What did you do with your truck today, Part 3

[idbeast]

I've been busy playing with spray foam just to see how it might look... It's still a ways from being finished but coming along!!!

mr48chev, if this isn't what I like, I can always have the original seat recovered and make a different center console for it , then put this stuff in my 55 GMC!!!!

[evilokc]

got into the garage today. ive been trying to get the throttle cable on for a couple of days and its just not working. I finally had to admit that the new very cool looking throttle bracket was the problem. it makes me route the throttle cable at extreme angles that probably aren't going to work. I couldn't make them work. I removed the new cool throttle bracket and put the old bracket back on and everything seemed to fall into place. i got the cable installed and its just about done. the only issue ive run into is that the return spring and the transmission cable want to go into the same hole on the carb linkage. I started up the truck and gave it a few revs and its close. I haven't done any fine adjustments on the cable and I will probably adjust the idle a tad. so progress was made, motors roared , and I'm a hop skip and a jump from running this thing down the road again. I'm disappointed that I cant use the new throttle bracket but this is the nature of our hobby. could I make it work? of course I could but the effort and time would far exceed the payday. I'm ready to drive and move onto other parts of the truck

[MARTINSR]

Got the patch panel welded in. My five minutes a day is well under way, now if I can keep it up!

Brian

[evilokc]

nice job martinsr

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by evilokc

nice job martinsr

Thanks!

Tonight all I got done was to clean the place up so my son could move his motor for his Falcon in the garage. But getting out there for anything is included in my 5 minute a day plan. I did check out what had to be next and decided to remove the door tomorrow and weld up the front edge where I ground too much off.

Brian

[gigamanx]

You know, just a bit of late summer grilling.

[robertsjm711]

Front end drop - planned on 2" ended up with a little more... but I like it that way.

[mud.man.rj]

Drop looks just right.
Mudman.

[evilokc]

Originally Posted by robertsjm711

Front end drop - planned on 2" ended up with a little more... but I like it that way.

looks fantastic. its low and aggressive but not "cant drive over bumps" low. perfect

[evilokc]

I DROVE! I DROVE MY TRUCK today! they are building a new neighborhood across the street. the streets and curbs are done but they haven't started building a single house. I thought that would be a good place to test drive. I got to the end of the block and saw I was almost out of gas. I didn't want to have any issue that might be caused by low fuel so I drove about 1/2 mile to 7/11. i let the truck idle while I gassed up.drove back to the neighborhood. gave it some gas and squealed the tires pretty good. squealed around the first corner then a cul-de-sac. brought it back and parked in the driveway. here is my assessment after the 5 mile-ish drive 1) the idle isn't right. when I start it up in the garage it ides great but the in-gear idle isn't close. it didn't die nor even try but it got low enough that I worried about it. I got out and gave the idle screw a small tap but I believe this carb has duel idle screws. I'm going to research that tonight and get the idle right. 2) from tip in to about 1/2 throttle its a freaking monster. couldn't hardly keep the tires from squealing. however and there is always a "however" after half throttle it didn't want to accelerate any more. it would but it wasn't shifting as I expected. it was then I realized I hadn't hooked up the transmission cable yet. so I will figure that out this weekend as well. right now that's it. being behind the wheel of my truck after a year was almost magic. my guts are still smiling.

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by evilokc

I DROVE! I DROVE MY TRUCK today! my guts are still smiling.

That's awesome! I bet you got some looks at the gas station. Thank goodness you didn't blow yourself up with the truck idling. Was it the transmission kick down cable not hooked up?

Only a year to driving pretty impressive

[evilokc]

Originally Posted by gigamanx

That's awesome! I bet you got some looks at the gas station. Thank goodness you didn't blow yourself up with the truck idling. Was it the transmission kick down cable not hooked up?

Only a year to driving pretty impressive

no the kickdown cable isn't hooked up. I'm going to get that on and go through all the new carb tuning before the next test drive. the float level is good. I'm going to check the mixture, and in gear idle. its close and I'm excited. people at the gas station were very interested in the truck. its got a pretty thumpy idle and there were a lot of questions. they like my suicide doors too.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by evilokc

I DROVE! I DROVE MY TRUCK today! they are building a new neighborhood across the street. the streets and curbs are done but they haven't started building a single house. I thought that would be a good place to test drive. I got to the end of the block and saw I was almost out of gas. I didn't want to have any issue that might be caused by low fuel so I drove about 1/2 mile to 7/11. i let the truck idle while I gassed up.drove back to the neighborhood. gave it some gas and squealed the tires pretty good. squealed around the first corner then a cul-de-sac. brought it back and parked in the driveway. here is my assessment after the 5 mile-ish drive 1) the idle isn't right. when I start it up in the garage it ides great but the in-gear idle isn't close. it didn't die nor even try but it got low enough that I worried about it. I got out and gave the idle screw a small tap but I believe this carb has duel idle screws. I'm going to research that tonight and get the idle right. 2) from tip in to about 1/2 throttle its a freaking monster. couldn't hardly keep the tires from squealing. however and there is always a "however" after half throttle it didn't want to accelerate any more. it would but it wasn't shifting as I expected. it was then I realized I hadn't hooked up the transmission cable yet. so I will figure that out this weekend as well. right now that's it. being behind the wheel of my truck after a year was almost magic. my guts are still smiling.

There was once an article in RodAction Magazine back in the seventies that described that first drive, and how all the busted knuckles and such were forgotten, it's so true, so true.

So cool, thanks for posting about it.

