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Lord Gruntfuttock

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Everything posted by Lord Gruntfuttock

  1. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Made a start on the mechanicals - pulled carb to inspect, doesn't look too bad apart from a munted air mixture screw that I needed to drill and remove with an ezi-out... Good clean up and replacement parts from Keyster carb kit, but need some bits for petcock as well so had to stop there...
  2. Lord Gruntfuttock
    So got the grille all fitted (apart from driving lights) and pulled carb apart while waiting on bits. Pretty basic old Holley 4160. List # 1850-3, 600cfm, vac secondaries. Think date stamp indicates 1989, as it's prior to the anti backfire check valve that came in around 92. Best thing on this one is the quick-change secondary spring system I fitted yonks ago, means you can swap springs to alter when the secondaries come in pretty quickly... Came apart easy as I'd fitted non-stick blue gaskets last time I played with it. Power valve (65) and main jets, size 66 (Holleys give numbers in thousanths of an inch). Bit misleading after you've played with metric scooter jets... The 4160 is a budget but capable sort of carb, both bowls fed via connecting tube from single fuel inlet, and has a secondary metering plate rather than block and jets. Decoding the plate number gives equivalent secondary jet size as 64... Cracks in plate bothered me though, front has circular pattern that could be casting issue... and looks worse at the back... I don't think these are causing my problems, but good excuse to pimp my carb, so ordered a conversion kit that adds a metering block to the secondary side, Means I can swap jets, and effectively converts 4160 to 4150 model. The kit comes with extra gasket and longer fuel tube to suit. It's about now I realise I've misplaced the carb cleaning brushes I got a week or so ago (while I've got 2 carbs in pieces) so things on hold till I have a good sort out...
  3. Lord Gruntfuttock
    About 10 yrs at one stage. It was bored 30 thou over, did less than 10 thousand miles then sat in my folks garage while I was at uni. No care, just parked and left. Being away from home/lazy it was never rotated so guess no surprise if rings are compromised...
  4. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Been thinkin. Will prob pull engine and get bottom end looked at. Did cold compression test at lunchtime and couple of cylinders increased psi noticeably with a squirt of oil in em. Bit of a bugger but took the gamble all was ok, and guess sitting so long didn't do the poor old girl any favours. Looks like rings gone = blowby. Hopefully a hone/rings and bearings job. Just gotta figure out if I get it warranted and rego'd first. Will rekit carb and see how she runs. I hate rework, but was worth a crack, and I'd rather have some confidence things have been checked, plus we're planning house reno's so this will be last chance to work on it for a while. Ah well.
  5. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Seriously impressed here too. Will watch with interest...
  6. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Nope, stock pump so that's not the prob. Good thought tho...
  7. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Sure did. Just ordered the 37-119 Holley rebuild kit. When I first started it fuel was pissing out but that seemed to come right. Now I'm wondering if it's leaking somewhere and running so rich there's fuel vapour in the crankcase. Oil in catch can is watery and smells fuelie... Can't do any harm anyway. I'll rekit carb and tune it as much as I can, see if there's any improvement.
  8. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Compression test kit arrived at work so shot home at lunchtime to give it a whirl. Torpedo 7 kit, looks pretty good and has adapters so I can do bikes etc.. Got the following results (warm engine and 5-6 compression strokes per cylinder): #1 130 #2 120 #3 128 #4 148 #5 135 #6 136 #7 138 #8 140 A bit of variation and pretty low overall (cam overlap?) but nothing indicating rings are really buggered. I'll recheck them cold as it's possible I was a bit rushed and didn't have connection done up right. Cyl 2 seems an anomaly but the average is around 135psi... Wondering if it's running way too rich though looking at the plugs... Very sooty... Hard to say as it hasn't had a decent run, and it was left idling to warm up while I made up the remote starter switch, and that blackens up plugs. There were some fuel leaks from carb on startup as it'd been sitting for years, but seems to have stopped and I was hoping seals/gaskets had swelled up and all was ok. Might pay to grab a kit and clean/rebuild carb. If the carb is amiss it could explain the fumes and catch can filling maybe. I'll get the list number and order a kit when I get home...
