[Judas]

Thanks for the info, I'll keep that in mind.

At the moment, I am going to attempt a cheaper option; a fuel pressure regulator. Researching the web, I've found plenty of posts saying the Edlebrock (my new carb) has a tendency to flood if the fuel pressure is above 5lbs. My pump is making 6-6.5lbs. I do know for fact the carb works fine if 'gravity fed' with zero fuel pressure (well- whatever pressure gravity creates, anyhow). I've also tried blowing the needles off the seats by mouth (insert puns) and that was fine but a human only can generate about 2lbs.

It would make sense that this is the problem. The flooding i've seen is full scale; so much raw fuel pumping out that the carb venturies were filling up with liquid gas.

I'll try this out and if it works, I'll immediately shut down and do an oil change- my fuel is probably contaminated at this point.

[Judas]

Wow, it's been 5 months? You all probably thought I died or something.

Anyhow, I got a little distracted with a non-car related project and a job change, among other things. I have an IMPORTANT thing I wanted to post about, so even if you skip this, please see the paragraph below that starts with "Finally...". It details a serious problem with Right Stuff 4-wheel disc brake kits.

Stuff has happened so here it is:

I gave up on both the Holley and the Edlebrock. I went to the junkyard and wandered for a few hours looking for a Quadrajet but no carb. I went to leave and the older guy (who I suspect is the owner) at the gate asked why I was empty handed. After relating the problem he went; "Oh, we've got all them in that (delivery) truck over there, or in that warehouse over there". True to his word, there were a mountain of carbs to pick from. I took a few up to the gate of differing design and he told me which one I should work with. I took this home, ordered the rebuild kit, and refurbished it. Problem solved! The engine starts and runs, even with the choke not setup correctly! It's a little hard, but it does the job with no more flooding. if it makes things work, I am happy to stick with 'plain ole' GM'.

An old friend of mine came up and helped me hang the doors. We had a real hard time getting the hinge springs in till I looked up the zip-tie trick on the web. >.< Wasted hours on this, but we got one door perfectly aligned after working with it and figuring out the 'zen' (neither of us being a body person). The other side still needs alignment but I had to extract the striker, which was both torqued down to what seemed like 1000lbs and the head was stripped out. Luckily, I had an extra from a OEM donor quarter panel, so I welded a bar to the top of the bolt and used it as a handle.

I hung the passenger front fender...sorta. It turned out to reveal a few unpleasant things: 1. The repro core support sticks out too far, so the bolts cannot line up left-right. I'll have to trim off about 1/2 inch from the fender filler area.
2. The repro core support is angled totally incorrect. I had been wondering why it appears that the radiator is leaning inward toward the fan. Not just a little either- the fender mount bolt holes are 2-3 inches off. Hopefully I can loose the core mounts and get it aligned, but I bet its going to require some shims or something at the mounts.

Finally, I figured out the problem with the 4-wheel disc brakes. They had been very, very mushy and suspect since the day I installed them. In talking with a guy named "Superdave" over on the Impala forums, he said he had the same problem with the same kit. It appears the calipers are poorly designed and an air pocket will always remain if you try to bleed them in place. Right Stuff even has a service video on youTube that addresses this. I performed the procedure in the video and sure enough, air spattered out of the calipers. Afterward- Brakes! If you are having problems with this kit, search for the video!

So this is a big turning point of sorts. The car both stops and goes! Now to finish assembly but at least now I can move the car as needed to work on it!

I know a lot of my posts convey frustration, even depression perhaps, but I am very happy now.

-Judas

[Greg Reid]

Great news! Personally, as carbs go, I love the Q-jets.
As for the core support, here is a pic if that helps. You can see that there is a distinct forward slant.

[Judas]

Greg, Thank you for this pic. It is very interesting- my support is 'straight up', not leaning forward at all, so the radiator is leaning toward the engine.

When I was putting the fan on, I was amazed at how difficult it was to get the fan bolts installed because of the lack of clearance. I see now it's because the radiator/fan is too close to the engine itself.

My next task is to look into this very problem and try and get both fenders installed.

One thing I do, which is not good, is that I tend to jump around. some of this is due to parts/money blocking certain tasks. Going forward, my plan is 'front to back' to complete the car. Plenty of work remains, but I think (or at least tell myself) that I am over the hump.

-Judas

[Greg Reid]

Glad it helped. Maybe if you get that core support figured out, everything else will fall into place as far as the bolt holes, etc... Let me know if you need a measurement taken, such as between the support and the cowl for instance.

