Timmycharger's 68 Resto

[timmycharger]

 

[timmycharger]

 

[timmycharger]

Put in the rear glass with the butyl tape, installed the clips as well.

Starting the resto of the buckets.

[timmycharger]

 

[Baldwinvette77]

Just wanted to say im watching this one closely   

[timmycharger]

 

[tan top]

looking good , nice job ...

[keepat]

Looking Awesome!
Pat

[timmycharger]

Thanks Guys, much appreciated 


Had a good weekend, my brother in law did some welding on the exhaust, I plumbed the fuel lines and got it ready to fire.  Had the drive shaft shortened to 51 inches for the Dana 60.


For those on Facebook, this video may be viewable, not sure, not the best with this stuff.

https://www.facebook.com/michael.benassi.77

Got the motor running, sounds pretty strong, all the vitals look good, but I have some loud valvetrain to tend to. I pulled one valve cover and the adjusters were scraping the baffle so we clearenced it. and its a little quieter so  think the same thing is happening on the other side. Ill pull it off and will check it out. I also have a small rear main seal leak  but Ill put up with that I guess.  It moves, stops and turns now, first time since 02!

[timmycharger]

So after getting it started last weekend, I was able to play around a bit more with it this week.

Initially when we started it, had some very loud valvetrain noise, clacking/ticking. I initially set the rockers at 1/2 turn past zero lash, and after the initial startup was done, I went back in and gave them all another 1/4 turn. The noise is definitely quieter but not nearly as quiet as I would like it to be. I remember last time this motor was run, the rockers were noisy, but not sure it they were this noisy.  They are the older Hughes Engines 1.6 anodized blue roller rockers.

I will go in and give them another 1/4 turn to see if they quiet down some more. Im running 10/30 oil in my initial startup but will be changing the oil next week. Should I go heavier?

Everything else looks great. 60PSI of pressure when cold, and about 40 when warm at idle, charging at 14.4 volts, temp is good, fans kicking on when they should, got a small power steering leak at the cap I have to address, i think the seal is worn on the cap.  Also have a small rear main seal leak which appears to be getting smaller? 

Its idling very rough right now, i have to mess with the timing, and idle mixtures and possibly a power valve as Im only getting about 9-10 inches of vaccuum with this 284/484 MP purpleshaft cam.

Took it around the block a few times and horrified some neighbors as the car has no paint, grille, bumpers, or lights of any kind, but I wanted to see how it drove through the gears.  Happy to say it is super smooth, clutch feels great. Got on it about half throttle, and it scared the heck out of me as it easily spun the terrible shop tires I am using through 2nd gear, again, barely getting on it.

The fine tuning will continue, but things are looking good! next step is to build the paint booth again and get the body ready for paint in the spring!!!

[tan top]

    purple 484 cam  , whats your initial timing ?  with that cam think I would  try 18 - 20 degrees initial , mechanical  all in at 32-34 degrees ,  & a    900 -50 idle speed ,  

[timmycharger]

I set the initial timing at 18 degrees, and thats about as far as I got. I didnt like the noise it was making so I swapped out the 1.6 roller rockers to the stock stamped ones and the noise is still there, almost like a diesel sound.

I found an ignition wire that got too close to the header and burned up, as the car starting backfiring, not running on all 8 so I need to explore this more and replace them all before doing any more tuning. I also need to change the oil since I just fired it up last week.  The idle is still sort of rough, but again, i need to rule out ignition wires before going crazy with carb adjustments and timing.

Ive read about piston slap noises, lifters, etc, its tough to say where its coming from, is there an easy way to post a video other than youtube? I have a small clip of it idling.

[tan top]

difficult to say what the noise might be  , with out actually being there ,

I would go through & check everything , just to rule it out ,   with out hearing the noise , think I would  do a compression check , seeing as you thought it was top end noise , 

[timmycharger]

Thanks Tan, I know, noises are impossible to describe, I need to get a link up of the video clip I made, I listened to it again, it even sounds like an exhaust header leak, but I checked all that and its fine.

I will be going through everything as you suggest, just waiting on my new ignition wires to come in. Id like to rule that out first as I know for sure I burnt at least one of my old ones.

The one thing Im not sure about is the PCV valve grommet. I didnt have the correct one so I sort of fudged one in there until the correct one came in the mail (yesterday), it didnt seal very well and Im wondering if that could have caused a vacuum leak and a noise. Ill rule that out this weekend when I fire it up again.

First things first though, from just messing around the last 2 weeks, I managed to run it dry of gas, i only had 4 gallons in there, but a few trips around the block and several starts and probably untuned carbs not helping. Sure isnt a 4cyl!! 

[tan top]

 yeah could , pcv grommet would cause a big vacuum leak  , just to rule stuff out like that , could just plug the  vacuum hole on the carb , & run it with out , just to test type thing , leave the pcv valve out the valve cover .

think I would be also pull the valve covers & intake & spark plugs & rotate the motor by hand , to see it all the valves are opening & closing properly ,

whats the oil pressure ?   

