Sweet... it made it to work. First drive was with Mom on her birthday. Not bad. Finally have the brake lights and turnsignals working. Winning. Only thing left is the wiper motor, but when I pulled the old harness one of hte spades came out of the motor so it's likely toast.
One odd thing... once it's all nice and warm, I do lose oil pressure. 20psi at idle. pops back up to 40-50psi at speed. I haven't changed the oil yet, that is tomorrow's task. But all in all... drives really good.
20psi at idle does not sound bad to me. The old rule of thumb, which I think is a bit higher than it needs to be, is 10psi for every 1,000 RPM. Your numbers sound just a touch low. What oil weight are you using?
I have always tried to follow the 10-1000 rule and we're still "safe". Need to get the carb adjusted though.
So... to update the main thread.... new alternator installed. Old one went full re... ummm.. all the way. 17v at running speed. New one is right at 14.5. Also changed the oil. According to the filter, it was last changed last march. Put in some cheap 10W30 and a quart and half of 5W40 Rotella.
Also pulled the plugs. It had some old, rusty and super cruddy Autolites in it. 3 of them were so gunked up, I have no idea how they fired. One was missing half the electrode. Looked like it just flaked off. So new Delco R45TS plugs gapped at .040 and away she goes. Runs smoother, and definitely stronger. Breaks the tires loose in 2nd gear (fine, it's technically 3rd).
Just finding myself more smitten with each drive.
Fixed the wipers yesterday. It was a ground issue (of course it was). So I'm down to wiring the blower motor left. Also put 200 miles on it between friday and saturday. Filled her up and averaged 15mpg.
The new cluster is very distracting. IT logs highest rpm(5000), max speed (81) as well as 0-60 (haven't done yet) and 1/4-mile et and speed (also not done). To go along with all that it'll show speed in numbers, rpm in numbers, water temp, oil pressure and voltage in numbers and the odo and 2 trips.
Still no pictures of the dash in place? Tsk tsk!
Lower oil pressure at operating temp is a common high mileage symptom of SBC's. What kind of mileage does the motor have, and what weight oil are you using? Underweight oil can do it too.
Edit: Just saw the oil post. I'd guess the 1.5qts of 5w-40 is the most likely contributor to the oil pressure. Even 10w-30 might be a little on the thin side if it's over 150k-ish IME.
There is no way to know mileage on the engine. IT was "rebuilt recently" but who knows what that means. It's got all chrome tin (valve covers, oil pan, air cleaner) and the block and heads have fairly fresh chevy orange paint. It runs strong, sounds mean as hell and doesn't smoke (other than a little black) so i'd guess it's fairly fresh but who knows what that means in real world miles.
At 225k with criminal oil change intervals, Sheila won't hold enough pressure with 10w-40 to keep the oil light off once it's at operating temp.
Pressure holds with 20w-50, but it's getting surprisingly hard to find.
since I've been slacking:
although in the taking of this photo the wipers turned themselves on and won't turn off.
So, wipers are back to working. Fixed the vacuum leak by replacing the pcv with a second breather and capping the port on the carb. Idles much better now.
Also installed dual return springs. Throttle is heavier but this makes the scca happier.
Also got to play with the 0-60 timer on the dash. Got it down to 10.9 (slow) but that 2-3 shift is so slow. This trans doesn't like... check that... flat refuses to shift quickly. Not surprised, it is a truck trans that was never designed for what I'm trying to make it do.
so apparently 3 throttle return springs may be a bit much.... took off the one that was on it and it's better. still stiff.
First event is in the books. Quite surprised to be honest. Was having a great day until I started dealing with fuel starve. Stopped at the gas station on hte way home.... yep. 12 gallons into the 16 gallon tank. Not to self: fill tank before next event. video's coming soon.
So... the p/s pump does NOT like this. Too bad. Overall thetruck has good handling for it's current condition. Cut stock springs, cheapest shocks I could get my hands on, 400TW tires, bushings that were last good about 30 years ago and an alignment that is a complete unknown.
Power wasn't an issue on hte first couple runs. In fact, blazing the tire at will seemed pretty easy. Handling was decent, but more spring and more shock is a 100% certainty. The steering was slow, but honestly I believe the Swift steering was slower. A 65' slalom at speed wasn't bad as long as you didn't enter late. Enter late and you're screwed. Braking was interesting. Fronts lock pretty easily. Need to get the adjustable proportioning valve in there so I can dial some back to the rears. OVerall not bad though.
All in all, a great first event. Nothing broke. Made all the runs and quite possibly had the biggest grin there.
Wohoo! Sweet! Congrats on turning the first wheels in... anger?
there was no anger, for sure. Aggression, yeah. laughter and awesomness? absolutely. I've got a go-pro vid to share when I get home.
Bobzilla wrote: although in the taking of this photo the wipers turned themselves on and won't turn off.
The wipers on my Suburban often come on at undesired times. I'm not sure what's going on there. If you found anything odd you want to share, I'd be happy to hear it. they just do a single swipe. I'm not sure if it's that they get bumped and the mist or intermittent setting is super sensitive...or if I have a wiring problem somewhere.
ClemSparks wrote:Bobzilla wrote: although in the taking of this photo the wipers turned themselves on and won't turn off.The wipers on my Suburban often come on at undesired times. I'm not sure what's going on there. If you found anything odd you want to share, I'd be happy to hear it. they just do a single swipe. I'm not sure if it's that they get bumped and the mist or intermittent setting is super sensitive...or if I have a wiring problem somewhere.
Bad wiper pulse module.
Mine is the wiper park switch. When pulling the old wiring, one of the pins came out with the plug. So when it starts this, I go wiggle the plug to make it reconnect and boom. Fixed. Some day I'll have to replace it. Mine is the on, fast and off version. No intermittent speeds.
Got to get my updates all in one place. And add some pictures. Anywho.....
Last Friday installed new carb. Quick Fuel Technologies 650 DP with mechanical secondaries. Installed, promptly caught on fire because back fire from too much timing. Had a friend come over saturday morning and we fine tuned it and adjusted the timing down to 12* base. Revs like a possessed elephant on crack. does all sorts of new, awesome things.
Finally got the electric fan. I'd already removed the 18" grenade off the waterpump Friday. Only drove it a few times but it seemed fairly OK without any fan. but the new electric is nce insurance. Installed last night. did a real nice job wiring it up and tucking it away. Won't come on with the thermo-switch. The kit came with no wiring, so I wired it up like a normal relay's connection. Thinking on it I couldn't figure out where it would get power from a single pin thermo-switch. This morning it dawned on me that the relay and switch are the grounds in the connection.
so tonight I rewire it all over again.
Truck has made 3 events and 1000 miles since I got it running again. So far so good.
cheap fan installed:
In reply to Bobzilla:
I think you need a neck tattoo to match the air cleaner. 
In reply to Pete Gossett:
Air cleaner AND valve covers. What you can't see are the skull caps on the tall VC bolts.
In reply to Bobzilla:
Ooh...badass!
Was wondering how much top speed you would lose if you mistakenly put the air cleaner top on backwards?
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