'89 Stepside "Way Cool Jr."

[stutaeng]

How difficult is it to rebuild those steering boxes? My K3500's box looks like it leaks and is covered in about 1" of caked grime.

I like your idea of picking up a candidate at the treasure yard.

 

[Erik the Awful]

How difficult is it to rebuild those steering boxes?

I dunno, I was going to find out. I've never torn into a steering gear. I've been in some power steering racks before, and they're not terribly complicated. I was considering buying a Redhead gearbox, but if the shafts and other hard parts themselves aren't common wear items, then rebuilding it should just be a matter of nuts and bolts with new seals. If the hard parts are commonly worn and require assessment with micrometers and machine work, then it's worth it to farm it out.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I've been either out of town or running amok for the last few weeks, and today I had the opportunity to make a short drive on an errand. I fired up the truck and it immediately surged to 2000 rpm. I have a vacuum leak somewhere that I need to troubleshoot, and I still need to pull the throttle shaft and see if it's bent.

I did take the opportunity to install a cell-phone mount on the dash. Since I already have a metal tab on the backside of my phone - because I have the same mount in my Mustang, I installed the metal tab on the Holley Sniper's display. Very handy! When I get a chance I'll try to post a pic.

I ended up driving the Mustang on the errand. I can already hear the boos and hisses, but it is what it is. The Mustang is sixteen years old and crazy reliable. Even though I spent time and money building a hoss motor for WCJr, the Mustang would absolutely whoop it in the 1/4 mile. In my truck's defense, I cut up most of the rest of the Cadillac today, and it won't fit in the Mustang's trunk.

I also helped unload a rick of wood into my racks this afternoon, and I've been drinking some homemade wine to relax my back. Hence the rambling. I hope you had a productive MLK day. I did.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I backed the truck up to the shop today to load up another bed full of Cadillac body panels. It was running fine, and I sprayed PB Blaster all around the intake manifold to see if I could find a vacuum leak, but the truck ran flawlessly. I used my hand to blip the throttle and get it off fast idle, and it ran up to 2500 and stayed. The Sniper was reading 0% TPS and 0% IAC. I took the air cleaner off and the throttle blades were shut. I unplugged the IAC and fired it up. It was back at 800 rpm. I plugged the IAC back in and it ran fine. I think Holley's cheap-skate IAC motor took a dump on me. I like how well the Sniper runs when it runs right, but the cheapiness of all the parts is starting to get frustrating.

I did manage to get the rest of the Cadillac body cut up. The only thing intact is the trunk and rear bumper. It may become a couch.

Don't we all wish our C1500s had a fully boxed frame with a 4-link coil spring suspension like this? The frame is 63" across. That driveshaft looks dinky from this angle, but it's 6' long (note the spare standing in the corner). If I remember right, the wheelbase is a little over 120". I've been surfing the FaceFlake marketplace in search of a cheap Jeep DJ5 body near me, but everything I've found so far is $1500-2000 and either in Texas or Kansas. There are a few here in Oklahoma, but none within a hundred miles. I'd readily pay $500 for an intact cab with both sliding doors, good glass, and a grille. I'm also looking for an M101 trailer body to use as a truck bed.

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[HotWheelsBurban]

Yup those Cadillac drive shafts are overbuilt just like the rest of the car. That bad boy is heavy! I have one out of the 75 cad-burb, and that XXL shaft TH 400 to go with it. The shop that built that Burb and several others, one a year, with the previous year Cadillac powertrain, used as much of the car parts as they could. They used to work on many of the Cadillacs from River Oaks, Tanglewood and other swanky parts of Houston. And of course back in the day,you could get anything you needed or broke from the dealership parts counter....

 

[Erik the Awful]

Yesterday I got out and played with the truck a bit, read some info online, and realized it's not a problem with the IAC. The stupid secondary throttle plates aren't closing. It's a "common problem" on the Snipers. This really frustrates me, as it's all Holley's fault. I have done absolutely nothing that would affect the secondary throttle plates. Holley's been making carburetors since 1902, and you think they'd have the assembly process on these down tight. I pulled the Sniper off to access the throttle plate screws. I loosened them a tad, worked the secondary linkage several times, and retightened. I also put another wind on the return spring, which is a recommended aid to the fix.