[Judas]

Back from the Dead!

Wow, 6 months since my last post. Time flies.

I have a confession to make. You might notice that I tend to be silent during the winter. Partially, its because I am back to the carport and the weather is not always pleasant to be in. But the bigger reason is that I am busy as my alter ego. In this garb, I make appearances and do some charity work, like the Autism Speaks walk (my middle daughter has Autism): https://www.facebook.com/Sir-Blackra...9225774642944/

If you checkout the link, you can see me in the flesh at long last. JK- you won't see a thing because I wear a helmet. :P

I also had to deal with a personal tragedy on April 28, that pretty much derailed everything for a week or two. ;_;

The season for Blackraven is now over (chiefly because the armor is unbearably hot in temperatures above 65 degrees), so I have been busy the last few months on the project. Consider this post "part 1" since epically long posts are not for everyone. Onward!:

I figured out the core support was indeed leaning once I mocked up a fender and corrected it by loosening the main busing nut + bolts so the mystery is solved.

I've had the fenders off and on a few times, but realized I really need to complete the cowl/dash area before proceeding. So, I sanded, painted, then seam-sealed these areas. While I was at it, I installed the wiper motor, the wiper armatures, and new vents from a 70 GTO (this is a resto-mod).

The fenders are still not on because I need help aligning the driver's door, so this is paused for now.

I might have posted this before; unknown- Although I put mountains of work in repairing the rotted bottom edge of the trunk-lid, it had mountains to go. Now that we can buy one, I ditched the original and installed the repro lid. I used the old lid as a 'source' for pieces of my armor.

The time came to install weather stripping at the top of the door and quarter window. I found out that the repro company didnt bother drilling the holes in the new door for this. Out comes the glass again. >.< After laying out and drilling the holes, this is installed without issue and the glass is back in. The fitment around the quarter opening is poor and these are the 'better' weatherstrip items- disappointing. 2 holes dont even remotely line up, so I'll have to drill 2 new ones (on the To-Do list).

But I took a small item off the Todo-list: hooked up the headlight switch to my home-made wiring harness and it the lights/high-beams worked perfectly (after I remembered that without hooking up the dimmer switch as well you've got nothing).

Sidebar: Having the car consistently 'mobile' helps an awful lot when working on it to reposition for the best working angle.

I may...or may not...have mentioned that I bought a replacement tailpanel from a forum member. Out of fear, I had been avoiding cutting off the old one but finally swallowed it and got out the cutter. At this point, the rear of the car was totally missing; both quarters and the tailpanel gone. Pretty scary.

Then began the long process of aligning the trunk like, tail panel, and both quarters. Lotta variables to deal with here. I started with using what little was left of the pass. quarter and aligning the tailpanel to it. I also realized the driver's full quarter provides a point of reference because it must align to the body-line and where the rocker ends at the wheel well. Obviously, this process used lots of sheet metal screws and drilled holes to make temporary connections. Did I mention the countless trial fits and adjustments to the trunk lid?

This also involved plenty of trial fitments of the quarter panels; esp. the driver's side since its a whole quarter and not a skin.

There is more to report, but I'll save that for the next post. Here is where we are now- "Hey...this is starting to look like a car!" I am proud of the alignment of the lid to quarters.

[Judas]

Part 2 of "Whats going on"

These are (mostly) small things that I slip in on week-nights when I can't get out to the car itself and can chip away at without interrupting other sub-projects. I think everyone should have this arrangement for when the weather is not co-operating or waiting on parts/money. The downside of this, though, is once you start doing things out of order from how you took it apart, you are going to end up having to take off something again due to an error. I would actually bet on it. Anyhow:

I relined the window brushes with fresh felts. I will install these at any point before the door trim is installed.

I spoke before about the fear of doing something that is irrevocable. This was also true of my dash cover- once glued on it is a done deal and I had been postponing it again and again. I finally stepped up and glued it on (pic included). To get this done, I used almost every clamp I had and even some cheap vise-grips with the tension turned way, way down. I also had to pile a bunch of weight on various places to press everything together.

I have to say that the cover (supplied by our hosts...er, no- I mean PY but Ames is surely the same part) was a very impressive fit- dead on in most areas. End result is very nice but I can't hang the dash for two reasons: I don't want to create a hotel for mice since the car is not 'sealed' yet (no windshield or rear glass), and I accidentally destroyed the gauge printed circuit years ago removing it. Will order another very soon.

