72 C10 for my 25th wedding anniversary

[sfont66]

Small progress while waiting on parts……

I had been putting off torquing the HB bolt , it can be difficult to achieve the necessary torque without a big torque wrench. To make certain the HB is installed completely, it needs to be torqued to 240 ft pounds. Then the old bolt is removed and a new bolt is installed and torqued to 37ft pounds +140 degrees. I made a mark on the bolt and a impact socket. I then taped up the face of the Harmonic balancer and marked it out from the 12 O’clock position , 3 O’clock , 4 O’clock, 5 & 6 . This way if the balancer moves a bit I could still tell where 140 degrees was, which is just before 5 O’clock if starting at 12 O’clock.

With the transmission in gear and the initial 37ft pounds torqued, I started with the line on the bolt and socket lined up at 12 on the balancer an turned the bolt to just before 5 o’clock. This takes considerable effort, the final torque ended up at 245 ft pounds, but is kind of irrelevant for this TTY bolt as the degrees are more important in this case to achieve proper bolt stretch and final torque. My 1/2” torque wrench only goes to 250 Ft pounds, I may look for one that goes a bit higher and is longer for better leverage, possibly stepping up to a 3/4 drive ? Not completely necessary, but would make the job easier.
If/when I take the balancer off again for any reason I think I will just go with an ARP balancer bolt, they are reusable, and just get a torque spec. This time I had a new GM TTY bolt on hand because I ordered 2 a few years ago .

I also added a Sneek peek of the valve covers, my son sent me a pic a couple days ago. He’s not quite done yet, he is very busy at work and has side work he does in the evening at home, that plus a 10 month old baby boy makes for a challenging schedule. I do appreciate him taking time to help with my projects.

[sfont66]

The original coil harnesses were getting hard and brittle, I didn’t think I could modify them or move the big main connector back towards the firewall more out of sight.
The Holley coil harnesses are made so that the connector is towards the rear, so that was a plus. Summit had them on sale, so they weren’t that much more than others. They still were kind of expensive for what they are, but new harnesses were necessary.
More in a bit……

[sfont66]

Since the radiator was empty it was a good time to add a zinc anode, just as a precaution /cheap insurance. I have never had any sign of electrolysis, and always use distilled water in a 50/50 antifreeze solution, but the anode was only $12 on sale,so why not. It just replaces the drain petcock

I’m not sure if I like the new look of the coils and harnesses on the valve covers, in time it may grow on me. My son offered to have them powdered coated for me, but I chose to leave them raw for now, because I may weld on a AN fitting to loop in a catch can. But I would rather pull PCV from the valley I think. I have been trying to buy a Ls6 valley plate so I can pull Pcv from the valley rather than the valve cover but every place I have tried has been sold out for almost a year now.
I still think a nice set of coil covers would look good.
I can’t afford a new FAST intake or throttle body yet to complete the mods, I’ll have to wait a bit longer.
Next up is to fill all the fluids and fire it up.

[cornerstone]

I think it looks

[sfont66]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

I think it looks

Thanks
They are starting to grow on me. At this point I will be running them for at least this summer, or longer. It would be expensive to change to coils that will fit under the coil covers I have found that I like. That money could go towards a larger throttle body, and then I will need a different intake…..

[sfont66]

The cooling system was filled with nearly 3 gallons of coolant, filled through the top radiator hose so that the block and heads were completely filled first. Then the balance of the coolant filled the radiator.
Then 6 quarts of oil with zinc were added to the crankcase through the priming port in the front of the engine just behind the timing cover on the driver side.
As before I used a simple garden sprayer with a hose barb and a fitting from ICT Billet. The last time I used a larger 2 gallon sprayer, this time I used a 1 gallon sprayer. Both work equally well the smaller version is cheaper, At just $10, but the hose is plastic and is very stiff and doesn’t straighten out easily. It also requires the end of the hose to be heated with a heat gun in order for the hose barb/fitting to be inserted into the hose. I recommend checking out the quality of the hose if buying another sprayer. Otherwise both produce adequate pressure to prime the system.
More in a bit….

[sfont66]

The mechanical pressure gauge shows the sprayer produced enough pressure to force the oil through the system, it may have been able to produce more, but I didn’t have a clamp on the end of the hose and didn’t want the fitting to blow off the end. As far as the larger sprayer producing greater pressure, I think they are very similar, the first pick is from the smaller sprayer used to prime the engine this time, the second pick is using the larger sprayer 2 years ago, pretty close to the same.
I did release the pressure and remove the pressure tank before the oil ran out so that no air was forced through the system.
With fluids in the system, I left the same tune in the Holley Terminator from the previous setup. After waiting for the fuel pump to prime I turned the key to start, and the engine fired instantly. Oil pressure was instant as well, which was a relief given the process of installing the O ring, pickup tube, and oil pump different this time, given the inability to remove the oil pan out of the way.
After checking for leaks the RPMs were varied as the engine came to temp.
I may have to raise the idle for this cam and possibly a few other things in the Terminator, but otherwise initially everything seems great for a first fire up.

I think I may have a Pro tune the Terminator once I have installed a different intake and throttle body, in order to optimize the mods and not leave power on the table.
I haven’t been able to get the truck out yet to let the Terminator learn. After an unusually warm and brown winter, we endured a winter storm producing a lot of snow, at least 16”. So now it must melt, warmer weather is forecast for the end of next week, but I like to wait until after a good rain, so that the roads have had a chance to have been washed clean of the salt.
Can’t wait till then.