I got back out to the car today and got the choke wired up (shoulda left it shut to fatten the thing up!). I brought that damn 1/4-1/8 NPT reducer and plopped it in back by the bellhousing, tossed a couple more chopped off wires that went nowhere, and rerouted the oil pressure sensor harness so that, the choke, and coolant temp all shared a common path. Then I got under the car and pulled the 2 oil cooler line plugs to reseal those. They were slathered in orange silicone of course. One wasn't even tight, hopefully that's the extent of the slight oil leak down there. I wiped down the pan to help me trace it in the future if I didn't get it this time. Greased a couple joints I'd missed, this car has a lot with all the aftermarket arms but there were 3 I simply could not reach. Gonna hafta look and see what adapters I can get for the gun. I also put a gas cap on, not much in the way of work but still good to have one. Put the car down, torqued the wheels, aired up the tires for the first time since 2019, torqued the upper control arms as those look to have rubber bushings on the axle side, and fired it up. Of course the bowl was empty from sitting but the car rolled over plenty fast to fill it back up and get fired. Soooo much better with a good ground connection to the block and chassis and a fully charged, somewhat desulfated battery. Daylight was fleeting at this point as the sun had just dipped behind the mountains so I hit the road and my friend followed me. Mind you, I would have overwhelmingly preferred a test drive, leak check, top off trans fluid, etc but we just went straight for the hangar. The car lean popped quite a bit, this was substantially farther than I've gone since bringing the car here in 2019, but since it was such a death trap I never felt it prudent to try anything close to this, good thing I didn't after what all I found with it on the lift. The drive was otherwise uneventful. The car has a hard pull to the left and both sides show positive camber. Yuck. I'll deal with that later. The ride was the real mind blower: it was firm, not boaty at all. I figured those KYBs were their bottom feeder shocks but they're not bad. Shockingly the rears weren't blown out either, bonus they're air shocks! I pumped them up and they held, not sure for how long, but that was worth a chuckle. Brakes are still a bit spongy but for a 40-50 mph 8 mile hike with almost no traffic it was good enough. It's tucked back into the hangar now but I tracked in some mud from in front of it. We've gotten more snow than usual out that way and it's been sticking longer than usual too. Time to reformulate and re-rack and stack the to do list for this thing. First and foremost is gonna be revised main jetting, I may just go right back to the 75 it had and start there. These needles must be lean AF and really neuter that big of a main. I jetted down 20% in area taking into account the size of that needle and it's just lean lean lean, even got a nice big fireball out of the cowl on one greedy stab of the gas trying to get moving. Plenty of pops out of the dumps too, would have to lift and roll back into it. Putt putting around off an idle it's still super snappy though. I think I left the throttle plates closed enough so the transfer slots can do their thing, just need to play with it some more.
1983 Big Block Monte Slow Build (Lowered Expectations)
- Thread starter Supercharged111
- Start date
Went out today and rejetted from the 71 to the 75 it ran with back in MI. At first it ran like *ss, needed throttle, and smoked out the hangar. I was running low on daylight, but I decided to pop the top back off the carb anyway. I noticed I didn't get the metering rods seated properly and bent the bracket. I remember tightening that first screw and thinking something didn't feel right, that was it. So I straightened out the bracket, buttoned it back up again, and it wasn't much better but it did stay running on its own so I let it warm up to monkey with it. It got a lot happier as it warmed up so I putt putted around with the thing. Even at 140, the thing still had a nasty lean tip in. I was at 180 when I got back from my loop and it still wasn't great. I backed the idle screws out from 1.5 to 2 turns out and the APT from 1.5 to 3 turns out. The car liked this, but it wasn't perfect. Still a small hesitation on tip in but then it would jump to life after that.
Had to hit it both ways to get 2 marks. Also, the rear tires were rotated so the less burned out tire is now on the right side. I think the middle one is from a couple years ago, also the Monte.
Prior to the first start attempt, but after the first rejet attempt, I took a peek at the alignment. 1/2" toe out, 1.8* positive camber on the driver's front, and 2.4* positive on the passenger front. Yikes. I went to shim the rear bolt on the right side to add caster and negative camber to the right side and quickly realized the shims were in the trunk. Doh!
I realized this after I loosened the bolts. Then I noticed 2 rusty shims laying on the frame, so I shoved those in and tightened it all back down. As I got to thinking I realized the added caster should help the pull, but the added camber would wash that out. Double doh. Oh well, I'll keep at it and get it eventually. I think by pulling those upper arms in more it'll toe the car in without touching a tie rod.
