Finally finished sanding, polishing the ring and raised sections and painting the inserts on my other two silverado wheels. Taping these off for paint took forever
What did you do to your non-G body project today? [2021]
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After my lunch break from working on the Pinto, I lifted the passenger side of the motor to install the starter, then after setting it back down again, I bolted the exhaust pipe to the manifold. On the driver side, due to limited space, I also had to lift the motor to install the fittings into the remote oil filter adapter, after which I connected the hose going in from the cooler, and the hose out to the filter.
After a visit to NAPA tomorrow morning to buy a 7/8 inch crow foot, I will get the hoses tightened down.
Also tomorrow, I will have to figure out something for the transmission mount. The old trans mount will not work with the Ford T9 transmission. Today, I created a part for the throw out fork. The Merkur that the trans came from uses a thicker clutch cable, and mine slipped right through until I made a reducer to fit between the ball stop at the end of the cable and the throw out fork.
After a visit to NAPA tomorrow morning to buy a 7/8 inch crow foot, I will get the hoses tightened down.
Also tomorrow, I will have to figure out something for the transmission mount. The old trans mount will not work with the Ford T9 transmission. Today, I created a part for the throw out fork. The Merkur that the trans came from uses a thicker clutch cable, and mine slipped right through until I made a reducer to fit between the ball stop at the end of the cable and the throw out fork.
Well, I opened the box and spread the carpet out. I guess it looks alright. There is one extra piece that is about the size/shape of a floor mat, shaped like reversible for use either on driver or passenger side. Driver side has a rubber mat embedded into the carpet, so I will probably throw this extra piece on the passenger side unless I find that it is made for somewhere else.
Here is a pic of it, right out of the box with factory lint and all.
That's because its not a Cub Cadet, but an MTD painted white and yellow. You can tell by the part numbers. I managed a small engine shop for 12 years.
Emptied out Bay One in the shop and cleaned the area to get it ready for the S-10. September is usually the month I get to work on it before things get cold enough that i elect to put the van back into storage and roll over into winter mode.
Just for the sake clarity here, I HATE winter. Contrary to dates on a calendar and talking heads on the weather channel spouting prognostications produced from dubious sources that bear remarkable resemblances to certain bodily orifi, around here winter starts in mid November and ends sometime around the middle of June, maybe. What's left over is a hodge-podge of weather schmutz that can range from hot/humid to hot/rain, to just plain bleah.
For those unfamiliar with my list of Non G-Bodies, the first one is actually my Non G-Body, G-Body because, while not a Monte/442/Regal/Prix, it is a G Body; that is, it is a Chev G-10 Panel Van. So, G model, Being a 1/2 ton cap (more actually) sets it as the 10. 20 and 30 are the 3/4 and 1 ton versions.
This is the unit into which I installed the 700R4 this spring past and had all the fun and joy of dealing with how to lift the vehicle high enough to slide a custom created t-mission jack underneath the vehicle to remove the TH350 that was the default set of gears and plug in my replacement unit, a 700R4 from an 85? C-10 p/u that I had scored from an estate sale. The threads for how I accomplished that are around here somewhere.
So I just finished tweaking the throttle cable assembly and FI idle to the point where the van is back to being "comfortable" to drive. It's exhaust is another matter and may require me to replace some studs, a winter project to which I am not looking forward. Right now I am toying with re-re-weighting the timer to swap in a slightly lighter set of advance weights to replace the ones I plugged in earlier back in the summer. This is a test and tune exercise; just that you have to dismantle a good portion of the dash to do it.
My 2003 S-10 is my daily driver. V-6 and 4 spd ATM. It is both comfortable and highly tolerant of the various tasks that I put it to. Over the years I has carried lumber, ready-mix concrete in bags, crusher fines in 5 gallon pails, 4x8 sheets of wallboard, and lately, brought home my newest addition to the engine inventory, an 2002 Chev LS-2, 5.3; 325 for the old at heart and in math.
