New test drive : some questions

Belgian1979vette

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I undertook a new testdrive this evening. This time with the doors on the car :amused:

I still have some issues to work out as expected, and I could need some advice :
- When backing up and the trans into reverse there seems to be some vibration/chattering taking place. None of that in first. Any idea what that could be related to ?
- the brake light seems to come on after some braking. I do have a low vacuum cam, but I'm running a vacuum pump to aid in that area. Car seems to brake straight, no pulling. When I got back to the garage the left front wheel had brake dust on it, whereas the others did not have it. Fluid levels was ok after checking. Could this be the parking brake switch ?
- fuel tank seems to have some pressure build up. Tried the filler cap for venting problems, but none found. Does this venting only work in 1 direction (suction ?)

When pulling in the gasstation to get her filled up and someone was out there, I got a comment the car was loud....and that was with mufflers on it:crap: Hope it will pas inspection . Must admit when getting on the pedal it was , well a little unreal.
 
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It is GOOD to hear the car shows a bit of ass when goosed....proper attitude....


long as it stops straight, just keep an eye on the dust issue...maybe jack it up and spin the wheels just for grins....

I had some krazy crap fuel tank pressure problems that developed here in Florida, never noticed a thing up north....

what I did was put on a locking gas cap, it's vented....and I lucked out in that my canister valve was always open, did not need engine/manifold vacuum to open the control valve, SO the line was eliminated, and I just take the canister into a line that is above the throttle blades and is LO vacuum at best...like a valve cover vent line.....no fumes in the garage, no pressure differentials on the thank anymore......either positive or negative....and believe it or not, I did have it both ways depending on how it was plumbed....and YES, I was shocked about it also....sat there scratching my ass wondering about WTF too....

:eek:
 
It is GOOD to hear the car shows a bit of ass when goosed....proper attitude....


long as it stops straight, just keep an eye on the dust issue...maybe jack it up and spin the wheels just for grins....

I had some krazy crap fuel tank pressure problems that developed here in Florida, never noticed a thing up north....

what I did was put on a locking gas cap, it's vented....and I lucked out in that my canister valve was always open, did not need engine/manifold vacuum to open the control valve, SO the line was eliminated, and I just take the canister into a line that is above the throttle blades and is LO vacuum at best...like a valve cover vent line.....no fumes in the garage, no pressure differentials on the thank anymore......either positive or negative....and believe it or not, I did have it both ways depending on how it was plumbed....and YES, I was shocked about it also....sat there scratching my ass wondering about WTF too....

:eek:

The wheel turns fine. I had a severe steering input when going over a hole or bump in the road. Turned out one of the bolts on the stabilizer bar ends was loose. When I torqued it down. I checked. Nothing unusual.

The chadder/vibration when backing up, seems to be the tire rubbing the inner fender in the back.... exactly on the bolt head with which I attached my fuel sump. Have to look into that also.

Oh and I forgot another question : my alternator is getting really hot. Now I do run headers instead of the rams horns that were on there in the past. Is this a normal situation ?
 
It is GOOD to hear the car shows a bit of ass when goosed....proper attitude....


long as it stops straight, just keep an eye on the dust issue...maybe jack it up and spin the wheels just for grins....

I had some krazy crap fuel tank pressure problems that developed here in Florida, never noticed a thing up north....

what I did was put on a locking gas cap, it's vented....and I lucked out in that my canister valve was always open, did not need engine/manifold vacuum to open the control valve, SO the line was eliminated, and I just take the canister into a line that is above the throttle blades and is LO vacuum at best...like a valve cover vent line.....no fumes in the garage, no pressure differentials on the thank anymore......either positive or negative....and believe it or not, I did have it both ways depending on how it was plumbed....and YES, I was shocked about it also....sat there scratching my ass wondering about WTF too....

:eek:

The wheel turns fine. I had a severe steering input when going over a hole or bump in the road. Turned out one of the bolts on the stabilizer bar ends was loose. When I torqued it down. I checked. Nothing unusual.

The chadder/vibration when backing up, seems to be the tire rubbing the inner fender in the back.... exactly on the bolt head with which I attached my fuel sump. Have to look into that also.

