Wagonlicious

So, I always have a hard time differentiating between a 153 and 168 tooth flexplate and the starter that matches.  The bigger flexplate (168 tooth is 14″) uses the starter with offset holes, and the smaller one (153 tooth is ~12.75″) uses the starter with in-line holes.  Big and small blocks all use the same two basic starters (I’m not sure about the LS engines). I really like the smaller body gear reduction Corvette/Impala LT1 starter with the small flexplate, just because that starter is so much easier to install due to light weight. :)

There’s a great thread at Chevytalk which has pictures and words and stuff.  So, I’m sticking that link up here in order to prevent myself from forgetting in the future.

I installed new [color] print cartridges into my HP C6380 printer at 23:44 on April 13, 2010 (just a few minutes ago). The printer’s web status page shows the correct time down to the second. However, all three of the new print cartridges say that the “First Installation Date” is 2010-04-09. This is odd, as I ordered the cartridges from the HP store on the 9th and the cartridges just arrived at my house on the 12th. I find it very disconcerting that my printer is backdating my print cartridges’ install date by 4 days, since it seems that the warranty expiration date is based on the install date.

I’m waiting for HP to educate me as to why this happened.  I’m also looking forward to the next time I need to replace a cartridge (it takes five: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK and a separate photo black) in order to see if this happens again…  I like the printer, but I don’t like being lied to by technology.  Well, I dislike being lied to by anything, I guess – but especially technology. :)

This (new window) might be related.  Maybe…

It’s Springtime again, and time to fix up the finishes on my badly neglected cars.  There are currently 5 cars and a bike outside my house, which means I’ll be polishing for a while.  Because I had to buy some more materials, I thought I’d put together a list of the stuff I use in the Wagonlicious store (it’s through Amazon, so you can trust in getting good service).  Yes, this is a shameless plug, as I get some small percentage of purchases.  But I also wanted to put together a list of products to answer people who ask me what I use; print it out and take it to your local auto parts store to buy there if you don’t like buying things on-line.  They’re good products whether or not you get them from my store. :)

Basically, I really like Meguiar’s products.  With any polishing compounds, you really need to use a system – Mother’s and 3M also make really good stuff, but they’re not as easy to find (though I do use 3M stuff on fresh paint, because it’s easier to find at paint suppliers that in larger quantities, and I tend to use more when wet sanding a full car).  I also added links to the DA tool and polishing pads I use.  You’ll have $150 in the buffer and pads, but you just can’t get as good of results by hand – and you’ll probably kill your arms if you try. :)  The Porter Cable DA polisher rocks; I can’t say enough good things about it.  The Meguiar’s pads are well-built and readily available, which is the main reason I use them.

I also put the Turtle Wax wheel and interior cleaners I use up there, because IMHO, they’re the best products for those two tasks out there.  I’ve not used everything available, of course, but I’ve used several, and the stuff I have in my store is the best I’ve used – and is mostly the best price.  Also note that just about everything is eligible for Super Saver shipping – so if you spend over $25, shipping is free. I think it also respects Prime shipping, if you’re an Amazon Prime member.

So, I’ve been unable to get the old HEI to work as expected. I replaced the starter yesterday and it now cranks over well, but I’m still not getting a solid spark. So I’m going back to the Accel electronic distributor. Tonight I ordered a male-terminal cap for the distributor (to make swapping back to HEI easier) and an MSD Blaster 2 SS. I chose that coil because it’ll work stand-alone, or will work with a CD system (I like the Accel 300+, but MSD boxes are fine  as well).

I guess I’ll know Tuesday evening if this finally resolves the problem or not.

So, I recently put a separate drive controller in my primary workstation. This seems to have resolved the issue where too much drive activity would make the machine crash. So, I guess I don’t need to buy a new machine after all. I still may, but it’s nice that I don’t have to…

Perhaps it’s time to move the 3Ware RAID controller into this machine, then, since this machine actually has 64-bit PCI slots and I feel bad having the back end of the controller hanging out of a 32-bit slot in the other machine…

Last week my new 3″ Flowmaster 40-series delta flow mufflers came in, as well as the Summit universal X pipe kit (and some hedman X-tensions).  Over the weekend, I got the parts halfway welded up and hung under the truck.  I still need to make some new tailpipes and finish welding the seams, but I couldn’t resist driving it in to work anyway.  Wow it sounds good.  It’s a relatively low compression 454, but any big block running through dual Flowmaster 40s and a full 3″ mandrel-bent exhaust sounds awesome.  I recommend them.  They’re surprisingly quiet, actually – I think the X junction and fairly large pipe make a difference there (as well as the delta flow technology).  With full tailpipes, I expect it to actually be a lot quieter than I originally anticipated.  Well, as long as I can keep my foot out of the throttle… :)

I’ve had some troubles with carburetors for the last few weeks.  Since I had an extra HEI ignition laying around, I thought I’d see if maybe my old Super Coil and plain Accel electronic distributor might actually be at fault.  So, after about an hour’s worth of making some new plug wires to use the new male-terminal HEI distributor (as opposed to the old socket-style cap on the current distrib), and about 1/2 hour of cranking the engine over and over to finally get the stupid timing mark to line up :) it was running with a stock HEI.

Somewhat surprisingly, it ran way better.  I could actually get the carb dialed in properly.  I think the old (15+ years) Super Coil had just gotten weak – probably from sitting with the key on too long a variety of times.  Now to rebuild the Hei with a performance module instead of the stocker.  Oh, and to get the carb linkage set up properly so that I actually get full throttle with the gas pedal mashed instead of the roughtly 3/4 throttle I get now – I’m sure that will improve acceleration. ;)

I’m doing links to Megasquirt-related docs that I find helpful, hopefully for dropping an Lt1 into the Chevelle in the relatively near future.

http://www.diyautotune.com/tech_articles/how_to_megasquirt_your_chevy_lt1_lt4_l99.htm

I took a picture of the interior panel on the [1995 Caprice] wagon’s tailgate / end gate so people can see where the 6 panel retainers are located. Once you take out the screws on the top edge and the four or so screws around the sides, you still have to pop these all out. The two in the middle are the ones that make you think something’s wrong and that you missed a screw – but you didn’t. :)

The replacement retainers are available through Dorman, so most parts stores have them. I got mine at Advance Auto since that was the closest store to me, and they came in a 3 pack identified as GM fasteners.

wagon rear panel

The passenger-side window’s been fixed, now. The little slider thing at the end of the regulators broke (which is common with the original design), but I got the last new one at the Chevy dealership. Apparently they’ve been discontinued, so I’m off to start hoarding nylon power window slidy deals now.

Tomorrow, the cover goes back on the inside of the end gate.