The Official John Lee Jr Thread

[Old Bleu]

Hey, the boot looks good. That shot of the stick from above sure shows off those wild bends! Looks like it falls right to hand though.

Mine is still at the hole in the floor stage though. I want to paint the floor and get a new mat or carpet, but I really need to replace the rockers first. I'm trying to work up the courage to tackle them myself. The spot welds along the top surface are not visible at all. I think that when the truck was painted they must have been smoother over. Guess I need to grind the paint off to see them.

[Sharps40]

Now is not the right time for drillin the floor to install the Lokar 70-CLB shifter boot. Gotta pull the old mat, clean up, position and drill the trim ring and then reinstall the new floor mat and boot on a more permanent basis.

But I'll trim some mat and set the new boot in place for the nonce and it looks pretty fine for under $40 from Jegs. Free delivery too.

That said, the mat is trimmed and tucked in around the base of the original S10 shifter dust boot. I slid on the Lokar foam doughnut but wound up takein it off....my adapter is tall enough to hold up the boot without the doughnut. Who knows, permanent install, maybe it'll go back on.

And, gotta sand and paint that nice shifter shaft but I'm actually thinkin of doin it in slow rust black (a gun finish) and topcoating with a matt clear. Nicer than paint...the black don't peal and if the clear does, hit it again to touch up.

Nice also to note, the mounting screws are pretty much dead ringers for the trim and visor screws on our trucks...so at least from that perspective, (a lil detail) it'll look factory when done.



Just droppin John Lee's new glove into place. The Lokar boot has a center ring that is just a bit larger than that fancy homemade 5/8" diameter shifter lever. No worries then...it might even fit a 3/4" diameter shaft...I'll have ta remeasure if ya have ta know.



A view from the seat in 1st gear...not shabby at all.



And from the drivers side....very nice, Sharp Dressed Man I believe....

[Sharps40]

Blu Goo on my bullet here.....holding tite, no cherry juice outta that particular hole.

But, got the water leaks stopped....new hose time next week. And, the rear main is still just a weepin, no flood so we keep driving. If the clutch is wet, Warranty, seal shouldn't leak! But, glad these lil issues crop up inbetween install and tune....once done should be good for years.

[Sharps40]

Fill the rockers with Blu Goo. Shave off where it pokes out...fiberglass over....paint....done! It won't rust again once its fulla Blu Goo. And, it dampens noise.

[Old Bleu]

Come on, that would be too easy! I was giving you a hint that I wanted you to do yours, with the ususal excellent documentation, so I could follow along.

I have some rust through on the bottom side at the front, but the main problem is that the flange on top that the door seal goes over is rusted and breaking off on the driver side.

Maybe I'll talk myself out of it for now and focus on getting the HEI installed; you've already got that well documented!

[Sharps40]

Ol Bleu said...

I have some rust through on the bottom side at the front, but the main problem is that the flange on top that the door seal goes over is rusted and breaking off on the driver side.



Ouch. That sounds like a tuff repair...overhead, upsidedown, kinda blind and all hand fabrication. Believe that's one I'd let my kid do while me and Beer Titty Woman tip a Cold Glass-O-Suds!!!

[Sharps40]

I'm gonna try Als heat and noise reducer and a bit of rubber sound barrier from lowes and a new floor mat with the jute backing. That oughta quiet it down a bit. For now, I think I'm gonna shave the brake and clutch pedals to 1962 car size so I can run the smaller pedal rubbers.

[Sharps40]

Speaking of documentation, I gotta sit down with word and bang out a good and simple Astro T5 install instruction manual and get back to documenting it proper. The other thread got a bit busy, was thinkin I'd do one separate or just go into the existing thread, insert a blow by blow install with photos. That way if they want to archive it, either grab the clean thread or just the revised tail of the existing thread.

But first, I gotta go in the garage and align a anternator so the belt don't sound like I got a fancy straight cut set of gears runnin my camshaft!

[Sharps40]

Well, shimmed er back, shimmed er front shimmed er half back and the alignment on all three pullys looks perfect...even put a rod in the groove of each pully and rotated it to see if the rod dropped into the center of the next pully....the belt even looks straight at every place it lays on and off the pullies....specially under a light and engine running but still a noisy belt. So, new belt time.

[TJ's Chevy]

So.....what does the new motor look like??? hint hint....LOL!

[Sharps40]

Well, heck....didn't think of that. GM Blue.....I6. Purty!

I'll shoot a pic later. Up at 0400 to hunt tomorrow. 20 degrees in the morning...should make for a good day. Cold enough them deer oughta be up lookin for yumms to keep em warm. With luck, John Lee will be haulin out two bucks afore noon.

