project Bad Karma

[luifer76]

man i went through almost the same thing when i installed my engine. im glad you got it all figured out bro, truck looks good keep up the good work......

[pockets]

Thanks. It was sure frustrating but hearing it run made it all worthwhile!

[RandyP]

I say, it is such a powerful engine that it was blowing hoses off! Might make you feel better to think of it like that.

Glad to hear you got it fired over, always makes you feel a lot better and that you have gotten over a huge hurdle.

[pockets]

Originally Posted by RandyP

I say, it is such a powerful engine that it was blowing hoses off! Might make you feel better to think of it like that.

Glad to hear you got it fired over, always makes you feel a lot better and that you have gotten over a huge hurdle.

LOL, I like that excuse

it is a big load off my shoulders, that's for sure.

[pockets]

So I made it over to the shop today and with the new FlipVideo camcorder we got, took this vid of the truck running.

I finished breaking it in first and replaced some hoses. I didn't have a timing light on me so it still needs a little adjusting, but overall I'm happy it is running.

YouTube - 383 Chevy in 87 pickup

[pockets]

So I pulled out the top portion of the dash and brought it home for a little work during the week. Here is what I have so far.

Here is a shot of it sitting on my tablesaw. Shortly after I got the truck I modded the dash to put in a DIN head unit up top. You can see that here.


Quick mockup of where 3 of the 4 vents will go:


Close up of the vents. The are out of a Saleen Mustang. F-150's also have them but not in black (so I'm told):


Mocked up with trim rings. The rings are a bit "out of round", but that's ok, it'll all get filled in anyway.

[RandyP]

That's gonna look pretty slick. Although... putting ford parts in there, your trucks name might come in to play.

[pockets]

yea I almost didn't mention that, but someone would ask eventually...

My father-in-law has an f-150 and I've been in it a few times. I just really liked them. Most of the aftermarket vents suck.

[luifer76]

i love the idea of the dash man looks good keep the updates coming.....

[dougminton]

subscribed

[pockets]

Well I finally got a bottle for my mig, so this weekend i'm back up at the shop to get the exhaust put on. Then I can bring it home. Seems the little lady doesn't want an open header truck in the garage

[pockets]

Spent the better part of 5 hours or so yesterday doing the exhaust. My first welds were, well, nasty but I got the hang of it and it didn't turn out too bad.

By time I got done I was so exhausted (no pun intended) I didn't feel like taking any pics of the finished deal, but I'll get some next weekend. I still have to put on the turndowns and do a hanger for the passenger side pipe, do a little wiggling to tuck up that side as well and I'll call it done. I might grind down all the welds and make it nice and smooth, but we'll see.

I did however drop the truck down from the lift and fire it up. After what seemed like gallons of sweat (the humidity here is a killer) and sore from being on my feet, that sounds sure put a smile on my face.

I'll get a video of it running next weekend as well.

[pockets]

Here are some detail shots of the exhaust. Yea I know the welds are, well, ugly, but hey it my first time and I can always grind them down

The mufflers are Spintech Super Pro Street 9000.
















Here is a video of it. The damn alternator belt slips like crazy. I'm starting to think it might be the paint on the pulleys being a bit slippery. Oh well, something else to fix.

YouTube - ‪383 with...

[pockets]

I finally got the truck home today. Been a year since it was first taken to the shop. My brother-in-law hauled it here on his flatbed and I drove it up the driveway.

Needless to say, it is quite dirty a year in the shop will do that. I still have to hook up the ac brackets and power steering before I can actually drive it. Oh and getting the dash done wouldn't hurt either...



Yuck...

[pockets]

Well I got my fuel lines rerouted and put the regulators on the fenderwell instead of the firewall. I also decided that since I was having so much trouble with my carb in getting it to idle that I went ahead and bought a custom carb for it.

I just don't think my 3310 was up to the task of handling this engine without some serious rework and I really didn't want to start drilling holes it and all that. So I ordered up a carb from ProSystems and it should be here in a week or so.

While the carb is off I figured I'd go ahead and fix my dissy problem ( I had it 180* off when I put it in and it made the plug wires look like a mess!), and since that was out I figured I'd take the intake off and get it cleaned back up. All my little fuel problems sure made my nice pretty intake look like crap.

Since I wanted to make sure I got the dissy correct this time I took the #1 plug out and put my finger over the hole and had the wife bump the motor over to get it to TDC. Well, the plug was as black as could be. Not surprising since it was running so frick'n rich at idle So out came all the plugs and those are getting replaced too. Surprisingly it was easier getting the plugs out with the headers on it that it ever was with the stock manifolds. I was quite pleased with that!

I also started in on the dash again. I got the factory gauge cluster out and am still trying to figure out how I'm going to do it all, but it is a lot easier having the truck back home to do that part.

[pockets]

So last week I got my new carb and got it installed this past weekend. It immediately idled better than my old one, and with some timing adjustments it runs really nice. I really like the big glass fuel level sights. One thing you don't see here is I had to hack/modify my TV/throttle cable bracket as the baseplate isn't a standard holley piece that it was designed for. Still need a little tweaking on that one.

