Buinicorn the 1964 Skylark wagon sleeper

[SuperBuickGuy]

the most important tools to work with electronics


what grease looks like when it's no longer good.... not shiney


as you can clearly see in this picture, the head bolts have been torqued to 25/50/75 for the big bolts and 25 for the small bolts


more picture taking goodness, what you see here is a head bolt with 4 slots cut into it so it can be used as a ream.... ARP wants $53 for a ream, yeah, no



time to pull injectors and get bathed in gas....



pulled, this is the moment I realize I don't have new seals

[65RHDEER]

Finding a fix that was just something you missed that didn't stuff other things up is a win.

When something like this happens you think about the thinking time you've wasted working out how you were going to fix the problem you didn't even have!

I had one yesterday, a CV joint in a tailsharft, couldn't workout how the flange was retained, then it dawned on me, hit the flange with a hammer to compress the internal clip!

[SuperBuickGuy]

oops.... I thought I'd pushed the lifters down, I didn't... they work fine and I've ordered the upgraded pushrods

I'm not sure the gasket is going to work better then the o-rings.... fight for another day, though
you can see the valve covers don't clear - ordered new valve covers (which were actually cheaper then a 1/2" spacer)





in other news, I'm going to use the microsquirt to control the 4L80e - when I looked for a wagon before, I was thinking of putting the 430 TT motor in it; I may do that to break in the 430 motor - bonus is it would literally be plug and play since the wiring and sensors will be the same - I just have to think about wire length when I wire up the motor. The benefit, to catch people up, is it makes the motor or trans different units - to the point I may use two sensors (the trans controller needs water temp, rpm and tps) - if I use MS on all the various motors, it's a can bus connection; however, I may avoid that so I can keep the flexibility

[65RHDEER]

The issue with the rockers I think comes down to the final geometry. Looks to me like they would be easy to shim higher if they need that, they look to have plenty of bolt.
I assume the "sit to low" is regarding the pushrod length, shorter pushrods.

I feel I'm not telling you anything you haven't already thought about

As per normal they just doesn't fit like the stock ones did!

[SuperBuickGuy]

alright, here's your porn pictures....



and a gratuitous money shot


there, y'all happy now? good, now wipe the drool off

[SuperBuickGuy]

I like the idea of 2 Microsquirts, but then again, I'm the guy who bought the Microsquirt module because I wanted to mount it in an EEC-IV case so I could run factory wiring and mounting points. As far as I'm concerned it's the cheapest, fastest way to get a pretty reliable EFI system set up. I've never messed with transmission control but I imagine at this point most people have gotten the hard parts figured out, especially with GM stuff. Plus after you get a manual in the buinicorn and the FJ injection craps out again you could just MS it.

I haven't spent a lot of time driving the FiTech in the '40 but I like the newfound power that the FiTech brought (and better fuel economy)
As for a manual - while if I was still in the space where I needed an excuse to reach between the honey's legs to shift my car; perhaps I'd be all over that - however, I'm married, I want to be fast, and it's so much easier to keep the bench so my wife can sit close without the issues that arise when you miss a shift and drive the shift ball into her knee.... back in the dating days, I'd probably get away with that... now? unlikely.

[hauen]

I like the idea of 2 Microsquirts, but then again, I'm the guy who bought the Microsquirt module because I wanted to mount it in an EEC-IV case so I could run factory wiring and mounting points. As far as I'm concerned it's the cheapest, fastest way to get a pretty reliable EFI system set up. I've never messed with transmission control but I imagine at this point most people have gotten the hard parts figured out, especially with GM stuff. Plus after you get a manual in the buinicorn and the FJ injection craps out again you could just MS it.

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'm sure you already knew this, but Microsquirt will run a 4LX0e with a software change, they have pre-built harnesses now so you don't have to roll your own anymore.

true, but with full sauce a MSpro with 24x wiring harness and a microsquirt with its harness is $2,300. I'm also pondering running 2 microsquirts, that's $500 (for the wiring harness and microsquirt) with the wiring harness then I splice a microsquirt to run the LS motor as the video I posted... that benefit is it makes the motor modular so I could put a V6 or the 430 or the LS in the car without having to make changes to the trans.... I like that thought a lot.

the other thing, which is a fair bit more work, is run it all with a few arduino controllers for the transmission (in short, building a MS with open source) but where the benefit is one computer instead of a ECM and TCM since the Microsquirt can control both...

and I suppose the biggest benefit or detriment is the microsquirt has no trouble with a cable-actuated throttle.

I guess from all of this - if I was going to leave the LS in the car, using the GM system would put me miles ahead because then I'm just refining not creating a tune from scratch.

[hauen]

I'm sure you already knew this, but Microsquirt will run a 4LX0e with a software change, they have pre-built harnesses now so you don't have to roll your own anymore.

[SuperBuickGuy]

and maybe the most important thing.... I have a Microsquirt that I was going to use on the FJ40.... zero new dollars and zero new cents is very attractive

feel free to discuss here

- and as he mentioned in the video - the transmission could be the issue. I can buy a GM pre-wired harness from 150tunes for $550 - and that is already wired to run the 4L80e.... that said, this motor is temporary to the car (whatever that means) and my goal is a no-limits 3800 V6 - which leads to transmission concerns..... and I have the 200r4....

[74NovaMan]

the issue with the rockers - there's a cast piece that holds the stock rockers in place - that has a radius to match the rocker. The new rockers come tied together and have spacers - ostensibly to replace that part - but that puts the rockers way too low.... so I dunno, time to phone and find out what to do.

I'm watching with great interest (my rockers will be going back). Do the stock covers fit over yours? They look very tall from here.

[65RHDEER]

So where's the close up picture of the rockers?

[SuperBuickGuy]

so I spent some time on the motor.... glad I did because I need to call the rocker manufacturer and find out what they were thinking

first front cover install (and oil pan)

and water pump


lifter install


then onto figuring out push rod length


the issue with the rockers - there's a cast piece that holds the stock rockers in place - that has a radius to match the rocker. The new rockers come tied together and have spacers - ostensibly to replace that part - but that puts the rockers way too low.... so I dunno, time to phone and find out what to do.

[SuperBuickGuy]

so there will never be a day when they build skins for 4 door 64/5 Buicks, and this skin is a billion times better then what came with the car.... so a skinning I will go

and drill a bunch of spot welds off

I even saved the bottom of the door because it's not rusted out.... probably overkill, but it wasn't more work

and a skin

[SuperBuickGuy]

assembly continues
pistons in holes


high dollar crank turner

pan test fit after installing the oil pump

notice no oil pump spacing.... I did a check, GM doesn't say to space, and some guy on Corvette Forum, who owns Mastiffs, said he didn't space them either.
Mastiff owners know it all, so I went with it.
and you all think Google is my final authority
heads look nice on there, too bad I bought the wrong ARP bolts