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Topics - Gohot

#1
Last week I responded to a add on Craigslist for some "J" heads. The price was cheap enough, so I took a ride some fifty miles over to see them. I encountered a Drag racer fella named Dave. Seems he has a store or outlet in Charlotte NC. and is very involved in Drag racing, though it also appears he has turned to the dark side with GM stuff. Still he races front engine Nostalgia Rails.

In the course of conversation, a comment was made about my motor always dying when I came to a stop or that and using the brakes, leading me to think it was a vacuum leak. My thoughts went towards a power booster leak........ but whatever it would run ok at rpm's above 1,000 or so. He suggested the locating pin in the rear of the block as the likely culprit, and thinking back, I have no doubt it was a likely suspect. I had changed all the intake gaskets just recently as I had gotten a Eddy Performer. I sprayed Coppercoat on the metal gaskets as a precautionary hoping for a little extra sealing. Not good....... it seams to have been corrupted by antifreeze and turned to a non-hardening mushy substance. Anyway, I had fluid loss, thus the teardown. Ok I cleaned everything back to shiny, the deck, the web front and rear, the manifold completely, and black silicone the Felpro gasket set onto the block. I let them set to cure up a bit as they were cork.

After an hour or so I came back to the install and proceeded to mount the Eddy back on the motor. Right off the start it was hard to locate the locating rollpin. I farted around for a bit and it felt as though it had aligned....... or it sort'a felt like it did. Upon reflection, I doubt that was the case. So I now have this rollpin problem and a vacuum leak .....(I think)  I'm going to try a vacuum gauge first, and then determine if it is in fact leaking....  I'll just have to search up baseline Vacuum in my FSM manual.  Another thing that leads me to think Vacuum is that it seems to have leaned out, in fact runs hot sometimes on the highway, or hotter than it used to. I have had this motor running tits previously, no stalls, perfect idle tuning with the Edelbrock 1406 carb (600cfm) which ran rich previously. Enough so that I was thinking of Restrictors and the Calibration kit from Edelbrock. So the lean symptom fits I believe.

So the next thing was these heads I got..... some real nice 'J' heads. Nice valves, nice seats, and nice double wound springs. I mentioned the overheating slightly, well I also got a new water pump too.
I was thinking of getting a complete gasket kit and putting the heads on.... some say don't others say they ought to run ok on bottom and scream on top. I have Hooker 2 1/2's and the Eddy Performer & Carb along with a new double row chain currently, and running a GM modual conversion, all on a 318
I know this is perhaps iffy with the motor combo, at least without putting in Keith Black 167's and some cam in the 450's to 480's but one thing going for me is that this is a 2x4 RC, so the drive train is considerably easier on the motors HP and Torque patterns over a 4x4 combo.

Anyways, I guess I'll have my Daughter get me some Felpro's, and entire gasket kit, since she works at NAPA and avoid having to get a top end kit or a bottom end kit or partial kits, instead just get the whole dang thing and use what I need and save the rest. 
So have any of you done something similar and ran J heads on a 318?  these are also 2.02's which seems a bit too big under the circumstances as well. I have to change the gaskets, stop the leak, so I would like to use them if it was ant HP increase ? Any thoughts ........ 
#2
Projects / Today I might finnish the RC trans R&R
July 25, 2014, 05:35:26 AM
Well it's been a little over a month since my trans went south. It had started last year when I started driving again as I had finished putting a new motor in my 2x4 RC. During the winter it would take a while to engage and take off, and it whined fairly loud. Then on a trip to the VA clinic a month and a half ago it just took a dump about a couples from the VA on my way home. Fortunately I had bought a trans a while back that had been rebuilt with all the good stuff and a shift kit. Having recently pulled the motor to do a front seal and then ultimately putting new gaskets on the long block throughout and a double row chainset, and reinstalling it, I was burnt on R&Ring stuff. I just couldn't wrap my head around R&Ring anything again. Finally last week I pulled the driver header and starter and that's how it set up until yesterday. Well yesterday wasn't too hot, so I started about 8am and started pulling bolts and linkage and shield and all the rest. Dropped the trans easily enough and popped the rebuild in place and trans-jacked it up into place. Not bad considering the trans jack was on lawn/dirt. It still rolled well enough. Well it's all up in place and re-installed. All that's left is the top two trans bolts and the filler tube and the one header and starter. I just could not find the mental umph for the longest time to do the work, but once down on the ground yesterday, I just kept plugging away at it until my camo T shirt was wringing wet....literally. Don't ask for pics, I cant find my digital usb port cable, so I didn't bother filming the event.

