Texas82GP's Roadmaster
- Thread starter Texas82GP
- Start date
The car is back on the road. I started Saturday with the upper control arm bumpers. My problem was in fact the poor reproduction bumpers I was trying to install. Here's a side-by-side comparison. At the top, Energy Suspension. In the middle, NOS Genuine GM, at the bottom, ill-fitting reproduction.....
I decided I liked the Energy Suspension bumpers best so that's what I used. They went right in. I jacked up the suspension, slipped the bumper in, put a 1"x2" between the bumper and the frame and then slowly let the jack down. They popped right in with no difficulty. Next, I:
1. Installed the zerks in the lower balljoints
2. Greased the front end. I also cleaned up the steering linkage some as I went
3. Replaced the sway bar bushings
4. Installed the sway bar links
5. Pulled, disassembled and cleaned the MAF. After I got it apart, the lower left resistor wire looked a little dirty to me....
I reassembled and installed the MAF and air intake and then moved to the back of the car. I got the back up on stands and got the wheels/tires off of it. I pulled the drum on the drivers side, took a look and then adjusted the shoes out. I moved over to the passenger side and found a problem. The lever that keeps the self-adjuster was way out of position. Turns out the cup under the spring that locates the lever in the brake shoe was missing. I didn't take a picture of that side. The passenger rear corner of the car was up against the wall pretty tight but here is a pic of the Driver's Side where I've drawn an arrow pointing at what was missing from the Passenger side....
It was getting pretty late in the day by then. I took a look at the rear brake hose but the clip and the hard line are so tight to the body I decided I didn't want to get into it right then. While I was underneath there, I figured out why I'm smelling fuel around the car....
To give some perspective, that is looking up at the front of the gas tank. The rear of the car is towards the right. The vent hose for the tank is just disconnected. The tank is just venting straight to the atmosphere. The part of the hose on the right (connected to the tank) is rotten. I'm not surprised. The underhood hose was as well. What I don't know is how the two hoses connected. It seems like something is missing. Guys with B-Bodies, can you help me out here? The unhooked hose on the left side of the picture looks to actually be a protective sheath. There seems to be a line up about 6-8" inside it, from what I can see and feel. I want to put this back right so I need to figure out how it was.
Sunday morning I went to O'Reilly and bought a drum brake hardware kit for that missing spring cup. I got it installed and adjusted the passenger rear shoes. I put the rear wheels back on and then turned my attention to bleeding the front brakes. The master cylinder reservoir was still full since I had clamped off the old brake hoses while doing the work. I pulled all the old fluid out with a turkey baster and then wiped the inside of the reservoir clean. I filled it back up with new clean fluid and about that time Sean, my brother, showed up to help me bleed. We got the fronts bled easily and Sean went on about his day. I put the front wheels on and got the car back down on the ground. I replaced all the lugnuts, front and back. The original stuff on the car was beat up. When I put the hubcaps back on, I replaced all four of the nuts that secure them to the wheel. Mine had been mangled by a previous owner driving a 31/32" socket over them. They must not have had the right tool. I was able to buy 7 nice used nuts and the correct tool awhile back so that's been corrected. Next, I installed the new inner fender splash shields. That was a little tough with everything assembled but I got them in nice. About that time Dad came by for a visit. I checked all the fluids and then we pulled the car out of the storage, pulled my truck in and we took the car for a long ride.
The drivability issue is still there. I can feel slight misfire in drive as I inch the car forward while dragging the brakes. I can also feel it backing the car in my driveway (backing up hill) and I still feel it when the torque converter locks in overdrive around 50 mph. I also think I can feel it in Park or Neutral at idle, especially with my hand on the home plate or the core support. Something is still bothering it a little.
The front end work is a great success. The old springs in the car were really tired. It's firmed up nice but it is still soft like it is supposed to be. I'm very happy with the brakes as well. I drove it to work today and am going to drive it all week. The big issues on my mind at this point are:
1. Misfire/driveablity issue
2. Alternator started squeaking - Amazon will deliver a Delco new tomorrow and I'll put it on tomorrow night
3. It has a tire hammering in the 60-75mph range. I have a spare wheel. I think I will put a new tire on it (for a full size spare conversion) and then swap that tire to each corner of the car and try to figure out which tire is hammering
4. Fuel tank vent/Evap Hose issue
Overall the car runs great. I've put a lot of life back into it. I just need to do some more work to get it right where I want it.
That's it for now friends. Thanks for the interest.
Jared
I decided I liked the Energy Suspension bumpers best so that's what I used. They went right in. I jacked up the suspension, slipped the bumper in, put a 1"x2" between the bumper and the frame and then slowly let the jack down. They popped right in with no difficulty. Next, I:
1. Installed the zerks in the lower balljoints
2. Greased the front end. I also cleaned up the steering linkage some as I went
3. Replaced the sway bar bushings
4. Installed the sway bar links
5. Pulled, disassembled and cleaned the MAF. After I got it apart, the lower left resistor wire looked a little dirty to me....
I reassembled and installed the MAF and air intake and then moved to the back of the car. I got the back up on stands and got the wheels/tires off of it. I pulled the drum on the drivers side, took a look and then adjusted the shoes out. I moved over to the passenger side and found a problem. The lever that keeps the self-adjuster was way out of position. Turns out the cup under the spring that locates the lever in the brake shoe was missing. I didn't take a picture of that side. The passenger rear corner of the car was up against the wall pretty tight but here is a pic of the Driver's Side where I've drawn an arrow pointing at what was missing from the Passenger side....
It was getting pretty late in the day by then. I took a look at the rear brake hose but the clip and the hard line are so tight to the body I decided I didn't want to get into it right then. While I was underneath there, I figured out why I'm smelling fuel around the car....
To give some perspective, that is looking up at the front of the gas tank. The rear of the car is towards the right. The vent hose for the tank is just disconnected. The tank is just venting straight to the atmosphere. The part of the hose on the right (connected to the tank) is rotten. I'm not surprised. The underhood hose was as well. What I don't know is how the two hoses connected. It seems like something is missing. Guys with B-Bodies, can you help me out here? The unhooked hose on the left side of the picture looks to actually be a protective sheath. There seems to be a line up about 6-8" inside it, from what I can see and feel. I want to put this back right so I need to figure out how it was.
Sunday morning I went to O'Reilly and bought a drum brake hardware kit for that missing spring cup. I got it installed and adjusted the passenger rear shoes. I put the rear wheels back on and then turned my attention to bleeding the front brakes. The master cylinder reservoir was still full since I had clamped off the old brake hoses while doing the work. I pulled all the old fluid out with a turkey baster and then wiped the inside of the reservoir clean. I filled it back up with new clean fluid and about that time Sean, my brother, showed up to help me bleed. We got the fronts bled easily and Sean went on about his day. I put the front wheels on and got the car back down on the ground. I replaced all the lugnuts, front and back. The original stuff on the car was beat up. When I put the hubcaps back on, I replaced all four of the nuts that secure them to the wheel. Mine had been mangled by a previous owner driving a 31/32" socket over them. They must not have had the right tool. I was able to buy 7 nice used nuts and the correct tool awhile back so that's been corrected. Next, I installed the new inner fender splash shields. That was a little tough with everything assembled but I got them in nice. About that time Dad came by for a visit. I checked all the fluids and then we pulled the car out of the storage, pulled my truck in and we took the car for a long ride.
The drivability issue is still there. I can feel slight misfire in drive as I inch the car forward while dragging the brakes. I can also feel it backing the car in my driveway (backing up hill) and I still feel it when the torque converter locks in overdrive around 50 mph. I also think I can feel it in Park or Neutral at idle, especially with my hand on the home plate or the core support. Something is still bothering it a little.
The front end work is a great success. The old springs in the car were really tired. It's firmed up nice but it is still soft like it is supposed to be. I'm very happy with the brakes as well. I drove it to work today and am going to drive it all week. The big issues on my mind at this point are:
1. Misfire/driveablity issue
2. Alternator started squeaking - Amazon will deliver a Delco new tomorrow and I'll put it on tomorrow night
3. It has a tire hammering in the 60-75mph range. I have a spare wheel. I think I will put a new tire on it (for a full size spare conversion) and then swap that tire to each corner of the car and try to figure out which tire is hammering
4. Fuel tank vent/Evap Hose issue
Overall the car runs great. I've put a lot of life back into it. I just need to do some more work to get it right where I want it.
That's it for now friends. Thanks for the interest.
Jared
Last edited:
So much win right there Jared, congrats. I know it’s not quite where you want it just yet, but you’re not far off brother!
Keep up the fine work. I’m looking forward to seeing you find out what that slight stumble issue is. Curiosity is killing this cat.
Keep up the fine work. I’m looking forward to seeing you find out what that slight stumble issue is. Curiosity is killing this cat.
It's kind of a long shot but I'm wondering if maybe the EGR has a slight leak and causing the stutter. If wouldn't be too hard to put a temporary block-off plate in it's place and road test it again. Just something to try if none of the obvious stuff cures it.
Thanks bud. It's killing me too. I'll stay after it until I have an answer.
Thanks for the suggestions. I may try that. Quick question: When I cleaned the MAF, I only cleaned the little resistors. I didn't clean the "rails" they are soldered to. Should I have cleaned those rails?
Got the alternator swapped tonight. The pully noise is gone....
Also, I think I have the issue with the Evap line from the tank figured out. I came across some threads on the ImpalaSS forum. Evidently this is not an uncommon problem. My suspicions were correct that there is a line inside what I thought was a rubber sheath towards the front of the car. The line inside the rubber sheath is nylon and the short piece of rubber attached to the tank just slips on it. The conjecture is that they pull apart due to shrinkage. If that's all the case, this will be a free fix for me since I still have material left over from replacing the rotten Evap hose at the engine compartment end of the line. That's a project for this weekend. I'm also going to pull the filler panel out from in front of the passenger front tire and look at the hoses connected to the Evap canister. I'm sure they will be rotten. I've wondered over the past day or so if I'm suffering from moisture in the tank since it has been open to the atmosphere for an unknown period of time.
On the misfire/driveability issue, I'm thinking of getting some help with that. There is an old time Mobil station near my office with a four bay attched garage. We get most of the work on our survey trucks done there and they know me and value my business. Their lead tech is damn good and he has a very sophisticated scanner. I may resort to getting him to put it on the scanner while I drive it. He's sharper than me on analyzing the numbers. I would have approached him already but timing is bad for him now so I'm just holding off.
That's it for now friends.
Jared
No, you did just fine. That one didn't look all that bad. I was kind of hoping you'd find a big wad of black crud on there and it'd cure your issue.
I'm not sure if you know this but you can read codes and data thru the climate control screen by holding the off button and temp up I think.i haven't done it in a long time so look it up and you will be surprised what codes and real time data you can see without a scanner. Sorry I don't have a link to the codes but they are easy to find online.
Here ya go Jared, your fix is just as close as your nearest Walmart-
If the Lucas doesn't work, the Seafoam has you covered!
If the Lucas doesn't work, the Seafoam has you covered!
You know you are on a forum of car guys when Jared’s thread goes from a tune-up to complete overhaul and no one blinks an eye. Lol
And im only up to page 9.
And im only up to page 9.
