Brake and trans check. Another milestone and everything moved and stopped, but now of course I have a couple more things to figure out. Hit 2nd gear nice and smooth on the stands.

 

Thanks for the in depth info on the Lizard Skin, will probably try it myself some time

 

My brake pedal was not returning correctly so I had to add some return springs. I'm not sure how people normally do this, but I'm open to ideas. Here is the way I went about it. One trip to the hardware store for a thumb screw and also found a throttle return spring variety pack at O'Reilly's. I made the rest of the pieces with shop scrap. It may need adjusting later, but at least I have a starting point and it's working a whole bunch better.

 

I have a return spring on mine pretty much the same way, only it's a much heavier spring. Lighter springs didn't want to return the pedal quick enough for my liking.

 

The drivers floor and firewall around the brake pedal needed to be addressed so I started trying to figure out how to finish the toe plate. This is what I started with.


Prefer not to weld any more on the car right now so I had to figure out a way to do it on the bench.


There is a little bit of it closed up now for the brake pedal "box".


Figured out how big the opening needed to be and machined a lap joint at the bottom for tying it into the toe plate.


Started playing with some scrap to see what this box would need to look like. I haven't seen anything like this before so its just another "figure it out" deal. Stay tuned........

 

Wow! You're getting all fancy! Mine just has a boot on the pedal, kind of like a shifter boot. Glad to see you're still plugging away on it.

 

Hey Eric my offset brake pedal comes inside the firewall about an inch so I had figure out a way to close all that up, and I also wanted to have some plastic guides of some sort to take a little side pressure off the brake pedal. Here's the initial little box I built. The white piece on the left of the brake pedal is a fixed piece of UHMW that serves as a guide when you push down the pedal.


Pedal in the "up" position. Everything cleared ALMOST LOL


Had to extend the box due to the large radius in the brake pedal bend that didn't quite clear. Love the cleco clamps I found at a swap meet.


I keep some 1/8" rod around for lining stuff up for later.


Here's the box installed. The white flat UHMW on the right side of the pedal is in slots so it can be slid over to the pedal and tightened down where it feels just right.


A key part of this design is that the box can be removed to get to the transmission bolt if needed.


Working on the cover and trim plate.


Fab work done on the box ready for next steps

 

Painted, sealed, installed


Box assembled. Adapted a Cadillac brake pedal to fit so it would match the gas pedal. Polished the little trim plate and made a rubber boot. Looks easy but it definitely wasn't LOL


Made some gaskets for the trans tunnel cover.


Floor closed up FINALLY ! The spacing on the pedals is great! I used the GM directions guidelines for distances between pedals horizontally and vertically and it also matches one of my daily drivers. I've driven some cars before where everything is a little too cramped down there so I'm really glad I took the time to correct some of those issues.

 

Major milestone last weekend. Moved the car out of the shop and pulled it back inside under its own power. It's been a LONG time!! I had to get out and turn the tires a little due to no steering column at the moment, but it ran and stopped just fine. Eric I did go with a heavier return spring on the brake pedal like you mentioned and it feels like it should.

 

You out ripping up the streets of Tyler Texas yet? 😃

 

Not exactly ripping up the streets just yet LOL. We had a party in my shop a few weeks ago so Penny got moved to the house garage for a while. When I pulled it back into the shop it died and wouldn't start.. I just got a chance to look at it last weekend. It didn't have any fuel pressure and turned out to be the fuel pump, but I want to share what I learned and maybe save somebody some money and trouble...... Fuel level, pump voltage, everything I knew to check looked good so I changed the pump. It has a Walbro 255 which is now TI Automotive by the way. The new pump made it run but it started slow and built pressure slow. AND would only reach 50 psi instead of 60. Something just wasn't right. I changed the FPR to no avail. Oh well I kind of wanted a spare anyway for the road. I went down several rabbit holes before I ended up back at the pump. I'm using a Tanks setup that I put together way back when. It comes with black hard tubing you have to heat slightly with a heat gun and press on to the fittings. I had some leftover black tubing so I made a new piece for the new pump. The black tubing was looser than I would like on the pump nipple, BUT it seemed to tighten up ok with a hose clamp Well it wasn't tight enough. At this point I realized when I took the tubing off the old pump there was a thin spacer between the pump nipple and the black tubing in the bottom pic. It is what they use for the return side. It is .020" thick and makes ALL the difference in the world! Now when I block off the return at the tank the pump will go wide open, which advertises 112psi, just like it is supposed to. Cranks normal and idles at 60psi. SO if you change one of these out on this type of setup don't forget the little white spacer! See learning experience below LOL

