Re: Restoring Rusty
 

That's an expensive mod. Any particular reason for doing it other than getting the fuel inlets on the "correct" side of the engine? I've been using that same carb for nearly two years now. Its only issue was being a little hesitant on very cold mornings, which I have solved by drilling out the squirter orifices to .035".

Of course, since I bought my 80487, Holley has introduced an 80458 with center hung bowls. (Place "aargh" emogi here.)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I was tired of the silly plugs you have to remove to see how high your fuel in the bowls is, and have gasoline poor out on the hot engine, plus all the cool kids had em, jk also that silly straw that connected the old float bowls had those pesky rubber tips that would tear every time I took the bowls off to reject, it got old real quick

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

The secret to those transfer tube seals is use a bit of Vaseline on them before installing them.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Ah, there's your problem. Carb felt bad because it was rejected. :)

I need to get a pair of the clear sight glasses (for the carb.)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

LOL, hey I'll handle the humor around here, jk

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so not sure I shared this with you, but last October I tried yet another exhaust though it was short lived (ran it for a week or so) because I had that dreadful crank bearing problem

anywho I took it off thinking the noise was another exhaust header leak, turns out it wasn't, but I was running my exhaust manifolds with stockish turbo mufflers ever since, well until today

today we will put the Thrush Rattlers back on, or as I like to call it Exhaust 8.0

Hey what did you expect was going to happen when you leave me un supervised, LOL

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

these are single chamber and they are not a pass through design, in other words you can't see through them, not the best for horse power and flow, but hey according to their website they are "Making Hot Rods Hotter"

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

and so I got to build them, here they are being compared to what I had prior, a very loud straight pipe with only 9" resonators, did I say it was loud

these will have a more turn out style tip, dumping the dirty exhaust in front of the rear tires and right into the Prius stopped at the light next to us, two if we happen to be in the middle lane, win / win

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

tired of welding the resonators backwards in my last exhaust I decided to label the flow of the new Rattlers with some blue tape, so I weld them up right, as I believe unlike the Magmaflows these be directional

nothing to it but to do it

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so got the Thrush mufflers welded to the front pipes and then welded on the tail pipes, again I like to run my exhausts just to the rear axle so I don't have to do the surpentine looptie loop around it, that may be part of my drone proplems but hey that's how all the cool kids run their exhausts, hee hee

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

BRAVO BRAV-O!!! :bowtie:

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

a little mini update, so went back to the Remflex gaskets specifically designed for the L31 Vortec heads to ensure there are no exhaust leaks, also treated myself to some ARP header bolts, mostly for the much smaller bolt heads, should make turning them a bit easier in the very confined spaces that the headers provide

here's a little Top Tip on building your own DIY exhaust: if you design it with the parking brake on, ie the cable tension tight, when you release the parking brake for driving the truck, it might could hit the exhaust pipes, and ding like crazy, just sayin'

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so the truck is pretty dialed in, the new exhaust is not quite what I was looking for (a nice deep rumble) but it's the best sounding so far, (louder than the Magnaflows, yet no drone like the Flowmasters) I may keep it for a couple [ahem] days, hee hee

here's a near perfect idle AFR (Air Fuel Ratio), I hope to get it Dyno Tuned by the end of this month, here's hoping... life has been beating up on us pretty good lately, wife had foot surgery and is to recover with a big cast for 6 weeks, so we are a (wo)man down.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I always use an "H-pipe" when building exhaust. Flows better, less drone, nice rumble - but quieter. Summit has them in their brand and they are aluminized too, pretty inexpensive !

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thanks, I have tried the X pipe before and dreaded it, PIA to install and get all the clearance, plus I like a true separation in a dual exhaust system it allows me to quickly see which side of the engine is doing what and narrow things at least to one side, and part of me things the H pipe is a sham, lol

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

got to make some noise today, Welcome Me To The Neighborhood!!!

the door mat is there to deaden the pinging sound as I hammered away

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

after we had the shape to "Good Enuff" it was time to plug the hole

card stock, scissors, and a sharpie, aka Tools of The Trade, hey that's how they do it on TV

I think this was 18 gauge sheet metal so I was a bit too much of a wimp to cut it with snips, so I used the angle grinder

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

don't let that big gap fool ya, the metal was just bent back a little, otherwise it fit like a glove

for some reason I started welding on the front side and then decided to finish it up from the back side

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

for my first sheet metal patch that ain't bad, nothing a grinder can't make look good - but that's it for today, the wife has a headache!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Both X & H pipes are dyno proven to help HP in certain ranges. The voodoo behind how they work and why and how to properly set em up...
Dual pipes are easier to install. Do what you want.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

It's how it's done in the real world as well.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

H-pipe has a proven positive increase over a separate run of duals.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Super Chevy magazine article: X-pipes and H-pipes Add Easy Horsepower, but Which is Best for Your Ride? X-pipes and H-pipes Add Easy Horsepower, but Which is Best for Your Ride? http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/exh...for-your-ride/

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Greg I had thrushes on my heap and I actually liked them. They were actually mellow sounding to me. I liked them. How's the manual steering? I've wondering about it since you installed it and now that you have been daily it.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thanks for the feedback, I like them too, but they may not be my final, final exhaust.

Funny you ask it sucks, big time, the dumbest downgrade I have made to date, LOL. Power steering will be going back on as soon as I Dyno Test this Beast. Found this beauty at my buddy Al's place, I like the front mounting bracket on it, as I don't want to hang the power steering pump off the header again. I am not a fan of chrome but this seems like a quality piece, may be the nicest thing on the truck, when I do put it on hopefully next month.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Well, when you put on a muffler called the Rattler...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

First of all awesome build, you give new meaning to the word perserverence.

My wife just asked me what are you reading now on that truck forum. I said same thing I was reading this morning.

I told her it's a truck thing, she told me she should have made me choose between the 66 mustang 90% done and the 66 chevy truck in pieces.

I told her if she made me choose I was going to miss her, just kidding I didn't say that out loud.....i did tell her I could have worse habits.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Amen brother. Sometimes the ladies forget that there are things many guys do that are more expensive, destructive, and addictive than cars and trucks. What do I know, I'm not married. But I did have this exact conversation with a woman in a bar once: What do you think of a guy with more vehicles than he needs, a shop, tools, etc. And she said that she's been with men with much worse vices than that. And now we're married! No, I just said thank you, good call.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thanks for the inspiring thread and job well done.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

ha ha funny now that I think about it

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thanks, hilarious story, I too had a Mustang, mine was a '68 and I chose the wife over it, I still regret it, jk

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thank you so much for the kind words

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

there was another 50% off sale at the local Pick n Pulls this weekend

all seats $15 bucks! hmmm - dog must hunt!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

hello beautiful, all you purists turn your heads

so could this 2002 Dodge Dakota have the perfect sexy black seats for Rusty?

had to borrow an 18mm from a wise ol' timmer who bronged metrics with him, where I've been only bringing my standard wrenches for them older GM trucks, thank you kind sir

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

and $30 bucks later they was mine

what I like about these seats

• they are black
• they are cloth
• they are buckets or a bench
• the center console folds down
• they are fully manual and not automatic

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

now my bench seat measures about 59" wide and these are only 49" wide, however these are not all one piece they are three separate pieces that slide/extend out some or can fully separate

I don't like how they squish the center console so much anyways so I was planning on separating them some and if you split the 10" difference 4 ways that's only 2.5" gaps on either side of the console, not bad

2.5" ~ PASSENGER SEAT ~ 2.5" ~ CONSOLE ~ 2.5" ~ DRIVER SEAT ~ 2.5"

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I parted out a Dakota at work a few months ago, and measured the seat to be a lot narrower than what I wanted.

I ~am~ considering buying three Sunfire/Cavalier buckets, and narrowing the center one (if need be), once the wreckers here have dried out from winter.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I was riding in my buddy's '12 F150 and I was having bad thoughts about sneaking by his house and liberating his black leather seats for my crew cab. They were mighty comfortable.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

ha ha, sounds like it would be the polite thing to do!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

here is my original bench seat compared to the Dakota setup, one thing to keep in mind is that I am not going to have my Dakota seats this wide, they don't need to go all the way to the edge especially if they are going to centered on the steering wheel for example