Thanks man!
Alright, I'm finally back from my Texas trip! That was a ton of fun, but I was dying to get back to my truck the entire time. Today was my only day before I go back to work tomorrow, so I got the last little bit done, got new tags and insurance and took her out on the road!
I had to go to town and pick up a new timing light as the old Sun timing gun died. It was older than I was! This one seemed to work well for a basic model.
I set the timing on the engine to match the targeted timing on the Sniper handheld, then went to work changing out the distributor cap to phase the rotor. You can also see the plastic intake spacer I picked up. The metal one I got didn't work at all, this one works but is pretty cheesy. I think I'll just end up making my own at some point.
The other new cap modified. Turns out it was nearly impossible to see here, so I ended up with another hole on the top.
I also picked up a new air filter and stuck the dual snorkel air cleaner on! I love the stockish but stealthy look it gives the engine bay. I'll take it back off and paint it when I make a new spacer.
Double checked all the fluids and backed it outside for the first time! My coolant sensor was leaking, I must have forgotten to torque it down the rest of the way. Tightened it back down and everything was fine!
Whoops.
And here's the first drive! Stopped over and visited a friend who has this pre-47 Chevy. It has an LS1, T56, 4 link rear end, and 15x8/15x10 wheels. It's fast!
Overall I'm pretty happy with the truck! There's still a handful of bugs and little things I want to finish on it. I did notice that on a hard turn, my wheels barely rubbed the control arms, so I'll be going back under to do a little clearancing there. It drives straight down the road but I'll take it in for an alignment just to be safe. One or both of the idler pulleys on the accessory drive needs to be replaced, it squeaks a bit.
The one big issue I was having is that I seem to be getting some detonation/spark knock when I get into the throttle a bit trying to accelerate on the highway. Just starting off, up to about 15%+ throttle it is fine. If I try and get into the throttle quickly about 20% or more, it rattles and acts like the engine lugs. If I shift out of OD into D, it revs the engine right back up and doesn't rattle anymore, but if I stop and start moving again, even in D the rattle can come back. If I ease through the throttle I won't get the knock, it just seems to be right when it gets into load. The Overdrive seems like it needs some tuning as well, I'm not sure what I'll need to do yet, but it seems to shift in a little early at times. I'd basically rather keep it out of OD until I'm cruising. I'm running 32* timing but I'm going to check with Holley to see if there's some addition ignition tuning I can do. For now though, I'm happy to have been able to drive it after this much time! It's gotten tons of looks even just the few miles I put on it!
