[The Other Mike1357]

Wound up taking the truck to another fabrication shop in my area. They wound up doing a fantastic job on the downpipe, but I was kind of disappointed that they just cut the core support instead of cutting and welding the piping to clear it. The plan was to get everything running in this chassis and then swap it over into a clean shell that hasn't been in an accident in the past and one without underlying electrical issues. I've been working on the truck here and there the last few weekends. I found an issue with power going to the ECM in that with it unplugged from the fusebox and ECM, there was still 7V on the wire. I ended up cutting the wire and running an overlay harness in the interests of getting the truck running. After that, I found that the distributor was out of time with the crank so I removed the oil pump and re-timed the distributor with the engine at TDC on the compression stroke. Once that was done, I tried to fire it up. Nothing but cranking. Found that the fuel pressure regulator was not maintaining fuel pressure and it turned out the diaphragm inside the regulator was leaking so I ordered a rebuild kit for that. It now has spark, some fuel, and I still need to check compression, but it should be backfiring at a bare minimum or something... Time to sit and wait for more parts to arrive.

 

[The Other Mike1357]

Time to follow up on the build. After doing much more digging on things, I found that the cams that I had were made for a KA that had the twin chains and sprockets on the cams. On vehicles that had the single row chains, the post for the timing gear was moved. Once I figured this out, I was able to properly time the intake cam. I finally had compression, but after not running for such a long time, the rings were most likely stuck on the rear 3 cylinders to some extent. Through a bit of trial and error, I was able to get the truck running, but it appeared to be running only on the oil in the cylinder or possibly had way too much fuel. Working on the truck today, I found that the distributor had probably gone bad and was causing the engine to flood with fuel. Ran to the junkyard, grabbed another dizzy, slapped it in, and it came to life, kind of. I was able to get it running 3 times today, but it won't idle. That might be due to the various sensors I still have unplugged. Either way, after years apon years, it is running again.

 

[The Other Mike1357]

Update time. In the last week of November I was able to drive the truck back home. It won't idle still, but the AFR's are decent and the engine sounds somewhat healthy (I'm still not used to the way KA's sound). On the drive home I did discover that under braking the truck pulls right pretty hard and when driving it pulls left. The front brakes also began to smoke a bit. I went ahead and ordered a pair of calipers for the front and I'll cross my fingers and hope that the drums in the back are still working as they should. After the drive home, I re-routed the O2 sensor wire and heat wrapped it. I also installed a new oil pressure sender to confirm that I had decent oil pressure (which I do thank goodness). The truck is now registered, insured, and I should have my "Space Cadet" personalized license plate within the next month or so. I need to see about hooking my boost controller back up as the boost gauge is only registering about 12psi at the manifold on the 14lb wastegate spring. I also need to double check the setting of the fuel pressure regulator and somehow figure out how to set the ignition timing on an engine that won't idle. The ignition timing might have to happen on dyno day, whenever that may be. There does appear to be an issue with either the starter, the alternator, or my battery wires as the truck has appeared to develop an issue with very slow cranking and a bit of sputtering after driving for a day or so. I'm thinking I just have poor ground cables. I could maybe also use a positive terminal that is in slightly better condition. Either way I am pretty excited as I feel like I'm very close to being able to regularly drive this bucket.

 

[butterman2473]

Update time. In the last week of November I was able to drive the truck back home. It won't idle still, but the AFR's are decent and the engine sounds somewhat healthy (I'm still not used to the way KA's sound). On the drive home I did discover that under braking the truck pulls right pretty hard and when driving it pulls left. The front brakes also began to smoke a bit. I went ahead and ordered a pair of calipers for the front and I'll cross my fingers and hope that the drums in the back are still working as they should. After the drive home, I re-routed the O2 sensor wire and heat wrapped it. I also installed a new oil pressure sender to confirm that I had decent oil pressure (which I do thank goodness). The truck is now registered, insured, and I should have my "Space Cadet" personalized license plate within the next month or so. I need to see about hooking my boost controller back up as the boost gauge is only registering about 12psi at the manifold on the 14lb wastegate spring. I also need to double check the setting of the fuel pressure regulator and somehow figure out how to set the ignition timing on an engine that won't idle. The ignition timing might have to happen on dyno day, whenever that may be. There does appear to be an issue with either the starter, the alternator, or my battery wires as the truck has appeared to develop an issue with very slow cranking and a bit of sputtering after driving for a day or so. I'm thinking I just have poor ground cables. I could maybe also use a positive terminal that is in slightly better condition. Either way I am pretty excited as I feel like I'm very close to being able to regularly drive this bucket.

I hope you get it all worked out. I admire your ability to stay the course. I'm sure plenty would've abandoned ship at the first obstacle encountered.

 

[The Other Mike1357]

Thanks Butterman.

I had gone ahead and purchased a new set of front calipers for the truck last week and I was able to install them this past weekend. The truck tracks as it should under braking now which made the short drive I took so much nicer. I also took the time to double check my fuel pressure regulator and it turned out I had it set a bit higher than it should have been. The truck drives much better but it still can't maintain idle. That could either be due to the fact that the alternator isn't charging anymore, or that my ignition timing is still off by a good bit. Looks like I'll be using the core fee from the calipers to buy a new alternator.

 

[butterman2473]

Thanks Butterman.

I had gone ahead and purchased a new set of front calipers for the truck last week and I was able to install them this past weekend. The truck tracks as it should under braking now which made the short drive I took so much nicer. I also took the time to double check my fuel pressure regulator and it turned out I had it set a bit higher than it should have been. The truck drives much better but it still can't maintain idle. That could either be due to the fact that the alternator isn't charging anymore, or that my ignition timing is still off by a good bit. Looks like I'll be using the core fee from the calipers to buy a new alternator.

Are you still using the stock 70 amp alternator?

 

[silverarrow27]

Have you looked at your IACV for your bad idle?

 

[The Other Mike1357]

Butterman, yes, it's just a plain-Jane stock alternator.

Silverarrow, I'm not utilizing an IACV, but the truck just dies off regardless of accessory load.