It's Alive........bwaaahaaahaaha!

[Jeff Balazs]

Today for the first time since I got my truck......I was able to move it under it's own power. Yippee!

Disc brakes worked well ......and the old clutch was flawless. Yes indeed.....I decided to take a chance and not mess with replacing the clutch and guess what? it worked perfectly. Gearbox shifted nicely too. With that unknown off my mind I can work towards putting it all back together and getting it dialed in.

 

I am very excited. This truck is way cool. Still has a long way to go......but boy does it feel good.

 

Jeff

[Merle Coggins]

Lookin' good Jeff. You're movin' right along now that you got the pieces painted. You'll be cruisin' in no time.

 

Merle

[ggdad1951]

Dude looking studly! Can't wait to see it finished

[48Dodger]

Wow......wicked nice Jeff!!!  

 

48D

[B1B Keven]

Congrats Jeff!!! Looks awesome.

[gramps1951]

looks great who's disc brakes did you go with did you post any pictures of the disc brakes and were they easy or a pain in the but to do. congrats great job.  neil

[HanksB3B]

It looks Bitchin! The color has a hint of California sunshine...Love it!

 

Hank  (administrator, we need a "thumbs-up" icon)

[TennesseeVol51]

Super Jeff !!!!!!!!! I will say again I love that color!!

 

Jeff could you post a pictures of your disc brake set up or maybe do a seperate thread?

[Jeff Balazs]

Thank you Guy's and thanks for helping me celebrate the big event!

It was a great feeling and one I won't forget any time soon. There is still a ton to do.......but I am going to take my time and savor the rest of it.

 

One thing I have to do is get the carb dialed in. It had a somewhat inconsistent idle and was not as easy to start when warmed up as it should be. Not certain if it has anything to do with the dashpot ? or if there is wear somewhere but as it warmed up I had to keep adjusting the idle....and it seemed to to me to be running a bit rich. This is something I want to get straightened out before putting the front clip on.

 

Neil;

I put the Rustyhope kit on the front and a 2002 Grand Cherokee rear axle in back. The axle is Dana 35 equipped with 12" disc's and a 3.55 ratio. I ran all new 3/16" lines to a Grand Cherokee M/C which is located where the stock M/C fits using a 1/2" thick homemade adaptor plate. I added a Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve along with their front and rear residual valves. The rear axle installation is a no brainer.......the Rustyhope kit is a bit fussy but works......fitting the M/C etc and getting it plumbed up in that tight location is a job......but then so is working on the stock setup.......and I think what I did makes a whole lot more sense for a daily driver. I used all new components....except for the axle itself......so I shouldn't have to mess with any of this for a long, long time. I wasn't tearing around today but the brakes worked so well I forgot about any concerns I had after the first application. Very nice indeed even with an unfamiliar pedal.

 

Jeff

[billschwindt]

Very nice it looks good. You will be proud of it the rest of your life , have fun !!!!!!!!  

Edited May 2, 2013 by billschwindt

[texas275]

Congrats, and looking good.   I got to drive mine up and down the driveway for the first time last weekend.  It's a great feeling, thats for sure.  Once you get the carb tuned it's even better!!!!

[pflaming]

Tennesse, put Chronology in your search box and find my disc brake work. I used Old Daddy also and I'm very pleased. I have a 3:73 97 Cherokee axle. I have to clutch it out from a dead start. That 3:53 might be slower, but you should get an easy 70 mph on the highway. 

 

Great work and "Welcome to the Club"!

[Desotodav]

Congratulations Jeff - looking good, and going as well!!!

I look forward to following the rest of your build.

[1952B3b23]

Looks awesome Jeff, love the color too

[Barry Maxwell]

Jeff:

Looks great!! I'm really jealous.

Barry

[Jeff Balazs]

Thanks again Guy's;

I am happy to hear that some of you like the color. It just makes sense here and it has a definite 50's flavor.

At this point I will probably redo the wheels in a deep burgundy and use that color as an accent....like the letters on the tailgate.

 

Paul;

I don't know if it is the 230, the fluid drive or perhaps slightly different ratios in my 4 speed but taking off in second with the higher ration rear axle was no big deal. I was hoping it would make 1st more usable......but it still feels like a stump puller. My first impression is that I could have gone with a 3.23 but then I haven't driven it any distance.