I went to install the door window weatherstrip on the passenger side. This is an original door. Well, the holes are there but I could not get the screws in with the glass in place so I had to remove the glass on this side too. >.< And, to make matters worse the gap on this side between the roller and track is even tighter than the other. End result? The rear roller bound up or something and broke off. I'll have to order another and now this is set aside.

I included a shot of the lights on which is related to the previous post just because I thought it looked cool.

[Judas]

New happenings:

A fellow from my work offered to come up and help align the door/fender and install the fixed glass. So, to support that I've switched focus to getting all that stuff ready. I sanded down and cleaned the front channel, removing all the old seal that I could get off, which was most of it. The rear was a little trickier- I had to fix a pinhole at the corner of the rear glass channel on the driver's side (see pic).

I decided to do a 'drill n fill' since it was a small hole. I did end up backing the bored our hole with a piece of scrap to make the weld plug easier to form. After that, the weld was smoothed out. Luckily, the curve is virtually the same radius as your standard angle grinder stone/flap wheel so I could get it in there.

After this, I drilled and screwed in 3 of the special trim pin/screws sold by our host. I sanded down and cleaned the rear channel then painted both front and rear with a rust-prevent paint. I took a moment to install new windshield support clips from Muscle Car City and the plastic vin 'frame' thingy.

With the channels done, I moved on to an advanced feature I want to put in this resto-mod; a third brake light. Long ago, I got a complete unit in the shape I had in mind that is also flush with the shelf from the scrap yard. I think it came out of a Subaru or something. Anyhow, they sold me the whole thing with bracket for some give-away price like 15$. It's an ugly brown, but I'll paint/dye it black later. With the window still out, I mocked it up and drilled 2 mount holes in the GTO's speaker shelf.

As a random item, I drug the bumper out of deep storage and attached it to the car. This was just to check my tailpanel and trunk lid positioning. All is well!

I went back and installed the quarter window trim and snubbers. The fitment was awful. I was able to slowly work it in place by using a screwdriver handle's round face and rubbing the stainless dangerously hard. I got it close but not exact and I still had to drill some holes in the car because some of the trim holes were nowhere near close.

The replacement window roller arrived, but even with a spanner I could not get the lock nut/washer free. It withstood tapping, liquid wrench, vise-grips on the stud side, and enough force to bend the lugs on the spanner without budging. I am pretty sure I am going to break the glass at some point trying to get this off.

Thats all for now!

[Judas]

This is out of sequence, but:

I dont usually like to 'show off' because there are others out there that do much better work than I, and I am not even talking about the fine work pro's can produce. However, I am still occasionally proud of what I have done.

In these pics, I am showing the gaps and alignment I was able to achieve after cutting off nearly everything from the filler panel back. The only thing left was the trunk pan, and 2/3's of that was reproduction (both sides and braces replaced).

I got here by taking lots of time, double/triple/quadruple checking things and mocking up things with sheetmetal screws. Sure, it took longer this way, but in the end, it was worth it. Remember: "There are 2 ways to do something on cars; the right way and 'again'."

The first pic shows the beginning; virtually everything hacked away due to rust and collision damage. One of the main problems being the trunk lid (both repro and original) could not be aligned without hitting the passenger quarter to some degree (zero gap, impacting horizontally, or both). The drivers quarter was an unholy mess of twisted metal covered under deep bondo so no point of reference was reliable there.

I started with a rather nice tailpanel that had the quarter corners (bought from another forum member) since the horizontal lid gap should have been right, and I had just enough passenger quarter left to reach it. From there, the OEM drivers quarter provided some more points of reference since the body line and wheel well opening must align to the existing line and rocker panel (respectively).

In the end, I got some really nice gaps IMHO, but there was plenty of pushing, pulling, drilling and re-drilling of holes for screws, etc. Enjoy!

[Judas]

A co-worker of mine came over and gave me a hand Sunday, so I decided to tackle some "2 man jobs".

We installed both the front and rear fixed glass using some tar-like sealant you push out of tubes. Straight away, we ran into problems- the sealant was so thick it absolutely killed your hands and arms to try and squeeze it out. We engineered a solution: make the 'lever' longer to get more leverage. I affixed longer handles to the caulk gun to create a super-caulk-gun and it worked great after that.

That done, we tackled the riddle of front door/fender alignment. After the usual pushing, pulling, shimming, striker 'games' and so on, we arrived at some pretty awesome alignment. What really helped for us was Dave (the helper) got inside the car and shimmed it up using paint stirrers and cardboard on the rocker-door gap. We dialed in the horizontal by trial and error and just kept increasing the 'shims' till it worked out. We also had trouble with the striker jamming and realized the "roll" of the door was off then corrected that.

