Gary Lewis

Here are a couple of pics for what I did. But the dump valve takes very little pressure on the pin, so a piece of aluminum angle epoxied on would be adequate.

That would be a good application of 3D printing. But you need one to measure. Still, a piece of aluminum angle epoxied to the brake pedal would be easy. I can post a pic of what I did if it would help.

Well, getting it together is progress. Finding the leaks should be fairly easy.

Yep, that's the way feedback loops work. The inflection point in July of 2023 is probably due to my advertising of the show on Facebook. I do that every year, but there was a whole lot of interest last year and lots of questions, sharing, etc happened.

I think running a new line is a good idea. As for the way the valve works, I was surprised how it worked as well until I thought about it. So your valve is probably good, you just need the bracket. I'll look again tomorrow, but if I can't find one and you don't find one online then you might consider gluing a piece of aluminum angle to the pedal. I welded one on Big Blue's pedal since the hydroboost pedal is different and the old bracket wouldn't work. So I know that approach works well.

Well, at least you figured out what the noise is, and you have a well-sealed header. As for the distributor, I don't think it should rattle. I just shook the one that I have laying around and it didn't rattle. But I don't know that you have too much advance. I wouldn't look at the #'s with the vacuum connected. Instead just use the #'s w/o vacuum. And 18 degrees of mechanical advance isn't all that much. If you are running 12 degrees initial advance that's only 30 degrees total. I tend to remember 30 - 35 being about right for a 351W. So if you don't have pinging then you probably don't have too much. But I'll tag Bill as he will know better than I do.

Jim - Good point. I forgot that they were just rated at 95 and 130 amps continuous, but they put out a lot more than that for a while. Here's the DB chart on your own 130. And, as you know but Mekerek might not, the factory alternator for a 460 was "geared" at 3.0:1. So that 6000 alternator RPM is only 2000 engine RPM.

If we could find the right connector for C610 we could have someone fab up a new harness. But so far we've not found a source for the connector. So at this point we are just modifying existing harnii to create the 3G wiring. But thanks for the suggestion. As for your headlights, my friend Daniel Stern has the right stuff to fix them. I bought Koito shells with Tungsram +120 bulbs from him and built my own relay harness using the ceramic connectors he sells. Made a huge difference! Recently had someone riding with me at night and he noticed how strong the headlights are - without me saying anything.

Ok, if you can wire then you can do everything yourself save for one thing - the ammeter. You either need to disconnect it, and I sure don't like a dead gauge, or have Bob/Rocketman convert it to a voltmeter. That's my strong recommendation as a voltmeter is much better than an ammeter. As for what alternator to go with, a stock 3G is good for 130 amps at full tilt and will put out over 100 amps at idle. So unless you have some serious loads in your truck you should be fine with a stock unit. You might want to read the thread Big Brother is going 3G. In that you'll see the diagram below, which is the latest iteration of the schematics. And you might want to read the thread Alternator Upgrade Related Questions (was One-Wire Alternator Questions). Both those guys are using that new schematic. Basically you unplug the alternator/regulator side of C610, take it to the bench, and make the alterations. Plug it in, mount the alternator & hook it and the ground up, swap the ammeter for the voltmeter, and you are done.

Hi Gary, I have a 1980 4x4 with factory air. ONE tank. 19 gal side.

Ok, now I understand. Thanks! But don't sit in a hot attic to educate me! That's no fun. Been there, done that and hated it. But in the end it was well worth it so I'll bet your time is as well.

Thanks, Scott. On the RCA cables, I was hoping that in the box of cables that I had some male/female cables so I wouldn't need the female/female ones. But so far all I've found is male/male, and even those are cheap feeling, so maybe not much shielding. Or they are waaaaaay too long. So now I'm looking at ordering some the right length, which appears to be 6'. But those RF adapters look good, and you've proven they work on the Kicker sub, so that may be the way to go. On the Molex connector, I'm not sure what you mean. Do the Kicker wires not go straight in? What am I missing?

Yippee!!!

That's good to know - that the gauge was reversed, not that he's had serious problems. So Jeff should be good to go when he gets his and we shouldn't have to alter the schematic.

I just got an email from the Google Search Console that shows how many clicks the forum has gotten from Google searches in 28 days. 2 1/2 years ago it took 1 year to go from 3.5K clicks to 4k clicks in a 28 day period. This May we went from 9.0k to 10.0k in less than 1 month. Things are picking up, and rapidly!

