I’ve been a bit time poor lately, so it’s been tricky finding time to spend in the garage.

One issue was one of the bolts holding the brake master cylinder was stripped. A real pain to access as it was welded onto the pedal cluster, and unfortunately with the RHD conversion it’s near impossible for me to remove the pedal cluster without severe cutting.

So after many hours with a dremel and drill....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1633699166.jpg

I’ll have a friend tack the new high tensile bolt in place when I am able to visit him.


Previously I had tried to bleed the brakes and both of the rear soft lines simultaneously burst. Luckily that happened in the garage!!

To be safe, I ordered a set of braided lines for the front and rear from a local brake shop. Recently installed parts are now:
- New tie rod ends
- New braided brake lines
- New sway bar bushes
- New rear sway bar end link bushes
- New front caliper hard lines

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1633699338.jpg

I then used a pressure bleeder to bleed the brakes as I also wanted to find any leaks. After bleeding them twice, I build up the pressure to 12psi and left it untouched for about 20 minutes. Fortunately, there was no pressure drop meaning no more leaks!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1633699655.jpg

Also, I’ve finally installed the European Racing Headers with heat wrap, and I’ve just received a pair of ceramic coated adapters yesterday.

I’ll be sure to post photos when all of the exhaust work is finished 🙂

In the meantime, I’ve just received a new gasket kit and service manual for the Webers. Hoping to spend some time on the weekend tearing them apart so I know what parts I need to order. Fingers crossed!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1633700090.jpg

Looks like you are making good progress, your list is similar to what I should be doing.

Last year I worked on my pedal cluster, snapped off a bolt and had my neighbor weld on a new one, par for the course I suppose. Next time will use heat first.

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to make much progress here.

Early this year I made the decision to get the CIS rebuilt as I wanted to make it to a track day early Feb, and I’ve got cold feet on rebuilding the carbs myself. Unfortunately I now have no spark!

Now that it won’t be ready in time for the track day, I’m thinking to get the Webers professionally rebuilt... decisions decisions...

Hopefully have something more substantial in the coming months. I am itching to drive it again!


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1643893924.jpg

CIS vs Carbs
 

While the not the Ultimate in making power, CIS is a very nice/simple system that tends to be stable for a long time with easy cold start and smooth running.

The downside is that you can't go to more aggressive cams due to excessive reversion.

Depending on how far gone the Webbers are and your performance desires, you might want to stick with the CIS.

Old saying:

"There are three types of CIS owners:

1) The guys with working CIS systems are probably out driving their cars so they won't reply.
2) The guys that tinker with their CIS systems and have them royally screwed up will keep you running in circles with suggestions.
3) The guys that have spent a fortune on Webbers will tell you they're great to justify their expenditure to themselves.

Your choice."

Completely understand where you’re coming from. For me, my concerns with the CIS are around diagnosing fuel issues. I was only able to find I had an issue because I had the heat exchangers off to swap to headers. With carbs I believe it would be easier to notice, diagnose and fix.

On top, the novelty, throttle response and sound they make is a big selling point!

Haven’t quite decided on direction yet. I believe cost will be similar to have the CIS overhauled completely or to have the carbs rebuilt professional (I do acknowledge I am overlooking the upfront cost of buying the carbs though!)

Webers are awesome. Plenty of people out driving with webers, like me yesterday!

CIS is great for touring, but as a family man, I'm not doing the PCA drives that take all day friday or a weekend. I'm going out for quick spirited drives. IF that is you, carbs are awesome.

Well the spark issue is sorted, dirty points! Easy and free fix fortunately.

But it now has me back to where I was before, needing to figure out what to do on the fuel system side of things.

Hopefully I’ll have an update soon and also be able to drive it again.

Fuel system update - I’ve decided to go down the carb path as it’s the setup that I’d want to go for in the long term anyway. Better to bite the bullet now!

I’ve posted the carbies off today to a shop interstate that regularly rebuilds these 40IDA3Cs. Very hard to find somewhere local. Fingers crossed they say they can be fixed up (condition was pretty rough)!

Should know by the end of the week...

Finally some exciting news! Received an email today with this photo and a short caption that the carbies are ready to go :cool:

Hopefully they’ll be here this week or early next week. Fortunately they have a motor on a stand which they used to test them, and they’ve confirmed they are good to go with no leaks.

Just need to figure out the installation and hopefully I’ll be up and running again soon!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1652709757.jpg

Carb conversion finished and it is up and running once again. 140rwhp on the dyno, not bad for a Californian ‘76. It’s running rich (but safe) currently and the jets are on back order. Should see a slight bump in power in a few weeks when it’s re-tuned, but even now the difference is night and day. No regrets!!

A few things I didn’t anticipate that may be helpful for somebody looking at the conversion:
- A catch can should be installed (Moroso 85475 is what I used, and Aeroflow AF411-16BLK to adapt the AN16 outlet on the can to a traditional barb fitting)
- Factory fuel line fittings are unique. A few options here, source lines with suitable fittings, run AN lines/fittings all the way from the hard lines (bigger job), or what I did - find a shop that can cut up the old parts and make some new lines up.

A few extra modifications along the way too:
M&K MKM27 (2 in 1 out)
SPAL fan for the oil cooler is now wired up

Very very happy with how it’s driving now! A few items to sort out from here, but just happy to be driving again after a year of building.

Oh and I painted the bay! You can see where they’d just painted around the old CIS system, and the back part of the bay shows the original colour.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658064710.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658064757.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658064824.jpg