My son came over this morning to do a brake job on his car, and while he worked with minimal instruction, I worked on installing the Sniper distributor and coil before reinstalling the throttle body. The giant coil is a real pain in the butt. I had to fab a bracket for it, and I made one that is held down by the rear intake manifold bolts. I tried installing it on the driver's side, but the throttle and TV cables absolutely own that area, so no go. I ended up putting it on the passenger side, but it lightly rubs both the distributor cap and the transmission dipstick tube, so it may get moved again. It's a shame, because it's actually pretty tidy and hidden in that space. If I can get half an inch of tweak on the transmission dipstick tube, that will solve the issue.

I'm still not sure on the wiring, and tomorrow I'm going to try and wire it up without the points coil pickup adapter. I'm really hoping it works, because that would be a really simple and clean installation.

My son got some Raybestos "Police Spec" pads and rotors on his P71 CVPI, and he's happy. He was asking about body work, and I asked, "You aren't planning on keeping this turd forever?"

"Hell yeah! This car's awesome!"

...and he's right. So maybe the 4.6 isn't an outright beast of power production, but it's definitely an iron horse, and his motor probably has less than 20k on it. The car does have a few wiring issues we can't track down, and I'm not motivated enough to look for wiring diagrams. He's planning on bringing it back in a few weeks so we can refurbish and recharge the A/C.

Mid-week I'll be heading to Alabama for the 24 Hours of Lemons race at Barber Motorsports Park.

Gratuitous work-in-progress pic.

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[Erik the Awful]

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Today's project. I've already figured out that I tapped into a ground wire to try and power up the ignition. Doh! Once I have it sorted and it runs, I think I'm going to plow into cleaning up the wiring harness.

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[Wh4t3v3rs]

Trying to work around a rat's nest is just eye popping out irritating!!!!!

 

[Erik the Awful]

Well, I got into the harness a bit, and then realized if I wanted to do it right I was going to have to pull the throttle body, distributor, and coil to access the factory engine wiring harness. It was going to be an 8-hour job, and I need to take stuff to scrap on Monday so that I have room in the shop again. Not to mention, there's a Jeep DJ5 nearby that I'm interested in. I cleaned everything up better and zip-tied the extra wiring under the coolant overflow tank. The Sniper wiring is finally mostly tucked into the factory wire loom, so it looks fairly clean.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I was talking with a coworker on Tuesday and mentioned that I'd taken some of the Cadillac to scrap and steel prices were up to $100/ton for tin.

He replied, "I need to take that old truck to scrap. I got an old '88 Chevy one-ton with no engine or transmission. I need to haul it off."

"Wait, what? Tell me more. Is the body okay?"

"The body's good. The back glass is out, but intact. I sold the 454 years ago, but I can't remember if I have the transmission. If I remember right, I'll have to use the tractor to load it because the rear end is locked up. It's a single rear wheel axle."

Long story short, he needs to borrow my door-installation tool for another project, and I might be acquiring the truck. It all remains to be seen because the weather is nasty this week. This kind of rolls into another issue. While I built Way Cool Jr to be a light-duty tow pig, I really could use a heavy-duty tow pig for long hauls with the race team. If this happens, WCJr will be getting a 5/7 drop and some serious weight reduction. The 3500 would get some serious comfort, sound deadening, and a 350 built for torque and fuel economy.

It's a slow day at work, so I'm already brain-storming it out. The transmission will be an issue. As much as I think the 4L60 is under-rated, it's not the transmission of choice for towing, nor is the NV3500 in my shop, but I want an overdrive gear for the highway. I like 97Centurion's 6L80 swap, but at $2000, I'm hoping for a much more budget-oriented option. A Gear Vendors overdrive is about $3000. I haven't seen an NV4500 at Pull-A-Part, and I'd prefer an auto for a tow pig.

We'll see how this works out. If I end up with the truck, I'll start another build thread for it, and WCJr's conversion to an autocross truck will happen on this thread.