Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

There's a 383 under the hood now, so a stroked 383 will be somewhat stealth. But some say that a 400 block and a 440 crank gives 451 CI and fits where the 383 fit. And weighs the same.

And yes, I like factory strokers. They look original but seem to have a bit more grunt.

MOPAR stuff is less common but there does seem to be good support for it. And I like the "less common" bit as it makes it worth more. (I'm not building it for value, but if it is worth more built one way vs the other I should think about that.)

Well, the air springs are installed but I have a slow leak. And I didn't have time to search for it, so will have to wait until after the trip. But I did find one leak, which was the Schrader valve in the fitting. After tightening it up I think that leak stopped.

However there appears to be another one, albeit slower. So I'll have to use soapy water on it to find the leak. But there aren't that many joints outside of the manifold - just the ones where the elbows go into the bags, where the hoses go into those elbows, and where the hoses go into the tee on the manifold. And all of the joints in the manifold have Loctite PTFE on them, so I really doubt they are leaking.

Anyway, here are some pics to show you. In the top left one you can see that the manifold is protected from below by the trailer hitch. What you can't tell is that it is recessed under the bumper so is protected from above as well.

In the top right one parallax makes it look like the gauge is hanging out in space, but its actually not as its edges are inside the bracket - just. But it isn't the prettiest thing I've designed.

[BigBrother-84]

it isn't the prettiest thing I've designed.

Well, Gary, just one more gauge to watch, but this one is outside the 747 cabin.

All joking aside,

I am wondering about the exposure to potential gravel impact, when off road driving. Maybe just the picture, but the gauge appears not to be completely protected behind the plate.

Am I too picky?

 

[Gary Lewis]

it isn't the prettiest thing I've designed.

Well, Gary, just one more gauge to watch, but this one is outside the 747 cabin.

All joking aside,

I am wondering about the exposure to potential gravel impact, when off road driving. Maybe just the picture, but the gauge appears not to be completely protected behind the plate.

Am I too picky?

Yes, it is outside. But, hopefully, it won't change much so won't have to be watched.

As for protection for the gauge, it actually is protected from the front but you can't tell that from the pics. That's what I was trying to explain, albeit poorly, with the discussion about parallax.

In the drawing below the black circle represents the camera's lens and the red lines indicate what you would see behind the corners of the gauge. And on the right side it looks like the gauge is hanging out in the breeze when it is actually directly behind the bracket.

That's the situation in my pics, and it is especially so in the close-up pic. But in reality the gauge is somewhat protected, although the projectiles will have to be traveling perfectly in line with the direction of travel.

If I were going to do that panel over again I'd make it bigger so the gauge isn't vulnerable. And in doing that I think it would make it look more balanced. But I was just using a piece of scrap I had laying around and that's the size it was. I should have used a bigger piece.

[Machspeed]

it isn't the prettiest thing I've designed.

Well, Gary, just one more gauge to watch, but this one is outside the 747 cabin.

[Gary Lewis]

it isn't the prettiest thing I've designed.

Well, Gary, just one more gauge to watch, but this one is outside the 747 cabin.

Well, it has been a long time since I posted in this thread, but many of you know why - Janey and I've been on a cruise from NYC to Montreal. But it wasn't quite that simple as a couple of days out Hurricane Fiona started chasing us. We were due to stop in Halifax and I was planning to meet Cory, but that port was closed due to the coming storm.

So our captain chose to "outrun" the storm and "hide behind an island" - his words not mine. But the funny part of the outrunning bit was that Fiona was booking it at 38 MPH and our top speed was 23 according to the internet. But he turned the speed up to 21 MPH and we did manage to get far enough away and hid behind an island and were safe.

So we resumed our trip - and then caught COVID about the time we came home on Saturday. So I've been recouping, but finally had enough energy to come out to the shop today and decided I'd do a leak test on Big Blue's air spring plumbing. Fortunately that was easily spotted - the compression fittings into the manifold on the rear bumper were leaking.

As shown below, the ferrules were canted on the tubing. And no matter how many times I tried with new ferrules I couldn't get them to go in straight. So I did some research and discovered that you aren't supposed to use brass ferrules on plastic tubing w/o an insert to keep the tubing straight. And if you aren't going to use the inserts you should use plastic ferrules.

