Old Bessie's Build Thread (1 Viewer)

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Great to get it running again!

There's still a few gnats pestering the engine...

The carb bowl vapor vent (circled in green below) needs to either be connected properly to the Outer Vent Control Valve (working correctly on the charcoal canister) or that pipe needs to be plugged.

Starting the engine can be more difficult when that pipe is left open to atmosphere and it needs to be blocked off (either by the OVC valve as designed or with a plug. If it's plugged, make sure that the distributor venting VCV on the passenger side air cleaner is working, otherwise there's a risk of blowing up the distributor cap. (carb vapors will fill air cleaner housing & end up in distributor).
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The Choke Opener vacuum tubing doesn't look like its plumbed correctly. It needs a vacuum source. The 3 pipes jutting out of the air cleaner housing above the carb aren't vacuum sources, just sources of clean air. See the Choke Opener section in the emissions FSM.
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Also the EVAP VCV doesn't look like its plumbed correctly either. But it's hard to tell by the picture. Port S on the VCV needs to ultimately get it's vacuum source from the advancer port in the carb. See EVAP in emissions FSM.
 
@OSS Thanks for your help here and guiding me to get it 100% right.

Great to get it running again!

There's still a few gnats pestering the engine...

The carb bowl vapor vent (circled in green below) needs to either be connected properly to the Outer Vent Control Valve (working correctly on the charcoal canister) or that pipe needs to be plugged.

I got that done.... this picture was a little older and not the final product.


Starting the engine can be more difficult when that pipe is left open to atmosphere and it needs to be blocked off (either by the OVC valve as designed or with a plug. If it's plugged, make sure that the distributor venting VCV on the passenger side air cleaner is working, otherwise there's a risk of blowing up the distributor cap. (carb vapors will fill air cleaner housing & end up in distributor).
View attachment 1531105

The Choke Opener vacuum tubing doesn't look like its plumbed correctly. It needs a vacuum source. The 3 pipes jutting out of the air cleaner housing above the carb aren't vacuum sources, just sources of clean air. See the Choke Opener section in the emissions FSM.
View attachment 1531106




Also the EVAP VCV doesn't look like its plumbed correctly either. But it's hard to tell by the picture. Port S on the VCV needs to ultimately get it's vacuum source from the advancer port in the carb. See EVAP in emissions FSM.

On the carb bowl vapor vent.... I got that done... this picture is a little older and not the final product.

On the choke opener... this is throwing me.... I followed the How to Desmog guide and you can see in the picture attached that it looks like it should go to the air filter. But reading the FSM as you suggested it's clear that's not right. Also, I noticed on @mwebfj60 drawing here that it goes to the BVSV.

SO.... what's a guy to do? Am I misreading that how to guide or could it be dated and wrong?

On the EVAP VCV.... I have to get out in the daylight tomorrow to take a close look at how I routed these lines. Thanks for catching this!

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The how to desmog guide removes one of the bvsv. In that case, most people just cap the choke opener or in the guide to air cleaner. I've seen some carbs come back from 'carb' guy's with the choke opener removed for a desmog rebuild. I'm not sure where this thought process originated, before my time. I preferred to keep both BVSVs and retain a properly functioning choke opener. It's not a necessary component with a manual choke but I do like having the throttle control without engaging the choke.
 
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The how to desmog guide removes one of the bvsv. In that case, most people just cap the choke opener or in the guide to air cleaner. I've seen some carbs come back from 'carb' guy's with the choke opener removed for a desmog rebuild. I'm not sure where this thought process originated, before my time. I preferred to keep both BVSVs and retain a properly functioning choke opener. It's not a necessary component with a manual choke but I do like having the throttle control without engaging the choke.
Got it... makes total sense now. It sounds like the way that you routed things that you kept your choke opener functioning and mine is just sitting and doing nothing. Which I think is ok since I have the manual choke. I guess I could just cap off that line instead of running it to the air cleaner which would eliminate one of the lines in my engine bay.
 
@OSS Thanks again for your help on this desmog. I went back out to the truck and checked that VCV s port routing. It does go to the BVSV which is what the guide says to do. Seems to be running good and no vacuum leaks so I am not sure what's the best course of action here. Any thoughts on this document and the accuracy of it?

