And new gaskets made up...
All back together (I am getting pretty good at this now), coolant in, test drive. All good.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Everything old is new again
So off came the defective new water pump and the old pump was tidied up before being reinstated...
And new gaskets made up...
All back together (I am getting pretty good at this now), coolant in, test drive. All good.
And new gaskets made up...
All back together (I am getting pretty good at this now), coolant in, test drive. All good.
Monday, 20 February 2012
Groan!
Test drive, taking the kids to school in the morning.
Overtemp light on with low coolant. Topped up the coolant as the system rid itself of all air bubbles. All good, except I noticed a leak at the heater spigot going into the water pump. Trying to tighten it yielded (literally) this...
The casting around the spigot just crumbled... a bad casting in the brand new water pump. Great!
Looks like the old pump goes back on and I see if I can get my $'s back from Rare Spares <sigh>.
Overtemp light on with low coolant. Topped up the coolant as the system rid itself of all air bubbles. All good, except I noticed a leak at the heater spigot going into the water pump. Trying to tighten it yielded (literally) this...
The casting around the spigot just crumbled... a bad casting in the brand new water pump. Great!
Looks like the old pump goes back on and I see if I can get my $'s back from Rare Spares <sigh>.
Sunday, 19 February 2012
The one on the right!
With the carb rebuilt and back together, it was time to wack it back on and fire it up!
Time to pick a gasket (two came in the rebuild kit)...
The one on the right matched what was on the car to begin with, but I wanted to try the one on the left as it seemed to match the pattern under the 4GC.
Ahhh... no. With the carby sandwiching the gasket on the left, the old girl would fire, but quickly die and would only sputter along if I held plenty of revs... all the while hearing a MASSIVE vacuum leak.
Left it all for church, then after church dug into swapping the gasket for the one on the right.
With the right gasket in place... muuuuch better! Idled fine, revved fine; all good.
J
Time to pick a gasket (two came in the rebuild kit)...
The one on the right matched what was on the car to begin with, but I wanted to try the one on the left as it seemed to match the pattern under the 4GC.
Ahhh... no. With the carby sandwiching the gasket on the left, the old girl would fire, but quickly die and would only sputter along if I held plenty of revs... all the while hearing a MASSIVE vacuum leak.
Left it all for church, then after church dug into swapping the gasket for the one on the right.
With the right gasket in place... muuuuch better! Idled fine, revved fine; all good.
J
Saturday, 18 February 2012
(lack of) Choke Mechanism
With the rest of the carby back together, the only thing left was to reinstall the choke mechanism in a locked-open position to ensure that the fast idle cam isn't engaged.
The choke butterflies were removed...
...and I inserted a short piece of AT hose in the choke linkage to remove any slop...
The added bonus of the addition of the small length of hose was when the linkage was tightened, it lightly crushed the rubber which in turn held the linkage in place and ensures the choke can't "close" and engage the fast-idle cam.
John
The choke butterflies were removed...
...and I inserted a short piece of AT hose in the choke linkage to remove any slop...
The added bonus of the addition of the small length of hose was when the linkage was tightened, it lightly crushed the rubber which in turn held the linkage in place and ensures the choke can't "close" and engage the fast-idle cam.
John
Bottom Radiator Hose
Sourced one from Chevparts in Yennora on 08/02/2012...
14/02/2012
After a bit of shortening I managed to make it fit and the coolant went back in.
As the coolant went in, the blanking plug at the top of the pump leaked, so I had a to figure out a way to tighten it.
16/02/2012
Had a chat to fitters at work. They suggested using a 9/16" bolt/lock nut arrangement as a make-shift hex drive. Brilliant!
Tightened the water pump blanking plug with the suggested make-shift hex drive... all good!
J
14/02/2012
After a bit of shortening I managed to make it fit and the coolant went back in.
As the coolant went in, the blanking plug at the top of the pump leaked, so I had a to figure out a way to tighten it.
16/02/2012
Had a chat to fitters at work. They suggested using a 9/16" bolt/lock nut arrangement as a make-shift hex drive. Brilliant!
Tightened the water pump blanking plug with the suggested make-shift hex drive... all good!
J
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Ramblings re. Cooling
From: John
Sent: Tuesday, 7 February 2012 2:26 PM
To: JtC
Subject: Fan Shroud
I need to check it for myself, but it looks like the ’65 only had a shroud with the small block if it was air con (or “heavy duty cooling” optioned)…
http://www.impalas.net/forums/showpost.php?p=20135&postcount=17
John
From: JtC
Sent: Tuesday, 7 February 2012 2:17 PM
To: Driver, John
Subject: Re: Thanks!
