Part 08 – POWERTRAIN, It’s ALIVE

ENGINE

The plan, now that the firewall is painted, is to install the engine complete with transmission (hopefully for the last time).  With the help of a friend, we got the engine and transmission in and connected up to the driveshaft and the transmission support in place.  It sits very nicely into the cradle of the 78 Cutlass front end. The linkage from the steering column to the transmission had to be modified, as well as the kickdown linkage ( this one took a while to modify correctly). Next came the accelerator pedal.
Rather than use the original (which hinged at the floor), I opted to use the accelerator pedal and cable from the 78 Cutlass.  This had to be mounted to the firewall and the sleeved cable routed to the carb. Again, some modifications were required.   Now, I moved on to the power brake booster and master cylinder ( these had been previously modified to fit the firewall properly).   All connections were made and brake pedal installed. The power steering came next.   The pressure hose required some rerouting to be free of any obstructions and the return hose connected.   The rad and rad support were then mounted and using new hoses connected to the engine.
Using the fan shroud from the 78 Cutlass, I was able to modify it to fit.   Then the heater was mounted to the firewall and new heater hoses connected.

New fluids have to be put in the transmission, power steering, power brakes  and rad.  However, the engine is now in a runable state but a few more jobs have yet to be done before it gets running.  As you will recall, I had the engine running last fall during one of it’s numerous in’s and out’s for fitting.

I was able to get her fired up and she runs pretty nice.  However, it would be to much to ask that there be no leaks.   After letting it run for some time , I shut it down and started looking around and sure enough the water pump was leaking from the weep hole. This must be replaced.  The power steering works really nice but the power brakes were none existent.  Will have to trouble shoot that. Overall, it was generally a success.

The following day, I removed the water pump and went to town.  Of course they didn’t have this particular style in stock, so had to order it in.  I appears from there listing that this motor came out of a Chevy truck .  In the mean time the new water pump arrived and I have got it installed and everything hooked up again and fluids in place.

QUADRAJET CARB

One of the other problems, I ran into when I had it running was as soon as it was shut down, gas would leak from the carb on to the intake manifold and drain the float bowl.
My first thought was that the float was sticking or not set right and or the needle was not seating properly. After replacing the float , resetting it and checking the needle was seating properly, I tried again. Would you believe it still leaked gas. So on to google I went and this is what I found and this applies to all carbs not just quadrajets. In the manufacture of the carb it is necessary to drill several holes from the bottom and then plug these holes with some kind of metal and coat them with some kind of gray goop so they do not leak. Over time and with the severe changes in temperature these start  to leak. What is required is to dismantle the carb , clean off all the gray goop, get very clean and then cover with 5min. epoxy. From the web site, they advise using the epoxy over JB weld or similar products and state they have had good luck with the epoxy. So that is what I have done.  I let this cure for a couple of days, reassembled the carb and reinstalled. Then came the test. Fired her up, let her run until all was up to temperature and then shut it down. Would you believe, NO carb leak and the float bowl does not drain dry. Success!!!

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