Another OLD BLUE Build Thread - 71 Chevy

[OldBlue71Chevy]

I got my '71 last February and have been lurking this site for over a year now. I have already stolen waaaay too many ideas to not repay the favor.

I will repost a bunch of my posts from Pirate4x4 forum to get up to date, then start from there.

If there are any details I missed, you can go HERE for the detailed thread.








I TRADED THIS:

Crazyblaze Build Thread

The CraZyBlaZe was pretty much topped out unless I tore it totally apart again to go full buggy. To go wheeling anywhere near KC it is at least a 1.5 hour tow. Most of my friends had gotten out of wheeling/camping or moved away so it just wasn't as fun as it used to be.


One last hug




FOR THIS (plus some extra parts):







Specs copied from his sale thread:
1971 Chevy short bed. nice truck but needs some paint and little body work to be super nice. Runs strong, motor and tranny have maybe 300 miles on it.

Dana 44 front, open 4.10
14 bolt ff rear, open 4.10
Turbo 400 custom built for motor and truck from phoenix transmission
Np 205
37"x14" iroks 99% tread
16x10 imitation welds

Engine started life as a 2 bolt 454. now solid roller 496
Bored .060" with torque plate
Decked
line honed
milodon splayed billet maincaps installed
Eagle 4340 forged 4.25 stroker crank
Eagle 4340 forged h-beams 6.385"
SRP forged pistons .230 dome 10.6 to 1 comp. ratio
File fit moly rings
King race bearings
Fully balanced to less than a gram
Milodon hv/hp oil pump
arp main and head studs
Howards solid roller cam and lifters 285/290, Lift .660/.675
Pro comp 320cc rectangle port aluminum heads
Fel pro mls head gasket
Stainless steal roller rockers
gear drive
heavy wall comp cams pushrods
edelbrock vic jr 454r intake
Pro form 950 race carb
Dynoed 565 hp @ 5500 585 ft/lb@ 4500
Made over 550 ft/lb from 3000 up
Hooker competition headers, dual 3" with flowmasters







If you look closely in the bed of the truck above, he included a complete chevy DRW D60. Also included was a full hydroboost unit.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

So that brings us to tonight, when we finally got home from Denver where we traded.

Pulled it off the trailer and took the wife for a ride around the block. The truck starts OKish but honestly runs like ****; hissing, popping, and backfiring throughout the whole ride around the neighborhood. You can tell deep down at it's heart it is a race quality engine, but everything that surrounds/connects to it pretty much needs redone. On a side note the tranny works well and shifts firmly, though it is missing the torque converter shroud.

Well, after getting back home I quickly discovered what I had gotten myself into. I didn't get a pic of the two spark plug wires that were burnt through, but I will let the pics do the talking.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

This is the one that scares me




Don't get me wrong, I am not dumb. I knew what I was getting into, but DAMN this is going to be a lot of work

I want this to be a DO IT ALL vehicle. Reliable daily driver, drive down the highway, take it to mud drags, go to the dunes, and kill some mustangs (If I don't win the race I will just have to lock the hubs and run over them :flipoff2

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Couple more pics:




Issues:
Engine needs tuning and all new spark plug wires
None of the dash lights work
The turn signals have a mind of their own
The brakes suck
The steering wheel can move 1/4 turn without doing anything
all of the doors/door handles are essentially non-operational
The radio doesn't work (not that it matters, you wouldn't hear it over the engine :smokin
The seat is only bolted down on one side
There are enough electrical gremlins to keep me busy for years :shaking:
It's LOUD!!!!! Kinda cool at first, but for it to be multipurpose, it is doing to have to be tamed significantly.


The initial plans:
Get the engine running right
Clean it, top to bottom (this will make a HUGE difference in itself)
Fix all of the door handles so I can freaking get in and out like a normal person without reaching through the window.
Disk brake the 14 bolt
Drive it.....a lot.....

Later Plans:
...I don't want to give away all my secrets :evil:


It will be a pretty slow build on a small budget and not a lot of time after life,work, and my masters. I will be building everything myself when possible/feasible.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Well, I got some time to work on it yesterday and fixed a lot of problems.

1. There was 1 ground wire from the alternator bracket to the battery. It now has 3. Frame to Engine, Engine to Batt, and Body to Batt.

2. The thumb handle on the drivers door handle was missing. I ran down to LMC Truck since it is 10 minutes away (:smokin and bought a whole new handle kit for 30 bux.

3. I put clips on all of the window cranks and inner door handles so they don't fall off every time I close the door (35cents each)

4. Got the radio working. There was a separate wire going from the radio to the battery that was laying in the fender. All I did was hook it up.

