Jeff's '70 2 Door

[slowerthantime]

Well, after 2 years it was my turn to get Covid. Thankfully a mild case that only had me feeling crappy for a couple of days. So, what better way to isolate than to spend time in the shop.

I worked my way through a ton of small stuff. Had to re-clock the distributor spindle to allow get the distributor aligned so that it has some adjustment, primed the oil system, adjusted the carb linkages, checked and primed the fuel lines, filled/ checked all fluids and installed the exhaust. The only things left before start up are finishing a momentary switch for fuel priming and connecting the AF meter to power. Hopefully get to starting it sometime next week.

I used a Troy Ermish 2.5" exhaust that I bought a few years ago. It's aluminised steel and was a reasonable fit for off the shelf. I added an additional 6 degrees to one of the bends but otherwise it was bolt/ weld in.


Made an adjustable hanger bracket that bolts to the front side of the rear crossmember on that 2 bolt bracket next to the exhaust hole. When I enlarged the hole, I cut the bracket off then reattached it. Forgot to get pics of it installed. It works really well to keep the exhaust centred in the crossmember hole.


The exhaust gets fairly close to the DS rear tire. Will that need heat shielding?


Flowmaster HP2 muffler


I'm happy with the muffler fitment. I just used a pipe connector in the outlet for alignment. I will get a true 10+ HP shiny tip for extra speed .


Made a throttle return helper spring set up. It works well but is ugly...I'm looking to do something neater down the road.


Still a bit of tidying to do but close enough to try starting it.


Nice to see it back on the ground.

[Stu]

Looking awesome. I think your tire is going to rub on that exhaust and putting a depression in it now will save you time and a sidewall later

Which bend has to be bent more? I have the same exhaust in a box so any tips to give to my exhaust person would be appreciated.

[slowerthantime]

Hey Stu, thanks for the comments. I added more bend to the last/ rear most bend on the first tube. I think part of the reason is how my header (Ermish L20B) outlet is aligned. It might not be an issue with a different header or a different installation.

I don't think the exhaust is close enough to rub...maybe I just need to go fast so the tire doesn't get hot.

[cambo]

Your car looks awesome. I don't know if your tire will get hot from the muffler but my trunk floor gets really hot from the muffler being tucked up close to the sheet metal. I'm going to need to a some sort of shielding to keep the temps down.

[slowerthantime]

I tried to fire it up but don't have spark. I have oil pressure (about 25psi while cranking) and fuel to the carbs.

Ignition is an MSD Blaster 2 coil with no ballast resistor to a matchbox distributor. The distributor has been rebuilt (new bushings) and has an unknown/ unproven ignitor, new rotor, cap and NGK leads. New NGK spark plugs gapped to 0.030". I wired the coil to distributor per the Jason Grey instructions with a new wire from the + terminal on the coil to the B terminal on the ignitor and a new wire from the -ve coil terminal to the ignitor C terminal. The tachometer is wired in series with the wire to the -ve coil terminal. Initial timing is set at 15 degrees advance. With the ignition on, there is power at both terminals on the coil.

Any advice on how to proceed is appreciated.

[brg510]

Is there power to the coil with the key at ‘start’?

[slowerthantime]

12.7v at the coil with ignition on, drops to 10.25v while cranking.

[slowerthantime]

I'm stoked. After 6 years of work and 28 years since it last ran...it lives!
https://youtu.be/btsMheCAYiQ

It starts but wants to rev really high, so I have to shut it off fairly quickly. I need another set of hands to help with setting timing and getting the idle sorted. Oil pressure went straight up to 70psi on start up.

Had a challenge dealing with no spark. Thanks to Rob and Mike for a ton of great advice. I replaced the pick up coil, stator, ignitor x 4 and still couldn't get a spark. I wired in a GM HEI unit and it fired right up.

I learned a thing or 2 about distributors along the way. My original distributor is a D4K9-14. I had replaced the bushings and rebuilt the breaker plate with a jury rigged/ repaired bearing cage and fixed broken wireds on the pick up coil. In short, there was plenty that I could have screwed up. Last week I bought a reman Hitachi distributor from Rockauto, thinking it would either bolt in, or I could harvest some parts out of it. The new distributor is a D4K9-03 (at the top of the picture) as you can see the configuration is quite different.



