And now for something completely different.....

[falconvan]

I took a day off and kicked some butt on this thing yesterday; I hope to test fire the motor today if I can finish a few more things. I got the front end back on and mounted the radiator after building some brackets. I'm going to try a flex fan and see if that will keep it cool. It's a fairly stock engine other than a few bolt ons so I'm hoping it will. Plug wires and hoses are all on, new aluminum 3/8" fuel line run to the back and I've got the tank painted and ready to go back in, trans cooler mounted back in the frame, inside and engine wiring done other than hooking up a few small things and cleaning it all up, all the rear light cans painted and back in, headlights in; it was a pretty productive day over all.

 

[falconvan]

I've got to clean up the shop when this thing is done; what a huge mess.

 

[falconvan]

I finally did get it to a point where I could test fire; finished the fuel tank with a new sending unit, got it in and wrapped up some other small stuff. The battery was dead so I took advantage of the moment and cleaned the shop for three hours while it charged. Still a long way to go but I'm not falling over eveything now. i've got fuel coming up out of the rear air horn on the carb and it'll try to fire but wont. Sound like a float adjustment? Time to quit for today; lots of holiday honey do's to attend to. You guys have a great memorial day!

 

[Gastrick]

I chuckle at the craziness of this project every time I look at it. Keep up the good work. Sounds like it's either flooded or the timing is off?

 

[falconvan]

Thanks Gas, It's nice seeing more work behind me than ahead. Had another minor setback; the intake was leaking antifreeze so it had to come back off. Hopefully I'll get a night or two this week to get back on it.

 

[jfg455]

couple of things, the fuel out of the float could be adjustment or just a stuck needle. Tap the top of the float adjuster a couple of times and see if it will stop. Also could be to much fuel pressure if you are running an electric pump.
Second. if you are using a pontiac motor alot of people wil actually cut the water jacket/log part off of the rest of the intake itself. this is due to alignment issues. just 2 cuts down each side of the intake lets the water log/jacket be a seperate piece. Also if it an aftermarket intake check the egr ports on the side of the heads where the intake touches them. they can leak there if not blocked off right.
Looks good though. I spent all day sunday hoeing out my pig stye of a garage. That got me motivated to get back on the datsun again.

 

[falconvan]

couple of things, the fuel out of the float could be adjustment or just a stuck needle. Tap the top of the float adjuster a couple of times and see if it will stop. Also could be to much fuel pressure if you are running an electric pump.
Second. if you are using a pontiac motor alot of people wil actually cut the water jacket/log part off of the rest of the intake itself. this is due to alignment issues. just 2 cuts down each side of the intake lets the water log/jacket be a seperate piece. Also if it an aftermarket intake check the egr ports on the side of the heads where the intake touches them. they can leak there if not blocked off right.
Looks good though. I spent all day sunday hoeing out my pig stye of a garage. That got me motivated to get back on the datsun again.

Thanks for the tips! It's actually an Olds motor. I put a straight edge on the intake and didnt see any problems so I just went with another new valley pan and this time let the silicone dry for an hour before I torqued it. I think I might have squeezed all the silicone out before when I tightened it wet. I'm going to finish putting it back together tonight and try again.

 

[jfg455]

Ah, I see it now. The color threw me off. Looked like pontiac blue! Its always the little things that add up at the end of a build. Keep at it. looks good!

 

[falconvan]

Ah, I see it now. The color threw me off. Looked like pontiac blue! Its always the little things that add up at the end of a build. Keep at it. looks good!

Thanks; you've got a sharp eye! That IS Pontiac Blue; i couldn't find any Olds Blue. I checked out your website; awesome looking shop you've got there! That LS turbo full size truck looks really cool.

 

[jfg455]

Thanks; you've got a sharp eye! That IS Pontiac Blue; i couldn't find any Olds Blue. I checked out your website; awesome looking shop you've got there! That LS turbo full size truck looks really cool.

Thanks! it is my part time gig. GM tech by day. The truck is on ebay right now and could be had for $8500. I was trying to talk him into donating it for a shop truck but he needs the cash. We just swapped it to a 4l80E and a stock PCM tuned with HP tuners. makes a really nice driver that runs 11.90's if you lean on it!

 

[falconvan]

I got it fired up for the first time tonight. The motor sounds great and all the vitals look good; i forgot just how sweet an open headered big block sounds! I had the distributor 180 degrees out; reset the timing, the rear float and she fired right up![cl[cl

 

[falconvan]

Here's a short video of a test run on the engine. I dropped the driveshaft off this morning to get shortened and am working on building some stands for the seats, exhaust, and getting the brakes hooked up. I've got a friend doing some body work on the hood for me; it had a few too many wrinkles for me to tackle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsw3Mbte7NE

 

[Motorhead]

Awesome! [cl

 

[Corsair]

OK, did I mention that I love Olds anything. Any BOP 455 is amazing but I'm partial to Olds. Olds 455s are just too cool. Nice work on this van!!

 

[Corsair]

Forgot to mention... if you want real Olds Blue (#638?? will double check) for an engine paint job, IIRC this place can sell you the right stuff.

http://www.fusick.com/

 

[falconvan]

Thanks for the link on the paint! I wish I could have found some before I painted it but i wasnt having any luck. I'll tell you, for a mild street build it sure sounds healthy. It's my first Olds build but I'm likin it already. I got word from the drive shaft shop and it'll be ready tomorrow, so that was pretty quick! I decided to start building some seat stands; I needed to know the orientation of the seat so I knew where to put the shifter. I dug through my scrap pile and found some steel plate and some 2 1/2" x 1/2" bar stock left from when I had some old elevators updated, two old pump stands for some hot water circulating pumps from an old boiler I had replaced, and some misc angle iron. Here's what I came up with. Sorry about the pics, a couple came out blurry for some reason.

 

[jfg455]

this think is awesome! There is a paving company up here that has a 1 ton chevy powered gruman van with stainless wheel simulators on it. They have it all custom painted with their logo and flames and the rockers are about 5" off the ground. It is totally cool! They just use it to feery parts and people around in it.

 

[falconvan]

this think is awesome! There is a paving company up here that has a 1 ton chevy powered gruman van with stainless wheel simulators on it. They have it all custom painted with their logo and flames and the rockers are about 5" off the ground. It is totally cool! They just use it to feery parts and people around in it.

Thanks! It has to be one of the more enjoyable builds I've done; I'm glad it's got a lot of positive feedback along the way. I wish I had the capital to start my own gig; maybe someday.

 

[falconvan]

I made a trip to the boneyard Saturday and picked up some seat sliders from a GMC van and a pair of Jaguar seatbelts. You wouldnt believe how hard it is to find cars with black interior anymore. Everything is gray, maroon, or tan. I think the Euoropean car section had the only few cars with black in the whole 50 acre yard. I got my driveshaft back; looks like they did a good job. The original one was so small in diameter that I had to have them make a new one from scratch. I also spent a few hours yesterday finishing up my seat stands and getting one seat mounted. Also, my decals came in and they look really cool; can't wait to get them on!

 

[falconvan]

No pics today but I got my shifter done, exhaust on, and brake lines hooked up, along with having the seats finished this weekend. I'm hoping for a short road test next weekend. My wife got me a garage fan for Fathers day; it sure made it easier to work out there. We've had 95+ degrees for over a week with no signs of letting up in the near future.