I wish we could still get on Craigslist and ebay here. I barely have time to get on the computer at home. My big thing right now is that body tank, and getting the power steering and brakes. Randy has a 79 that I think I can rob for that stuff.

 

Yeah. If I wasn't going to use mine I'd let you have it. I'm thinking it will be nice to have two tanks. Maybe I can keep that big 390 fed. She gets kind of thirsty.

After having said my last statement........a few weekends ago when it was raining and I couldn't stay in a straight line to save my life we drove about 60 miles in town. Never left town and never went faster than 60 for any distance. I still averaged 9.8 miles per gallon......and about 100 smiles per gallon! Anyway, (lame jokes aside) I really didn't think that was too bad, especially considering how I was driving that night.

-Jake

 

I need some tuning advice.

I have been getting a flat spot about 2000 rpm where it just kind of sputters around. When it comes out of it the thing really wakes up. What do you fellas think?

I think I need to mess with my accelerator pump/squirter because I leaned out the idle just a little bit and now when I take off I get a bit of hesitation there too. I'm not as worried about that as I am this little mid range problem. It doesn't do it in the rain, but by 2 grand I've already lost traction......

I also need to see what the deal is......I might have a bad motor or tranny mount. Last summer I was out hot rodding around heard this weird noise whenever I got into it. Sounded like pinging and I had just messed with the timing a little bit. It was about 90 degrees that day so I just limped back home and popped the hood......the top of my *perfect* fan shroud was gone. To this day when I pull it down to low gear and nail it the shifter goes up to the 2 spot. It's nice.....1st gear is 2, 2nd gear is D, and 3rd gear is somewhere between D and N. That's awesome when you're already shifting at 5 grand and hit N. Just cruising around normally it's fine, but what's the fun in that?

-Jake

 

I advanced my timing 4 degrees and that cured the slight off idle bog I was having. Still not sure about the 2000 RPM deal. The timing helped, but it's still there.

Anyway, some guy in Grand Prix wanted to race the other night. First light he takes off kind of hard and I'm like whatever. Second light I leave it in Drive (it shifts at 3500 in Drive) and let it get into second gear and we're rolling so I pull it back down into first and finally blow by him at 60. He never got away from me (even at half throttle and I barely had traction) and when he let off I blew his doors off. He stayed behind me and followed me until we turned. He gets in the lane behind me and after the first light I get into the right lane. We catch the second light red and he starts revving it up. I stall up to about 2000. The side light changes and I roll a little bit, but not as bad as he does. I cranked the wheel to the right and and let the brake fly.....went sideways around the corner. It had been raining and the streets were wet, or I would've given him a fight. I didn't know if I could hold it in straight line or not and I sure didn't want to lose it and hit him or anything else. Anyway, I don't feel too bad knowing that I can hang with a Grand Prix shifting at 3500.......

Earlier that same night I made my buddy spill his pop. He had it sitting between his legs and we were coming to a red light. I down shifted.....3 to 2....no big deal. Thought about 2 to 1.....waited a bit. Threw it into Low......and boy when it caught, it caught hard!!! I'm surprised it didn't bark the tires, but his pop went flying forward out of his lap and all down his leg. It was worth the sticky floor mat.

Anyone know how to check motor mounts? I still get a little fan hitting the shroud noise now and then. I guess I should just replace them when I do the frame swap......

-Jake

Why does it always rain on the weekends?

 

I'd just replace them Jake, they aren't that expensive.

 

That's kind of what I was thinking. I need to wash my motor off and see where all my external oiling is coming from. I know the valve covers are leaking, I'll just get new aluminum ones and the stamped steel stockers are junk.

-Jake

 

Getting new motor mounts sooner than I thought!!!! I was in town Friday night with it and a female passenger when I met up with my cousin in his Blazer with a 4.3. He rolls up next to me at the light and starts revving it. Not to be done I stall up to 1500 and wait for the light to change. The side light changes and I take it to 2000. Bad idea. The light changes and I let off the brakes and we have a moist windshield and the sweet smell of antifreeze in the air. No traction. He's getting a head of me. Nothing is going right. I suddenly hook up and blow his Chevy loving rear end off the road!!! I kept going watching the temp gauge like a hawk waiting for it to get hot. I finally pulled into a gas station. By the time I got there it died at every light I stopped at, had no power, and I literally COASTED into the parking lot! Pop the hood and let the smoke clear only to find a cut in the bottom side of my upper radiator hose near the radiator.....directly above the fan, which normally sits about 3 inches away from said hose. So my cousin takes me across town to her car and the female passenger takes me home. Go to town the next morning to get a hose and put it on. Top off the antifreeze (about a gallon) and it won't start. Pull the air cleaner off, it's soaked. Still won't start. Pull the cap off and dry it out....fires up. Go to back out, it dies. Same deal and we go a block to the parts store. Get a new air cleaner. Won't start, and this time my 41 year old battery cable ends are catching up with me. No big deal, got a set in the glove box. Go in and by cheap set of wrenches and change them. Still won't start. Pull the cap and dry it a third time. Fire in the hole! Take off, runs like crap for about 3 miles then we're good to go.

