Jared's '79 5.3 244 Project: The Qwikbrik

[MikeSr.]

You can just swap the Volvo regulator and spring in the GM pump

[propav8r]

Eventful day today...went to the only local shop that would both put my car on their rack and align it to my specs.







Everything was fine until a hoss impact gun was used to reattach my steering wheel adapter once the rack was centered to re-index the wheel.



I (surprisingly) did not have a spare adapter or steering wheel, so cue up a 3 hour round trip to Asheville to grab one from Patrick.



Feels goofy having a bus wheel back in this thing but hey, it beats vise grips.



I only have the front tires mounted at the moment. The rears are just slightly wider than what's on there now, so I have more fender work to do before they'll clear. Hoping to knock that out tomorrow though, then maybe hit the Gap this weekend for the first time since 2014.

[2turbotoys]

Who puts a steering wheel on with an impact...

[AndrewNance]

Originally Posted by 2turbotoys

Who puts a steering wheel on with an impact...

If you ever go to Franklin, NC you will understand.

[propav8r]

Well the battery cable is no longer ziptied to the swaybar lol.

Ran 2ga from the battery to the starter, 4ga from the battery to the alternator, 8ga from the battery to the distribution block, and 2ga for the grounds.

Pretty happy with how everything turned out. Thanks to The Full Banana for the tip on the military spec battery terminals!

Used my hydraulic battery terminal crimper. I wound up going one size up on the crimp die so it wouldn't wing the crimp terminal like it did here, but you get the idea.






The rear tires are now on and (I think) have enough clearance. I'll test that out in the morning.

I also got the piston/regulator from my Volvo power steering pump swapped into the Camaro pump that's on the car. Again, I'll have a better idea of how well that does or doesn't work tomorrow morning.

I'm thinking about making up some solid mount pedestals for the motor too. On the poly mounts, the motor moves just enough that it drags on the steering shaft in hard right turns. That's no good. I could grind the exhaust manifold some, but I really don't think I'll get enough clearance that way. We'll see.

[GTJordan]

What size tires did you end up with? I swear I saw a post with the specs (and a mention of long term square 275s) but I can't find it.

Love how quickly you're moving on this now.

Jordan

[propav8r]

Originally Posted by GTJordan

What size tires did you end up with? I swear I saw a post with the specs (and a mention of long term square 275s) but I can't find it.

Love how quickly you're moving on this now.

Jordan

That's the eventual goal. I'll need to move more metal that I easily can with a baseball bat and some choice words to fit that.

I've got 225/45-17 in the front, 255/40-17 in the rear.

[propav8r]

I have no words for these tires.

The Sumitomo all seasons that were on there were so old and hard that cracking the throttle in a turn would spin them. I couldn't push the car at all (and really shouldn't have, given the condition of the rear sidewalls) but every turn everywhere was just tire smoke.

No more. I can come into a corner signed for 25mph at 50, and it just stays planted. It's unbelievable. The only time I get spinning coming out of a turn is if I purposely unload the suspension or give it a flick. Other than that, the car is just glued to the pavement. It's kinda wild.

After swapping the Volvo regulator/piston/spring into the Camaro power steering pump, it's better, but still not fixed. The pump no longer groans and whines, but it did puke some fluid out the cap today after about an hour of heavy mountain driving. I think adding a cooler will be the final answer.

I had enough confidence in it to go to the Dragon with it today. I should've held off a couple hours instead of hitting it in the middle of the day, but I still got a couple decent runs in, and people were loving the car.

Tires didn't rub at all, so that's a plus.

[reiernumans]

Nice work man! Must be rewarding AF to finally drive around in this thing and have your expectations be met and even exceded. Enjoy!

[The Full Banana]

That's awesome! Very jealous.

[propav8r]

Rode over to Asheville today. After a few miles, I noticed the shimmy in the steering wheel had turned into more of a rattle/knock. A stop at my buddy Brock's house revealed a control arm bolt that had loosened up. Whoops. With that fixed, I stopped in to see JD to address some of the idling/stalling issues the car has. Improvements were made, but it's still not out of the woods completely.



After getting gas, I hit a little whoop on a bridge transition and simultaneously heard a tire rub and smelled the rubber. I pulled over and found this...the fender had somehow un-rolled itself on the passenger side. Can't explain that.





Took a pretty good bite out of the tire too. I'm not thrilled.

Anyhow, made a run up 151, one of the twistier roads out here. It basically runs from the Enka area a few miles and dead ends at the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I hopped on the Parkway for a bit, and enjoyed cruising around during the sunset hours.









