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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

327 - Fuel Injection

While we wait to find out the results of the rear axle poll, preparations are being made to start the motor. The battery box, battery cables, screw on oil filter adaptor, and other items are on order and should arrive by weeks end. While we wait for these items I thought it best to do a quick inspection of our 327 and verify/check plug gaps, firing order, fuel injection hoses, connections, fittings, etc. So, lets get started. First issue, I don't know how many times I've walked by this PCV vacuum tube and tried to get it to fit into the grommet. No matter how hard I pushed it just wouldn't go. So check this out, not only was there a freeze plug installed, there was an additional freeze plug under this one. I tried, but I can't figure it out.
I removed both freeze plugs, drilled a hole in one, then reinstalled. The tube and grommet fit snug and it's sturdy.
Next topic. Take note of the hard oil line that goes from the engine block to the distributor. The distributor for a fuel injected engine gets oiled and it operates under 100% of the engines oil pressure. So the question is, how do you time (twist) a fuel injection distributor if it's fastened to the block via an oil line? Nope, it's not just the forked bracket at the bottom of the distributor.
You have to unloosen a flat headed screw that's located just under the distributor cap. In this picture you can see it just above the PVC valve (double click the picture for a better view). This screw also keeps the oiling system from leaking.
Moving on, this chrome vacuum line wasn't connected. Look close and you'll see the hole that it fits into located just above the tube. I was surprised to find this. It was a simple fix that should have been done during assembly.
Since we found a few issues I thought it best to take a look inside the fuel injection plenum. This thing looks immaculate! Check out the size of that throttle body butterfly. It' got to be at least 4" in diameter. Everything looks great here.
In closing, all the fittings, tubing and connections have been checked and tightened as necessary. We still need to pull the distributor to verify proper alignment on the cam shaft and we need to run the oil pump for a couple minutes. We're getting close to firing this thing up. Looks pretty nice if I may say so.
Nephew James, how am I doing? Am I forgetting anything?

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Refurbishing the 1963 Differential

OK, lets recap. This is a picture of the 1975 differential currently installed in our Corvette. When we tried to install the drive shaft we found out this differential uses a 3.7" diameter universal joint but we need one that accepts a 3.3" universal joint. Since we have a 1963 differential on the shelf, and it accepts the smaller universal joint, we decided to swap them out. But first... We need to remove a broken bolt, one of four hardened bolts that hold the leaf spring assembly in place. It's in the lower right of this picture and this is going to be a bear.
A small pilot hole was drilled through the entire length of the bolt in order to get penetrating oil on both ends.
The hole was enlarged, heat was applied, then I grabbed an Easy-out.
A few whacks with a hammer to seat the Easy-out and we are ready for extraction.
Looks simple doesn't it? Trust me, it's editing magic.
With that repair behind us, the differential was cleaned as best as possible before heading to the sand blasting box. Pre-cleaning is done to keep the blast media from becoming contaminated with road grease and grime. It took 3 hours of picking, grinding, wire brushing, and wiping with solvent before it was ready. Just before blasting, kite string was wrapped down behind all 3 yokes to protect the seals.
After sand blasting the strings were removed, primer was applied...
followed by a couple coats of cast iron colored paint.
It looks nice!
Next posting should be the swap out the 1975 rear end for the 1963. Thanks for watching.
Update! After running the numbers it turns out the 1963 differential is really a 1965. Use the Poll in the upper right of this blog to help decide which differential we want to use.