512 cid C series on Dakota chassis- build thread

[Frank Elder]

5 hours ago, Radarsonwheels said:

Hmmm this is a cool old bottle. With the cork lid I could drill it for a 3/8” hard line to the bottom of the bottle and a 3/16” vent/drain out of the top.

 

It’s heavy though. A bracket wouldn’t be hard to make. 

Won't work......those old thermos bottles have vacuum installed mirrored glass liners and will implode instantly when you drop them, if you drill a hole in it... poof.... a mess you will never get out of there.

[Plymouthy Adams]

that one is clearly marked stainless steel lining...….many of the old thermos bottles are ruggedized with stainless for the working class 

[Radarsonwheels]

Yeah us blue collar types can’t afford to keep breaking glass lined thermoses. I found my old overflow tank on the shelf and cleaned out all the five year old a/f that was a little brown from barrs stop leak pellets. Had to find a cap that would fit- castrol 5qt oil jug fits good looks great. It fits fine over on the passenger side and looks like it should be there. Nothing could be too modern looking next to the big dumb cone filters.

 

The rad hoses are finally holding. I found the spade connector feeding the electric rad fan was stuck between the shrink tube and the female spade instead of properly connected and was causing intermittent fan shut off. Seems good now. 

 

Added another two quarts atf between last nite and this afternoon. Seems to read full hot in N. It shifts in all the gears I tell it to. I kind of expected slapping upshifts to be more violent but smooth and fast is just fine for me! The sure grip limited slip diff is doing its job- gave my hotrodder neighbor & his little son a quick smoke show. I think it would have kept laying stripes as long as I stayed in it. 

 

It hot starts with a slower crank than I’d like but didn’t fail on the few tries I tested it with. Not as afraid to get gas and wind up stuck there with a dead battery or walking to the diner while it all cools down. The starter is not too close to the exhaust but maybe an insulating blanket on it would help with heat soak.

 

I have it idling in the high 13s low 14s afr. I could go leaner but for now it gives me confidence that if it spikes lean when closing the throttle after romping it will be rich enough to easily recover a strong idle.

 

It’s running in the mid 11s afr on the gas, with a little hesitation near the beginning of throttle application. The 2400 stall seems to really smooth out problems around there though. I have no idea if I have even gotten into the rear carb barrels. It is so strong just at part throttle.

 

I also found the knob style rear brake proportioning valve was unscrewed pretty far- I had the concept backwards. Screwing it all the way in lets more pressure to the rears, which I did, resulting in a slightly better pedal. Still feels under-assisted but reliable. 

 

After a little more driving the steering doesn’t seem notchy because of the universals in the linkage as much as it feels like it loses power assist here & there at idle. A little baby rev in a turn and it smooths right out. Maybe the junkyard dakota rack & pinion or pump need some more time to burp and wake up from their slumber. I did top off the PS fluid and run slowly from lock to lock before it came down from its break in jackstands. 89 dak stuff is cheap on rockauto if I need to r&r the rack. 

[Frank Elder]

 

 

I'm sorry Radar......gotta start wearing my cheaters again when perusing the forum.

Edited March 24, 2019 by Frank Elder

[Radarsonwheels]

1 hour ago, Frank Elder said:

 

 

I'm sorry Radar......gotta start wearing my cheaters again when perusing the forum.

Thats ok I didn’t know what you were talking about anyway- If I used the thermos I was just gonna make two holes in the cork and bubble flare some steel lines to make hosebarbs on the top- one thick pipe (3/8 fuel hard line) from the bottom of the tank to the rad overflow hose, and a smaller pipe (3/16 brake hard line) that would stick just inside the top and curve down out of the cork for a vent/overflow. 

[Radarsonwheels]

And reverse is still acting funny when hot still surging and not feeling great. Maybe its a band adjustment or something? As long as I can get it to reliably move me I don’t care so much if it aint perfect

Edited March 24, 2019 by Radarsonwheels

[Radarsonwheels]

 

[John Rogers]

23 minutes ago, Radarsonwheels said:

 

Man that sounds great, its like sweet lumpy music.

