patgizz wrote: FYI de-gear(or cut the teeth off the gear) and take the rotor and top guts off an old distributor and you have a free priming tool, if you have one laying around.
I have several lying around- but have no clue which is the best and which is the worst to sacrifice. 
After almost 9 months of not updating this, I figure it's about time for an update.
The Elky is mostly back together at the moment- I got it put back together and scant hours away from being able to try and get it to move but ran out of time before I had to get it moved out from the shop storage unit I had kept it in for the previous year and some change. So I had to have it towed back to the new house and resume work on it there- which is nice though since I could at least work on it without a 45-minute drive to get to it.
A few weeks back I got everything together to try starting it- and succeeded only to find I'd forgotten to install the transmission oil cooler lines and had to abort my test. This weekend I finally got a cooler bypass installed and gave it another try- with limited success. With some bumping up of the idle screw the engine will idle, though I've not put a tach on it to see where it is- but it won't surprise me if it idles high given it has a Hot Cam in it and a Victor Jr. style intake on it.
The good: It moves!
The bad: Not very well. I'm worried the TH350 transmission is having issues. For starters, the column shift linkage is not quite aligned right such that I can't put the transmission into park using the shifter- when it's all the way up and should be in park, it's in reverse. I really just need to source a new column and shift linkage, this column is nothing but trouble.
Once it's actually in the gear I want (as far as I can tell...), it takes revving the engine a fair bit to get it moving forward, but it takes revving it a LOT to get it to move in reverse at all. I was able to get it moved out of the garage and parked out in the yard so I can actually try and rearrange the garage to actually be usable, but when I shut it down and checked things over I found that there was some transmission fluid that had dripped out- I'm assuming from the bypass connection- and when I pulled the stick to check the levels steam/smoke came out from the dipstick tube.
Doing a bit of reading it seems that part of my problem may be that I don't have the vacuum line for the modulator hooked up- it's another thing that didn't get hooked up when the transmission was re-installed. Once I get the garage organized I'll have to see about pushing it up onto my ramps so I can get under it more easily to look over the transmission and lines and see about getting it hooked up.
Wow. Almost 11 months since I updated this... but then, in fairness it has actually been 11 months since I've touched the car to do more than stuff something into the back. That should be changing from here on out though... while I'd LOVE to have it done in time for the Challenge, it seems that's unlikely to happen- both as I don't think I'll have it ready then as well as it just not looking like going this year will work out the best. But I've decided that I really need to get it drivable and being a productive part of our stable of cars instead of just keeping the grass from growing in a section of our yard, so am at least going to get it to safe, legal, and drivable so I've at minimum got another vehicle that can be driven over the winter.
That behind me... IT. IS. ALIIIIVE!!!
As I said earlier- I've not touched the thing for pushing a year now. The garage is now mostly organized and cleaned up- it's not 100% where I'd like it to be, but it's far enough along that I can't use it as an excuse any more. So yesterday afternoon after a bit of last minute shuffling of stuff around in the garage to make as much room as possible, I set out to see if I could get it running and moved into the garage. I wasn't particularly confident that I would even be able to get it to start- but I wouldn't know until I tried.
After moving everything out of the way and clearing off the seat, I poked around under the hood to make sure I didn't see anything glaringly wrong. Still had plenty of oil, transmission fluid, and coolant (was a bit low, but not bad). Grabbed the battery from the garage and hooked it up, and used the trigger-starter to turn the engine over a few times without gas or spark. Didn't have any problems with that, so I fed it some gas and tried starting it via the key- and it roared to life after turning over just once (and I do mean roared- the back half of the exhaust is off at the moment...). The damn thing has sat outside for the better part of a year, and just fired right up and idled happily.
Took a lot of rocking back and forth between R & D to get it out of the yard, but eventually was able to get it maneuvered back into the garage (kind of amusing... I essentially was just putting it back exactly where it had been when I first moved it 10 1/2 months ago...). I still have to give it a LOT more throttle than I think I should have to for it to move, and it's not particularly consistent about it either- since I don't have the side mirrors and can't see well out the back with the topper on it I had to stop and get out and look to make sure it wasn't going to hit anything backing it into the garage a few times. One time I got back in and put it back into R and it didn't take much gas at all for it to creep back up into the garage- the next time though it took a lot of throttle to get it to move. Doing some quick Googling it seems that it may be the case that I have too -much- fluid in the transmission and that's causing it to behave weirdly.
But, it's now back into the garage where I can give it a lot more attention. First order of business: pull the bench seat back out and empty the cab as much as possible so I can pull the steering column out. The one in there now is pretty much worthless. While I have the column out and better access to everything I'll take the opportunity to cut out the rusted floors and weld in the replacement panels- one of the biggest things that needs to be done before I can reasonably consider the car as being drivable.
Got an hour or so to work on the car yesterday.
Pulled all the random crap I had put in the back out- most of it is stuff from the TBI setup the '89 K-1500 that I pulled the engine from, and will be put up for sale (both here and locally) since I have no plans to use a TBI setup at all (had saved it to possibly use, but decided I'll initially use the carb that came with the Elky and it I want to change it up later can use the TPI setup I picked up a ways back.
Got the cab emptied out and pulled the bench seat and took a closer look at the rusted driver's side floor pan... and unfortunately the replacement pan sections that came with the car don't cover all of the rusted areas. If I had one of the complete driver's side pans, it would likely work- but it came with a two-piece setup that doesn't go far enough up the tunnel in the center and there's also rust in the section between the two panels. So, I'm going to need to hit one of the local U-Pull-Its with my cordless angle grinder and a cutoff wheel and find a non-rusty G-boy (Hahahaha, OK LESS rusty...) to cut the sections I need out from. With some luck I may be able to do that this Saturday, we'll see.
