BUILD THREAD GP403's sort-of-build thread
- Thread starter GP403
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Shop Envy, again. I used to have a bottle of 3M buffing compound that was equivalent to several thousand grit. With a random-orbit buffer, it made quick work of all the orange peel and dust dinks. Ping Donavon, I bet he has an answer faster than I can type up bad advice.
No need...Donovan and I had the same conversation a few weeks back. He said he uses the stuff in the pic below. It's not cheap, but his words were that it's the best stuff he has used!!! Here ya go Mr. Admin..
Warm day, so I figured I'd go try and do something to move the old girl along.
- installed the new fuel line. fits like a charm, and goes exactly where its supposed to +1 inline tube...
- installed new choke heater tubes, fit was a little more interesting on these, +0.5 inline tube. Had to do a little man handling with the carb off, connect the tube, bend it in place etc.
- ordered a set of longer fan/water pump studs. FYI, the Dorman 23733 stud kit is TOO SHORT on the coarse thread side. I currently have only three of them on there and then only half way. No way in hell I'm taking this thing out on the highway like that. My luck I'd put the fan through the hood.... Ordered a set of inline tube ones from ebay, that say they're 1.5" vs. 1.25" long.... hopefully that solves it. Could have just used the old ones but they were rusty and gross and the threads were mashed up. And also because new parts.
- adjusted the hood to where it will close yeah. Still think it needs to move about 1/16" to one side but it should work for now.
- Made this. This thing has always smoked like your 75yo Aunt Margaret until its fully warmed up, so don't let that scare you. Especially on a warm day like this where everything in the shop is covered in wet because condensation. Was sort of weird.
Still need to do the valve cover gaskets and address a couple of coolant leaks at the hose ends, but yeah. Once I get the fan attached properly she's going out on the highway for a shake down.
- installed the new fuel line. fits like a charm, and goes exactly where its supposed to +1 inline tube...
- installed new choke heater tubes, fit was a little more interesting on these, +0.5 inline tube. Had to do a little man handling with the carb off, connect the tube, bend it in place etc.
- ordered a set of longer fan/water pump studs. FYI, the Dorman 23733 stud kit is TOO SHORT on the coarse thread side. I currently have only three of them on there and then only half way. No way in hell I'm taking this thing out on the highway like that. My luck I'd put the fan through the hood.... Ordered a set of inline tube ones from ebay, that say they're 1.5" vs. 1.25" long.... hopefully that solves it. Could have just used the old ones but they were rusty and gross and the threads were mashed up. And also because new parts.
- adjusted the hood to where it will close yeah. Still think it needs to move about 1/16" to one side but it should work for now.
- Made this. This thing has always smoked like your 75yo Aunt Margaret until its fully warmed up, so don't let that scare you. Especially on a warm day like this where everything in the shop is covered in wet because condensation. Was sort of weird.
Still need to do the valve cover gaskets and address a couple of coolant leaks at the hose ends, but yeah. Once I get the fan attached properly she's going out on the highway for a shake down.
Reading back I saw the issue with the flat diaphragm clutch. They only used that on very low performance V-8's and V-6's. Even a 301 or 305 uses a bent diaphragm. I'm surprised the 403 didn't roast it. What happens is that a bent diaphragm has a lot of travel before it goes over-center. A flat is over-center immediately. They also had three different height throwout bearings as well as three different length pivot studs. You were able to mix-n-match any combination to get the fork travel you needed. Using a long push rod is a band-aid and I would try getting the right parts in place. Since you need to do the seals that would be a good time to correct that. Awesome job!
I honestly don't remember what the mufflers were. I know they were a fairly cheap solution I picked up from summit. I still have "Cherry bomb" stickers on my toolbox if that helps. I think they were Thrush turbos maybe.
got the fan studs in yesterday (that was fast!) so I figured I'd swap them out and go for a spin. Sure enough these are longer and I'm MUCH more comfortable with how they fit. Here's a pic with the 3 different ones I had. The top is the ones that came out, they worked fine, but like I said were grungy and the threads had issues. The 2nd is the Dorman. Same length, but notice the offset? There's the problem. It doesn't look like much, but with the lock washers on I could only get about 1/3 of the threads on the nut engaged. Without the washers they were still not all the way through the nut. Nope.
The bottom one is the inline tube version, part # (I think) is INL14863. Much better. No question they fit. And they did with room to spare. Wasn't cheap, $12 shipped, but well worth the peace of mind.
I am starting to get concerned I may have a tiny head gasket leak in one of the cylinders. When I first started it up it sounded like something was clunking around (different than my fan shroud issue) but quickly went away, then it dawned on me sh*t that might have been misfire from coolant. I could never get it to do it again, so I'll wait and see after a few days if it does it again.
I still need to change the temp sender. It seems to get warm really fast (see above, hm) but then you can watch the t-stat open and it goes back down, then on the highway warms up just the slightest.... Still I measure the water neck with the IR thermometer and its right at 190*. *shrug* Have to get that old sender installed.
Took her down the highway at 70mph about 5 mi, filled up the tank, and made it home again without anything weird happening. Didn't abuse her but put the gas down a little. Still drives good all things considered. I forgot how much fun getting to about 45mph was, but after that its all in 4th, pulls ~3K RPM at ~75mph. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
The bottom one is the inline tube version, part # (I think) is INL14863. Much better. No question they fit. And they did with room to spare. Wasn't cheap, $12 shipped, but well worth the peace of mind.
I am starting to get concerned I may have a tiny head gasket leak in one of the cylinders. When I first started it up it sounded like something was clunking around (different than my fan shroud issue) but quickly went away, then it dawned on me sh*t that might have been misfire from coolant. I could never get it to do it again, so I'll wait and see after a few days if it does it again.
I still need to change the temp sender. It seems to get warm really fast (see above, hm) but then you can watch the t-stat open and it goes back down, then on the highway warms up just the slightest.... Still I measure the water neck with the IR thermometer and its right at 190*. *shrug* Have to get that old sender installed.
Took her down the highway at 70mph about 5 mi, filled up the tank, and made it home again without anything weird happening. Didn't abuse her but put the gas down a little. Still drives good all things considered. I forgot how much fun getting to about 45mph was, but after that its all in 4th, pulls ~3K RPM at ~75mph. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
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