Well thank god My Dodge Van saved the day, er... (month & a half) with a set of wheels, but then again my B250 Cargo is the most reliable vehicle I'v ever owned.
And My Daughter is finally moving out............... and at 27 it's about time, though we got along fine, I'm glad she made the jump into total independence. Looks like it might be a great weekend............. Got my fingers crossed....... then I'll hook the battery back up and go sample the shift kit performance... :).
#3
Vehicle Help / Fitting headers
April 17, 2014, 08:42:51 AM
A couple of things you might want to know.... Headers generally leak .... and the reason usually is because ....... there is a stud on the front and rear of the head, the exhaust manifold studs, the rest are bolts that thread into the head through the header flange. If you set the gasket on the studs as most people do, their hanging too low. Their probably hanging an eigth or better too low on the port to the point you may only end up with a threads width of sealing surface. The cure.... to partially hold the gaskets in place with tape, like masking tape. The gaskets have a 'hook' on each end to catch the studs, but they shouldn't hang all the way down touching, they should be lifted and secured with '''tape' or contact cemented to the head, thus covering the port and header flange with the most material possible. "Percys" makes a gasket that is supposedly 'guaranteed' to seal, and is a bit, shall we say 'abundant' It's probably got more material around the port area to compensate for the hanging gasket syndrome.  The only problem I see here is the port matching.... there is probably gasket hanging inside the port area to a small degree. What other choices do you have? Well stock manifolds or AAR Cuda 340 cast iron manifolds which are $pendy ....about $800, and are similar to cast iron headers, and certainly would never leak....... or proper fittment of the headers you do pick. It's been said you should choose 'Coated' headers and I wholey recommend this for rust reasons. I also recommend Headman over Hookers. I have hookers, and where they dump, you have to get creative with the exhaust routing on the passenger side. I'm told the Headmans don't have this problem. You will likely have to juggle the headers and starter on the drivers side while installing, while the passenger side usually will drop in from the top. Remember the Auto Trans fill tube..... it needs a bit of bending to re-fit with headers now. On the small blocks which I am talking about, the plug wire routing is fairly straight forward with straight ends, but 'L' ends might pose difficulties. You will loose your heat riser to the air cleaner unless you fab up something or cop an after market piece, but other than that.... it's relatively a sound investment/fittment operation. You will need to have a lift or raise the RC considerably to get the drivers side header in. I'd say a lift is mandatory, it just depends on toyr tolerance to frustration pain and vocabulary...lol.
#4
General Discussion / 2X4 Ramcharger Prospector....
December 06, 2012, 07:19:20 AM
A lot of Ramchargers come our way over time, with a lot really too far gone body wise for most skill levels to repair. Body work with a scoush of Bondo is one thing, replacing panels and floors quite another. So that makes for quite a lot of otherwise sound drive train RC's popping up for sale and getting cannibalized. With better or nice examples, all Good to Average going from $2,000 or so to $4-5,000. Some want 4X4 exclusively, and others (Like Me) search out 2X4 models as projects for Muscle Trucks. Mine is an 84 Prospector with the 318 and auto. After mods like a Birdbath hood and nice wheels, headers, manifold and such, it should be quite presentable, and fairly quick as 318's go. I have a 95 Jeep YJ for my 'real' 4X4 off road needs, and really, it is probably a better choice than a Behemoth RC, Blazer or Bronco because of it's small size and weight. Still, I'd like a 'Behemoth' RC, and probably a 70's pop-top version. They have their place, and one of them is frequent stops for fuel...lol.... How many of you would seek out a 2X4 RC...? That's where the Jeep shines sort of... 17-18 mpg, but the RC shines when it's raining for sure, provided you got the pop-top on, or have the one-piece later models. Or for Towing where the additional weight makes for a much better tow vehicle. And even a better dry environment for you audio buffs. We have to face the fact the RC's are a Dead Breed, no longer made, but that's not really such a bad thing for those of us keeping our existing RC's alive with donors. I'll admit, I always liked the Ramcharger over the Blazer or Bronco's, though K5's were cool, and the early Bronco's, the 60's and 70's versions a Prime find. But overall the Ramcharger, in my book had the best looks bar none. There's just something about a nice clean Mopar that stops crowds and admirers in their tracks. So for me, it's 99% of the time been Mopar products exclusively. Well Jeep's now Mopar sort of. I mean they own them and the 'Star' still graces the steering wheel center. :) Now, I just need that Viper motored Motorcycle they made a few years back to be complete.

But for now, my 2X4 is my project, one I'm eager to finish, to get on the road with, maybe even go cross country to Cali to visit friends and relatives for a couple weeks....(probably all I could take of Cali) before hightailing it back to North Carolina, my new, (since 06) home. Gott's keep buying a PowerBall every week, you never know, I might just start collecting Mopars then...:)  :great:
#5
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CC8QtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DjGQ-ISsDm8M&ei=HGWOUKvsGIKQ9QSBu4CACQ&usg=AFQjCNGZRLSnUOSRSMpWrvs2wm2ecm6c5Q&cad=rja

I know this can't just be an all-dude site, So, some of you Ladies are more than welcome to introduce yourselves..... Pics optional, I'v found the Gentler sex to be quite a Great Asset, and more often than not Much Appreciated. So 'LADIES', if you'd step up to the podium... :headbang: :thumbsup: