Project - Not so Nice (4 Viewers)

[roadstr6]

That cap shouldn't blow off (obviously). I have had bad luck with those rubber caps. They tend to crack and fall off. The shiny nylon ones work much better and last a long time. Most of the nylon ones I have found were red, white and blue. I just install them and paint them black with testors and a brush so they don't look so...um...patriotic.

It sounds like you have some vacuum leaks. The intake/exhaust manifold to head is a common source of problems. Check that area for leaks. Try a Remflex gasket there if you have leaks.

You could do a compression check to determine whether you did the valve adjustment correctly.

I have not read all 33 pages of your build so I will ask, what's the status of the carb? Has it been rebuilt? You may need to do some tweaking to get it dialed in. I prefer to use the Trollhole carb for its simplicity. Fewer ports to plug in a desmogged application. Is your idle circuit working properly? Accelerator pump giving a good solid squirt?

Unless you sent the distributor out for a recurve, it is set up for a smogged application and that is fine. You will want to run the vacuum from the base of the carb to the outer port (secondary port) of the districbutor. Otherwise, you will get too much advance.

The truck looks spectacular. Great job! You'll get these pesky details ironed out in no time. Impressive work, man. Very impressive.

 

[S4Cruiser]

That cap shouldn't blow off (obviously). I have had bad luck with those rubber caps. They tend to crack and fall off. The shiny nylon ones work much better and last a long time. Most of the nylon ones I have found were red, white and blue. I just install them and paint them black with testors and a brush so they don't look so...um...patriotic.

- noted...I've got some patriotic ones in the cabinet I can try if this one goes missing again.

It sounds like you have some vacuum leaks. The intake/exhaust manifold to head is a common source of problems. Check that area for leaks. Try a Remflex gasket there if you have leaks.

- Possible and I will check to be sure. I had the head machine flat and the intake / exhaust manifold machine flat to hopefully mitigate this. Used a oem gasket, replaced studs and used new bolts. Torque when installing but definitely will recheck...I've found more then a couple bolts that were torqued now needing tightening.

You could do a compression check to determine whether you did the valve adjustment correctly.

- Also on the list and hopefully I can get this done tonight. Have a NIB otc gauge set to use!

I have not read all 33 pages of your build so I will ask, what's the status of the carb? Has it been rebuilt? You may need to do some tweaking to get it dialed in. I prefer to use the Trollhole carb for its simplicity. Fewer ports to plug in a desmogged application. Is your idle circuit working properly? Accelerator pump giving a good solid squirt?

- Carb was rebuilt by @FJ40Jim in 2010 and has been in a box the entire time minus @mtweller using it for his bench motor test run. There could possibly be junk in there from storage but it will be the last item I check. Jim is a carb wizard and the rest of the fuel system is brand new (pump, lines, hoses, tank, filter, etc.).

Unless you sent the distributor out for a recurve, it is set up for a smogged application and that is fine. You will want to run the vacuum from the base of the carb to the outer port (secondary port) of the districbutor. Otherwise, you will get too much advance.

- Good point and no this distributor is stock (no recurve). I do have a JimC recurved dizzy NIB that I can swap in if needed. The vac pot on the one I'm running seemed to check out when I tested its function. Hose is connected as you indicated with a 1 way valve b/w carb and dizzy. I will recheck and make sure I didn't install the valve backwards.

The truck looks spectacular. Great job! You'll get these pesky details ironed out in no time. Impressive work, man. Very impressive.

Thanks and great points above, I've added comments under your specific items for both my tracking and providing details.

 

[mtweller]

On the carb... when I used it, it purred right out of the box. I used VERY fresh fuel from a plastic 5G cell and drained the carb completely when done. IIRC, you have a known clean tank and all new lines... I don't think you'll find the issue there.

As far as the 2nd gear thing goes.... I was able to accelerate no problem in all gears, but there is a pretty big spread there, so expect a pretty big drop in RPM. That's the beauty of a tuned 2F though - torque is still there when you are low in the RPM band. Rev that 2nd out a little further than you might be used to, but honestly I'm putting my money on the ah-ha moment being driving it after you have your vacuum leaks fixed.

R

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Can a vacuum port create pressure and pop off a vacuum cap??? That sounds like a problem in of itself...

Do you have a turbo or supercharger? No? Then it's constantly under vacuum (get it, vacuum port) and won't pop off. You probably knocked it off accidentally when working on that side.

Stop overthinking. Drive it again with that vacuum port plugged and don't change anything else until that's done. Surprised it ran at all with that vacuum port unplugged. That would cause a very, very lean condition in the engine.

 

[S4Cruiser]

...but honestly I'm putting my money on the ah-ha moment being driving it after you have your vacuum leaks fixed.

R

Thinking the same.

Stop overthinking.

But that's so hard for me to do!!

Drive it again with that vacuum port plugged and don't change anything else until that's done.

Plan to either tonight or tomorrow when I work from home.

Surprised it ran at all with that vacuum port unplugged. That would cause a very, very lean condition in the engine.

Me too!

 

[S4Cruiser]

Got a chance to do some troubleshooting this afternoon. Spent most of the time fighting a stripped exhaust flange stud. Eventual solution was the weld a nut to it and bang the s*** out of it with my big impact. Unfortunatley when it finally let loose the impact slung it to somewhere it can't be found...looked for almost an hour and nada.

Capped that vacuum port and took a drive. Idles better but still issues. Driving performance is still very poor.

Checked vacuum at idle and it's really low. ~13" but fairly steady. Idle rpm is low at 400. I think my issue may be valves are way out of adjustment. I adjusted them before but maybe I totally fxxxed it up . I've done some reading and it seems possible that a horribly adjusted intake valve to actually push air into the carb and is maybe why that vacuum cap went missing.

