Man what a day yesterday was..
The first thing I wanted to do was get the AC system charged, then get the seats in it, and take it for a quick spin before renting the truck, and getting the tool box.
The AC system wouldn’t/ didn’t charge properly. Due to the omission of the heater control valve. Now because I’ve done that, hot water flows through the heater core continually which shares a common plenum with the AC evaporator.
The AC system won’t work when competing with 200 degree water.
So,.....
Back up in the air the car goes, and the radiator gets drained yet another time. I’ll have to put two manual ball valves in the water lines, and create a bypass using T’s, so i can shut the back flow off to the heater core, while still allowing water to move out of the back of the head to the inlet on the back of the water pump. I’ll shut the water off in the summer, and open it back in the winter ( for all of the freakin driving I’ll never do in the winter anyway).
Ive got no speedometer despite having it hooked to the sender. IDK if it’s the way it’s wired, or if the sender is somehow incompatible. One way or the other, that’s gotta work..even if I have to buy a GPS based sender.
When i first drove it, and the console was back in, and the shifter cover installed, I backed the thing out, put it in low, and pulled out of the drive. I thought “Man, the converter is really loose”.
After driving it, I counted the forward gears.. 1,2,3, neutral.. WTF? either I had no low gear, or the shifter was adjusted wrong.
Turns out, the console, and the shifter cover are going to have to be modified. The handle hits the both in low.
Andd...”modifying“ the console while in place, tore a huge chunk of paint off one of the bars..I don’t even know if I can get the cover clearanced enough to allow the handle full rearward movement.
The trans is noisy in low gear..Googling that reveals that that might be normal for a 4l80,..something about the cut on the gears in the planetary..or, they may be worn. ( or, when the sht fell out of the trans when I dumped it, i may have hurt them)
Ill find out soon enough i guess.
The one-two shift creates a real un-nerving torque related lurch to the right when the tires break loose..I dont feel confident that i’d keep my foot in it when this thing is making real power...I also don’t think i’m revving the engine into the higher rpm where it’s gonna get even more weird when I shift. The old Monster made enough torque down low to spin the tires almost off idle in low, and when shifting, the tires were already blazing,..now, this stupid thing comes into power exponentially, the longer you keep it in gear, the more power it starts making, and by the time you’re at shift point, it’s ready to raise all kinds of hell....
And i’m not itching to get added to somebodies “Cars and Coffee drive out fails” video.
Its all a new kinda learning curve..20 psi...is gonna be the game changer I think.