End result: the door will swing closed on it's own with just a gentle nudge. Very happy!

Next up was the fender. We had trouble getting the door-fender gap right; way too tight. After some fiddling we tried something a bit radical. I recalled how poor the fitment of the core support is and the fender is bolted to it. We loosened the support, both fenders, and the wheel wells were already loose. This done, we went to the front of the car and tugged in an attempt to pull the whole front clip forward. It didnt feel like anything happened, but when I checked the door-gap I was elated: it was perfect. At that point, we made some height adjustments to the fender (shims) and bolted it up. I can't tell you how pleased I was with the final gap: check out the picture of the fender-door edge.

Finally, I want to mention that the door is a repro and overall this is one of best, if not the best outright, reproduction parts I have used. The only flaw to it's shape is a spot just behind the door handle that is a little too flat and doesnt match the quarter curve for about 4 inches along the edge. A thin skin of bondo should make it perfect though. Thumbs up from me!

[Greg Reid]

Looks like you're making progress. That sealant you were using sounds like Urethane. I literally tore up two caulking guns trying to use that. To top that, the window leaked.
I got a glass shop to re-do it for me and that's when I realized what the problem was. They have a HEATER that they sit the tube in for about 5 minutes. Flows right out after that.

[Judas]

Hey man! hows your project these days?

I was starting to wonder if anyone actually reads this old thread of mine.

Yeah, I am on a crusade to get the car on the road this year. "Roadworthy" does not mean done, of course, just driveable on the street even if it looks like Frankenstein. I have a goal of driving it to the Fall Carlisle, but time will tell how that shakes out.

I think you are right on the urethane and that makes sense on heating it up. I am a little worried about the sealing on mine because the company was exaggerating about the 45 min seal time. I didnt take 45 mins to run the bead on the front, the 4 inches or so where I started already looked like rubber and has dubious sealing. However, its at the base of the windshield so water would have to run uphill, up over the seal, to squeeze past the glass and "tar" to get in, so I think I will be ok. The back Is also worrisome since we had to stop halfway and spend about 15 mins to modify the caulk gun. Time will tell.

Hope all is well!

-J

[Greg Reid]

I've been driving mine for the last couple of years now. Still could use some things done but I'm enjoying it for a while.
On the glass, that's kinda what happened to me. I had to run and find another caulking gun halfway through the application. I knew it wasn't going to seal.
If you want to check the seal, spray some type of foaming cleaner on the outside of the glass, all around the perimeter. Go inside the car and put an air nozzle right up against the interior and go all around the perimeter blowing air right up against the seam. Any leaks will blow the foam off.

[Judas]

Ah, thats a good idea. I might have to do that. Speaking of glass, do you know of a good glass polish? I went to the 'McParts' store and all they had was what looked like glorified Windex. My rear glass has some hazing along the bottom edge.

Glad to hear it on your car! I've given up on the 'perfect' resto and just want to drive mine. That doesn't mean I am cutting corners, but there is huge gap between nice driver and perfection.

-J

[Greg Reid]

Take your time on the body. That's the part you can't go back and fix later after you've finished the car and topcoated it. I can see a couple of flaws in mine but not too bad.
I've never polished any glass myself but I do recall that Eastwood had some glass polishing compounds. Read up on it as you can do some damage with the wrong technique.

[Judas]

Solid advice and will do, thanks!

I was able to sneak out on a week night and get a few quick things done.

I managed to gouge the printed circuit (which was in questionable shape to begin with) while removing the dash years ago. I installed a fresh circuit but not the bulbs just yet. Considering how difficult it is to replace them, I got all new ones but didn't get to inserting them just yet.

I dug out the ventilation control unit and greased up every roller and slide I could see with some spray lithium grease. I noticed one of the 'ears' is broken off the control mount box, so I hope 3 will be sufficient. I wonder if it was like this or was something I did in the years of moving the project around? Anyhow, I slipped this onto the dash as well.

Finally, got out the center vent and cleaned out a rather amazing amount of dirt for such a small part of the vent system. The chrome has largely flaked away so after cleaning it, I painted it with Krylon's "Chrome" paint. It certainly wont fool anyone into thinking it's chrome, but I think the results are pretty nice.

[Mill67]

Just wanted to let you know that we are out here, reading and rooting for you. Thank you for taking the time to chronicle your journey, and for being brutally honest about all the misfortunes.
I just started working on my 67 again, after a long hiatus. It helps to know we are not alone.