5. Installed a quick disconnect on my battery. This way it wont burn to the ground in the driveway and take my house with it.......

Put new windshield wipers on. Normally I wouldn't include a picture of something this mundane but I was impressed.




Took the seat out after removing the 1 bolt that was holding it in


After power washing it

[OldBlue71Chevy]

The radio is partially functional now. Everything works until you turn it up over 1/3 volume then the amp cuts out. Wonder if this has something to do with the custom ground wire



Bonus wires:




I need some help from you guys with the carb. It currently has a Proform 950 on it with no choke or provision for a choke. I haven't tried THAT hard, but it has been 30's-40's out lately and this thing refuses to start.

Has this carb on it: http://www.proformparts.com/product-...ategory_id/181

So my question is, I want to put a "more normal" carb on this thing so it will freakin start without a team of people. I have been looking at street avenger 870's. Would this one work well, or is there something that would be more suited to my application like a truck avenger. Problem is the biggest truck avenger is a 770 CFM if I remember correctly.

This carb: http://www.holley.com/data/types/pic...A_IntoZOOM.jpg

[OldBlue71Chevy]

AHA! I figgured it out......and now I feel really stupid.

Cliffnotes: After trying to start it for a while I went and grabbed the other set of keys with the fob to the alarm that I didn't think worked. Hit disarm, and sure enough it started right up :homer: Wish I would have thought of that a couple days ago.

I knew it would happen sooner or later, but she already bled all over the driveway......



Short video

Kinda lame but I wasn't about to get on the highway while trying to take a video.

Still has some issues and a tick that I haven't figured out yet, but otherwise runs like hell :smokin:

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Still chipping away at the ol' girl. Ever since my video the other day I haven't been able to get it to start

Can a race carb with no choke really just NOT start if it is <40* out????? Or am I dealing with a wiring problem?

Since I couldn't figure it out and it has been cold for the last couple days I decided to start sorting out the wiring.

I didn't intend to get this deep this soon, but it is snowballing quickly





uhhh yea, that is water draining out of the alarm box.... I can't beleive this truck never burned to the ground




Lookin better


All the wires hanging out the pass side are for the stereo. They are getting the knife next.

The whole inside is covered in 20 year old dynomat....there is no way I am taking all of that up.....



I ordered a new painless harness but Jegs told me it is backordered with no estimated ship date...

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Jegs ROCKS. I called up to cancel my order and Larry on the phone wouldn't accept failure. He called me back a couple of hours later and said he found the only one in existence in one of their retail stores and had it pulled out of the store and shipped to me. Now THAT is customer service :smokin:.



Now I have a 10 page research paper to do before I can start on it


I threw one of my Corbeau's in it so I could sit in the truck and make vroom sounds, but I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be. Even the wife said "but the bench seat looks so...classic"

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Welp, after a lot of frustration, I finally got 'er to run

Upon further investigation of the distributor I found some interesting things....







After a new cap, rotor, and coil she started up. Still running on 7 cylinders though, I am going to replace one (maybe all..) of the wires tomorrow.


And of course another gratuitous wiring picture.


And the reason that I haven't been getting anything done lately :grinpimp:

[OldBlue71Chevy]

I haven't been completely worthless lately.

After ~4 years of use my trailer was starting to show some wear. It had a dumb toolbox on the front and some cracked welds on the tongue so I beefe'd 'er up.

Before:


After:




Some pics of my Dad's fleet that he has been building up. He recently repainted the Deuce himself a couple of months ago.






Bad news on the puppy, she got really sick on Tuesday and we found out that she had Parvo...... We called the puppy rescue place that we got her from and they came and picked her up right away so they could start her on medications and iv fluids but I am not sure if it is enough. As of today she hasn't eaten for 5 days... We are hoping lil' Gertrude pulls through though.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Well, figured out why the truck wasn't happy









It doesn't look like there was any other damage besides the broken stud.

What would cause this? Over-torque?

Anybody recognize the brand? They don't have any markings.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Originally Posted by rigpig on juice

Check the retainer to valve guide clearance.
Check the pushrod length, make sure the stud isn't hitting the rocker body.
Possibly the lock and/or screw is being overtightened.
How much thread engagement does the polylock have? The studs could be too short.
What RPM did you run and how much lift does the cam have?

The rocker body has some slight witness marks but they are on the wrong side if the pushrod were too long. I'm sure they had something to do with the rocker dismounting from the stud.

I couldn't get the adjuster nut out of the polylock, I was on the verge of breaking my allen wrench in half.

