dimlight65 Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 On 3/7/2023 at 6:57 AM, datsunfreak said: If you think for one second that intake won't be gold by tomorrow... 😁 Except we used up all the gold paint on the other manifold! So Saturday it becomes gold! 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 While waiting for John to show up to paint the manifold (see above about why that didn't happen), I decided to change the oil in the Smart Car. While I was in there, I figured I would check the air filter. Yeah, apparently I should have done this two or three oil changes ago. This is how much crap came out when I banged it on this wheel... I'm surprised the some-bitch even ran, much less was able to pull a ton on the freeway. I spent half an hour or more washing and scrubbing it and then gave it a nice big soak of ATF to make it pink again... But before I reinstalled it, I took a hole saw... And "Swiss Cheesed" the air box. Does that make a difference? Meh, probably not. Does it give the intake more honk? Usually, but I'm not sure how much I gained. Do I think it was worth it? I'll just say it felt a wee bit quicker from 80 to 100 tonight on the way home. Was that a) the oil change, b) the clean filter, or c) the "Swiss Cheesing"? I'm going to be honest and say... d) all in my head! 1 Quote Link to comment
EDM620 Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 A performance Smart Car... I'll just stop there 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted March 11, 2023 Report Share Posted March 11, 2023 We added a significant amount of lightness today! Stripped out most of the factory wiring harness, all of the HVAC, and removed the dashboard. Here's the pile of stuff we removed. The dash will get re-faced and stuffed full of gauges... I'll start the simplified wiring harness installation as soon as that kit arrives. 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 A big pile of parts have arrived (and there's even more waiting at the UPS Store). A 500cfm Elderbrock AVS2 carb... A 2" phenolic carb spacer... An ignition switch... A headlight switch... A wiper switch... A floor mount dimmer switch... A thermostat housing... And a turn signal switch... To which I made a stalk by filling a straw with fiberglass resin and cramming the toggle into it until it hardened... Once the resin hardened, it shrank away from the straw so I slid it off... Up next, the intake manifold! 2 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 This manifold is made for either the Chrysler LA small block or the Chrysler Magnum small block. Therefore, it is double drilled for either splayed (LA) or straight (Magnum) bolts. It came with little plugs to fill the unused holes. We pressed these in... And painted it GOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLD! Then we had a look at the defroster vents in the dash frame. It was decided that we would make the round peg fit the square hole by adding some bits to the registers. I have a heater box thingy in my Amazon shopping cart waiting for me to pull the trigger to purchase it. Stay tuned. 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 I meant to put this in the post with the turn signal stalk. One would think that I would know by now to wear rubber gloves when working with fiberglass resin... One would be wrong! 2 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted March 18, 2023 Report Share Posted March 18, 2023 Some more parts arrived. Wiring harness: Water valve for the heater: And the speedo/tach and oil/water/volts/fuel combo gauges... which I totally forgot to photograph. I popped the 2" phenolic spacer and carb on and had a look see... Then we did the swap! Oh man, does it look good in there! We dropped the carb and spacer on in the van and... You can't see the carb from the front. So, I'm going to send the spacer back. Then I dropped the HEI distributor in and called it a day. We also formulated plans with regards to the dash layout and John is making a plate to facilitate that. I'll start on the wiring Wednesday. 3 Quote Link to comment
EDM620 Posted March 18, 2023 Report Share Posted March 18, 2023 Looking great! 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted March 23, 2023 Report Share Posted March 23, 2023 So I finally got the scale to the shop so we could see how much lightness we added. Of course, I don't remember the exact number, but after adding back in the new wiring harness weight and the weight of the new heater core (pix to follow), I think we decided that the van is 150 pounds lighter after this diet! Ok, so I mentioned a new heater core... It looks a lot like that. I also bought a throttle cable and bracket kit... That's a "proof of concept" assembly of it on the carb. Then we put the carb on the donk! After that, I had a look at mounting a mini, one wire alternator... Hmm... no. I don't like that very much. Yes! That's much better. John cleaned up and painted the angle bracket and the grubby factory bracket once we were happy with the arrangement. Now we just need to find a seven rib serpentine pulley with a 15mm hole rather than the 17mm hole in the factory unit. Stay turned. 1 Quote Link to comment
EDM620 Posted March 23, 2023 Report Share Posted March 23, 2023 18 hours ago, dimlight65 said: I also bought a throttle cable and bracket kit... Much better than what I'd done on my old 69 Econoline, but there's a story in that! 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted March 25, 2023 Report Share Posted March 25, 2023 On 3/23/2023 at 5:57 PM, EDM620 said: Much better than what I'd done on my old 69 Econoline, but there's a story in that! Ok... we're waiting! 😋 Quote Link to comment