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Good. Section 4.4 in that guide is correct. It's was difficult to see in your pic which port on the EVAP VCV lead up to the air cleaner. Always good to double check! Good show!
 
Good. Section 4.4 in that guide is correct. It's was difficult to see in your pic which port on the EVAP VCV lead up to the air cleaner. Always good to double check! Good show!
Perfect! Thanks brother.
 
It's been a couple of weeks since I got Old Bessie all back together. I have noticed a slight whistle sound on acceleration. A new vacuum test shows that that the vacuum is still good.

I think that it's probably time to retighten the manifold to the head. But I can't seem to find a way to do it now that the carb is back on. Any tricks to this? Does the carb need to come back off to do it?
 
It's been a couple of weeks since I got Old Bessie all back together. I have noticed a slight whistle sound on acceleration. A new vacuum test shows that that the vacuum is still good.

I think that it's probably time to retighten the manifold to the head. But I can't seem to find a way to do it now that the carb is back on. Any tricks to this? Does the carb need to come back off to do it?

Yep... that carb has to come off before you can get to all the nuts and bolts of the manifolds. Don't worry though, getting it all back together again goes twice as fast, now that you know what you're doing. Good work!
 
It's been a couple of weeks since I got Old Bessie all back together. I have noticed a slight whistle sound on acceleration. A new vacuum test shows that that the vacuum is still good.

I think that it's probably time to retighten the manifold to the head. But I can't seem to find a way to do it now that the carb is back on. Any tricks to this? Does the carb need to come back off to do it?
If you're just looking to retorque the manifolds to head bolts, you can do it with the carb on. The 17mm with extension will fit underneath the carb insulator to get to the two upper stud nuts. It's a tight fit and I definitely recommend an extension with a locking end so you don't pull the socket off on the way out.
 
If you're just looking to retorque the manifolds to head bolts, you can do it with the carb on. The 17mm with extension will fit underneath the carb insulator to get to the two upper stud nuts. It's a tight fit and I definitely recommend an extension with a locking end so you don't pull the socket off on the way out.

Or if no locking extension... use a strip of duct tape on the socket to the extension or you'll lose it. Marc ^^^ gave me that tip too.
 
Good to know @mwebfj60 and @NeverGiveUpYota . I will give that a try. I tried to get the socket in there but it seemed too tight to fit back to the nut. I'll try again. And I don't have the locking extension so thanks for the duct tape trick!
Good to know @mwebfj60 and @NeverGiveUpYota . I will give that a try. I tried to get the socket in there but it seemed too tight to fit back to the nut. I'll try again. And I don't have the locking extension so thanks for the duct tape trick!
Just keep it thin or it'll be too fat to wedge in there and overlap the socket at least half its length or it will get stuck and possibly not get pulled back out. Take my word. I used the crappy silver duct tape. Maybe one turn of gorilla tape could do it too.
 
Alright.... I finally got around to tightening down my manifold again tonight. Those bolts are hard to get to with everything on there but I think I did it. I tried the gorilla tape trick but it was too thick to fit back to the bolt. So I got a locking extension at Northern Tool today and I was all set.

Most of the bolts were already tight so I don't know if it will fix my whistle or not. I should find out tomorrow when I get it a drive. I'll keep you all posted.
 
Just a quick update on Old Bessie....

No whistle after tightening down the bolts for the manifold again. I think that fixed the whistle!
 
Here's a quick update on Old Bessie. She's been running great since the de-smog. I have noticed a little stronger exhaust smell when I have the windows down but I figured that was expected after a desmog. No big deal.

I did have some challenges with my clutch that the good members of MUD help me to solve. All of the details are here: Clutch adjustment question.

For a brief summary here's what happened. I started the truck up one cold morning and noticed that the clutch felt like it would not engage and the pedal pushed straight down to the floor without any resisitance. I decided to adjust the clutch pedal. That helped a little and I pumped the pedal some which seemed to increase the pressure but still it didn't seem right.

The good folks of MUD helped me realize that I should just replace my Clutch Master Cylinder and the Slave Master. That only costs me about $100 from Cruiser Corps.

The hydraulic fluid in the master cylinder was nasty looking. See pic here. So I flush all of that old fluid out when I bled the clutch. I noticed dirt in it when it was bleeding out so I think dirt must of gotten in the there.

It's all clean now and working like a champ!

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