51 Chevy 1/2 ton, My S10 swap

[Atommik]

LOW AD,

I don't think I'll be ready for Back to the Fifties this weekend. If everything goes perfectly this week I might get it road ready. But how often does that happen!!??

6 months ago I thought I'll never be ready, 6 weeks ago I thought maybe I can be ready, now with 6 days to go...I don't think so. But maybe!

[LOW A D]

Hope you make it! The last two builds I did were almost 20 hour days for the last few days to get ready for Back to 50's. The truck I just started I'm hoping to drive to the show next year.

[51Charlotte]

Haha, the cards are awesome!!!
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[Atommik]

A little more progress this week. I finished installing the e-fan. I bought a Painless install kit with temp switch, relay, and circuit breaker. Pretty simple install. The fan is from a Mercedes Benz. It's a 19" puller and moves a ton of air! Basically covers the entire radiator. However today when I was running the engine looking for leaks, the fan wouldn't turn on. Time to double check all the connections.

After installing the fan, it was "safe" to install the hood latch panel and latch.
I didn't want to have to remove the panel to access anything behind it. The hood fit up great, with no adjustment from where it was when I took it apart 2 years ago.

As far as I can tell, no oil leaks, no trans leaks, brakes are good. I've got a couple coolant leaks to track down though...

It still runs a little rough on first start up. I think I will pull out the fuel sender and pump assembly and check out the inside of the tank. Could be some gunk in there preventing good fuel flow.

[99 to Life]

atommik, great news glad it is coming along. 1st if you have coolant leaks, I'd put money on the heater and ranco valve, as both mine leaked, so I just went with an aftermarket heater, which is so so. 2. make sure you have enough fluid in there for your sending unit, I'v heard they don't kick on the fan if it is dry, don't know how true that is. did you power up the fan and make sure it works on its own? running rough? what carb you running? one last note, is the sending unit I'm seeing in that smaller hose going in your intake just for your temp gauge?

[Atommik]

99,
Carb is an Edelbrock 1406, it's probably 15 years old. A buddy at work over hauled it but was suspicious of the accelerator pump that came in the kit, he put it in but he said it didn't seem right. It was different than the original. So we're looking into that.

The sender that is mounted on the heater hose is for the fan switch. The engine only has 2 "plugs" for a sender. The driver's side I am using for the temp gauge, the other one I was not able to remove the plug from the block. I had a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar on it and it started to twist the square drive end. So, I thought of putting it in the heater hose. Not sure if it was a good idea or not. Maybe I'll need to buy the "dry" temp sensor that goes thru the rad fins. Or I could switch the gauge and fan senders around and see what happens...

I can power the fan up with a battery charger, so I know it works.

I found out quickly that the valve on the heater leaks, I think the heater core is okay. For now, I've just rerouted the hoses to by-pass the whole thing.

[99 to Life]

yeah them ranco valves always seem to leak, I think its like $50 bucks for one with a core charge maybe, don't quote me on that. As for the temp gauge. I'd def swap out your temp switches, I feel the fan switch in the head is your best bet cause it will be hotter and kick the fan on, and have constant fluid on it. In the hose, the switch could be dry and not kicking on, even with the stat opening and fluid hitting it, its just hard to say. I'd just swap em and I bet that is your problem. As for the carb, Id bet thats your issue with rough idling or whatnot. Aside from your timing, an old carb could have the tiniest dry gunk in it blocking your idle circuit, I'd spray a ton of carb cleaner through your idle screw ports. I bought my carb used in great condition, tore it apart and it had tons of sediment of rust in it. I also run a fuel filter out of my tank and bf the carb and I have a brand new tank just to be safe.

[Atommik]

I found the source of the coolant leak, one of the intake manifold bolts at the front was not tight. Also discovered a trans fluid leak from one of the lines to the cooler. Should be an easy fix.

As far as the fan situation, I'll be trying 2 things tomorrow. The "Tee" I made for the sender probably does have a spot where air will collect below the sender. So I will flip the tee over to make sure coolant is flowing over the sender.
Also, I'm thinking that I may not have power to the fan wire under the hood that goes to the relay. If that's the case I think I know the problem. I'm using an EZ wiring 21 circuit harness. In the cab area are a gray wire marked "fan power" and a gray wire marked "fan". The wiring diagram says nothing about these wires, but the printed instructions mention wires for a cooling fan switch in the dash area. Since my fan is switched thru a temp sensor and relay under the hood, if I connect the 2 wires under the dash (instead of a switch), it should power the fan wire to the relay.
I'll be trying these fixes out tomorrow morning!!

