Bojo's 73 Project

[jbojo]

1/19/14

Got a little done today but not much. Mounted the EFI control module in the engine bay and started running the wires to the various locations. Also started to connect all the factory harnesses and tested the NSS switch to ensure that it was set properly.

Lastly decided to put an oil pressure gauge in the engine compartment and started looking for places to mount it.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

1/24/14

Couple of quick updates. I got the Gotta Show PS hose kit today and will be installing it tomorrow. Also was able to get a set of the Blue Thunder valve covers that I have been looking for and hopefully they will be arriving soon. I now have 3 sets of extra valve covers so I'll be listing them soon if anyone is interested.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

1/25/14

Got the items I wanted to do completed today. I mounted the oil pressure gauge in the engine compartment so that I can monitor the oil pressure during startup instead of relying solely on the gauge on the dash. Also was able to get the power steering hoses connected along with the remote reservoir and the system primed. Tomorrow I'll continue getting things connected to the motor.

-jbojo

 

[hyena429]

Looks awesome John

 

[jbojo]

1/26/14

Today I wired in the new alternator to a 150A circuit breaker in case I should get a short and also installed a fuse box to power the headlight relays so that I can run halogen lights without worrying about the light switch overloading and for powering the radiator cooling fans. Also finished plumbing the fuel line from the front wheel well to the carb and the return from the carb to the pressure regulator for the return line to the gas tank. I did have to move the fuel regulator over a bit since I did not account for the fuel line bend when I installed the EFI control box. It was much easier to do the first time when the engine was out. Slowly getting there but still a lot more things to do to get the engine completely ready.

Mike I'll be sure to call you when I try the first start up.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

2/1/14

Worked on the car for awhile today. I forgot to put the transmission oil lines in previously and wound up having to remove the passenger header to get to the fittings. What a pain in the butt that was but its finally connected and header is reinstalled. Next was the radiator install. Had some fitment issues but was able to work around it. I need to pick up the fittings to hook up the tranny oil lines so hopefully I'll find those tomorrow. Couple of pics of the radiator in the car now.

-jbojo

 

[droptop73]

Nice progress!

 

[MechEng]

Looking good! Did you have any alignment issues with the trans cooler lines and the radiator? The top fitting on my new radiator was about two inches lower than stock. Caused a major headache

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[jbojo]

MechEng

Yeah, One of the transmission fittings is below the outlet on the radiator on the drivers side so I had to reroute the lines but got it to work.

2/2/14

Found the radiator fittings and got the transmission lines connected. Also got the heater hoses and the radiator hoses on. Mounted the 2 relays for the cooling fans where the evaporator canister was. I was wondering where I was going to mount them as I am running out of real estate in the engine compartment. The only thing left now is to connect the electrical and I should be good to go on a startup.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

2/8/14

Worked on the electrical today checking the wiring for shorts and any crossed connections. Hooked up the battery and the brake lights came on. I adjusted the brake pedal and the lights are now off however the drivers side brake light doesn't come on when I press the brake pedal. If I turn on the lights both side work properly. It was nice seeing the car come back to life after all these years. The center gage cluster is not installed nor is the speedo and tach cluster. Not sure if I have a faulty brake switch or if not having everything connected is causing the problem but I am going to look at the wiring diagrams this evening and see if I can figure out what's going on. If anyone has any ideas please let me know and I will try it out tomorrow.

Plans for tomorrow are to finish the wiring, put gas in the tank and pump fuel through the lines checking for any leaks. Next Saturday will be trying to start it up. Keeping my fingers crossed. No pics today as there weren't any noticeable changes.

-jbojo

 

[caspianwendell]

Coming along nicely

 

[protouringstang73]

Nice progress! Where did you get that radiator from?

 

[jbojo]

Nice progress! Where did you get that radiator from?

I got it from Summit. Its the BeCool OEM direct fit replacement. It has double the number of cooling fins and rated up to 700 HP. The fans are rated at 30 Amps each and they recommend at a minimum a 100 amp alternator.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

2/9/14

Continued working on the electrical today. I have all the lights working properly now. The only ones not tested are the headlights which I am changing to halogen and I'll have them on relays so not to damage the light switch. All the warning buzzers are now working too.

Since I am now using a Tach from RCCI I ran the new switched pwr, gnd and trigger wires and connected them to it as well as the switched pwr and gnd wires to the converted amp meter (now a volt meter). All I have left is to connect the MSD ignition and EFI module to their pwr sources and it should be ready to fire up.

Tried to take a picture of the back lights on but I couldn't turn off the flash so its hard to tell they are on.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

2/15/14

Almost there with the motor first start. Today I got all the wiring connected up but its just roughed in so that I can try to start it. When I have it running I'll shorten the wires and run them properly. Put in the plugs, filled the motor with 8 qts of high zinc break in oil and threw in a bottle of zinc additive as an extra measure. Started filling the tranny but only put in 5 Qts until I check to see how much I should add. Also primed the motor to prelube the bearings and got 50 lbs pressure at a medium drill speed and about 70 on high. I'll do another prelube before the start up though.

Tomorrow I need to get some gas, another radiator hose clamp, finish adding oil to the tranny, and put on a set of header glass packs so that the O2 sensor won't get false readings. Also I need to install the distributor and plug wire and it should be ready. Keeping my fingers crossed. I plan to video the first start so I'll post that too.

-jbojo

 

[Doug The Dog]

Good for you, John! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly! Looking forward to your video!

-Travis

 

[mach71351c]

Cool deal! Can't wait to see the video.

 

[jbojo]

2/16/14

Well its a no go for start up. I tested the fuel pump and it brought everything up to pressure (55 lbs) however I am not sure if I have a bad injector. Fuel was pouring into the intake manifold so I am going to have to remove it to see if I have a big puddle of fuel in all the intake areas. Going to have to call MSD and find out what's going on. More to come.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

Talked to MSD about the EFI flooding condition that I had. Posting what they told me incase anyone else uses the MSD ignition with rev limiter and their efi.

The issue was that the ignition box sends out a tach signal equal to the rev limit when the ignition is turned on and the motor isn't running, 6000rpm in my case. This tach signal is on the whole time the ignition switch is on. The efi system saw this and the injectors supplied the fuel equal to what the motor needed for 6000 rpm. For normally carbureted motors this would not be an issue.

The fix for efi system is to turn tach verification on the ignition box to off. To do this you ground the tach wire from the 6AL ignition box (gray wire) for 5 seconds with the ignition on. When you do this the box no longer sends out the 6000 rpm signal when the ignition is on so that the engine injector squirt fuel only once when you try to start.

Today I am going to remove the intake manifold and clean all the fuel that's inside the voids.

-jbojo

 

[hyena429]

Wild...That is something i would not guess...If you get it to fire..send me a message and ill pop on over and check it out...i got most of the day off.