The truck made its first trip under its own power in over a year. OK, it was only around the block, but it sure felt nice!

If you look closely you will see my homemade carb spacer. The accelerator pump housing was thicker than usual and since no one locally carries a small spacer and I didn't want to wait while one was ordered I whipped up this one for the time being.



You will also note the shop rag in the breather hole on the driver side. Well I had a couple issues here. First was the stock AC belt was just barely long enough and caused the AC fitting to be about an 1/8" above the valve cover. I didn't like that so I got one that was 1.5" longer and that moved the AC another .5" or so.

Second issue is that that AC bracket was raised enough that it partially blocks the radiator hose, so I'll need to get a 15*, straight or perhaps pop for an adjustable water neck to fix that issue.

Third problem is that the hole is just close enough that my breather doesn't fit without a little trimming, so I'll do that this week I think.



Another thing I'll have to fix is my idea of running the plug wires under the headers was a bad one. The #1 is burned so I'll route them the ugly/normally way after I get some new ones. Oh well.

[pockets]

Got some work done on the dash cluster.





The top left ring is for the AC vent. The top right is for the tach. Center section will house the speedo, water temp and oil pressure. Other three gauges will be for vacuum, fuel level and volts.

I'm relocating the AC controls down to where the original stereo used to be and the headlight switch will be moved over and down a bit from original location.

My next step here is to fab up the trim ring for the AC controls, then cover and glass the whole thing.

[bradford]

I cant wait to see the finished product on the dash and the gauges.
Im interested in seeing the nightmare of wiring.

[pockets]

Fleece is on and first application of resin applied. I didn't do the bottom right section as I still need to work out the ac vent location. I also ran out of resin hardner :\

I started to staple it, but the force of the stapler just broke off most of the trim rings, so I ended up just using a 3M spray adhesive. it help up pretty good.

Once the ac controls are setup, it will be sand, sand and sand some more...

[pockets]

I got the truck retagged and took it last night for its first real drive. The previous one was just around the block in the neighborhood. It did pretty well. I was worried that the trans wouldn't shift properly. It still has the stock trans and I have one of those TV cable brackets. It seems to work just fine, if not a little sluggish.

But, like I said it is a stock trans still with the stock converter even. I know it needs a new converter for this cam, but for the moment it drives

Still need to get the dash done. I have the oil pressure, vacuum and tach rolling around on the dash

It was also a wee bit louder than I expected, but hey it's a hot rod to me so I'm happy. I never took it over 45, but cruising at that speed it wasn't too bad. Touch the throttle and it will sure wake you up in hurry though

I was also a tad worried about the vacuum level in gear and the power valve. It has a 6.5 in it and the vacuum would hover around 6-7. I asked Patrick (ProSystems, who built my carb) about getting another one and he said to wait until I drive it to see what it does. Sure enough, after fully warmed up, at a stop in gear it stayed right at 8", and sounds pretty mean doing it

[lyrikz]

Hey, we have the same build name. LOL
Project Karma

Cool looking truck.

[pockets]

Originally Posted by lyrikz

Hey, we have the same build name. LOL
Project Karma

Cool looking truck.

Well I'll be!

I sure hope yours has been better karma than mine! That sure is a pretty GMC you have there.

Oh, and that .50 AE looks like fun. Never shot one myself, but I have shot a .454 Casull. what a handful.

[pockets]

Didn't realize I hadn't posted in so long... I got the tranny rebuilt and the trans guy had all kinds of problems with the valve body. Figures, the one thing that didn't get replaced in the whole trans

Finally got it all sorted out and then the front seal leaks like crazy, so going to take it back to him and have that fixed tomorrow (Friday) night. Thankfully he is going to work late getting it done so I can hopefully take it to the midnight drags on Saturday to see what the old pig can do. It is the last night the track is open before it closes for good so it is my last opportunity sadly enough. Nearest track is about 2 hours away after this one closes down.

Driving it has been fun though. Off idle is much better with the new converter in it. Went from stock to a 2500 stall.

Been coming along on the dash as well. Although I admit I've been fairly lazy with it. It should have been done long ago. I'll try to get some pictures up of it this weekend. I'm going to put it temporarily so I'll have all my gauges. I've been driving around with my tach, oil pressure and vacuum gauges sitting in the whole where the original gauges went

[pockets]

Here are some dash pics after I got it in last night:


The upper left hole if for an AC vent. You can't tell here, but once I get a slightly smaller diameter steering wheel, the tach will be completely visible. Right now it is slightly obscured by the wheel. I wanted the high visibility that you get from a tach on top of the dash, without it sticking up like a sore thumb. So this was my compromise.

My normal driving position is with my left hand at 12, which covers the speedo, but I can see the oil pressure and water temp perfectly at a quick glance. Those being the two most important gauges to me, I wanted those up front.



The two holes will be for AC vents.


The far right rectangle hole will become a round hole and get yet another AC vent.

It is still in really rough shape, but I primed it and put it in so I would have the gauges for the track tomorrow night.

[vtwinsport]

nice idea on the integrated dash and gauge cluster. look forward to seeing the finished product.
keep it up.