[shok]

Could have just put a strap on a traffic cone

[Sharps40]

It'd havta be onna thel wee lil cones like for motorcycle trainin

[Sharps40]

In the never ending quest to locate and/or create places to put stuff in our trucks...and given the recent Astro Van T5 install has relieved me of a prime location for my double cup holder (just in front of the bench seat an instantly at hand....)...I give you....

Passenger Cup Holder. (Ala WalMart Sporting Goods Section, few bucks only)

The glove box....ever unassuming and quite thin walled but it can be made better than before.....



Open the door, three divots to place cups when sitting still at the drive in.....not so much for actually driving....



A bracket of 1/8" aluminum flat stock. Riveted into the center section at the base where the double wall is far enough apart to rivet with out drilling clean thru to the face.....



Center drill and screw on to the bracket and inexpensive porcelain coated steel coffee mug from the sporting goods section of Wal-Mart. Get it? Cup Holder?



Works great for them big soda and water bottles....



A 32oz gut buster don't go all the way to the bottom....a wider cup would work but it sits in there good and short of driving thru cones at 65 mph, it oughta sit just fine....



And when yer done, haul out yer trash and close the glove box door.

Now I gotta find a suitable spot and solution for a drivers side cup holder.

[TJ's Chevy]

NICE GOING! LOL!

[Sharps40]

Test drove it to work this morning. Door open, 12 oz R-O-C Co Cola open in the cup holder. No worries. Truck rolls smooth, door action is a bit stiff with no flop at all, not a spill or care in the world. A slight stretch but dooable if it were the only cup holder in the truck but I believe there is room for another blue "Cup Holder" left of the dash face and out of the way of the switches and the e brake handle.....we shall see!

[TJ's Chevy]

Cool! Like the idea!

[Sharps40]

If you build a nice square gate for an old crooked deck, it looks lopsided even though the level says it plumb.

If you don't have a padlock for the latch, an aluminum Chinese carabineer works fine to keep the dogs from unlatchin it an goin out to ride the leg of a Cultist on Door Knocker Patrol.....I might have to take the biner off the latch.

The Bi-No-Key #5 holster for the Colt 1911 needs a crescent moon cut out on the thumb strap to clearance the hammer and thereby stop pushing the safety to the off position leaving me to rely only on the series 80 trigger operated guts, specially if when I draw the gun out.

The Bi-No-Key #5 holster rides best between the belt and the pants otherwise it flops a bit an the checkered wood grips rub my pork shoulders.

The Mossy Oak Camo leather belts with double tine buckels and spiffy camo finish make decent gun belts for $16 from Hellmart.

The Zama carburetor in a Puloun Chain Saw is a remarkably simple two barrel affair that clogs up pretty easy.

Using spray carb cleaner to clean a Zama two barrel in a cold workshop results in mild frostbite to the fingers holding the parts for cleaning.

When yer fingers are real numb and cold, holden em over the oil filled radiant heater ain't the best ider cause it sometimes smells like bacon when ya do that too much.

After ya punch extra holes in the Mossy Oak belt from Slavemart ya figure out ya didn't needem cause the belt goes around the Bi-No-Key #5 holster stead of behind it.

If yer chainsaw blade sticks in a branch, turn it off before climbing up to free it, cause when ya both fall and land wif yer hand on the chain its nice that ya had on gloves and the saw weren't running.

80W90 synthetic gear lube makes a nifty bar oil for yer chain saw when yer out of the real stuff....so does used 10W30 from the recycle bucket.

If you go to Lowes wif yer Wife you will have to buy 500,000 pounds of bird seed cause its real cold in Central NC right now.

Oh yeah, when ya go to lowes for two each programmable thermostats for the two zones on the house they only have one of each type on the shelf and ever frackin onnathem has been ripped open so some dickweasel can decide if its the one he wants cause he's Harry Stupid Frackin Home Tearer Upper and Package Destroyer. Don't go to lowes on the weekend, they ain't got nothing but leftover broken crap on the shelf on weekends.

John Lee runs perfect on the main barrel of the Weber carb with 1/7 less jet in the idle to top circuit just like Mr. Langdon at Stovebolts said it would.

I'm gonna catch hellsbells when GoodWife gets home for cutting down the crab apple trees out front but I told her I would caussa I'm lergic to bee stings and I'm tired of getting stung then having to firebomb the front yard with gasoline and oil.

On the plus side, ya can open carry at Lowes and ya can take yer Cultist Humpin Shepherd Dog inside wif ya too.

[Low Elco]

Glad to hear JLJ's runnin good!

[Sharps40]

Thanks. Went by and talked to the shop this morning.......

2 schools of thought on timing....set it static - go drive.

Set it all in at your max driving rpm, don't worry about what it says for static long as it runs good/don't ping, etc...go drive.

