SkinnyG's '61 Apache

[SkinnyG]

Oh dang.

Fuel pump or fuel pump related.

[SkinnyG]

Truck is at home in the house garage, up on jack stands in anticipation of dropping the fuel tank.

Not tomorrow though - I have physio after work, and while I usually have dreams of coming home and working on stuff, I'm usually lucky if I can even tie my shoes after the IMS and elecro-shock.

[caseyjones]

Looks like you were on a nice drive until it wasn’t. Hope the fix is simple!

[SkinnyG]

The fuel pump relay was clicking, and I tried bypassing the relay and powering the pump directly, but it wasn't working. I think it's the connection inside the tank. I remember building it going "this seems rinky-dink."



I re-did the internal connections , and it is now "robust."

[verdell]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

The fuel pump relay was clicking, and I tried bypassing the relay and powering the pump directly, but it wasn't working. I think it's the connection inside the tank. I remember building it going "this seems rinky-dink."



I re-did the internal connections , and it is now "robust."

I went through a similar situation with the exact same fuel tank set up in my '60. After redoing (soldering) the sending unit connections and running a solid length of 10 gauge wire, it's running better than ever.

[SkinnyG]

Old and busted "hot" connection for the fuel pump (I'm using a Walbro 450):





I removed that gray connector, and crimped/soldered/heat-shrunk all the wires to their respective pins, with 12ga wire to the pump. There should be no problem now.

[SkinnyG]

Back up to 8psi boost now, and with all eight cylinders properly firing ... HOOO BOY!!!!

I have a smile.

[350TacoZilla]

Great news man

[SkinnyG]

The tank came out really easy - I designed it to be serviceable (and it worked!).

The straps (two nuts), the fill/vent hoses (hoseclamps), and the feed/return lines (two AN fittings).

Took maybe 30 minutes.

The bed on the other hand, that would take a LOT longer.

[SkinnyG]

Added a relay to turn on the cooling fan during AC. It's using the Trinary pressure switch off the accumulator. Not sure I'm totally happy with the result, but we will see.

You can just barely see the reorganized relays to the right of the rad.

[joesscamaro]

Glad you got it figured out and improved and back on the road.

[SkinnyG]

Latest video:

Replacing a Fuel Pump on the '61 Apache - YouTube

[SkinnyG]

The bottom of the front air bags are mounted to a plate, with about a 3/4" riser on it to keep the bag in a happy place whilst sitting in the spring pocket of the control arms.

Problem is, as the truck is raised off the ground on a jack or a lift, the control arm moves in an arc downward and the bag bottom wants to move outward to stay perpendicular to its upper mount.

So, I welded about a 1-1/4" section of 2" pipe to the bottom of the bag mount/riser, as far over as I could and still access the mounting bolt. Kind of like a cup within a cup. This 2" pipe fits inside the existing hole in the control arm, and restricts the movement of the bag mount when the truck is raised.

What I had been finding, is the bags were sitting more horizontal than vertical, requiring more air pressure and netting less ride height.

MUCH better now, and the bags stay in place when the truck raised on a lift.

[SkinnyG]

Last staff meeting of the school year. I should have taken a picture of the entire parkinglot filled with white and black and dull. And me.

[Braunschweiger]

That's what happens when you lock your car and don't look back as you walk away, you've got the wrong car. Beautiful.

[joesscamaro]

One of these things is not like the other! Haha!

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Last staff meeting of the school year. I should have taken a picture of the entire parkinglot filled with white and black and dull. And me.

[SkinnyG]

Cool, in a sea of dull:

[350TacoZilla]

I loved walking out and seeing my 5 ton on 52's sitting in a parking lot. It stuck up about 5 ft over anything else it seemed lol.

[SkinnyG]

I thought the stub axles on the cheapest home-built trailer I bought were sketchy. I was right.





No pictures of the tow truck this time.

[SkinnyG]

The Trashy Trailer Broke - YouTube

I have a new "Princess Auto" axle on it now.

Had to move the leaf perches because this trailer has them on 47" centers.

Also had to open up the bore on the Chevette wheels to 2".

Also have to replace one tire that the tow truck operator blew up unloading off the roll back. Why they didn't send a hook and boom with dollys is beyond me; I was very clear on the phone on what it is they were picking up. Might as well replace both - they're 16 years old.

Funny bit: Tow truck guy had asked me to pull it forward so they didn't have to block half the lane to load it (I was mostly in the center lane). Truck wouldn't budge the trailer at all. No gentle pull. Not even a brief freakin' hazer. Nope.

[350TacoZilla]

I have seen guys take an old trailer axle and weld a flange that allows them to use 2wd silverado unit bearings and I have to say I'm tempted to try it. The trailer stuff all seems to be questionable quality anymore.

I mention the 2wd part since the 4wd ones aren't meant to have load on them without the CV axle bolted tight in the hub.

[SkinnyG]

COOLING ISSUES

On the highway, it's fine, but in traffic, in the summer, at 38°C, with the AC on, it's not.

Could be because I have an intercooler in front of a transmission cooler in front of an A/C condenser AND P/S cooler all in front of the radiator. Nah.

The rad core is 22x19" in size and rated for 700hp. I have one $100 17" American Volt electric fan, zip-tied directly to the radiator. This cools ONLY a 17" circle minus the hub of the fan area, inadequate when standing still. The fan is rated at 130W, which should pull about 11Amps of current.

I ordered a $360 "Be Cool" 16" fan that is actually make by Spal, which draws 26Amps.

Excitingly, the blade and hub protrude past the mount, necessitating a raised mounting. If I'm going to raise it at all, I'm going to build a shroud. A shroud should encompass the entire core so the fan can draw air past the entire core. Which I fabricated.

On the other hand, fully shrouding a rad reduces the amount of air that can pass through the rad at speed. To fix this, I made nine 2"x4" rubber flappers from a commercial truck tube, which "flap via three (each) 3/16" pop rivets pulled NOT tight, so they can move. These each cover a pair of 1-5/8" holes in the shroud. In theory, when the fan is pulling, these flaps are sucked closed, and when the car is at speed, air pressure forces the flaps open.









And boy does the completed unit almost fit for reassembly.

The result?

So far, seems good after the first short outing....

[SkinnyG]

Taking a break from building a raised stone patio....

... and finished sealing the radiator to the rad mount (I had moved the rad back 1.25", but didn't really seal it well) to help cool better.

Also added a license place light, which apparently WAS a reality in 1961, and I don't need a reason for a cop to pull me over.

Adjusted the parking brake.

That's about it

[SkinnyG]

Latest video, exploring more fan, better shroud, better sealing, better coolant, better air flow, etc.

Overheating with AC on - or... Maybe Not? -...

[SkinnyG]

Note to self: do it better next time.

Way back when I put the LSD in, I measured the backlash on the Ford 9" I was using (0.015", spec is 0.010-0.016"), and made sure to put it back the same.

Except at high speeds (> 110km/h on some highways) there was whining in the axle, especially under hard acceleration.

I finally took it out, expecting that setting the backlash at the loose end was the cluprit, though it did not make sense to me.

THIS time, however, instead of holding things by hand to check, I put a chain wrench around the pinion yoke, and butted it against the vice so it would.not.move.

0.009"

Wow. That's too tight. Now the speed/load noise makes sense to me.

We're now at a bang-on 0.013", and I need to be more precise from now on.