Brian

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by evilokc

I DROVE! I DROVE MY TRUCK today! ... being behind the wheel of my truck after a year was almost magic. my guts are still smiling.

Great feeling isn't it? I still remember the maiden voyage in my Plymouth GTX after 12 years of work, you couldn't knock the grin off my face with a sledgehammer!

[evilokc]

did some tuning today. its remarkable what a quarter turn on the mixture screws can do aint it. I was able to get the mixture , idle, and fast idle set in the driveway. I have a vacuum gauge that I'm going to use to check my ide before I drive it again but its very close. the quality of the idle today compared to yesterday is crazy. it feels solid now. I may have figured out the kickdown vs return spring issue as well. tomorrow will tell. worst case I will make a small bracket. I'm hoping to get that done early tomorrow so I can get back out and drive it again. ive started referring to the unbuilt neighborhood across the street as " the track". Ive even taken my motorcycle over there to run through it moto style. I'm going to miss that place when they start building houses.

[idbeast]

Originally Posted by evilokc

ive started referring to the unbuilt neighborhood across the street as " the track". Ive even taken my motorcycle over there to run through it moto style. I'm going to miss that place when they start building houses.

ROFLMAO

[Black_Sheep]

Put some heat wrap on the head pipes, after lunch I will get back to sanding...

[handyhands]

I decided to move my motor down and back (s10/Ad) 1 1/2 back, & 3/4 down. For more room. Everything is really tite. Solved a lot of issues, plus changed my mounts around and came out better then before. Will clean motor good has I can before putting it back in place. Next will be exhaust pipes and glass packs.( Speedway exhaust pipes and Smithy glass packs ) all 2 1/2 inches. Fuel lines and pump next, also from Speedway. I don't have the rear axle yet so I haven't sent off the pcm to be reprogrammed. Will be next step.

[Black_Sheep]

More sanding, it's very close to getting the final round of primer...

[ChuckDriver]

Last year I was in Reno for Hot August Nights and bought a PowerBlast Plate from Thompson Performance. The salesman made a good pitch for the product and had a cool video presentation, so I figured I would give it a try.

Well I finally got around to installing it after looking at the online instructions which are very well done. I don't know why I waited so long, but man I can't believe how much it changed the off the line acceleration of my truck. I made it fill like its got a lot more horsepower and torque from a standing start. The throttle response is instantaneous!

I don't endorse a lot of products, but this one really worked great for me. Now 4 of my buddies that have heard it perform asked me to order one for them.

http://www.thompsonperformance.com/

[evilokc]

I was able to get the kickdown cable and return springs installed today. I had to make a small bracket. I took the truck out and ran it through the "track" again. it ran well enough that I took it out on the road. I put about 7 miles on it. a couple of things that need attention. I discovered that i hadn't put the retaining screw in the gas pedal and at one point it fell off under my foot. that was neat. it was while i was putting it back on that i remembered i didn't put the screw in yet because i hadn't finalized the position of the pedal on the splines. that will need to be done. the return spring bracket worked but I'm going to move it to tighten the springs up a tad. I'm also not positive on how tight the trans cable should be. driving regularly the trans shifted as expected but under hard throttle it really didn't shift when it should have. i will research that. the last thing is the throttle is almost on/off. it is very unhappy at tip in but if you tap it and take off just a tad faster than normal it works fine. so i need to find out what that adjustment is. over all the truck went down the road happily though and i was very happy to be driving it.

[MARTINSR]

I started on the drivers door to finish up the sectioning work I did 25 years ago. Well, it helps to protect that bare metal even in sunny California, because it is rusted thru! The lip at the bottom was also way too big, don't know what I was thinking when I did it but I got out a stock door I had to compare and then started making the corrections and I'll make a new patch panel too.

While the doors where there thought I would make a comparison shot with the stock and the 3.5 inch chop and 2.5 inch sectioned door.

Brian

[evilokc]

I did some research and my shifting issues pointed to a kick down cable that was too tight. according to the online masses the cable needs to be tight at full throttle but loose enough hat it doesn't hinder the throttle opening up all the way. makes sense to me. the second issue with tip in sounds like it could be the accelerator pump adjustment. on the accelerator pump cam there are 3 places you can put it. you choose the position based on where your vehicle ides. if its a hot cam and idles at 600 you used the first spot so when you hit the gas the accelerator pump shoot way more fuel in to get you idle up to driving speed. if your truck idles at 900 or more you need a lot less fuel to get you moving so that another position. the next steps are to loosen the trans cable until I can get full throttle with the kick down getting tight right at full throttle, check the adjustment on the accelerator pump arm and the mounted location of the accelerator cam, finalize the pedal location on its splines and put the set screw in hopefully for the last time. the good news is that all of that shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. once that's done its back to the "track" for test and tune. if it performs well there I will try and get 20 or so miles on it to help wake it back up. so nice to have the death rattle breathing again.

[Whumbachumba]

Got the final headlight/park light wiring figured out. Turns out the park lights were on the wrong plug so they didn't turn off when the headlights came on. Got that switched, so they turn off when the headlights are on. Front turn signals are working too! Driver side door is now properly hung and closes. Doesn't fit flush, but that's okay, it latches and holds shut for now.

[MARTINSR]

Right on guys, let's get something done!

I got out there for my five minutes and made templates and made the patches with them to fake the "Hemmed" edge of the door skin at the bottoms where I had cut that area off when I sectioned the door shell.

I still need to sand blast that area and apply some weld thru primer before I weld them in place.


Brian