Author: bill

Musical Carbs

I had a plan going in to Sunday morning, after sitting back and thinking about all of the symptoms I’ve been facing with the carburetor. Typically when i’m working on mechanical or computer problems I’ll diagnose things backwards until I get to something I know is working. Then I move forward until I’ve identified the fault. On the carburetor, I knew that the engine spark timing was off, and the only good way I know to adjust that is to loosen the distributor while the engine is running and spin it slowly until the idle smooths out. 

I figured the best way to do this was to put the old Holley 2300 back on the engine and work through the problem mechanically. Unbolting the Sniper from the engine, I put it aside, resting on some cardboard, and disconnected all of the wiring. I pulled the old  carb from one of my spares bins and swapped it onto the engine, plumbing it to the boat tank through an electric fuel pump. With a couple squirts of 50-1 gas in the throat, the engine fired right up but sounded very choppy and died off after about 10 seconds. I got a couple of backfires out the throat of the carb—a sure sign of bad timing.

After verifying this was consistent behavior, I got it running long enough to get out to the distributor and slowly twist until the idle smoothed out and the throttle picked up. Then I tightened the mixture screws (they were wide open from last fall, when I was battling the dead condenser thinking it was a fuel issue) and adjusted the throttle until it was idling happily by itself. 

Relieved, I let it run for about 10 minutes and shut it down, figuring it was warmed up enough to give the Sniper a hand. The learning feature in the Sniper control unit kicks in after the engine is warmed up past 160˚, and that was what I was shooting for: I wanted it to learn how to adjust the fuel/air mixture and self-meter. Friday evening I’d pulled the water neck open and examined the thermostat that was in the engine. I figured I’d find something crustier than a wino’s beard but the passages and thermostat looked almost brand-new, which was a pleasant surprise. I put a new 180˚ unit in and closed it back up.

I hustled around the engine and got the Sniper back in place in about 10 minutes, verifying I had reconnected the electric leads to everything, said a Hail Mary, and fired it off. It started immediately, and ran a lot smoother than it originally did—but was still hunting for the right fuel/air ratio, surging and fading. I let it run for a couple of minutes, noting that the temperature was reading 178˚ but knowing that the radiator wasn’t full, and shut it down after watching the Learn setting on the control unit struggle to balance things out. 

I tried to restart after a couple of minutes but the battery sounded tired, so I hooked the tender back up and let it cool down. The Sniper says it’s reading 14 volts when the engine surges, but I’d bet the alternator is dead so I’ll source a new one after I verify its condition. 

So: I know that the timing on the engine is set more correctly than it had been. I know that the Sniper will start the engine and run more consistently than it had been. I know I probably need to adjust the timing settings in the control unit again to better match the engine, and I know that the water passages are clean—but need more coolant.

With a little more time to kill, I got my 3M automotive tape out and finally put the International badge on the rear door. Looking at the rear quarter, I decided I wanted to add the Travelall badge that belonged there too. With the taillight removed I was able to see where the bondo had filled up the original mounting holes and used a chisel to carefully scrape it away to where I could see them. Then I drilled them out and widened them until the posts on the badge fit the holes perfectly. With some more tape the badge went on easily, and now the truck looks even more legit than before. 

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Musical Carbs  |  Posted in Carburetor, Fuel Injection, Travelall

Puddin’s Steering Column

The guy who inspired me to build the seat lockbox for Darth just did another video where he swapped in an Ididit steering column to his ’68. His setup was a bit more complicated because his truck is a column shift and he swapped a Crown Vic subframe/GM powertrain, among other things, but he’s a lot more experienced with fabrication than I am.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Puddin’s Steering Column  |  Posted in Inspiration, Travelall

Tick, Tick Tick

The stars finally aligned and I was able to drop the Scout off at the transmission shop on Friday to have the noise diagnosed. For a couple of days I’d thought it was going away but on the way to the shop it was louder than I’d ever heard it. Something definitely needs to be adjusted. I shot a video of the sound when I came to a stoplight and played it for the mechanics; hopefully it’s an easy fix and doesn’t require dropping the trans.

Last week I posted a bunch of parts for sale on the BinderPlanet and in a FB Travelall group—mainly stuff from the green truck I’m not going to need, with some other stuff thrown in. The first hit I got was on the ’61 grille and trim rings, and that sale is pending. I had a guy stop by yesterday to buy the roof rack with his son, and we wound up talking in the driveway for an hour. He’s got a Travelall body on a Durango chassis and his son has a ’61 Travelette. They looked through the other parts and he wound up buying the chrome from the green truck. I enjoyed talking with the two of them, and passed along a bunch of links and contacts for parts, window installation and upholstery. The father is considering the tailgate, and told me he’d get back to me. I’d love to get that thing out of the backyard. Finally, I’ve got a guy in Idaho interested in the steering ram setup, and he’s coordinating with his brother in Towson to come and pick it up. I’d really love to get that thing off the floor and out of the way.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Tick, Tick Tick  |  Posted in Repairs