 

One more note on the fuel system. I apologize if this is old news, but I found some new (TO ME) fittings to put on my FPR. I never really liked the ones in the top pic. Even when I pushed the plastic piece past the lip where it is supposed to go it really didn't feel that tight. While I had the FPR off the other day I found some different fittings in my Russell catalog. I called Russell and the tech guy acted like they are basically the same, but I could see the plastic clip getting by the lip for one reason or another. The newer style in the bottom pic have a threaded retainer that, in my mind, work much better. The part numbers are Russell 644113 and Russell 644123. Any other thoughts?

 

Yeah some what old news on the threaded fitting retainers but a good reminder. I also safety wire the output side of the FFR to keep the output from coming out. Never have had an issue but it doesn't hurt.
Also use the threaded retainer fittings on the fuel rail.

 

I don't know why the pictures are not loading for me, but the threaded back fittings are the way to go. Put a little O-ring line on the fuel line so the fitting slides on easily and doesn't rip the o-ring.

Andrew

 

I've read the post about the fuel pump (#771) many times and I'm missing something. Does the white spacer go on the pressure side? Why does the spacer make such a difference? Is there a leak around the nipple without it? Please help me understand.

 

Sorry it wasn't more clear. Yes the white spacer, which is what Tanks sends to be used for the return side, happens to be the perfect size to cut a short spacer to be used on the pressure side. The spacer goes on the pump nipple first then the hard black tubing can be slid over it to make a good seal. Without the spacer it will leak and not build pressure correctly. I did not realize the spacer was in there when I changed my pump and had to figure it out the hard way LOL. Hope that clears it up.....

 

Thanks, now it's clear. I lost a 255 pump under 200 miles and wonder if I have the same problem.

 

Thanks LS1 TJ and Andrew for the comments and info on the fuel system. I had ordered an extra fitting for the fuel rail and installed it today. Resealed the pump for the final time and it cranks fine with no leaks...cool.

I'm a little behind on posting. A while back the car went to the interior shop for some seat work. I wasn't really ready but they were. When it came home I unloaded it off a rollback trailer and the car got away from me and my son. Remember at the time it had no brakes, no steering, and it hit a workbench at a very slow crawl. I knew it put a small ding in a fender, but I had not addressed it since. Sort of tried to forget about it really LOL. Well I finally pulled my head out of the sand and did some measuring. As it turns out, the light tap kicked the front end over a little bit and put some twist in it. Got my buddy to come over on Labor Day and got it back straight and sitting level. Took a few hours but it measures out great and just has a little extra patina now LOL. Thanks Mark Dunbar! AND now I realize I probably need to add some brackets to hold the front end a little better. More brackets YAY !!

 

So I can relate to dings on almost done hot rods.
A number of years ago I bought a really nice 71 C3 Corvette vert for a LS swap.
So things went well during the swap until I got it running. LS/4L60E swap.
I started the C3 on the ground a few times everything went well. But what I did not know PO (who knows) bypassed the neutral switch so when I started it ran it into my Clausing Drill press. Cracked the nose. I was sick. Drill press was unharmed. LOL.
Local body shop did a fantastic job on the repair. After pics.

 

Now that the car is running right I have several other things going on the car, but eventually I'll need a dash. I built a fixture so my buddy Dunbar could get started on the remaining steel work. The plan is to weld in the gauge cluster bezel, fit the AC vents, fill in some holes, take out some humps, etc. I had built somewhat of a fixture way back when for the initial dash layout, but I definitely needed something better for final assembly. Started with some 1/4" steel plate and shop scrap for the rest.....and of course the necessary trips to the hardware store.


Fits nice in the fixture and also in the car. Hopefully it still fits this good when its all done.


The dash has curves in all directions so I used some rod ends in a couple of places to be able to fit "just right"



Can't wait to see what the gauge cluster bezel looks like without the clecos LOL