wallaby

Well, there's an issue with their height. They may look ok, but have been holding up a car for what now, 40 years? I'd guess they aren't as tall as they used to be. I know when I put new mounts under my radiator crossmember it raised my front fenders and grille away from the front bumper. My old ones were bad enough that the grille was actually resting on the bumper. I can't imagine trying to replace only a few, seems it would be up there with upgrading only one shock absorber. Don't forget there is an upper half holding the weight, and a lower half that's easier to see and always looks in much better shape....never mind that you nearly have to undo all of the mounts just to raise the body enough to change ONE. If you haven't pulled one out yet, the assembly has a surprise inside! It looks real easy to take out the bolt and just slide the upper rubber bushing out sideways without the need to lift the body hardly at all! The surprise inside is the way the upper washer on top of the stack is constructed; it has a tube welded to it that passes all the way down nearly through the lower bushing. You can't slide the upper bushing out sideways at all until you can lift that washer & tube out, and it needs a surprising amount of room.

I don't recall anyone complaining about having too big a valve.

Which way is the spring not working? It won't close the choke, or it's not opening The choke? When the engine is stone cold the spring should snap the choke closed as soon as you step on the throttle. Once the engine begine to warm up, the spring relaxes its tension and allows the choke to open. The often overlooked part is the choke pull-off. It is a smallish vacuum diaphragm on the front passenger side of the carb. It uses engine vacuum to assist the choke opening process. If that choke pull-off goes bad, it takes forever for the engine to smooth out once you get it started.

Hearing your son after the final made me shed a tear. Sorry for the other stuff you have going on; but nice that you were able to find something spiritual about it. Blue thunder becomes Godspeed.

To change jets you will need to tear it down. To seal the well plugs you need to tear it down. Mine has had all that and more. I still have a difficult time starting it after a long period of sitting. Anything over 5 days or so, and I just expect to crank and crank to get her going. I use the logic that at least I know she has oil pressure before it fires up! Most often, you will find that a simple rebuild and setting of the float adjustment is all it's really going to need. It's pretty rare that I find a Q-jet that really needs more jetting. They are calibrated pretty close from the factory, and it stays that way regardless of what engine it gets bolted to.

You will hear a lot of that sound if you watch "Smokey and the bandit". It was on the other day, and I noticed a scene where he had to swerve through a gas station to avoid an accident...the accident was between a blue 1st gen, and what looked like a green '68 Chevelle. Lots of 70's car watching in the background of that movie.

That's interesting. It makes sense, but there are other ways to engineer the driveline so the offset result isn't seen from the outside...shifting the engine to one side is pretty clever, or even using two different axle lengths and having the gear carrier not exactly centered would be another way. I assume then that the RH and LH axles are the same in our cars? Maybe when it comes down to cost analysis, having both sides use the same axle was the cheapest (cost saving) method, and offsetting the entire axle assembly was the easy solution.

I noticed that when I added an aftermarket intake manifold, that signature sound went away. just FYI

Could it be for PCV valve? Most of the time power brake fitting is in the rear somewhere. Either way, it shouldn't be open and sucking air. It should have a hose going to something or be capped off. Maybe it was capped off and a backfire blew the cap off?

Those are less square than Indianapolis raceway.

Maybe these guys can help? I see from their website that they can make flamges from a rubbing of your port surfaces... http://www.spdexhaust.com/Header-FlangesB.html

The intake looks low enough to work, but the question is the height of the air cleaner assy. It's easy enough to get a drop-base filter housing for a single carb, but don't know if such a thing is avail for dual carb. Maybe the guys at Summit or Edelbrock can give you an assembled height measurement?

I don't think they are particular about positioning; I mean you can mount it on its side, or upside-down, right? Maybe on its side with a 90 degree fitting on the intake and exhaust facing different directions?

Wow. Very nice! Sure is black, though. I bet you can't wait to get that baby into storage. LOL

I imagine the line lock delay isn't an electrical problem, but a flow restriction internally? How does the LL work inside? is it a needle valve, or a ball valve, or a check ball...? I've never inspected one close-up. We used to use Mico brake system with our tow trucks to hold pressure on all four corners for winching operations. I suspect either way, the lock is designed to hold pressure, but the release speed really wasn't a design issue. I'm just wondering if there is a way to bore out the inside to gain more flow without ruining the valve seat area?

Just trying to clarify the problem... The gauge is stuck on full for a long period of driving, then suddenly it shows a tick less than 1/2 tank? I assume the gauge never points to 3/4, or any fraction above 1/2 tank but instead jumps up to show full tank? Does the gauge seem to read normal below 1/2 tank?

Educate me here: I see the description of the pan says it has a trap-door baffle. Isn't that almost like having a windage tray? Where IS a windage tray located? is it like half way up the pan around the back and sides? or is it that screen thingy that's curved under the length of the crank?

I taped mine and used an abrasive cutoff wheel. I also had good results, but the saw and abrasive wheel methods tend to fill the inside of the hose with debris. I have to admit that the proper cutters would be the best way to do it... those cutters look just like cable cutters and use a scissor action instead of pinching. I bet those cutters are great for making battery cables as well.

Multi-use indeed.

Sometimes checking alignment of a belt is tough because it's mostly done visually. It's hard to tell if the alternator is keeping the belt going straight from the water pump AND the crank pulley. You can lay a straight edge or ruler across the alternator pulley (avoiding the nut in the middle) and see where it ends up when positioned near the crank pulley, and again when held near the waterpump pulley. Sometimes you can see right away that the straightedge and the belt are leaving the pulley at different angles. (not good). I used a length of angle-iron as a straightedge across the back surface of the waterpump pulley, to find out where your alternator SHOULD be. My alternator had to be shimed ouward a bit, and tilted backward a tad. I was able to do this by adding some washers here & there. Once you get the belt running straight it forgets about trying to jump off at speed.

There is a rubber hose where the fuel pump connects with the feed line going to the tank: you can simply cut the hose there and splice it back together with an in-line filter. I have one in this location and it works fine, plus it keeps crud out of your fuel pump also. At least it didn't require hacking away at the metal lines going up to the carb. I agree: that filter in the carb inlet is a pain, and is one of the Q-jets' weak spots. It's quite common to destroy the threads in the carb body and get fuel leaks in that area. I removed my carb filter entirely and never have to go there again. If you don't feel secure about having NO filter there, make sure you use the pleated paper type instead of the sintered bronze type.

Thanks Dave for the explain...that sounds like a neat setup. I guess it's a good way to leave the line the same way every time. From the sounds of it, you would prefer to set the RPM a little less than 2000 to get a little better flash from the converter? When you held the staging RPM manualy, what RPM did you target? Really it sounds so much easier with the button. Also I see that you have a sponsor! That decal wasn't there last time I saw the car. I always thought politicians should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers, so you could easily recognize their corporate sponsors. LOL

Yep. It's called a ball stud. I think even Home Depot has them in the hardware isle, but they hide them in the shallow drawers where they stock stuff like O-rings and nylon washers.

Ok, it's an MSD gizmo so it must be ignition related? What exactly does it do?

Well, it might ruin your excuse to get the fancy cable, but these are as close as your local hardware store. Maybe it's easier to change the thing on your carb linkage instead of dealing with a whole new cable setup?