It is due for its yearly maintenance; grease, oil change, new oil filter, clean the air filter and re-oil it, tire pressures, maybe the swap to winter tires, bit early but... After that the exhaust pipes at the mufflers need to be revisited and modified again. Smaller diameter pipes and smaller muffler bodies might solve my problem. Also looking to add a circulating heater to the cooling system. Way easier on starts when the motor is even just luke-warm. -40 is just plain painful to a cold motor and most of the local idiots insist on climbing in and driving away, no warm up required, or they have remote starters and let the car idle for long enough that they need to stop and get gas on the way to work! Beside the heater, I might also pop in a drain c*ck. The one on the rad tank is buried deep enough behind shrouds and other plumbing that it is brutal to get to, hence moving it to somewhere more open.
Currently that 5.3 is sitting on my engine stand. I am picking at it as time allows. Today, as part of clean up the Bay One day, it got its spark plugs extremely carefully and slowly removed, unscrewed and extracted, from its heads. Research has advised me that these 706 heads are casted using "semi-permanent" molds, technicalese for them being of a higher quality than some of their counterparts. All I was concerned about was getting the plugs to cooperated and let go of the threads in the pockets without trying to bring those threads along with them as they came out. NO giggles, sniggers or muffled chortles here, aluminum heads are notorious for allowing the threads they possess to be sacrificed to save the steel fasteners or studs that they hold.
The spark plugs turned out to be Denso's. I have heard of them but never encountered them in a service setting. Gi-normously huge gap between the tip and the ground finger, tip was just a skinny little wire that was almost buried in the ceramic insulator. Wonder if E-3 makes a substitute for them??
Yeah, the they were rusty. Think only one showed clean threads. But they all came out clean so I applied a thin and sparse coating of Never Seize Silver to them and carefully re-threaded them back into their pockets, rocking them slowly back and forth as I turned them in, to get the Never Sleeze (MY inhouse joke for this stuff) to thoroughly work its way into the head threads and make them happy. That done it was rolled back into its parking place and will likely be getting a thick plastic cover to protect it over the winter.
I am NOT going to rotate the crank/rods/pistons until I can figure out how to pre-oil the mill properly. Turning it over after it has been sitting as a take out for ???? is an absolute guarantee that I will damage a bearing; any oil on the journals or bearings has long since migrated back to the sump and while the stick says the oil is dark and oily, how old it is, is another matter and I want fresh oil and filter installed before any attempt turn it over is essayed.
So, recap complete. Sorry, NO pictures....................... Sheesh.
Nick
By way of example, I just finished another round of pre-oiling my Monte's motor. The timer has not been installed at this point so I have the pump drive still locked down and can attach a 1/2 inch drill motor to it and build pressure through the system on a "regular" basis. Easy to pull a valve cover and watch for the oil to start oozing its way out of the feeder holes at the top of the rockers and then slowly run down and off into the casting to head for the return holes to make its way back to the pan. Once the Monte is on the road I may choose to add an on-board pre-oiler like the van has in order to pre-lube the primary oil galleries prior to a start up after being dormant for an extended length of time. it equals peace of mind.
Just for the sake clarity here, I HATE winter. Contrary to dates on a calendar and talking heads on the weather channel spouting prognostications produced from dubious sources that bear remarkable resemblances to certain bodily orifi, around here winter starts in mid November and ends sometime around the middle of June, maybe. What's left over is a hodge-podge of weather schmutz that can range from hot/humid to hot/rain, to just plain bleah.
For those unfamiliar with my list of Non G-Bodies, the first one is actually my Non G-Body, G-Body because, while not a Monte/442/Regal/Prix, it is a G Body; that is, it is a Chev G-10 Panel Van. So, G model, Being a 1/2 ton cap (more actually) sets it as the 10. 20 and 30 are the 3/4 and 1 ton versions.
This is the unit into which I installed the 700R4 this spring past and had all the fun and joy of dealing with how to lift the vehicle high enough to slide a custom created t-mission jack underneath the vehicle to remove the TH350 that was the default set of gears and plug in my replacement unit, a 700R4 from an 85? C-10 p/u that I had scored from an estate sale. The threads for how I accomplished that are around here somewhere.
So I just finished tweaking the throttle cable assembly and FI idle to the point where the van is back to being "comfortable" to drive. It's exhaust is another matter and may require me to replace some studs, a winter project to which I am not looking forward. Right now I am toying with re-re-weighting the timer to swap in a slightly lighter set of advance weights to replace the ones I plugged in earlier back in the summer. This is a test and tune exercise; just that you have to dismantle a good portion of the dash to do it.
