Big redo of the old bucket

[PotvinGuy]

Drove the car today! The water leak appears to be fixed. I just went up the street and back; there are still things to be done before I can take it out on the highway. But will post a video soon. The FAST EZ-EFI is working great. It starts, it runs, the little handheld unit tells you the AFR and a bunch of other info. And it will be learning as I drive. I'll try to describe that experience later.

I suspect that fasteners switch from SAE to metric and vice-versa in the middle of the night. I swear the oil pan bolts were SAE yesterday and they are metric today. Remember when the USA was going to go metric back in the '70s and it just kinda flopped? Today the USA stands proud with Burma and Liberia as the only countries that still haven't adopted the metric system. The World Tool Foundation (WTF), not wanting to show favoritism to either system, has announced a new standard based on the ancient Egyptian cubit system. A cubit is about 20 inches, so bolts and wrenches will be marked in fractions of a cubit, but not in decimal (base 10), but rather in octal (base 8). The system will still use 6 and 12 points, so you won't realize you picked up the wrong tool until you've rounded off the corners of the bolt.

 

[old round fart]

Sounds like a plot started by bolt manufacturers!

 

[PotvinGuy]

Sounds like a plot started by bolt manufacturers!

No, it's part of Obamacare. Page 1138, paragraph 7, line 42: "health care to home mechanics using WTF tools and fasteners will be limited to one medium generic band-aid and two generic aspirin. There will be a mandatory 3 day waiting period between incident and treatment. Any infection or other complication, including but not limited to death, is not covered."

 

[blyndgesser]

Just like my HMO, except that the HMO considers all automotive-related injuries to be preexisting conditions and won't cover them at all.

 

[PotvinGuy]

Installed the new variable-speed fuel pump and electronic fuel pressure regulator today. Works fine. If you're interested in this new technology: http://fuelab.com/fuel-pressure-reg...tors/52901-electronic-fuel-pressure-regulator

Have done some driving. There is a drivetrain rumble or shudder on deceleration and braking. I suspect the U-joints, yoke, tailshaft bushing or all of them. They've been together for 20 years and might not like the changes, the increased angles and the yoke pulling out some. Will have an expert look at it.

The FAST EZ-EFI is really sharp. It starts learning as soon as the motor warms to 140F. I had a little idle problem with some surging and IAC hunting, and suspected it was due to timing; I had the speed advance starting right about at the idle speed I wanted. Reset the distributor to start speed advance later and that fixed it. Motor starts instantly, idles up until it warms and then settles at 900 RPM. I used to think that "just install and drive" stuff was baloney, but the EZ-EFI has been a happy surprise.

Not much left to do now. This winter I'll rewire and move all that junk under the dash to a new panel behind the seats. The seats are very comfortable and I'm looking forward to a road trip for a real test. The seat box looks like Swiss cheese, and I'm gonna build a new one, with a real plan and dimensioned drawings; I pretty much made this one up as I went along. And a new hump for the tranny. Here's some build pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/104971212334307682869/TBucket

Hope this has been interesting for you. Let me know if you'd like any detail pics or infos. It was a lot of blood, sweat and $$$ for me, but, God help me, I'm already dreaming up new ideas. What a great sport we have.

 

[PotvinGuy]

Well, it's been a few weeks now and I've been making the cruises. The EZ-EFI is learning, and I'm getting familiar with it. I'd call it fine tuning now, getting the AFR's where the engine is happiest, the accelerator pump setting optimal for smooth transition from idle to takeoff.

The problems with the drivetrain turned out to be unrelated to the changes I'd made. The wheel studs screw thru the hub and have a Nylock on the back side. Some of them had loosened and moved inward until they were scraping the hub carrier. There is still some small shuddering on braking, but I think that is fiberglass dust on the brake pads. That dust is like an airborne virus; it gets everywhere. I could take the pads out and sand them if I get ambitious. Or just replace them. There are probably better pads now.

