Nomad final assembly

[55mike]

Thanks for the feedback on that. My C4 crossmember is 5" above the ground but the frame rails at the front of the door are only 3 3/4". That's my lowest point on the car. Do you know what yours is at that point?

Best I can see by flopping on my side and rolling my tape measure at the lowest spot (right in front of the door edge - where the body mount goes to the frame) it is about 4.25-4.50 "

[bigblock]

Come on CN what happen to your sense of adventure.

[chevynut]

Yesterday I re-attached the DZUS fasteners that I removed from the radiator cover prior to painting it, installed some gaskets, and put it on for the first drive. I will have to remove it again to install the fenders. I polished the snorkel connector hose clamps and installed them along with the hose. I also topped off the coolant since I got the engine hot last time I ran it.

I have a bit of a long cranking before it starts and got some tips to try on the Holley forums. It's 3-4 seconds and it seems like it should fire quicker than that. Had the same thing with the C950 so it may be cranking timing which is 15 degrees. Still need to work on tweaking that stuff. I love EFI though. Timing and fuel changes made via laptop instead of a wrench and screwdriver.

[chevynut]

FWIW... My 55 sits about 4 1/8" at the front (stock) cross member. I have to REALLY watch speed bumps, driveways etc... my headers are tucked up as tight as possible, and I have CalTrac bars that are designed for "lowered cars".. looks cool, but it's not easy sometimes.

Thanks for the feedback on that. My C4 crossmember is 5" above the ground but the frame rails at the front of the door are only 3 3/4". That's my lowest point on the car. Do you know what yours is at that point?

[chevynut]

Did some more idle tuning today and sure enough the IAC was 35% at idle for some reason. I set this up with the C950 before so I don't know why it changed. I adjusted the throttle plates to get it down to 10% or so as recommended. I think I'll still need to adjust the IAC park position and decay settings. Made a few other minor changes and set the ECU temperature (Fan1) limit to 190F to make sure my over-temperature warning light works, and it does. I'm using a Dakota Digital fan controller so the ECU fan signal is only for an over-temp alarm on the VHX instruments. If I had this ECU before I would have used it as a fan controller instead.

Then I disabled the idle spark control and checked the ignition timing, and found that it was about 16 degrees at idle when the ECU was calling for 22 degrees. So I advanced the distributor until the timing mark said 22 degrees, locked it down, and re-enabled the idle spark control. I lowered the idle speed slightly from 850 RPM to 800 and it idles well with some chop. That idle spark control sure does help with stabilizing the idle I found out.

I then went back and checked the setup of my fan controller. It has two setpoints for different temperatures to run two fans, or dual speed fans. I had the high temp set to come on a little too high and the engine was running at 205 or so max. I have a 180 degree thermostat so I set the low speed on at 190 and off at 185, and the high speed on at 195 and off at 190. After that I never saw the temperature over about 192. I'll have to fiddle with it to get it to run where I want, but the good news is it seems like I have good cooling capacity, which I was a little concerned about. It was pretty hot here again today, around 90.

When I bought my rear wheels (10.5x18) years ago i had not planned to narrow the C4 rearend yet. Since it's now the same width as a stock tri5, I felt the tires sat in too far in the wheelwell. I had almost 2" of clearance between the quarter panel lip and the tire. so I ordered a pair of 1 1/4" wheel spacers that I installed until I get my final wheels at some point. This makes it look better, filling up the wheelwell a little more with the 295 tires. I can go as big as 335s or maybe 345 but I don't know if I ever will. Also, I have no trouble at all putting the tires on or taking them off, and don't have to undo anything.

While doing that, I luckily found that I had not yet torqued the stub axle nuts on the rearend so I did that and inserted the cotter pins.

I'm going to Ron's today then I plan to put the console and seat in and hopefully attempt the first drive before I leave for Montana. We'll see.

[55mike]

[QUOTE=chevynut;69433]

I may have to crank the front coilovers up just a tad after that since the frame is only 3 3/4" off the ground, but that was my designed ride height . I don't want to mess with it until I get all the weight on it. The car sure seems small.

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FWIW... My 55 sits about 4 1/8" at the front (stock) cross member. I have to REALLY watch speed bumps, driveways etc... my headers are tucked up as tight as possible, and I have CalTrac bars that are designed for "lowered cars".. looks cool, but it's not easy sometimes.

[Custer55]

Looks great!! I run my tires at 35 psi as that is what our 90 Vette is supposed to be. Similar size tire on Vette suspension so makes complete sense to me. My 55 sits at 3 3/4" off the ground at the front of the frame and is a good ride height. I have no issues going in and out of driveways etc. Once you get the rest of the front end bolted on you may need to raise it a bit though.

[Belair-o]

Very cool! And the Vette ain't bad either!
Regards, Doug

[chevynut]

Today I tied up some loose wiring and fired up the 502 again, and it runs great. It runs smoother and the throttle response is better with the new ECU and I'm really glad I upgraded it despite the work involved to do it. I let it run quite a while and got it to full temperature and the exhaust cleaned up a lot. Oil pressure looks pretty good and the alternator is charging. I even opened the cutouts.