                                     John 

[Radarsonwheels]

Thanks John! 

I’m loving the AFR meter- it lets me quickly get the idle where I want it. 

 

If I didn’t have the wideband I would never know it was so darn rich at part throttle and wide open- it is smooth and spins the back tires at will. I was seeing a lot of afrs in the 11s. There is a small off idle hesitation with heavy throttle- I’ll deal with the pump shots and cams later. The hiccup is below stall speed and mild. 

 

For now I’m wiring down the idle feed restrictions some more. Guitar strings are awesome for this. The fronts had .013” wire in them already. I went to .017” wire in all four IFRs and from 80 to 78 main jets in the secondaries. The primaries I had swapped from 79 main jets to 76 earlier today which did help but not enough. I’m gonna leave them in and try not to change too much stuff at once- see how it responds to leaning out the transfer slots with the .017” wires first. Poor man’s fully adjustable billet metering blocks!

 

I’d love to rip around some and test my tuning changes but I’m not trying to wake up the neighborhood. Tomorrow I want to check the indexing on the shift linkage- “synchronize” the shifter before I take it out again. Gotta make sure R on the shifter detent is exactly R on the transmission lever. 

 

...and I’m gonna need more gas soon -ha!

[Radarsonwheels]

This morning I re-torqued the rear axle U-bolts, headers, intake, and radiator hoseclamps, started it up and re-set the four corner idle screws to get the afr in the low 14s in gear. They were 3/4 of a turn out before I wired down the idle restrictions and now they are at 1.25 turns out. I’ve found that restricting the IFRs until the screws are happy around 1.5 turns out ends up with a snappy low rpm cruise but I’m used to manual transmissions. This truck probably won’t live below stall rpm running off the transfer slots as much- once the converter is working I should be on yhe main jets.  I could probably go up to .020 wires but for now I like it. 

 

I also synchronized the shift linkage. It was close but now it’s perfect. Reverse worked a little better even after warming up and scooting around the block. The AFRs driving around are still rich but now more like safe rich not pig rich. It still starts pretty well which tells me the spark plugs aren’t totally sooted up from my driving so far. 

 

The motor seems to have settled some into the poly mounts. My vigorous header bashing to gain 3/16” clearance to the rear passenger control arm pivot is looking closer now. It doesn’t hit just revving the motor but it might be tapping when it’s loaded up. I don’t hear any bad noises though. 

 

I am super happy the cooling system, charging system, brakes, and electrical systems are all doing what they’re supposed to. The brakes have scrubbed most of the rust off the rotors and feel much better after seperating the master cylinder and adjusting the booster pushrod out a little to take up some slack and opening up the prop valve. The gas and brake feel natural and aren’t cramped or awkward either- the ergonomics came out pretty good. 

 

I am used to fixing or upgrading one system at a time on a car but I got to test all this stuff basically at the same time and with no assurance any of it would work. An overheating dead battery squishy brake pedal hotrod can rapidly lead down an expensive rabbit hole and make you crazy.

 

The gross tuning is pretty good. I gotta get some more time behind the wheel to understand which carb circuits might need more changes but the idle circuit and transfer slots are right in the ballpark now that I leaned out the IFRs. 

 

I also hooked up the timed vacuum advance on the primary metering block to the distributor which was plugged to set timing. I’m going to order a plug to block the power valve in the secondary metering block. It’s unnecessary and should make getting the rear main jetting perfect much easier. 

 

I need to make armrests or at least grab handles/straps for inside the doors- they need considerable force to close all the way (hard seals? Stiff latches?) and it’d be nice to have a handle to grab and another comfy spot to stick my elbow wouldn’t be bad. And it’ll never have a radio but a cup holder might be nice!

 

I also need to finish the passenger front inner fender. I don’t have all the wiring and electronics to protect from dirt and water- just the fuel line and heater hoses- but the radiator reserve tank is flopping around a little since the remains of the original fender aren’t extended down to bolt to the frame like on the driver’s side.

