[i]Back [/i] on the road again.

[yellomalibu]

Brian (or any other mod?), please feel free to move this to the Project Cars Update section. I think I posted this in the wrong section.

[Scott Liggett]

I was a slacker- no pics. Sorry.

...and before I reinstall the power steering, inner fenders, sway bar, change the gears, etc., I will take it to the track to see what it runs.

haha. Keeping track of how much slower all the mods back to street status makes the car. Kinda backwards of those mag articles.

I'm betting it will not be much slower.

[R442]

crap. spent 20 minutes typing out part 2, then hit the wrong button. Poof, gone. grrr.

I did this twice before I figured out to copy it first and then hit the button.

[yellomalibu]

The 14:1 motor we pulled out was one I bought as a ready to go short block from a trustworthy person who travels the NHRA circuit. It had good rods and pistons, arp (4 bolt) main studs, was balanced, had lots of attention to detail work done - like smoothing out the casting in the lifter valley... but one of the things that it apparently didn't have done was to have been bored and honed with a plate.

During disassembly, you could clearly see where the carbon went around the rings and where it didn't; and the head bolts distorting the top of the cylinder walls was clearly the problem. That's probably the main reason that motor never ran as well as we had hoped. Low tension rings in out-of-round holes do not seal very well.

I'm keeping that block. If it sonic tests okay, I'll have it bored/honed to .040+ with a plate, and it will once again be a nice piece. It is below zero deck height, but thick gaskets can take care of that.

[yellomalibu]

haha. Keeping track of how much slower all the mods back to street status makes the car. Kinda backwards of those mag articles.

I'm betting it will not be much slower.

It is pretty much the same motor it was when it ran 11.20's before. Different converter could make it quicker/ faster. Different intake may help. Not trying to spin it to the moon with the little AFR 195's, could help... and the timing is set to where AFR's seem to always be on dyno tests.

I expect it to be a little slower - like 11.30's, but a little part of me hopes or wishes that it goes out there and surprises me with a 10.96; giving me the fastest et I've ever had.

P.S. I like that the new website doesn't put quote in a quote in a quote in a quote. Just the one person you're quoting, thank you.

[oldsman71]

sweet!!!!! glad you got it back together!!

[yellomalibu]

Took it to the track this evening. I was somewhat secretly hoping it would be just as fast as it was before, even though I did things to slow it down... but no, it was slow. Consistent, but slow. Before, it had many 7.0 and 7.teen passes in the 1/8th mile @ 94 - 95mph. This evening, I got two good passes (and one junk pass) that were very close... close enough to bracket race this thing again. :/

First pass off the trailer was a 1.693 60' 7.723 @ 89.30
Second pass was a throw away; I screwed up.
Third pass was 1.684 60' 7.704 @89.02

... on 6+ year old slicks.

At first I was dissappointed, but after thinking about it, I am not really unhappy. It's still fast enough on the street, and if I want to go racing it's nice and consistent. I'm sure I could find some more speed/ e.t. in it ... but it will never stop if I start down that road again.

Oh, btw... first hit on the tree was a .001 That made me smile.

[A/Fuel]

I'm guessing you were at Orlando speed world...IT's been a while since I've ben there. I used to know Randy pretty good, probably made over 500 laps there. Where are you at? I used to live in Altamonte Springs.

[yellomalibu]

Yep, I was at Speedworld. I live in Mt. Dora, 50 miles away from the track, give or take.
I hadn't raced there in about 4 years, but between 97 and 2001 I was there every weekend.

I tied my car down on my (open) trailer before first round, betting the rain was going to come. I hate tieing it down in the rain. Their was a tornado warning for the Bithlo area when they started 1st round. Although S/Pro finished first round, Sportsman did not, so I think I gambled correctly - first round was not completed, so it was officially a rain out... and let me tell you, I haven't been outside near that much lightning in a long time. The roundy round track took a direct hit that made sparks like fireworks, and the oak tree right behind the tower at the drag strip got split in half... while I was standing behind a friend's car in the back of his enclosed trailer with the ramp door open.

[Scott Liggett]

Took it to the track this evening. I was somewhat secretly hoping it would be just as fast as it was before, even though I did things to slow it down... but no, it was slow. Consistent, but slow. Before, it had many 7.0 and 7.teen passes in the 1/8th mile @ 94 - 95mph. This evening, I got two good passes (and one junk pass) that were very close... close enough to bracket race this thing again. :/

First pass off the trailer was a 1.693 60' 7.723 @ 89.30
Second pass was a throw away; I screwed up.
Third pass was 1.684 60' 7.704 @89.02

... on 6+ year old slicks.

At first I was dissappointed, but after thinking about it, I am not really unhappy. It's still fast enough on the street, and if I want to go racing it's nice and consistent. I'm sure I could find some more speed/ e.t. in it ... but it will never stop if I start down that road again.

Oh, btw... first hit on the tree was a .001 That made me smile.

According to my math, you're running the equivalent of 11.80's in the 1/4. That is very respectable for a street driver. I wish my car ran that fast.

[yellomalibu]

It didn't take long driving it on the street to really miss having power steering. So, that was this weekend's project.

