Phase 2 Complete!

Post date: January 19th, 2021

Well, it's only been another 5 months, but I finally have phase 2 complete!

Obviously the big news is the front seats finally got covered! I had Garrett custom match the Legendary vinyl with their Berkshire leather, then had the covers made by Shawn Cook. All came together really well. Shaun and Shawn negotiated how to get the original pattern applied to the Procar seats - I didn't want precisely the original pattern (that piping in the middle is really uncomfortable!), and it wouldn't work on the bolsters anyway, but they came up with a great look. The material match is also great. e.g., the outside of the upper bolsters in this picture are vinyl, while all of the front is leather. The side of the headrest is vinyl while the front is leather. Really can't tell unless you touch it! I did have to make more modifications to the seats. Further cut back all the bolsters, also spread out the bars on the bottom. Got both seats to match pretty close.

The brakes continued to cause headaches, so took the plunge and installed the Kore3 front kit with C6 Z51 rotors and brackets. The rear is a bit more complex. I stumbled on a post on Facebook talking about putting LS1/F-body brakes, which are extremely similar to the C5/C6 brakes, on a 8.5" bolt-in-axle rear and linking to a website (much like this one!) with details. Including cut plans for mounting brackets! Shaun was able to get that loaded into the plasma table and poof - adapted my Olds 8.5" rear to disc brakes with internal parking brake! I had gotten the backing plates with all their bits from the junkyard several years ago. I was hoping to go straight to the Z51 setup, but the backspacing between the LS1 and C6 rotors is completely different. So, running LS1 rotors and abutment brackets (12.1" instead of 13") right now, but with the final Z51 rear calipers.

Fun fact - True C6 Z51 rear calipers are different than base C6 rear calipers! Front calipers are the same, but the rear caliper has a slightly smaller piston to account for the much larger rotor. Found a good set on ebay, so now I have quite a pile of brake parts to get rid of....

I got the F14 guys to coat the calipers and brackets with their "Santana Black". Super pretty.

Here's the site I plagiarized:

http://1967firebird.atwebpages.com/chassis2.php

The plans were close but not quite right. As-drawn they work for c-clip axles. Just had to reduce the ID of the retainer plate so it retained the seal for my bolt-in axles.

It also took several tries to get banjo adapters that cleared the wheel and lower a-arm at full droop, full compression, and full turn left and right. I ended up with a different shape banjo on each side! Strange but true. Also had to make new hose retaining brackets for the frame because my stock ones used doubled-over metal, which was too thick to work with the retaining slot on the braided lines. Just another one of those fun small surprises.

I still had various pedal feel problems, so I switched to a C6 brake master cylinder. Of course that wasn't easy. I needed to switch back to a normal GM-length pushrod, but couldn't find my old one. That's fine! Just ""machine"" one! A cordless drill and a bench grinder can work as a lathe. Apparently.

I also had the problem that the line fittings for the master cylinder are unobtainable. Well, you can get the correct thread fittings - it's some unusual metric size - but they're for bubble flares with a long nose. Of course the master cylinder uses a normal 45deg inverted flare and the housing is very shallow. Easy! Just cut off the nose of the fitting and cut a 45deg depression into it........

The other big change is the fuel tank. My crazy contraption, using a 2000 F350 middle tank fuel pump, had been working well. The fuel level didn't read above 1/2 tank - the float hit the lowered head. So Shaun and I pulled the tank and monkeyed around with it for an hour or two - made a new hanger arm, got the basket to align differently in the tank... Zip ties were involved. The fuel level sender from Vintage is super sketchy.........

So, I successfully turned a minor problem (fuel level just stays at 1/2 any time it's fuller than 1/2) into a big problem (fuel level sender completely broke).

This suggested that I needed to fix it somehow. Adding a fuel level sender is possible, but getting a good seal is really, really hard. There's no add-a-sender kit that I could find - just senders designed for an existing mount. So while I was at it, I did some research into the true capacity of that F350 pump, considering my plans for the next engine, and found some issues. Turns out that pump is only rated to ~30 GPH, and I need a minimum of 60 GPH for my planned engine...... It's suggested the current engine needs a ~45-50 GPH pump.

