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Perfect - thank you ! ** I was skeptical when I was told the paint I got was the same for olds as it was for Pontiac’s. I did get the super cars unlimited brand, should have it by the end of week
Hey there, back with some great progress, I got the TH400 installed. I did this ahead of the 455 being ready as I wanted to I drive on it and work out any kinks etc. Install went very smooth thanks to my buddies lift and a transmission jack I picked up (Life saver!!)
My speedometer is off quite a bit but I stared a separate thread for that in the transmission section. My dual gate shifter is now hooked up and is working great
Brian, the reason your speedo is off is because it originally was used with the SA (2.73:1) axle the car came with. The solution for the speedo and odometer is quite easy. Replace the drive and driven gear with the ones you need to match your new rear gear ratio. The drive gear in held in place with a spring clip on the output shaft of the transmission. I believe on the TH400 you'll have to undo the trans mount bolts, and then undo those bolts that hold the tail shaft in and slide it off. The drive gear should be staring at you about 1/2 way down the output shaft. The other thing you need to do is replace the driven gear that comes through the side of the transmission housing with the proper gear that matches the drive gear. That will solve your speedo and odometer issues. I did allude to this earlier in your thread IIRC that you'd need to do this change. Not a big job, just tedious.
So far the bottom of the car is looking really good. Keep on plugging away!
Yes, You'll be pulling the driveshaft first so there's going to be some coming out the tail shaft end seal. Then when you remove the tail shaft you'll also lose fluid. Put an oil catch basin under it and when you loosen the bolts let it seep out like when you do a differential oil change.
yeah that looks good where did you source that from I havent seen it before but it doesn't look much different than say thorntons engine paint (pictured)
yeah that looks good where did you source that from I havent seen it before but it doesn't look much different than say thorntons engine paint (pictured)
Perfect - thank you ! ** I was skeptical when I was told the paint I got was the same for olds as it was for Pontiac’s. I did get the super cars unlimited brand, should have it by the end of week
BTW. I saw a Fram filter on the engine. I suggest you do not run those. They are horribly crappy filters. I'd suggest a Wix or NAPA Gold (Wix makes NAPA filters) ...MUCH higher quality.
Ok made some small progress last night as I moc'd up the rear deck lid spoiler and followed the measurements and images Allan had posted in a previous thread on the forum. Measurements came out exact from the images and final install went very smooth. I may order the hood in a month or two.
Getting closer to body work and paint...but I think i will finish the motor first as im 85% there...
Hey there members...been a while...I have been rather busy with work and coaching my sons baseball team, however I wanted to give a peak into my current work.
I sourced parts from Monza (Jim) over at JD Race. Almost done with setting up my new posi with 3.42 gears and new 30 spline axels.
Have not done final assembly as I need to work on the contact pattern a bit more. This is my first rear end install I have done so I’m taking my time,. I have a good friend who lets me use his lift in his shop in his backyard, and he really enjoys turning a wrench like the rest of us.
Ok finally got the posi and 3.42’s in and took for a test drive - big difference ! Here are some more finally assembly pics.
This $20.00 tool was a life saver ! Pinion yoke wrench, def needed to get pinion bearing pre-load (I used a crush sleeve eliminator) Back Lash was right at .07 New axels bold in Checked the pattern again, stayed consistent with the moc up All torqued up and ready to be sealed up Done !
Nice job. That sway bar looks awfully close to the differential. Is it touching? You have almost the same pattern on drive/coast as mine did with 3.42's
Hey Allan - good eye, yes the sway bar is touching - I need to figure out why. I was in a rush to get home for my sons baseball game from my buddies house so we slapped on the tires and I headed home. Right at 50 mph and above - crazy vibration from rear - I can only assume it’s the sway bar touching. Tonight after work I’m gonna put it in stands in my garage and see why.
* This was my first time ever doing a rear end set up. It was. It was not bad at all, just had to have the right tools and some patience for hollowing out some extra pinion bearings for the test fitting
Post what you find with the sway bar because I'm in the same boat and can't seem to figure out why. I tried re-shimming the bar with more shims to one side hoping it would put the deeper part of the bar on center of the housing but no luck. Now I'm wondering if the upper rear control arms are causing that when they were torqued. Have you tried bouncing the car to see what happens? Didn't work for me.
Sorry I attempted to provide any assistance to someone who obviously knows-it-all.
Maybe you should consider a real rear stabilizer bar, or perhaps, consider bouncing your car from about 100' in the air - maybe you didn't "bounce" it high enough the first time. LMFAO
I didn’t get a chance to work on the car last night to try and triage the issue.
I think I will start with loosening the bolts for the sway bar as well as the upper and lower control arms as they are all Brand brand new and I could have over tightened which possibly didn’t allow proper settling
im also going to rotate my driveshaft 180 degrees and see if that also cures my vibration at higher speeds.
I think I will start with loosening the bolts for the sway bar as well as the upper and lower control arms as they are all Brand brand new and I could have over tightened which possibly didn’t allow proper settling
The reason for my post (above) was to ensure you're installing boxed LCAs since I couldn't tell if they were or they were not. Good luck on positioning.
Sorry I attempted to provide any assistance to someone who obviously knows-it-all.
Maybe you should consider a real rear stabilizer bar, or perhaps, consider bouncing your car from about 100' in the air - maybe you didn't "bounce" it high enough the first time. LMFAO
I guess I should have anticipated that from someone like you. I've never considered nor claimed what you are directing at me, so please stop.
Originally Posted by Vintage Chief
The reason for my post (above) was to ensure you're installing boxed LCAs since I couldn't tell if they were or they were not. Good luck on positioning.
I've been following this thread for a long time and I guess if you'd taken the time to read through it you would have seen this which is why I said your link didn't address the problem in the slightest. Do you understand now?? I don't know why you have to be so sarcastic all the time.
I missed the part about replacing w/ boxed LCA. But not in the slightest did I miss your know-it-all attitude & pathetic argumentative nature. I’ll refrain from further condemnation of your attitude since this is not fair to Brian. Go bounce your car around.
I didn’t get a chance to work on the car last night to try and triage the issue.
I think I will start with loosening the bolts for the sway bar as well as the upper and lower control arms as they are all Brand brand new and I could have over tightened which possibly didn’t allow proper settling
im also going to rotate my driveshaft 180 degrees and see if that also cures my vibration at higher speeds.
ill post pics and my discoveries
Brian, the 180° swap on the differential end of the prop shaft might do the trick. I had the same problem and that was what it was. Only the vibration started at a much lower speed. I also loosened the bolts on the sway bar and repositioned the shims to try and get the deepest part of the sway bar bend under the housing but that didn't have much effect. The holes on the sway bar aren't slotted so the bolts can't be adjusted. The upper control arm bolts are supposed to be 80ft/lbs or as close as possible. I talked with a mechanic who said that could easily be done simply with an extension on a socket.
When you tightened the upper control arms, did you have the weight of the car on the rear axle? I did mine by putting jack stands under the rear axle, and adding some spare tires for weight into the trunk then tightened the control arm bolts. That was as close as possible to getting it back to ride height as possible. I used standard rubber bushings in my control arms. Good luck, I hope you find the solution; I'm still trying to find what it is with mine and it's a factory sway bar from a donor car.
Hey guys incremental progress ... I rotated the driveshaft tonight, took it for a test drive...night and day difference zero vibrations. I’m gonna go back over to my buddies house and put it on the lift to loosen all the control arm bolts I’ll probably get to it Sunday. At least at this point I can say with the swaybar touching the differential it does not generate any vibration
Brian, I have a question. I understand about putting the car on the lift to get at those control arm nuts/bolts. But how are you going to simulate the weight of the car when you go to torque the nuts again? The CSM says to torque them with the weight of the car on it's suspension. Can you put supports under the axle tubes and then lower the lift a bit to make the suspension take the weight while you tighten them?
I added the LCA stiffeners to my car but I don't think that will have any issue with the back part where the clearance issue is.
Good to hear the driveshaft is now indexed back where it should be. Just for future reference, the factory used white indexing paint on the yoke and driveshaft. Might be an idea just in case you need to remove it in the future?