Clutch fans certainly came later on. I honestly think we try source a fixed one for now, even if from a Holden wrecker - we can take the old pump with us to make sure it bolts up. Take fan too, to check diameter of blades.
Actually: you can buy good plastic multi blade units from Rare's, I put one on the Monaro.
Shroud? See if the plastic ones sold by Rare Spares are still avail- I also fitted one of these to the Munro. We will need to check radiator size against dad's HK's radiator... I think it's the same.
Sent from my CincoPhone
On 07/02/2012, at 1:57 PM, John wrote:
I have also done a bit of research (read asking Mr Chev Parts at Yennora) about fans, fan clutches and shrouds.
He didn’t think the ’65 came with a clutch fan, but couldn’t be sure.
A quick dig on the Impala Bob website didn’t come up with any clutch style fans so my guess is a simple mechanical fan w/o clutch.
I sooo don’t have the original fan…
http://www.impalas.com/1955-1966-bel-air-engine-fan-blade-4-blade-v8-6-cyl/bl225.html
But if mine was locked solid, you would think it would flow better than the one in the link.
Mr Yennora also checked to see if he had a shroud, but no luck there, even 2nd hand.
You can get them from Impala Bobs, but I am not sure the small block came with them standard…
http://www.impalas.com/1965-1966-impala-fiberglass-fan-shroud-283-327-small-block/170001.html
The listing for the big block shroud refers to it as “…a nice fiberglass reproduction of the original GM part…” but not so for the small block one.
John
Sent: Tuesday, 7 February 2012 2:26 PM
To: JtC
Subject: Fan Shroud
I need to check it for myself, but it looks like the ’65 only had a shroud with the small block if it was air con (or “heavy duty cooling” optioned)…
http://www.impalas.net/forums/showpost.php?p=20135&postcount=17
John
From: JtC
Sent: Tuesday, 7 February 2012 2:17 PM
To: Driver, John
Subject: Re: Thanks!
Clutch fans certainly came later on. I honestly think we try source a fixed one for now, even if from a Holden wrecker - we can take the old pump with us to make sure it bolts up. Take fan too, to check diameter of blades.
Actually: you can buy good plastic multi blade units from Rare's, I put one on the Monaro.
Shroud? See if the plastic ones sold by Rare Spares are still avail- I also fitted one of these to the Munro. We will need to check radiator size against dad's HK's radiator... I think it's the same.
Sent from my CincoPhone
On 07/02/2012, at 1:57 PM, John wrote:
I have also done a bit of research (read asking Mr Chev Parts at Yennora) about fans, fan clutches and shrouds.
He didn’t think the ’65 came with a clutch fan, but couldn’t be sure.
A quick dig on the Impala Bob website didn’t come up with any clutch style fans so my guess is a simple mechanical fan w/o clutch.
I sooo don’t have the original fan…
http://www.impalas.com/1955-1966-bel-air-engine-fan-blade-4-blade-v8-6-cyl/bl225.html
But if mine was locked solid, you would think it would flow better than the one in the link.
Mr Yennora also checked to see if he had a shroud, but no luck there, even 2nd hand.
You can get them from Impala Bobs, but I am not sure the small block came with them standard…
http://www.impalas.com/1965-1966-impala-fiberglass-fan-shroud-283-327-small-block/170001.html
The listing for the big block shroud refers to it as “…a nice fiberglass reproduction of the original GM part…” but not so for the small block one.
John
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Carby Rebuild
Last year I sourced a rebuild kit for the Rochester 4GC carburettor from the states and now it was time to strip the carby and put the kit through it.
Joe came up and we set to work... well... Joe set to work ;-)
All parts were soaked in thinners and blown-out with compressed air.
Dimension settings were listed in the kit.
By the end of the day, the carb was back together, sans choke linkage.
While JtC rebuilt the carb, I pulled off the water pump and replaced it with a new one sourced from Rare Spares. The bottom radiator hose was severely perished, so a new one will need to be sourced before the coolant can go back in.
Once off, the old pump had it's cover removed to reveal.... perfect! The impeller looked brand new and there was no slop in the shaft! Obviously the pump was not the reason for overheating.
So the new pump stayed on and the old pump stored away as a spare.
Joe came up and we set to work... well... Joe set to work ;-)
All parts were soaked in thinners and blown-out with compressed air.
Dimension settings were listed in the kit.
By the end of the day, the carb was back together, sans choke linkage.
While JtC rebuilt the carb, I pulled off the water pump and replaced it with a new one sourced from Rare Spares. The bottom radiator hose was severely perished, so a new one will need to be sourced before the coolant can go back in.