And then once I got off the parkway, I hit another whoop and heard the back driver's tire rub, and smelled rubber. I just drove home carefully, and when I pulled into the driveway, I was greeted with another unrolled fender on the other side! I don't understand what's going on. Time to get more medieval with the die grinder and hammer.



So yeah, apart from the spring steel fenders and the front suspension almost falling off, it was a good day.

[Harlard]

Ah, the joys of 240 ownership. Glad you had fun!

[propav8r]

Probably a little dumb, but I've wanted to make the Killboy highlights at the Gap for years and never have...until this past weekend.

[Harlard]

The hotness is hot

[propav8r]

Originally Posted by Harlard

The hotness is hot

Trying to decide if I want to put the single rounds and foglight grille on it that I have...idk.

[Harlard]

Easy enough to switch back and forth. Personally, the double rounds suit the car.

[Quin]

i’ve been saying it for years: those headlights are garbage, but they work on this car and this car only.

[Harlard]

Crucify me all you want, but I can see these actually looking good in that car. Also, good projector LEDs are the ****ing jam:

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/5-...ed6?quantity=1

[JohnMc]

Yeah, keep the quad rounds. They look great.

[propav8r]

These are ahkshually ecode housings that take an H4 bulb (I think, it's been a few years) so they're better than sealed beams for sure. I need rewire them so that the current doesn't all go through the switch, but you know, priorities.

The LED retrofit looks killer, but I can't drop a grand on headlights at the moment.

[propav8r]

Ordered up what I need to make the oil pressure and oil temperature gauges work again. Fo9und an M16 temp sensor that'll thread into the factory spot on the motor where the original (unused) oil pressure sender is, and I'll put a pressure sensor down where the dummy light switch is now.

I'd like to run a VDO water temp gauge too, but I think I'm using both the easily available coolant temp ports now. One has the sender for the ECU in it, the other has a sender that runs the mystery meat gauge in the cluster.

[240 Swagon]

Sweet photos, car is looking awesome! Sounds like a blast to drive too. I’d have to agree with the others that the quad rounds really work well on your car, but I’m sure the single rounds and fog grill would look great too.

Regarding your fender issues: looks like what I’ve seen happen to some people before. Probably only rubs/makes contact under full or really heavy compression, at which point the tire catches the inner lip and “un-rolls” or pulls the lip back out during rebound.

[joel142]

Originally Posted by propav8r

I have no words for these tires.

No more. I can come into a corner signed for 25mph at 50, and it just stays planted. It's unbelievable. The only time I get spinning coming out of a turn is if I purposely unload the suspension or give it a flick. Other than that, the car is just glued to the pavement. It's kinda wild.

I recognize those tires! 200 treadwear on the street is completely ridiculous. At speeds that would get me into plenty of trouble I can just throw the car in and it just happens. The 142 does need an alignment but the tires just seem to paper over any problems.

[propav8r]

Originally Posted by 240 Swagon

Sweet photos, car is looking awesome! Sounds like a blast to drive too. I’d have to agree with the others that the quad rounds really work well on your car, but I’m sure the single rounds and fog grill would look great too.

Regarding your fender issues: looks like what I’ve seen happen to some people before. Probably only rubs/makes contact under full or really heavy compression, at which point the tire catches the inner lip and “un-rolls” or pulls the lip back out during rebound.

Yeah, I just cut basically everything out in that area. Screw it. I'm not dealing with it again.

I dropped the car down about an inch in the back to try and get rid of the muscle car rake I have going on. That, coupled with bashing the wheel house some more has given me most of the room I need at this point. I get some rubbing still under hard compression, but it's on the flat surface up inside the wheel house, not on the lip itself. It doesn't hurt the tire or anything, just makes a brief noise. I'll try and move the metal some more and I may also have a stiffer set of springs (the rear is a little soft anyway I think) so that should help there.

The only real issue I have left is it wants to stall out instead of drop to idle. JD spent a couple hours messing with it last weekend and we actually got it working well, and then I drove home and it started pooping out again.

The values he was seeing from the MAP sensor didn't make sense, so I ordered a new GM one. He said he'll poke at it some more at MountainMeet.

I'm also headed to a junkyard in Winston this weekend to grab a spare steering rack and a few other bits and pieces. I'll hunt up a decent power steering cooler too, and swap the ATF I have in there now for the GM fluid or some other fluid I guess.

[propav8r]

Ran out to the Winston Pull-a-Part yesterday and grabbed a steering rack, a cooler that'll work out perfect, and some other odds and ends. Got the rack swapped out this morning, and it feels way better than it did. The old rack has some tight spots in it, plus the power steering reservoir had glitter in it. Figured it was best to just swap everything out.

Back to the alignment shop sometime this week, and then hopefully we'll be ready for MountainMeet.

Cooler mounted:


Current state of the car: