Summer 2003 Archives

05/03/03 - Two issues to take care of - minor fuel leak on the vacuum side of the pump (from the recent fuel line change) somewhere up at the pump and a loose differential carrier bushing bolt.

 

Connection on the right was new. I tightened the compression fitting and removed the 90 degree elbow from the pump, added more Teflon and put it back together. Haven't tested it yet. Differential carrier bushing bolt. I noticed that it wasn't tight. The bolt head is hard to access and turned out to be 15/16".
It took me awhile but you can get a plain old wrench to the bolt head. hard to see but the bushing is split. It looked newer but was garbage. Here's the upper and lower bushings, bolt, sleeve, and lock washers.

 

 

05/??/03 - Went to the parts store to get the differential mount cushion and installed. It was obviously too small. These turned out to be body mount cushions. Went back and picked up the correct GM parts. I installed them, torqed it down to spec and went for a ride. The driveshaft hit the bottom of the body on acceleration. I loosened the bolt a bit and it only hit under hard acceleration. There are some clearances that are off so I'll have to insert some washers.

pictures coming soon

These are body mount cushions! On the left is the correct bolt but still the body mount cushions. Not sure sure what the HW on the right came from.    

05/20/03 - There was a small classic car show at work today. I drove the '65 to work and showed it for a few hours over lunch. There was a nice '67 convertible, a 57, a 62, a 68 BB, a 75, and a bunch of C4's and C5's.

6/??/03 - Figured out that the car was starting hard due to empty fuel bowls. There was not enough gas in the bowls for an accelerator pump shot to start the engine. If I drip gas into the carb barrels the car starts right up. This brings up two questions - why is the fuel evaporating and why don't the bowls fill after a few cranks of the engine?

 

When I removed the carb airhorn and fuel line there was not fuel in the fuel line up to the filter. I put everything back together, ran it for a few minutes, and then took the carb airhorn again. This time there was plenty of fuel in the bowls and the fuel line to the filter was pressurized and full of fuel.

 

The strange carb I'm using - Carter 3503SA has 4 extra vent holes that are not vented up through the air cleaner. I will try to plug them to see if the evaporation stops. I expect that my fuel pump is beginning to fail if it will not fill the bowls after a few cranks. It will have to be replaced.

6/??/03 - Drove the corvette about 50 miles to a friends house in McHenry IL. It will stay here until our new garage is complete.

 

6/28/03 - Went to Bloomington Gold in St Charles, IL. By far the best part was the auction. We stood in the path where the cars were brought onto the stage.

This 12 mile L88 fetched $615K The smell and sound of this thing was awsome. This is the Corvette Z62. A true one of a kind - but they'll make more for $85k + donor.