 

Here’s a pic of me hazing the tires in my driveway.

 

 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Radarsonwheels
Put up video instead of still

[Radarsonwheels]

It looks much better in motion

Edited March 26, 2019 by Radarsonwheels

[Jomani]

9 hours ago, Radarsonwheels said:

It looks much better in motion

 

That’s one way to get the driveway seal coated. Sounds amazing. ?

 

[RNR1957NYer]

Quote

Here’s a pic of me hazing the tires in my driveway

.

 

Would you have shared the video if that was the moment you discovered a brake problem?

 

It's up and runnin'!  Exciting times!

[Radarsonwheels]

For sure I woulda!

 

I drove it to work today! In all fairness I live 1.1 miles from work and it was still cold the first 1/2 of the trip but I didn’t end up calling a towtruck from a taxi so I’m calling it a win! The steering was rock solid around 50-60 mph which is surprising- I thought for sure it’d need an alignment pretty bad after rebuilding the front suspension. I guess marking the UCAs and putting them back in the same place worked pretty good. I was mostly behind slow drivers coming here and it was smooth in traffic. Brakes feel better than ever. The steering is still sticky to move at idle but not dangerous just not perfect. Definitely the PS system not the linkage binding. 

 

It idled a little bit low but never stalled. My biggest fear is that it’ll die, not start back up immediately, and drag the battery down. I did bring some ether for immediate startup in case it ever cranked a couple good times without firing off. 

 

Gonna go buy oil tomorrow for the first oil change. It runs over 50psi hot at idle so I am looking at the thinner oils. Probably not 0-5 more like 10-30 or 5-30. Gonna get some fancy stuff to stay in there for probably the upcoming season, and zinc too if they don’t have hotrod oil like brad penn or royal purple or whatever local.

 

I was scared to buy gas on the way in- no extra time today if it took longer than I wanted. Gonna hit the petrol station on the way home tonight.

[Radarsonwheels]

I found out a couple important things- first the fuel vent was getting kinked how I have it folded over in the stake pocket. When I went to get gas (and on my way in to work this morning) it was idling low in Drive at stops and made me nervous since it didn’t do that before.

 

I warmed it up a little (no pump shot, started immediately like a fuel injected motor thank goodness!) then drove around the corner to get gas. When I started unscrewing my non vented gas cap I heard a sucking sound- uh oh. Pulled out the loop of vent and foomp no more hissing cap. Ok gotta fix that. 

 

When I filled it I just stuck the pump in the hole and didn’t watch it go in, just waited for what felt like an inevitable shower of gasoline. I could feel air rushing out of the vent sticking up out of the stake pocket. I heard the sound change after about 13 gallons and looked- yup there’s the gas creeping up the filler tube now that the tank is full. I shoved the nozzle in there and hit it again just to see what would happen. Whoosh-click! It shut off like it’s supposed to! Got in and the gas gauge was reading maximum Full. Sweet! All the important stuff is working!

 

Then it was time to pat the dashboard, tell her she was a good girl and give the key a spin to see if I would be walking to the diner after threatening to kill the battery with a molasses slow hot start. Nope! Didn’t touch the loud pedal and it started immediately again not even one crank before fire. Good girl! 

 

There was much less traffic on the road and I got to stay in the throttle a few times. This converter seems to flash up to 3k behind my stroker- wow! It really pushed me back in the seat a few times. 

 

All the green glow from the gauges was intoxicating and my high beam and turn indicator LEDs were all working like they should. The temp stayed under 180 in the cool night air. 

 

I’m pretty jazzed about her actual maiden voyage farther than I can throw a rock. Now I gotta work on sharpening the tune, the fuel vent, her 1st oil change, Dynamat once I catch a warm day, and a mountain of body work. 

[Radarsonwheels]

I tried filling a 3/8” hard line with sand and torching it orange to get a smooth 180° bend to fit in the stake pocket and make my vent point down to shed rain but the thin alloy just cracked in half immediately. 

