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Wow, the dip really does completely change the look! Looks great against all the dark powder coated trim.
What's the "II MUCH" canister in the back? Is that a fuel filter setup? Sorry if you mentioned that earlier in the thread.
Thanks, we're pretty pleased with the color!
The II Much can is for fuel vapor evap. We had so much fuel smell in the garage after the first night, we could smell it in the laundry room. In an effort to mitigate that, I added this can, which intercepts the normal vent path through the tank cap and runs vapors through the can and out to atmosphere through a small filter. Seems to work, but I have no sight glass to determine if that's the primary cause of the change or the elimination of braided lines in the return and supply lines.
I did a couple small things to the car over the weekend, up to 250 miles. I replaced the intake with something for cooler air... I didn't like how it was drawing air from behind the radiator, so now it draws from in front. That's 4" oval tubing to hop over the radiator, and it fits great! I'll powder the pieces another weekend, but for now, I'm just glad to have it done! I also didn't show off the new hood latch, but the latch allows me to get past 50MPH without the hood flying out of control. You reach in from below the hood and press up, works great!
One thing added to the list, a gear swap. The car has 3.73s with a 27.1" tall tire and a 4L80e, so 75MPH is 2650RPM. That's not sustainable, so I got 3.31s from Brute Speed. locospl has offered to help install when he gets back, thank goodness because I certainly couldn't do it!
This last Friday, we loaded up and headed to Baton Rouge for tuning. Geoff at EPS had no trouble with the car, though he did discover my MAF wiring was incorrect. As part of the no-start troubleshooting, I had swapped the pink and black wires on the MAF. Turns out I had it right and switched them wrong, so when he logged it, no MAF signal, no closed loop. I de-pinned and re-pinned at the shop and it started learning. I left it with him and we (wife and kid) went to the Baton Rouge zoo. Tiger!
The car runs much better, no rich idle and it pulls a lot harder with no hiccups through the RPM. Next up is the gear swap, exhaust modifications and A/C charge scheduled for May 18. I believe I have 6 working days remaining before the power tour, weekdays excluded.
Thanks to Locospl for the help this last weekend, the gears are swapped to 3.31 from 3.73 and the exhaust is side exit rather than dumped. Both of these things made a huge difference in the ride, it's generally even smoother and very tolerable from a noise level. There was no good way to get a picture of the tips on the car without making it look goofy. However, you can't see them when you look in the side mirror and they actually sit within the overall width of the car.
Then, I wrapped up the A/C controls. I haven't tested anything other than cable functions yet, but it's electrically connected and controlled by cables now. We'll charge the system the weekend of the 17th, and I'll test some system functionality next weekend when I'm near the car.
I'm still working on the car, just not updating as frequently as the pictures have slowed. I have one (1) more working day before the 2019 Hot Rod Power Tour, and I'm done with the items to be completed prior to tour. We charged the A/C and I ran the car daily last week to watch for quirks or failures, no issues. When the AC was charged, the air through the vents initially would not drop below 120DGF. We decided the water valve was incorrectly installed, and rather than screw with it, we looped it at the water pump. I shouldn't need it on the June HRPT... works now!
The headliner wasn't original to the car, but it was failing badly. So bad, it fell during a highway trip and I had to hold it up to get home. I ripped it out and vacuumed the car no less than 5 times in total due to all the rust, rats nests, dirt dobber nests, and general crap. I cleaned it up and applied fatmat for the tour, eventually it will get a headliner when we get back.
This last weekend, psychosid cut some tint for the back windows and we put them in, they ended up great! I've never washed windows so thoroughly in my life, but it sure did make the difference. I also installed an alarm for hotel parking lots. That took longer than expected, as I somehow ordered a Viper en espanol... had to translate the pinout and install guides.
The car runs great and the AC works, so we've set our eyes on the tour! Next weekend I'll do a final check, which is tire pressure, fluid levels, spot check bolt torques, some clean up and loading.
Car looks good. What's your opinion of how it runs? Everything you expected or better?
I love how she runs, but I really have no basis for comparison. Not only had I never driven this car prior to the swap and suspension work, I'd never actually been in a '57. At all. A bit foolish, but I just kind of knew it'd be a nice ride. She's heavy when pushing it around the shop for sure. She floats, probably in large part to the body mounts being replaced, but also surprising considering the 20in chrome wheels. She accelerates and decelerates with ease, considering how heavy she is. So, I guess I kind of had some expectations, and I'd guess she exceeds them. Man, you really made me reflect on the thing... this could have gone a whole different way!
I've followed this thread from the beginning. I've myself got a 63 Chevy II wagon that I've been slowly doing a ls2/t56 swap in. I'm nursing a herniated disc in my back so progress is painfully slow (pardon the pun). Your swap had been easy more intensive than what I'm doing but I'm hoping for similar results.
Excellent work, love the build. Was going to wish you good luck on the tour but with a sound build you don't need luck, just have a wonderful time on the tour with the family. We will need pictures when you return.
I had one more working day to tie up some loose ends, and I feel good about where it ended. I added some tweeters so we can actually hear the stereo on the road, made the tail lights and park lights work, and did a general run through. I had wired the light switch like Painless instructed, but my tail lights and park lights never worked, only brake and turn. That is, until I added the Viper alarm last week. I had wired the light out on the Viper alarm to the park lights, and lo and behold, the whole thing worked when I activated the alarm. That lit a fire.
