Napoleon Solo

The ol' machine is coming along nicely. When mine is done I think I'm going to cruise out to your house and we can hit the nearest A&W. Show 'em all how we do things downtown...

Gerald Nickels

In order for the PCV valve to work you must draw in air either from the oil fill tube or valve cover. One of my friends just installed a 455 drag motor and went down the 1/4 mile it started smoking real bad but at a stop it was fine. Its not going to work till you get it right.
Gerald

therobski

Yes sir mine is installed on the pass side valve cover to the Qjet....

oldcutlass

At WOT vacuum drops and PCV closes. There are other problems at work here as at idle and cruise you have full vacuum and PCV is open. For a race engine you need a scavenging system that works off the headers.

therobski

SOLO come on DOWN to Dallas!!!

therobski

Wow guys, can't believe this much time has passed!. Anyway trying to get my "RV" on the road. Trying to fix electrical issues and the freeze plugs failed and still have the 2 behind the motor mounts to replace!. The 67-400E came out of the 67 442 I had for many years, fresh rebuild but I guess with all things "time takes it toll" including myself! Got the front seats in, (welded in new floor brackets etc) more dyno-mat and bunch of little things done but a bunch to go. Few update picks and may post some of the electrical issues-ERIC help ME-he lives in the Dallas area!. Please feel free to comment or ask any questions-its been 7 year journey!

oldcutlass

Is it drivable enough to get her to the Zone Show next weekend? Would love to see it.

therobski

NO. unfortunately I would love too hit the road, got to lift the engine and get those freeze plugs in, and fix the electrical issues so I can at least get tags for it.

TexasT

Keep after it. It is looking good!

therobski

Thanks for the boost!!!

Sicklyscott

sorry if i missed it, what seats are those? they look really comfortable.

oldcutlass

How much electrical do you have left. Most of that old tech stuff is really simple.

therobski

Sicklscott-PRO-CAR SCAT seats, Eric, it was discovered that when I had M@H make me a new rear harness, they plugged the individual wires into the connector backyards! My buddy had the right tool to remove the wires and plug them in correctly! In the process it killed my brand new fuel gauge sending unit. Freeze plugs in pressure tested-done. Yesterday pulled the restored wipe motor getting ready to send it out and that's it with the electrical! So its getting closer!

oldcutlass

Your the third person who has had that happen with connectors wired wrong from them recently. You'd think they would have some sort of QC to ensure a good product.

therobski

You would think!! Caused me a lot of headaches because I assume for the $$$ spent your SUPPOSED to get good quality. Lesson learned...I'm not even going to attempted to recoup my money on the new fuel pickup and sending it fried...

therobski

Star-date 05/26/2018 all the electrical issues have been fixed except the wiper motor decided to fail, so its out and shipped to D@M Restorations. The rest of the freeze plugs are in, pressured tested good to go. It's my BD weekend along with Memorial Day. So for my BD I ordered some goodies for the interior from Ames Performance, a 3 inch mandrel bent exhaust with Super 44 mufflers from Flow Master along with stainless steel clamps. In a few weeks I will haul the car over to a specialty exhaust and custom car shop here in the Dallas area, that will custom fit the exhaust system so where they will use the stainless steel clamps as much as possible and minimize welding. After that I will get the front end aligned, get A/C system charged and re-install the wiper motor. Then I can drive the car around, no doubt there will be bugs to work out while I work on the interior!! I'm getting more excited now this has been over a 6 year build!

therobski

STARDATE 6/8/18 The F-85 is at a specialty shop getting the exhaust put on, A/C charged and a front end alignment that will be tuned to the Hotchkis front suspension and the B-spindle upgrade. And any thing that gets their attention due to my 6 years of handy work!!. The plan is, I'm driving the car out of the shop back to the house! (40 miles) My wife will follow me....Then go get the safety inspection so I get a license plate.

oldcutlass

Glad you have major progress. Register it as an antique, its a 5 year plate, no inspections, liberal rules for driving, and the cost is considerably less.

bassinguy

Happy Birthday Nice gifts that you picked out for yourself.Good luck with your drive home. Basinguy

stan 65 cutlass

looking forward to the next update

therobski

Thanks guys, yep Eric I have antique plates on the Corvette. I'm excited to get the car in the street and work out the bugs. Still have some issues I have to take out the rear qtr. windows out, found new sash channel guides to replace the worn ones. The windows fall out of the sash channel when you roll them up and down. I posted this problem in the interior section and remarked that through extensive research I was able to find new replacement parts from Chicago Muscle Cars. These parts are very unique and hard to find only for early A-body "post cars" rear glass. F-85,Chevelle 300, Tempest-GTO. Have not seen a Skylark post car? The re-built wiper motor is being shipped next week and re-install. Looking at Cooper CS5 Touring Tires for the front 205/70 x15. I only negative I heard on these is the sidewalls are a little soft in hard turns, have to determine at this stage of the game if I'm going to drive the car at any AC events like at Good Guys etc. Don't about the rears yet. Comments??