  9. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Had a crack at tuning her up a bit, started with the basics: Checked throttle blades were perpendicular with pedal fully depressed (noticed I need new throttle spring) Float level - just used sight glass on primary, should prob remove screw on secondary side to check it's ok too Accelerator pump linkage - set to have 0.015" free play Then hooked up some gauges and timing light... Timing for initial startup was set around 10 deg BTDC. gave total advance of 28 at 3000rpm (with vacuum advance plugged). Loosened clamp and tried to rotate distributor, was stuck. Had to get strap and vice grips on it to move, bit of a concern as I'd oiled it on install. Anyways, set idle advance to 14 degrees, and now have total of 36, which seems around optimum for these things... And tuned carb idle mix via vacuum method. Connected cheap vac gauge to port on carb and tweaked idle screws together to get max vacuum. Bit tricky but have a base level now at around 18 inches mercury, which I think is pretty good for the cam (drops to around 14 in Park)... And it drives much nicer, smoother all round. Only concern is the bloody catch can is still filling really rapidly. Noticed when tuning there were puffs of mist coming out the breather at low revs. I've ordered a compression test kit so that should say if excessive blowby is due to dodgy rings. Bit of a bugger as it seems to be driving well, we'll see what compression results are before panicking...
  10. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Sprayed the grille with rattle can wheel paint. No idea how this'll go, but it's the right colour and it should be fairly hardy? We'll see how it goes. Scored bonus danger points by spraying near a load of bras and things someone had stuck on my rotary parts holder... Colour looks ok, hopefully just a few clips etc to bang it all back together... And took girls for a spin today. Found this pic from last time it was going... And today - a few changes... I didn't notice but my youngest pointed out she was wearing the same top the older one wore in the first pic. They're funny little buggers, they call it the 'noisy car' and as I started it they ran off and came back with their earmuffs for the ride...
  11. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Been super busy with house stuff but decent day today and was out in the shed at sparrows again. Started with the headlight bits and pieces, went together ok once I deciphered how all the screws/clips went... And put some new engine bay decals on, was going to wait and do this last, but couldn't... And put the lid back on... I'd been putting off sanding back the grille cos I thought it'd be a prick of a job. It was. All bloody angles and sharp edges, cut my hands to bits cleaning up the half-arsed job I did last time... But got there, shiny metal... And used the backyard whirlygig thing as a spray booth Got a good etch coat base on... And look... Shot down the bottly in it's dusty, half done state. Was a good feeling, and I may have dropped a decent old skid on the way back...
  12. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Kids birthday over the weekend so after putting up with half a dozen yelling 7yr old girls on a sleepover (why are they always shouting?) I sought refuge in the shed. Goodbye blue rocker covers... The cork gaskets had stuck fairly well in the short time they'd been on, but popped off ok, and it looked clean enough inside... Apart from a few little bits of black goo. Whatever it was was soft - hoping this is assembly lube remnants...? And side 1 done/new PCV valve installed... Doesn't look too bad I suppose, the big blue frying pan dominates things... And a bit of tidying up to do yet. waiting on black lead clamps and new breather cap in the mail...
  13. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Grabbed a seat off tardme and new cover from Ebay as both seats are pretty well koozed. Donor seat has good base but cover is shagged and has section rubbed off the rear of the foam... Cut rear bit off with electric carving knife and glued on piece from buggered seat... And trimmed it to suit profile, glued down any loose bits and covered whole seat with thin smoothing foam (cushion foam from Spotlight)... Gotta stop here as waiting for rubber edge trim to arrive from the net before fitting the cover, but looking promising...
  14. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Haven’t done anything since my ‘drive’ the other weekend, so popped into the shed to tidy up some tools/escape family/gaze at things, and unscrewed the catch can while there, thinking there may be a few drips of oil after the 30-odd minutes of running she’s had. Fuck me – full, and chocka-block full at that… Guess that means my attempt at using the factory rocker covers hasn’t worked, drilling bits out of the baffles appears to have created a passage for oil to spew straight out the PCV valve. Bugger, wasted effort… So I bought some taller baffled alloy rocker covers, no big deal but I really wanted it to look as stock as poss at first glance, plus I reckon most aftermarket covers look a bit shit. (I’m not into blinging engines or advertising brand names, but needs must and all that). I did think of painting some 80’s factory Mustang alloys the same blue, but there’s no guarantee rocker clearance will be any better, and I’m over painting stuff to be honest. On the way are a couple of alloy covers, a new PCV valve, gaskets and breather, will be a quick job to bung em on then I’ll set timing and give carby a tune. Still have to sand and paint grille but weather has been a bit shit for that. Sort of want things to get done as my bike projects are nagging me…
  15. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Ha. Must admit I was panicking a bit being stuck in the engine bay til I went outside and could see my breath fogging...
  16. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Yeah just had to do some editing. Pretty boring watching someone with their thumb on the throttle for 30 mins. Did have a minor fire when topping up trans though, that was entertaining...
  17. Lord Gruntfuttock
    And real pleased to see clean floor underneath her this morning. Trans fluid was dripping out (fast) so gave pan bolts a tweak (ie a bloody great heave). Left white pillowcase under pan and still white this am...
