Builds Finally got my own...Meet BeBe (1 Viewer)

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Ok cool.. Just got to wait for the butt warmers to get here then schedule to have the drivers seat repaired.
 
Ok finally got the butt warmers this week and looks to be a fairly simple install. Now just have to decide if I am going to completely replace the seats or have the drivers reworked and install the butt warmers while the shop is re-upholstering.

Also, last week on Friday when the storms started it was all of 7* when I came to work (6am) and didn't warm up past 26* all day. About 10am I ran to get a coffee and found out, the hard way, that my window was froze shut in the track. So I ended up stripping the first couple teeth in the window regulator. Looks like I will be replacing that shortly! BAH!

Even with the super cold temps the truck hasn't had a problem starting in the morning. Normal process is 3-5 pumps of the pedal, pull the choke and she fires right up. If for some reason she doesn't, another 2-3 pumps and she will fire. Takes about 10 minutes to come up to temp. However, I have noticed that she does not really like to idle at normal speeds, seems like the linkage is sticking and wants to make it idle at about 1200-1500rpm. Quick pump of the pedal and she will drop down to about 750rpm but seems to be cold related. Still fighting these small carb issues so I think this spring/summer she is going to be getting a Trollhole.

Other items on the agenda for when it decides to stop dumping rain/snow is to flush the heater core to see if that will bring back any heat. And I found my internal moisture issue. Apparently when I redid the rear drivers side quarter panel I forgot to weld up the interior section in the wheel well, so I have been getting a slight amount of moisture in there, which is causing things to fog up in the right conditions. So that will be on the short list to fix.
 
So I filled up the tank again yesterday but looks like I got something going on.
Reference back a page or so to November when we did our family Christmas tree hunting trip.. Total distance, round trip, is a little over 200 miles with elevation changes from 4500' (at Carson City) up over 8k' passes and then back down to about 5k' (Placerville, Ca). Prior to that I averaged about 10mpg with a mixture of city/hwy (90/10 most weeks) so it was not bad. That trip ate up an entire tank of gas so I filled up shortly after we got home and then went through my normal work week. Nothing changed prior to that trip other than tweaking the timing and an oil change.

After that I have been getting close to 100-120 miles per TANK of gas.. that equates to about 6mpg!! I have done three tanks since then, again with an avg. of 90/10 city/hwy, no excessive fuel smell in the truck or outside when warming up or driving. This one seriously has me stumped.. @Output Shaft @FJ40Jim @Spike Strip and any of the other experts out there... Truck still runs great, has plenty of power going up the hills (for the stock 2F) and compression when I checked it (cold) about 2 months ago was ~130 across the board.
 
Plus I got to wait until we aren't knee deep in snow so I can do the swap and not worry about the truck being down.
 
You're in HAC territory, so you can check if the HAC system is working correctly. If it's not, the engine runs rich and the timing will be retarded. Make sure that the hose and filter on the bottom of the HAC valve are clear. It needs to suck air up through that dangling hose.

One thing's for certain, you don't have a vacuum leak!
I assume the air filter element is squeaky clean as you just had the engine all apart.
 
You're in HAC territory, so you can check if the HAC system is working correctly. If it's not, the engine runs rich and the timing will be retarded. Make sure that the hose and filter on the bottom of the HAC valve are clear. It needs to suck air up through that dangling hose.

One thing's for certain, you don't have a vacuum leak!
I assume the air filter element is squeaky clean as you just had the engine all apart.

@Output Shaft Alright I will have to go through the manual and see about testing the HAC. Small vacuum leak at the manifold/head interface but nothing super duper. Air Filter was replaced when the head work was done but has not since then. Will have to check and see. Wonder if maybe something crawled/got sucked in through the pipe and is blocking stuff. I also don't have the breather tube that extends down from the air cleaner to below the manifold, but have never had that as it was completely rusted out when I got the truck.
 
Finally bit the bullet and found a smoking deal on a Lincoln welder. Ended up ordering a Easy-MIG 180C from Amazon that was on sale for $495! Best part was that I already had a $70 giftcard balance AND it had free shipping. Should be here Monday next week, which brings me to my next adventure.

Then I took a chance and ran to the local PickNPull to see about the two PT Cruisers they had there.. Neither were in good condition so I looked again and found that Sparks had three there. Since the wife is out of town and I had already put little mister in his kennel I took the drive to Sparks, NV PnP to see what they had. Ended coming home with a set of front seats from an 07 PT Cruiser.. they had an 07, 01 and 05. Apparently the mounting method changed at some point because the 01 had 14mm bolts on the floor board but the 05 and 07 both used T45 torque bolts, so a quick run to the LAPS remedied that issue. They are definitely grey/blue and the PT Cruiser was a light blue color, cloth and manual. So for those that may take this endeavor it pays to take a BUNCH of tools because there are multiple bolts/nuts ranging from one 17mm, t45, t50, 13mm and 14mm depending on the year. The 05 actually had black leather (that was splitting at the seams) that were manual but had butt warmers on them already (which I thought was interesting). Best part was they were doing a 50% off sale for the 13th-16th of January so out the door they were $41!!!