 

Then I found a power steering high pressure hose that had the tight mandril bend I need. I cut it off, deburred it, and stuck a piece of 1/2” heater hose on the end over the brass fitting. The cut off end slips snug into the top of my rubber fuel line vent and smoothly turns it down, then the 1/2” hose makes the whole package a dampened unit that fits snug in the stake pocket with no kinks or rattling. A little black paint makes it less noticable. It’ll be a tiny bit more work if I want to blow in the vent to prime the fuel system (which even quickly fills the float bowls with just lung power!) but now it won’t vacuum lock and it will hopefully not restrict the vent enough to cause problems buying gas. 

 

I also upped the rear airbag pressure from 35 to 50 psi. It has a little bit more rake and a bunch more ground clearance. I was nervous last night about the tall manhole/fill covers at the gas station.

[Radarsonwheels]

I got in a little more wrench time- just came back in as it was really getting dark. I went and bought 10 quarts of royal purple 5w30, a regular size Mobil1 oil filter, and a bottle of Lucas zinc additive. I used a melling high pressure oil pump and it really works as advertised! I have over 50psi hot at idle. Iirc I used brad penn 10w40. I know my bearings would live fine with 0w5 low windage racing oil but I want a little thickness to help with the slightly leaky rear main seal.

 

The break in oil and filter had very little metal grit and glitter- about what I was hoping to see. The cut open filter looked really clean in the pleats of the element. It’s good to know my cam lifters and bearings are all still healthy, especially after some setbacks during break in. Feels good to have any break-in junk washed out of there too with the oil change. 

 

While I was under there I added a return spring to the throttle pressure lever on the trans. The lokar setup doesn’t come with one. Hopefully it will upshift a little faster at low throttle in traffic. Those lokar kickdown cables sometimes need a new hole drilled in the lever on the trans so the travel at the carb equals the full range of travel at the trans. I have it adjusted now so that WOT has the lever pulled all the way back. If it isn’t returning far enough it will result in delayed upshifts but no real problems.

 

I was having trouble telling if I ever hit 3rd gear when I was getting into heavy throttle at higher speeds on my way home last night. I have to get used to the converter flashing up to almost 3k when I nail it from a roll. 

 

 

[Radarsonwheels]

Seam sealer, dynamat, then some touch up paint inside the cab corners and sills today. Gotta go to work now I should have time to reassemble the interior over dry paint later tonight. It was a few hours work and if I did it right there will be zero change to how it looks.

 

I’m sure I will notice the difference from damping the biggest unsupported flat panels behind and under the seat but doing the firewall and console would have given the most benefit in terms of engine heat and some sound too. I don’t want the visible sheetmetal to be silver and say dynamat a thousand times.

 

Sorry for the glare in the pics- it’s 60° and sunny so I figured the adhesive would stick well. Of course I stripped the interior last night and it was 30°. The weather prediction actually worked out.

[Radarsonwheels]

I’m looking at doing the lizardskin two process spray deadener and insulator on the console/firewall later this spring. Hopefully that plus the cowl vent will make summer driving bearable.

[falconvan]

Good work! Just checked out your thread. Im usually not a big frame swap fan but this came out nice.

[Radarsonwheels]

Thanks man!

 

I put the seat and rubber floor back in time to get my kid from school. Hot startup was good but the afr was going way lean at idle and I had to ocillate the squirter to keep it happy. Part throttle was good. I thought carbed motors got richer when they warm up? Maybe its a collector leak.

 

When I got home I let it run in Park and increased the corner screws a 1/5th turn out. It seemed happier at idle and in gear. I also cracked the gas filler- no sucking sound so that’s good. 

 

Edit oh and also the rear height is confidence inspiring over bumps but it has a subtle sliding board effect in the cab. It was at 35psi and I went to 50 so maybe 42 psi should be my next setting to try. 

 

Always more debugging to do.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2019 by Radarsonwheels

[Radarsonwheels]

Went for another drive. It is acting up in Reverse again- not seeming to be in gear, banging and shuddering like I’m backing over 2x4s. No bueno. Reverse worked fine twice yesterday.

