Big Blue's Transformation

[ArdWrknTrk]

Janey and I are taking BB for a jaunt, and are just stopped for a bit.

But, I’m running 1993 and later stick heads. Supposed to be the best of the EFI heads.

And I’m running on the front tank!

AFR was terribly rich at idle, about 10:1, so I leaned it up a bit and it idles better and pulls better.

Cruises around 14:1. And is running pretty good. 😉

Gary, I thought you had Weingartner go through those heads for you?

Or were those the Trickflows on Dad's Truck?

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, I thought you had Weingartner go through those heads for you?

Or were those the Trickflows on Dad's Truck?

Trick Flow aluminum heads on Dad’s truck. Weingartner went through these heads. Aren’t many aftermarket aluminum 460 EFI heads.

[Gary Lewis]

Trick Flow aluminum heads on Dad’s truck. Weingartner went through these heads. Aren’t many aftermarket aluminum 460 EFI heads.

Ok, we are home from our ~100 mile jaunt and it is time to report. But, in summary, all went well.

This morning I dialed in a bit more choke 'cause I thought it was lean as it warmed up. Then I loaded up the spare tire and some tools, and some spare relays. After that I installed the Innovate MTX-L Plus wideband AFR meter that I got for a birthday or Christmas - last year.

Then I putt putted around to the front of the house, during which the AFR was ~10:1 and the engine was struggling to run. Oops, my assumption that it was lean was apparently wrong.

Then Janey got in and discovered I'd not put the little seat belt in for the inboard end of the passenger's belt. No problem, I have it laying in the shop - and then could NOT find it. Oh well, I moved the one for the middle seat over.

Finally we got on the road - and the AFR was quite rich for a long time. Finally the choke came off but even then it was still idling at between 10 & 11:1 AFR, and the exhaust burned your nose. So, when Janey went in the first quilt shop I pulled the air cleaner and tweaked the idle mix. It took ~3/4 of a turn in to get it to 12:1, and the RPM came up as well. With that tweak the power from idle is much improved, even between 1000 and 1500.

As for the AFR elsewhere, at cruise it runs in the 14's. But ease into it slightly and it will climb up to the low 15's, at which point the metering rods come up and it drops into the 13's. So it may be slightly lean, but it doesn't bog at all and I don't think it is a problem.

Janey thought that it rides better than it used to and that it is quieter. I agree that it is quieter - in fact now I can easily hear the noisy tires, which were masked by the engine previously.

Oh yes, the speed control works! However, it oscillates up and down. But, after noticing that I realized that the speedo is moving up and down even though the speed is steady. So I think that's the problem, not the speed control.

[85lebaront2]

Ok, we are home from our ~100 mile jaunt and it is time to report. But, in summary, all went well.

This morning I dialed in a bit more choke 'cause I thought it was lean as it warmed up. Then I loaded up the spare tire and some tools, and some spare relays. After that I installed the Innovate MTX-L Plus wideband AFR meter that I got for a birthday or Christmas - last year.

Then I putt putted around to the front of the house, during which the AFR was ~10:1 and the engine was struggling to run. Oops, my assumption that it was lean was apparently wrong.

Then Janey got in and discovered I'd not put the little seat belt in for the inboard end of the passenger's belt. No problem, I have it laying in the shop - and then could NOT find it. Oh well, I moved the one for the middle seat over.

Finally we got on the road - and the AFR was quite rich for a long time. Finally the choke came off but even then it was still idling at between 10 & 11:1 AFR, and the exhaust burned your nose. So, when Janey went in the first quilt shop I pulled the air cleaner and tweaked the idle mix. It took ~3/4 of a turn in to get it to 12:1, and the RPM came up as well. With that tweak the power from idle is much improved, even between 1000 and 1500.

As for the AFR elsewhere, at cruise it runs in the 14's. But ease into it slightly and it will climb up to the low 15's, at which point the metering rods come up and it drops into the 13's. So it may be slightly lean, but it doesn't bog at all and I don't think it is a problem.