Run to Rund

Nice progress! I was excited when I "thought" I was done with the Rund car in 2006, but I have been working on it ever since, lol. Take the '64 out for a drive and enjoy.

therobski

Stardate 06/20/2018 Drove the car 45 miles on its maiden voyage home. During the drive the temp slowly creeped up until about 3 miles from home it hit 220. Pulled over an shut her down. Waited about 30 minutes started up and went home. Next day I removed the radiator cap and added almost a gallon of coolant. I recently replaced the freeze plugs and hopefully the air worked its way out of the cooling system-the over flow tube leaked very little when I shut the motor off, so we shall see. The exhaust system is a piece of art. Riches Performance in Wylie Texas-Dallas suburb installed the exhaust system, tuned the Hotchis suspension and charged the A/C system. I got the wiper motor back from D@M Restorations so when I get that installed, I'll be getting the car ready for the safety inspection so I'm legal.

oldcutlass

Looks great, your almost there.

therobski

Yep, I just took it out around the neighborhood cant wait to get the license plate. Going to install the wiper motor and that should get me legal....

oldstata

therobski

oldsdata-02 bung is really there for the 425 down the road-actually the whole build is based upon my goal of a 480 Hp 425. Put the wiper motor in today and forgot to attach the wires first ( no room to attach them with the mods made). In 100 degree heat after I worked all day, that's enough for today. I will take it back apart tomorrow and reinstall -glad it's a hobby!!

therobski

Currently there's 67 400E with A heads in the car. When the time comes I will sell it to someone that's needs a short block 400E for their 67-442....

D. Yaros

Boy, that is some exhaust system!

therobski

Yes sir, thank you. Everything built on the car is for the 425 down the road.

dc2x4drvr

Yup, nice exhaust system, go for a 455, easier build)

therobski

I replaced the thermostat with Melodon 160 degree unit. Although did not run the car at speed on the freeway, just ran around the area with the A/C on. Never got above 195, in 95 degree heat. So I will check the coolant level tomorrow and top it off and with some tuning hoping to drop that a few more degrees. MY opinion-I just don't like these BBO to run hotter than 180 in any circumstance, I know you think no-way that's not at operating temp, it's just me. Some of you remember my 455- white 67 442 the way I had that set up it ran 160-180 all the time no matter what the ambient temperature was. True, the 455 had aluminum heads, no A/C and more space for a larger radiator. But it just ran great and got a few more degrees of timing out of her. But I can handle 190-200 degree engine temp when July and August get's here in Dallas and sores to 103-107 !!!!

oldcutlass

Don't you mean later this week for those 100*+ temps? Your almost ready for your first short road trip.

therobski

Yeah your right later this week! Whent back outside 25 minutes later to start the car to put in the shop- no go, click, click on the Power-master mini starter at a current engine temp at 180 degrees. Cooled off a little bit more fired right up. I fabed a 1 gauge ground that goes from the battery to the front of drivers side head on the motor, compared to the faithful GM 4-field starter that's very very close to a header tube, the mini starter has plenty of room. I'll get back from a work road trip on Thursday and put the car on the lift and check the connections on the starter. Any ideas? If not I will post this issue on "electrical" later this week and in the meantime I may contact Power Master. Thank you

oldcutlass

Clean your battery terminals and cable ends and check all your connections. Measure your battery voltage to make sure its charged. I have a power master on my car and even with a bit of over advanced initial timing it will still grunt through the first rotation and then start the engine when its hot.

Alex72cutty

Nice

therobski

Thanks Alex72Cutty. I'm hoping to fix the hot-start issue later this week and get a license plate on it. BUT NOW, low and behold I noticed that I'm getting a little oil leaking from the front seal on the shop floor. I cant win! In the meantime I'll stick a pan under it. Good time to pull the motor and repair it down here is in the winter when its cool-cold out. Or just drive it and decide if and when I have the 425 built. Pull the 400E and drop the 425D in. Other than that, all I need to do is get the right converter for the 200R-4 and have a new drive shaft built, the rest will support a 475-485 HP 425. Been in contact with Mark-Cutlass-EFI.

TexasT

Wondering where the exhaust setup came from(I thought ames but read again)?
You know I always recommend my friends out at Phoenix Trans out in Weatherford(Ask for Greg or Scotty, Tell em Rich with the Regal sent ya). I'm running their converter in my Turbo Regal/2004r and really like it. They are building them in house now.

Great looking and I know how hard it is out in the Texas Heat.

Keep on it!

therobski

That exhaust system was a Flow Master kit. Jack Laswell, very well known nationally with the Buick GN gang built my trans. I have the TV cable set where it needs to be, but when he returns from vacation he wants to pressure test it. Well i'm going outside and wrench for a bit with the fans on full blast it's 102 outside.

therobski

STARDATE 6/30/2018 OLDCUTLASS- possibly discovered the click click don't want to start issue. Took the terminals off, cleaned the battery posts and tightened the lead wires going into the terminals-( they were not very tight) put the terminals back on. Drove the car around the neighborhood in 100 heat with A/C running. Shut it off temp rose to 190 and motor started right up. Ozzed about a 3rd cup of coolant out of the overflow tube-hopefully I just filled it to much the other day. Motor did not seem hotter that what the temp gauge said.