So, jump down into the rabbit hole of tanks and pumps. It's still a real mess. I wanted a tank with good baffling, but also one that had a good pump basket. And a good vent setup. It's hard to get all that. I went back and forth on the tank and pump a lot. Even placed and canceled several orders. Initially I ordered an Aeromotive Gen 1 Stealth tank. I realized much later - but before it shipped!! - that those tanks do NOT use the Phantom setup. I think it's basically the normal Tanks Inc tank with a large tub sump plus an Aeromotive pump on a normal hanger. The Gen 2 Stealth tanks use the Phantom, but I wasn't terribly impressed with the phantom being placed smack in the middle of the tank, and it would be extremely difficult to modify or change any of the internals with how they designed it. The absolute best solution is a Rick's tank, but those are all made-to-order and even more painfully expensive than they were 10 years ago.

I ended up with the notched Tanks Inc tank which has an interesting sump. The sump has two tubes - one comes in from each side, and on the outside makes a 90 degree turn to travel along the outside of the sump.
This lets fuel flow into the sump via gravity, but limits any slosh. Neat idea, but also means the pump cannot access the bottom 1/2" or so of gas in the tank.

The pump was the hardest decision, so I went with the most expensive solution..........

The Phantom returnless carb, but, of course, running it with a return.

The Tanks Inc pumps just use a really ugly mounting head. Like ugly enough that I'm shocked they don't constantly leak. The wiring is hokey, the plumbing is hokey.... just not what I was looking for. There are a couple of Tanks-compatible units out there, but it would still just be a bare pump hanging in the sump. In all reality that's just fine for the vast majority of uses.

I always liked the Phantom basket idea - closely replicates what every single OE is doing now. I went back and forth on which one. Ended up with the Carb Returnless model. All that really does is hang a 15PSI relief valve inside the unit spraying back into the tank. That way my return regulator only has to drop from 15PSI to 7 PSI. Main drawback is that it's NOISY. This unit also uses the Stealth 325 pump. While that has a lower "rating" than the Stealth 340 pump, it's a newer design, and the flow/pressure/voltage chart actually shows that it flows more than the 340 pump. Go figure.

Of course this wasn't exactly a bolt-in item.

It works! And it seals! Only took 5 jigsaw blades, a few minutes with a hammer, and a few re-drills.

I also added the fancy check balls to the Phantom baffle.

When I go EFI I just need to remove that 15psi bypass. I'll likely add the Apex jet siphon pump and put the suction pickup at the very front middle of the tank. That will pull in every last drop of gas during normal cruising.

Naturally the Aeromotive pump pulls ~16A constant, while the F350 pump pulled about 6 amps. I re-wired the trunk to use a standalone 70A relay and a 30A Maxi fuse, also moved the crash cutout to the signal side instead of the power side. Also needed generally much larger wiring. I didn't go 12Ga like Aeromotive wanted, but did use 14Ga. Got some quality time laying in the trunk again.

I was also uncertain on what fuel level sender I would use, so looked into adapters. There's three or so on the market. Eventually found out that the Tanks Inc unit is actually manufactured by a dude in his garage, and it's cheapest to buy directly from him!

I give you, the Meter Match!

https://www.technoversions.com/MeterMatch.html

Kindred spirits there.

Then just had some small nagging things taken care of. I thought my AEM o2 sensor gauge broke again (this would be the 4th one in 5 years!) but no, it was the sensor. Also re-wired the auto-headlight circuit to use a relay up in the dash. Previously, all the dash lights pulled their current through the mini switch in the console, so all the dash illumination was extremely dim when using auto headlights. No good. Now that just triggers a relay that uses a fresh source up front. I also have a squeak in the gauge cluster that I'm trying to find. I thought it was the gauges squeaking in the mounting plate, so I wrapped them with electrical tape. Didn't help. I'm guessing it's the gauge cluster squeaking against the dash?

The planning for the diesel build continues. I got the pistons, rods and rings. All good looking stuff. Remmel also went back and made a batch of cranks with 3" mains. I didn't have much luck getting mains spacers made, so Mark agreed to let me exchange my 2.5" crank for a 3" crank. That came in last week. Now I just need caps and hardware and the bottom end will be ready for the machine shop!

Otherwise, things around the house kept me busy. I finally, after 17 years, called Oncor to replace the feeder to my house. That started a whole adventure, including installing 8' grounding rods and a real grounding system to the side of the house. I learned another fun fact - the power feeds to the house aren't protected AT ALL. Just three 2/0 cable runs buried a foot or so. In my case they run diagonally under the garage then back yard straight to the transformer. I thought the feeder tube ran down to a conduit that went to the transformer. Nope. It just went into the earth a foot or so then stopped. The crew replaced the metal tube with regular PVC, but even shorter! The new tube only goes 6" or so into the ground.

