Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

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Nikkormat
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

will e wrote:I've lost track gabe. What carb atr you running?
A Street Demon. https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_sy ... parts/1901

And a 1 inch Bakelite spacer between that and the intake.
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tedlovesjeeps71
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by tedlovesjeeps71 »

Nikkormat wrote:
will e wrote:I've lost track gabe. What carb atr you running?
A Street Demon. https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_sy ... parts/1901

And a 1 inch Bakelite spacer between that and the intake.
Are you still running the mechanical pump with the lines up the front of the block and across the intake? That always seemed like a horrible way to avoid heat sink...


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will e
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by will e »

Nikkormat wrote:
will e wrote:I've lost track gabe. What carb atr you running?
A Street Demon. https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_sy ... parts/1901

And a 1 inch Bakelite spacer between that and the intake.

I run a holley Truck Avenger. I cured my vapor lock by removing the return line. I got a straight through fuel filter. Next time you are vapor locking try pinching the return line with a small vice grip. Drive a few more miles and see if your problem goes away. Of just spend a few bucks on a straight through filter and see if the problem goes away.

That street Demon wants about 5 to 7 lbs of pressure. With your stock return fuel filter you are only getting about 2lbs at the carb. At least that is what I learned when I used a fuel pressure gauge to measure.

Others will tell you the return line allows the fuel to flow and helps to keep it cool and avoid vapor lock. I know a standard return line does work for lots of people.
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

will e wrote:
Nikkormat wrote:
will e wrote:I've lost track gabe. What carb atr you running?
A Street Demon. https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_sy ... parts/1901

And a 1 inch Bakelite spacer between that and the intake.

I run a holley Truck Avenger. I cured my vapor lock by removing the return line. I got a straight through fuel filter. Next time you are vapor locking try pinching the return line with a small vice grip. Drive a few more miles and see if your problem goes away. Of just spend a few bucks on a straight through filter and see if the problem goes away.

That street Demon wants about 5 to 7 lbs of pressure. With your stock return fuel filter you are only getting about 2lbs at the carb. At least that is what I learned when I used a fuel pressure gauge to measure.

Others will tell you the return line allows the fuel to flow and helps to keep it cool and avoid vapor lock. I know a standard return line does work for lots of people.
Straight through is what I was running.

When I was running the pump I killed on the way here the only time it would give me any trouble was pulling away from stoplights after sitting for a while at the light. And it wouldn't die, it would pull away from the light normally for maybe 20 feet and then begin to chug for a few seconds as the carb wasn't getting enough fuel.

Sitting at the light the fuel in the filter starts to get hot, turning to vapor. That vapor can't escape until the floats drop and fuel starts flowing. Which is exactly what happens as I pull away from the light. The floats drop and the vapors escape through the float bowl vents. Untill the vapor has escaped the liquid fuel can't be pumped into the float bowl and the engine chugs.

Now I have the old school pump again, and I'm hoping that adding the vapor return line will allow the vapor to return to the tank. It is very possible that I won't have sufficient fuel pressure though like you say. I'm going to have to test and find out.
Last edited by Nikkormat on Sat Sep 02, 2017 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:
Nikkormat wrote:
will e wrote:I've lost track gabe. What carb atr you running?
A Street Demon. https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_sy ... parts/1901

And a 1 inch Bakelite spacer between that and the intake.
Are you still running the mechanical pump with the lines up the front of the block and across the intake? That always seemed like a horrible way to avoid heat sink...


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Yeah, still running all that in the stock manner. The outlet on this pump is movable so I suppose I could change up the way the lines run.
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by tedlovesjeeps71 »

Nikkormat wrote:
tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:
Nikkormat wrote:
A Street Demon. https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_sy ... parts/1901

And a 1 inch Bakelite spacer between that and the intake.
Are you still running the mechanical pump with the lines up the front of the block and across the intake? That always seemed like a horrible way to avoid heat sink...


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Yeah, still running all that in the stock manner. The outlet on this pump is movable so I suppose I could change up the way the lines run.
Maybe run it up the firewall next to the brake booster, across the back and to the carb? Only one area is difficult to keep away from heat, where the exhaust manifold joins the crossover pipe.


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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

No vapor lock so far but Street Demon is not as fantastic off-road as I hoped. Pretty good. But not 2150 good
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

Vapor lock is back and worse. I think you were right Mike.
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44bz
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by 44bz »

Why not switch to an electric pump?


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az chip
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by az chip »

44bz wrote:Why not switch to an electric pump?


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I really need a Venn diagram to know if his current ride has had a electric fuel pump. I know one of them has. I think this one had TBI at one point.
'81 Cherokee Chief 81 WT Chief/MSD 6/Holley Sniper/ Rusty 4" Spring lift/ Bulltear oil adapter/K&P Engineering Oil Filter/ NP 208/ Serehill Light Harness/KC LED Headlights/ Evil Twin Fab Roof Rack and sliders/ Ross mirror mounts.

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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

Current Jeep is my 74 Cherokee.

It has a 401, TH400, Quadratrac. Street Demon Carb on an Offy Dual Port intake. Mechanical pump.

Want to stay mechanical pump in this jeep, heck it's still running a points distributor (with a pertronix). It did have fuel injection on it. But the gas would quite literally boil in the tank. Not sure how it was absorbing so much heat but it would happen like clockwork after about six hours of driving.

I had this issue kicked when I left CO. Minor problem pulling away from a stoplight hot. And I mean hot. Like running down the highway at 80 and immediately stopping.
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

It probably doesn't help that it was 100 freakin degrees today. But It only gave me trouble after I started driving like a dumb teenager down some twisty dirt roads and then slowed down to go through a neighborhood. Left the neighborhood and got on the highway, it vapor locked HARD as soon as I hit a hill.

Once it had cooled down, from 190 to down around 160, it started right back up but wanted to vapor lock again. I pinched the return line as mike suggested and it didn't give me anymore trouble.
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

Anyway here are some pics from today's excursion.

Ran into Justin (the local FSJ dude here in Missoula) at the stoplight going into costco and engaged in an AMC exhaust rendition of dueling banjos. Image

Got some cheap costco gas (maybe part of my problem?) and headed for dirt. Went and explored around the banks of the Clark Fork River West of town. Didn't conquer this hill. The grade doesn't translate to photos but it is SCARY steep. With light throttle and no edrive locked in was able to make it to where it forks, but after the fork the easy line is blocked by a fallen tree and the hard line gets off camber the wrong way and there's about a one foot step you have to climb while you turn into it on loose pebbles. No thanks! But it was good carb testing. The street demon is not as good as a 2150 sadly but better than the edelbrock by a long shot and about on par with my red-neck-avenger holley 2300 I had on the 91. Image

Moved on to a less populated spot further down the river where you drive out onto a little island. Had the whole place to myself and took some poser shots. Gnarly washouts on the way in but jeep did fine. No pictures of that unfortunately I didn't want to stop in them for a picture. She's getting a little too flexible and I don't want to sit in a really flexy spot for long with it. Image Image Image

Checked the oil before I left and discovered I had lost the power steering fluid cap. Whoops. Oh well, I needed a new one anyway. It always leaked a little. Image
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by tedlovesjeeps71 »

This:
Image
So much cooler than this:
Image


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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by az chip »

Hey Gabe,
That looks like a possible fly fishing spot. Nice area. In the summer... :-D
'81 Cherokee Chief 81 WT Chief/MSD 6/Holley Sniper/ Rusty 4" Spring lift/ Bulltear oil adapter/K&P Engineering Oil Filter/ NP 208/ Serehill Light Harness/KC LED Headlights/ Evil Twin Fab Roof Rack and sliders/ Ross mirror mounts.

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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:This:
Image
So much cooler than this:
Image


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I'll agree, but I'd rather be doing the first one right now. Because I'd have a bunch of you guys (and gals) keeping me company.
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

The Jeep has been pretty happy since the last update. Getting about 11 mpg around town. Which isn't too bad but there's some room for improvement in there. No vapor lock since I pinched the return line. I've got a straight through filter to put in but I've been to lazy to get around too it.

Been doing some more exploring. Logged about 150 miles of dirt buzzing around the local area but I didn't find much in the way of cool trails. Some pictures for you visual learners...

Found a waggy in the wild: Image Image
Lots of pretty trails snaking into the woods: Image
Looking down onto the valley and the Clark fork river from "high" on a "peak" above Frenchtown North West of Missoula on I90. These are the mountains that were off in the distance in my last post: Image Image
The problem I'm running into up here is that before any of these roads get up into the high valleys or up on top of the mountains they end in gates. Every freaking one of them. Image

And I can kind of understand why, the woods here are a mess. Trash, abandoned campers, people living in fifth wheels in dispersed camping areas with trash piled into mounds. I've found 4 trashed and abandoned truck bed campers on the past few trips. It pretty well sucks. Really making me miss Colorado. Within an hour of leaving Evergreen I could get up into the woods where I wouldn't see another person for days, even weeks. If i lived in Central City I could do the same in 30 minutes...

Also haven't found anyone to go wheelin with yet. Justin (the dude with the red lifted 91 and many other FSJ's) wants to go but he's A busy guy. Hard to make friends at this big school too. I've met a few people who want to hang out but I haven't seen any of them more than once. I'm going to get some business cards made up with my phone number to give to people. That way if they want to they can reach out.
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az chip
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by az chip »

Any trail maps for the area that don't have gates? Any State land maps or OHV advisor?

Is the Jeep trade still on?
'81 Cherokee Chief 81 WT Chief/MSD 6/Holley Sniper/ Rusty 4" Spring lift/ Bulltear oil adapter/K&P Engineering Oil Filter/ NP 208/ Serehill Light Harness/KC LED Headlights/ Evil Twin Fab Roof Rack and sliders/ Ross mirror mounts.

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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by SJTD »

Maybe post a School paper ad looking for offroaders?

Or am I showing my age and they don't do school papers anymore? Must have an online version.
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Re: Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

Post by Nikkormat »

SJTD wrote:Maybe post a School paper ad looking for offroaders?

Or am I showing my age and they don't do school papers anymore? Must have an online version.
I think there's a school paper, but I don't want just any old crazy off the street with a souped up Cummins and a welded rear diff... I want to screen people first. Going out with a bunch of jackwagons is worse than going out alone if you ask me.

Good idea though... Got me thinking.
Gabe, "reformed" Jeep hoarder.
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