Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks JJ.

I just found THIS link and it looks promising too:

http://www.everyday-performance.com/index.htm

[tmoble]

if you want a nice Q-jet that doesn't break the bank look at this:

https://www.smicarburetor.com/produc...2/productID/18

This is Sean Murphy, many guys have reported excellent results with Sean's carbs. Call them and ask about a carb for a 283.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks. Pretty much the same price as the Everyday Performance link I posted above. $350 isn't cheap on my budget so I've gotta count my pennies.

I did find a local guy selling a Quadrajet off a '72 Nova that had a 350 - but of course I don't know if that's the original engine OR the original carb and at only $20 this QJet may be in pretty bad shape. But I'll go look at it just in case. Maybe it's just been sitting for years (decades? Lol) and he doesn't know what it's worth.

[tmoble]

you want one with an integral choke. No 72 Q had that. check my post #915

[Dan in Pasadena]

Pulled my Holley out today and it had a code of "List 1850-3", then the date code of "3261"

The internet is (sometimes) a wonderful thing and this told me it's a 600 cfm vacuum secondary, manual choke carb made in December, 1971 most likely.

Since I've been spending money like a drunken sailor (apologies to any drunken sailors on the board!) I decided to rebuild my existing carburetor since it seems to be sized right for my little 283... Well actually my brother-in-law will do the rebuilding since he's done it several times on the dual Holleys on his boat.

A trip to Pep Boys for a gallon of carburetor cleaner - is it even strong enough anymore?
And I found a couple guys at Blair's Speed Shop here in Pasadena working on an engine in the shop even though the shop was closed. For a few bucks more than Jegs (and no wait) I got a new kit from him and I'm dropping off the carb tonight.

I also decided to complete a little improvement I'd started months ago (EEK!). Stripping the coating on the lip of my old school knock-off Torq Thrusts so I can polish them. I bought a quart of epoxy paint stripper and it came off surprisingly faster than my previous (dangerous) try which was jacking up the truck while running in gear and using sandpaper!

[tmoble]

>>> "...which was jacking up the truck while running in gear and using sandpaper!"

What could possibly go wrong?

Ask the B-I-L if he has any way to surface the front face of the main body. Many of these carbs have been gorilla'd on the bowl screws. This pulls the corners of the main body up, causing a deal where the screws tighten up but the gasket is not properly compressed around the PV chamber. This causes rich idle and transition problems that can't be tuned out normally. Hit the front face with a big sharp flat file to see the problem.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Funny, we were literally JUST talking about that very thing. (I JUST got home from his house where I dropped off the carb and we had dinner together) He was saying if it's a few thousandths bowed it can be "surfaced" with some 320 wet/dry sandpaper stuck to a piece of glass to be very flat. Sounds iffy to me but he claims he's done it successfully before. I guess it depends how much it's out of whack.

[tmoble]

Dan, I used to work with a guy who did a lot of Holleys, he made a mill fixture that held two main bodies, did them two at a time. Thousands have been done. we used to tske off .010 by default, very few didn't clean up at .010. We did the front, back and bottom of the main bodies. It was a very successful deal, used it from the late 70's till now. We did this with brand new carbs, they typically had low spots around the PV chamber out of the box due to some issue with die casting of zinc or pot metal. The stuff shrinks more in cooling where it's thick, leading to the issue with the sunken PV chambers. I don't have a mill, I use a 16" mill b@stard file which I carefully protect to keep other tools from dulling the teeth.

[Dan in Pasadena]

While I'm waiting on my carb and just blabbing here:

Does anyone think I HAVE TO remove my intake manifold to clean it with mag wheel etch type cleaner?

I was thinking to just mask my finned valve covers & distributer, plug the intake with a rag, and spritz, then wipe with wet old rags and dry.

[dubie]

Hey Dan, I thought of you when I saw the pictures of this today

[dubie]

Profile

[Dan in Pasadena]

Wow Tim, thanks! I especially like that profile picture because if I'm unable to use my Torq Thrusts with the IFS kit I bought, the likely back up will be original Rally's lime these or possibly with early dog dish hubcaps.

I've also considered keeping my truck in a light green; though likely not a metallic. I rally do like the look of this truck. The almond color roof sets it off nicely. That's a GMC grill on this truck, isn't it?

The green colors I've found that I like best so far are these:



I like both colors on the hi boy. Not sure if I'd use the wheel color, the body color or both.
The VW color is called Iceland Green I'm told from 1954-55 so exactly era correct.

[dubie]

Nice color, and the truck is wearing a Chevrolet grill

[Dan in Pasadena]

Dubie's what's with the signals? He closed them off and put I the small rectangular ones? I guess that threw me off. Still like the truck though.

Thanks on the colors. Not certain I'll use green but I'm leaning that way more and more.

[tmoble]

Here's the green that sort of got me started on my trk after all these years (decades I guess. owned since 1983?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Ha ha, tmoble, those photos are MY photos fom the Brothers meet out here year before last! I'm pretty sure Fabguy here knows the owner pretty well. That is a BEEOOOTIFUL truck too.

I'd thought of going into the sea foam/turquoise range and I REALLY like it but I worry I'd get tired of it faster than some other colors. I feel the same way about a yellow bordering on a school bus yellow. I truly like trucks in that color, especially '56 F100's but I think I'd tire of it too soon. It's all in my head I guess.

