Traveler

I replaced the dash bulbs with led’s off ebay. I ran into two issues, the first was the trace of the printed circuit lifted off the mylar(I guess the substrate is mylar) I simply put it back where it came from and carefully reinstalled the bulb holder over the trace, the second issue I ran into was the led’s I purchased where polarity sensitive(not all are), you may want to turn the bulb around in the holder and try again. J

Rear was done yesterday sans a little cosmetics, on to the brakes, hopefully today. The control arms are due in by the end of the month, then the fun part comes, the install.

Sorry all, sometimes the old me still comes out. Ya know I decided to retire from who I had to be so I could be who I wanted to be, that money post was more an internal exercise that slipped through to bore/amuse the rest of you. Again sorry 😢

In my professional life I managed million dollar budgets which taught me to establish budgets with wants and manage budgets to needs. I’m doing the same thing with this project, at least I’m hoping to. Do you remember what Mike Tyson said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” lol. Hopefully my wants won’t cause me to get punched too hard by my needs😊

Thanks for asking. The axles arrived last Friday, installed the studs, cleaned the axle tubes, checked the carrier bearings, prepped the cover and the rest of the rear for the final push. I ran into a little issue with the brake cylinders, they must be original as the bolts that hold them to the backing plate seem to have shrunk, they are not metric or sae, started to get physical with them and remembered I had one of those gadget tools (a socket full of pins) that may work so I don’t have to chisel or grind them off. We have hit a cold spell here and my garage isn’t heated (oh poor me lol) so I took the last couple of days easy(helped my brother paint his home on Monday). So today I feel guilty for being lazy yesterday. I hope to solve the brake issue in a hour or two then finish prepping the bearings for install, put in the axle seals and axles, c clips..., add the gear and posi lube and close it up. I then have to wait for the control arms to arrive to install the rear, I have everything else I can think of, maybe. I ordered ‘inline’ brake lines they arrived, got drums, brake shoes, axle bearings, hardware kits, middle hose, the only thing I may need is the emergency brake stuff off of the 10 bolt. I spoke with a gentleman in Delaware who will rebuild the 2004R and take care of the internals such as a hardened input shaft, bigger band, larger clutches, a TCI kit that eliminates the lock up control issue(allows overdrive without external control) and the correct speedo gear for 275/60R15’s, and the bracket for column shifter. The last decision I have to make is two fold, upgrade the 350 with heads, cam, intake or go the 383/400 route. The second choice is going carb or efi, which will determine which type of gas tank. I started with a $5k budget and have gone halfway through it if I do the trans upgrades. If I just throw the 2204R in ($120 TCI stuff) I can do any of the above and stay in budget without the efi. 383/400 is $3500 with carb, upper end on the 350 is $2500, trans $950, efi and tank/fuel pump/lines/electrical is around $1600, just replace the tank $150. I estimate I have $5k-$8k equity in the car as I got a good deal, so my budget was low to begin with. Decisions, decisions,lol. I’m blessed to have such problems.

Wow that is impressive, if I can get mine in that kind of shape then she may get some beautiful jewelry such as that!

Yesterday I removed the outer bearing, went to the store of the father of the kid I’m putting through college lol (parts store) and purchased new bearings, ordered new axels and hope to have the rear ready for install this weekend or early next week. Still need to decide on the control arms and bushings.

Yesterday I started to prep the 12 bolt I got for install, my first impulse was change the oil, throw it in. I decided to put new axel seals just because it would be easier to do it with the rear on jack stands, that’s when I found the left axel bearing was missing a roller. Axel has some pitting in the bearing path, so it will be cheaper to do it once than see if it will last, so I now have to order axels. NAPA has the bearing in stock so this morning I’ll be off to the parts store. Do it right do it once, see you can teach an old dog new tricks.

ruff, ruff, lol turns out the guy worked as an engineer at a job I had applied to be the chief at. small world. thanks for the advice. other spending needs have come into the equation so I think I’m going to do this a little more piece meal and just do the uppers at this point

That’s what is great about this club, concise advice, thanks J

I lucked out and found a 12 bolt on craigslist. It’s out of a 1970 Chevelle with an axel code of CCW 09*5B, and a casting #3859038MF. If my research is correct it originally had a ratio of 373 and was an open rear. The seller told me he thought it was a 331 posi unit. Upon opening the rear it has Richmond gears and after counting the teeth it was a 354.54 ratio or as Richmond confirmed 355, and is a posi unit. After reading multiple threads here I’m a little confused, some say that the upper left control arm will have to be changed, others say it will work fine. Has anyone done this type of exchange and did or didn’t they have an issue with the control arms? Thanks J

If I had any indecision Steve G you helped me decide against them, thanks and may you have a happy and prosperous new years J

Good morning all, Since I have to replace the upper ball joints and springs in my 71 MC I have been investigating tubular control arms. There is a set for $219 on eBay. Has anyone used these and if so what was your experience? I have two concerns, the first is “you get what you pay for”, considering that they are half the price of brand names, are they junk or OK?, The second is the rule of unintended consequences: when considering that the lowers have a 2” drop pocket, it seems to my uneducated mind on this subject that this is a significant change in the geometry that could cause binding or sever angles, am I correct? If so is it something that can be overcome and how would I correct the problems it may cause? 1” could be OK but I’m not sure if a 2” drop is something reasonable. I like the idea of better caster and camber angles as what I read suggest the dancy nature of the steering.could be addressed. With this change I plan on going with QA1 or Viking (depending on the best deal I can make) coil over shocks, and I think these shocks have enough adjustment to compensate for the ride height, but does moving the shock down so low cause other issues? Thank you in advance for your replies.

Thanks for the reply, a mind is a terrible thing to waste, lol. I bought one and never installed it. This may be the problem.. I hope you have a blessed thanksgiving. J

I recently bought a 71 MC, with 69000 miles a 350 2 barrel,...The car surges at highway speeds, and was missing badly in the mid to upper rpm range. First thing I did was plugs, wires, cap, rotor reset timing and dwell ( found it way off 4* atdc and 12* dwell). I didn’t replace the points because I planned to and did installed the Fast XR-i pointless ignition and a new PS2 coil (coil looked to be stock). Part of the reason for the change was that I wondered if I was losing spark in the mid to upper rpm range causing an intermittent miss. When I examined the plugs #2 cylinder showed signs of oil migration so I pulled the springs on #2 and the valve stems seals were gone, there was very little lateral valve stem movement and about 4% blow by, put new seals on, reassembled. Engine holds 20” of vacuum at idle, and starts and idles fine, drops to about 14” at full throttle and then jumps back up to 20” when throttle plate closes. I have looked for a vacuum leak and found none, any suggestions.

The 15 minute job of converting to pointless ignition is true if the distributor is on the bench, took me just a little longer, let’s says 2-3 hours, I chose the Fast XR-i system over the others available due to ease of installation, some could have required you to shim the distributor which requires removal. If you go to do this install in the car I suggest that you mount the module to the plate then install the plate to the location of the old points, as the advance counter weights are in the way and the small (#6) screw is difficult to align. Attach two wires, reset the timing and idle and your done. Got a new PS2 coil and the fast module off of amazon for $62.09.

Great looking work, it seems there are a few who still take pride in their workmanship, good job!

I had a productive day, I removed the dash pad and replaced all the dash bulbs with led’s, turns out only a few of the bulbs were bad, the holders were corroded. Fixed the radio, speaker ground missing, replaced the right front turn signal bulb, depending on the rain I have more planned for today, #2 valve stem seals, tomorrow or Monday Fast XR-I. Still on the list; get the bench seat to move again, fuel level sending unit, adjust the hood and drivers window, then decide on; upper, lower control arms, front springs, shocks, 1 wire alternator, heads, (after the valve seals succeed or fail) intake, gas tank, radio, Got to have goals in life,lol. J