Oh and I forgot another question : my alternator is getting really hot. Now I do run headers instead of the rams horns that were on there in the past. Is this a normal situation ?



Umm, seems to me an alternator should not run a whole lot hotter than under hood temps....I would be taking a IR gun or a thermocouple/DVM to the thing and see what, of course the alt will run hotter than the ambient under the hood, because of the internal resistance in the windings and even the drop across the power diodes, much less internal regulator....that is supposed to be compensated by the STEEL FAN in front, make sure yours is not plastic....My alt is mounted next/above the headers, and never had a issue SO far.....course tmrw is another day.....:push::surrender:
 
Gene, could you do me a favor an measure the temp of your alternator next time you drive ?

thanks

Hell, raining like MAD here now, supposed to do so for the next few daze....

it's an easy do, but with all this chilly 70f rainfall, the measures are useless....

need get a 90f dry day and take one then....

remind me when the temps get up there again....damn this global warming....

:rain::rofl:
 
An update :

I went to technical inspection last week and it passed :yahoo:. However on the way back I had a pretty scary incident. I seem to have forgotten to torque the bolts of the rotor in the dizzy last time I was in there. On the way back I was passing a truck and the thing went haywalk. Explosions in the exhaust, backfiring... I was able to get past and put the car on the side wondering wtf went on. She didn't start anymore. Finally she did. I guess the rotor fell back in place, letting me restart
:eek:h:

I think I have mentioned this before. I went to rubber again as I didn't like poly on the car for several reasons. I was expecting the car to be soft somehow, but with the 550 lbs springs up front and the 7 leaf in the rear she's rock hard. On a bad road she'll rattle my teeth out.

Then there's the M22 rock crusher. I just to like the sound it made, but together with the engine the car is so loud it's hard to listen to the radio. I guess I'm up for a TKO.
 
First congrats of passing the test, I know how picky European tests can be. It's a testimonial to the quality of your work.

All the inconveniences you're experiencing were written in the spec of your build.
In that sense you should be proud of you, I think you got exactly what you planned, a brutal sport car.

I'd go with softer spring and coil rather than going from poly to rubber IMHO.
 
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First congrats of passing the test, I know how picky European tests can be. It's a testimonial to the quality of your work.

All the inconveniences you're experiencing were written in the spec of your build.
In that sense you should be proud of you, I think you got exactly what you planned, a brutal sport car.

I'd go with softer spring and coil rather than going from poly to rubber IMHO.

I agree with Dennis, get a VBP 360 rear spring, you will be thrilled, use Bilstein sport shocks too....not the KYB's I suffered with for near ten years....

Steel leaf springs are made for pickup trucks, not for our sports cars and our asses setting on the rear suspension.....

:pprrtt::beer:
 
On a bad road she'll rattle my teeth out.

I can sympathize with this. I had the same issue with my '73. I replaced the steel spring with a composite spring from VBP and (as did Gene) replaced the KYB shocks with Bilsteins (I went with HDs). It still handles well and very bad roads are still an issue but overall I'm very pleased.

I also saw your post about wanting different mufflers to reduce the exhaust decibels. Do you have an H-pipe or X-pipe in the exhaust system? I've been reading about those lately and both but especially the X-pipe are known to mellow out the exhaust.

DC
 
Bilstein shocks made a huge difference (for the better).... I also have 550's up front and the ride is perfectly fine, not rough at all.... I wonder if your sway bar is binding ???

the fiberglass rear dual mount spring is great, I used to run a 9lef and then a 7leaf steel spring, the 9leaf was softer than the 7leaf but neither one was rock hard.....

when you say "bad roads" , do you mean cobbletone?? we've got some of that crap here too, it's horrible in both of my Vettes, even the C6 is rattling like crazy over that stuff.....
 
The sway bars are still on poly bushings, but the fronts use the Guldstrand links. I use a front and rear sway bar.

I have the Koni adjustable shocks. I think they are in the hard setting. Will try turning it down some.

This was on a road through a nearby military base. The road is concrete because it's used by tanks and such. It's made up out of concrete sections with a asfalt connection between them.

Must say in corners she's fine.
 
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