Big redo of the old bucket

[PotvinGuy]

IT'S ALIVE!! Well, sorta. It runs at 5000 rpm. Dies below that. Turned out that fuel was not the problem; the timing was way off, so far that the spark and the fuel never met. Which leads to rant #2: stabbing the distributor. I'd like to stab the guy who designed this mess. You have to ensure the rotor is pointing at the correct cylinder, but the rotor turns as the distributor is inserted, since it's helical gear has to mesh with the drive gear on the camshaft, and the tang at the bottom has to engage the oil pump drive, too. So you stick a long screwdriver in the dark hole and tweak the oil pump shaft ever so slightly and try again. Repeat until it is fully seated and then struggle to install the hold-down and nut, which is crammed under the distributor. Why not a spring-loaded tang that will snap into the oil pump when it moves? I know the answer; this is an ancient motor and no one is gonna make new designs for it. Modern motors don't even have distributors.

Anyway, I have a MAP problem now. It reads -100 psi, which is not only wrong, but impossible. Wired wrong or bad sensor...I'll dig into it tomorrow.

 

[grazza]

Don't you just love messing with old cars?

 

[PotvinGuy]

Don't you just love messing with old cars?

It's my second favorite thing...right behind crawling naked thru 50 yards of burning gasoline and broken glass.

 

[2old2fast]

There's no need to line up the oil pump when installing the dist. , just drop it in slightly CCW of where you want it , then spin the engine over while holding slight pressure on the dist. , it'll drop right in !!
dave

 

[PotvinGuy]

MAP sensor is apparently bad. Output should be about 5 volts with motor not running, but mine reads zero. Found a new one on eBay for $44. I'll work on interior for a few days until it comes.

There's no need to line up the oil pump when installing the dist. , just drop it in slightly CCW of where you want it , then spin the engine over while holding slight pressure on the dist. , it'll drop right in !!
dave

Well, that seems too clever. And I could slip the hold-down and nut in place before the drop. Thanks, Dave!

 

[PotvinGuy]

Correction: a 2-bar MAP sensor will output about 2.5 volts with motor not running. Mine is still bad.

 

[grazza]

Just keep thinking about the fun you will ultimately end up having.


Right after you throw the match into the gasoline trench.........................
All the troubles will simply melt away ..................... as you reach the end of the trench and enter the broken glass phase of the game.
And think of the feeling as you scoot down the road and some random on the side of the road yells, "Hey Buddy, nice ride".

 

[blyndgesser]

I'm just hoping that the fire and the broken glass aren't due to a wrecked bucket. . .

 

[RPM]

IT'S ALIVE!! Well, sorta. It runs at 5000 rpm. Dies below that. Turned out that fuel was not the problem; the timing was way off, so far that the spark and the fuel never met. Which leads to rant #2: stabbing the distributor. I'd like to stab the guy who designed this mess. You have to ensure the rotor is pointing at the correct cylinder, but the rotor turns as the distributor is inserted, since it's helical gear has to mesh with the drive gear on the camshaft, and the tang at the bottom has to engage the oil pump drive, too. So you stick a long screwdriver in the dark hole and tweak the oil pump shaft ever so slightly and try again. Repeat until it is fully seated and then struggle to install the hold-down and nut, which is crammed under the distributor. Why not a spring-loaded tang that will snap into the oil pump when it moves? I know the answer; this is an ancient motor and no one is gonna make new designs for it. Modern motors don't even have distributors.

Anyway, I have a MAP problem now. It reads -100 psi, which is not only wrong, but impossible. Wired wrong or bad sensor...I'll dig into it tomorrow.

The very best Dist I ever worked with was an old Accel BEI. They came out about 1972. You simply drop the dist in, spun the engine over till the oil pump engaged. Then brought the engine to 15 BTDC and then took off the rotor button, loosened the screw under it and turned the rotor to point to #1. Tighten the set screw put the rotor back on and fire it up. Very easy to spot the engine, and fire it.

 

[PotvinGuy]

The very best Dist I ever worked with was an old Accel BEI. They came out about 1972. You simply drop the dist in, spun the engine over till the oil pump engaged. Then brought the engine to 15 BTDC and then took off the rotor button, loosened the screw under it and turned the rotor to point to #1. Tighten the set screw put the rotor back on and fire it up. Very easy to spot the engine, and fire it.

Now that makes perfect sense! I haven't seen anything like that. The secret society that runs the world figured it was too good for the unwashed masses.

 

[PotvinGuy]

Ordered a FAST EZ-EFI today. The Haltech, spawn of Satan, has drawn it's last breath. Stay tuned.

 

[PotvinGuy]

OK, who's gonna help me hook it up?

 

[RocknT]

Well it does say ""EZ-EFI "" LOL

 

[PotvinGuy]

There, isn't that better:

Had to strip out half of the harness wires to connect to existing wiring in the frame. Tomorrow is the big day.

 

[PotvinGuy]

Wow. Engine fired and ran fine with the EZ-EFI. It really does work.

I had to shut it off before I got very far in the fine tuning for a water leak apparently related to the reworked plumbing I tried, but will fix that this week. Then will post a video.

 

[madmike8]

Congrats!

 

[Ted Brown]

Looking a lot cleaner, Very nice work

 

[PotvinGuy]

Looking a lot cleaner, Very nice work

Thanks, Ted, nothing better than the praise of your peers, especially a pro (well, a weekend with Michelle Pfeiffer would be an acceptable alternative).

I've just scatter-wired under the dash for the summer, since I plan to rewire the car this winter and move all that stuff behind the seats.

The silver trim around the cockpit turned out OK. Amazing what a little Bondo and paint can do. Note how it wraps the dash.

Have a black suede Budnik steering wheel waiting until all the dirty work is done.

 

[PotvinGuy]

Found another little water leak where the Potvin adapter bolts to the block (the water ports are integral to the adapter), so had to pull the blower again. This time it's personal. I scoured the mating surfaces until a NASA clean room tech would be envious:

Then handmade a gasket, not trusting anything from a catalog after getting several poorly-fitting parts (jeez, how hard can it be to make parts for a Gen I SBC; they've only built 100 million copies of it):

The gasket is glued and taped in place. Tonight I'll hang it back on the motor with more glue and some nice SS button head Allen screws I found at Ace for only 60 cents each. Then fill with water, burp it, and just maybe get lucky.

 

[PotvinGuy]

Quick update. It leaked again, in the vicinity of the third water hole (the one on the right intended for bypass in some applications) so I pulled the blower and pan again. This is a new problem and I'm not sure what is going on. I've cleaned the surfaces and plugged the third hole. New gaskets should be here tomorrow. And I got a set of Allen wrench adapters so I can torque the fasteners to recommended values (30 ft-lbs for water outlet bolts and 8 ft-lbs for timing cover bolts).

Also picked up a Fuelabs 52901 electronic fuel pressure regulator and 41401 pump. These work together to control pump speed and fuel pressure. Always looking for new technology.