North GA 1973 Veteran's Addition

[Heiferman]

Good enough for me.
Once the seam sealer is dry I will shoot some black on it and be able to hang the bumper.

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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

I figured I would look into my highbeam issue.
I tested the relay with a direct ground and got butcus.so I took it apart an discovered I could manually switch to highbeams. A clean ground to the S terminal does nothing.
I posted pics if the inards in ha highbeam thread.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10279560#10279560
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

On closer inspectionof my headlight relay I discovered a single broken wire. I had to dawn a set of 1.50s and 1.00s on top of on another to make it out. Lol.

I was able to carefully solder it and, tahdah! Highbeams are working!
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

I was also able to finally get my fuel pump relay working right. There are so many different descriptions of how to do it here I tried a bunch of them and none did what I wanted. I finally found Colin Kellogg's diagram on his site and it was the ticket.
I hope he does not mind but I thought I would repost it here. I added a switch to a power source at 87 in the event I need a prime. I know thisnis not so popular but it seems to be working just fine.

His diagram and explanation made far more sense to me than a few others.
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Darn it. The BN-4 fan is hitting the edge of the driver's side shroud when it runs. Makes a racket.
And among all the construction I seem to have lost the headlight switch knob.
But the bumper is back on the rear and I fashioned a hangar for the muffler. I need to go buy a threaded hook though to complete it. Pics of that when done.

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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Well, today was a mixed bag. Engine would not turn over or even turn by hand! I fiddle faddled around with a sick feeling for a while before disovering the crank pulley was jambed up against the two upper oil pump bolts. What a mess. I had to pull the pulley and the two bolts. I clearenced both and finally got what I needed.

So after finally getting that sorted we gave the car a try.

We got some decent runs but then a ton of unburned fuel was pouring out of the 3 and 4 valve covers and out the exhaust. Excuse my emotions but F##k!

We did get everything going long enough to see we had oil pressure and a working alternator and fuel pump. Pump pressure is just below 3 lbs.

My money is on a stuck float in the DS carb. I will also bring the pressure down to about 2 lbs since I know these Kadrons hate too much pressure.

Won't happen this week though. Leaving tomorrow to visit some friends in NC.

One last thing. While messing about and taking wheels off and putting the. back on I realized the PO was running dangerously small lug nuts. The wheels are the 15x5.5 China rims with huge holes. I dropped $40 on a set of 1" race ready nuts from Summit. Oh, and I picked up a new battery during the debacle.
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Back at it.
I messed around with timing, fuel pressure and that garbage all day. Checked the valve clearences (only one was off). Pulled a the DS carb to examine the float and needle and seat. All seemed good. Finally discovered that the passenger side manifold was not bolted down. WTF. you just can't make this stuff up. Fixed.
I tried it and am having terrible timing issues. Won't start and stay running. At least it acted a little more alive with the fixed manifold. Backfiring through the carb now. Back and forth with timing, static timing at 7.5 BTDC and advancing. :bang:
So then discovered the DS manifold seemed loose. I probably should have pulled it off to ensure there was even a gasket but I gave it a couple uga-duggas without checking. As I was checking fuel flow I spilled gas all over the engine so I gave up, put a fan on the engine to get it to dry out and went for a bourbon.

But I did install the new 1" lug nutsfrom Summit. So much better.

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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Spent a couple hours looking for a missing combination wrench today. 11mm I used yeasterday. Nowhere to be found. I figure a poltergeist tossed it in the intake last night.

Anyway. Spent a bunch of time back and forth trying to get it going again. Lots of unburned fuel and fire coming out of the DS carb. So I decided to pull the manifold. Should have done it yesterday. The gasket was nonexistent. Just one of the thin metal ones clearly past its useful life. And there was a gouge on the mating surface. I am certain whomever hacked the tins hit the surface. At the same time they took chunks out of the manifold studs so I will stop at ACE and grab some tomorrow. I have a bunch of gasket material so I may just make some gaskets while I await new ones to show up.
The car wanted to start when it was set really retarded. I did not put the light on it and turn the engine to determine just how retarded. I am wondering if the Petronix module is bad.
I have all good spark at the plugs. And, yeah, the order is right.
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

So I am stumped.
This engine is almost 2200 displacement.
Has CM pushrods, 009 with pertronix and the Kadrons. I have degreed pulley which I checked against the OEM one and the degree marks are properly aligned with the crank.
I can not get it to run.
I checked the valves as prescribed and all are at .0 due to the CM pushrods.
There is a painted timing mark across the dizzy to the engine block.
I static timed it at 7.5 BTDC and it will not start at all. In fact, it fights the starter.
When I retard the timing to the paint mark, it acts like it wants to run but will not stay running. That mark puts timing at about 22° btdc static. Anywhere else it backfire out the carb and I get some small dropplets of raw gas out of the PS carb. Now I don't know much but that has all gotta be way wrong on many levels.
I replaced both manifold gaskets so I am confident I am not suffering a big vacuum leak.