Found a spec that the effective stud length on the 7/16" studs is 1.900". The remaining stud on mine is 1.555" which would give me approx .345" of engagement. Seems like in a perfect world it could use more engagement but the issue wasn't thread holding, it was that the bolt broke which would happen no matter how long the bolt is right?

You gotta give me some slack though, I didn't even know what a polylock was until this morning :flipoff2:

I personally haven't had it over ~4K RPM before that, who knows...

Cam Specs:
Howards Mechanical Roller Cam
Max Torque
121153-10
Valve lift with 1.7 Rockers: 0.660 0.675
Duration in Degrees Advertised: 285 290
Duration in Degrees @.050": 248 255
Lobe Separation Angle: 110
Valve lash: 0.020 0.020
98631
Mechanical Roller Tappet 2500-6700 Good mid-range horsepower, rough idle. Needs 11.0:1 CR-up

Originally Posted by rockbuggy84

That rocker possibly was a result of all the fuel you were dumping into the cylinder when it was not firing. Maybe it hydro locked and that was the weakest link Also was this motor fired on a dyno and broke in? Or has its only run time since built been with misfires etc?

I was told it was ran on an engine dyno and made 550+hp. For how long, I have no idea.

Not sure how long it had been running rough before I got it, but it has never ran right since I have had it. I haven't driven it more than probably 10 miles the entire time I have owned it.

There were quite a few issues leading to it being run with misfires etc. such as the 2 burnt plug wires, 3 broken plug ceramics, bad coil, fubar'ed distributor cap, and the MIA rocker.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Good news: I got my poly locks and studs in.

Bad news: they won't work and after looking at the new studs there really was only about 4-5 threads inside of the poly lock.

Does anybody know where to find the ones on the left with the neckdown? I have been doing some research and haven't found anything that looks like what I took off yet.



Other good news: I took all of that ugly chrome **** off the side of it :shaking:



I powerwashed most of the foamy stuff off, now I get to work with elbow grease to get the rest of the sticky stuff off.




The tranny decided to go Exxon Valdez on me again so now I get to reseal that too....

[OldBlue71Chevy]

I take that back, I manned up and got some mechanical leverage goin and the poly lock came apart before my allen wrench did.



Why would they stop threading the necked down poly lock before the end? It could have at least 2-3 more threads on it.




The new ones without the neck down do not fit in the machined relief on the rocker shaft.



I think when I get a minute I am going to put in the new stud then put the old poly lock back on it until I can find another one.

Back to researching how to adjust these bad boys.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

IT MOVED!!

I finally manned up and just put the freakin rocker on. I read all kinds of manuals and specs on how to do it, but when I was looking at all of the other rocker arms, they were all pretty loose. So I simply took the rocker and set it to the same loose-ness as the others until I have it dyno tuned or looked at by a shop.

Runs like a scalded dog when you get it over 3k rpm and the tranny shifts like a dream :smokin:

Under that rpm it isn't too peppy but I feel like this engine isn't really set up for this big heavy mo'fo. I can't even imagine what it would feel like in a car





Got the tailgate put on with some help from LMC Truck. I haven't figured out if it is a good or a bad thing that their warehouse is only 10 minutes from my house :evil:


Long tubes get HOT, this is a pic of the dynomat melting on the pass side floorboard. I temp'ed the floorboard about 5 min after I shut it off and it was still at ~175*


NEXT:
Load it up with mulch and do some gardening
Fix leaks
Fix more leaks :shaking:
Put disks in the rear with my new RuffStuff brackets
Pick a color that I am going to start painting stuff so it is all at least the same color.
E-fans with a controller

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Thanks for the info, we'll have to see how well it works

Christmas in April:


Also got the Super Tuning and Modifying Holley Carburetors by Dave Emanuel, maybe that will shed some light on my understanding of carbs a little more :homer:

Once I get it running reliably and start to mess around offroad I will probably extend the vent tubes on the bowls or try to build my own vented crossover tube.

Now I get to finish typing my 10 page research paper before I get to start in on it

Grad school sucks sometimes......I hope it is worth it in the end.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Random unrelated trailer tech.

My FIL has been working on rebuilding this old trailer. He built a nice fold down gate on it, but it ended up being too heavy for anybody other than him or myself to lift.

We looked at some coil springs like they put on gooseneck ramps, but I remembered seeing a setup like below on the little flatbed U-haul trailers.

So we drew some pictures and dug through my random offroad parts bin. Bill put it all together himself. When he first finished, the gate didn't even touch the ground. With the washers above the spring, it just lightly comes to a rest on the ground when you let go.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Spent a good 12 hours on the truck today. Got A LOT done.

