Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Adding good information is never considered clutter in my book. Now if you want to see clutter take a look at some of the thread highjacks I have done in the past. :lol:
You're always welcome here Doc.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

The electric choke I installed some 25k miles ago started to not work correctly. At I first assumed (The A word is usually a bad idea in my world. :lol:) that the bimetalic coil spring had changed its shape some and needed to be adjusted. After several adjustments didn't fix the problem I went looking for some information on the interweb but there was little information on troubleshooting the components and what I little found was confusing.

So I did what any gearhead would do. I took it apart. That didn't reveal any physical defects which led me to suspect it must be something electrical. My trusty multimeter revealed I had 12.8 volts at the power terminal while the tuck was running. The other terminal showed 8.2 volts which only told me the heat sensor didn't have an open circuit so as long as it was still operating within specifications it was good.

The little bit of information from the interweb said
"Testing the ohms on a choke conversion thermostat. Only necessary if you suspect a problem.
Note: hitting the choke in a table will jar the spring inside to the correct position. It will also reset the Ptc and spring. All the superchokes should be round 10 ohms or less. 7-11 ohms When ohms aren’t inside the specs something is wrong inside and a quick smack may fix it. Bad ohms = 100k ohms -100 ohms etc. Must be tested on the big terminal and the brass on the bottom of the choke." So I took that to mean the ohms for the bimetalic coil should be between 11 to 7 ohms. Checking the ohms across the terminals I had 7.4 ohms so that made sense.

Checking the ohms on the temperature sensor wasn't very conclusive. With one meter lead grounded to the intake manifold and the other on the wire I measured 34.5 ohms. Which once again only proved it didn't have a open circuit. The part of the paragraph above that said 100k-100 ohms is bad makes me think that an ohm reading below 100 ohms is acceptable but, that again is an assumption based on the less than concise wording of the troubleshooting paragraph. The sensor attaches to the block with one of the intake manifold bolts which also grounds the sensor electrically. So I loosened and the retightened the bolt to see if the ohms reading changed, but it remained at 34.5 ohms so I needed to look elsewhere for the problem.

During a careful inspection of the bimetalic coil I noticed the power connector terminal was slightly loose on the rivet. I tried to see if there was loss of continuity with the ohmmeter and found that while wiggling the terminal it didn't loose continuity it ohms did fluctuate. To tighten the rivet I clamped a punch vertical in a vice and while holding the coil unit's rivet head (Photo #1) on the punch I used a center punch on the other end of the rivet. (Photo #2) After a couple of taps with a hammer the rivet was tight enough to keep the terminal firmly in place.

After reinstalling the coil unit I did a short test and the choke now seemed to work properly and this morning it worked as expected for the commute in to work. Hopefully that is the cure.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

For some reason I couldn't post this picture in the previous post. This the electric choke kit I'm using.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I see you got the choke kit from Mike's Carburetor parts, How long ago did you get it? Napa used to sell them , but they are discontinued.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I had an automatic choke on a Carter AFB on the 454 BBC in my '67 K/10 Suburban. It kept kicking in when I didn't want it. One time I was in Pinetop, AZ [Elev. 6800'] on a ski trip. In the Safeway parking lot, for no reason, the choke suddenly cut in. A friendly local cowboy showed me a trick of stuffing the handle of a Craftsman screwdriver into the carb flap to keep it open.
The engine was tuned for my home of Tucson [Elev. 2700'].
Another time, I was working on a movie that used the Anaconda pit mine in Sahuarita for a location. While the local surface elevation was about the same as Tucson's, when I had to go down a couple levels, I lost about 2000', and the choke went crazy again. I remembered the screwdriver trick and got out of the hole.
After that, I restored the OEM Choke cable and put a manual choke adapter on the Carter AFB.
My Stepside always had manual choke on a 292, but when I made performance modifications like an Offy intake, Clifford headers and a 4-bbl 390 Holley, I altered the Holley for manual choke. When I rebuilt the 292 -- 25 years later, the Holley was shot. I got an Edelbrock 1404 with manual choke. [Carters had become history.]
Likewise when I re-engined my '71 Jimmy with a crate 350 and put a Carter Performance Series AFB [625 CFM] I got a manual choke carb and added a factory style choke cable to the '71 dash.
Now the choke doesn't go in unless I pull it.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I got it in the last part of 2019 and installed it in December . They are still showing as available on Mike's website.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I got my gate lock back from LockDoc. He converted the lock to the original key style and along with that I have a new ignition and door locks all keyed to one key like it came from GM originally.

I ran into the same problem with the gate lock mount installation on the WMB's gate as I did with the spare gate but to a lesser extent. The interior sheet metal on the gate is pushed down and that prevented the lock mount from fitting. Fortunately I was able to grind a little bit of the mount and get it to fit, just barely. (See photo) My gate is in pretty decent shape compared to the spare gate. It appears that it doesn't take much deformation of the sheet metal to cause problems with the lock mounting.

And the rebuilt lock works great, warm butter smooth. :mm: Thanks Doc.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

nice! im going to have to see if leon can match all mine too. was digging into the tailgate any pain at all?

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Go back to post 970 he explains it in detail. I'm going to have to do it, 'cause my Burb has 1 key for the ign. 1 key for the doors [both code C] but no key for the tailgate . but code E is the only key that slips in.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

No problem on the locks.