Radiator hose: $17
Wrech set: $15
Motor mounts: Not sure, have to pick them up yet, just told Napa to order them
Owning a 4.3 Blazer with smoke pouring out from under the hood: Priceless!

-Jake

 

About time you get that motor mount fixed Jake!!! Hey, know anyone who needs a bed for a 67-72, or a really good set of 67 doors, let me know.

 

Finally got my motor mounts changed. The passenger side one was almost done for, and the driver's side was two pieces!!! It's rock solid now. When I nail it the gear shift doesn't jump up anymore. On a side note, my rag joint is shot so I need to replace that......again.....

-Jake

 

Changed my rag joint. Steering is very tight now. Had to hunt one down at the parts houses. Advance Auto Parts was the only one that really had anything. Anyway, shortly after I did that I drove it one night and it didn't really want to shift into gear, and I COULDN'T move the shifter down to 2 or 1. I could hardly get it to go into drive (guess I should've stayed at the girlfriend's house). I pulled the steering wheel and some other junk out and looked at stuff and didn't really find anything so I put it back together and it all works right.....for now.

I need to get body work done on my '71 and swap the bodies.....too little time to do all this stuff!!! The money always seems to be spent too. Oh well.

-Jake

 

Jake, your lucky I have a cab already, or I would snag that one that Randy has at his place right now!!

 

Started taking trim off my '71 last weekend. Got about half done, will finish taking it off this coming weekend. I will wash it all up and take some pictures. My brother and I took it for a drive the other day too. The words "Well, we should have enough gas" were said. It's a good thing mom was just sitting around in the house!!! The ol 360 will roll 'em over on gravel all the way through first gear though!!! Kinda made my brother made since his 89 351W will not even break loose on the gravel at a dead stop.

So anyway, this weekend we are gonna finally put the Streetmaster intake on blue that I've had sitting around for a year. Then we are probably gonna put headers on his 89 and see if we can do anything else to help it out. We already took all the smog crap off and did a tune up, but that didn't really help.

One thing I have noticed on that 89 is that the timing seems to jump around more than it should at an idle. I don't know if this is a clue to anything or not. We should really do a compression test.....it gets talked about alot but hasn't happened yet. We should also hook a vacuum gauge up to it and see what it does. Personally, I wonder if the timing chain is shot causing the cam and distributor to be "behind". A friend of mine had that on his boat.....would run really good with the initial timing at 40 BTDC because it was so stretched out. I dunno, just need to mess with I guess. I'm hoping the headers help.

-Jake

 

So......unhooked the SPOUT connector on that '89 and it would barely run. I knew the timing was off, but it was only at 3 BTDC!!! I advanced it to 12 and that made a big difference. We put the headers on and that helped from about 2000 on up. It is alot better to drive now.

Put the Streetmaster on blue. Got it started and it wouldn't stay running below about 1500 rpm. I was really puzzled and didn't have alot of time to mess with it on Saturday. Sunday I got it running and advanced the timing and richened the mixture. I got it to idle and took it for a drive......my 2000 rpm flat spot was now from about 1500-2500!!! I started changing secondary springs (I had the heaviest one in) and got it back to where it only sputters when you nail it. I ordered a 50cc accelerator pump and a set of cams for the accelerator pump. Should be here next weekend. Maybe needs more timing but I hate to give it too much more.....I'm at 16 initial, I'm not sure what my total mechanical advance is and where it is all in at. Need to check that.

Tuning continues.....

-Jake

 

Has anyone ever re-curved a distributor? I don't think it's that hard but I've never done it before. I just need to start taking it apart. I could use a better curve to get my total mechanical timing up a bit higher. I think it would help it out alot. I don't want to advance my initial any more or I don't think it will start when it's hot. I also gave myself a nice oil leak at the rear of the intake. I guess I didn't have enough RTV on it or something. It leaks rather nicely now. I guess it never ends.

This weekend's project - fix a brake line, bleed the brakes, adjust a clutch, and do a compression test.

-Jake

 

Fixed my brake lines, bled them out, adjusted the clutch and went for a drive only to find I have a wheel cylinder leaking. Timing was advanced too far so I brought that back where it should be. Lubed up the choke linkages because it was sticking a little bit. It seems to be running good but drinks oil like I drink beer and has one heck of a lifter tick. This beast sure could use a 390....

-Jake