Here comes MadMike - my 1980Z

[BTTB71SS]

Mike sounded real good there....

Glad you didn't need the fire extinguisher

 

[arick793]

The original nasty Z28 runs again!!!

 

[MadMike]

Fired up my car some more yesterday. We're getting closer. My fuel bowls are full. My carb is misadjusted. I think the idle screw is set too high, and the choke is mis-adjusted. So the car won't idle... most likely cause the idle screw is not letting the car run on the idle circuit. We only had 15 minutes of playtime yesterday before we had to split to go see Motley Crue.

 

[rscamaro73]

Git'er done homey....

And Happy Birthday

 

[MadMike]

I fired this joker up yesterday and it sounds healthy but still wouldn't idle, so it liked to rumble at 4000 - 5000 RPM sounding as bad-ass as the modified race we went to the night before. With the occasional rap on the throttle just for good measure. I need to get my stuff together and forget about the 5 alarm hardon and focus on what the hell I need to be doing.

I proved that my carb(s) and distributor(s) and coil(s) are probably good, my fuel pump is good.... my spark plugs were jacked up. So I got them soaking and will regap & reinstall them today. Then make some noise. Then undo all the other testing stuff I bolted on (different carb, stock hei distributor).

I'm going to button up my steering pump, install the driveshaft. Then nut & bolt the thing along with checking/bleeding the brakes.

I gotta swap the front springs. Then it'll be off to the alignment shop, and then to the exhaust shop.

I'm getting close to being on the road. With the weather getting better I should be able to focus on finishing this thing up.

 

[MadMike]

If I'm not mistaken - last time I fired this up a couple weeks ago, I got my idle problem solved. Just gotta tweek the engine a bit. I'm going to double check my work in a couple days and if all is well, I'll pull the (known good) HEI out and stab that into the 73 and put my (known good) MSD distributor into the 80Z. I was swapping carbs, distributors & everything else trying to sort out my won't run snafu. My carbs & distributors are good. The bonus of this is - if they're put on my 73Z - they'll be good there.

The driveshaft & tail pipes laying on the floor are in my way... so I guess I'll "put them away".

And you know what'll happen if the car has a driveshaft in it... I'll have to make sure my brakes work

The tail pipes are decoration at the moment, but they are in my way (I intentionally put them in my way). There's still nothing between the open collectors and the stock over-the-axle to tail pipes... yet. When I get closer it'll be off to the exhaust shop. When I want to knock the pictures off the walls, I still got the 73Z next to this thing.

 

[blades67]

Good on ya, Mike!

 

[MadMike]

Almost showtime. A big thanks for the kick in the pants from Mr. Stokkeland with getting the springs installed finally.

Gotta button up a couple things, nut&bolt the thing and fire it up.

 

[Paul1979]

Any more progress? I know this sounds like a broken record but those valve covers are beautiful.

 

[68400BIRD]

Yea, How long are you going to drag this out?