What is all that black stuff? Looks like undercoating. I would think that would make all if the pivot points on the latch hard to move.

LockDoc

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Getting the lock out is pretty easy in good straight gate. My spare gate was more difficult due to how much the interior sheet metal was pushed in. It had the lock mount pinched and I had to pry it loose with a small pry bar. I don't have a photo of the spare gate to show how bad it is pushed in. You should be able to get an idea from the first photo if you look at the top edge. It's similar to what we've all seen on badly abused tailgates. The good gate shows what looks like something heavy got dropped or slid into the gate where the circles are and the sheet metal is pushed in. (2nd photo) When I removed the lock mount the sheet metal dropped about 1/8" and that was enough to keep the mount from popping back in place.

The spare gate dropped in about a 1/4" and that was too much to alow me to reinstall the mount. I will have to figure out a way to pull the sheet metal upwards before the lock mount will fit back in place. In the 2nd photo see the yellow lines and arrow that indicate the minimum distance between the interior and exterior sheet metal that will allow the mount to fit. I'm pretty sure if I am unable to get the interior sheet metal to pull up on the spare gate I can elongate the mounting holes and grind the lock mount (or the tab it sits on) enough to allow me to reinstall the lock. It may also require that the top edge of the mount be ground down so the cover plate will sit flush.

I guess that I'm saying that you should take a close look at your gate to see if it's been pushed in before removing the lock. Mine looked pretty good (Last photo) so I didn't think there would be a problem even after I took the spare gate apart.

After writing this it also seems that before removing the 2 lock mount screws completely it would be a good idea to loosen them two turns or so and the see if you can wiggle the mount. If not and it looks like the screws are hard against the lower edge of the holes in the lock mount you should expect the sheet metal to move down when the screws are removed.

Once again a long winded post but hopefully I was able to convey the idea.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

It's POR15 I sprayed in the void spaces way back on the first page of the thread. Man, that seems like a long time ago. I forgotten about doing it :lol:

It hasn't affected the latch operation as far as I can tell.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Yeah, I thought it looked pretty thick from the picture but looking at it closer I can see it isn't.

LockDoc

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

You guys that are having your locks done by Leon (I have a set too) you should get a locking glove box button and have it keyed too.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Nothing to report here since I broke my foot.
Dhooo!

Some friends and I did drive up to Dufur Oregon and watched the Oregon Trail Rally. It was really dusty even with a steady 20 mph wind. The WMB was covered in so much dust at one point I watched it flowing off the truck like water. Unfortunately it didn't photograph well.

There was one other noteworthy item. On the trip up the Gorge there was a strong tail wind and lots of trucks to draft behind. And for the trip from Portland to Dufur and then back to Hood River where I filled the truck up again we got 16.8 MPG. Woohoooooo! New record.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Ouch! That doesn't look like fun... :(

That is good MPG for a Suburban. I will have to look up the Oregon Trail Rally and see what it is.

LockDoc

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I'm sorry to hear about your foot! I hope you heal quickly. I drove my '89 K1500 out to Moab, UT a few months ago. There was a big dust storm one day. Now I find stand in every crack and crevice of the truck when I work on it.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I used to get 6 City and 8 Highway MPG with White Fang, but it had a very thirsty 454, and was a 4X4. Also I kept every tool I'd ever need in the voluminous back, and a tailgate gas grill.

Get well.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

I should have posted this link. And if I can figure out my camera I'll post some pictures.

https://oregontrailrally.com/

We got to see this guy run but I missed out on a chance to talk with him.

https://youtu.be/iMS6o3zE4Rk

For days after we got back the truck smelled of the dust. Then 2 days later I went to the feed store and picked up 2 bales of straw, 2 bags of manure, and 2 bags of potting soil for my better half. Now the WMB smells like the Dufur feed store. :lol:

As far as broken bones go it hasn't been too bad. Wearing the boot has been more painful than the actual injury.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Don't think I'd wanna buy a panel truck that the PO used for his Cheese Shop deliveries.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Sorry to hear about your foot. I hope it heals soon.

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Sorry about the foot, but great news on the MPG!!! I love seeing vehicles getting used for their originally intended purpose…a little dirt (or “boot”) is not going stop you!

Woody

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Got free of the boot and got the WMB washed! Hopefully tomorrow I can get the interior cleaned up. However I know the old lady wants to make strawberry jam tomorrow so that usually means I get to make jam too! :lol:

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Glad you got to give the boot the boot... :)

My wife made cherry/rhubarb jam the other day. Luckily all I get to do is eat it.

LockDoc

Re: Working Man's Burbon
 

Not much activity on the Burban repair front as of late. Been lots of driving with my mom passing and having to move her stuff. Then another trip to Dufur for a funeral of a friend. I haven't been to Dufur in 5 years and now. 2 trips in 3 months.

On one of the hundred of trip outside of the normal ones in the last 2 months my buddies wife took pity on the WMB's visors. Like most, the stitching had failed and after she noticed it she insisted on restitching them. Before and after shots.
Now it has become apparent that I need to respray the visors as the OPs previous recolor from the visor's original blue to gray is now showing its age.

Big shout of thanks to Jen!