The electric shifter works fine but is a little slow; gear changes take a few seconds. So I'm swapping in a faster linear actuator.

Changed the rear end gear from 3.04 to 3.90 for more punch. That plus my lead foot means less mileage, but I can always go to a higher gear for trips. The car makes little twitches (yaw change) on acceleration and decel; needs a good IRS alignment.

Working now on the electrical redesign. Have a problem: I want to add some gauges and switches, etc, but the dash is full. My leg obscures the hump/console. Any ideas where to put stuff so I can see it and work it? I've thought of an F1-style steering wheel: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/08/11/...campaign=Feed:+weblogsinc/autoblog+(Autoblog) What you think?

 

[PotvinGuy]

Found my new steering wheel:

 

[RESINATOR]

One of our customers added a section to his dash to give the switches thier own space.

 

[RESINATOR]

Here's the photo, I hit the wrong tab.

 

[PotvinGuy]

Here's the photo, I hit the wrong tab.

View attachment 7099

Thanks, Jerry. I considered adding a "subdash" attached to the bottom of the dash. Hate to cut up the existing 'glass, it's nice and my skills are limited:

I could build a bigger column drop and put stuff in it.

 

[rbsWELDER]

Here's the photo, I hit the wrong tab.

View attachment 7099

Hey Jerry,

Did CCR make that dash modification, the extra material below the speedo?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Screaming Metal]

There's no need to line up the oil pump when installing the dist. , just drop it in slightly CCW of where you want it , then spin the engine over while holding slight pressure on the dist. , it'll drop right in !!
dave

Thats what I was going to tell him....just bump the thing with a remote starter button, while pressing, as soon as that tang engages, done deal....
That dash looks killer! I like!

 

[PotvinGuy]

Thats what I was going to tell him....just bump the thing with a remote starter button, while pressing, as soon as that tang engages, done deal....
That dash looks killer! I like!

Thanks! I'm doing a new steering wheel which will incorporate the electric shifter, turn signals and some other stuff.

 

[Flatsman]

Thanks! I'm doing a new steering wheel which will incorporate the electric shifter, turn signals and some other stuff.

You make me tired but I admire your spunk!

 

[2old2fast]

An electronically controlled T-bucket [SIGH] I guess it had to happen!

dave

 

[PotvinGuy]

An electronically controlled T-bucket [SIGH] I guess it had to happen!

dave

Be of good cheer, Dave. I had a fad-T before this one. A great thing about rodding, and buckets in particular, is we get to express our individuality and creativity in our cars. From day one I intended this bucket to be a test bed for my ideas, and for 20 years I've been reworking it. Now if our rulers have their way, in another 20 years we'll all be driving plastic eggs humming with electricity and the only rods left will be in museums. We've been lucky to live through the golden age of the internal combustion car; I smile at every car at every cruise, knowing how much work the owner put in it, and how much it means. Mercy, I'm getting philosophical in my dotage.

Oh, Flatsman, I used to have spunk, but they have a shot for that now.

 

[PotvinGuy]

Here's first stab at the F1 wheel:

The final version will be in black aluminum. It'll have about 30 wires running to it; anyone got idea how to do that in a slick way?

 

[fordsbyjay]

Here's first stab at the F1 wheel:

The final version will be in black aluminum. It'll have about 30 wires running to it; anyone got idea how to do that in a slick way?

Blue tooth would be slick.

 

[PotvinGuy]

OK, scratch that idea for now. I've got a full plate for this winter, rewiring the bucket and redoing the interior of wife's Karmann Ghia. So will hang the F1 wheel on the wall, move some of the functionality to the dash and drop the rest.

 

[Flatsman]

OK, scratch that idea for now. I've got a full plate for this winter, rewiring the bucket and redoing the interior of wife's Karmann Ghia. So will hang the F1 wheel on the wall, move some of the functionality to the dash and drop the rest.

Weh! I feel better already! Have a great winter.