Janey thought that it rides better than it used to and that it is quieter. I agree that it is quieter - in fact now I can easily hear the noisy tires, which were masked by the engine previously.

Oh yes, the speed control works! However, it oscillates up and down. But, after noticing that I realized that the speedo is moving up and down even though the speed is steady. So I think that's the problem, not the speed control.

Considering that the sensor for the speed control is in the speedometer cable, just about at the toe board area and you have a 4WD which has a much longer lower cable, lubrication might be in order for it.

Sounds like it's pretty close, idle may continue to drift rich until the engine is broken in.

[Gary Lewis]

Considering that the sensor for the speed control is in the speedometer cable, just about at the toe board area and you have a 4WD which has a much longer lower cable, lubrication might be in order for it.

Sounds like it's pretty close, idle may continue to drift rich until the engine is broken in.

I lubed the lower speedo cable when I found the old one was damaged and replaced it. But I don't know that the upper one has been lubed. May do that one of these days - after a few other things on the punch list.

On the AFR, it goes rich as the engine breaks in? I'm not doubting you, but why? Does the increased compression and efficiency do that? I wasn't aware of that.

[grumpin]

Considering that the sensor for the speed control is in the speedometer cable, just about at the toe board area and you have a 4WD which has a much longer lower cable, lubrication might be in order for it.

Sounds like it's pretty close, idle may continue to drift rich until the engine is broken in.

I mentioned lubing the speedometer at the instrument the other day.

It’s quieter, and not as friendly...isn’t waving anymore! I’d lube there too.

[85lebaront2]

I lubed the lower speedo cable when I found the old one was damaged and replaced it. But I don't know that the upper one has been lubed. May do that one of these days - after a few other things on the punch list.

On the AFR, it goes rich as the engine breaks in? I'm not doubting you, but why? Does the increased compression and efficiency do that? I wasn't aware of that.

Gary, the idle will usually as the engine breaks in, rings seal tighter, idle vacuum increases as the engine turns more easily and idles faster.

I realized that on my new engine, all I will need to do on the initial run and break-in will be to use my stock injectors and just adjust the displacement value and timing advance to allow for the higher (9.3:1) compression. After the initial break-in I will put the bigger injectors in. Static timing on the TFI distributor is actually pretty easy, it triggers on the leading edge of the vanes with the SPOUT unplugged, so I will just set the leading edge at 10° BTDC, I can kill the injectors and spin it with no plugs to verify.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, the idle will usually as the engine breaks in, rings seal tighter, idle vacuum increases as the engine turns more easily and idles faster.

I realized that on my new engine, all I will need to do on the initial run and break-in will be to use my stock injectors and just adjust the displacement value and timing advance to allow for the higher (9.3:1) compression. After the initial break-in I will put the bigger injectors in. Static timing on the TFI distributor is actually pretty easy, it triggers on the leading edge of the vanes with the SPOUT unplugged, so I will just set the leading edge at 10° BTDC, I can kill the injectors and spin it with no plugs to verify.

Dane - Yes, I'll have to lube there as well. Hopefully mine will be quieter and won't wave anymore. And, the speed control will then work properly.

I'm stoked about the speed control working. It certainly didn't previously, maybe because of a lack of a servo under the hood, and possibly because of a few wires missing in the wiring to it. And then I ran into wiring differences when I put the earlier harness in to it. So to have it work at all was a good feeling.

Bill - I think your plans on the injectors and timing for starting the new engine are good. I'm assuming you have stock injectors in now and don't want to introduce any changes for starting the new engine. Right?

On the AFR, I didn't realize there would be any change as the engine breaks in, so that's good to know. Given that there's little value in playing with jets and rods at this point with only 150 miles on the engine. But at what point is it pretty much done with changing?

[ArdWrknTrk]

Dane - Yes, I'll have to lube there as well. Hopefully mine will be quieter and won't wave anymore. And, the speed control will then work properly.