I kept my power steering setup when I took it off 10ish years ago. It sat in my buddy's garage for about 5 years, and it has sat outside getting rained on for the more recent 5 years. Shameful, I know, but I was told that as long as the system had been sealed it should be ok. The cap was still on the pump and the hoses were still connected, so we'll see...

Step one was to find the bracket that bolts to the head and the exhaust manifold. I had no idea where it was, but found it in a box of misc parts under the bench. Whew.
Step two was to degrease the gearbox, pump, bracket, hoses, etc. Went through half a bottle of purple stuff, and an old toothbrush, but got it degreased.
Step three was to break out my angle grinder with the wire wheel on it, and remove as much rust and stuff as possible. The pulley really needed some attention, but the wire wheel took care of it.
Step four was to blow it off and paint it. Krylon satin black is what I had, so that's what it got. It turned out surprisingly well.

I let it dry over night, and did the swap this morning.

Both the power box and the manual box had pittman arms (and rag joints) on them, so all I had to do was separate the pittman arm from the center link. I have a pickle fork and a 3lb sledge, so no problem. Then unbolt the rag joint from the steering shaft and the manual box is out.
Next I install the power box to the frame, pittman arm, and steering column - making sure the steering wheel is in the same location as it was when I started (which I had made a mental note).
-as I was working on the box, I noticed water was dripping from the pump. Uh oh. I took the cap off and poured a few ounces of water out of the pump. Now a little nervous about the insides of the system being rusted up.

Installing the pump took a while. It didn't take long to figure out where it was supposed to go, but I couldn't remember where there were spacers and what not. The top of the p/s pump bracket bolts to the cylinder head right next to the water pump... but when I dummied it up, it was way wrong - it didn't line up with the other pulleys at all. I think there was a stud and a spacer from the factory that held the bracket away from the head, because after stacking a half inch of washers between the bracket and the head, it finally lined up perfectly.
I just so happened to have a pile of old belts hanging on the wall and one of them just barely fit! Probably a half inch longer than it should be, but it got tight at the very end of the adjustment, so it'll be good enough for now. At this point I don't even know if the stuff still works, I may have to take it back off and reinstall the manual box until I have the money to buy parts.

I pulled the return hose off the gear box and poured a half a quart of fluid through the pump (after loosening the belt so I could spin the pump by hand as I poured the fluid through). Why? Why not?

Then I filled up the pump and fired up the motor to try it out.

I think the valve in the pump was stuck, because it felt like I had no power steering. After working the steering wheel back and forth, then topping off the pump again, if felt a lot better. After reinstalling the alternator belt, I took it for a spin around the block. After a few turns around the neighborhood, if feels just like it used to.

Ahhhh. Power steering, how I missed thee!

The steering wheel is about 90 degrees off, but I can fix that easy enough.

Cost of this weekend's project: about $6.00 for the paint and the transmission fluid.

[Huskinhano]

Nice project! Great to see it being used. May I make a suggestion out the box being 90* off? Don't just pop the wheel off and re-orient it, straighten the linkage out. The reason I say this is because your Ackerman will be off between left and right turns and you may actually have a longer turning radius in one direction then the other because one side will run out of travel quicker.

Really cool car! I love the 68-69's.

[yellomalibu]

Hmmm... I've been typing, googling, and thinking.

Does a steering box have mechanical stops? On the Chevelle, there is a steering stop when the knuckle hits the lower control arm... is that just a back-up in case the box is installed wrong?

When going straight down the road, the pittman arm pretty much has to be straight back (assuming the car was aligned properly before this) because I didn't adjust the tie rod ends. Right? Even if the wheels were turned a little bit or the pittman arm wasn't perfectly straight when the box was installed, wouldn't it would right itself when the car was going straight down the road?

To clarify, the power box and the manual box both have their own pittman arms, which never were removed. The rag joint was removed, but it has a flat side making it nearly impossible to install wrong (I tried).


The more I think about it, the more it seems like I need to just re-clock the steering wheel. Going to extremes is the best way for me to understand things like this. If the box /pittman arm was turned to the left, then I put the center link stud in the pittman arm and somehow got the box bolted to the frame - in doing so it would have moved both the wheels to the left as the box was positioned and tightened into place. When the wheels went back to pointing straight forward, the pittman arm should be straight, too. Right?

*edit* I just checked the manual box, and it does have stops- at about 3.5 turns from center each way. I'll assume the power box does too.

[Scott Liggett]

There should be stops in the box. Center the pitman arm, center the tires, linkage; then bolt together is how I always did it.

[yellomalibu]

Ok, it needs some fixing!

From centered (when the wheels are straight), it takes almost two turns to the left lock. Back to center. It takes about 2 and 1/2 turns to the right lock. (if I didn't mix up my left and right... now I'm not 100% sure which way I went first.)

The passenger side tie rod ends are showing a lot more threads than the drivers side. Not sure how they got that way.

I plan on changing the springs and shocks in the not-too-distant future, I'll try my hand at front end alignments at that time. It drives straight and doesn't pull...so for now I'll just drive it.