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Old 10-05-2019, 06:28 PM   #1079
CFD


 
Drives: 2SS/RS L99 BLACK
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Franklin , MA
Posts: 6,696
Hope you're prepared for a long read while I explain my frustrations.I have somewhat calmed down but after this post I'm sure that will change. I jumped right in on the fittings this morning, no big deal, chucked them up in the lathe, took off a few threads until they felt right and got them installed. Now I have enough thread engagement where I'm comfortable with the install, so what was the big deal yesterday? I do this for a living and have for about 50 yrs but the average guy who does this as an enthusiast or even some in typical repair shops my not have the knowledge I do on various threads and how they function so you break out the instructions which clearly state the threads are 1/4" NPT. For those that aren't familiar with pipe threads there are NPT and NPS. NPT is a tapered thread, thus the "T". NPS is a straight thread Thus the "S". A NPT thread seals as the face of the threads contact each other, the force is increased as the diameter increases. A NPS thread has no sealing capabilities, they typically seal by two means, one a machined surface with or without, depending on the application, a gasket, o-ring etc. or with a male or female flare such as with tubing. Enough schooling, so you buy a couple of 1/4" NPT fittings and install them until tight. Unless you've been here before and realize something doesn't look or feel right you think all is good. You complete your job, fill the fluid and start your car and WTF, it's leaking, I thought that I tightened it enough so you grab a wrench to tighten it a little more as that's how pipe threads work and next thing you know you break the fitting as they are only soft aluminum and are not very strong. Everything just turned to shit because now you're faced with getting the broken piece out, you got lucky and got it out, now what, oh, maybe it was a bad fitting so what do you do, try again, call for help, maybe use a steel or brass fitting with the same issue, now your day is gone and you still have a pile of shit on your hands. Why, because some genius couldn't tap a friggin' hole right. Fortunately I do have the knowledge and caught it before I ended up in that position I'm also fortunate enough to have the proper equipment and tools to deal with it. Any how, there in and all is good so I move on to the next thing. I'm waiting on the fittings and hose to complete the job and decide it's time to address setting up the distributor. It was temporarily installed to check gear engagement, orientate the rotor and plug wires but I haven't changed the springs, timing stop and eliminate the vacuum advance, so it's on the bench and Fedex shows up so before continuing I decide to finish the trans. lines and install the dipstick tube I ordered. The tube comes in slightly opaque plastic bag but right off I notice the bends look a little sloppy so I tear it open to get a better look and I am disgusted already. It is QUITE OBVIOUS my day is going bad already, I could have done a better job bending this thing over my friggin' knee. You would think a major manufacturer would use a tubbing bender of some sort, even a $10.00 Harbor Freight one would be better than this. There are small kinks and flat spots on every bend, then I think I'm over reacting, it's only a dipstick tube, stop being a picky prick so I go to install it. So I grab some lube for the grommet, pull it off and to my surprise it already had lube on it to ease installation so I say to myself, they did something right, so I position the tube and remove the dipstick so I can push on it without breaking the plastic lock, now what WTF, it snags on the way out and I notice on the opening of the tube more lube and a chunk of rubber, it is quite obvious these assholes cut the tube with a tubing cutter and never bothered to deburr it so it has a sharp jagged edge which tore the seal, If it didn't snag I would have pushed down on it and no doubt gashed my hand. I was pissed beyond belief over this. Maybe it's just me but that is not acceptable. So I left my shop, grabbed a cup of coffee and posted the I quit post, IASS replied and I said to myself, he's right so I go back to the shop, deburred the tube and finished installing it. Time to move on so I go to my desk, clean off an area to work on the distributor. I open the small parts package and make sure all the springs, advance stops, vacuum advance lockout and hardware needed was in the package before taking it apart, all is good so I take off the rotor to access the internals and I hit the f--k--g roof, one of the blades on the reluctor wheel is broken. first thing I did was tip it upside down and shake it a little to see if the broken piece would fall out but it's not in there. Whoever assembled this either broke it and let it slide or it was broken and they somehow didn't see it. Either way I'm not happy. If I had a very slightly modified small block Ford or a stock one chances are I would have taken out of the box, installed it and have a misfire, I'd be checking out plugs ,wires and everything imaginable trying to figure it out knowing I bought a brand new, high quality component. Sent a couple of hours driving around to local small speed shops in my area trying to find one with no luck. Maybe I'll get it running next weekend although I'm sure something else will prevent that.

Really, I'm so fed up with the poor quality control and mistakes of these companies, sometimes I think I should start buying cheap imported shit then I would expect it.

Perhaps it's me expecting too much, you can say so, I can't reach you from here!!! LOL
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Old 10-06-2019, 11:29 PM   #1080
davesnever

 
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I see this crap all the time these days, brand names seem to be cuttiing corners and cheaping out on quality to maximize their profits.It now seems you really have to do your homework on everything you buy because a lot of these companies are now just trying to slide by on name recognition. I am sorry to say I have had similar bad experiences the last few years and was just as shocked. The good old days are gone I guess and product pride is a thing of the past. Today's leading companies get the prize for the most units sold, not happy customers. I now find myself checking almost everything out on the internet before I buy anything anymore because of it. It's sad but that's the world we live in now.
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Old 10-07-2019, 06:45 PM   #1081
CFD


 
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Originally Posted by davesnever View Post
I see this crap all the time these days, brand names seem to be cuttiing corners and cheaping out on quality to maximize their profits.It now seems you really have to do your homework on everything you buy because a lot of these companies are now just trying to slide by on name recognition. I am sorry to say I have had similar bad experiences the last few years and was just as shocked. The good old days are gone I guess and product pride is a thing of the past. Today's leading companies get the prize for the most units sold, not happy customers. I now find myself checking almost everything out on the internet before I buy anything anymore because of it. It's sad but that's the world we live in now.
It is sad, before the internet took over you could walk into a speed shop the size of a small supermarket and inspect, fondle and drool over the parts on the wall, now everything is by chance it seems.