I'm going to go completely through the Holley start-up checklist again tomorrow because I think the IAC may not be set quite right. It's supposed to be at 10% at idle and I think I remember seeing it at 30% so I may have to adjust the throttle plates. It's already learning, and it's kind of interesting to watch it make adjustments to the fuel map by itself. I also got the fuel gauge calibration set into my Dakota Digital VHX gauge. I'm going to spend some time checking the timing sync again, add some gas, do something for an air filter, and then get ready to drive it. I turned the steering wheel and the power steering seems to work fine too. I wasn't able to do that while on the blocks.

If I have time before I leave for Montana I plan to charge the A/C. If that all works and the heater and A/C controls all check out, I'll install the fenders which will finally make it look like a car. Then I have a lot of work I can do installing the rest of the front end parts.

I may have to crank the front coilovers up just a tad after that since the frame is only 3 3/4" off the ground, but that was my designed ride height . I don't want to mess with it until I get all the weight on it. The car sure seems small.

The tailgate and doors already close better with just one day of setting the weatherstrip. Here's a couple of better pics with the tailgate and doors shut.

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[chevynut]

Thanks Mike.

Today I adjusted the tailgate and found that it wouldn't latch with the tailgate bumpers in place. I took them off and had to adjust the strikers all the way forward to get a good fit with the new weatherstrip. I don't know if I'm going to put the bumpers back on or not. If I do, I'll have to elongate the slots in the brackets a little to move them rearward. Sure looks better closed up though. Not sure why I didn't do this earlier, but I planned to work in the cargo area so I didn't feel it was important now.

I also closed the doors all the way for the first time since I installed the (T&N) weatherstrip long ago. They were adjusted great before the weatherstrip. Again, just wasn't that concerned about it and I had protective blankets on the rockers so it wasn't that big of a deal. The doors still fit pretty good but will need some slight adjustment at the bottom due to the rubber. I'm going to let it sit for a few weeks before I make the final adjustments.

I'm going to Ron's in a couple of days and I'm taking my console sides, valences, and door panels so he can see what I've done and give me some advice on what to do with them. I'm going to see if one of his guys is interested in a side job doing my dash. If not, I have another guy I'm going to see too.

After that I plan to put the console back in and install the extra driver's seat in preparation for driving it. I'll hook up my laptop and check how the engine is running first since I haven't had a chance to do that since I installed the new ECU.

The car sure looks better with the doors and tailgate closed. I'll post some better pics.

[55mike]

Really beautiful car. Only thing I'd change is the pink slip to my name. Of the trifive Nomad's... the 56 is my favorite.

[chevynut]

Its almost there Laszlo. Looking good!
Put some more air in those tires before you hit the road.

Thanks man!! I need to get past this roadblock that Larry created. The wheels are 17s in front with 245/45-17 tires and 18s in the rear with 295/35-18 tires. I do think they're a little low on air so I'll check. I wonder what the factory spec is.

strap a milk crate in there for a seat and go for a spin.

I'd do that if it was an automatic but it's hard to push a clutch without a seat back. I do have another Eldorado seat I can bolt in it.

I'm going to work on the tailgate latch adjustment today and try to get the console back together, then I can install the seat.

[WagonCrazy]

Its almost there Laszlo. Looking good!
Put some more air in those tires before you hit the road.

strap a milk crate in there for a seat and go for a spin.

[chevynut]

Time is flying by and I need to get stuff moving. This spring/summer I was gone for 3 weeks to Montana, then 2 weeks in Italy, then 5 weeks in Montana again, and heading back up in a couple more weeks. I finally got the lead weight off by firing Larry so now I need to figure out what to do. I decided there's really nothing keeping me from installing the fenders on the car. I was waiting for Larry to install my dash so I could install the windshield and that would be easier without the fenders on. Also, I wanted to drive the car around the block a few times to make sure everything works before I put them on.

The engine hasn't been started since just after I installed the TerminatorX so I fired it up with no problem and let it run a little. I still need to check the timing.

I put the stainless trim on the fenders so they're now ready to install. Yesterday I decided to put the car back on the ground. It's been sitting on blocks for a long time as I was working on stuff underneath it. The car seems so small now.

My plan is to try to drive the car. I need to put another seat in it since my front seats are at the upholstery shop. I have to get the tailgate latches adjusted so I can latch it, and do some final adjustments on the doors now that weatherstrip is installed. I also want to install the console again so my electronics are supported and not dangling. Brake reservoir is full, clutch is adjusted, and I nothing else that I know of is keeping me from driving it.

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[chevynut]

I pulled the brake pump again and disassembled it, carefully checking out all the ports and passages inside. I re-assembled it and put some brake fluid in the inlet port and ran it off of the car. It started spitting a little fluid out the pressure port so I kept adding fluid until it seemed like the pump was full. I reinstalled it in the car and put some fluid into the reservoir. It acted like it wanted to pressurize, but just wouldn't do it. I then cracked the pressure line open a little and got some air out of the pump, and added some more fluid to the reservoir. After running it a while it finally started pumping and the pump shut off when it reached around 2200PSI like it's supposed to. Apparently the air is very difficult to get out of these pumps. You would think it would just bubble up into the reservoir and the pump would fill up, but it doesn't. It's now working the same as it did before it mysteriously stopped pumping. I have no idea how that happened.

One less headache to deal with. Now back to firing up the engine and doing some tuning and charge the A/C. Not sure I'll get to that before I leave for Montana. We're selling my wife's Colorado condo and I've had to help her get it ready to put on the market. I've spent most of the past 3 days there changing light fixtures and fixing stuff.