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I'll have to look into the Drag Week thing. And I'm afraid I missed Joel at Speed Week - might have been the year I missed. Sure enjoyed hanging with you in Wendover!
Dan
Dan
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Well the HemiCoupe made it the 100+ mile round trip to back to the 50's, plus about 1/2 hour of idling, creeping through the streets of the event.
At Back to the 50's, they get 11,000+ cars. The whole fairgrounds is filled with cars. If you want a spot with any traffic, you need to get there by about 5:0 am. My plan was to work on it thurseday night getting everything ready, then leave home at 4:00 am. But thursday night after work I was so exhausted, I couldn't think straight. I was just spinning my wheels trying to get ready. So I decided not to go on friday, spend the day working on the car, then go saturday and headed for bed early. But when I woke up friday morning, I had a new out look. I headed out to the shop and got the car ready, and left for BTT50's at 7:30 am. I hit some slow commuter traffic, but not too bad. By the time I got in the gate, all the miles of on street parking was full. So I wheeled over to the overflow lot which is gravel, and it was near full, but I saw a paved spectator/vendor parking lot that BTTF cars were starting to park in, so I went and parked there to avoid the gravel dust. It was not a good place to be in on the action and have people walking past to talk to, so I headed off on foot and enjoyed the show, met up with a bunch of people I know, bought 1 tool and 1 part, and ogled thousands of cool cars.
I received a call from my office, they had a girl in there that wanted a job, and they wanted to hire her, but I needed to do an interview and make the final decision. I said to have her come back next week, but they really wanted her and were afraid she'd find a another job. So they sent her to Back to the 50's, and she met me at my car and we sat in the lawn chairs and I hired her! Is that a BTT50's first? BTW, she noticed that there were no Mustangs, so she pays attention to cars.
I hung around until about 7:30 pm and then headed home.
The coupe ran cool, started good hot or cold, drove decent. The to-do list got some great feed back: I need to mess with the air fuel ratios. Since the 2 sides of the intake manifold are separate, I installed an O2 meter in each header collector and monitor A/F as I drive. One side was good, needing only minor tweeking, but the other side was way lean at idle and cruise, but good under power. I'm going to check for a vacuum leak. The place on the floor where I park my right foot was too high, and it was really hard to operate the gas pedal, and also, was very uncomfortable, especially after an hour of driving, it made my back hurt. SO today I cut a hole in the floor and am working on a solution, and I'm going to build a smoke generator to help ferret out any possible vacuum leak.
Dan, they say the salt at B-ville is incredibly good this year. I would love to go, but it is unlikely. If I do, I will for sure look you up!
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New hole in the floor:
More back to the 50's pics:
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It has become apparent that there is a vacuum leak, because the right side is too lean, at idle and at cruise, but too rich under power. Every adjustment has failed to cure it. So I sprayed starting fluid around the base of the intake with the engine running to see if the engine sped up, a sure sign of a vacuum leak. Tried the same thing with a hose connected to a propane battle, but neither method was conclusive. The ide was not that steady, and maybe it sped up a little, but I wasn't sure. I saw on the HAMB how to build a smoke generator to blow smoke into the intake with the engine off, and look to see where it leaked out. SO I tried that, but I had smoke leaking out the tops of the carbs, and other various little leaks like the unused choke shaft holes that had smoke settling onto the valley cover. That made it impossible to tell what was going on so I gave up on that process. THen I Pulled the intake manifold and that revealed the leak. The intake gaskets I used last time were the SCE gaskets for big port heads. I used these to save the time of trimming stock gaskets to fit the enlarged ports. These gaskets are missing some of the bolt holes, because they would be too close to the port. So I assembled it without those bolts. Once it was apart, it became apparent that using that gasket was a mistake. Because the unused bolt hole overlapped the port opening in the gasket, creating a vacuum leak. So I put it back together with some stock gaskets, trimmed to fit. Now I need to start it up and re-tune, that should happen tomorrow.
Last edited by Hemi Joel; July 13, 2018, 03:41 PM.Comment
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Bummer! But good that you found the issue.
DanComment
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I like easy fixes....hopefully it will work
My fabulous web page
"If it don't go, chrome it!" --Stroker McGurkComment
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After 150 miles or so, I retorqued the head stud nuts, and checked the valve lash. THe lash was pretty steady, with a maximum variation from the original settings of .002". I inspected all the springs and valvetrain peices, thankfully every thing is looking good. One of the things on my to-do list was to replace the set screws that lock the Missle rocker shafts into the rocker stands with cap bolts. Brian Kohlman had a rocker failure on drag week when the set screws loosened up, then one of the shafts moved so the oil holes no longer lined up, and it smoked a couple rockers. I do not want this to happen on my Hemi, but I couldn't get much torque on a tiny allen wrench that fits a 10-24 set screw. So I took out all the set screws, and grabbed a handy cap screw assortment that I bought at Menards, put some lock-tight on one, and threaded it in. As soon as I leaned on it just a little, it snapped off! So I have a 10-24 screw broke off and lock tighted in to my aluminum rocker stand. I hate Chineese junk hardware!Last edited by Hemi Joel; July 18, 2018, 10:49 AM.Comment
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I was able to drill it and get it out with a screw extractor, thank goodness. I ordered some 170,000 psi screws that have a nylon insert built in, to resist loosening from vibration. When they showed up, I clamped one in the vise and tested it. At 110 inch pounds, it snapped off. Then I tested the menards junk. It snapped off at 30 inch pounds. So I put the good screws into all 20 holes and torqued them to 60 inch pounds. Hopefully everything stays in place.
Last edited by Hemi Joel; July 18, 2018, 10:16 AM.Comment
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Where did you get them nifty lil' screws? I've been buying from Albany but I don't remember seeing the ones with the plastic lock built in. Hope that stops the problem.
DanComment
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Duhhh - Shoulda thought of McMaster! Albany may have 'em too but I never thought to look for those little gems. BTW, I've had great luck w/Albany especially for SS fateners - Mutt is covered with them. They're generally cheaper than McMaster though I'm sure there are exceptions.Originally posted by Hemi Joel View Post
DanComment
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kinda makes you want to take it all apart and drill and tap a size or two bigger?
good to see you got it handled
My fabulous web page
"If it don't go, chrome it!" --Stroker McGurkComment
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Sqwirrel,
I thought about drilling them bigger, but I didn't want to take it all apart again. One of the drawbacks of the hemi is that the headbolts hold the rockershafts down. I didn't want to risk the headgasket seal.
The main reason I wrote this about those cap screws is to warn you guys to look out for them. WHo would have thought a black oxide allen head cap screw was a grade 2? The brand is Centex or Sunex something like thatComment
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there are chinese copies of everything these days.
When I needed intake bolts for my hemi, I bought a box from McMaster. 1/4" allen head, you know.
My fabulous web page
"If it don't go, chrome it!" --Stroker McGurkComment
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One of the brand new rockers adjustment screw was put in cross threaded when I got it on the roller rocker
Bought them 3 years before I got to the heads.. So 15 roller rockers one stamped steel..
Guess not uncommon to find inferior materials.
Another area was all-thread. Bought marked grade 8 in 20 ft sections.. Thought the portaband ate thru too easy.. We install them in the front core mounts to the frame.. These came out noodle shaped.. Son ordered some others online, 10' lengths truck shipped here..those may bow.. And sometimes reused.
Lots stronger. Cut little slower on the portaband..
Getting quality is hit and miss it seems?Comment
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