Took a break yesterday, had to walk away for a while. Started back in today although I didn't get too much done. First off, rather than wait a couple of days to get a new reluctor wheel and waist more time changing it I am just sending the distributor back and getting a new one , it will be here just as fast as the reluctor, maybe on Wed. Today I ran the trans. lines but didn't have enough fittings for the radiator so I'm waiting on them as well as a couple more for the heater hoses. Originally I ran the heater hoses through a cut out but decided to make a small plate to mount a couple of bulkhead fittings. This way if at some point I have to change any of the hoses or heater core I can unscrew the fittings at the component rather than pulling the hoses out. If the fittings come in I will button it up tomorrow and add all the fluids.I also started planning the route for battery cables, went with 1/0 because the positive cable will be about 16' long. I'm running it inside, over the doors and down the A pillar. I had to order the ring lugs because I couldn't find them locally for 1/0 with a 5/16" hole , only 3/8" holes and bigger. I also took a look around underneath so I can figure out what to do about an e-brake. I think I'm going with a rotor attached to the back of the pinion yoke then I'll use a Willwood mechanical caliper and make a custom bracket that will mount to the front of the housing.
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Old 10-09-2019, 07:00 PM   #1082
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Distributor didn't come in, should be here tomorrow. I'm getting real close to starting it, most likely it will be this weekend. It's amazing how much time and money you can spend on fittings, hoses and installing them but it needs to be done. Got the transmission lines in and heater hoses as well as the fuel line from pump to carb. I also made up the positive battery cable. Tomorrow while waiting for the distributor I'll do the radiator hoses and fill all the fluids and get the starter hooked up and hopefully get the distributor set up and installed. I tried to order the SS fuel lines to run from the tank to pump but they were out of stock, I'll find another supplier but a hose in a bucket will work to start it, how simple the old school ways are. lol
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Old 10-10-2019, 05:04 PM   #1083
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I can almost smell the exhaust fumes and feel the ground shaking. Unless something unexpected comes up I will be firing it up on Sunday. The distributor came in today, I will set it up tomorrow and install it. Today I came up with the radiator hoses, finished installing and tightening all the heater hoses, while I was at it I added a small mechanical heater control valve so I can kill water to the heater core in the summer. Not going to add a cable, I'll just reach over and do it by hand to keep things as simple as possible. I did come up with a couple of small issues but no big deal. I was going to use the stock steam vent tube but because of the location of the fuel pump it won't fit. Holley/Earl's makes AN fittings for it which will work great but I won't be able to get them by the weekend so I'm going to cut the stock tube and add a couple of hoses just to start it. I also couldn't come up with the throttle cable end to fit the Quadrajet so tomorrow I may modify the carb throttle lever to accept the ball type stud, it's actually a better set up than the eyelet and clip it would use with a factory cable. I will run the battery cables, add a neutral safety switch, top of the fluids and go over everything. Saturday I'm leaving open to button up any loose ends I overlooked and get it ready to fire up on Sunday.
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Old 10-11-2019, 06:36 PM   #1084
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I know how much everyone likes pictures but there's not much to show because everything needed to get it running is just about done. Still hoping to fire it up this weekend. Got the carb linkage straightened out, cut off the original cable connector, drilled and tapped for the ball stud and got it all adjusted. Set up the distributor as well, removed the vacuum advance so timing controls are all now mechanical, set up the advance stop and centrifugal advance springs to the timing curves I selected and got it installed. Cut the steam tube so I can run temporary hoses until the new fittings come in. Added trans. oil and coolant and to my surprise there were no puddles under it. lol. I ran the positive battery cable and a temporary ground but ran into a problem I'm hoping I can correct easily. When I connected the battery cables to check the electrical circuits I could hear a motor running and had some arcing whenever I connected the neg. cable, figured the heater switch or wiper motor was on, the battery was sitting around so voltage was low and the motor didn't seem to be at full speed, checked the switches and they were all off so I thought maybe I screwed up and made a wrong connection so I unplugged both units until I will have time to check them out but I could still hear a motor running. The radiator fan isn't connected and there is nothing else on the car. Then I heard the motor running from under the car, the starter motor is the culprit. The starter runs continuously when connected even with the lead from the ignition switch disconnected. The drive isn't engaged. The only thing I can think off is something internally happened when the car crashed or the solenoid is faulty. It's really odd though. Tomorrow I will pull the starter out and bench check it, hopefully it's something fixable if not I'll be hunting down a starter.
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Old 10-12-2019, 06:47 PM   #1085
CFD


 
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Got an early start and had a very, very productive day. First thing was to address the starter issue, I ran a jumper wire to the solenoid and the starter engaged properly, not sure what happened overnight but it no longer ran on it's own so I connected everything and attempted to crank it with the ignition and it worked correctly but for some reason my voltage meter shit the bed. Regardless everything else including all the other gauges are working correctly so I moved on. Permanently connected all the ground cables and finished off some loose ends with the wiring to the engine. I was expecting my steam vent fittings and e brake caliper to show up Tuesday but got an email saying delivery was updated to today so I moved on to connecting a temporary fuel line and tying up a few other loose ends. The parts did come in, the fittings for the steam vent are pretty cool, they come in various configurations but I got a pair with one single and one double fitting to keep things simple. They swivel so can be positioned in various ways which solved the issue of clearance with the fuel pump. After installing them no one local had hose ends to fit them but I luckily had some -4 AN brake hoses that we used on bikes years ago, now they're mostly -3AN. The lines are longer than needed but they allowed me to get them connected and functional for now. With the starter working right, the steam vents installed and finishing off the loose ends the car was ready to start, my son had the day off so I had someone here to assist me and there was no way I was going to wait for tomorrow, cranked it over with the distributor disconnected to make sure everything looked right and get some fuel in the system, then connected the distributor and it came to life. Sounds great and has excellent throttle response. I only set the timing by ear and haven't made any adjustments to the carb yet but it seems to be pretty close. I have a few pictures of the fittings for the steam vents and a short video clip. The pictures are below but I'm having trouble loading the video but will as soon as I figure out why I can't import it from my phone. I am very, very happy with the way it's running so far. Unfortunately I still have no brakes so I guess I'll be finishing the brake lines next so I can jack it up and cycle the transmission.
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Old 10-12-2019, 10:13 PM   #1086
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Drives: 2SS/RS L99 BLACK
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Location: Franklin , MA
Posts: 6,696
Sorry for the poor video, trying to hold the phone during first start up.
https://youtu.be/n8HW0h68Tyo

