78 caballero
- Thread starter The ghoul
- Start date
Hey, Thankyou!
From a technical aspect yeah they are simple, but because of how the boots were made (just a little too small) feeding the wires thru and pulling them back into the boot after crimping the connector on was a massive PITA!
Well I may have missed out on autoramma this year but it was a good weekends work.
I used my dart to pull her out of the garage to do the door hinges (think that's a worlds first)
After getting the passingers door off I was able to see the true extent to the rot. I'm really glad I got those patches (thanks again MACV)
Wife helped me get the hood back in place and push her back in, today I knocked out some "clean" work and got most the interrior back in as well as the new window seals
Big improvement over how she came to me
I saw those... I think it was under $20 at parts galore and wasnt that rough to get appart...
Lmao. I needed the sled full of pinsol to stip the paint off the door panels and other big items. I had it outside too long in winter!
ShadowRuleZ
Club Member
What brand seals did you go with and how did they fit?
I spent the extra $15 for sherman seals rather than the metro seals (I never saw the brand before) and when they showed up to my door they were metro seals any way... what a rip off!
any way,
they seem good quality, I still have to do some adjusting here and there but they seem to be a good fit all around.
thanks man!
I think I will be able to get at least one seasion out of it before ripping it appart to fix the A pillar area (weird part is its just that side thats bad, drivers side is fine)
but you know how that goes... rip it appart to fix the A pillar area, might as well do the floors (some one hacked and patched it for swaps), and if Im going that far might as well media blast it and adress whats hidden, then you cant really put a freshly restored shell onto a non-powdercoated frame...
ect
ect
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MOTHER F#$KER!!!
(this is a condensed re-cap of a week and a half struggle)
Ok got my harness in and tucked away all nice and neat, hooked up the battery turned the key and got nothing but *click*
Charged the battery got half a grunt
Shimmed the starter got half a grunt than a "wizz" noise (too many shims)
took a shim out and popped out the plugs and got half a turn (improvement)
bypassed the electrical system (took both leads off the starter) hooked a jumper cable to the power lug and ground directly to starter case, jumper wire to the solenoid and got a very nasty sounding rotation and a half
Re-charged the battery took all the accessories off the engine, pulled the harmonic balancer off, Finally got her to turn over but with allot of really nasty gear mashie noise. Thinking it could only be the starter got a new one...
Promptly realized my old starter bolts were too short.
New bolts, starter shimmed to perfection, it turned over just as well as before but with allot less nasty noise.
plugs back in, only got a half a crank out of it.
thinking I screwed up somewhere in the valve adjustment (as i had never done it before) I backed all the rockers off to the point where they were lose TDC... still only got half a crank..
I have no Idea what I did wrong here... you guys saw it happen, I had a running 350, pulled it out re-torque the caps and rods (didn’t even remove them, just made sure they were to torque spec) cleaned the whole thing, did upper end gaskets and now it is acting like something is grinding or a ring is split or something. Perhaps I did a horrible job of cleaning it and there is lots of gunk in the cylinders? maybe a bearing was spun and when I torque the caps it smashed? I cant remember for sure but I’m almost positive I didn’t even take the timing chain off…
I am frustrated and out of ideas... and thoughts would be much appreciated.
I have the bad feeling its going to sit all summer and come winter I will pull the engine and get yet another set of gaskets and have to rip it down the short block just to see what the heck happened
(this is a condensed re-cap of a week and a half struggle)
Ok got my harness in and tucked away all nice and neat, hooked up the battery turned the key and got nothing but *click*
Charged the battery got half a grunt
Shimmed the starter got half a grunt than a "wizz" noise (too many shims)
took a shim out and popped out the plugs and got half a turn (improvement)
bypassed the electrical system (took both leads off the starter) hooked a jumper cable to the power lug and ground directly to starter case, jumper wire to the solenoid and got a very nasty sounding rotation and a half
Re-charged the battery took all the accessories off the engine, pulled the harmonic balancer off, Finally got her to turn over but with allot of really nasty gear mashie noise. Thinking it could only be the starter got a new one...