[Judas]

Originally Posted by Mill67

Just wanted to let you know that we are out here, reading and rooting for you. Thank you for taking the time to chronicle your journey, and for being brutally honest about all the misfortunes.
I just started working on my 67 again, after a long hiatus. It helps to know we are not alone.

Thanks for the props man! It's not a hobby for the faint of heart (or shallow of pocket)- that's for sure.

I'm out of town this weekend for a family reunion at the beach, so there will be a gap till my next update...but it won't be 6 months.

[Judas]

I don't usually read my own posts, but for some reason I read the whole thread yesterday and realized that I left some questions unanswered or vague, likely due to the large blocks of time between posts. Here is a 'clean up' post.

"What happened to the transmission?" I stated it had failed, then I was driving the car later. The reason for the problem was the trans had marginal levels of fluid in it and the leak of the chrome pan caused it to be too low to engage. Changing the pan fixed this. I noticed from the posts that I only implied that fact.

"You said the brakes worked, then didnt afterward?". Both are true: pumping up the brakes for bleeding did make them appear to work nicely. However, when I came back later they were spongy and weak once again. Following the 'air bubble fix' by Right Stuff, it was corrected once and for all (for now).

"Hows the carb now?" I havent had any problems (expect the choke needing adjustment) since I installed the QuadraJet. I guess the Engine Gods have spoken on this issue and I have no intention of going back to the Holley or Edlebrock.

"Why did you put the engine/body back in, then try to route brake lines?" Simple: it was an error. Putting the lines in first is 1000 times easier, but I simply forgot about it when I got hyped to get the motor/trans in. With the body, it was a diff story- I was rushing to get the body on to get it towed to my shop. Time and necessity have driven a few decisions that would seem 'out of order' otherwise. But don't *ever underestimate my ability to make an error.

[Judas]

This weekend:

I cleaned, polished, and installed the stainless trim that goes at the base of the windshield. I was dissappointed to see the windshield sealant is visible at one point because we had to shift the glass up after an initial, failed install and this squeezed some sealer upward. Oh well- I am not pulling it out to correct that.

I tackled a problem I had put off for a bit: the broken rear roller on the pass. window. The hardware is rusted and frozen though. I decided to weld a wrench to the end of the post because the spanner wrench just couldnt get enough leverage before it popped out or the lugs bent. To protect the glass from the heat, I clamped a large vise grip on the post to act as a heat sink and had my air gun close at hand. I MIG-welded on the wrench (I found 9mm fits best) using short bursts then plenty of air. This worked well...but the post just broke off after applying 'grunt' to the wrench. However, it did get about a 1/4 turn loose before it snapped and this was enough to just barely get it free with the spanner wrench.

That done, the new roller was installed, lubed and the glass installed. At this point, I went around both doors and installed all the remaining "bits" (brushes, stops) etc and adjusted up the glass; both "in/out" and "back/front". Looks great now.

One question though: Anyone know where these rubbing plates install? They are not on the fisher body manual and the windows seem to work fine without them. The plates look like they were originally wrapped in a thin, plastic sheath that kinda looks like carbon-fiber.

Oh, I also installed the passenger door handle- wasting an hour since I had to work around the glass and had the wrong length bolts. Why do it the easy way with the glass out? (Yes I forgot about it...)

Next up, I decided to install the spoiler. My car was a Judge clone and while I won't be going back to that, I always did like the spoiler. I used the template from Ames to drill the holes in the trunk, but it did not work- the spread on the bolt holes is too wide. I triple-checked the measurements both before and after and everything is perfect. Were there non-GM spoilers sold since this was a clone? Maybe the hole measurements are "on edge" vs. "on center"? I marked them as "on center" but its impossible to tell on Ames' crude drawing which it is. Perhaps it's possible the template is simply incorrect? Extremely dissapointing in any event. However, I was able to elongate the rear holes (which will still be covered by the support- whew!) and get it on the car. However, I'll have to cut a little structure on the under side to get nuts on the studs- no big deal.

Finally; I went back to work on the passenger quarter skin. Now that the tail-panel's position is "settled" (even if its not fully welded), I worked on finalizing the quarter skin's shape and fitment. I had to hammer the lip inside the door jam a little to make contact. Also, cut off the lemans sidemarker hole and trimmed the skin to fit (see pic) the flanged area. Very happy with the fitment.

I'd say the panel needs about 1-2 hours more before it will can be bonded, but it's very close now. The only problem left is the crease at the edge where the depression is for the bumper- the repro is way off here.

Till next time!