How quickly things change. We got donuts and chocolate milk to get going. First we hooked up the rest of the starter wires since that was easier done with the passenger manifold off. We loosened up the exhaust clamps on that side to get the manifold to slide into place, and then proceeded to spend way too much time trying to get the bolt holes to line up. No matter how we did it they were always about 1/4 inch off from the back hole to the front hole. Finally the local shop down the road said he's seen a few Chevy's that had two bolts on the rear. So anyway it doesn't fit.
Sorry but this is the only picture from today.
I'd try leaving the rear bolt out and put a thin coat of permatex ultra copper on the sealing surface, no gasket, the cast manifold is rigid enough that it might seal.
In reply to BrokenYugo:
I kind of thought about that but I'm OCD only about certain things and I knew that would bother me. Now that I see pre and post 83 on that picture it makes me wonder. The engine is a 78. The drivers side we got off a early 90s van and it bolted up no problem. Is this a passenger side issue only and will I not be able to use a passenger manifold from that same van?
My 305 ho heads mated to the 64 chevelle manifolds perfect. I must've been lucky.
Is there enough meat on the manifolds to drill another hole in the right place?
From what I can gather the later heads have both holes, they added/moved the hole for this kind of manifold, which I'm guessing is what you have?
Weird thing. We just ran back to where the K30 is and measured. Both the head and manifold seem to be 2.25 inches center to center on the last two. I'm trying to remember if we put both rear bolts in today. Neither seem to be to the extreme that your last picture show.
Pictures
Ok now looking at the way the manifold slants I'm not actually sure I measured and took a picture of the last port. I'm tired but I might go back over after dinner.
Sounds like the manifold has simply shrunk, common enough problem that you can buy (or build with pocket change at the hardware store) a "manifold spreader" to get the bolts in and some manifolds have bars cast between the runners to hold them in place better.
In reply to BrokenYugo:
I'm thinking the same. Might go see the cute cashier at Ace tomorrow.
Manifold spreader is very high on my list of "fake tools to send the new kid to the parts store for".
BrokenYugo wrote:
Sounds like the manifold has simply shrunk, common enough problem that you can buy (or build with pocket change at the hardware store) a "manifold spreader" to get the bolts in and some manifolds have bars cast between the runners to hold them in place better.
No E36 M3? You mean oxy aceteline and a long pipe is no longer needed????
BrokenYugo sir, I owe you a beer.
So done properly you need right and left handed threads. What I did was cut a groove on each bolt head. Then I adjusted then out and hammered them in to spread them out. Worked like a charm. The front one came out with a couple of hammer hits but I think I'll end up cutting the rear one out.
Why not leave them in? What are you worried about, extra weight?
In reply to Dusterbd13:
I'm afraid the rear one will drop on the starter and with my luck short the power lead to ground starting a fire and end up burning the truck to the ground.
Fair enough.
But congrats on getting manifolds on it!
Now you nees the flamed chrome valve covers like bobzilla. That would be pimp.
In reply to Dusterbd13:
You've seen how I look. Pimp is not my style. That's the other guy in Jacksonville.
That worked but I was thinking use a longer bolt, a coupling nut like what you did, and then the next size down bolt cut way down (start with a long one that isn't full length threaded) in the other side of the nut so it will spin on that side. Kind of like how a drum brake adjuster is set up.
Speaking of spreaders, aren't you supposed to have some sort of special long rectangular thing under those valve cover bolts so they don't warp or leak?
In reply to BrokenYugo:
You mean like these? I shall look for some.
Uh is it safe to assume that the 500ci Caddy motor was no where close(operational) to being considered for this exercise? Love me some Caddy TQ.
In reply to 759NRNG:
Well that's kind of hard to explain. Party was project creep. For example perfect Caddy (472 btw) swap for me would mean a switch pitch BOP trans behind it. I have everything but the torque converter for that but still means $1000-$1500 just in trans work. I have a history of not finishing projects because of creep like this.
While I love the K30 as the end goal I think what this project has real done is teach me to scale back. I've learn to break down a big task into smaller task. I've learned to do a bolt in swap instead of a custom engine mounts and a high dollar transmission to back it up.
That said I think I'll end up with a Caddy 472 backed by a switch pitch BOP 400 trans. First I'm going to complete this gas engine conversion. Next after a bit I'll swap in the 472 with an adapter for the Chevy case. Finally I'll figure out if the switch pitch cost is worth a trans swap.
In reply to BrokenYugo:
I made a spreader out of an old F-350 brake shoe adjuster and a short piece cut out of an oil pickup.
We got back on it this morning. Wired the oil pressure, coolant temp, and alternator. Installed the throttle cable bracket then we did lunch. Here I am in all my sexiness doing some wiring.
We were done for the day but then the postman brought my valve cover spreaders so I put them on.
Safety wire and leave it alone.
Stampie wrote:
In reply to Dusterbd13:
I'm afraid the rear one will drop on the starter and with my luck short the power lead to ground starting a fire and end up burning the truck to the ground.
In reply to A 401 CJ:
We ended up getting it out with a few hard blows from a hammer.
No pictures in this update just a lot of failures. That's the TLDR.
Friday evening we started on the exhaust. Turns out the diesel exhaust flanges are smaller than the 350's. Bummer. Plan is to junkyard a Y pipe Monday afternoon and use that to piece it together.
Saturday we decided that we could continue on with everything else. Where the truck sits it's just brutal in the summer mornings. All we did in the morning was get the HEI wired up.
We took a break to play some Ms. Pac-Man and a friend called saying they weed wacked their AC control wire. Got that fixed and hit a late lunch.
By now the shade is covering most of the passenger side so we jumped back on it. We put the radiator shroud, fan (woohoo it lined up with the diesel shroud), fuel lines, cap, rotor, spark plug wires, and the battery.
We threw in 5 gallons of gas and using our return line air pressure trick to cycle it through the lines just to mix up any remaining diesel fuel. Here's where we got in a hurry and missed things. First I've been covering the carb but apparently not well enough. Turns out we have water in the cylinders. Pulled the plugs and shot all the water out. Now it turns over but not real fast. Seems in my hurry I forgot to add all my engine grounds that I planned. It's bedtime for Lil Stampie and I'm tired so we call it a night. My only other concern is we never got gas up to the carb so I'm wondering if the fuel pump diaphragm is good.
Back on it tonight.
Ok we put all our grounds on. We have spark. We get fuel to the carb. We can get out to run pouring gas down the carb. We think the carb is farked. Here's a video that just kinda sums the evening up.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/h6_LCtQD-tI
Edit
Ok it's really not that bad now that I think about it. We can rebuild the carb but National Carb is right down the road. They have rebuild for like $200. I can grab one tomorrow and the sun still rises except for that whole eclipse thingy.
