ST Project update: ITS ALIVE!!!

jpnovak · 06-26-2004, 03:56 PM

The past week has been a flurry of activity to finish plumbing fuel lines, wiring in fuse boxes, fitting oil lines, filling with oil and getting the car ready for its first start in several years. Fellow Pelican John (Donk) came over to lend a hand. AFter connecting the battery we noticed a strange sound. A clicking that came from the Hazard lights. I now have power. Next, we turned the key. Most of the guages came to life with the dim glow since the light switch had inadverdantly been pulled.

Should we turn it all the way? WEll, we did and nothing happened. I got out the multimeter and did not have 12V to Pin1 the yellow starter wire. I then worked backwards to find a bad connection at teh ignition switch. Lets try this again.

Nothing happened. I get out the wiring diagrams and find that there is a cold start relay. What the hell is this? Lets jump 12V across it. this is not a good idea, the starter stayed on, and would only shut off when we pulled the battery cable. We then decided we could just touch the wire to the rear fuse box and turn the starter reliably.

Once the starter ran, we grounded the coil wire and checked for spark, nothing. Wait, was the CD humming? No, lets get power to the CD. Ok we have hum. Crank the engine, WE HAVE SPARK.

At this point we figured there was plenty of oil pressure from bumping the starter so many times. Although the guage still does not work.

Now that the starter works, lets add some gas. We tried and tried to get gas to the rear of the car. For two hours we tried pressurizing the tank throught the return line. This is a cheap fuel pump and we then find that I had plumbed the inlet into the outlet. It was trying to pump fuel back to the tank. 5 min later the fuel filters were full and we had to chase down a leak in the right carb.

Once the fuel was flowing, the starter turned, and we had spark. Lets install the cap and see what happens.

I touched the cold start wire to the fuse box and VROOM! it fired immediately. I was expecting lots of turning of the engine. NO, after three years of storage it is running. Then we noticed the smoke. HOLY COW THATS A LOT OF SMOKE! My wife snapped a few pictures.

Yep still smoking.

I had poured a little oil down each cylinder every month or so over the past three years and rotated the engine by hand to keep it lubricated. It seems that this is all trying to burn off now. And burn it does!

A few minor adjustments to cure the lean pop through #4,5...

final results. It runs!!!

I still have a few issues to deal with.

oil pressure gauge not working.
Stuck float valve on #4.
STarter not working correctly.

Other than that, I need some brakes on this beast so I can take this beast around the block

John, thanks for your help!

I guess I can go update my signature now

dmcummins · 06-26-2004, 04:01 PM

Thats great. Need more pics.

Rufblackbird · 06-26-2004, 04:06 PM

holy crap, that's a lot of smoke!

congrats!

dmcummins · 06-26-2004, 04:12 PM

I just checked your site. Man I bet your anxious to get this baby on the road. Looks like you have put alot of work into her.

Shuie · 06-26-2004, 04:26 PM

Congrats!

jriera · 06-26-2004, 04:28 PM

Congratulations Jamie ...

Yellowbird RS · 06-26-2004, 05:53 PM

Great!

hesaputz · 06-26-2004, 05:54 PM

Way to go, Jamie; and no mosquitos for 2 weeks!
S/T's rule!

Jim Richards · 06-26-2004, 06:01 PM

Geez Jamie, we could've used your bug fogger a few weeks ago when the cicadas were swarming. Great job and a big congrats on getting that S/T replica running!

jpnovak · 06-26-2004, 06:21 PM

The mosquitos have been bad here too! Too bad it started raining about 20 min after I got it running. Took that smoke right out of the air. I was hoping to reduce bug population a little.

I wonder how long it will take for the MM oil to burn off?

Right now I have only run the engine long enough to empty the float bowl. I guess I need to fix that float valve.

I also have a really high idle. Even with the linkage disconnected it idles above 2K rpm. I guess I need to check a few things. I will have to check the timing. I may need some vacuum for the idle retard.

Jim Richards · 06-26-2004, 06:28 PM

Minor details, Jamie. When is its track debut?

}{arlequin · }{arlequin's Garage

before you did the acres and acres of welding... what was holding all that rust together? horsehair??

that's a ton of work. Glad to see it run. After all you've done, giving it some brakes must be as tough as installing a cool collar.

Jack Olsen · 06-26-2004, 07:17 PM

Sweet.

donk · 06-26-2004, 08:32 PM

Jamie,
Great write up... and complements to your wife for the great pics. I'm glad she got out there in time to get all the smoke. It was a fun day and I learned alot. Thanks for inviting me.

jtf914 · jtf914's Garage

Way to go...... You must have been pumped when that thing fired up. If you were still in NoVA we could have all hung around and drank your beer, eaten your food and then taken credit for helping

.

-Justin

jpnovak · 06-27-2004, 05:19 AM

Jim, The trank debut will be in a few months. There is a DE at the end of August I will try and shoot for. Interior, brakes, suspension, lights. Shouldn't be too long.

Dave, there was not much holding it together before I started cutting and welding. There were some bad patch panels brazed in. These were strategically done so that magnet tests were fooled. It wasn't until I started stripping paint that I found many of the problems. OH well, It was a great learning experience.

Justin, I would expect nothing less of the NoVA gang. In fact, I would have welcomed it. WE could have tried to make the grill smoke more than the car, but I doubt it would have worked. John and I enjoyed a beer in celebration after it was done smoking... we turned off the key.

I need to figure out a few guages and the tach, then I will run in the engine one more time and it should be good.

Jamie

Jim Richards · 06-27-2004, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jtf914
Way to go...... You must have been pumped when that thing fired up. If you were still in NoVA we could have all hung around and drank your beer, eaten your food and then taken credit for helping .

-Justin

Justin, don't blow our cover!

jpnovak · 06-27-2004, 04:14 PM

I see nothing!!! Don't worry I won't tell what the NoVA gang does. Your secret is safe with me. (wink Wink).

As of today I have made some progress. No leaks on the carbs and fixed the stuck float valve. The engine now turns with the key (I had the yellow and cold start (blue/yel) wires reversed on the starter. The oil pressure, temp, and tach work.

I also hooked up the shift coupler, shift rod and shifter. I can now select gears. Next is to install the pedal cluster, brakes, gas pedal and clutch. I should be cruising around the block with rally ride height in a matter of days...

donk · 06-28-2004, 07:08 AM

Sounds like you're making great progress. Is the engine smoking less now?

jpnovak · 06-28-2004, 07:23 AM

Yes, last night it quit smoking. its still running really rich but I have not tuned the carbs yet. I can't do that until I set timing. The high idle was due to timing. it was about 20 deg advaced at what should have been idle.

Its really starting to come around. It looks much better too. i got brave with the wire cutters and removed all the CIS connectors from the wire harness. Now I have a nice clean wiring harness.