Sunday, July 08, 2007

The MAN CRIB & Closing Up Some Throttle/Choke & Electrical Gremlins:



As some of you know, new born babies need a lot of attention. My wife Eva and I have been splitting duties. After he is fed/changed I take over. I thought that maybe I wouldn't get a lot of garage time after Gryphon's birth. Then I started thinking: hmmmmm, Isn't my garage like a crib to me? My man crib? Well, my work bench was big enough for a bouncer so Gryphon spends time with his old man in the garage now while Eva grabs some free time.

This past week, I was closing up some issues with the throttle and choke. I got a holley choke cable and a new throttle cable end from Lokar. The new parts worked great with the mods I made to the turkey pan. I installed the choke right next to the ignition. This is a round about way to route the cable; it isn't perfect as on occasion I get some bind but for most of the time, it works. I have a couple of more ideas to use to nail it down.

This weekend, I also needed to close out the rear wiring. I was having some really strange issues with my tail and licence plate lights. They would work when the headlights were off but nothing would work when the headlights are on, etc. Anyway, it turned out that the major problem was the ground wire in the rear light branch harness wasn't grounded very well. Instead of taking out the fuse box and taking it apart to find the ground, I decided to run a ground in the trunk. Works GREAT. I also wired the tail lights wrong which was a quick fix with the weather pak connectors. Now all the lights work great. The grounding issue also caused my fuel gauge not to work. Now I have a gas gauge that works! That took a lot of my mind as I didn't want to take the gas tank out and put in a new sending unit, etc. The only thing left to fix is the high beam indicator on the dash. It turns on anytime the headlights are on; regardless if they are on low or high beam. Not sure why this is because the light is only triggered by the high beam wire. I am asking for some tips on the hurricane builders board.

I am also working on freeing up my clutch. Seems almost everyone who has had their new engine sit for over a year has had their clutch stick which didn't allow them to disengage it to select gears. There are a few techniques that I can use before I have to take the bell housing apart (which I would like to avoid)
1.) Start the car in gear with the clutch depressed...hopefully the torque breaks it free
2.) put the car on jack stands. Start it in gear, depress the clutch then slam on the brakes! The sudden stop should break the clutch loose
3.) With the car not running, take a car/truck and push/pull the car while it is in gear and the clutch depressed
4.) Get a stronger "push type" clutch slave cylinder (I have a wilwood pull type) and try the above steps again.

If the above doesn't work, then I need to take it to a shop. The good news, however, is that once I am done with the high beam indicator light and the clutch, I am ready to put the body on the car!!! I have, however found that the headers leak at the junction at the side pipes. I will most likely either use permetex or exhaust clamps to seal them up.

A couple of pics below: