I got the new headliner from BJ’s. I was a little less than impressed with the way it was shipped, but after leaving it out for a day or so, it flattened out just fine. The real issue is when I went to put it in the truck. Nothing seemed to really line up, I was not able to re-use my visor mounting cups, and there were a couple of bends in the back when everything was tightened down.
So on the weekend I go to fire it up for the very first time, the radiator starts leaking... So I got set back another week while waiting for a replacement radiator from BJ’s. The new one shows up on April 26th, 17 days before I have to leave...
May 2021 - From this point on, I will post the actual date to kind of instill the impending dread I had about the little time that remained.
May 1st - 13 days until I leave. I had attempted to start it tonight, but it was late and I figured I was missing something dumb. I called it a night and started fresh on Sunday May 2nd.
May 2nd - 12 days until I leave.
Attempt #3 (two previous attempts were on the previous night). Nothing but cranking and sputtering out of the carb. I checked and re-checked all of the Sniper settings.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KgrUFjAVWZ8w4Q1x8
Attempt #4 – Starting to get somewhere now... I suspected it was related to the timing. When Holley has you set up the Sniper distributor, they have you set TDC on compression, point the rotor at 1, then use their plastic “phasing” tool to set the initial timing. It had rotated the base a full 90 degrees at first. So I decided to start moving it back....
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4AjALbRi3ng9N5Ji6
Attempt #5 – Finally!! It runs on it’s own, however there is a horrible screeching/whining noise. More on that later.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fwaurwZJuuThuw878
Attempt #6 – Fires right up on its own, noise is still there though...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WdamCH1ziSFVvCVc8
May 3rd - 9 days until I leave.
Figured out the squealing noise. The bolt heads on the flex plate to torque converter were rubbing against the shield. I called up Novak and they said this was common with the most recent batch of bolts and to just shave the heads down by half. Got those taken care of only to notice that there was another scraping noise only in reverse. Turns out that was the torque converter rubbing against the inspection cover. So I had to put in some spacers to give it more room. Noise gone!
May 4th - 10 days until I leave.
Finally got the interior back from my friend.
I cannot begin to describe the feeling of sitting in these seats again after 2 years!! That and I am totally loving the Buick Roadmaster center console mod. Cup holders are the best thing ever!
She finally moves under her own power after 2 full years, backed her into the driveway, but for some reason she is still rolling in park. Had to block off the wheels. At this time, I was not sure what the issue was.
I sat on the phone with Novak support, and they said I would need to drop the pan to check the parking pawl engagement, which turned out to be perfectly fine. After some digging on countless forums, I came across one post that said on the np229 transfer cases, the front driveshaft had to be connected for the truck not to roll in park. I put the shaft on and voila, she no longer rolls. I did have people argue that the front driveshaft was irrelevant to locking in park, but for some reason it applied to mine. Foreshadowing....
This also marks the occasion that the garage has been empty for the first time since the restoration began.
May 7th - 7 days until I leave.
Maiden voyage to Publix. I sent this pic to my wife and she freaked out that it was actually on the road.
May 8th - 6 days until I leave.
Lightbar, brush guard, antennas and all of the lighting are now installed and functional.
STOP
May 9th - 5 days until I leave.
Took another lunchtime ride to further work out the issues. Such a sexy interior!
May 11th - 3 days until I leave.
Vinyl Day! This day was very bittersweet. This day would mark the furthest it has driven from home on the new build, about an hour to the vinyl shop. Just in case, I had my nephew follow me in his Jeep if something happened along the way, and boy am I glad he did. The truck was doing great for the first 10 mins of the trip, averaging about 70mph. Just before the exit to I4, she started stumbling and losing power. I let off the gas and she caught her breath and was able to maintain about 50mph through the exit. Once on I4 though, she died, and I pulled off to the side of the road.
I started her back up, let it idle, triple checked the Sniper settings. Scratched my head and pulled back on to the highway. Got back up to 75, 5 mins later the same damn thing. Pull off again, sat and idled, checked the settings, and got back on the road. This time she only lasted about 3 mins at speed. This is where I began to thing she was running out of fuel, not from the gas tank, but from the surge tank. The surge tank was being emptied faster than it could be refilled and that is why she stumbled at speed after a bit.
At this point, I was halfway there, and I could NOT miss this appointment. This was literally the only time they could get me in. We tried again and found the sweet spot was 50mph, at this point we limped the rest of the way to the vinyl place. We had about 2 miles left to get to the vinyl place when I noticed that the steering got very loose. We were on some back roads when it popped into my head that I was about to lose the track bar. Not even 2 seconds later I heard a clang and lose all steering... 1.8 miles out.
I get underneath to see what happened, the castle nut AND cotter pin were completely gone. I have no idea where they were lost at either. My nephew pulls out his tools and we look for a way to field fix the truck. The only thing we had that could work was a tiny screwdriver that I used to put through the cotter pin hole. I tied the crap out of it with some steel wire we had, then took it easy on the way to the shop.
Once there, we hand the truck over and I get in my nephew’s jeep to go find a replacement castle nut. Apparently, NAPA, Autozone, and O'Rielly's have zero! Our last and final hope was Advance Auto. Luckily, they had an assorted pack of castle nuts, no idea if one would fit or not, we bought the pack and a wrench big enough to put it on and headed out. Upon arriving to the shop, I found they were nearly done with the truck. We got to installing the castle nut on the knuckle only to find that the castle nut on the pitman arm was hand tight and missing the cotter pin as well.... Holy crap, it was then I realized that I had never tightened either of them down or put on a cotter pin. I had removed the bar a couple of weeks prior to paint it and never finished installing it. I had literally been driving around with it like this for days now. Thankfully it did not disconnect on the highway at speed. That could have been disastrous.
We got everything installed correctly this time and let the vinyl guys finish up. This is how we looked at the end. Little did we know, our day was about to get worse.
Back on the road we went, slow and steady at 50mph. Things went swimmingly up until about 5 miles from the house when I decide to say screw it and bumped up the speed to 70ish. BIG mistake... she started stumbling again and died completely this time. I knew better, but damnit, less than 5 miles from the house!! I tried starting it again, but the surge tank was completely empty at this point. Since the only way to fill the tank was with the mechanical pump, all I could do was crank and hope. I only did it for a few mins since I didn't want to burn up the starter, but as fate would have it, the truck then lost all power. Literally no voltage whatsoever. I had no choice but to call Hagerty for a tow.
Once back at the house, we tested out the high flow pump that originally came with the Sniper and it worked fine. It was for sure an issue with the surge tank. I called up RobbMC and left a voicemail. Surprisingly I got a call back within a few mins. I told him what was going on and he said to check the fuel inlet line at the tank. Since it has a tiny pinhole as an inlet, sometimes debris can block it preventing the tank from filling at its normal pace. Got the line off and sure as BEEP, there were two larger pieces of debris in there. Cleaned it out and got everything back together. This time, I installed a small electric pump inline, just in case this happens again.
We got back in and took the Jeep for another road test. This time is was able to maintain 70-75 with zero issues. At last, just 3 days before the trip, I think I have all the issues sorted. But wait.... why is the temp gauge in the red?? The truck was overheating at highway speeds, how in the hell? We get the truck back to the house going around 50 again and the temps are normal. So it's only when the truck is at speed for longer periods of time...
I drain the cooling system a little bit so I can check the thermostat. I have a 195 in there, so Im thinking maybe I should go down to a 180 since the Florida summers are brutal. I drop in the 180, top the system off and call it a night.
May 12th - 2 days until I leave
Today is supposed to be the day I take it to the shop to get the A/C charged up and an alignment. My appointment is at 11am, so I wake up early and decide to look over the cooling system again. I went down the list of stuff I had installed:
180 degree thermostat
Stock flex fan
Fan shroud
Flowkooler water pump
I did have a clutch fan sitting on the shelf from the other motor I had. I decided it was worth a shot and installed it. Fired up the motor and man does that thing move air. I button everything up and head down to the shop.
The alignment doesn’t exactly go as planned. The castor is off by 2.5. The tech recommended that I buy some shims online so that they can align it correctly. This is also when I find out that the track bar in BJ’s Offroad cross steer kit is too long and won't allow my steering wheel to sit level at center. So now I must either replace the bar or cut it and weld it back up.
May 13th - Day of the trip (we are supposed to leave around 6pm)
I jump back into the cooling system issue. It is still overheating; things are not looking good. My buddy Lee says to bring it down to his shop since his boss used to run a radiator shop for like 20 years. The whole way over the truck is bouncing between 220-230 degrees. Less than ideal, but it never goes over 231, it will hit it and go back down, but never over. I get the truck there and he gives it a once over, taking heat measurements at the thermostat housing, radiator and intake manifold. Everything is showing about 10 degrees cooler than the Sniper digital gauge is reading.
I had heard that the temp sensor that comes with the Sniper is faulty, so we ordered up a new one, which happens to be the same as a Z28 Camaro. Once it gets there, I toss it in and it's still reading the same temps as before. We fab up a cowl for the lower half of the fan shroud to maximize flow through the radiator. I take it on another test run and the temps don’t go down. At this point I essentially give up and head home. I had already had it in my head if I was not confident the truck would make it, I would not risk the trip.
Back at the house I do more research thinking it may have to do with the tune on the Sniper. I follow tutorials to get a better map designed for it and give it a shot. It helps a tad, but not much. Lee gives me a call and says he is on his way over to see if we can give it one more go. I do some more research and find that rebuilt motors will run hot while breaking in, this has got to be the reason why. It never goes over 231, which isn't ideal, but it isn't horrible either. Damage usually does not occur until 260+. Lee convinces me we should just go anyway and if anything major happens while we are still in Florida, that we can just turn around and come back.
I get packed up, load the truck and we head out to dinner. Lee and I say our goodbye’s to my wife and kid and we are off to Wakita. Little did we know what was in store for us...
First of many, many fuel stops...