My 2003 S-10 is my daily driver. V-6 and 4 spd ATM. It is both comfortable and highly tolerant of the various tasks that I put it to. Over the years I has carried lumber, ready-mix concrete in bags, crusher fines in 5 gallon pails, 4x8 sheets of wallboard, and lately, brought home my newest addition to the engine inventory, an 2002 Chev LS-2, 5.3; 325 for the old at heart and in math.
It is due for its yearly maintenance; grease, oil change, new oil filter, clean the air filter and re-oil it, tire pressures, maybe the swap to winter tires, bit early but... After that the exhaust pipes at the mufflers need to be revisited and modified again. Smaller diameter pipes and smaller muffler bodies might solve my problem. Also looking to add a circulating heater to the cooling system. Way easier on starts when the motor is even just luke-warm. -40 is just plain painful to a cold motor and most of the local idiots insist on climbing in and driving away, no warm up required, or they have remote starters and let the car idle for long enough that they need to stop and get gas on the way to work! Beside the heater, I might also pop in a drain c*ck. The one on the rad tank is buried deep enough behind shrouds and other plumbing that it is brutal to get to, hence moving it to somewhere more open.
Currently that 5.3 is sitting on my engine stand. I am picking at it as time allows. Today, as part of clean up the Bay One day, it got its spark plugs extremely carefully and slowly removed, unscrewed and extracted, from its heads. Research has advised me that these 706 heads are casted using "semi-permanent" molds, technicalese for them being of a higher quality than some of their counterparts. All I was concerned about was getting the plugs to cooperated and let go of the threads in the pockets without trying to bring those threads along with them as they came out. NO giggles, sniggers or muffled chortles here, aluminum heads are notorious for allowing the threads they possess to be sacrificed to save the steel fasteners or studs that they hold.
The spark plugs turned out to be Denso's. I have heard of them but never encountered them in a service setting. Gi-normously huge gap between the tip and the ground finger, tip was just a skinny little wire that was almost buried in the ceramic insulator. Wonder if E-3 makes a substitute for them??
Yeah, the they were rusty. Think only one showed clean threads. But they all came out clean so I applied a thin and sparse coating of Never Seize Silver to them and carefully re-threaded them back into their pockets, rocking them slowly back and forth as I turned them in, to get the Never Sleeze (MY inhouse joke for this stuff) to thoroughly work its way into the head threads and make them happy. That done it was rolled back into its parking place and will likely be getting a thick plastic cover to protect it over the winter.
I am NOT going to rotate the crank/rods/pistons until I can figure out how to pre-oil the mill properly. Turning it over after it has been sitting as a take out for ???? is an absolute guarantee that I will damage a bearing; any oil on the journals or bearings has long since migrated back to the sump and while the stick says the oil is dark and oily, how old it is, is another matter and I want fresh oil and filter installed before any attempt turn it over is essayed.
So, recap complete. Sorry, NO pictures....................... Sheesh.
Nick
By way of example, I just finished another round of pre-oiling my Monte's motor. The timer has not been installed at this point so I have the pump drive still locked down and can attach a 1/2 inch drill motor to it and build pressure through the system on a "regular" basis. Easy to pull a valve cover and watch for the oil to start oozing its way out of the feeder holes at the top of the rockers and then slowly run down and off into the casting to head for the return holes to make its way back to the pan. Once the Monte is on the road I may choose to add an on-board pre-oiler like the van has in order to pre-lube the primary oil galleries prior to a start up after being dormant for an extended length of time. it equals peace of mind.
By the time I cleaned up last night, it was too late to post my progress. I spent the day/evening fabricating a transmission mount for my Pinto project. The crossmember for the original 4spd will not work with the 5spd going in, and likewise, the 5spd crossmember that I brought home from the wrecking yard with the transmission will not fit the Pinto.
While my welding skills are woefully lacking, I did get some welding practice time, and I am sure that the mount will hold up to the task. I have not gotten any pics yet, I plan to get the pics when I paint the mount.
While my welding skills are woefully lacking, I did get some welding practice time, and I am sure that the mount will hold up to the task. I have not gotten any pics yet, I plan to get the pics when I paint the mount.
