Thread: 68 pontiac lemans convertible

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well-i'm officially an idiot
put the carb on and found tdc and went thru the static timing process with a test light.all good
made up some leads and followed the firing order 18436572
went to start it -some backfires thru the carb and in the exhaust manifold-hmmmmm-played with the dizzy advancing and retarding it a little bit
no joy.
called on the wife to blip the starter while i had my thumb ova the no1 sparkplug hole and rechecked i was on firing cycle not exhaust-yip 180" out
thats cool-reset the rotor ,still nothing but misfirng and backfiring. damn
ok lets check everything. tdc-yip,rotor in right place for no1-yip, sparkplug out and spark-yip, firing order-18436572-----------and this is where i realized-idiot!!!
pontiac is reverse to sbc and i had automatically put the firing order clockwise not anticlockwise
fixed that and it burst straight into life and i got a timing lite on it and its running well now
BUT------heres where murphy kicked my buttt
frost plug under powrstrg/alt bracket started leaking-bugga!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Murphy must be a female cause that's a b_ _ch!! But at least you got it to fire up and run. And that always brings a smile doesn't it?

Wow! way to bring back memories, My father had a 71 lemans post with the awesome color combo of, turd brown with white vinyl top and dark green interior. I filled the factory 8-track with pennies, good thing he loved me.

Great car, she's a beauty
Godspeed
MrC.

Freeze plugs - brings back the memory of my old '60 Chevy. Noticed a small puddle in the parking lot at NAS Corpus Christi at the end of my shift. None of the "normal" places and seemed to be coming from behind the driver's side motor mount?? Slipped my fingers in the gap, feeling the block surface with a finger tip and badda-bing, the finger slips through the crusty surface, the water goes glug-glug-glug and the system's empty. I learned about copper expandable freeze plugs that afternoon....

Sorry for the hijack, Mark....

As soon as you said 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, I knew what happened. (I had a '68 GTO for many, many years.)

And you can guarantee,,that the plug that leaks,is the most in accessible one on the engine.. It's looking good,Mark.. Hey,,that's another one of your toys,I haven't seen.. Hows the Chevy pickup coming??

hi robin-the chevys been on the road for awhile now-its my daily driver and gets used for all sorts of things.
drove it up to kerikeri, up north to buy a 27 dodge chassis




.

I cant tell you the times, I thought If I had just had a pallet and a mattress, I could haul that on my truck.

Good thinking.
Godspeed
MrC.

Originally Posted by sharpmark

hi robin-the chevys been on the road for awhile now-its my daily driver and gets used for all sorts of things.
drove it up to kerikeri, up north to buy a 27 dodge chassis




.

Okay,,kool..Looks good..Hey,,I hope ya took a left turn at that intersection... hehe..Might have been an even longer trip home the other way...
ANOTHER project in the making??

yes-another project for the future-early dodge cowl and doors,chev tourer rear panel,283 or 305 an 3 spd manual, 9" diff----- a little modified but still deciding on single seat or two seater?

well-should have known better.i fixed the leaking frostplug-put it back together and went for a drive.excellant -everything working as it should.so off for a w.o.f next day and then rego and hey presto another one finished
BUT next morning -puddle of water under the car and sure enough - two more frostplugs leaking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so ---- i'll have too pull the motor again and replace all of them----stupid cars!



parked it in the naughty car corner again and started working on the 28 roadster -more fun on this one

Originally Posted by sharpmark

well-should have known better.i fixed the leaking frostplug-put it back together and went for a drive.excellant -everything working as it should.so off for a w.o.f next day and then rego and hey presto another one finished
BUT next morning -puddle of water under the car and sure enough - two more frostplugs leaking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so ---- i'll have too pull the motor again and replace all of them----stupid cars!



parked it in the naughty car corner again and started working on the 28 roadster -more fun on this one

What?? more leaks?? I suppose you upset things while replacing the other plug.. Hmmm,, Who says they don't have personalities?? Yup,,best place,,in the naughty corner..

Sorry to hear about the freeze plugs starting to leak on ya. That can really kill a mood on a project.

well- been awhile but car finally back on the road.
all the frost plugs were toast and were replaced after pulling the motor again.
after driving it around , the only problems left to sort out are front wheels rubbing on bottom corner of guards when halfway thru a turn and the exhaust flanges are abit low.

So.....you replaced them with brass ones,Mark?? Or can ya not get brass any more??
Good to see it back on the street..