So, bumped it to 17 static, about 3 degrees BTDC from where it was and the secondary came back on. This actually jives better with the settings they had on the second tune and matches with Mr. Langdons recommendation of 20 or so degrees advance with his dizzy.


Ran it hard up the highway and it even pulls from 2000 rpm in OD. Pretty happy with it now. Still needs some fine tuning I think but just gotta finish the break in and I'll put on a wide band O2 for that fine work.

But, ran the wipers for an hour and they wouldn't park or cut off...started to get stinky in the cab. Thought it was the switch but on getting home that wiper motor was hot as a fryin pan. Guess that's the next job, swap in Ol John Lees wiper motor and prolly replace the switch at the same time. Oh well, maybe it'll park/shut off when the motor cools a bit!!!

Meantime, the old boy is runnin pretty strong and has a clean windshield.

[TJ's Chevy]

Originally Posted by Sharps40

Thanks. Went by and talked to the shop this morning.......

2 schools of thought on timing....set it static - go drive.

Set it all in at your max driving rpm, don't worry about what it says for static long as it runs good/don't ping, etc...go drive.

So, bumped it to 17 static, about 3 degrees BTDC from where it was and the secondary came back on. This actually jives better with the settings they had on the second tune and matches with Mr. Langdons recommendation of 20 or so degrees advance with his dizzy.


Ran it hard up the highway and it even pulls from 2000 rpm in OD. Pretty happy with it now. Still needs some fine tuning I think but just gotta finish the break in and I'll put on a wide band O2 for that fine work.

But, ran the wipers for an hour and they wouldn't park or cut off...started to get stinky in the cab. Thought it was the switch but on getting home that wiper motor was hot as a fryin pan. Guess that's the next job, swap in Ol John Lees wiper motor and prolly replace the switch at the same time. Oh well, maybe it'll park/shut off when the motor cools a bit!!!

Meantime, the old boy is runnin pretty strong and has a clean windshield.

My wiper motor is tryin to quit on me! lol! Glad you are back on the road!

[Sharps40]

Soon, soon.

Finally got my Christmas gift card activated and ordered some much needed items for John Lee.

New blue dot tail lamp lenses.

New license plate bracket and light assembly.

And, a nice option...a Black Passenger Side Rear View Mirror to match the one on the Drivers side.

Maybe get a stereo and speakers and a floor mat in Jan/Feb to finish up the interior. We already got the old boy a set of new dorman pedal pads (car size) in the small size and modded the pedals for installation.

[Sharps40]

Seriously?

My Christmas gift arrives...I was careful.

Ordered only the best for John Lee.

Genuine GM Restoration parts.

New tail lamp lenses that I'm gonna put blue dots in.

Know what? I ain't doin it again.

They are nice enough but they are MADE IN CHINA



But I did get a much needed license plate bracket. I expected much less quality. But it even came with a real glass dome over the lamp, not plastic...so, maybe all the Chinese stuff ain't too aweful bad.....good timing on this part, the old one fell off and we was draggin the plate by the light wire....so.......when it comes outta the shop from its oil leak and getting new power brakes installed, I'll put this on.



And cause I'm getting old an lazy and my neck is stiff and I don't wanna look behind me much any more and because I added the passenger side visor to the cab I need to maintain bilateral symmetry by installing a passenger side rear view mirror. I don't mind that this came from tiwann, I got one on the drivers side 2 years old and its great and still like new so.......some creative marking and drillin on the door to do to hit the holes in that factory installed plate hidden in the passenger side door....

[Old Bleu]

Let us know how you do the mirror installation. I'll be doing the same on both doors soon. Looks like it never had one on the right and the PO filled the left side holes and added a car mirror. Will have to drill them out and run a tap through the threads.

[TJ's Chevy]

Originally Posted by Sharps40

Seriously?

My Christmas gift arrives...I was careful.

Ordered only the best for John Lee.

Genuine GM Restoration parts.

New tail lamp lenses that I'm gonna put blue dots in.

Know what? I ain't doin it again.

They are nice enough but they are MADE IN CHINA...



But I did get a much needed license plate bracket. I expected much less quality. But it even came with a real glass dome over the lamp, not plastic...so, maybe all the Chinese stuff ain't too aweful bad.....good timing on this part, the old one fell off and we was draggin the plate by the light wire....so.......when it comes outta the shop from its oil leak and getting new power brakes installed, I'll put this on.



And cause I'm getting old an lazy and my neck is stiff and I don't wanna look behind me much any more and because I added the passenger side visor to the cab I need to maintain bilateral symmetry by installing a passenger side rear view mirror. I don't mind that this came from tiwann, I got one on the drivers side 2 years old and its great and still like new so.......some creative marking and drillin on the door to do to hit the holes in that factory installed plate hidden in the passenger side door....

Uh...did you expect the tail lamps to be American? lol! I sure didn't. Nice set though.