Sat the old regal gas tank in the trunk of the t bird and drove it 50 miles home. only got pulled over once. 😀
Hauled it 1100 miles through the Rocky Mountains out to Edwards AFB, CA where I apparently won't be spending the next 3 months in a multi-bedroom motel room, rather a house with a garage and one other enlisted dude!
Once I get a feel for the workload of this class, I'll get cracking on working on this thing. It's still in beta form, so from what I've heard it's still pretty chill. I already pointed out the irony of the Prius to the owner. He got 38mpg over 3500 miles (92 gallons), I got 7.5 or worse over 1100 (147 gallons at 7.5). 🤣
Once I get a feel for the workload of this class, I'll get cracking on working on this thing. It's still in beta form, so from what I've heard it's still pretty chill. I already pointed out the irony of the Prius to the owner. He got 38mpg over 3500 miles (92 gallons), I got 7.5 or worse over 1100 (147 gallons at 7.5). 🤣
Today was, finally, furnace day. Found a local indie that specializes in Goodman/Amana furnaces. He was in and done in under 2 hours. The old exchanger almost literally fell apart as it was being extracted. Total Junk. Turns out the guy i got used to work for the company that I had wanted to do the work. And surprise, surprise, they showed up unannounced just about 3/4 of the way through the job!! So I got to explain to them that basically, you snooze, you lose. So the senior of the two wandered downstairs, had a chat with my contractor; everyone knew everyone else, quite amiably, and they took off. By coffee time I had heat! Took the corpse of the old exchanger back to the wholesaler that the new one came from, got the warranty card signed off and my purchase price refunded and came back home.
The afternoon's non-G micro-projects consisted of raking up and bagging branches for garbage day and assembling and boxing empty plastic bottles, again for tomorrow for recycling.
The final thing was really not an agenda item but there was this hour or so of free time.........................................
That I used to set up the portable vise, clamp the broken exhaust manifold in place, and use it as a guinea pig to see how much I could get away with in terms of de-nerding that kind of casting.
As it turned out, that over sized lump that sits on the passenger side manifold is hollow. As originally conceived it was drilled and tapped for the EGR but when that got discontinued, the basic boss just got left behind as an unmachined nuisance. i was able, by means of my air cut-off wheel and my 4.5 running a 40 gr, to whittle the lump's profile down to where it is less intrusive and lower and smoother.
I also learned that the front boss on the manifold into which the screw for the heat guard is installed can only be semi shaved because, internally, the port is shelved and that creates a hollow that would get opened to daylight if too much material was taken away.
The remaining bosses can be shaved and ground with the result being a tube that is much smoother and presentable. This exercise is not about porting the manifolds or performance. it is mostly about aesthetics and present-ability. Losing a pound of so of ugly excess is a bonus along the way. Got about half way on the passenger side and still have the driver's side to deal with.
Also managed to locate E-3 plugs in the correct size for the 5.3. Being a Chev, theoretically it should have had AC-Delco plugs but what I found when i pulled them were Densos, meaning it had had at least one plug change in its working life.
Did finally elect to reweight the distributor and found that only a set of #41's would slip onto the pins on the advance plate. Also discovered that my brand new rotor had dis-assembled itself. Seems that while removing the cap, it caught the rotor contact and managed to pop it right off the rotor body. This is a metal strip that is actually held in place by a horseshoe shaped piece of plastic that looked to be glued in place. Think they should have been a little more generous with the cement. Phone the speed shop and he is looking for a new rotor as a part by itsel. Told him to price out an Accel cap and rotor as well. $$$$ but the ones I have run in the past have stayed the course without complaint. The rotor in there now is a Delphi unit that had been bouncing around from bench to shelf to storage to bin to??? Just wiped it off and aired it clean and polished the contact edge back to bright copper and screwed it into place.
Not sure why all the hubbub with the various sizes of weight pivot pins, it puts weight substitution into PITA mode. My mind is still considering a whole new distributor, maybe a Davis/DUI unit or a Moroso. That timer is original to that motor, making it about 40+ years old and probably about near the end of its service life.