I'm stoked about the speed control working. It certainly didn't previously, maybe because of a lack of a servo under the hood, and possibly because of a few wires missing in the wiring to it. And then I ran into wiring differences when I put the earlier harness in to it. So to have it work at all was a good feeling.

Bill - I think your plans on the injectors and timing for starting the new engine are good. I'm assuming you have stock injectors in now and don't want to introduce any changes for starting the new engine. Right?

On the AFR, I didn't realize there would be any change as the engine breaks in, so that's good to know. Given that there's little value in playing with jets and rods at this point with only 150 miles on the engine. But at what point is it pretty much done with changing?

Gary,

Can you estimate the percentage of your time on this project undoing handiwork?

25%? Maybe something more?

Engines usually loosen up in the first 2-300 miles in my experience.

Edit: the bearings clearance themselves, the lifters polish the cam lobes, the timing chain and sprockets burnish each other,

Ring seating depends on the type of ring, bore finish and of course the break-in lube.

Put some good pressure in behind them, but don't run too hard for too long.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary,

Can you estimate the percentage of your time on this project undoing handiwork?

25%? Maybe something more?

Engines usually loosen up in the first 2-300 miles in my experience.

Edit: the bearings clearance themselves, the lifters polish the cam lobes, the timing chain and sprockets burnish each other,

Ring seating depends on the type of ring, bore finish and of course the break-in lube.

Put some good pressure in behind them, but don't run too hard for too long.

Morning, Jim. That is hard to say. Let me think by typing:

• Radiator Support: The original radiator support had been hacked up so he could run the hoses to the engine oil cooler in a bizarre way because he put the cooler in the wrong spot. Jonathan gave me a replacement. In fact, he brought it from Arizona on one of the show trips, probably two years ago today come to think of it. But, as he'd discovered, it was covered with little cracks here and there. Maybe 10 - 15 of them. I examined it closely to find them, wire brushed the paint off where they were, and then welded them up and ground the welds smooth. Then had it blasted and painted. That probably took at least a week.

• Crossmember: For some reason he cut a big chunk out of the engine crossmember. So when I got the D60 I had them include the crossmember. But it took a LOT of searching to find someone that had the right crossmember and would include it. Then there was the consultation with WelderScott on how to cut the hole in a uniform way w/o leftover saw cuts, which it had. And how to cut the piece out of the D60's crossmember to put in. And then all the cutting and grinding and fitting. Then Scott came over and welded it. But even after that there was the work of reaming out the bolt holes and tightly fitting bolts where he'd left them out. Man, that is hard to estimate, but I probably had a month tied up in that.

• Fuel System: I'm not sure if this counts as it was prior to the "transformation", but when I got the truck the wiring for the fuel system was badly hacked, with both the inertia switch and the resistor wired around and the oil pressure switch having been removed. That took probably two weeks as I had to find out what had been done, which took a lot of testing, then figure out what I needed to do to put it right, order parts, and then add them in. Probably two weeks right there.

• Engine: This is a BIGGEE! The engine was supposedly only a few months old when I got the truck, and it had been "being built" for four years prior to that. It had an edelbrock intake, carb, and water pump, and supposedly an Edelbrock cam. But it dropped a cylinder at idle when I first got it and then was probably dropping two later. So, like a ninny, I assumed there were valve problems and had Huck's EFI heads redone and planned to put them on awa the plenums and go EFI. But it turned out that the engine had apparently been pulled from a salvage, prettied up, and put in Big Blue. And it was badly worn.

  BADLY! So that mean I needed a whole new engine, and it took a lot of time to determine what I wanted, get it built and shipped in, etc. But it was a short block and that meant more work than if it had been just swapping heads and intake on the old engine. This was at least a month.

So now we are at 2 3/4's months. And I know there are things I'm forgetting. Did he leave off the speed control servo and hack the wiring? Dunno. He probably is the one that installed the speaker in the door panels so I have to replace door panels and speakers, but I've not done that yet so it doesn't count.

Given that, there's at least 3 months of work fixing handiwork. And let's say I'm 15 months into this, so 20% of the time was caused by him.