Thanks guys! just went and looked at some triple sets, think im going to do it soon. I also was looking at Driving lights/fog lights, and i want to put some in to help my visibility, my question is, do you think they will look okay? were is the best place to install them? Under my bumper? behind my grill?
Was browsing craigslist and picked up some rally rims for my car, they are in amazing condition i just need to repaint the centers, they are just bare metal right now. should have them on the car this weekend! i will post pictures as i paint them
Alright here are some pics and steps i took to paint my wheels Here they are right when i unloaded them from the car, not to bad of shape. Masked and primed, i did 3 coats of primer per wheel Here they are after the first coat of black final product, taken last night in a dark garage so not the best picture. went back today and touched up some rough spots around the edges. They are on! the guy that put them on scratched them a little bit. nothing a little touch up paint wont fix. taken from my living room, i can take better ones tomorrow. Thanks for the support guys.
I plan on it, i filled out the form i just need to send it off. If my car isnt in it i will defiantly be there to look around.
Thanks! The guy that was selling them kept calling me to make sure i was coming. He was getting spammed with emails and calls from people wanting to buy them.
I looked around google and other places trying to find what this was, I was looking for the place by the oil filter to hook up a oil pressure gauge and i saw this plug, is it the water temp sending unit?
I also just looked up under my dash to see how to disconnect the idiot lights, and i am completely lost, where the lights are there are just bulbs, is there a center point that all the dash wires connect to then are spread by a circuit board?
Just looked again, it's the oil pressure. Re read what silverbuick said. Can't find the temp though. Could be all the hoses in the way
There is no need to disconnect the light bulbs or wiring from the dash cluster. The cluster is plugged in with a central connector. The temp sensor is on top of the engine just to the left or right of where the upper radiator hose connects to the engine. Has a single wire going to a sensor that is pointing straight down.
Thank you for clarifying, I think im going to go pick one up today and install it. Are Vacuum gauges good to have? i read somewhere that you can monitor them to get the best economy for your car. Also, do you have to drain your oil to put the oil pressure fitting on the block?
You don't have to drain the oil to install the sensor. A little will leak out, but nothing a rag or shop towel couldn't handle. I'm a fan of vacuum gauges, namely because it's a visual reference of what your right foot is doing, and that's how you "save" fuel if you are watching it. You can easily find a sweet spot for cruising, where the vacuum peaks. I shoot for about 2inHg under high idle, meaning see what vacuum it pulls at roughly 1,000rpm in neutral, and cruise as close to that. This only works properly if your carb is tuned right/close though. If it's running too rich or lean at cruise or idle then that rule is out the window. But the main benefit is that you can see when you are giving it more throttle but not necessarily going faster. I've also used it as an early warning when the engine is starting to eat a cam if you have that unfortunate circumstance, as there will be an ever so slight tick of the needle. All that being said, my 231 worked so hard that vacuum was relatively low during most driving, where as the V8's don't work nearly as hard and cruise with decent vacuum.
Thank you so much, you actually explain stuff the internet doesn't! Now a giant question, How do i tell that if im running rich/lean? and how to change it?
That is a challenge. Assuming no bad oil consumption issues around the rings or valve guides, you can periodically check the spark plugs. If they are usually dark and blackish then you are either burning oil or running rich. If they are a light brown/red then you are likely in running pretty good. If they have a white coating then you are likely running lean. There are more scientific ways to test it at the track, etc. But if you are driving some highway for 10+ minutes and check it afterwards (don't do any unnecessary rapid accelerations), the plugs will likely show how it's running. This just tells you if you are in the ball park, rich, lean or inbetween. Odds are the carb has been jetted pretty lean for emissions, and the way you can change the fuel mixture on the stock carb is limited. You can play around with float settings, though that can be hit or miss, I wouldn't change the float level very much. The other normal way for carb's is to change the jets. I don't know if 2bbl jets are the same as ones for a Holley or Edelbrock. I never messed with them on the 2bbl. Pretty much check to see if your carb is a High-Altitude/CA one or a Federal one. I'm guessing you should have a Federal one, the High-Altitude/CA ones run a little richer I think. Oh, and timing plays a big part in the spark plug color and vacuum levels. You could test it out, change the initial timing 2* at a time, drive at the same conditions (level road, steady speed, etc) and check the vacuum. See if there is a point the cruise vacuum increases or decreases, and narrow in on the "ideal" timing for cruising (where it peaks). Aren't internal combustion engines fun? There are lots of dynamics going on in there. Change the timing and it'll want more or less fuel, change the fuel and it'll want more or less timing, change the temperature of the engine coolant and it'll want different timing and/or fuel. Fun fun fun, it's all relational and each engine is different.
Oh boy! sadly i do burn oil so i guess that really isn't an option I bought the gauges today, but i don't have the right socket size to get my water temp sensor off so i have to wait until Saturday when my friend is free to let me borrow one.
Yeah it's a big socket. Be careful installing the gauge sensor, the adapter and sensor are made of brass and a steel wrench can easily round them. Use a six point socket to install the adapter and be careful or get a tubing wrench for the sensor. Use a sealer (teflon tape, etc) on the threads. As for burning oil, unless you are burning oil across all the cylinders, you just have to find one or two that are comparatively clean of oil contamination to be a guide, you don't necessarily have to check all the spark plugs. Also, it'll be hard to do, but if you are running too lean it will backfire (a lean pop) under load.
I got everything installed today, had a mini volcano eruption under my hood of coolant, didn't think the 1/2 block drive from the front of my house to the garage would build that much coolant pressure. out of the whole install only tore my hand open once on the alternator bracket. The only thing i couldn't do is hook up the oil pressure line to the block, the line wasn't long enough from where the whole in the firewall was. I looked online and all they have is the 72" lines, that's what came with it so hopefully they sell a connector so i can connect both together to reach.
Yeah it requires a long line from the front of the engine. I personally never was good at getting the fittings to seal at the gauge and they always would seep a little, resulting in the occasional drop of oil on the carpet. I'd either not be tightening it enough or over tightening it and breaking fitting. I only used copper line though, the plastic may seal better but I have one friend who's line did break inside the car, and I know his wasn't the first time it's happened to someone. I run electric oil pressure gauges in both my Buick's now to keep oil out of the inside of the car, their a bit more expensive and their response time is a bit slower than a mechanical gauge, but it's really irrelevent if your gauge suddenly drops to zero and you turn the key off 2 seconds later or 2.5 seconds later, the point is it dropped to zero.
I got the oil pressure gauge hooked up today, no leaks so far ray: I noticed that my oil light on my dash wasnt going off because the sender unit was obviously taken off. So i just reached up under the dash and pulled the bulb for it. Was that the right way to do it? or is there a way to trip it to think that the pressure is fine?