The one for the Monte is a rebuild for which I mixed and matched the body and the shaft to get the tightest shaft/bushing relationships i could achieve. I also added shims beneath the drive gear to lose some of the up/down slop. Didn't lose it all, just enough so that the timer gear doesn't walk too far up or down in its relationship with the gear on the cam.
Nick
The afternoon's non-G micro-projects consisted of raking up and bagging branches for garbage day and assembling and boxing empty plastic bottles, again for tomorrow for recycling.
The final thing was really not an agenda item but there was this hour or so of free time.........................................
That I used to set up the portable vise, clamp the broken exhaust manifold in place, and use it as a guinea pig to see how much I could get away with in terms of de-nerding that kind of casting.
As it turned out, that over sized lump that sits on the passenger side manifold is hollow. As originally conceived it was drilled and tapped for the EGR but when that got discontinued, the basic boss just got left behind as an unmachined nuisance. i was able, by means of my air cut-off wheel and my 4.5 running a 40 gr, to whittle the lump's profile down to where it is less intrusive and lower and smoother.
I also learned that the front boss on the manifold into which the screw for the heat guard is installed can only be semi shaved because, internally, the port is shelved and that creates a hollow that would get opened to daylight if too much material was taken away.
The remaining bosses can be shaved and ground with the result being a tube that is much smoother and presentable. This exercise is not about porting the manifolds or performance. it is mostly about aesthetics and present-ability. Losing a pound of so of ugly excess is a bonus along the way. Got about half way on the passenger side and still have the driver's side to deal with.
Also managed to locate E-3 plugs in the correct size for the 5.3. Being a Chev, theoretically it should have had AC-Delco plugs but what I found when i pulled them were Densos, meaning it had had at least one plug change in its working life.
Did finally elect to reweight the distributor and found that only a set of #41's would slip onto the pins on the advance plate. Also discovered that my brand new rotor had dis-assembled itself. Seems that while removing the cap, it caught the rotor contact and managed to pop it right off the rotor body. This is a metal strip that is actually held in place by a horseshoe shaped piece of plastic that looked to be glued in place. Think they should have been a little more generous with the cement. Phone the speed shop and he is looking for a new rotor as a part by itsel. Told him to price out an Accel cap and rotor as well. $$$$ but the ones I have run in the past have stayed the course without complaint. The rotor in there now is a Delphi unit that had been bouncing around from bench to shelf to storage to bin to??? Just wiped it off and aired it clean and polished the contact edge back to bright copper and screwed it into place.
Not sure why all the hubbub with the various sizes of weight pivot pins, it puts weight substitution into PITA mode. My mind is still considering a whole new distributor, maybe a Davis/DUI unit or a Moroso. That timer is original to that motor, making it about 40+ years old and probably about near the end of its service life.
The one for the Monte is a rebuild for which I mixed and matched the body and the shaft to get the tightest shaft/bushing relationships i could achieve. I also added shims beneath the drive gear to lose some of the up/down slop. Didn't lose it all, just enough so that the timer gear doesn't walk too far up or down in its relationship with the gear on the cam.
Nick
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Here is the promised pic of the crossmember that I had to fabricate for my Pinto project. This is before second paint coating.
As can be seen, this crossmember is not symmetrical. The shorter ends are the passenger side, longer ends driver side. The bottom of the trans has a tilted attachment point, so as I fabricated this, I did it one cut/bend at a time for the first side rail, then copied it for the second rail. When I was ready to measure/cut pieces for the cross width, I marked where to trim the side rail portions to fit the roundness of the rubber mount. I welded the trimmed out pieces to the outside of the rail for additional strength across from driver to passenger side. To say I was happy it fit well on the first build would be an understatement. I had purchased material, and was fully expecting to build a second, or even a third unit before having a correct fit.
As can be seen, this crossmember is not symmetrical. The shorter ends are the passenger side, longer ends driver side. The bottom of the trans has a tilted attachment point, so as I fabricated this, I did it one cut/bend at a time for the first side rail, then copied it for the second rail. When I was ready to measure/cut pieces for the cross width, I marked where to trim the side rail portions to fit the roundness of the rubber mount. I welded the trimmed out pieces to the outside of the rail for additional strength across from driver to passenger side. To say I was happy it fit well on the first build would be an understatement. I had purchased material, and was fully expecting to build a second, or even a third unit before having a correct fit.
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