BUILD THREAD You know she's a keeper when...

[Wageslave]

A big fail on the A/C lines. I bought a set of hoses for an '85 C1500, which turned out to be long enough and had the correct end to connect to the condenser and drier. Unfortunately, the flange where it mounts to the compressor has changed over the years. The original compressor has a flat flange with both holes at the same height. The S-10 compressor has one of the holes sunk in deeper, and will not seal with the older style hose.

I am honestly not sure what to do about it at this point, other than block off the ports and put the bypass pulley back on for now. I am more than a little curious how all the LS-swappers make this work.

 

[Wageslave]

A big thanks to pagrunt for his advice about the slave CD player. I picked up one from the junkyard for $25 and proceeded to completely disassemble it. I stripped the drive from the outer enclosure and compared it to the original. It looked slightly different but plugged right in and accepted a disk. I had to take it back apart to clean the laser lens, but now it plays both regular and burned CD's.



I still need to get harness and antenna adapters but it is ready to go in.

 

[Wageslave]

So, I have been driving this around now and then and getting a feel for how it is running. It runs well enough, but it is somewhat hard starting and a little on the rich side.

I have been weighing my options, and have decided that I will be purchasing a Microsquirt module to use to convert this to fuel injection. I have most of the stuff for a TBI setup already, and a quick trip to the pull-a-part should get the rest. The module that I am looking at is like $300 but hopefully will be worth it.

 

[Wageslave]

My amazon orders all arrived today, which allowed me to put my adapter harness together.

Between this and an antenna adapter, it connected up nicely and did not leave me with a sense of guilt that comes with cutting the factory harness.

It all went together nicely and looks better than I was expecting. Black face with black buttons would have been my first choice but it matches up with the interior color pretty well. As a bonus, that thing in the cigarette lighter port is a Bluetooth FM modulator. It lets me listen to my phone over the radio wirelessly.

 

[Wageslave]

I got a little bit of miscellaneous work done on the Bonneville. I got the electric choke adjusted properly and the idle reset so it will start in the cold. The dash is buttoned up the rest of the way after the radio install, but it may come apart again as every back light bulb in the radio is burned out.

I spent a little more time trying to get the shifter linkage to not rattle against the exhaust manifold. The EGR pipe from the drivers side manifold sticks out right where the linkage goes through, and would rattle and shake the gear selector as I was driving down the road. I tried to bend an extra angle in the rod to clear, but the shifter rod is harder than my ex-wifes heart and would have ripped the vice off of the bench before it would have gave. I ended up using a carb spring to pull the rod towards the drivers side frame rail.

I was going to attempt replacing the clapped out front shocks, but the top bolts are froze up, and I am out of cutting discs for the dremel.

Maybe another day.

 

[1evilregal]

just got caught up, looks like good progress has been made. looking forward to seeing the FI setup, and how well it does. my neighbor's kids just moved him with them, and I may be picking up his old astrovan as a possible DD until the swap can be done in the Regal... just wish it was new enough for the SFI setup...

keep up the progress, you'll nail it before long!

 

[Wageslave]

A little update on the Bonneville. It is fully running and driving now and just needs an exhaust to be road ready. However, my El Camino is nearing the end of it's life and I may throw the 350 out of the El Camino in the Bonneville. The 4.3 was a decent fit for this car but I have different plans for this motor, so it won't go to waste.

Hopefully, all these changes wont take very long to get done.

 

[Wageslave]

She is on the road! Just got her plated today and took a 50 mile cruise to shake down everything. It still needs a few things, but for the most part it runs and drives great. I am pretty optimistic on highway mileage but it is probably going to suck for city mileage.

I also weighed it while I was near a set of scales. Full tank of gas and no driver comes out to just under 3600 lbs.

At this point, I still have a bit of lean pop under load to work on and the AC system still needs a hose. I also have a bit of shudder under load from a trashed transmission mount (the offset mounts are worthless), but a replacement won't be in before Monday.

Looks like time for a road trip!

 

[Wageslave]

After taking the El Camino off the road for good, I pulled the 350 out of it and stuck it in the Bonneville after a quick clean up and new head gaskets.

I also installed the 4.3's serpentine drive setup on to the new engine. It is tight, but fits and works well. (Although I only have a 1/4 inch or so between the power steering pump pulley and the top of the gear box)

I will try to get some pictures once it is a little more lined out.

 

[Wageslave]

A few pictures:


Still need a fan shroud and an A/C compressor installed so I can get a custom A/C hose made. I am digging that serpentine drive setup though.


That power steering pump pulley is awfully close to the steering box though. Unfortunately, you cannot get the belt through that gap to take it off. I have to pull the driver's side bracket off to get the belt on and off, but luckily that is not something that has to be done very often. I may put a different bolt in with more clearance later, but it works and doesn't hit so good enough for now.

I got my exhaust welded up and it is quiet now, although it hangs a little lower than I would like.

My carb is acting like it needs its floats set, but other than that it is running and driving quite well. I have put about 200 miles of highway and interstate driving on it, and other than an issue with hot restarts, it seems to be running without issue.