So the car runs well enough now to actually give it a proper tune. With the driveshaft as is, I'll just keep it under 50 or so. But I want that alignment cleaned up more before I do it, and I also need to swap out that PS reservoir so the pump stops growling by keeping it properly filled. And the gauges need to be hooked up properly/wiring tidied up under the dash. Plus lots of other stuff, but the aforementioned items will really get me going on my way with making this run as it should.
Had to hit it both ways to get 2 marks. Also, the rear tires were rotated so the less burned out tire is now on the right side. I think the middle one is from a couple years ago, also the Monte.
Prior to the first start attempt, but after the first rejet attempt, I took a peek at the alignment. 1/2" toe out, 1.8* positive camber on the driver's front, and 2.4* positive on the passenger front. Yikes. I went to shim the rear bolt on the right side to add caster and negative camber to the right side and quickly realized the shims were in the trunk. Doh!
I realized this after I loosened the bolts. Then I noticed 2 rusty shims laying on the frame, so I shoved those in and tightened it all back down. As I got to thinking I realized the added caster should help the pull, but the added camber would wash that out. Double doh. Oh well, I'll keep at it and get it eventually. I think by pulling those upper arms in more it'll toe the car in without touching a tie rod.
So the car runs well enough now to actually give it a proper tune. With the driveshaft as is, I'll just keep it under 50 or so. But I want that alignment cleaned up more before I do it, and I also need to swap out that PS reservoir so the pump stops growling by keeping it properly filled. And the gauges need to be hooked up properly/wiring tidied up under the dash. Plus lots of other stuff, but the aforementioned items will really get me going on my way with making this run as it should.
Just a quick bump to keep this from getting locked. I'm a bit invested in the trailer at the moment, then it'll be time to rage on the Camaro as race season is just around the corner. I think I'll chip away at the alignment whenever I have time at the hangar next time.
Just an FYI, the threads don’t get locked until there’s a full year of inactivity.
I guess it was that long last time, wasn't it? I had it in my head it was a couple months. Thanks.
Mini update, I finally went after the PS reservoir. Previously it had a jankety incomplete remote reservoir setup that I want to put on my dually as I do have the rest of it.
That's all that was on the car though, just add fluid through the upper hose to top it off. You'll notice this one is also set up for hydroboost. I had an old junk pump off my 1500 with a willing reservoir so I swapped that on.
So why is it not reinstalled? See that upper banana bracket? It wouldn't let the reservoir seat all the way so I was forced to remove the pulley (which required I bring it home to where my PS tool is) in order to shim it out with a couple of washers. I'll do the same when I go to bolt the other end to the water pump. One less eyesore under the hood. I just need to tidy up the wiring, run new plug wires, and get a flat bottom for the air cleaner and it'll be halfway decent.
That's all that was on the car though, just add fluid through the upper hose to top it off. You'll notice this one is also set up for hydroboost. I had an old junk pump off my 1500 with a willing reservoir so I swapped that on.
So why is it not reinstalled? See that upper banana bracket? It wouldn't let the reservoir seat all the way so I was forced to remove the pulley (which required I bring it home to where my PS tool is) in order to shim it out with a couple of washers. I'll do the same when I go to bolt the other end to the water pump. One less eyesore under the hood. I just need to tidy up the wiring, run new plug wires, and get a flat bottom for the air cleaner and it'll be halfway decent.
Pump was a success. Those belts sucked to get back on as the reservoir would hit the water pump before canting over enough to slip the belts on. In order for this reservoir to sit properly I need longer belts but I'd rather swap over to a Vortec truck setup so I managed to force them on by bumping the starter. It barely budged off of the water pump when I torqued the tensioner bolt down. Speaking of bolts, it now wears all of them again. Previously it was missing the nut on the back of the pump and the bolt that went into the head.
It took off after the 3rd hit of ether and ran nicely so I let it warm up, then shut it down to see where the APT screw was. It was a full 3 turns out, I thought I'd remembered backing it out more so I put it right back there, fired it back up, and went to the end of the block and back (2 year old was passed out in my truck).
Not far at all, but enough to know throttle response was the best it's ever been. The right rear is a mere poke away from being obliterated at any time. No hesitation on the way there now. After I parked it I took 2 seconds to actually look and see why the air cleaner base didn't sit down all the way without the restrictive collar. Turns out it was just a crappy vacuum line conglomeration. I disconnected the canister, deleted the tee, and hooked up the modulator all by itself and bam! Air cleaner fits properly.
