That's a great idea for making the new fuel line match the old one. Wayne and me put a new fuel pump in Tom's Dart, even with the pump whirring away it had no fuel at the carb. So assumed the pump was bad, but when we took everything apart the fuel line had a big piece of hardened rubber stuck in it. The fuel filter looked like it came out of the Titanic. All this apparently from the previous owner putting street gas in it. The ethanol chewing up everything that was not compatible. One thing is for sure, after replacing all that stuff with fresh new, the 440 did fire right up easily.

 

Good to hear you got it figured out and it started that has to take a load off knowing that.
The list of things to do just got smaller

On my drag car I had braided line from fuel cell to filter and filter to Alum hard line that ran to the front.
I only ran race gas in the car even if the motor did not need it and I had the line from cell to filter dry out and leak when I put fuel in it.
So I think just age is what did in that rubber line that you found plugging it.
Also did you see the short hose from tank to hard line was cracked on the Javelin? It had been on about 15 years and only used to move the car around never driven on the street. Think the inside was still good but the outside was bad so it was changed out.

So how much more work dose the Dart need before it can hit the track?
Think someone said tires, they would be one of the last things I would swap out as heat and UV rays will kill them in short order.
Dose the wiring need to be gone thru? I dont remember from when I was there.

Looks like rain for Saturday & Sunday so any shows may not happen?
In that case I can get back to the Javelin to see if the 2nd new pump puts out too much psi and if it dose figure how / where I will mount the regulator.
Dave ----

 

The wiring on the Dart is working, but it was all done terribly. House wire nuts, and looks like everything was added one at a time on top of each other rather than done all at the same time in a thoughtful manner. It does not have an alternator, but I think it should have one. Could set up a toggle switch to kill it when a run is being made in order to take away any drag it might cause, but then turn it back on to keep the battery charged. I have an old GM style 10si alternator in the shop somewhere, if I could spend some time looking it over I am sure I could come up with a bracket to mount it.

This is what he has now: Rubber line from fuel cell to canister style filter, rubber from filter to pump, then rubber from filter to aluminum hard line. So it sounds similar to yours except plain rubber not braided.

The brake pedal is very hard, it goes down only about an inch, then when you let your foot off it slowly comes back into position. It doesn't "feel right". The master cylinder is only about 3/8 inch off the header, makes me think it gets cooked. I picked up a new m/c when Tom was here and offered to redrill mounting holes an inch higher to mount it up a little bit, but he said Wayne told him that was not necessary and that he didn't want anything modified. Seems pointless to replace parts without correcting an issue that you notice.
*edit* I came back in later to add this pic so you can see that I ain't exaggerating!


The primary had to be dimpled just to avoid direct contact with the m/c

Unless the forecast improves, I agree that Saturday shows are going to be a washout. Although the forecast on my phone went from 50% to 40% so maybe there's an improvement.

 

That MC is pretty close to the header and it even has been bent to clear.
If Wayne said it is OK then leave it and see what happens down the road.

It sounds like Tom has never had this running or at a track?
In that case EVERYTHING needs to be gone thru.
I would start with replacing the MC then pull each wheel to check the brakes etc.

Wiring: I would run a ALT all the time as the IGN system needs full voltage and the battery running everything is going to have less volts so less volts to the IGN so a weaker spark.
The 10th of a second you might get of not running a ALT or have it charging during a run is not worth it in my book.
He would not be running "heads up" as I dont think the car is built for it or has that kind of money in it.
That's what is nice of running brackets, it is cheaper, you can run a slow street car and win a lot of races. I did
The big thing with brackets is the car has to be consistent run after run.
So dose the driver but if the car will not react the same on each run you cant win races.
Even with worn rear spring bushings on the Gremlin it ran consistent and the drag car was even better as it was set up for drag racing.

So I would get a working ALT in that car and I would not hook up a "turn off" switch because of the IGN volts.
Tom may want to draw out a wiring diagram and rewire the car if it is that bad.
That is what I did for the drag car so if I ever had issues I had something to go back and follow,
It and all the run logs went with the car so he knew what my setup was and the numbers it ran.
At times I wished I did not sell the drag car
Dave ----

 

No, Tom never had this driving. In 2023 we poured a little gas in the carb and verified it would roar to life, but at that time was not getting fuel to it. So we did the fuel pump before Tom's visit and that took care of that. So he got to sit in it and fire it up and let it run til it ran out of gas (his fuel cell has foam at the bottom so you can't tell much gas is in there! Apparently only had a pint or so left, lol).

Yes they had to dimple the header to make room for the master cylinder! The current one needs to be replaced and I said I was going to move it up about an inch, then Tom told me not to change the location "because Wayne said" and I said ok put it where you want. But I agree should jack up each wheel & check the shoes & drums & wheel cylinders.

My car is setup like you described, alternator runs 100% of the time. But Tom has this idea "well if Chuck didn't build it that way then there must be some legit reason.." so that is why I suggested the compromise of being to turn the alt off if he wanted. You would definitely think positives outweigh the negatives!

I jacked the 85 coupe up to see if I can find the trans leak, and kind of befuddled. The tranny lines are both 100% clean at the top where they connect to the transmission. They were coated in the tranny fluid lower where they curve to go towards the cooler, but the trans pan had some fluid on it too along the bottom. So it gives me the impression that it's leaking from somewhere above and getting onto the lines, but I could not see anywhere near there that showed signs of a leak.