  18. Lord Gruntfuttock
    See if this works... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y7JytT7k5O8 Note, at the end it's steam not smoke out the tail pipes...
  19. Lord Gruntfuttock
    OK so drove is a bit of an exaggeration, but it did move under it's own power... Early start, was out in the shed at 6:00am fortified by the breakfast of champions - cold onion bhajis and coffee... And all fluids added. Was rewarded by a puddle of red stuff as trans overflowed through the vent... And all set to go. the more observant may notice a tube of KY on the shock tower. This wasn't for a congratulatory tug, but to help slide the top radiator hose past the bypass, too much rubber-on-rubber friction going on... And just as all going well, the bloody oil pump drive rod got hooked on the old distributor shaft I was using in the drill to prime the system, and pulled out. There was much swearing as I contemplated the work involved in dropping the sump, but as the clip was still in place, I managed to wriggle and drop the shaft in position after many, many attempts and twice as many rude words. Will be fine, just be a cunt next time I pull the dizzy... I was surprised how much grunt it took to spin the shaft incidentally, spun ok till pressure got up then it was bloody hard (like drill started smoking hard) Think that's why the shaft got stuck. Anyways, then just dropped distributor in, and tried to start it. Nothing. More swear words till I remembered I'd undone the plugs to let me turn motor easier. Quick tighten, connect leads and all go. Ran it for around 30 mins between 2000-3000 rpm, then dropped oil and changed filter. Should be all good to go once I get bonnet and lights back on...
  20. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Ha. I say drove but it was backing it out of the shed and back in,no lights or bonnet yet. Cam run in though...
  21. Lord Gruntfuttock
    I drove my car today...
  22. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Wasn't easy to find another 90 degree fitting for the catch can as being 'Merican they're NPT, so I bought a BSP elbow from Hayes... Machined the barbed end off the NPT straight connector, fitted inside the trimmed elbow, and soldered them together... And it plumbed in quite nicely. Seem to have misplaced the rocker cover grommet but it's somewhere in my pile of bits... And started on the plug wires, tried different layouts with the old leads to check neatest solution... Fitted the connectors to use as a guide to cut leads to length... And done, I'll tidy these up once the timing is done properly. Only problem making leads was I left it halfway through to play footy, and the boots got stuck on the leads as the dielectric grease had dried. Bugger of a job sliding them back onto the connectors... And had a win at Supercheap today, shot in to grab some Penrite oil as it's full zinc for the break-in. Was 25% off and I had store credits, so pretty much scored $60 of oil for $20. Sweet...
  23. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Good info, cheers for that... Yeah I'm no painter so been a learning curve, learnt the hard way spraying thinners through gun isn't enough to clean it. . And sump was pretty bad so had to strip it, but will take on board your advice. I'm really more of a bike guy so been pretty interesting getting back into the old car. Hoping to get to the stage I can do everything on bike at home (incl painting). And will def check out shipito, thanks for that...
  24. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Getting a little depressed at lack of progress so took the day off work to get some shit done. Re-torqued intake manifold, fitted carb, adjusted kick-down cable, tightened exhaust flange, rechecked header bolts etc. Then made up earth leads and attached to block and chassis (I always run a strap between engine/chassis) and knocked trans cooler clip back into shape - the top pipe has a bit of rubber round it as it was a little loose.. And put driveshaft back in, noticed diff has been leaking and should probably replace universal joints, but that can wait till I'm mobile. Shaft looks much better painted... Also fitted plugs (with anti-seize on threads) so I could look at routing the leads. Started by roughly placing them with cylinder numbers attached... Then fitted clamps on the loom bracket each side. These MSD leads are looking pretty good, like the bendable boot for clearing the headers... Didn't go too far as want to work out the neatest way to route them at the dizzy before cutting them... And fitted oil/fuel filters, fuel lines, and coil. Also tidied up oil pressure sender connector etc, and fitted alternator and brackets... And made up a bracket for the oil catch can, might need a couple of 90 deg fittings for neatest hose installation, but pretty happy where it sits... So really made some progress, much easier when you're not snatching the odd half hour before/after work in the dark. good to get a lot of the fiddly stuff out of the way, and also had a bit of a tidy-up in th'shed. Best day at work I've had in ages...
  25. Lord Gruntfuttock
    So got the headers in last night, what a bastard of a job on the drivers side. Forgot how much the starter motor, steering box and gear linkages got in the way, so they suffered a few scrapes getting in there. Then I had to wriggle them out again so's I could reconnect the starter motor leads further away from the pipes. Too close... Betterer... So they're in, albeit covered in scratches and copper slip, and I'll have to reconnect the shift linkage. Should make good smoke on startup...
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