How did i miss this?
Dusterbd13 wrote: How did i miss this?
Probably not hard to do given how intermittently I've actually gotten anything done on it.
In interest for challenge car I have a transmission I can sell you for 10.00
stan_d wrote: In interest for challenge car I have a transmission I can sell you for 10.00
Thanks, I'll have to keep that in mind- I need to check this one out a bit more closely though and make sure it's not something simple and easy like having just overfilled the fluid since replacing the trans would mean pulling the engine again, something I'm NOT in a hurry to do...
You can drop the transmission without pulling the engine. I have done it several times. Just Remember to loosen the distributer cap.
I don't think you can without pulling the crossmember though, which we were unable to do the when we were pulling and replacing the engine/tranny last time. I'll have to see what happens.
So, this project does still exist- I've just not been doing much of anything on it. But with knowing that I need to get it done in order to get the garage cleared for the massive undertaking fixing the DeLorean will be and waiting for the PAU's heads to come back from the shop, I need to get this moving again.
I finally got the old dash pulled out- it unfortunately required partially breaking the dash since one of the screws that held it in near the windshield was corroded in place and there was no way to access it to just cut it out. I'm not too worried about the damage to it since I have a better-condition dash to put in anyway.
With the dash out I could get started on cutting and grinding the rusted floor pan out so I can try and get the new replacement parts welded in. I got most of the front half cut out- but hit a bit of a snag when my cutting wheel nicked the brake line that runs under the driver's side. I had thought it was safely out of the way but didn't realize it bent up sharply to be right underneath where I was cutting. So, will need to replace yet another part.
Welding in the replacement floors is going to be interesting given the considerable extend of the rust- I'm going to have to do it in at least three and possibly four sections. I have aftermarket replacement pans for the front and back- but the rust goes beyond what they cover in the middle. I cut a section out from a junkyard G-body to replace that, but it appears I may not have gone far enough forward with my cut and there will be a gap, so I'll have to use some other material to fill that gap and seal up the floor. Welding the floor in is also going to be a challenge given how close it is to the frame at some points... I may have to look into trying to unbolt the body from the frame and jack it up a few inches to give me better clearance to weld it.
Weld a lap joint from the top, hit with seam sealer and undercoat.
On the brake line, just make it. Roll of nycopp. Cheap and easy.
Glad to see this thing back from the dead.
Got the majority of the rusted floor plan behind the driver's seat cut out yesterday without damaging anything else that I can tell. Looking more closely it looks like the brake line was already partially replaced, so I probably will need to just get my own bulk line and make the piece I need to replace- something I've not done before, so it should be interesting.
If I still don't have the heads back today (seems unlikely, would require some interesting coordination to get SWMBO to pick me up after work and take me down to the machine shop and then drop me back off to ride my bike home), I'll probably work on cleaning up the area a bit with the grinder as well as prepping the two spots in front of the rear wheel wells/behind the doors that will also need replacement metal welded in. Can also see about replacing the shift linkage and see if the new one looks like it will be have better than the original.
Something that just struck me- can the nicopp also be used for transmission oil cooler lines? I at some point should probably actually run those instead of the bypass that I have installed at the moment...
Yes, if proper diameter. Gotta think, trans cooler runs at a hell of a lot less pressure than brakes. Heat is also not a concern.
Ashyukun wrote: Something that just struck me- can the nicopp also be used for transmission oil cooler lines? I at some point should probably actually run those instead of the bypass that I have installed at the moment...
Yes, the manufacturer recommends the 3/8 OD for fuel and transmission line.
With a good bit of the floor pan now cut out, I decided to do some clean-up on the rusted out parts of the body- the two panels behind the doors. They were apparently hastily (though admittedly reasonably skillfully) patched with duct tape and bondo before the bass-boat silver flake paint was put on. Unfortunately it's clear that the rust is worse than I thought it was.
Here's the passenger side:
driver's side:
And since I also took the picture, the back half cutout from the seat pan:
There will need to be more cut out, but I'm still deciding whether to put in the replacement pan pieces first or to cut out and weld in the reinforcing rib piece I have that goes between them. Kind of inclined to do the seat pans first so they'll provide a bit more stiffness before having to cut out and replace the rib that runs between them.
Haven't gotten anything more actually on the car done, but am getting closer to getting the floor welding done. Over the weekend I headed up to Cinci to eastsidmav's place for a quick welding refresher and to borrow his welding setup so I've now actually got the means with which to fix the floors and body panels. I also picked up an air flange/punch tool from Harbor Freight to help with getting the prep work done.
I want to get some practice in with welding thinner metal but have a limited supply of actual body-panel thickness metal that I don't want to waste- but I lucked out and one of my neighbors threw away an old metal bed frame. Normally that would just be heavier angle-iron that wouldn't be as useful, but this bed actually had 4 long bent sheet-metal pieces that should be perfect for practicing both with the flange/punch tool and the actual welder.
This will likely be one of the last posts to this thread- after nearly 5 years of working on this on and off, I've finally come to the decision that I really need to let this project go so I can work on something that I'm far more enthusiastic about. It's a heavy decision to make given how much I've put into this in both effort & money over the years, but I think when I go out to work on it and spend as much time just trying to figure out what the heck to do next because there's so much to do while also dreading all of that work that it's time to move on.
I'll probably try and get a posting up for it in the $2017 forum over the weekend as I'd love to see it still make it to the Challenge at some point. It will likely be priced pretty close to the budget but also come with a LOT of extra parts that can be sold to get some money back on into the budget.
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