WTF? WHY DOESN'T THIS CAR WANT TO START?????

[Kid_Again]

well, i'll make this short because Mark will add a lot of "value" to this thread

today, we fired up the small block...it did start....finally

i figured Mark would be here form 10-lunchtime, so i could feed him from F&M Deli and thank him for his help



it took 5 hours




the littany of problems started with ONE wire connected incorrectly which probably fried the MSD Boost Timing Master...took Mark (not me) HOURS to track that one down...he is REALLY great with this stuff...so, we bypassed the BTM and ran it directly off the MSD 6 box and it fired up...at which point the alternator belt cut through the heater hose AND the alternator fan chewed through the wires going to the alternator;help

...then, the throttle linkage kept binding so i could only run it at fast idle..at which point i realized that my electric radiator fan no longer worked and i shut it down and mark and i pushed it back into the garage...


BUT IT DID RUN!!!!!...i had never put new heads on an engine before and the valves were pretty well adjusted...surprised me.....but we did NOT power up the blower...NOW, i have a lot of re-wiring to do..

..as Mark said, the worst thing is that we had the car out on the driveway and it was a beautiful day at the beach so passersby kept buggin the **** out of us...two examples follows.....

we are both bent over the engine, wires all over the place, me swearing like a stevedore...two guys come up and say "nice car"...i reply "thanks" and don't look up from the spaghetti...one guy continues and says "what year?" and i say, without looking up "today is not a good day, tomorrow would be better"...he comes closer and says "can i see the engine?"...i say "TODAY IS NOT A GOOD DAY, TOMORROW WOULD BE BETTER"...have no idea what happened to them since i had just drained my bottle of Xanax.....




....then, my idiot neighbor's buddy stops his car in the middle of the street and saunters over, doesn't introduce himself (I look at Mark wondering WTF is this guy?) and he says, "you know, you should use starting fluid"....both me and Mark calmly say "WE HAVE NO SPARK!!!!"....not sure what happened to him either


next time, i'm keping the garage door closed:eyerole

 

[Rowdy1]

Trial & Error....

Happens to the best of us, keep eating the "mood" pills, things will get better, keep the wallet open. Oh yeah, starting fluid, just call Summit or Jegs now and order a crate engine cuz you'll detonate that one, or for that matter, any one. Starter fliud should be outlawed, it's not even diesel friendly, trust me, I know.

 

[bossvette]

Just keep plugging away at it, wiring is an art and Mark knows wiring!!!

 

[Kid_Again]

thanks guys...

yeah, it would have been nearly impossible without mark's help...great guy


....the secret to keeping him around is LOTS of extra lean corned beef....the cigars don't hurt either


...like rowdy1 says, just keep the wallet open...looks like i fried the controller for the fan:W


right now, it's almost 65* and i'm on the deck relaxing, listening to sinatra and watching the chickies go to the beach:cool......could be worse


..wonder if the guys from yesterday will come back......unless they drive up in a midyear, they're going to see a locked garage;squint:

 

[bossvette]

While its nice to be able to view the eye candy while working it would lead me into trouble I'd either be divorced or make mistakes.
Living out in the boonies I don't have to worry about nitwits stopping by making remarks at inopportune times and I can have my stereo as loud as I want it to sooth my nerves. hnoes I like classic rock myself.

sounds like you are taking a well deserved break; I had to walk away from my 52 and its computer problems, but I'll be getting back to it once I get the windshield wipers going on the 68. Sometimes its best to walk away from the frustrations and start with a fresh outlook a few days later. It's amazing how stepping back away for a while can let you see something you missed before that if it were a snake would have bitten you.

 

[Viet Nam Vett]

I gotta say ..That Kid did a nice job on his Vette. In fact ...he did all the work. He put alot of time in engineering up all the small parts to make them work with the big parts. Also, replaced the heads and installed solid rockers and engineered up the...as I call it .. Carb In A Box which is the box where the carb lives and the blower Huff's thru. Not to mention the electronic items that we had some trouble with.

Just goes to show how one wiring error can create a cascade of other problems. The main thing here is that the motor fired on the first crank and ran once we traced the problem down. And didn't leak or throw parts up in the air.

Not Bad For a Micro Biologist....

 

[GerryLP]

...Sometimes its best to walk away from the frustrations and start with a fresh outlook a few days later its amazing how stepping back away for a while can let you see something you missed before that if it were a snake would have bitten you.

Ain't that truth!?

