Im vacuuming the system down. It boils off any moisture in the system and it checks the system for leaks. If I still have a vacuum in the system after a few days, I can charge it up.
Here's a nice original fiberglass ram air piece with an original sticker. Big thanks to Brian Young! Fits the car perfectly but makes the stage 1 decal stand out like a sore thumb
Just as a comparison, this is a pic of 508s original air cleaner decal that was removed in the late 80s because it was peeling up
Hey Jason can you not add some spray adhesive to the back of the original decal and reaply it? There's got to be some kind of "sticker adhesive renewal" products out by now.
I dont actually own the decal. It's in the possession of a prior owner. Plus it's probably all crinkly and screwed up. The circa 1978 look is almost complete!
So we're now on washer pump 3.0....I was able to find slightly yellowed plastic that still has service life left. So out came the pump and the yellowed parts installed. Finally....it works and looks the way it should. And I ditched the modern cogged belts for a set of nos belts. The AC belt is actually embossed. Much better....those cogged belts looked so out of place. I sprung a slight oil leak on the car. The valve cover bolts just needed a snugging down. Wiped it all down. Now dry as a bone.
Little carb tuning this week.... I finally put my wideband back in the tailpipe. The idle curcuit is around 12.8-13.0 But when the carb gets on the jet, it leans out bad. Between 14.6 and 14.8. Way too lean. The plugs confirmed the AFR too Not alot of color there.....Took the carb off and tried getting the APT screw to turn. Man, I did everything right. I ground a screwdriver to fit exactly in the slot, I soaked it in kroil and broke out the acetylene. Heated it up and the screw started to turn! And then the ear broke off the screw! Sonofab.... Luckily I had a spare 7038888 baseplate that the APT screw is free on. Only problem is it needs to be rebushed. So I dropped off both baseplates with Jim at Allstate. He'll have it back to me by the end of the week. Once its back, I can richen up the cruise curcuit. Might account for it running a little warm on the highway and not quite as smooth as it should be on the highway at cruise. Didn't have a miss, but not quite right In the meantime, I took the rest of the carb apart for cleaning and inspection.
Just got off the phone with Cliff. Cliff is machining me his special replacement APT screw and a sending me some fresh gaskets. Should have it all back together by the end of the week.
Cliff said the APT screw is only surface hardened. I might be able to center punch it and drill it out. Ill experiment on the old baseplate when I get it back
Ok....got the rebuilt baseplate back from Allstate. Cliff sent me new gaskets and his custom APT screw. All back together! The cruise AFR went from 14.8 to 13.6. I think I want to get it a little fatter on the jet. Not bad though. Car runs smoother on the highway. Still needs some further testing but a big improvement.
It was a big year for 508. I put 2,531 miles on it. And that is mostly this season. Drove it literally everywhere this summer. I put a couple small items on the car. I finally shot the lock off my wallet and installed a new set of date coded ignition wires. I didn't expect a difference in drivability but there was. Which tells me there was something wrong with the wires that were on the car. Runs smoother. I cant explain it. And my Delco eye arrived from @Mike Trom today. The finishing touch to any battery topper!
Wasn't a particularly nice weekend but it was in the 40s, amazingly wasn't raining and the streets were relatively clean of salt. So I took the opportunity to drive 508 about a 75 miles. Still has thst wierd little occasional hiccup when I'm driving.. Since I pretty much know what the oil pressure is and what temp it runs at, I decided to remove the autometer gauges under the dash and go back to the factory senders. Much better. Plus that liquid filled water temp gauge was leaking glycerin on the console and making a big mess in the car.