Spark Testing

My plug wires showed up yesterday, which was a surprise. After using the Scout to jump the OG-V (the dome light stayed on for some reason and drained the battery) and charging that up, I put the spark tester on cylinder 3 and turned it over: there was no spark. Then I put the tester on the coil and cranked it again: there was one initial spark and then nothing after that. This is puzzling, and clearly something isn’t configured correctly. But it checks out with what the engine was doing earlier—in previous attempts it would almost catch and then just crank.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Spark Testing  |  Posted in Fuel Injection, Travelall

Sparky

Update 5.24: I’m trying to come up with a plan for the Sniper kit to work out the bugs. From a lot of the other posts and videos I’ve seen, guys with International engines have been able to hook everything up and just go, but as I recall there was something off with the timing on my truck before I installed it. Fixing it is going to require some more experienced help, so I’m going to call upon Bennett to give me a hand. I’m also looking at being able to view the data logs from the Sniper, which is only available through software that runs on a PC. Refurbished PCs are pretty cheap these days, so I could probably find something for 100 bucks—but I’d like to avoid that if possible. I want to talk to Holley support and send them the datalogs, but I have a sneaking suspicion their first question for me is going to be whether or not I verified the distributor is in the right position. So I’m in a bit of a holding pattern here.

The other thing I’m aware of is that in order for the system to use the self learning feature, the engine needs to be warmed up to 160° or higher. I have never looked at the thermostat in this truck, and I’d like to swap in a known good one just to be safe. That should be a relatively easy thing to do this weekend.

Update 5.16: With a new condenser/points unit installed, IT RUNS. The idle is super choppy and it dies after about 10 seconds, which means the timing is completely off, but it starts right up as advertised. Now I have to sort out the timing issues and figure out where it’s happy. I had the timing dialed in pretty well with the carburetor last fall before I started welding on the truck and burned the condenser out, so I think it’s a matter of finding where the sweet spot is in the sniper settings to make the engine happy. I’ve got a bunch of reading to do today, and I’m going to spend tomorrow (Saturday) working to get it smoothed out.

Update 5.14: I have a new points/condenser unit on order, and I’ll swap that in tomorrow. The thinking here is that the condenser (essentially a capacitor) isn’t storing a charge in between the points opening and closing, which means there’s no spark making its way to the plugs. In the Delco distributor I have the points/condenser are an integrated unit so it’s not a simple matter of unscrewing just the condenser and swapping in a new one.

Update 5.11: I bought a new spark tester from H-F and verified it was working on the Scout. There’s no spark at the coil when I put it there; this verifies what I suspected. Next I’ve got to use a test light to see if I’ve got power going to the coil with the key on at both sides of the poles, then see if there’s power in the distributor.

I got really discouraged yesterday and let my anger get the better of me; instead of taking a step back and researching next steps, I let my ADHD run wild and dicked around in the garage for the rest of the day.

***

I’m in a holding pattern on the fuel injection project until some parts come in. The big holdup is getting a new set of spark plug wires after the number four wire snapped off in my hand. I thought I had kept my old set from the Scout in the spares bin, but apparently I tossed them—all I have is a coil wire in the parts bag. As I write this, it occurs to me that I can pull one of the wires off the Scout and use that to test the ignition system (duh). Basically, the plan looks like this:

  1. Pull the #8 plug (International SV-series engines time off of the number eight cylinder)
  2. Spin the engine until # is at TDC, replace the plug
  3. Make sure the rotor is aligned correctly, pointing at the #8 wire
  4. Make sure the spark plug wires are routed in the correct order – CHECK
  5. Check for spark at the coil – NONE
  6. Check for spark at the plugs – NONE

If all of those things check out, and the engine still won’t start, then I’m at a complete loss. I know I’m getting fuel, and the EFI system should be metering air, so the only thing remaining would be spark. I did fool around a little bit with timing last fall, but the truck ran after I adjusted that. So I’m thinking it’s got to be an issue with the ignition system. I do still think the starter needs to be replaced, but I want to sort out all of this other stuff before I start throwing more money at parts.

 

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Sparky  |  Posted in Electrical, Fuel Injection

Lazy Sunday

I had every intention of diagnosing the ignition issues on Darth Haul on Sunday, but the universe conspired against me. The weather forecast was for rain, which I could work around with a pop-up canopy, but Amazon decided the spark plug set I needed for my 8-cylinder engine should only require 5 wires. This from a “guaranteed fit”. Nobody around here had the plugs I need in stock, so the day was literally a wash. I’ve got new plugs on order which should be here Monday, and I can keep troubleshooting after work.