One of the guys at work has a newer Holley carb he said I can try and see if it makes a difference. If it works out I'll buy it from him.

[mknittle]

All in all not bad for a complete build. Truck looks great

[Atommik]

Originally Posted by mknittle

All in all not bad for a complete build. Truck looks great

Thanks mknittle

[99 to Life]

well, if you had a coolant leak from the intake odds are you have a vacuum leak which would def affect your idle circuit amongst other things, make sure you don't have coolant in your oil and check your plugs, could def be a the source of running rough.

As for the EZ wiring, trying to remember off hand here, but yes, def a grey wire in the cab and one out of the cab, the one in the cab. I see what you are saying about tying them together, I think that is what i had to do, tie em together since your not running manual switch, seems to makes sense, its just been a while. I can look tomorrow if I can remember. I hated EZ's instructions, their tech guy is great but its hard to get him on the phone. I really wanted to make my own diagram and post it in a PDF to make peoples lives EZier!!!

[Atommik]

99,
I connected the two gray wires under the dash and now I have power to the fan relay under the hood. Problem solved.

Things are getting crazy at work with hail and storm damage so I may need to take a week off from the truck. Hopefully next week I'll be able to wrap up the few little problems and get this thing on the road!!!

Thanks for your help on all of this!!

[99 to Life]

glad you got that going, yeah I looked under my dash and thats how I have it rigged too, you'd think they would just say that in the instructions in the first place, but they don't.

can't wait to see yah get this on the road.

[skymangs]

Looking great Atommik. Those last minute Gremlins can be a real pain. We were still messing with fuel pump issues all the way through power tour (this is the 3rd electric fuel pump we've put on the truck).

[99 to Life]

ahhhhhh you guys are giving me horror stories on these fuel pumps. I may never go Epump now. But good thing I don't mind the old cheap mechanical ones.

[Atommik]

After having some poor running/ rough idle, poor starting "issues", I decided to try a different carb. A guy from work had a Holley 750 cfm double pumper that he was not using. That's more carb than I really need, but hey, you only live once!! Bolted it on and it made a huge difference!! Now it runs smooth and strong!!

The old Edelbrock just was too old and full of gunk even after a rebuild.

I just need to fix the tranny cooler line leak(this weekend), install the windshield (tomorrow) and it should be dependable and legally drivable!! Can't wait!!!

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by Atommik

After having some poor running/ rough idle, poor starting "issues", I decided to try a different carb. A guy from work had a Holley 750 cfm double pumper that he was not using. That's more carb than I really need, but hey, you only live once!! Bolted it on and it made a huge difference!! Now it runs smooth and strong!!

The old Edelbrock just was too old and full of gunk even after a rebuild.

I just need to fix the tranny cooler line leak(this weekend), install the windshield (tomorrow) and it should be dependable and legally drivable!! Can't wait!!!

Great news!

[focusedontheprize]

Congrats!

I think some miles are in order...
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[99 to Life]

yeah congrats, If I were you I'd just buy a new 600 eddy or 650 holley or quickfuel carb, that double pumper is a bit much will work but is gonna suck gas and have you running too rich. Glad everything is coming together for you.

[chev3600]

Great looking truck, glad to see it almost complete and ready to rock.

[Atommik]

Windshield in!!!

[Atommik]

Well good news, bad news.

Got the trans leak fixed, just a loose fitting on the cooler line,. Bad news truck wouldn't stay running long enough to really test the leak or the cooling fan operation.
Fuel delivery problems. Just not getting enough gas. I guess I' have to open up the tank and give it a good cleaning and then double check the flow from the fuel pump. Of course I thought this problem was solved a couple of days ago, so I added 5 gallons of gas to the tank that I will now need to drain. At least I didn't fill the tank!

[51Charlotte]

You'll get it sorted out bud. I have faith in ya!
Windshield looks great
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[mknittle]

Originally Posted by Atommik

Thanks mknittle

I just caught that. What I meant was the little glitches

Your truck is great. you got me to consider painting mine yellow
The color of the week currently is Ford grabber yellow

I am looking forward to seeing some pictures of yours in the outside light.

[Atommik]

I am looking forward to seeing some pictures of yours in the outside light.[/QUOTE]

Yeah me too!! I had it outside one day last week but didn't think to take any pics...That orange really "Pops" in the sun! Very happy with my choice!!

Thanks again to all for the compliments!!