I also went down a generator rabbit hole. Initially I was hoping to have two generators - a big one to run the A/C and an inverter generator to run the house. Sams ran a fire sale on a 9KW genset, so I snagged that. Retail $1k, sale $500! With a genuine Honda engine! Of course I modified it to add power meters on each pole, an external neutral bond and a quick disconnect on the battery. Added an inlet box on the patio to the main panel. Runs the whole house easily. I did have to change the computer UPSes to permit really bad power. Voltage is rock solid, but the frequency bounces around 61 to 62.5 hz. That's the hardest thing with normal generators - the govenor isn't precise enough to hold 60hz dead-on, and it'll wobble wildly any time there's a big load change. Well, nothing blew up during my 1 hour test, so we'll just hope for the best.

The A/C is a problem though. I built a transfer box using QO parts to replace the old cutoff switch. The 9KW generator didn't even slightly power up the compressor. It was funny to watch - voltage dropped to 60V on each pole, it struggled for 30 seconds, then the circuit breakers tripped. By spec, it appears I need a 14KW genset for the A/C. That's really hard to find for less than $2k. So hoping we don't need A/C when the power is out. There's a chance a 12KW genset would work, and those can be had for ~$1k, but that would be an expensive experiment if it didn't work.

There's also a fresh entry into the "Using Things In Ways The Manufacturer Never Intended" category.

My 18" floor fan just wasn't cutting it anymore. I found this 24" fan for $200 on Amazon. It's intended to be mounted on the wall, but I have too many shelves. So I put it on the ceiling! It worked fine for a while, but the mount wasn't meant to work upside down, and the oscillation arm was actually the only thing keeping it together. Finally used some of Shaun's time and material to make that giant C bracket. It works!

Also went ahead and made this contraption:

I was looking around at bare pumps and keeping an eye open for deals. That is a 5.9 HP pump that is meant to run at only ~900 RPM and moves about 16 SCFM @ 90psi. Retail for a pump like that is normally about $600. Amazon had one (one!) for $300. Amazon direct, too - not a 3rd party. Then they started lowering the price by a few bucks every week. So I went ahead and bought it. It arrived all busted up, unsurprisingly. Really just the filter housings were smashed and one of the tube fittings on the back. As usual I decided to tear it down for an inspection. Everything was pretty good, but needed a good cleanup. The reed plates and heads were extremely unflat. The reed plates were actually rusted! I expected the reeds wouldn't seal very well at all, so I spent a lot (A LOT) of time polishing the plates. I think it ended up being around 16 hours of sanding and polishing. Not fun. But they looked great when I was done. I did try to buy a new plate and new gaskets from the manufacturer, but they took so long to deliver that I just finished fixing the old parts and made gaskets myself. And the ""new"" valve plate was in worse shape than the ones that were in the pump so I returned that junk. Sadly I had to file a dispute with my credit card to get them to process the return! Also had to make all new fittings and lines for the outlets. And, While I Was At It, I replaced the little breather (just a marble on top of a tube) with a long hose and an automotive breather. The breathers that come with these things make a really loud SWISH noise.

I always heard the best way to silence a pump is to muffle the inlet. So I used the old filter housing from the Lincoln LS and plumbed to the inlets using 1" tube. Indeed, it's significantly quieter than the old setup!

The motor is a 5hp Baldor 184T from ebay. Same thing, normal retail is ~$600, I got it for $300. I did make a mounting plate extender after this picture was taken so the motor could be pulled away from the pump a bit, which also meant cutting up the belt guard. But, it all works.

Here's a comparison of the new and old motor and pump. Finding a correct size motor pulley - that was affordable!! - took some hunting, but eventually got it for $30 through Grainger. And it just plugged into the motor starter I made earlier.

So, what's next? Right now I have some minor issues:

squeak in the dash, boogered stud on right front wheel hub

But it's mainly looking forward to Phase 3 - The """Last""" Phase!

Main items for Phase 3?

Diesel engine build (just need caps, hardware and machine work) - hopefully this spring!

200-4r repair

Ford 9" rear end and C6 z51 brakes

EFI!

Then it's done. Really. You can laugh now.