So do any of y'all have any guidance? I have about 7 hours to order the inserts and plastic ferrules from Amazon and get them tomorrow. So I'll wait a bit and see what you recommend.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Well, it has been a long time since I posted in this thread, but many of you know why - Janey and I've been on a cruise from NYC to Montreal. But it wasn't quite that simple as a couple of days out Hurricane Fiona started chasing us. We were due to stop in Halifax and I was planning to meet Cory, but that port was closed due to the coming storm.

So our captain chose to "outrun" the storm and "hide behind an island" - his words not mine. But the funny part of the outrunning bit was that Fiona was booking it at 38 MPH and our top speed was 23 according to the internet. But he turned the speed up to 21 MPH and we did manage to get far enough away and hid behind an island and were safe.

So we resumed our trip - and then caught COVID about the time we came home on Saturday. So I've been recouping, but finally had enough energy to come out to the shop today and decided I'd do a leak test on Big Blue's air spring plumbing. Fortunately that was easily spotted - the compression fittings into the manifold on the rear bumper were leaking.

As shown below, the ferrules were canted on the tubing. And no matter how many times I tried with new ferrules I couldn't get them to go in straight. So I did some research and discovered that you aren't supposed to use brass ferrules on plastic tubing w/o an insert to keep the tubing straight. And if you aren't going to use the inserts you should use plastic ferrules.

So do any of y'all have any guidance? I have about 7 hours to order the inserts and plastic ferrules from Amazon and get them tomorrow. So I'll wait a bit and see what you recommend.

I'd avoid compression fittings on plastic lines at any cost these days.

There's just too many great push-in connectors available.

[Gary Lewis]

I'd avoid compression fittings on plastic lines at any cost these days.

There's just too many great push-in connectors available.

Interesting that you said that because after I posted I found these TAILONZ PNEUMATIC Male Straight 1/4 Inch Tube OD x 1/8 Inch NPT Thread Push to Connect Fittings PC-1/4-N1. They look good, but not quite as good as the ones that came with the Firestone kit as the latter have a center fitting over which the tubing goes while the Tailonz just have an external o-ring.

But the fittings from Firestone are the individual Schrader valve ones and don't see a way to use them as the external thread is very fine and the OD is smaller than 1/8" pipe.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Interesting that you said that because after I posted I found these TAILONZ PNEUMATIC Male Straight 1/4 Inch Tube OD x 1/8 Inch NPT Thread Push to Connect Fittings PC-1/4-N1. They look good, but not quite as good as the ones that came with the Firestone kit as the latter have a center fitting over which the tubing goes while the Tailonz just have an external o-ring.

But the fittings from Firestone are the individual Schrader valve ones and don't see a way to use them as the external thread is very fine and the OD is smaller than 1/8" pipe.

I'm not sure what "compression fittings into the manifold on the rear bumper" really means.

I take it you need a Schrader valve fitting with two outlets that go to those Firestone air bags and has a way to mount it?

 

[Gary Lewis]

I'm not sure what "compression fittings into the manifold on the rear bumper" really means.

I take it you need a Schrader valve fitting with two outlets that go to those Firestone air bags and has a way to mount it?

This is the "manifold". And yes, the far fitting that goes through the aluminum plate is the Schrader valve. So I'm looking to replace the two compression fittings with push fittings, and I'm seriously considering these: Utah Pneumatic Push-To-Connect Air Fittings1/4"Od 1/8" Npt Air Union. They may be made in China but the writeup was done by a native English-speaker, so it gives me more confidence than the ones I don't quite understand.

[ArdWrknTrk]

This is the "manifold". And yes, the far fitting that goes through the aluminum plate is the Schrader valve. So I'm looking to replace the two compression fittings with push fittings, and I'm seriously considering these: Utah Pneumatic Push-To-Connect Air Fittings1/4"Od 1/8" Npt Air Union. They may be made in China but the writeup was done by a native English-speaker, so it gives me more confidence than the ones I don't quite understand.

So that red line is 1/4"?

Seems to me that you need a simple inline Tee x 1/8 male NPT to fit the Tee your gauge and valve are set in.

I thought it needed a mounting lug or bulkhead connector, or something...