Vigo said:Congrats!
Thank you (and everyone else) for the help and suggestions!
Vigo said:Congrats!
Thank you (and everyone else) for the help and suggestions!
volvoclearinghouse said:FUEL PUMP DID IT!!!
Got a new Delphi pump and strainer, stuck them in tonight, and just finished a test drive. Ran it up to 4k RPM in 3rd and it pulled strong. Idle is dead even. It feels like a new truck. Runs better than it ever has since I've owned it.
Bonus: no angry texts from the wife to shut down the noise. The exhaust is subdued .
Now I just need to figure out how to patch the roughly 7" x 12" hole I cut in the bed...
Riv-nut access panel with rubber trim around the edge?
Just got back from a ~1000 mile round trip tow with the truck. Truck + trailer + race car + gear. ~16,000 pounds of rolling E36 M3show.
The truck seemed to run well for most of the trip, and even pushing the rig (~65 mph on hilly interstates) returned about 9-10 mpg.
The problem is, it still eats the #1 plug wire. After towing to the track, it was burned up, so I replaced it with a spare from the race car, but that wire burned up about 100 miles from home, so the last it of the trip was a slog running on 7 cylinders.
Thinking about adding some heat shield to the boots at the plugs. Did any 454's have plug heat shields stock? Mine does not have any. I was thinking about some simple metal cylinders to go round the boots, but I have also seem like exhaust wrap-type stuff used to made plug boots. Would this be any better?
Also need to fix the intake so the engine's sucking cool outside air instead of hot engine compartment air.
In reply to Vigo :
I HATH REGARDED YE LINK
@Volvo - looks like it might be common?
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.rv/_eMfLDHKGhw
https://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/21064/
In reply to Vigo :
Yep, was looking at those. I assume that stuff's all better than the metal cans I've seen used on some stock plug wire boots, like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Spark-Plug-Wire-Boot-Heat-Shield-Protectors-Set-of-8-Eight-LS1-LS6-/190867648363
EDIT: the new gaskets seem to be holding up well- no detectable leaks from the exh. manifolds. The exhaust sounds perfect.
I guess hauling 16,000 pounds of crap up the Appalachian mountains at highway speed builds up some heat? 
We used the woven boot type on the wires on our cube van and it stopped our burned wire issues.
So, I'm hearing spark plug condoms are the way to go here.
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