I do need to figure out a more proper setup, I'm thinking the modulator and the canister ought to be divorced but I'm not seeing any more fittings that are the same size, those both take a bigger line than what is available at the carb.
It took off after the 3rd hit of ether and ran nicely so I let it warm up, then shut it down to see where the APT screw was. It was a full 3 turns out, I thought I'd remembered backing it out more so I put it right back there, fired it back up, and went to the end of the block and back (2 year old was passed out in my truck).
Not far at all, but enough to know throttle response was the best it's ever been. The right rear is a mere poke away from being obliterated at any time. No hesitation on the way there now. After I parked it I took 2 seconds to actually look and see why the air cleaner base didn't sit down all the way without the restrictive collar. Turns out it was just a crappy vacuum line conglomeration. I disconnected the canister, deleted the tee, and hooked up the modulator all by itself and bam! Air cleaner fits properly.
I do need to figure out a more proper setup, I'm thinking the modulator and the canister ought to be divorced but I'm not seeing any more fittings that are the same size, those both take a bigger line than what is available at the carb.
After learning a bit about how the HVAC employs vacuum, I'm going to source it from the smaller line off of the carb and add a check valve inline. I didn't see one on the car. The lines all appear to still be hooked up inside the car, so that shouldn't cause any issues.
Yesterday while I was out at the hangar I hastily hooked up the speedo, oil pressure, and fuel level wiring to the Dakota box as a proof of concept and they all work! Not that I wasn't expecting them to, it's just so nice to have an idea of how much is in the tank now. It was pretty simple to scroll through the menu and select the correct sender, now I need to get the speedo halfway calibrated but there's bigger fish to fry before I hit any sort of road speed gain. I'm thinking of throwing this on the trailer tomorrow, dragging it home, and fabricating a bracket for the Dakota controller box to bold to the bottom of the steering column. I don't have a 220V outlet at the hangar for a welder, but I do have 220V power so maybe it's time I did something about that. That'll get the rat's nest out of the way of my feet. Since I'm sliding into wiring mode, I also went ahead and ordered a headlight switch connector (likely to be followed by the switch itself once I have it together. . . ). I'd like to get the dash bezel reinstalled as well as the little knee panel deal that's removed. And get the door card put back on and maybe even that piece of weather stripping in the box to make this thing feel more whole. The less of a POS it feels like, the more I want to do to it. Plus it REALLY needs a bath.
Yesterday while I was out at the hangar I hastily hooked up the speedo, oil pressure, and fuel level wiring to the Dakota box as a proof of concept and they all work! Not that I wasn't expecting them to, it's just so nice to have an idea of how much is in the tank now. It was pretty simple to scroll through the menu and select the correct sender, now I need to get the speedo halfway calibrated but there's bigger fish to fry before I hit any sort of road speed gain. I'm thinking of throwing this on the trailer tomorrow, dragging it home, and fabricating a bracket for the Dakota controller box to bold to the bottom of the steering column. I don't have a 220V outlet at the hangar for a welder, but I do have 220V power so maybe it's time I did something about that. That'll get the rat's nest out of the way of my feet. Since I'm sliding into wiring mode, I also went ahead and ordered a headlight switch connector (likely to be followed by the switch itself once I have it together. . . ). I'd like to get the dash bezel reinstalled as well as the little knee panel deal that's removed. And get the door card put back on and maybe even that piece of weather stripping in the box to make this thing feel more whole. The less of a POS it feels like, the more I want to do to it. Plus it REALLY needs a bath.
This thing is a pig compared to my Camaro and C5Z, really squats the truck compared to those 2. I brought it home to my garage for the first time ever to fab a mount for the Dakota control brain dealies as I was tired of this mess.
Dad had it half-assed zip tied to the column and there it stayed until last December. No more.
That'll do, but there's plenty more wiring that's not pictured. Yes, it's time to go Jay and Silent Bob on the m'fer who initiated this wiring ignorance.
Dad had it half-assed zip tied to the column and there it stayed until last December. No more.
That'll do, but there's plenty more wiring that's not pictured. Yes, it's time to go Jay and Silent Bob on the m'fer who initiated this wiring ignorance.
i gotta say even though i'm mainly a monte ss guy, the basic monte cl is just as bad *ss, IDK how to describe it but front is a lil more snubbed & straight up cool unlike the LS, wish seen more of these on the rd as hotrods, THEY GOT IT ALL! i see more 68-72 non ss novas on the road than these and its a shame.