 

[timmycharger]

Well, unfortunately the noise is still there after changing the PCV grommet. I also replaced the ignition wires.  Oil pressure is about 60 cold. Changed the oil today as well. I removed the valve covers and checked the rockers and they are all moving as they should. These are the stock stamped ones now after removing the roller rockers. I will do a compression check next, not sure what else I can do with out taking off the intake. I ruled out exhaust leaks too. Other than the noise, it seems to run well, a bit shaky at idle though.

Here are some videos of it running.  

Also restored the air cleaner and base, came out pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSS5oCcsRaQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFh6mxFDMrE

[timmycharger]

Still working on my noise issue, even after swapping out the roller rockers for the stock stamped ones the noise was still there.  I read that the stock pushrods may be too short on Edelbrock heads when using stock stamped rockers and since the noise was louder with the stock ones, I ended up switching back to the rollers.  I will try to adjust them again, setting the pre load, and may also try using a cut up valvecover to see/hear them running at speed.  

In the meantime, my brother in law helped me out with the battery hold down system. Basically a piece of bar stock aluminum polished and drilled, some rod stock, nuts bolts and oh , an old cookie sheet the wife wasnt using anymore.  We cut it down and used a rubber pad for the battery. Works very well, rock solid.

Now I can go on my test drives around the block w/o the battery sliding around  

[70-500-SE-EXPORT]

Sweet build! I had a ticking valvetrain noise I couldn't track down and it drove me nuts. Turned out to be a noisy PCV valve! With vacuum applied it would make a rattling noise. 

[timmycharger]

Im putting the engine problem on hold for now, ill probably swap out the lifters in the Spring. The carbs are a mess as well, I ran out of steam with the mechanical part and am ready to dive back into the body.  

Started construction of the new paint booth. This one is bigger than the one I built last year as it now has to fit the car. I made it as big as possible without pissing the wife off, it has roller dollies on the wheels and moves around fairly easily.

I mounted 8 fluorescent double light units all around it, wired to 2 power strips. I have the fans on the doors and one on the side wall in the window for fresh air.   I still have to mount the plastic sheeting and the side door.

Lots of work ahead  

[keepat]

Nice start on your paint booth, I know what you'll be doing over the winter!
Good luck!
Pat

[oddis]

nice job on the dash and everything else      doing a complete restoration  , what is your million dollar tips, regarding paint, fabrics and so on....., what new products does NOT work on seats/ dash/ wiring / gauges  is there anything I shouldn't by starting on the same job as yours ?

[timmycharger]

Nice start on your paint booth, I know what you'll be doing over the winter!
Good luck!
Pat

Thanks Pat, Its getting closer to being finished, hopefully this weekend.  Total of 20 fluorescent lights all around the car should do it I hope    Can't wait to see my electric bills this winter, along with the amount of wood pellets I will need to keep the garage warm enough to do bodywork. I live in the Northeast and although my garage is insulated and finished, it still gets as low as 40 in there some mornings, so the plan will be to have the wife put the pellet stove on at like 2 in the afternoon on the nights I will be out there which is usually around 8 after the kids go to bed.  I need to be sure the body (steel) temp is around 60 if possible before laying on any filler, primer, etc.  Also I think im going to keep a tote for my products that I can keep in the house to keep them room temp.

So the plan for this winter is sanding, sanding and more sanding 

[timmycharger]

nice job on the dash and everything else      doing a complete restoration  , what is your million dollar tips, regarding paint, fabrics and so on....., what new products does NOT work on seats/ dash/ wiring / gauges  is there anything I shouldn't by starting on the same job as yours ?

Thanks oddis, good luck on your resto, boy I'm certainly not the authority on doing a complete resto, my number one tip is do your research, this and other sites are very helpful, gather pictures of examples of what you want to do. I have folders upon folders of dashes, doors, etc.

The dash and seats for example, lots of research and lots of time assembling. For the dash, the shop manual was invaluable, if you don't have one, get one! the wiring was so much easier to figure out.  Youtube trained me to do the seats, Legendary has some nice videos.

For Paint, I made friends with the local paint supply guy, he dumbed everything down for me and was a great guide in knowing which product worked with which paints, etc.

Again, good luck!

[timmycharger]

More progress on the Paint booth, I have not had much time to work on it so its slow progress, but almost done. The lights are all working now and most of the plastic is up.  Not quite as bright as I wanted, but I have a few hand held LED lights that I will use to check the work closer when I am done.   

[lukedukem]

looks really good. i got to ask, have you ever done this type of work before. the welding of the panels on and trunk replacement. and the painting. i like to read all these threads on restoration and i wonder if any of you have done this before or are just jumping in. either way it looks good and i hope that i can accomplish the same.
cant wait for paint

Luke