 

Jeff

[pflaming]

The nomenclature for me is Superlow, low, second, High in a four speed. In a three it's low, second, high. Some may go 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th;   and/or 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Using the second sequence your 2nd would be my 1st.  I have to clutch out of a dead stop. Now maybe my carb or dizzy are not working to automatically give me the extra power I need, so the problem may not be the gear ratio.

 

I too like that color. The burgundy will look fantastic, but either leave the hub caps w/o color use burgundy on those too. IMHO. I still thing some subtle pin striping would be dynamite! Maybe you could use 4 font and list the names of forum members in the line around the cab waist! 

 

Keep them "letters" coming!

[Gizzardsniffer]

Way to go Jeff,that's looking sweet,can't wait to see it done!That's one to be proud of!

[Merle Coggins]

No problems launching with FD. I can even side-step my clutch in 4th gear and drive away, not very fast, but I can drive away. Many times I even just leave a stop in 3rd and upshift to 4th once up to speed. 2nd is only used if I need a little quicker launch or when starting out on an uphill grade. And that's with 3.73 gears too.

 

Merle

[pflaming]

Tractors had governors on them which opened when you engaged the clutch or started up an incline. Isn't the distributor or the carburator on these engines supposed to do the same thing? If so, then something is not quite correct on my truck. When I shift from 1st to 2nd, I have to feather the engine to speed.

[Merle Coggins]

The governor is used to try to maintain a steady RPM regardless of load. You may need to go through your carburator again. I had a nasty hesitation when I first got the truck on the road. I had the same issues as you are describing. I had to gently pedal the gas to launch the truck. I finally went through the carb again and found my accelerator pump passage plugged. Once I got it all cleaned out and back together it cured a lot of the hesitation. Then I also found that my points setting was a little small and the timing was off because of that. Once I got that all straightened out I had much more power and the hesitation is now gone.

 

Merle

[Dave72dt]

Think of a a govenor as a cruise control.  As the rpms dropped it would pull harder on the throttle, giving it more fuel, same as you do when going up a hill to maintain speed. As the load decreases, the rpms increase so the governer backs the throttle off, maintaining a certain Rpm , same as youi do when going down a hill.  Your right foot is the governer.  The distributer will advance the timiing as the speed increases but does nothing to the throttle plate

[Jeff Balazs]

Paul;

I am not exactly certain what you mean by feathering the engine? Are you feathering the clutch to allow the engine to get up to gain rpms in order to pull the higher gearing?  Does it want to stall when you shift normally? If you are feathering the clutch every time you take off it is not going to last as long as it should.

Because of the differences between our gearboxes my second gear is slightly higher than your first, my third is slightly higher than your second and fourth is identical to your third......but I am pulling a 3.55 final drive ratio and have a few more cubes. Can't say for absolute certainty but I will probably use 2nd as a starting point most of the time in order to keep up with traffic around here.

 

I once had a little sports car that would pull 55 mph in first gear. But you had to ride or feather the clutch to get there quickly. It was blazing fast when driven like this .....and I was a teenager..... but it would eat a clutch every 7500 miles.......if that. I got real good at clutch jobs because I was addicted to the rush of blowing off much bigger cars. Not into that anymore.

 

The fluid drives have a slightly different carb than the non fluid drive models have. It has a dashpot. As I understand it the dashpot extends the period of time that the engine takes to settle down to idle when the throttle has been released. Not really a governor it the true sense but has a temporary effect on idle speed necessary to prevent stalling. I am not sure that mine is properly adjusted at this point.

 

Jeff

[Merle Coggins]

The fluid drives have a slightly different carb than the non fluid drive models have. It has a dashpot. As I understand it the dashpot extends the period of time that the engine takes to settle down to idle when the throttle has been released. Not really a governor it the true sense but has a temporary effect on idle speed necessary to prevent stalling. I am not sure that mine is properly adjusted at this point.

 

Jeff

 

I have the dash pot on mine adjusted so it mostly ineffective and doesn't affect the idle at all. I don't have any stalling issues because of it.

[Jeff Balazs]

Merle;

How is yours set? Screw backed almost out? Or in?

 

I need to get some sort of a tach reading on this engine because If I set the idle speed by ear it invariably winds up too low and falters. A decent idle setting when first started becomes too high as it warms up. Every inline 6 I have ever owned has had a rock steady idle. So far this one while not horrible seems like it should be better. It's probably time to break out the vacuum gauge and/ or the dwell meter.

 

Jeff