So...going to go back to basics here. Adjust valves, verify timing then recheck vacuum at idle.

 

[White Stripe]

Sounds like a good place to start troubleshooting.

 

[Trollhole]

at 13 you will never have enough vacuum to open the secondary's. Does it run better if the choke is pulled out a little? If so look for vacuum leaks and adjust valves when the engine is hot. Could also retard timing to 9 degree and see how it does. Sometimes too much advance can cause the same symptoms.

 

[S4Cruiser]

All better! Root issue was being a tooth off on the dizzy. Relatively easy fix.

Readjusted all valves and set static timing based on ear and vacuum with 650 idle. Validated with timing gun and ended up being ~8* a 9*. Vacuum is now steady at 19.5"ish.

Totally different truck from a sound and driving performance perspective. It's like I got a big ol v8 under the hood .

Took it for a spin to the gas station and I unfortunately have some serious death wobble. It's not constant but I hit some bumps crossing an intersection and holy s*** . Need to do some reading on common causes.

I rechecked u-bolts and they weren't loose but weren't spot on from a torque standpoint. Re-torqued to 105lbs.

My shackle bolts were most definitely not tight. I'm running nylocs so they were just snug. I did torque to 58lbs but that just seems really tight?? Maybe this was my issue.

 

[74fj40]

That’s great news!! What size ubolts are they?

 

[S4Cruiser]

That’s great news!! What size ubolts are they?

Ruffsuff 5/8" versions with their .375" plates.

 

[74fj40]

Crap I read your post wrong. I though you said ubolts were loose. My bad.

Are you sure you have enough preload on the trunion bearings? How much caster do you have?

 

[S4Cruiser]

Crap I read your post wrong. I though you said ubolts were loose. My bad.

Are you sure you have enough preload on the trunion bearings? How much caster do you have?

We will see. I'm going to go through all those basics again today. Wheel bearing and trunion preload, verify toe, etc.

I don't recall exactly what I set castor to when doing the cut and turn but followed the guides here. I don't think caster would creat DW, but I'm no suspension expert either...obviously . Is there a way to check caster without taking it to a shop (other then tearing down knuckles and using the gauge on the top trunion bearing race)?

 

[74fj40]

I would agree that it wouldnt initiate dw but it may exacerbate it.

Maybe on the bottom trunion cap? Or if your steering arm is totally flat that may work. I don’t know if it will be 100% accurate but may give you a close idea.

 

[S4Cruiser]

Knock on wood...my wobble is now gone.

Reset wheel bearing preload on both front sides. Drivers side wheel bearing had some noticable play. I went with land tanks method of 48#, rotate forward and backward 10 times, loosen and then tighten to 10#. Install star washer and torque outer nut to 48#. Will need to checke hub temps the next few times I drive to make sure they aren't too warm.

Retorqued TREs to 45#. Some got a bit more to line up cotter pins.

Checked alignment and I was 1/16" toe in. Set to 3/16" toe in. Forgot to check caster...but I have on my list to take in for a professional job and get numbers. I think I'm fine as the steering is not 'twitchy' like I recall my 80 was with FOR springs and just yellow bushings.

Took a longer drive and handling is much improved. No discernible wobble even hitting bumps at 45-50mph. Steering also feels tighter.

I do think I have an exhaust leak, but nothing major. Hope to drive it to work one day this week and enjoy it around town.

 

[jfz80]

Nice fix...... time to enjoy a bit more every day.

10# isnt too heavy. I would def monitor but not be concerned about heat build up. If anything with those bigger tires id consider going 20-25lb on inner adj nut and the std 47/8 on the lock washer. Ive been running mine at 25 with no ill effects yet.

 

[S4Cruiser]

Nice fix...... time to enjoy a bit more every day.

10# isnt too heavy. I would def monitor but not be concerned about heat build up. If anything with those bigger tires id consider going 20-25lb on inner adj nut and the std 47/8 on the lock washer. Ive been running mine at 25 with no ill effects yet.

Cool. I'll check them again in a couple weeks. If I do experience any wobble again then I'll definitely go heavier on the inner nut.

 

[S4Cruiser]

So yeah...I've got a decent oil leak from the front timing cover. I'm thinking it's likely from the lower two larger bolts. I thought / prayed that I was doing everything as I should but guess not.

Would removing those two bolts create a mess or just drain out a minor amount?

Would removing said bolts and slobbering them up with hylomar and then reinstalling be worth a shot or am I fxxxed...stuck with a leak until I pull tons of s*** off the front and redo the gasket, etc.?

 

[mtweller]

So yeah...I've got a decent oil leak from the front timing cover. I'm thinking it's likely from the lower two larger bolts. I thought / prayed that I was doing everything as I should but guess not.

Would removing those two bolts create a mess or just drain out a minor amount?

Would removing said bolts and slobbering them up with hylomar and then reinstalling be worth a shot or am I ****ed...stuck with a leak until I pull tons of s*** off the front and redo the gasket, etc.?

Look and see if there is any oil on the "snout" where the crank pulley seal resides in the timing cover. I took everything apart and was more than careful, replaced that seal, and STILL have a leak there. I'm living with it for now b/c it's a pain and I still don't know what I'd do different.

 

[S4Cruiser]

Look and see if there is any oil on the "snout" where the crank pulley seal resides in the timing cover. I took everything apart and was more than careful, replaced that seal, and STILL have a leak there. I'm living with it for now b/c it's a pain and I still don't know what I'd do different.

I'll check and report back. When you pulled everything part did you notice grooving like what a speedy sleeve would fix? I was sure to check when mine was apart and mine seemed.

How much does yours leak? Mine is noticable but not bad enough to see it drip but a decent Mark on cardboard. Pita for sure.