I thought I'd check that the pan bolts are all snug, so I went around and gave them each a little crank. The only one that was more than 1/4 turn was all the way on the other side of the pan so I don't think that could be my problem. I hit it with a pressure washer after figuring the cleaner it is the easier it will be to see where it's coming from next time.

I can see my spray wand missed a few spots.


Trans lines are clean.



Hard to see much, but it's all clean and dry

I figured while I had her in the carport for checks I would go ahead and do the alternator pulley. Because of using that electric water pump, there is nowhere for the upper alternator bracket to go. Therefore the only thing securing it in place is the long 7/16 bolt. The bolt is bent a little you can tell by how much wobble you get as you screw it. Very thin shoulder for the spacer, so I dug around to find something more substantial.



2-3/4 vs 2-3/8


A little bit firmer mount than before, and I let the battery go down a little by leaving the lights on for about 5 minutes, then when I cranked it up there was no squeal so I hope this might have solved that issue at least.

I don't have a working volt meter, it's never worked since I owned the car. Not sure the gauge went bad or if it's not wired up properly, etc. But I can't quite figure out how the panel is held in place, and I don't want to break it trying to remove it!

If I could figure this out today I will be happy with making at least a little progress this weekend.

 

Update: Well, I was able to figure it out. There was one screw along the upper edge of the panel that I didn't see, attribute that to eyesight getting worse as I get older + using a black screw on a black panel! Once I got that final screw removed was able to move the panel back enough to see behind it, the volt gauge was wired up but had no volts showing on it. On a hunch I started messing around with the buttons on my control panel and lo & behold, if I had only pressed the "lamps" button the voltmeter sprang to life!


13.55 volts; it's a beautiful thing!

 

Oil leaks can be a bear to find.
On my pick up it took me a long time to find the timing cover leaking at the top and spraying all over but only when the RPM was up then add the fan blowing it all over

Wonder how old that trany hoses are and what the inside is made of?
I had a fuel line leak as the hose inside broke down over time.
Did you recheck for a leak after you did the ALT fix and had the motor running?
Also haw bad dose it leak?
Dave ----

 

Yeah thats the thing with braided line, you can't see the underlying rubber so you can't tell if it is dry / cracked. I don't think that is the cause but it is a good idea to replace it all anyway. I'm not really a fan of using rubber line like that long runs. But no I did not test drive it, it was rainy and my wife was due home in less than an hour, so when I finished I just put it away so she'd have access to park in the carport.

Tom brought these down from NY and said they came off a Bronco (was not sure what year) and that if I wanted them I could have them. I would say they are universal fit because you could pretty much mount it at any height & depth especially if you don't mind drilling another hole if needed.


Tom brought these down from NY and said they came off a Bronco (was not sure what year) and that if I wanted them I could have them. I would say they are universal fit because you could pretty much mount it at any height & depth especially if you don't mind drilling another hole if needed.


To mount it right where I want; wouldn't you know - the trans crossmember already occupies that space. I'm going to fiddle around with it and see where in this area (within say an inch or so) I'd be able to drill through and get a bolt on it.

 

Finished my truck steps!



The things you find when you climb under the truck and look around!




The bendix in my starter was going bad, I think I think I was at your house once & you noticed I would only get 1/2 second of cranking before ZZZzzzzzzz. It might take 10 tries to get enough crank to actually fire up, so I decided to go ahead and get a new one.

Hi-torque mini-starter from JEGS.


Looks great and works great, except now that gear reduction makes my F100 sounds like a Chrysler when I hit the key.


I put off doing this job for months because I thought it was gonna be a bear, but you know what. Access was easy and I got the whole job done in 15 minutes!

 

-

I see you did not wire it the way I would have done it.
I dont like using the little red jumper wire because the starter can back feed and keep it engauged.
Leave the large cable on the large stud and remove that red wire.
Up at the factory solenoid move the cable that goes to the starter over to the same stud that battery cable is on.Yes that cable to the starter is not hot all the time but so are the cables on GM cars & trucks.
Now run a 10 ga wire from the solenoid large stud the cable came off of and run it down to the small stud the red wire was on and you are done.

The factory solenoid now only has a light load to send power to the starter solenoid and will not weld its self closed.
My drag car also had a gear reduction starter with a solenoid and the people I bought it from that is how they wanted it wired.
Yes the AMC has the same starter wiring set up like the Ford.
Dave ----

 

What you described is how they said I should wire up a later model Ford starter if I had gotten one (I forget which, but some are factory version of gear reduction that can be used on an older motor like mine), but when I got this one from JEGS, the wiring instructions inside the box said to wire it this way just jumpered over.

 

You can wire it the way I said also and "I" would have done it if it was mine but if it works as is then leave it.

This rain sucks.
Don't have work and wanted to maybe get the grass cut but that is not going to happen.
Had to do a trash run as I did not Saturday because of the show.
It was just starting to rain as I loaded the truck up and got heavier on the way to & from dump so grass is out.

Mary had to go to Wake Med off New Burn for a test so I took her.
Maybe tomorrow I will make it out to the garage just not into it today with this rain.
Dave ----

 

The rain kept me inside all day too, except for a trip to the grocery store. I wanted to work on my pool and do some yardwork, but that will have to wait for another day. Meanwhile forecast says it might rain tomorrow too.