And it helps if one is not superstitious, or else one would think that in those situations a "ghost" would be messing-around with you.

From my point-of-view, it would only be the "ghost of frustration getting the best of me."

Kudos on the engine start!

 

[JL66REDCPE]

Glad to hear you guys got it started. You will fix the wiring -- just takes some time. I wish I could have been there. Thanks again to both you and Mark for the phone call on Saturday -- it was REALLY appreciated.

 

[67HEAVEN]

next time, i'm keping the garage door closed:eyerole

Don't do that. We like stories.

 

[Rowdy1]

Story Hell................

We want pictures!!! NOT of the car silly, the chickies!!!

 

[IH2LOSE]

Best of luck with getting it back together.

Just remember this is supposed to be fun.

I had a visitor once When we were putting the 62 together for the first motor fire.

Never knew him prior but always seen him in the neighbor hood Started chatting, and as always if some one is standing close I put them to work,
Hand me this,

Hand me that

Get this ready.

Next thing you know another guy shows up

"What the hell you doing"

Stranger

"investigating a noise complaint"

New guy

"looks more like your fixing a car"

Needless to say the both left.

My daughter had some friends over and was dancing on the back deck,one of my neighbors called the Police to complain the music was too loud. they could not tell me who the anonymous caller was ,but they were courteous enough to stop by his house and let him know they did investigate

Next time you get a visitor put them to work.

 

[Kid_Again]

great stories and thanks for the encouragement

next week, we'll keep the car under the deck overhang and just leave a broom outside if some sidewalk superintendents need to keep themselves busy


...the msd timing boost master should arrive by next saturday, the spal PWM controller should be here also...


....thanks goes to many members of this forum who helped me find #1tdc, which head specs to pay attention to, advice on how to remove the fuel tank sender (forgot to mention that one before), etc, etc........

 

[Kid_Again]

we got the car started today with the blower:Twist

outside of a few coolant leaks (first time the system was pressurized), it was fairly uneventful


fairly

couldn't get it to start with the boost timing master:confused....mark read and re-read the instructions while i just ad.....bypass the BTM and it started just fine....musta' cut and reconnected the yellow/white wire combination between the boxes three times....and then mark read the BTM instructions again and this time noticed that a loop wire on the box itself had to be cut since i'm using an msd distributor


...cut the white wire loop and it fired right up:dancenaughty

....i'll post a picture of the spaghetti that's left of my wiring, i have a LOT of looming and nylon tying to do...may get it on the road next week and need to finish up my technical article of what i had to go through....right now, i'm just exhausted...WHEW!!!

 

[Rowdy1]

Doesn't Matter..................

When all is said and done........"We BAD"

Keep at it, we all need a hero.

 

[Mac]

I thought I was doing wonders replacing the jets in my hot tub. Good work, Kid!

-Mac

 

[Kid_Again]

hey guys, thanks!

i've been at this so long, i can't remember when i started....i'll have to check my invoices

now, at least. all I have is cleanup work and this morning i start by just picking up all my tools and you can't walk on the floor without stepping on a cut nylon tie or cut wire end

...ever have one of those jobs where you use every tool you own and still wind up buying a few new ones?...i used every hammer that i have, from the rubber mallet, to the ball pien to the 10lb steel mallet...the hammers work PARTICULARLY well on new distributors:bang


.....now that it's getting really nice outside, i need to take some chickie pictures for rowdy1


...when VNV gets all his AC hoses cut and prefitted, i can't wait to return the favor and help him disassemble his interior to fit the evaporator box...i bought that Sawzall and need to give it a try

 

[IH2LOSE]

When is the test drive?

 

[bossvette]

...when VNV gets all his AC hoses cut and prefitted, i can't wait to return the favor and help him disassemble his interior to fit the evaporator box...i bought that Sawzall and need to give it a try

I can just see the look on VNV's face when you haul out the Sawzall to tweak the firewall. good going I knew you would have it up in no time.

 

[Viet Nam Vett]

I thought I was doing wonders replacing the jets in my hot tub. Good work, Kid!

-Mac

...................

 

[Viet Nam Vett]

I can just see the look on VNV's face when you haul out the Sawzall to tweak the firewall. good going I knew you would have it up in no time.

Yeah.. I gotta be careful here.. Kid's got the heavey duty Wilderness Model...38" Cutting Blade with the Electric Start Diesel Powered Hydrulic Laser operated Trigger.;help