My 70 Nova project (Formerly looking at this mustang)

[alloy]

Today I found necessity is truly the mother of invention.

I've been trying to get a grease zerk in my lower a-arm for almost a week off and on. The PO damaged the one it had and didn't realize it until I tried to use it. It's just so tight there was no room for a ratchet, and I could get a ratcheting box wrench on it, but just couldn't turn it.

So today used a set of socket spinners I've had for 30 years and have never found a use for until now. I tried using a short 3/8" to 1/4" adapter on the socket with the spinner on, but again it was just too long. I thought about way to attach the spinner to the socket and I came up with this.

I drilled the center of the socket out and used a 14" x 20 tap and slowly tapped it. Cut off a 1/4" bolt and made this. Worked great. Was just enough to get one thread and then use an end wrench to tighten it. Then I was able to use a 90 degree grease adapter to shoot some grease into the fittings.

I'm rather proud of myself about now for this little "victory". Especially after fighting it for so long. One more thing checked off my "long" to do list.

Ok, back to your regular programming

 

[alloy]

Ran into a problem. The PO apparently changed out the tie rods and left one of the clamps off the adjusting sleeve. So I ordered a new sleeve and discovered that both the inner and outer tie rods and right hand threads. Both side are the same way.

A few years ago I made solid tie rod adjusters for my camaro and one end was left, one was right. With this setup now the only way to adjust the toe is to drop the tie rod. Not a good way to do it.

So now have to figure out what to do for tie rods

 

[alloy]

Well it was sort of a mini Christmas today. Got my new sheet metal intake in. And it's actually a rectangular port version. But, as I figured contrary to what the salesman said my injectors don't fit. I see they make adapters for them, but there seems to be many different styles of injectors I have no idea which ones to get.

I tried to call fi tech and after 50 minutes on hold I was disconnected. Called back and their voice mail was full. Imagine that. Hopefully they will answer tomorrow morning.

 

[alloy]

Well it was too good to be true, Christmas in June. What was I thinking? The grinch stole my joy..

After half a day of phone calls found out for sure my injectors won't work with the new intake. And new injectors that fit are $108 each for the 6.2. They are cheap for a little 4.8 or a 5.3. And the connectors for the fuel injectors are different than what I have which would require that my harness be modified.

So I came up with a new plan. I cut and angled two pieces of intake tubing and am going to have the tig welded together on Monday. Cheaper that the $500 for the intake. (That's without injectors) So Monday afternoon I'll know if my plan works.

I did get the tie rod problem solved. Used adjusting sleeves and inner rods with LH threads for a 87 camaro. Nice to get at least one thing solved.

I wired up the back of the car and have park, tail, and turn signals. But not brake lights. Have to figure that out.

 

[alloy]

I ordered some more rivnuts and button head Allen's and they came in this afternoon. Was able to get my fan mounted up and the radiator in the core support. Wish I had a bead roller to put some cool beads in the shroud.

 

[GoceKU]

What is the problem with the original injectors? Are they just too tall for your setup. You are a master machinist, adapters are very easy to make, or you can't easily rim out or modify the bosses on the new intake manifold, keep up the good work.

 

[alloy]

Thanks for the compliment, I consider myself a very lucky guy with a lot of good friends on here and a lot of cool toys. Kind of a jack of all trades, (not really) a master of none.

They do make adapters for injectors, but they are for the top of the injector to fit different fuel rails. You can't add a adapter that adds length to the bottom of the injector that raises it up otherwise it will be out of position to spray the fuel correctly into the intake port..

The manifold would have to be welded and machined for my existing injectors. It's pretty thin in that area and I'd have to find a way to get the anodizing off it and pay to have it welded. I guess I'm just not willing to take a $500 chance trying to make it work.

I've been researching a LS3 intake manifold. They are hard to come by right now. I've found ones for $275, but are out of stock. Fuel rails are $100, and I found injectors on ebay for $80, but the good GM ones are $50 each x 8. I'm sure the ebay injectors are Chinese knock offs. Not sure it I want to take a chance on them.

I'd like to figure this out to get a different manifold. I'm looking for another 6.2 for my 55. And I'd like it to have a really cool intake on it. My wife thinks I'm crazy already looking for an engine for the 55 when I've not even got the nova running and driving yet. Th 6.2's are getting harder to find and I like that it's 400hp stock. Plenty of 5.3's around, but in the end I'd spend more to get to the same hp level than if I just got 6.2. No replacement for displacement they say

Well got to get out to the shop. Had 4 customer parts come in yesterday and want to ship them on Monday. Already turned on the AC. Hope my Mr Cool setup keeps cooling. Not a good track record on the unit. Gonna be over 100 today.

 

[alloy]

Some more progress. Got the slapper bars on, took some work. The J bolts were for a multi leaf spring car and I have mono leafs. So had to buy a die from ebay (nothing available locally) and extended the threads so they would tighten up. . Eventually I got them on. I like these bars because the front snubber hit right under the front leaf spring eye.

Was offered a deal I couldn't pass up. LS3 manifold, fuel rail, and injectors for $250. Wife was selling it. (Wonder why I never saw or talked to the husband) It's brand new, never used or installed. Looks much better than the truck manifold. Had to move to idler pulley and machine off the mounting boss and get a new belt. Am waiting for intake manifold bolts, different than the truck manifold.

Ended up changing the autowire harness for the wiper motor. Took me awhile to figure out the wiper motor. It has 12v to it when the key is on, and one terminal is the low speed ground, other is high speed ground. Motor works when you ground out the high speed connector, but not the low speed. Finally figured out that if you grounded out both the low and high speed terminals low speed works. Harness was not wired that way. Took half a day to figure this out.

 

[GoceKU]

I'm amazed every time i see how compact the LS V8 can be, good job on the machining.

 

[Aukai]

How are you setting up the parking brakes? My 67 has Strange discs all around, and I'll need to redo that to pass safety check....