So now just going to wait for the welder to get here so that I can make a small bracket for the rear mounts to attach too and then I will start working on them. They will need some cleaning between then and now but that wont be much of an issue.

Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

Damn t45 bolt (passengers side)
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

Damn t50 bolt (drivers side)
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr
 
Finally bit the bullet and found a smoking deal on a Lincoln welder. Ended up ordering a Easy-MIG 180C from Amazon that was on sale for $495! Best part was that I already had a $70 giftcard balance AND it had free shipping. Should be here Monday next week, which brings me to my next adventure.

I have a 180 Lincoln at work the older version that's 220v only, I like it a lot, haven't needed more for anything automotive.
My tips would be invest in a quality hood, going from the cheap HF stuff to my Jackson hood made a WORLD of difference in terms of how easy it was to see and manipulate the weld puddle when I was learning. I would also buy the biggest gas bottle you have room for.
 
Thanks Matt. Yeah I have a HF hood right now but will invest in something else in the future. As for the gas bottle I got to figure out what I got room for, when I was borrowing my uncles 175T it has either a 20 or 40cf bottle. More than likely that will be what I start out with.

Haven't been able to find out a lot about the Easy-MIG but seems like it is the same as the Mig-Pak, HD, Pro-MIG, etc., but not the industrial model POWER-MIG. Main difference apparently is the drive roller system being plastic vs cast aluminum. Other than that I guess everything else is the same.
 
Ok so little man has been sleeping and I ran out to check my secondary on he carb. Last week I put a paper clip on the arm to test and see if the it was working. After about 4 days of city driving and today driving 60 miles of hwy it IS NOT working. Looks like I got some carb troubleshooting to do.
 
so back before i moved from IN to CO the 60 got 12mpg. Jim's carb and dizzy with a fresh rebuilt motor. Now at elevation with the HAC hooked up I'm starting to look at a new mpg. GJ is at 4500. Will update you with new numbers after I fill up.


update edit Jan 17, 2017 08:22am: O...and I have rebuilt my carb just 1 month ago.
 
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so back before i moved from IN to CO the 60 got 12mpg. Jim's carb and dizzy with a fresh rebuilt motor. Now at elevation with the HAC hooked up I'm starting to look at a new mpg. GJ is at 4500. Will update you with new numbers after I fill up.

Thanks @Cruiser Jimmy much appreciated. This is new as of the recent trip over the hill, prior to I was getting 10mpg avg.
 
Took some time to clean ONE of the seats today, was freaking 27* out so trying to clean them with a carpet shampoors furniture attachment made for some very cold hands. The passenger seat looked like an entire 2liter of cola exploded on it at some point. Didnt really take much in the way of before pictures but here is what it looks like afterwards. Took about an hour and a half to clean it to the point where no more brown water was coming off the seat. Looks really good though now, hands just got too damn cold to do the drivers seat.

Yesterday when I got them home...
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

Today with the passenger seat being the cleaned one.
Untitled by Greg Fisicaro, on Flickr

Note all the stains and nasty-ness on the drivers seat. I DID take some good close-up photos of it after I had cleaned the passenger. Hopefully when I get some more time in a week or so the temps will be higher so I wont freeze my hands.
 
Ok so little man has been sleeping and I ran out to check my secondary on he carb. Last week I put a paper clip on the arm to test and see if the it was working. After about 4 days of city driving and today driving 60 miles of hwy it IS NOT working. Looks like I got some carb troubleshooting to do.
I recently discovered the same thing on my carb. The diaphragm that operates the secondary is all dry and cracked. I tried to fix it by smearing it with silicon to fill in the cracks but I think it's too creased. Cruiseroutfitters is the only place I've found that sells the 81-87 diaphragm, but it's $32.50 for aftermarket or $57.50 for oem.
 
I recently discovered the same thing on my carb. The diaphragm that operates the secondary is all dry and cracked. I tried to fix it by smearing it with silicon to fill in the cracks but I think it's too creased. Cruiseroutfitters is the only place I've found that sells the 81-87 diaphragm, but it's $32.50 for aftermarket or $57.50 for oem.

Do we need to have a carb diaphram sale? $10/diaphram if you buy a carb kit?
 
Actually NAPA sells one and it was replaced when I rebuilt the carb with the head back this time last year. Not sure what is going on but with it being all of in the 20s and 30s lately I really need the truck. Can't afford to take it down to rebuild the carb and see what is going on. Going to test the HAC when I get a chance to see if it is operating properly.

The secondary not working could explain the horrible gas mileage. Literally dropped from 10-12mpg in town to now about 6mpg. But does a lot better when I do long trips. I had adjusted the timing right before all this started but it was a very minor tweak, maybe retarding it a couple degrees max.
 

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