The Wanderers build

[superbuickguy]

A few on here know me personally, and likely remember me as the guy with that huge dog at the NWOverland Rally.

I was crushed the weekend I went to my first Optima challenge (2021) because I lost my English Mastiff 'Buick' he was only 6 and got leukemia.

'
there will never be a replacement, but my Lab Luigi needed a brother - so we got him another English Mastiff

Meet Samson.

by way of comparison (size). Buick weighed 18 lbs at 10 weeks and maxed at 200 lbs at 4 years. Samson weighs 17.4 lbs - Samson's dad is a svelte 200 lbs and a good 4" taller at the shoulder. We will have to work on keeping him svelte but likely he'll weigh between 220 and 250 at 4 years old.

right now, Luigi isn't sure about the new guy - but the new guy brought a ball to him and the look on Luigi's face was "okay, he'll do"

and I may yet go to the rally this year. it'd be nice to socialize him among such nice people.
(Buick at the 2018 Rally)

 

[Andrew_S]

Such an awesome mix of projects and skills. Love this build thread.
What's up with the C3 - road course set up? - I must have missed the details.

 

[superbuickguy]

Such an awesome mix of projects and skills. Love this build thread.
What's up with the C3 - road course set up? - I must have missed the details.

It started as a 1976 C3 Corvette. Under it is a 5th gen Corvette front suspension and 5th gen IRS from a Camaro. Has 295/30zr19 fronts, 345/zr20 rears. Powered by a BBC 427 and has a Tremec TKX trans behind it. Dakota digital dash, more space was created inside by moving the rear firewall back.... I race it in AutoX, HPDE events and Optima Challenge....

 

[superbuickguy]

and onto making it at least start pretty. Washed it last night, tonight and the foreseeable future will be cut and buff. Roof it terrible but other then that... it's quite fixable.

 

[superbuickguy]

alignment time

supervisor Samson says it's too much

Luigi, on the other hand, says 'send it'

zero camber, 7.5 degrees castor... need to fix that last number

tomorrow.

 

[superbuickguy]

Amazing what a couple turns to toe in and one turn to move the castor to between 3 and 5 degrees...

 

[superbuickguy]

for unknown reason(s), the turbo doesn't have the output it should have. Current test, is the wastegate stuck or held open
thus the first step is clear a space to work - I need that step.

pull the exhaust off the back and look

which I did and nothing is hanging it open... think next up is tie it closed

 

[Mekcanix]

I just got that milwaukee light, what do you think of it?

 

[superbuickguy]

I just got that milwaukee light, what do you think of it?

I like it - love the strong magnet

 

[superbuickguy]

continuing the same thread
I wired the wastegate closed... best was about 9 psi... same turbo on my other 6.5 td is limited to 11. It was at 20 the first time I ran it....

was going to put the other controller on it, but that makes no sense right now.

it might just need to be run in more - so I'll leave it tied closed and drive it a bit. I figured out the vague center steering. The nut on the steering box wasn't tight... still seems a bit dead in the center but it's a lot better.
next on the list of fixing... tach doesn't work.... this tach, and no idea what it is so I'll have to probe wires to figure out the wiring

for the new tach

the good news/bad news. great stuff is great for holding gauges in place.... it's also terrible to try to remove without harming things (didn't harm things)

Samson was having a rough day....

and in randomness, the sign is gone which means I'm getting closer to closing that shop chapter of my life

back to the blazer... I can see why the speedo isn't working, I'm missing a piece

 

[superbuickguy]

the tach does something... woo?

certainly not woohoo
the alternator is definitely putting out a waveform that the tach should recognize

but no
just the initial setting... time to call the maker

Also, need to trace a new diesel leak (that seems to be coming from the valley again)... grand.
I have tomorrow off - hopefully I can spend some quality time on this... whether or not I can is a good question because I have several other projects that need to move forward (such as replacing the vacuum pump on the Suburban)....