1969 Galaxie 500 - BBF high school/college kid build

[BBR]

Fluids - trans, rear end, power steering, water

but... Judd is out of town for a week! I'm dying here!

[BBR]

Great afternoon in the shop!! It sounds so angry with open headers!!
We had issues with slow cranking. Thought it might be the old starter we used so we decided to swap it with the new style one on Greenbean. Then we found out the starter would not come out. We had to pull a motor mount bolt and raise the engine up so it would come out. The new starter is much smaller and is no problem to r&r.

Once that was done, we realized it was really just a weak battery problem. We grabbed another battery and it lit off after a couple of tries. We had a few minor problems to correct like a leaking carb metering block gasket and the front float level. There are a few other things to address but we are stoked that it runs!! 40psi warm oil pressure and water temp never got over 170.

Whoo hoo!!

https://youtu.be/c-U1zKWNINA

[BBR]

Vid

[Russell]

Sounds good, now we're is the burn out video?

[BBR]

Haha! Trying to get the little stuff sorted out first. We had leaks on the fuel pump to carb line and on a transmission line. I checked the alternator and it is working great and the battery spins it over easy peasy after a good charge. Transmission is a big question mark right now. It turns the tires in D, but R is no workie. We may still not have enough fluid in it.

It is still dripping from the secondary boosters. I tried everything I could think of today but it still did it. The last theory is that it simply just has too much fuel pressure. It bounces over 9psi when running. I have a reg, but we ran out of time to install it today. It idles good when the secondary bowl is empty, then it starts loading up when the booster start dripping.

Man this thing lights off *right now* and sounds wicked in person. The exhaust shakes everything in the car. Pretty cool.

[BBR]

I correctly adjusted the 2nd gear band and now we have all forward gears and reverse!

We added the regulator and it helped. I set it at 6 psi and could prob go a little lower. I also discovered a vacuum line that was not plugged, but we didn't have time to run it after I plugged it.

[Deaf Bob]

Ruining trannys often.. generally you have reverse and not forward. Glad to see a band adjustment was what you needed,
have used regulators and in town I set it to 4, on the highway it starved and needed it set to 6 or7., of course your experience likely varies

[BBR]

Whaaaahooo!!!!!!! First drive!!!!

[BBR]

Back in the shop. Hood fits, doesn't get hot, oil pressure is good, new front wheels and tires on!

Good times with Judd!! No burnout because the rear tires are suuuuper duper sketchy and because I think the trans is low on fluid.

Need to monkey with the carb a little, check trans fluid and adjust brakes.

[65RHDEER]

Well done, no doubt that's a big block!

Yes she is a bit rich

[BBR]

I keep watching the video over and over. I actually expected it to be running/driving about a month or so ago, but Judd just didn't have the free time available to get there. This has been the quickest project from non-running to running I have ever been a part of. Stuff I deal with usually takes years. Haha.

We *might* throw the slicks on it and haul it out to Amarillo Dragway on Friday if we can get a few little details squared away, like the carb. I think I have the giant accel pump squirters still in it, so it barfs some black smoke. PVCR's may be a skosh too big too. They were opened up a little for the blow thru. Timing is locked and it should be set at 30ish degrees. We will throw a light on it and prob set it to 33 or 34. We need to finish the battery hold down too.

I am stoked that the trans works. We have not done any WOT throttle shifts with it, so that is still a question mark. Maybe it will be fine.

[BBR]

I messed with it last night and honestly raised more questions than I answered. Haha. I did drill and tap the PVCR's to accept brass set screws so I could adjust them. They were drilled to 0.075" for the blow thru, which is big for a na application. Stock is around 0.055-0.059". The PVCR is sort of like a power valve jet. Bigger = more fuel when PV opens. I drilled the brass screws to 0.055". I also put the stock size accel pump squirters (28) back in. These changes leaned it out a ton. Too much really. It started spitting back thru the carb (sometimes with flame) when the throttle was yanked open. I put the bigger squirters back in and it helped a lot. PVCR's could probably be a little bigger. I might drill them to 0.059 or 0.060.

First though, I am going to double double check the float levels because I just don't think I have them right yet.

I also learned that the inductive pick-up on some timing lights have an arrow that indicate which side should face the spark plug. Never though it mattered. Apparently it does. Weird.

[BBR]

Tuning progress! I put a timing light on it last night and it was super erratic. That is what send me down the path to learn about timing light pick ups. Today we were trying to free rev the car and it just wouldn't rev. Tach was inop but revs would just hit a wall. I figure it was around 3500 rpm. Just like the video above when Judd hits the gas, it just goes flat. Judd fixed the tach. He had the + wired to the same circuit as the reverse lights, but on the switched side. So the tach only worked when the car was in reverse.

I adjusted the floats a little, played with the idle mixture, closed the rear throttle plates a skosh (they were pulling enough air to make the booster drip) and hooked up a vacuum gauge to see what it was doing. It pulls 17-18" of mercury at idle.

On a hunch, I we ran an additional ground wire from the HEI to a carb stud. Put the timing light on it and the timing was now DEAD stable. Night and day difference. It probably was not getting a good ground thru the painted block. We checked and it seems to free rev fine now.

[BBR]

This car was last on the road in 2002. One year before Judd was born. Last night it made it's first passes down a dragstrip. We fought issues with carb and ignition all evening but we had a blast anyway. Judd worked his butt off on this thing and it was good to get to finally enjoy it.

I was worried about the trans and converter, but they really worked great! Car was cutting 2.00 60 foot times. I was pretty happy with that considering this thing prob weighs 4200 at the line.

Man, this car is rad.

[andy30thz]

Thats AWESOME!! It sucks he has to leave soon and won't have much time to dial it in, but just getting it together and hitting the strip is a HUGE accomplishment!
It is super impressive that you guys basically started with a roller and have a functioning car in a pretty short time.
Not sure how it works for him...once he is gone, I'm assuming he will be gone for quite a while? At least you guys got to hammer this out before he begins the next chapter of life!