Once off, the old pump had it's cover removed to reveal.... perfect! The impeller looked brand new and there was no slop in the shaft! Obviously the pump was not the reason for overheating.
So the new pump stayed on and the old pump stored away as a spare.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Freeway run; check #2 plug
Test run 15km up the freeway and back again. Pulled number two plug to check it out...
Old Plug #2
New Plug #2
Old Plug #2
New Plug #2
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Engine Tuning
After concentrating hard on what was required for rego, now that the big Chev is road legal it was time to see what condition the engine was in.
The Australia Day holiday gave a prefect opportunity to spend some time on the Chev, so JtC made the trip north.
The day before (25/01/2012) I grabbed from Rare Spares a Dist Cap, Dist Rotor and points.
Plugs came out and generally looked pretty sooty so rich running or plugs too cold. Also, the colour change on the outside electrode was generally pretty close to the tip which shows retarded timing (pictures to come).
The spark plug leads (wires) read between ~ 12 and 15 thousand ohms and were cleaned with wax and grease remover and re-routed to tidy things up a bit.
Next was compression test, done on a cold engine...
Cylinder #1 ~ 160 psi dry
Cylinder #2 = 152 psi dry
Cylinder #3 = 160 psi dry
Cylinder #4 = 158 psi dry
Cylinder #5 = 110 psi dry/138 psi wet
Cylinder #6 = 156 psi dry
Cylinder #7 = 147 psi dry
Cylinder #8 = 108 psi dry/110 psi wet
...where wet is a test after squirting some oil down the spark plug hole.
#5 is reading low and ~ 30 psi increase with a squirt of oil seems to point to leakage past the rings.
#8 is also reading low and the fact there is almost no change with a squirt of oil seems to point to a burn valve.
New plugs (NGK B5ES) were gapped to 0.030" and put in. A new distributor cap (Bosch GD607) and rotor (Bosch DR65) went on also.
I picked up a new contactor set/points (Bosch GD143V) and condensor (DC10) as well, but it looks like the Impala has points with an integrated condensor (Bosch GD45 I believe). Might need to do a swap, though JtC reckons the existing points are in great nick.
Joe reset the dwell to 30 deg and gave it a short hit around the block; felt a bit doggy so advanced the timing (remember the plug reading earlier) and a second drive showed it goes a LOT better. Might cop more advance as it 'aint pinging yet.
Finally, Joe adjusted the reverse light switch so the reverse lights come on when the car is in reverse... as well as adjusting the Park/Neutral cut-out so the car starts in Neutral now.
Thanks Joe!
The Australia Day holiday gave a prefect opportunity to spend some time on the Chev, so JtC made the trip north.
The day before (25/01/2012) I grabbed from Rare Spares a Dist Cap, Dist Rotor and points.
Plugs came out and generally looked pretty sooty so rich running or plugs too cold. Also, the colour change on the outside electrode was generally pretty close to the tip which shows retarded timing (pictures to come).
The spark plug leads (wires) read between ~ 12 and 15 thousand ohms and were cleaned with wax and grease remover and re-routed to tidy things up a bit.
Next was compression test, done on a cold engine...
Cylinder #1 ~ 160 psi dry
Cylinder #2 = 152 psi dry
Cylinder #3 = 160 psi dry
Cylinder #4 = 158 psi dry
Cylinder #5 = 110 psi dry/138 psi wet
Cylinder #6 = 156 psi dry
Cylinder #7 = 147 psi dry
Cylinder #8 = 108 psi dry/110 psi wet
...where wet is a test after squirting some oil down the spark plug hole.
#5 is reading low and ~ 30 psi increase with a squirt of oil seems to point to leakage past the rings.
#8 is also reading low and the fact there is almost no change with a squirt of oil seems to point to a burn valve.
New plugs (NGK B5ES) were gapped to 0.030" and put in. A new distributor cap (Bosch GD607) and rotor (Bosch DR65) went on also.
I picked up a new contactor set/points (Bosch GD143V) and condensor (DC10) as well, but it looks like the Impala has points with an integrated condensor (Bosch GD45 I believe). Might need to do a swap, though JtC reckons the existing points are in great nick.
Joe reset the dwell to 30 deg and gave it a short hit around the block; felt a bit doggy so advanced the timing (remember the plug reading earlier) and a second drive showed it goes a LOT better. Might cop more advance as it 'aint pinging yet.
Finally, Joe adjusted the reverse light switch so the reverse lights come on when the car is in reverse... as well as adjusting the Park/Neutral cut-out so the car starts in Neutral now.
Thanks Joe!
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