For the last two weeks I’ve been experimenting with leaving the cover off the truck to see what kind of water ingress I’m getting around the cowl vents and the door seals. The rain started Saturday night at midnight and continued on and off throughout the next day. Looking through the cab of the truck at noon, there’s a little bit of water dripping on both sides at the floorboards that I’ll have to track down, but nothing at the volume that was coming in before I cut the cowl out. There’s a small 1/4″ plug in the roof that I didn’t weld up when I repaired that, which is dripping on the front seat; that will just require some butyl or silicone caulk to fix. Finally, the driver’s rear window gasket is leaking a little bit at the very back corner.

The alternative is leaving a cover on the truck all the time, but I’ve found that the cover I have doesn’t breathe very well and moisture gets trapped underneath—to the point where the engine bay looks like it’s sweating. That’s not good at all. So I’m going to leave the cover off for the next month and see if I can stop the leaks enough to feel better about leaving it open to the elements.

Meanwhile, there’s a ticking sound coming from the transmission in the Scout in 4th gear under load. When I tap on the clutch pedal it goes away. I’m going to drop it off at the shop who did the work tomorrow so that they can adjust it for me; I’ve got a couple of long-distance trips coming up which are going to require a fully functional transmission that isn’t trying to eat itself, and I want to get it in as soon as possible to diagnose.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Lazy Sunday  |  Posted in Repairs, Travelall

Wiring Up, Wiring Down

Last night I took advantage of some warm weather to finish installing the second relay in Darth for the Sniper control unit. This mainly involved a screwdriver and a lot of small zip ties to clean up the wire runs and get everything out of the way. I’d already built all the wires and heat shrunk the connections, so all I had to do was screw the relay into the metal panel and then screw that back into the firewall. Then the wires got cleaned up and routed along with the existing wiring.

When that was done, I wanted to see if I was getting spark at the plugs, so I pulled the boot off the #3 plug, and… the connector snapped off the wire. These wires are brand-new, so this is really frustrating. I don’t have a spare set in my stores, so I ordered a new one which should be here this evening. The next steps are going to be:

  1. Checking spark at the plugs
  2. Verifying I’ve got the wires connected in the right order from the distributor to the plugs.
  3. Putting a third, transparent fuel filter in between the stock Holley unit and the carburetor to verify we’re getting gas (I can smell it, but need to verify).
Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Wiring Up, Wiring Down  |  Posted in Fuel Injection, Travelall

Pittsburgh Road Trip

Sunday morning broke cold but sunny, and I hit the road at 7AM with the car already loaded. I had a 3.5 hr. drive out to the other side of Pittsburgh in front of me, but my podcast app was loaded and I was headed away from the sunrise—which was good, because my sunglasses are AWOL. The drive was unremarkable other than beautiful foliage blooming throughout southern Pennsylvania, and I reached Pittsburgh by 11:30 with one stop for expensive gas. The yard was on a hill above the river, and I found two Internationals among many large tractor trailers in a commercial yard. I texted the owner and got to work on the column.

Because the truck was already pretty well picked over I had free access to the stuff I needed: there were only two bolts under the dash to free up the column there, but the three bolts on the steering box were rusted pretty good and the nuts were inaccessible due to a gusset built into the frame. I’d thought ahead and brought my generator, though, and after about 10 minutes with a corded cutoff wheel I trimmed off the bolt heads and pried the box off the frame with a bitch bar. Now, I had to figure out how to get the column out—and I’d forgotten to bring my steering wheel puller. Thankfully, Joey, the guy selling the truck, had one in his shop down the street, and ran me down to pick it up. We paused to look over a beautiful C-series tow truck he’s finishing up, and then he brought me back up to the yard.

I had the wheel off in 5 minutes and then had to puzzle out how to remove the whole unit. The collar in the cab wouldn’t fit through the hole in the firewall (I had this issue with the green truck) nor would the steering box. I did notice the collar moving as I was tugging on it from inside the cab and realized it wasn’t connected to the box anymore—then saw that if I pulled on the steering box from the front, the rod inside slid out of the outer casing and suddenly I was holding those two elements in my hands. The outer tube came out through the cab with a little convincing, and I put the two sections back together on the tailgate of the Honda.

Then I went through the rest of the truck and pulled some other parts off: The windshield wiper motor, the instrument cluster, the radio blockoff plate, and a slightly banged up ’63-’64 headlight trim ring. Inside the cab someone had stacked some extra parts, and I fished out some more good stuff: two uncut metal door cards, a heater motor (the heater in this truck was melted), an ashtray, a marker light assembly, a window crank unit, two sun visors in good shape, and an emergency brake assembly. I did leave a bunch of larger stuff behind—two D-series windshields, a rear pickup window, an instrument cluster in worse shape, and a bunch of other stuff.

After loading up and paying Joey I hit the road at about 4PM and made it home by 8 after stopping for some dinner. The steering column doesn’t look too different from the unit I pulled out of the green truck, save the fact that it’s attached to a power steering box, so I’ll have two basic units to practice on before I do anything with the one in Darth.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Pittsburgh Road Trip  |  Posted in Junkyards, Purchasing, Trip Logs