I am going to swap the carbs side to side to determine if this is a carb issue, distributor issue or a cam issue. I am at about 2.5 psi and holding on the fuel pressure. (That may be a little high for the Kadrons but ya gotta start somewhere. And it does not explain the odd timing.) I need to dig out the cam specs. But there was no metal in themoil when I changed it and the filter was fine.

The pertronix seems fine but it could certainly be bad. I have not done the test procedure but since it fires and I have strong spark I doubt it is the culprit.

I know this engine ran. It was in the POs bus before hensold it and moved it to the Thing. The PO would no have gone to all the trouble and cost he did if the engine was messed up. I have good compression (125) across the cylinders.

Any suggestions, ideas, words of wisdom?

I grabbed a little case at HF to protect my snail yesterday so there's that.

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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Carbs are the death of me.
I have always ended up buying new ones. Rebuilds always fail - even on little Honda C90s and I have had about 4 of them.

I swapped the carbs PS to DS and the one that was giving me trouble is goving me the exact same trouble. Flaming up, backfiring up the carb. I used a refresh kit and replaced the accelerator pump, main gasket, cleaned the screen and put in a new needle and seat. Same. Backfires up the stack.

I disassembled and reassembled the dizzy and now I seem to be getting the static timing where I need it at 7.5 BTCD. Tells me the dizzy is likely buggered too. Who knows, maybe I was doing something wrong. After all, I haven't static timed a vehicle in probably 12 years. I would gladly admit it if I did and got it going.

Anyway. Kadron 40 backfiring up the intake. I even tried to lean it all the way out and unscrew the accelerator pump nut all the way. Shoupd I go thenother way with it all? The other one is acting fine.

I know I have a f#@ked carb but why and how?
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

I have a set of HPMX that came with the car.
I suppose I could clean them and swap them out.
Not sure why the PO dumped them.

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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[germansupplyscott]

[Heiferman]

[Heiferman]

Finally got it running. I pulled the angry carb apart again and replaced the two lower gaskets as well as both manifold gaskets on the passenger side. Pulled the jets as well as the fuel inlet and cleaned all that. Also redirected the accelerator pump jet by moving it some and pulling it a good ³/8 inch up. Bingo. It seems to really like advanced timing. I was well past 32° and around 38°. Anything less and it backfires out the passenger carb. I assume it is the hot cam it.

I also think my cheapo fuel pump blew out the Holley fuel regulator. I had it set below 2 psi and when I was bringing the idle up the needle jumped to 7, was super bouncy and pretty much stayed there. The pump I have is rated 4 to 9 psi and I guess that was too much for the little Holley to handle. I went ahead and ordered a smaller pump and a new diaphram for the regulator. Probably should get two.

But at least it ran.

I am expecting an order Friday unless the hurricane has other ideas and am hosting a shooting event this weekend so I may be at a work stoppage for this week.

But it ran so I am excited about that.
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Got some goodies today.

The book has a whole section about distributors that would have been very helpful.in this endeavor. I.may be dumping my 009 for and svda.
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Worked most of the day on removing the bodged rails that were welded to the bottom of the front seats then repaired the channels.
What they were:

I cut all that crap out and repaired the channels with bits of steel from what was removed. Lots of cutting, fitting and grinding to get the patch pieces in. I failed to take pics when the sliders were removed.

Pretty gross. 50 years of sweaty ass.
They had been recovered once and now have covers on them.

Now:

Next is to figure out fabbing the slide release/lock. I have a plan.
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

Oh, BTW.
We have the very new Savoy Automobile museum nearby and this is currently there.
Wow, wow, wow.

Complete with a package tray.
Has to be a $250k car although I did not see in the engine or under the bonnet.
My boner attracted the attention of security.
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

I worked on the seat bottoms some more. I am having trouble finding a torsion spring that will do for me. The one I have is a bit to big in diameter. McMaster Carr does not even have what I want.

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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

As I proceed, one of the things I intend to do is move the oil filter up into the engine bay on a custom bracket.
That makes it well above the pump.


Is there any reason to put a check valve in either line?
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance

[Heiferman]

New aftermarket hub caps on the way
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- 1973 Thing, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance