Beemon

This past weekend I fixed two minor issues: I finally got my rebuilt rocker arms so I took my used ones off and swapped them over. No strange noises, everything seems to be as it should. Re-torqued the head bolts, most of them were still tight so that's a good sign. I don't think I'll need to have to re-torque them again any time soon. I found a few craigslist generators, but I did not want to risk having to go through another failure. A new armature was just about as expensive as a new, rebuilt unit so I ordered one and it finally came in. To my surprise, the pulleys were the right size as the original so I didn't have to play with the pulleys at all. Working as it should and the engine compartment looks clean again. If/when this one fails, I will for sure be going to a Powergen. Here's hoping it lasts longer than a year, unlike my last two "new, rebuilt" units. Though not sure what I expected there to be completely honest, they were rebuilt by the same people that rebuilt my starter that grenaded.

Donor car for rears is a 1971 Buick Centurion: Normal: 6363 Heavy Duty: 5383 Progressive: CC611 I have nothing but nice things to say about the Progressive springs...

What you want to do is plug the heat track at the carb mounting base. Making your intake cold blooded is still a bad idea due to intake puddling and can lead to rough idle as the gas rolls down the runner in liquid form, giving a rich, incomplete burn.

Why do you want to block off the heat passage to the intake manifold? The intake manifold needs to be heated to vaporize the fuel that hits the bottom of the plenum.

Did you supply your timing curve from the shop manual and thats what they went off of? Or do you know if they did a custom tune? Interesting stuff! Ever thought about doing coil packs?

Ben, interesting to see you have electronic timing controls. Didn't know that part! Did you ever find anyone to tune it for you?

My point is that if there second clock blew a fuse, then it cannot be the clock and rather the wiring. Or, they're cheap fuses and they cannot handle the momentary load of the clock being rewound. From experience, some glass fuses I've used are weaker than others. By observation, the weak ones usually come from Autozone while the stronger ones came from the hardware store. Up behind the dash, the wire could have broken through the insulation and every time it grounds to metal it would blow the fuse, too. In this scenario, you've demonstrated that the clocks are not to blame since the conditions are a repeat offender.

People these days I feel don't give Buick enough respect. You just need to pass them on the highway at 90 miles an hour across the dotted line going up hill and show them that true nailhead power is not to be trifled with.

Here's the truck. Not colors I would personally pick, but he said he got it that way. It's still a pretty cool looking stepside and its a 3500 model. If the weather permits, I'm hoping to hold on to the car all the way into November, but you never know what the pass conditions can be like that time of year! Thanks for the heads up! I didn't know that show existed, but it'll be a fun drive a tad north nonetheless!

Are you using an AGA fuse instead of an AGC or SFE? Something is resistive in the current circuit that is drawing more amps than intended (2 amps). The original wire is 18 gauge, unless its been replaced? Is it solid to the fuse panel?

I went to a student organized car show yesterday. I'm not a huge fan of the club's politics, but I do like to show off.. I didn't snap them so I apologize for the face... haha. I'm hoping to go to a few of their events later this year since its always good for photo taking. I'm actually aspiring to be a professional forum photographer like John (seriously, his pictures are the best!). There was a kid there with a 56 Chev pickup that was surprisingly stock with a straight six, 4 speed and original 2 barrel carb with a glass bowl fuel filter and the bypass filter bolted to the exhaust manifold. Looked great, but he said its barely running and needs a complete tune up. Time to break out the vac gauge, timing light and dwell meter and share the knowledge I've gleamed from these forums!

Something is making it draw more current than it should. You could go up from a 2 amp fuse, but that doesn't solve the problem. Are the contacts on the rewind welding shut and creating a current draw? Is the ground clean?

On the subject of rusty old cars and condition.. I can't imagine it looking like this again.

Easier said than done. In my experience, installing the pertronix module changes the base timing. You would also need to carry a timing light with you, too.

What General Motors thought was acceptable in the 1930s is not acceptable now. It's interesting to read comments about how the "engineers knew what they were doing". It's true, they could be great systems engineered for THEIR TIME but not to modern standards. Thus, it's easy to say 80 years ago they knew what they were doing, but as technology advanced for the better of things, they really didn't know it all.

Is there rubber on the torque ball, too?

It's directly related, he had to change the ignition circuit through the ballast resistor due to the module being improperly installed.

No, the shop time and your experience.

I'm not too worried about door dings in this lot. It's shared with upper classmen and people living in apartments. I had zero issues last year, though I know its not safe to assume! Honestly, I'm more scared about parking at WalMart.

First picture back at school

Looking pretty fly! Hows those headlights working for you?

If the issue started at the same time as installing a Pertronix module, that's probably it. The Pertronix module likes stable voltage, something a generator cannot deliver with a points based voltage regulator. The lobe sensing Ingitor is supposedly the best. I fried one of those and two of the Ignitor II modules with a generator following Pertronix's instructions to a T. I also fried one with an alternator, too. I would do what Willie suggests and put the points/condenser back in and see if the condition fixes itself.

No vacuum leaks. After 250+ miles on a 5 hour drive, stumbling seems to be gone and it's running pretty well. For starters, it did not die on me in local town traffic. I would still prefer the WCFB over the 4GC but it needs a really really good bath. We got 17-18 MPH after the valve job. It's the best I've seen other than the Edelbrock on the same drive on my old engine (22 MPG but hard starting and did not like the push button idea at all). I think if the WCFB would have been on, it may have been worse since I tried cleaning it myself with over the counter acid.

I put my good working 4GC back on yesterday to compare. It idles so good and doesn't miss a beat.. except for that off idle bog! Drives me nuts BUT its running better than the WCFB I've got, which i cannot get a smooth idle from no matter what I do. So, I'm going to live with the 4GC... for now Accelerator pump is working, I just don't understand why it bogs down. Is the pump shot too rich or not enough? Or is it something else? Carb is adjusted sweet, I can put my hand over the snorkel and kill the car.

Added in some cheap aftermarket gauges. They add a sense of relief because now I can really see what's going on. Idle I'm getting about 25-30 oil pressure and cruising is about 35-45 psi. Temp is what you'd expect, about 160-170. I was idling at a drive thru today and it crept up to 180 but didn't get much hotter. I might swap back in the 180 t stat since I'd like to see temps a little bit higher for the fabled 190 degree complete combustion burn (thinking it's a smog thing). Heater core seems to heat up fine. While i was shopping for a gauge cluster, I happened to notice that the parts store had a heads up display kit. It blew me away! I'm not a fan of looking down so maybe in the future when I can invest in some electrical senders, I can do something like that instead. Washer jar was giving me a vacuum leak... the reproduction lids have like a 5/8 hole and the original was a 1/2 inch hole, where the vacuum port goes into the large pump chamber. I was getting a vacuum leak here, and could audibly hear the vacuum pump open. That's why my washer fluid was not squirting. So I went and bought a neoprene fender washer with 1/2 ID and cut it down to fit under the control box on top of the lid (the vacuum pump section sealed to the bottom of the lid gasket). This did the trick, I shot washer fluid 3 feet over the top of the car! I got the nozzles set so it just hits right below the stainless. I like this the best because then it hits the tops of the blades and cleans the whole windshield. Now I just need to take the co-ordinator apart and figure out why it keeps binding when vacuum is applied. Oh! Don't buy the repro washer nozzles. I don't know what they fit, but they do not fit my wiper bezels. I ended up reusing my old ones after cleaning them out.