Alan my plan is once it’s on the lift and I can reach all the bolts to loosen them...I have a combination of a standing transmission lift as well as two safety jacks that is at my buddies house. Thought processes is I can put a little bit of “load” on the back axle and if I see any movement for separation between the sway bar then I can tighten the bolts. It’s a theory worth a test.
Hey guys - back with a small update. I did some prep work for when I do drop in the 455 I have been building. Since I am going with the OAI setup and running an original Rochester 4 BBL, doing a lot of side work and consultation with CutlassEFI (Mark), I installed a Wideband (AFR) gauge.
I spent about 2 hours tweaking the 2 BBL thats on the Rocket 350 in there now, it was super lean, but now at idle close to 14.3-5 and at WOT going down the road, almost a steady 13.9-14.0 - pretty stoked on how helpful this gauge was, and I got my vacuum at 20 lbs, previously it was around 18.
** The pic was before I got vacuum dialed in so ignore it showing 16.
Gauge pod is nice too - I did spray it with the SEM Landau black just to try and match sheen and color of the rest of the dash work I did.
Nice work Brian! The side pod gauges look good. Gotta admit I'm not a guru of that technology but glad you understand it. The Rallye pac gauge looks good too. Did you use stock sending units for the oil and temperature? Mine is showing high oil pressure so I'm curious what sender you used. Any progress on the sway bar issue?
Zero progress on the swaybar, beyond frustrating so I guess you could welcome me to the club on that one. As far as the sending unit yes using a stock style sending unit for oil and temp on the rallye pac setup and I do also notice a slightly high oil pressure which I think is fake news for me since my Rocket 350 is not what it once was. I’ll be interesting to see how the sending unit reads when I put it on the 455 when I’m done building it.
Hey guys - Back with another small but incremental progress update. Last few weekends have been slammed with baseball games so I decided to go ahead and tackle the new holes for the emblems and get ready to weld up the old. The templates I bought were very helpful and look to be an exact when I compared to images , even have that extra little space between the middle 4 and the 2.
I also freshened up a floor shift steering column, added new guts and put that in the car as well - super happy I did - looking more and more like a 442 ** I got in such a hurry I didn't take a single pic - doh !
Ill be back with some incremental updates soon as I'm going to head back over to my buddy's house to tackle the body mounts and a new e-brake cable setup.
in place and measured close up You can see old vs new locations of the former "Cutlass" emblem not too bad looking had to ensure it was level ! same process for trunk Middle "4" here is not pressed firm yet so a little off in this view did not want to press all the way in since obv has to come out for paint and body another view
Hey - Im back after the holiday absence, however my latest update is small but impactful. I finally replaced all of the Body bushings. I didn't take a lot of before/after as I just wasn't thinking, but now I can say all of the suspension work is finally done !
The bushings were not completely shot, but they were close...the biggest surprise for me was all of them were loose ! some came out with a simple ratchet turn....the new bolts are all toured down to 55 ft/lbs.
Ok back with another update...I finally pulled the trigger and got the hood There is a company in Titusville, Stinger Fiberglass, that is 2 hours south of me so I called up and placed my order last week. They called me today and said it was ready so I took a really long lunch break and well...here she is. The owner actually helped me load it in my 2015 suburban - which was a chore - had to remove one of the 3rd row seats - 30 min later we were done...but very thrilled to see Stinger Fiberglass owner go the extra mile to help me get it loaded. All orders are hand made and all 100% made in America
** Yes I already got the fiberglass hood springs as well as the hood fasteners and the hardware needed under the hood **
Having never owned one before I’m not sure what to compare it to as far as the underside, let alone do I have the paint and body shop paint it black underneath ?? ** Looking for suggestions/directions here
Another quick update here..the test fit of the hood looks great. Some tweaking to do on the alignment of the hood to the hinges (Look at the gaps L and R), but overall very pleased. The new springs were also very easy to install and the old ones were cake to remove as well.About to have the top end of the motor orders from CutlassEfi so soon enough the motor will be done and Paint an body is around the corner.