I couldn't use the housing on the D4K9-03 with the ignitor facing the front as the vacuum canister hit the top hose on the radiator. I decided to try to eliminate doubt in the original distributor by swapping out questionable parts. The new breaker plate fit in with a slight realignment to get the locator notches in the base plate in the right spot. The upper plate of the breaker plate and the stator are determined by the position of the vacuum canister actuating arm. I was a bit stumped by why I couldn't get the reluctor/ stator and rotor lined up with #1 until I realized the reluctors are different.



After replacing the old pick up coil with the new one (I had to extend the wires), I still didn't have spark. As a last resort I installed the GM HEI unit per Mikes advice and it fired immediately. I guess that means that all 4 of the matchbox ignitors that I tried are bad.

I decided not to try chrome wrapping the bumpers and went with matte black. Good enough until I can find some decent chrome.

[slowerthantime]

I've been for a few drives around the block while working through a fairly long list.Today seemed like things were sorted enough for a longer run...which was true....ish. Things started well with a cruise along Highway 97 from Summerland to Penticton (10km). The eyeball alignment is driveable. Carbs still need some tuning. They are a but rich at idle (10-11 AFR), ok through progression (12-13) then lean out a bit when cruising (14-15).

Picked up Dave who did all the engine work and started to head up Carmi (twisty climb out of Penticton) to show him his handy work. The car was feeling great. The 4.44 gearing seems to work well with the engine. In the first slow switchback left hander, it sounded like exhaust banging, then a big bang as the outside universal in the passenger side half shaft let go. Thankfully we were going slow and stopped almost immediately. Looks like I got away without any major damage but will find out when I get into it. The half shaft was a rebuilt unit I bought from someone and obviously didn't check that the clips were all seated.

While I was waiting for the tow truck, a bunch of people stopped to chat, give thumbs up and one guy wanted to buy it. It was about as painless a breakdown that I could have had.

Anyway, the ramp truck showed up in 20 minutes and unloaded the car right into my shop. Thank you BCAA.

[bertvorgon]

Glad no real damage!

As a heads up to all, always check those clips, they can work out, I caught one many years ago during spring check out.

[slowerthantime]

Things are good with the car. It is a blast to drive.

I had an alignment done. The local integra shop has a new Hunter laser machine that made the job pretty easy. I could only get 4 degrees of caster with futofab adjustable LCAs and T3 camber plates. Both are maxed out. LH rear wheel arch need a bit more rolling as it is limiting rear camber to -1.5 degrees. I haven't really challenged the handling yet but seems to drive ok as it is.





The gravel on the roads is nasty at the moment and I am too impatient to wait for them to be swept, so I decided to add some clear gravel guard to the inner wheel arches and lower rockers. I used a SEM product. Left a bit of an orange peel finish but It isn't anywhere really visible. So far so good.



Driving impressions so far:
It is really fun to drive. I love it and so do my kids.
The 4.44 rear end makes the car fun at lower speeds but is a buzz box on the highway.
The engine goes like a cut cat 3500 +
It sounds amazing but it's LOUD. My neighbours....one side is OK.
Idle and cruise are a bit rich. The idle jets are 50F9. I've ordered a set of 45F9s to see if that helps.
It doesn't like ruts on the highway
Most of the good local roads are up higher and full of gravel. The back roads that are clearer in this area are in terrible shape. Amazing how much I notice them now.
My speedo is out. 30mph (speedo) = 30kmh (gps), 78mph = 100kmh. Speedo pinion is red gear. I have a purple but I think that only adds 1 tooth. Will have to do the math...or just live with it.

[Tedman]

Jeff, Nice work on the build. You've got a pretty sweet ride, there. I think you'll need a 23 tooth speedo pinion. Sorry, I forget the color. That's what I used to correct my factory speedo with a 4.38 R&P and 23" tall tires (205/50-15). It may still read a few percent fast with 4.44s, in which case you'll have to live with it because as far as I know, there are none with more teeth for the L series 5 speeds. Your red gear should be 20t, and the purple 21t.

[edekalil]

Beautiful Dime, and build thread. I'll be back to review all of your work as I get a chance to work on mine.

[slowerthantime]

Shakedown drives

[Byron510]

Looks really good, Jeff.
Man that must feel great to have some miles on it now after all this build time.
510 day is just a couple weeks away
That’s a long drive for a Tuesday meeting, but you can have an Okanagan Chapter version.

Byron