 

First and second work awesome. It will shift to 2 nicely early or late depending on throttle pressure in Drive, and seem pretty crisp in manual 1-2 shifting. It lays a burnout on the brake from a stop effortlessly and it’ll break traction at 3/4 throttle doing 30mph. But it doesn’t seem to go into 3rd gear at all. I’m second guessing if it ever did? Just kinda stays in second gear. 

 

I don’t know if I didn’t get something right in the valve body, or maybe the piston in the reverse/3rd drum has bad seals in it? Or maybe something in the band or adjustment? Reverse sorta working and 3rd not working kinda sounds like maybe an internal leak because the line pressure is higher in R but still not higj enough.

[Radarsonwheels]

Went for another drive. It is acting up in Reverse again- not seeming to be in gear, banging and shuddering like I’m backing over 2x4s. No bueno. Reverse worked fine twice yesterday.

 

First and second work awesome. It will shift to 2 nicely early or late depending on throttle pressure in Drive, and seem pretty crisp in manual 1-2 shifting. It lays a burnout on the brake from a stop effortlessly and it’ll break traction at 3/4 throttle doing 30mph. But it doesn’t seem to go into 3rd gear at all. I’m second guessing if it ever did? Just kinda stays in second gear. 

 

I don’t know if I didn’t get something right in the valve body, or maybe the piston in the reverse/3rd drum has bad seals in it? Or maybe something in the band or adjustment? Reverse sorta working and 3rd not working kinda sounds like maybe an internal leak because the line pressure is higher in R but still not high enough.

 

Really I know squat about this automatic transmission deal- with the way things are going it looks like I’m getting my education quickly! 

 

At least I’m getting good at dropping the trans pan and pulling the valvebody. I guess I’ll do that again, do air checks on the pressure ports in the trans, check the band adjustments, maybe open up the valve body and go thru that again too. I should get a set of pressure gauges to see what the pump is doing too. Everything I can do without dropping the whole trans.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Radarsonwheels

[Plymouthy Adams]

do you have the kickdown cable/linkage adjusted properly depending on the year of the donor or system you chose when connecting...other than that the other critical is positive engagement of the shifter selector properly detenting when the appropriate gear is selected...if not..you need to adjust your selector/linkage throw to detent in a linear fashion across the movement of the shift lever..

[Radarsonwheels]

5 minutes ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

do you have the kickdown cable/linkage adjusted properly depending on the year of the donor or system you chose when connecting...other than that the other critical is positive engagement of the shifter selector properly detenting when the appropriate gear is selected...if not..you need to adjust your selector/linkage throw to detent in a linear fashion across the movement of the shift lever..

I have verified that the shifter indexing is dead on to the transmission indexing. The shifter came with a lever to go on the 727 so the throw would be correct. 

 

For the throttle pressure lever (kickdown) I’m using a lokar cable. Sometimes these have less throw than the lever on the trans and you have to drill a hole closer to the pivot so they match. If it never returns far enough forward they can take forever befor upshifting at high rpm. 

 

Mine’s not perfect but it is timed to be pulled all the way back at wide open throttle. I was thinking maybe it wasn’t returning at idle so I added a return spring to the lever. 

 

In 1 it has engine braking and will do whatever you ask it with the throttle. A slap shift to 2 is firm but not harsh. Coming from a stop in Drive it will upshift quickly to 2 with low throttle and hold 1st longer with more throttle. Then it just seems to stay in 2? And if I remember correctly doesn’t engine brake. 

 

Then sometimes Reverse seems to work smoothly. But sometimes it doesn’t work at all its like you’re in N, theres no rpm drop whole holding down the brake and putting it in R. Then if you give her gas sometimes it creeps sometimes it shudders and sometimes a series of violent jerks backward. 

 

It is what it is. I’m gonna keep messing around in my neighborhood getting the tune closer, read up on my trans problems and buy a couple pressure guages. Then see what I did wrong- if I have to drop the trans it’s not the end of the world.