Yes, we have a plan! Still need to figure out the RCA cables. Got a bit busy yesterday evening watching storms and forgot about the cables. They broke in on TV when the storm was 60+ miles due west of us and tracked it moving due east for about 90 minutes. Moving due east is very rare around here and it had us quite nervous. But it missed us by a few miles and we finally got to bed late - for us. Maybe today I'll figure out how long the cables need to be and we can get the things on order.

Ok, you have an 84 with factory air. But one or two tanks? I'll see what I have.

Yes, for a test you can cap it at the servo. Just be aware that then the only way to turn it off is via the switches on the horn pad. Or turn the key off.

Make sure that vacuum line going to the valve on the brake pedal isn't open. That's a dump valve and needs to be sealed for the system to work.

An update. Janey said "We'd better get it on order!" But I told her not quite yet as I needed to find the Kicker ZISL adapter that converts RCA level signals to speaker level as the 11HS8 has only speaker level inputs. But Crutchfield no longer carries the ZISL. So I called and talked to Cody who said the ZISL has been replaced by the 46KISL, which is in stock as is the 11HS8. While I had Cody on the line I reviewed my plans and he thinks they are good. He fully agreed with using the sub-out RCA connections on the Sony instead of tapping into the speaker wires as that allows use of the sub controls in the Sony. And mounting the unit upside down is fine. However, he doesn't think I should mount the sub to the console as it will shake it. Instead he recommended mounting the sub to the seat platform. So now I need to determine how long the RCA cables need to be and whether I have a set that will work. Then we can get everything on order.

In reverse order, the starting issue is probably because the choke isn't adjusted correctly. I'm guessing, but it sounds like the choke isn't coming on quite far enough. But that assumes that you are pushing the throttle down part way to set the choke before trying to start it when the engine is "cold". If you have been pushing the throttle down part way then let's discuss adjusting the choke. When the engine is cold, meaning it hasn't been started today, pull the air cleaner and then open the throttle part way and let up on the throttle. The choke plate on the top of the carb should close almost all the way. On the choke housing there are three screws that hold the black plastic cap, and there's an index on the carb with a mark on the cap. Note where the mark is on the index, then loosen the screws just enough to let you turn the cap. Do not remove the screws. Then turn the cap clockwise, I think, one notch on the index which should try to close the choke plate a bit tighter. If it opens the choke plate then that's the wrong direction. With the cap turned one notch to close the choke a bit snug up the screws, put the air cleaner on, and start the engine. Did it start better? If so but it isn't yet quite right you may have to give it another notch. On the alternator quesions, don't go to a 2G. They really don't provide more power and do have the propensity to burn vehicles to the ground, so that's not a good option. The 3G is far better, and it isn't hard to swap to it. But, we are in the middle of trying out a new way of wiring that should make it easier, so if you can wait until some time in July we should have this ironed out. Basically you'll need to buy the alternator and the cables that go with it, which is easily done. And you'll have to have your ammeter, assuming you have one, converted to a volt meter. Then disconnect the two halves of connector 610, take the alternator side to the bench and make some wiring changes. Are you ok to do basic wiring, like soldering and protecting connects with heat shrink tubing? That's a requirement in this unless we can find someone to make the harness for you and the rest of the world.

Continuing on with the sub-woofer discussion (monologue?), I talked with Natalie at Crutchfield today. According to her the Kicker 11HS8 is "hands down the best" of the powered sub-woofers, and is the right one for Big Blue given the head unit and speakers I have. She said it "rounds out the music nicely" while the Kicker 10" would be "too much". So I asked how much room I'd need between it and the console and she said 1" will be enough. But then it dawned on me that there is at least 1" more space below where I'd mount the subwoofer that I can't use because of the irregular floor and the wire that releases the seat mechanism. So I asked about mounting the sub upside down and she said that's no problem at all as the carpet won't really absorb the long waves of the bass notes. Given that I cut up a shoe box to be the right size and tried it below the console. Sorry about the rotation (we need to move to Invision!), but the pic on the left shows that the sub would fit nicely save for just touching the seatbelt sheaths on each end, so I may have to use heat to bend the sheaths. And the pic on the right shows that the Kicker sub, which is black, would basically hide away below the console. () The question is how to mount it, and I probably can't make that decision until I get the sub - assuming I do. But I can see two options - mount to the bottom of the console or to the seat platform. My worry about mounting to the console is that it might make it shake, rattle, and roll. So my preference is to the platform, but I'll have to wait to see about that when/if I get it.

Yep. I may have an extra one of those, but you can at least get the thing working w/o it. So maybe get a bit farther and see if there's anything else we missed and in the interim I'll see if I have one.