EFI for stock engine/upgrade automatic transmission

[Ford Blue blood]

The sender should have a strap/wire from one of the mounting screws to the body to ensure a good ground.  Too much interference from rust and dirt to insure a good ground for accurate readings.  Easy to do.  Tank should have some kind of pad between it and the chassis/body and the tank straps.  Rubbing could cause a weak spot to leak or generate a spark because of dirt/small grit rubbing.

Remember gas is heavy.  It sloshes around (free surface effect) causing weight shift, lots of forces trying to move that tank around so it needs to be secured.

[ROKuberski]

I've always had a piece of EPDM 60 mil rubber roofing on top of the tank to protect it.  That will still be there.  I will also install a pair of short sections of angle iron at the front of the tank so that it cannot slide forward.  This because the front edge of the tank will no longer be restrained by the brace on the bottom of the trunk floor.  The rear of the tank is still up against the original brackets.  There is a reinforcing bracket across the rear of the car where the rear of the tank sits.  I will drill a pair of holes in this which will give me a lower place to put the j bolts for the tank straps.  I don't think I will have to lengthen the straps if I do this.

It's good to have all of you guys chime in on these projects.  When you think you have thought of everything, frequently, you have not. 

I appreciate all the comments.

Rich

[RICH MUISE]

Rich
The J bolts............I didn't like the way mine were working/grabing..........was a fight, so I bolted in a piece of steel tubing with a bolt/washers/nut and used an eye bolt. Worked great. Of course the eye bolt has to be slid over the tubing before it's bolted in place. Got pics somewhere, but I remember that rear brace being a u-channel, and the tubing sleeve was cut to fit inside the channel.
Like Bill said..do a wired ground and eliminate problems down the road with that. As I said before, my entire car is wired as if it's a fiberglass car. Knock on wood, I've never had electrical problems.

[ROKuberski]

I can get help when I need it, but most of what I do is a one-man-job.  I've been using a ratchet strap to assist with the removal and re-installation of the gas tank.  I also use one of the ramps to drive on and off of my car lift.  That fits between the rails perfectly.  I put that in place just in case I fumble the tank, it could only drop a foot.  At any rate, I think I can reuse the original straps if I lower the point where the J-hooks hang.  And yes, I'll make a solid connection for the ground to the tank.   I'll post pictures when I get to this point.

I've been wrapped up in the 60th anniversary celebration this weekend at the Colorado Railroad Museum where I am a volunteer.  Golf seems to be interfering too, but I should have this back together this week.  If not, I also have a trip to the EAA FlyIn in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  A friend and I will fly up there (commercial) for a few days and we are taking a flight on the B-29 Fifi on our last day.

Retirement is tough.

[ROKuberski]

Done, I hope.

I finally got the new pump from Summit Racing installed in my tank and it seems to be working fine.  Of course the FiTech pump worked fine until it died. 

My trip to the EAA Fly in and ride in a B-29 did delay progress, but, it was worth it.

Here a couple of videos I made.  One of the B-29 ride and the second is a ride in a Bell 47 helicopter over the airfield at Oshkosh.

https://youtu.be/eVEAVaOmHNo
https://youtu.be/3JOTiB_-oiQ

Rich

[RICH MUISE]

Pretty awesome videos, Rich. Are you retired military?
Hope you got the efi sorted out. Nothing would be more irritating than having an undependable car........I'd rather not have a classic at all if I couldn't get to the point where I couldn't just jump it in and go wherever.

[hiball3985]

Super video.. I'm amazed at how slow those old planes reacted to steering inputs, those pilots really had to plan ahead and be on top of the game all the time. I went with my son a few years back when he flew in a B17, I stayed on the ground..

[Tom S]

Rich K, thanks for that B-29 vid!
I was a a flight crew member in these old & very slow Martin Marlon P5M-2 seaplanes. Did one tour in them where a lot of us were at the time, "Beautiful Southeast Asia", 1966/'67.
These planes were then phased out & did two two tours in the same area in the Lockheed P3-A. Experiences never to be forgotten.
SG 9 was 'my' seaplane & it was SG 5 in the P3.
Extremely different airplanes!

[ROKuberski]

As to my EFI system, that has never failed.  It was the Command Center 2 fuel unit from FiTech that failed.  Is the car reliable?  I hope so.  I've got about 50 miles on the new fuel pump.  It sits in the gas tank which seems to be the desired place.  Summit Racing was very cooperative about replacing the original fuel setup and allowed me to keep the fuel filter and all of the AN-06 fittings. If all goes well, I'll take it on a 150 mile trip in the mountains on August 17th.

The EAA experience was great, it was my second visit.  I previously flew with some friends in  the EAA's B-17  https://youtu.be/78IdKp9Rwvc

This was my 7th flight in a vintage aircraft.  I did 3 flights in a T-34, two doing aerobatics and one doing air combat (this is where I get to fly the plane.)  I also did an aerobatic flight in an AT-6 (also with me flying the plane.)  My wife and I flew in the EAA's Ford Tri-motor.  https://youtu.be/nuvFc8_3p1M

No, I am not retired military, but I was in the Marine Corps in Viet Nam 1/2/68-8/8/69 (got there just in time for TET) - https://youtu.be/glg-SHYl3Co

In case you can't tell already, I have lots of videos on YouTube.  Some interesting, some, not so much.  But you can find them here:    www.youtube.com/rokuberski

Rich

[ROKuberski]

Unless something explodes, this is my last update.

Saturday, we did a 150 mile trip through the Colorado mountains going over one pass twice.  Good performance and ZERO problems.  I still need to fill the tank for an accurate calculation of mileage.  The computer shows fuel consumption in pounds/hour.  I made a chart to convert that to MPG and right now, my best guess is that I got about 16 MPG for mountain driving.  If I'm right, that's pretty good.  Going up hill, I frequently had the pedal to the metal with MPG showing at about 10, going down the steep hills, I let it coast and the MPG was over 40, but that does not last forever.  Much of the trip was at highway speeds and I was never the car causing a backup.  I'm pleased with this setup.

[RICH MUISE]

  Excellent, Rich Now, bring it down to the "Cruise above the Clouds" on 9/7!...........It's in Woodland Park and Cripple Creek. I've got it on my calendar. Alamosa is the week before that, I'd do that one also if it wasn't back to back with the woodland Park event.

[ROKuberski]

Rich,

I just checked my calendar.  I've got a car club event in Evergreen on that day, plus the Golden Cruise (every first Saturday of the month - May - October) in the evening.  Otherwise, I'd be there.

Haven't talked to you in a while.  How did your engine problem get resolved?

Rich

[RICH MUISE]

Not sure which engine problem you're refering to, lol. The tranny leak that I thought I had turned out to be an engine coolant leak that was seeping into the bellhousing. It was a leak at a front coolant pipe I knew about, I just didn't realize it was running into the valley under the intake and overflowing out the back over the engine/bellhousing seam and coming out at the bellhousing open drain. Figured that out when I put a cup under the fluid leak just to see what color it was. LOL, tranny fluid ain't green!
My overheating problem turned out to be an air lock in the cooling system. I've put about 2000 miles on the replacement engine and it's been doing great. Never gets over 200 even in 108* temps (a week ago at the Summer's last blast in Vernon, Tx). Wish I was handling the heat as well as the car. Saturday temps for the NSRA in Albuquerque are projected to be 98*......may keep me home. The fairgounds where the show is does not have any shade at all.
Some of the smaller issues I had turned out to be a computer relearning thing..........went away in time.
The silver lining in having to replace the engine was getting other stuff changed/modified while the engine was out, like redoing the steering linkage, and finding out what was causing my idling issue that I always had with the first engine. The car now is better driveability than it was before.

[KYBlueOval]

Rich K, thanks for that B-29 vid!
I was a a flight crew member in these old & very slow Martin Marlon P5M-2 seaplanes. Did one tour in them where a lot of us were at the time, "Beautiful Southeast Asia", 1966/'67.
These planes were then phased out & did two two tours in the same area in the Lockheed P3-A. Experiences never to be forgotten.
SG 9 was 'my' seaplane & it was SG 5 in the P3.
Extremely different airplanes!

Tom, I was Air Crew on a P2V Neptune. Stationed in Rota Spain.'68/'69

[ROKuberski]

Rich,

Last conversation I had with you was that you had to replace the engine.  Sounds like you have had several other minor issues along the way but are in a good place now.

I'm pretty happy with my car now too, except that I still need to add some sound deadening.  I really would like to do the underside of the roof, but it's a lot of work to replace the headliner.  Windshield and rear window trim has to come out and I have to buy a new headliner.  I don't think it is possible to salvage the old one.  When I did my '37 Chevy, putting the sound deadening on the firewall and ceiling made the biggest difference, but I also put it in the doors and floor too.  I had it everywhere and it made a really big difference.

Rich K