Hmm, think it backfired a couple times??


So, while I was removing the old carb I put my hand somewhat lightly on the distributor and knocked it waaay out of time...hold down bolt was loose.....imagine that...:shaking:

So I got the timing close enough to start with the new carb and but you could tell something was missing. Hit the headers with the temp gun and sure enough 1 and 7 aren't firing. Sad thing is, the engine runs/idles smoother on 6 cylinders with the new carb than it did on all 8 with the old carb....

Not sure why 1 and 7 are not firing, but I am about **** full of these Jegs wires. I am going to get a full set of 8mm generic auto parts store wires tomorrow. I already replaced one wire with a generic 8mm wire and the level of quality is waaaay better than the 8.5 "super" Jegs wires...

[OldBlue71Chevy]

mmmmm, disk brakes :smokin:

Ruff Stuff bent caliper brackets. Fit great, I did have to do a lil' grinding/sanding where the caliper slides so it would slide a little easier.


Lines up and out of the way. Don't want the zombies to get caught on them when I go Chuck Norris their asses :evil:


Note for people installing disks on their 14 bolt. The caliper on the left is a ~75' 4WD front 3/4 ton caliper and the caliper on the right is a ~75' 2WD front 3/4 ton caliper. Everything is the same except for the brake lines/banjo bolts. Keep this in mind when you order your calipers/lines from the store to make sure you get the matching stuff.

I ended up going with the 4wd calipers and 4wd lines, they seem to be a LOT easier to find and the auto parts store keeps them in stock.


The level of dumb in this truck still amazes me


Took the buffer and some rubbing compound to the drivers side. Little better.



Vision of the future??? :evil:

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Originally Posted by Ubluzin

I love this build. Looks awesome and please keep updating it!!

What caliper brakets did you go with? And what caliper did you end up using?

Ubluzin, I updated my post above.



So I was sitting there polishing wheels with my new powerball and thought to myself "Wow, this is really starting to borderline BDMT....." :laughing:

Don't worry kids, this thing is ganna be ratardedly awesome in a year or so. Just no tight trails :flipoff2:

Before:


After about 45 minutes:


2 wheels done, 2 more to go.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

So, I was having such a good day.

Polished the remaining 2 wheels

Pulled the torched off studs out of the D60



This made the job extra easy:




Pulled all of the plugs and inspected them before I replaced the wires. Found one cracked ceramic and replaced it. They all looked pretty dark so she was running waaay FAT, 1 and 7 actually still had fuel on them.

After I was done with the wires she started on the second kick :grinpimp: but was still running rough, I could tell it wasn't running on all 8. So I pulled the cap and inspected for anything weird. All looked good.

Then I got the "oh ****" feeling and very defeatedly pulled the valve cover off.....:shaking:







This time the exhaust studs on 1 and 7 popped :mad3:

WTF

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Originally Posted by MY56CJ6

Gotta love the 71's.....

That is purdy, mine will prolly never look that nice though.


Well, I have 16 new ARP studs on order. When they come in I am going through the whole valvetrain, replacing them all, and adjusting them all myself.



Patched the hole in the roof:



Patched the swiss cheeze tailgate. There is a large dent in it that I can't get out with the tools I have. We are going for good-enough on the bodywork :flipoff2:


Put the lap belts from my 5 points in. Might not be DOT approved, but it is a hell of a lot better than what was there.




What do you guys usually use for body filler? I have worked with bondo before and HATE it.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Well, yesterday I deviated from the plan a little. Since I knew I was going to be taking off the valve covers a lot I decided to make some more room...

mmmm yummmy


Ever wonder why your blower motor doesn't work?


Pile


ugh.....

The wiring is so bad that I didn't even bother labeling anything as I was taking it out.


Found the custom mounted speakers :laughing:


And finally, my new found room. I can now stand inside the wheelwell


I'm going to check rocker lash, valve spring coil clearance, and a couple other things next.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Thanks for the info ^

Well, I pulled the pass side cover off today and the carnage continues......


This is the pattern on the valve stem from the rocker that broke off


Poor alignment on others




All of the pushrods on the rockers with bad alignment showed wear from the guide.


This is the exhaust gasket that I checked the other day because I could hear it leaking....The bolt wasn't even finger tight.... :shaking:


So here are the conclusions I came up with:
Crappy pushrod guides that don't line up
Triple valve springs (could potentially be the stud breaking problem?)
Lots of dumb :homer:

I am NOT having fun right now. I just wanna drive it