mine and "maybe" the gage sender will work?? Heck, for 32.00 a new 3/8: stainless unit delivered to my door is money well spent; just had to "fit it in the budget" again. GD money! So at least Ill have a new gas WOK and a new LEOSTAT to makkee lights go dimm-sum chop chop, savvy? Actually, the sender is supposed to be a USA made part. Hope so, maybe USA made parts assembled in a western Pacific rim nation and known to cause cancer in california. Gimme some friggin' 103 octane gas for my 2 stroke CHAIN SAW and Ill show them fuggers how to de-green the place and kill all the critters while Im in there. Grrr. Maybe I can get the McCollough saw to run on that old gas Ive got and really make them choke. https://www.ebay.com/itm/311663640891 So today, Pat and I are off to the races. She's leasing a vehicle, and I use that term loosely from a dodge dealer (Enterprise rental) for her caravan to Florida for a week. Four extra bodies in her vehicle and she's meeting her daughter #3 with another 6 humans in her van in Tennessee and continuing south to Tampa for a week. Her nice new Impala doesnt need "IMPALA-ING" with diaper residue and chocolate smeared on the windows. Some inside out SUV thing. YOU GO GIRL! Ill stay home and watch the dogs! So one of these times Im gonna break down and really tell you guys how I feel. You all have Carte Blanche to ad thoughts and wisdom to this. My 0300 coffee is now cold at 0430. Just right for sluggin' down a handful of pills; YUMM! Wild Willy
You're doing good, Bill. Yeah, crappy new parts are unfortunately just the way it is now. I'd say 10% of the stuff I get doesn't work like it should, leaks, or doesn't fit right. If you're working on something from the early 2000s on, you're generally fine. Just like back in the 70s I'm sure the stuff you got from NAPA for your Model A didn't fit or function quite right, either. Just a time/space/continuum thing......Sucks to your assmar! (Poor, poor Piggie....that's the only thing I remember from that book, and still use the term today.)
Kill the pig; cut her throat, spill her blood... Im glad its not just me Luke. That patent free china knock off junk is getting to me. Thanks Geoff. She's spazzing out and I cant blame her. Her offspring put the fun in dysfunctional. Are you guys back home yet? Get wrenchin'! ws
Wow. Last Thursday. Time sure flies... Tank and sender AND an original owners manual for the mystery seat belts should be here early this week. Meanwhile, got a new T stat in, new VDO temp gage (mech) from the injuns instead of he PROC gulag, along with the heater box installed, cleaned and painted the OEM big car air cleaner, changed and bled the THIRD chinaman master cylinder, and tomorrow gonna run a new fuel line with some chinaman tubing and give the tank vent a blow job I'm sure. Already cleaned and sucked on the gas cap to prove "action". I had to make Bertha two promises; Ill call her tomorrow and I wont c.............. ws
So the new chinatank arrived today. Three days early, and of course, the neck was cracked at the joint. So I call Long Dong in Lebanon.Oh and they were closed by 10 minutes. I see where this is going, do you?? I also send an email with some pics and got a virtual reply with an IMMEDIATE REFUND IN FULL and I keep the tank. I even got a reply from a sales guy apologizing. So its a shatty solder job at best. I got a tank from rot-auto for the B turd last year and it was a twin to this; box and all. So the tank was 72.00 with free shipping and I get to solder some greezy chinese steel (truthfully some alloy unknown in the western hemisphere). Probably has an old caddy seat springs and some rusty steel wheels tossed in the crucible at the gulag for good measure, "just in case". I cant win, but at least I place hahaha... ws
It's probably good it came out of the box broken, buddy. Looks like it would've lasted about a week after you put it in and would've broke anyway. At least you can fix it when its nice, clean, and dry before installing.....Sunny side up!
Bill: I know how you feel. Things haven't been so good for me lately, but I'm still on the upside of the grass. UticaGeoff
Glad to see Im not the only one struggling with issues Geoff... And I know whatchertalkinbout! It'll be winter before you know it. Pack the GS up on a trailer and work on it in the sunshine next January! Yeah Luke... just like a fried egg LOL... Im gonna fool Fun Tung tho... I have a new sender coming, so its all going together with 5 psi of air on it with the soap water trick. Just like in the gulag; when yer time is up, you back up to the door, and BANG! A single bullet to the back of the head. No appeals. I AINT TAKIN' NO PRISONERS THIS TIME! Im thinking about a silver solder job. Comments? Thoughts?? ws
Without knowing the alloy, I have no guesses as to what would be best. Looks like JB weld would be an improvement!
Make sure to test fit so you know the filler neck is exactly where you want it before you solder it solid.
Ah ha! So now a lesson in gulag engineering... so Wun Tung sculpts a die out of quarried stone with a rock and a harbor fright screwdriver reject, and a team of 20 convicts drag it with a rag rope up to the stamping plant. Long Fun gleases up the dies with water buffalo renderings (this tank is already gLeezy). The next twenty cons in the raising gang pull the stone upper die up a hundred feet over a log roller pulley, and the guard comes along with his ginzu knife and slashes the rags. The die falls and the tank is formed. Its "close enough". The next step is to "weld seamlessly" the two halves together. Jimmy wong gets on treadmill to spin a blower to get the bamboo charcoal up to welding temperature. Twin brothers ming and ling grab some "hammers" (rocks on a stick) and field weld the two halves together. Vang gets the talented part of the job; soldering the neck on. The solder of course, is made from the slag off the top of the crucible. Wastee not, wantee not. He also cooks the days ration of rice and bean sprouts while waiting for the crucible to get hot. Great work if you can get it. He blushes some kind of FRUX (probably some china knock off toilet bowl cleaner with acid) to clean the parts before tinning. Actually doesnt even look tinned; just dabbed on at the joint with a knotted string line to measure from. Velly velly good... Kolea Locket fuel tanks are next. We drop big bomb on japan and makee boom boom. So with the western advantage of clean solder, good flux and a propane torch PLUS some training in the past, Im wondering if I can duplicate the accuracy and quality of gulag gas tank and rocket parts company, or maybe a cold clean JB weld job might actually be better. Degreased and ruffed up with some #80 emery of course. I would do that in place. Dereks point is well taken, but, a temp joint, cool it, install it, check for fit, and then remove to finish the joint seems like a lot. Since its empty/clean, maybe install it and zip it into position with the MIG and then pull it out and seal weld it. Thoughts? Criticism from the 'spurts? Now ya need to understand my upbringing. When my grandfather died, I was a kid. My folks went to the services and I got shoved over to my best friends house. Since his dad (a die hard Irish Catholic with 9 kids) thought we should all be in mourning, we were ordered to keep calm and sober. A few of the older brothers were wrestling and yelling and in walks BURT the RED. LINE UP! His belt was off and he got us all with it and was putting it back through the belt loops in one smooth move. Never again seen nothing like it. The girls were there too! If two were guilty yer all getting it. Just because you should know better anyways. They all kept each other in line. I wish Burt was still around to belt 5 billion fish heads. Thats a real story BTW. ws So lets vote: Polls close tomorrow at 1000hrs. (Thats 10 a.m. CST.) 1. Cold patch with JB weld 2. Solder with 60/40 3. Silver solder 4. Braze 5. MIG it I dont wanna be able to blame ANYONE on this.
