my new old 1988 ss20v

[ab59]

The red sun is filtering down through the smoke again today but I get a little more done each day . the front speaker panels are in and more little stuff like the cleats are back in as well. Today I am going to start the engine and check the new alternator for damage from the backfeed . I believe the backfeed was caused by the battery charger so hopefully no more wiring problems are waiting for me and the alternator was not effected. Dog house base and seats are next .
Difficult to work much at a time now as the smoke from the fires has turned the air hazardous but I am going to try one of my masks that I use while shooting fiberglass .

 

[ab59]

Good news and bad news from my part of the world. Alternator is charging right but my new gas gauge and sending unit is wacked again. I have an electric choke on the Holley and I ran a hot wire from the choke to the ignition switch with a fuse at the transom that heats up when I turn the key on , not hot enough to burn the fuse but still seems unusual to me. RPM gauge suddenly not working as well and jumps when I hit the trim button. Something mighty odd goin on round here. My suspicious nature almost has me digging out my rock salt shells and missing a little sleep at night to see if I found a joker around here. So far we have had people knock on our bedroom window at 2 ,3 and 4 am only to run off before I get out there with my shotgun . I'm sure I would be the one who went to jail and not the guy who has terrorized my house these last few years if I were to fill his britches with a few ounces of rock salt.
Anyway , I seem to have yet another wiring problem to figure out . I just can't seem to get anything to stay fixed here lately .

 

[Watermann]

The best place to pull power from that was recommended in the instructions when I put an electric choke on my V6 is from the + side of the coil.

You should put out a camera for your intruder and a coupe of traps as well.

 

[ab59]

I'm going to take your advice and run the choke to the + side of the coil. I need to re check the wires there anyway .
I have a 4 channel Linux security dvr and a ptz camera that will read the license plate on a car at 300 ft but it can't see so great at night but I do think I will find the time to put it up and a couple of regular cameras as well that have the IR built into them . Just hard to get myself to climb up into the attic to run the wires for them.
Here in CA. I can't put out any kind of " man trap " or I will go to jail and they would own everything I've got.

 

[ab59]

Hey , I ran that choke wire directly to the + side of the coil and the choke actually works good for a change , Thanks

 

[Watermann]

Glad I could help

The traps can be simple but effective like a garden rake laid out with the tines pointing up to give a smack in the mush when stepped on. Air horn trip wire is a good non injury trap that frightens rather than hurts. It's the small things like that which make it not so much fun for the intruder.

 

[ab59]

Less than lethal seems like it's not enough to me but I guess it's the law of the land. When I had my little house and a few acres in the country in Oregon I had some problems and I put 6 1x3 boards out with some 16 penny nail through them and buried the boards under the gravel around the house . I noticed that a few days later the neighbor that grew pot out in back of me was limping around alot , :lol: what a co-winky-dink . Maybe I'll try something along that route .

 

[Watermann]

Nail boards oh boy, if you're a fisherman and have some extra 40 Lb test along with some old treble hooks a guy can make for some very effective deterrents. I know guys who are suffering thefts from their boats use this effectively. :lol:

 

[MTboatguy]

Nail boards oh boy, if you're a fisherman and have some extra 40 Lb test along with some old treble hooks a guy can make for some very effective deterrents. I know guys who are suffering thefts from their boats use this effectively. :lol:

I am glad I live in Montana

 

[ab59]

If anyone following or reading this wonders what I've been doing look in the electrical problems forum under "Ghost in the machine ?" and you will see.

 

[ab59]

I.P. service was down since Saturday so guess I'll play catch up . When looking through the wiring I seem to have fixed the gas gauge problem again but don't know where the problem is , still. It seems that I have a similar problem with the trim gage now but if I do not find the problem today it will go to the back burner and I am going to clean up the deck and install the seats , and look to making the front cushions. I will come back to the wiring at the end of this AFTER THE SPLASH .
One of the wife's brothers is an electrician of sorts but lives in a distant town, maybe I can catch him on a visit to their mothers and get him to have a look next time he is here .
Even the wiring to the alternator is four different color wires than the diagrams show and I have had more that enough conflicting information on this problem. I confounded " alldodge " so much that he gave up and so i lost my mentor to frustration. lol.
So , damn the wiring full speed ahead

 

[ab59]

Craziest thing went to start the engine and she refused to start . This after starting and running great since I repaired and adjusted the floats a couple of weeks ago. I checked the engine and sure enough there is gas all over the front of the intake and it looks like a fooding issue from the same side float that gave me trouble before. Nothing seems to stay fixed around here . I think it was "alldodge" that suggested that I replace the needle and seat but I thought I had found the problem and did not. I ordered a couple today and if after this the REBUILT Holley 4010 crackerbox fails again I will start looking for a Quadrajet and Holleys will no longer be on my list. No I did not rebuild the Holley . I knew you all might think that.
So close to splash time and yet ? but then again I do digress

 

[Watermann]

Edelbrock makes a good replacement carb too.

 

[MTboatguy]

Edelbrock makes a good replacement carb too.

Yup they do, I used to run them on some of my cars, easy to adjust and long lasting good quality, it was basically the same carb as the Carter's

 

[ab59]

I put an Edelbrock intake on the engine and I looked at their carbs at that time but I had to make a choice between 100 bucks for the rebuilt Holley or 500 bucks for the Edelbrock so the Holley won out. I'm getting near 6000 bucks into this project and am not really wanting to throw another 500 bucks at it so will just have to see what comes up at an affordable price , if necessary .

 

[MTboatguy]

I put an Edelbrock intake on the engine and I looked at their carbs at that time but I had to make a choice between 100 bucks for the rebuilt Holley or 500 bucks for the Edelbrock so the Holley won out. I'm getting near 6000 bucks into this project and am not really wanting to throw another 500 bucks at it so will just have to see what comes up at an affordable price , if necessary .

The last one I got, I got off the auction website it was a warranty rebuilt that had been sent back to Edelbrock with a full warranty and it was $199 delivered to my door. I see the car I put it on around town and talk to the guy I sold the car to and he said he has never had to do anything to the carb on it.

 

[ab59]

Hoping that it does not come to that . I did see some on ebay for 269.00. Final price if you were to spend 40 bucks to send them your core would be 249.99. Some may have been cheaper but were not Marine carburetors.
Maybe this Holley will hold up after the new needles and seats are installed.

 

[Watermann]

The 1409 Edelbrock is the one I believe has the marine rating.

 

[ab59]

Just too funny. Yesterday the carb was flooding and would not start. Being insane I did the same thing today ( insanity I hear is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result ) but the engine fired right up , ran a little rough at first and then smoothed out and ran fine. NO FLOODING ! I did take the breather off before starting this time so I could see for sure where the gas was coming from . So I guess I have a sticky float at the primary float bowl . Will look into it when the needles and seats get here.
On a different note , I have been chasing an electrical problem that has been affecting my fuel gauge and trim gauge and may have found the problem. I wanted to look at the wire hookup at the shift control box and pulled it apart and there staring me in the face were pinched wires with the red wires copper exposed and up against the metal shift post . Repairing same will see if that is the problem tomorrow. What a test of patience .

 

[ab59]

Once again the problem eludes me. I painted and repaired the trim button wires on the shift handle but makes no difference at the gauge. Been tracing wires today but have no found a thing that looks like it would be a problem . Seems to be a lot of extra harness at the transom for some reason. The trim motor works just fine other than being a little loud though.
I keep saying that I'm going to leave the wiring tell last but when I think of having to work with seats and such in the way I start hoping that I can locate the wiring problem before I mount the seats.
I dunno---would be nice to solve this problem that's for sure .