There are 8 pins on the light switch with 6 wires going to it. I tried several configurations, checked diagrams and pinouts, and finally popped a few fuses to decide what each wire was. I finally decided that while each of the wires was correctly identified, only 4 of the 8 pins worked as described: Power to the switch, park only, and two (2) headlight only. After several configurations, I finally said enough, combined the three brown wires for tail lights, front park lights and instrument cluster, then split them to the two configurations. Now, the light switch is binary: all lights off, all lights on. How often will I need my headlights off and park lights on? If it really bothers me, one day, I may add an interrupter switch or go back and try another Danchuk switch.
I had a brake line leaking a little a while ago, so I gave the fitting a half a turn when I identified it. I hate working with brake line fittings, they always feel like they'll fail if you turn them a fraction more. Nonetheless, no leak when I went under there on Saturday during inspection, so I guess it worked. Also, no rear end leak, no oil leaks, no coolant leaks, fuel lines are all tight, bushings and joints all looked fine, etc. I'm a little concerned about how it'll sit when loaded down with junk in the trunk... also, looks like I'm slated for 14MPG. LOL EPA...
So yes, pictures to come after the tour!
And since I didn't take pictures, here's a video of the side exit exhaust:
What a trip! In total, it was 11 days long with 2 days there (Charlotte, NC), 7 days on the tour (Charlotte, NC to Norwalk, OH) and 2 days back (Norwalk, OH to south MS). The car did pretty well, here's a brief list of issues discovered, not necessarily in order but mostly...
The rear suspension is woefully inadequate for all of us and our stuff. Right out of the driveway, we started scraping the exhaust with everything loaded in. Fortunately, my in-laws brought an RV and we could spread the load a little. Even so, really compressed those stock springs. I foresee a four-link with coil-overs in the future, Ridetech perhaps.
We caught a nail early into the trip, less than 300 miles in. It was driver side rear, and the tire went flat immediately. We had a 245/35r20 spare, but getting it on and off was hell with the skirt and massive rotors. Scissor jack started flat and was almost fully extended to get it off. Fortunately, it was on the right side of Atlanta, and Summit in Atlanta had the 255/35r20 tire in stock. We bought, mounted and balanced the new tire, changed it in the Summit parking lot.
The exhaust is low, and scrapes with all that junk in the trunk. Not every dip in the highway, more when turning and finding low points... no sway bars contributes largely to that.
The passenger seat belt mount broke early on. The bolt pulled right out, stripped the 62 year old threads. Alright, that will be addressed LOL
The passenger front window cracked massively around 1/2 way in. The window had been touching a screw head in the fuzzy channel, and must have finally impacted hard enough to cause failure. New window will be needed.
The roof leaks, the windshield leaks, and the back glass leaks. We had standing water in the spare wheel well. The carpet was all damp the first few days, and again later in the trip. Carpet, rear floor panel and more will need replacement, and the roof needs repair. New windshield will be installed eventually, since the OEM is delaminating and scratched from windshield wipers.
The A/C isn't cold. On full blast, it wouldn't cool the car much more than ambient temp. This wasn't an issue until the last day on the return trip. At that point, we were so close, we just cannon-balled it in.
On the plus side, the exhaust was manageable in volume, and on the highway, it knocked down 20MPG on the return trip consistently. It was a comfy ride with the new suspension and body mounts. Even without sway bars, the tires and suspension were capable of keeping it in control in the mountains of Tennessee. The brakes are awesome! I never fully exercised them, but some people just can't drive and we were glad to have Brembo on our side.
Since the next steps with the car are not really LS, I'll probably end up abandoning updates. Maybe I'll post up when something major happens, but for now, with 3,050 miles of Power Tour on it, I'd say it's done for now.
Yes, maiden voyages can be a handful but you didn't have any major problems like the drivetrain failing so that was a success. I had a ****** sedan delivery with coilovers in the back and they were a problem. All builds after that got air bags. Add weight to the back...push the button. Cheaper than coils too. When I install the felt window track I use silicone to glue it in place and run the window up for the night. Pop rivets and screws find a way of chipping/cracking the glass. Thanks for the trip update.
Gentlemen! It's been a while, just shy of 5k miles on it now. I felt I should circle back because that miss is gone. It wasn't tune, it was the plugs! I talked myself into leaving the new acdelco plugs in the crate motor, turns out that was a mistake. I ended up throwing some tr6 plugs in as a hail Mary, for no other reason than I was bored and had a set laying around for spares. NOW she's right! So a word of advice: when in doubt, change the plugs.
Otherwise, I'm driving it and casually making modifications. I bought a pair of custom speedhut gauges to match the Dakota digital for the wideband and a trans temp. Also, added a Dakota digital clock to make the dash complete. I plan to redo the package tray, that massive mdf board and battery are not helping the sagging rear. I plan to start with either some corrugated plastic board or 1/8" thick plastic.
Also, considering paint all of a sudden. I was driving into the plant (lol at security guards look) and saw a newer jeep. I looked it up, it's bikini pearl coat. If the color wasn't enough to sell me on it, the name sure is catchy lol! Lots of paint and body shops in my new location, and I cashed out a good amount of equity selling my house in the move... very possible this will get a percent of it.
My latest pain is dealing with texas inspection. It failed for... lack of wipers. Wut? Yeah, wipers. Well, I'll find out if there's a friendlier shop who's willing to see I have the new switch, arms and blades, just don't have time when rainx works so well.
oh, and i replaced the brembos. I didnt like the silver, so i did a set in candy teal over a semi polished surface. Love them! Maybe I'll snap some recent pics and post to follow up.
04-01-2019, 12:23 PM
Looks great against all the dark powder coated trim.