Promptly realized my old starter bolts were too short.
New bolts, starter shimmed to perfection, it turned over just as well as before but with allot less nasty noise.
plugs back in, only got a half a crank out of it.
thinking I screwed up somewhere in the valve adjustment (as i had never done it before) I backed all the rockers off to the point where they were lose TDC... still only got half a crank..
I have no Idea what I did wrong here... you guys saw it happen, I had a running 350, pulled it out re-torque the caps and rods (didn’t even remove them, just made sure they were to torque spec) cleaned the whole thing, did upper end gaskets and now it is acting like something is grinding or a ring is split or something. Perhaps I did a horrible job of cleaning it and there is lots of gunk in the cylinders? maybe a bearing was spun and when I torque the caps it smashed? I cant remember for sure but I’m almost positive I didn’t even take the timing chain off…
I am frustrated and out of ideas... and thoughts would be much appreciated.
I have the bad feeling its going to sit all summer and come winter I will pull the engine and get yet another set of gaskets and have to rip it down the short block just to see what the heck happened
b.lee
Forum Member
I'd try a known good battery... I've seen batteries that are fully charged and read fully charged on the battery charger not start a car.
I've also seen the same battery, supposedly fully charged, and hooked to a battery charger set on 50 amp "start" setting not start a car.
It's worth a try, hook one up from one of your daily drivers
I've also seen the same battery, supposedly fully charged, and hooked to a battery charger set on 50 amp "start" setting not start a car.
It's worth a try, hook one up from one of your daily drivers
Instigator
POHO's finest Redneck!
Check the dizzy and make sure its not off a tooth or two, I went back in this thread and seen this pic and it dont look like you have the plug wires right (firing order) may want to double check them also, Just trying to help
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nitrouspete
Forum Member
wires look way wrong forsure. but he says it wont even turn over....id be checking grounds and batter voltage too get the motor spinning. but id fix the wires forsure before anything. that thing will be popen and back firing forsure....
mikesfastss
Club Member
I think he has the corrected cap so he can route the wires nicely.
nitrouspete
Forum Member
thanks guys for the input.
Ive tried grounding to the starter casing, to the bolt holding the water pump to the block and verrious other points on engine.
Yes, its a corrected cap and it only really turns over with the plugs out...\
Ive tried grounding to the starter casing, to the bolt holding the water pump to the block and verrious other points on engine.
Yes, its a corrected cap and it only really turns over with the plugs out...\
tighter than I would like... I swapped out the standard bolt for a socket head cap screw so Im really not sure if that is throwing me off or that I just spent way too much time dealing with 4 bangers...
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Fryguy302
Club Member
Look up the range of the torque spec for turning over a stock small block Chevy and put a torque wrench on it and see if its OK or not. Seems like the first thing you need to do is determine if it's really a physical internal engine problem or just a starter/electrical issue. A bad ground can cause weak starting also, is the block grounded well?
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beertestr
Club Member
Take off all the accessory or belts and retry. You'd be amazed what a seized alternator or PS pump will do. My neighbor almost junked his sons 01 cavalier because a new starter would not turn over the motor. Thought the motor was stuck. Took off the belt, and found the ac clutch and compressor was seized. Motor fired right up with the belt off. Car is still going 8 months later.
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didnt even think that they would have such a thing?! must do some searching, thankyou.
I tried to eliminate a bad ground from the equation connecting the jumpercable to the starter casing itself and then to verrious other spots on the eninge... little to no change
thats my next step when I get some time.
yep, every thing is off the front side of the eninge (including the harmonic ballancer at this point) about the only 2 other sorces of drag I can think of (non inernal) would be the distributer and binding issues with trans..
CamaroKid91Z
Club Member
I assume u seperated the engine and trans. Did you make sure that the converter was fully seated before you mated the two back together? I know it's a pain, but the next step is to seperate the engine and trans, and see how well the engine spins over then. I am guessing that you didnt have the converter seated all the way flush. Did the engine and trans meet up nicely or was there a gap and you had to force them back together?