Last edited by CFD; 10-13-2019 at 06:05 AM.
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Old 10-13-2019, 06:45 PM   #1087
CFD


 
Drives: 2SS/RS L99 BLACK
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Location: Franklin , MA
Posts: 6,696
Had a chance to do a bit more. Got the voltage meter working, no big deal, when I was under the dash hooking up a neutral safety switch I pulled the ground wire off, all is working right now. I also measured up the remaining brake hoses and lines so I can get them working and started designing a caliper/rotor set up for an E brake. Did the final install on the gas tank and tested the sending unit. I will order all the parts and hopefully get them all installed this week.

I also made a few adjustments on the carb and timing. I took another short video, this one is a bit better than the one I posted yesterday.

https://youtu.be/z7-ZwndZN9M
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Old 10-14-2019, 05:09 PM   #1088
CFD


 
Drives: 2SS/RS L99 BLACK
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Location: Franklin , MA
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With the motor running well it's good inspiration to get back under the car and finish the brake and fuel lines so I spent some time today on the brakes. Got all the lines from the master cylinder installed except for one . I decided to get a roll of tubing instead of using a union to join two together, it's a long run from the master cylinder to the right front wheel. I also drilled the frame for a couple of through hole fittings rather than welding tabs and bending the tubing over the frame rails. The rest of the parts will be here in 2-3 days, once they're in the car will be able to move under it's own power and it has plenty of that. lol. I still need to hook up the electric fan, I have a few options for the switch, I'm thinking of installing it in the rear of the passenger side head, opposite the temp. gauge sending unit. The rear of the heads are the hottest spot in the motor so I think it will be a good choice.

I would embed the video clip from yesterday for easier viewing but my computer skills are quite lacking.
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Old 10-15-2019, 05:10 PM   #1089
CFD


 
Drives: 2SS/RS L99 BLACK
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If anyone knows how to embed a video feel free to do so, I have had no success and it seems it won't play for some.

https://youtu.be/z7-ZwndZN9M

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Old 10-17-2019, 05:58 PM   #1090
CFD


 
Drives: 2SS/RS L99 BLACK
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Didn't do much the last two days. Kinda got hit with a curve ball. My shoulder has been problematic so the surgeon had another MRI done. Turns out all 5 anchors that were used to repair the rotator cuff tendons pulled out, unfortunately because of the extent of the damage it cannot be repaired again and I am not a candidate for alternative procedures. I'm going to have to live with limited use of my left arm. It's not going to stop me by any means, just slow me down a little.

Jumped back into things today, got the fuel and brake lines straightened and had a chance to bend the remaining front brake line in one piece so there are no unions anywhere. Tomorrow I hope to get the hoses and retaining clips installed and if all goes right by the weekend I should have brakes. I will do the fuel line next, that should be fun, it is pretty stiff and tough to bend and I'm hoping to do it in one piece, it's about 15 feet long and will need many bends. I also made a quick template for the emergency brake rotor, it will attach to the pinion yoke, I will program it and machine it on the CNC then work on the caliper mounting bracket.
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Old 10-17-2019, 06:16 PM   #1091
mlee
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Originally Posted by CFD View Post
If anyone knows how to embed a video feel free to do so, I have had no success and it seems it won't play for some.

https://youtu.be/z7-ZwndZN9M

Video is embedded... and still following the progress.
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Old 10-17-2019, 06:20 PM   #1092
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Originally Posted by mlee View Post
Video is embedded... and still following the progress.
Thanks. It's getting close to being a driver.
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