BUILD THREAD GP403's sort-of-build thread

[olds307 and 403]

Haven't heard anything good about Inline's Olds V8 fuel lines, hopefully they get it right. The owner owns some Olds V8 cars for crap sake. Those lines always strip or twist off, so they need replaced often. Rocket Racing has nice rubber valve cover gaskets with a solid core. My expensive, discontinued Felpro Permadry valve cover gaskets with the solid core are seeping. They have been used multiple times in their defense. I will be using the Rocket Racing gaskets; swapping in 1.72 to 1 true roller rocker arms.

 

[MrSony]

At the risk of sounding like a complete moron, that banging noise had exactly f*ck all to do with the clutch. It was the #%&!#$% fan shroud hitting the top of the fan. WHY OH WHY it seemed to go away when I'd adjust the clutch I couldn't tell you. I went to adjust the clutch with the engine running and I'm underneath the car going "that noise is not coming from here....." Yeah. 😵 Pull it up and tighten the bolts and whammo.

I did have a bad thermostat, got that swapped out and now I have a hot upper radiator hose, but my gage still keeps climbing. I shut it off at 3/4 because I'm being paranoid, but I don't think its right. Usually if you start overheating, you know it, the engine starts throwing off A LOT of heat. Not so much here. The cap side of the radiator is now slightly warm, but not ZOMG HOT like you'd expect an overheating engine to be. Also, I borrowed the wifey's laser thermometer from the kitchen, and the water neck/thermostat housing shows a nice calm ~179*. Which is about what I'd expect from a 180* thermostat and losing heat to the air.....

So, am I imagining things and maybe I got the wrong sending unit? Going to just buy another one to be sure. I won't be driving it down the road until I'm positive its not actually getting that hot.

Got a significant valve cover leak, too, but that's not a big deal.

Are there multiple locations on the engine the sender could be placed? Head, intake, etc?

 

[MrSony]

got the laser thermometer back out and used the Cutlass as a control. Sure enough, the readings were more or less the same. I think my heater control valve is stuck open on the GP tho. Meh whatever. I ordered a new sender to see if that cures it. It's the same kind, so maybe I have the wrong one in there. Figured they were basically the same thing since forever.

Saw a few intermittent bubbles in the return tank, but I'm hoping that was just bleeding going on. Burned off some exhaust paint and the exhaust smoke. So much water blowing out the tail pipes and the muffler clamp joints. Took her down the back roads a couple of miles and seemed to be OK. No more smoke when I got back, didn't see any more bubbles in the overflow either.

Time to clean up the shop and put the hood back on. Going to make a few short back-road runs before I go balls out 70mph/~3K RPM on the highway though just because.... As soon as that hood is back on you know something's going to happen. That's what this car does.

She needs cleaning up desperately. So much dust and spiders and clear coat issues from stuff sitting on it. I need to inspect these tires thoroughly, they were cheap POS's when I bought them in 2005(?) and it wouldn't surprise me if they're dry rotting. They're too tall anyway (225/70R14) and I don't like it. It'd be a waste because the tread is still great.

But damn it felt good running those gears even if I wasn't nailing it. That sound.

Also and I probably just jinxed it.

Still need to get in the correct (I hope) fuel line and the choke heater tubes from inline. The fuel line right now is touching the thermostat and it gets hot. ++Valve cover gaskets and new sender.

View attachment 77905

Old tires? You know what you must do.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Are there multiple locations on the engine the sender could be placed? Head, intake, etc?

Olds V8's always have the sender at the front of the intake.

 

[GP403]

Old tires? You know what you must do.

Yeah but I like these snowflakes too much, and the new 17" Year Ones just don't look right to me. Too much empty space in them. Their rallys are nice but ....

The car has had gauges all along and I don't remember it reading wrong, I just put a new sender in there because I was putting new pieces in where I could. Maybe its bad, maybe I got the wrong application. I couldn't find the old one I took out to put back in...

Yeah, on the fuel line, they look to be the only game in town to get the correct fit. I could have just run a rubber line, and considered it, but we'll see how this works. They also only sent two parts of the 3-part choke tube set (I even asked them specifically about this) so hopefully they follow through. I put rubber gaskets on the valve covers but I'm told I need cork ones, looks like a case of wide and varied opinions. I'll try the corks and see what happens. I need to figure out where all the little brackets for the wire looms etc. go anyway.

I'm just being highly paranoid that I managed to screw something up putting the engine back together and will have to do this all over again. So far it seems to be ok but every little puff of smoke or bubble or sound is like OH CRAP.

On the plus side I finally got to sweep up the shop, move some stuff around and re-organize. only about 1/2 done but if I see this correctly I could fit a 4th car in here.

 

[GP403]

lol was cleaning up sh*t in the shop and discovered I do still have the original coolant temp sending unit... I never took it out of the old crusty bolts-busted-off-innit manifold. doh. So I'll put that one in first. Still wondering where all these left over bolts were supposed to go.

 

[pagrunt]

Still wondering where all these left over bolts were supposed to go.

Just extras incase you lose one 😉

 

[GP403]

hood is on! almost like a real car again. Still need to tweak the fit, clean her up and wash the cover but there she is. In bed with the rest of the family for the night. cleanest that table's been in years. So much crap in there to get rid of now.

What's the best way to get minor scuffs and marks out of clear coat?

Dino is able to store its own spare parts plus the other two's bits FTW.

 

[pagrunt]

Being lacquer you should be able to buff them out.

 

[GP403]

Nope. She got a proper 2 stage back in the early naughts after the hail damage. I don’t think I’ve ever posted those pics. I need to find those.


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