EDM620 Posted March 25, 2023 Report Share Posted March 25, 2023 Alrighty then! Short version of story - I swapped in a built 289 into my Econoline that came from a Fairlane. Carb used was Thermoquad spread-bore with "normal" rear-pull linkage. Problem was the Econoline required a forward-pull, so I'd rigged up a pulley to convert the pull direction. Worked good until it didn't - the transmission mount bolts sheared dropping the engine assembly rearward cranking the throttle wide-open... Quick solution was to weld the crossmember back in place and I traded it for my '77 200SX... Buyer beware!! 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted March 25, 2023 Report Share Posted March 25, 2023 Wow! I think the scariest thing about that story is that you chose a '77 200SX! 😜 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted March 30, 2023 Report Share Posted March 30, 2023 (edited) Ok, so the "GM" one wire alternator arrived the other day. I got it installed today. I think I need another washer under the mounting bolts to get the belt alignment more perfecter. I also installed the thermostat, heater hose outlet, and bypass hose in the manifold. I hooked up the throttle cable to the pedal and discovered that there wasn't enough travel. I did a "Cut & Shut" to introduce some bend in the pedal's arm and now I get "WFO" when the pedal is on the floor. I also bought a Panhard rod mount... ...but it's way smaller than the axle tube. I don't think it's going to work. Finally, we looked at the heater box, and the controls for it, and have a plan of attack for Saturday. I'm quite chuffed with the progress. Oh, and the belt being upside down finally got to me! Edited March 30, 2023 by dimlight65 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted April 1, 2023 Report Share Posted April 1, 2023 On 3/29/2023 at 9:38 PM, dimlight65 said: I hooked up the throttle cable to the pedal and discovered that there wasn't enough travel. I did a "Cut & Shut" to introduce some bend in the pedal's arm and now I get "WFO" when the pedal is on the floor. I took a couple pix of it in situ today... And the carb end... I'm pretty pleased with how that came out. Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted April 1, 2023 Report Share Posted April 1, 2023 We had been planning to mount the heater core vertically with the vents pointing up, necessitating a hard 90 through the firewall. Well, I wasn't too excited about that plan. I had a look to see if it could mount vertically with the vents pointing directly into the giant hole in the firewall. Guess what! It does! I then used some CAD to figure out how to close off the slight, almost insignificant, not even sure why I bothered, air leak around the unit... Transferred that shape to a hunk of metal shelf (hope John doesn't try to put anything in the paint cabinet any time soon) and cut it out. Then made the hole for the vents to come through. We'll pookie that to the wall and bolt it down nice and solid after we clean and paint it. 2 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted April 1, 2023 Report Share Posted April 1, 2023 On 3/29/2023 at 9:38 PM, dimlight65 said: I think I need another washer under the mounting bolts to get the belt alignment more perfecter. I went with two more washers under the bolts and I think I am truly happy with the alternator installation now. Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted April 1, 2023 Report Share Posted April 1, 2023 So, while I was doing those last two posts worth of work, John was working on my dashboard. A plate for the speedo/tach and oil/water/fuel/volts gauges... Which looks like this in place... and looks like this when full of said gauges... We didn't get a shot of the gauges in the dash, but we will... eventually. Then he made a plate to mount the shift light and its control knob, which looks like this in situ... and like this when said light and knob are installed. (Heater controls are going in the black rectangle under the round pods.) I also decided that the ignition switch will go where the headlight switch used to live. The headlight and wiper switches will go in a plate in that giant square hole underneath. 3 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted April 8, 2023 Report Share Posted April 8, 2023 (edited) Bought a 90° fitting and installed the oil pressure sending unit... and popped the air intake snorkel thingy on. Then I had a look at where I want to mount the fuse box. In order to cover those big holes, I started with some CAD and plastic sheet... to make a cover plate... bunged a few holes into it and mounted it up. Then we sorted through the wiring harness, took out a few superfluous wires and rerouted some for my situation. Then we shoved them through the firewall. Of course we left the wires for the engine bay, headlights, taillights, and fuel level & pump on this side of the firewall. And you can see the relay box on the battery tray there. We'll get it all bolted up on Wednesday and then start stringing wire around the place. Edited April 8, 2023 by dimlight65 Quote Link to comment
Satisaii Posted April 8, 2023 Report Share Posted April 8, 2023 I would consider remote mounting the oil pressure sender. I have seen brass fittings break when the mass of the sender is hanging off of them. Has to do with movement of the engine and vibration. I will say that all of my personal experience with this is on Miata race cars where the sender is on the side of the engine. 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted April 9, 2023 Report Share Posted April 9, 2023 15 hours ago, Satisaii said: I would consider remote mounting the oil pressure sender. I have seen brass fittings break when the mass of the sender is hanging off of them. Has to do with movement of the engine and vibration. I will say that all of my personal experience with this is on Miata race cars where the sender is on the side of the engine. Noted. I will take it into consideration, but have never experienced the problem myself. Quote Link to comment
iceman510 Posted April 11, 2023 Report Share Posted April 11, 2023 It's a definite thing. Brass fittings fatigue much more readily that steel or aluminum fittings. Had a friend lose all his oil that way, bur fortunately he caught it on the gauge quickly enough to shut it down and not lose the engine. 1 Quote Link to comment
EDM620 Posted April 12, 2023 Report Share Posted April 12, 2023 23 hours ago, iceman510 said: Brass fittings fatigue much more readily that steel or aluminum fittings. Hmmmm I'm thinking steel painted GOLD! 😄 1 Quote Link to comment
bilzbobaggins Posted April 12, 2023 Report Share Posted April 12, 2023 Purple hardware would be tits on that motor. Like a third tit. 1 Quote Link to comment
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