[tmoble]

Wow, your photos? I had no idea, I saw them online somewhere and instantly wanted to do up my truck like that. Small world I guess. When I originally did the Camaro stub on my truck I rounded up a different frame and did the sub-frame on it. At that time I was still into red so while I had the clean frame on jackstands I painted it red. Now if I want to go some sort of green/turquoise I'm going to have to repaint the frame. Bummer. So then I thought to go to the Roman Red/India Ivory but really don't want red, so settled on some sort of clean white with red trim. But then saw your pics of that panel again and wanted to go back with that. Do you know what the name/year of that color is?

[fabguy]

Your right Dan, that is my friend Norman's panel. I can find out the color if you'd like. That panel has airbags, MII front suspension and a 235ci engine with dual carb setup. It is a lot better looking in person than in any pictures.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks for chiming in Mike! Really nice to hear from you. Are you rolling your eyes over me being fickle and changing my mind from C4 to an MII setup? Guess I'm impulsive, oh well.

How goes YOUR panel project?

Yeah I totally agree that Norman's panel is just stunning in person. I LOVE, LOVE LOVE his upholstery. Whatever that stuff from the Mid Fifties cars is called - "brocade"? It reminds me of '57 Chevy cars. Great if you can post the exact color name. I'm sure plenty of guys would like to know.

[tmoble]

yeah, like me. to me that's a a real knock your eye out deal. I'd be interested in any detail on it. I've seen other seamist green, but they didn't look that good. I wonder if he used some tricks with the primer/underlay color.

Is that Nomad upholstery? Seems Norman has a real eye for what makes an outstanding combination.

[tmoble]

Dan, I didn't know you were dumping the C4 deal for am MII. What's up with that? You're giving up a lot there in terms of driveabilty, handling, serviceability, brakes. There's boatloads of upgrade stuff available whether it's eye-candy or hard core handling.

Our trucks are much heavier and have a significantly higher center of gravity than the old MII. I never could get myself to feel good about stuffing a compact car front under there. That's why I ended up with a Gen2 Camaro front and C4 rear. I'm an old dirt track racer and have beaten the you-know-what out of those Camaro clips for decades. I have a lot of faith in their strength and the suspension geometry is known good.

Think about it this way: If you had to drive 1000 miles of non freeway roads and had a choice of a MII or a C4 Vette which car would you take?

[Dan in Pasadena]

I'd drive what I could afford!

But seriously, there never was a "deal" for a C4 IFS setup. I had told Fabguy I'd go with C4 components when he found a good Vette at a local wrecking yard for himself and noticed another in the yard he recommended I buy. Mike (Fabguy) even offered to help me install it. BUT, things changed. My daughter and daughter in law both got pregnant with their first children, I had expenses related to that - life got in the way.

I rethought whether I should spend the money right then (this was nearly a year ago) so I decided to hold off. Cut to now and a new-in-the-box Fatman Fabrications IFS kit popped up on CL and I acted on it.

I consider the argument that MII's are too light duty for our trucks to be a red herring. There are LOTS of 55-59's with these kits on the road doing fine. Ogre seems to be totally happy. Besides, the aftermarket kits share nothing with an actual Mustang II from the 70's except basic design approach. Different strokes, man!

[NEWFISHER]

To my knowledge, the aftermarket "M2" style kits are just that....a style like the old M2 set up and not the same old parts. They are also like the 64-92 Chevy trucks, just a tubular style am but same concept and similar geometry. Vette stuff is cool, but for me It would turn my truck into a car and hauling/pulling as much as I do it would get parked more than driven. It comes down to what system works well for each individual and thier budget. Im starting an Ls 5.3 build and leaving the straight axle. I like the feel and am comfortable with its farm truck limitations at higher speeds.

[Dan in Pasadena]

I think "back in the day" - an annoying expression - maybe the late 70's and early 80's(?) guys ACTUALLY took Mustang II parts out of the junkyards and installed them on hot rods. There were a lot of MII's in the junkyards then. I'm fairly certain there aren't many anymore.

I'm guessing those parts works pretty damn good or an entire industry wouldn't have been built around the idea. But I DO see that those parts would not really have been heavy enough for a truck and particularly a truck that will be used as a truck. Fortunately, mine won't. The biggest thing it'll likely ever carry is a few flats of flowers or a 4x8 sheet of plywood from Home Depot.

I honestly feel very comfortable with an MII kit from a known longstanding aftermarket fabricator like Fatman's, Heidt's, etc.

[G&R's57GMC]

Dan be sure to figure in the total cost from the wheels to the chassis on the MII kits on what it take to complete the install.

Then compare what the total cost is to what the NoLimit Wide Ride kit includes .

Besides that, One has to like the look of the too narrow, sucked in track the MII kit has .
To me it just looks wrong OR they were going for the funny car look .
That would make some sense if the theme of the truck was that of a full on drag truck.

Think of it this way The narrow track of the '59 Chevy compared to the wide track '59 Pontiac .

Chevy made the car body wider in '59 but kept using the '58 chassis verbatim for cost reasons. Pontiac on the other hand used the same basic chassis, But spent a few bucks more and widened the track to fill the body and get better handling .

There are wider control arms available for the MII and they also use the T-Bird R&P but as the say " for just a few $ more".

Keep shopping until you ether find what your looking for or go crazy trying to keep the cost in line.


Oh ya, BTW