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Jared's '79 5.3 244 Project: The Qwikbrik

Well the ordeal is finally done. The new carpet came from stockinteriors.com. It's a little baggy in places, mostly around the shifter hump where it goes down on the left and right, but it's not too bad. It'll probably form a bit better with some time and heat.

I'm so, so happy with the stereo. It sounds really good to me. Probably not like audiophile quality, but it's far and away the best stereo I've had in this car, ever, and better than any other 240 I've heard. Having a high pass filter on the amp for the door speakers is a game changer.

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Did you need a black plastic cover for the interior rear view mirror? I noticed in the IG pic that it wasn't black, and now I see what's going on under there....some sort of something covering over what I assume was not a black mirror trim cover?

I'm pretty sure I have a black one from a Turbo if you want it.
 
towerymt said:
Did you need a black plastic cover for the interior rear view mirror? I noticed in the IG pic that it wasn't black, and now I see what's going on under there....some sort of something covering over what I assume was not a black mirror trim cover?

I'm pretty sure I have a black one from a Turbo if you want it.
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Ah thanks, I covered it in the same printed burlap that I did the sunroof panel in. I?ll probably just leave it as is, thanks though.
 
Looks like I've inadvertently been presented with a solution for my steering issues thanks to the Buchkas, so that's neat.

Unfortunately my rear door speakers are already dead. They were Alpines that I put in circa 2011 that seemed okay, but had been used for an awfully long time. I also briefly mixed up what a high pass and low pass filter did for the rear channel, and I think I damaged them then. Oh well, putting in a pair of Kenwoods this evening that handle more RMS power anyway. No huge loss there.

If the weather's decent this weekend, I may just go ahead and throw on the QSRCs I've had on the shelf for months, and maybe re-plumb my brake system if I can find the parts I need locally.

The brakes on this car have always been suuuuuper rear-biased, to the point that the rear gets real squirrely under hard braking, and I can't hold the car still if I'm doing a burnout.

I think I'm just going to re-plumb the whole thing and get rid of the Volvo junction block. Just drop off the master port for the front brakes to a T, and split left and right, and a line from the master port for the rear to a proportioning valve, and then back to a T on the rear axle. Running off the factory junction block and having two rear lines to the back through the factory bias valves just seems pointless.
 
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Okay so about a month until mountainmeet. Really it?s just the steering and brakes I need to address.

I ordered some Hawk HPS pads for the front, and I?ve got a plan for the brake plumbing.

I?ve got my steering ujoint ordered up, and the weather is finally cooling off a bit so it won?t be murderous trying to get the work done in the driveway.

Probably gonna start tomorrow trying to get the R finished, that would let me get the 240 in the garage.
 
Speaking of brakes, the breaks on my 5.3 swap seem to be absolutely powered by hopes and dreams... I ran the hose from the back of the intake directly into the brake booster but it just doesn't feel right.

How did you make yours work?
 
Tfest said:
Speaking of brakes, the breaks on my 5.3 swap seem to be absolutely powered by hopes and dreams... I ran the hose from the back of the intake directly into the brake booster but it just doesn't feel right.

How did you make yours work?
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Mine's the same. I've never had an issue with booster assist. Maybe you have a stuck check valve on the booster or a booster issue?
 
propav8r said:
Mine's the same. I've never had an issue with booster assist. Maybe you have a stuck check valve on the booster or a booster issue?
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Ok, it could just be the stock truck torque converter constantly pushing the car at a stop. I'll look more into it after I replace that. Which I have the new converter, just need the time...
 
Nop issues with the brakes on mine either, same thing, hose from the intake to the booster.
 
Actually made some decent progress tonight.

I got my new steering joint in. I guess I have a CAM rack, since mine was a bit different than the Buchkas ZF. On mine, there were just two little raised spots on the rack input where the splines weren't formed. It was way easier for me to just dremel those down instead of modifying the ujoint itself.

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Once I did that, the new joint slipped right on. I was able to use that little hole to retain one set screw for the joint, and there was a flat spot for the old pinch bolt that wound up perfect for the other set screw. For the two upper set screws, I just dimpled the steering shaft.

Clearance is so much better now. Easily double what I had before. I may still have the header rubbing on the shaft in turns, but I can address that by shimming the motor up on the driver's side. The joint was the hard/dangerous part.

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I've also had a pair of QSRCs sitting in the shop for like a year now, so those are now installed.

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Getting started on the new brake lines tomorrow. I haven't decided if I'm redoing 100% of them or not, or if I'm going to re-use some of what's already in situ. Guess it depends on what unthreads easily from the junction block more than anything.
 
It's been a couple days of work on and off but I'm finally to a stopping point.

Running the new brake lines was actually pretty easy/straightforward.Luckily, planning this out actually worked.

For the fronts, I was able to re-use all three original hardlines, I just had to straighten out one bend, which was fairly easy with my tubing bending tool used in reverse.

I dropped a bubble flare tee in the place of the original junction block and snugged it all up.

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For the rears, I made a short line from the M12 bubble on the forward port of the master to a 3/8 inverted double flare into the bias valve. You can sort of see that here. I also made up a little bracket for the bias valve so it would have somewhere to sit.

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You can sort of see the valve off to stage left here.

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Then I just came off the outlet of the bias valve and ran one continuous tube back to where the factory proportioning valves sat. With those removed, I had a nice spot to secure the end of the hard line and go into one of the braided flex lines already on the car. The other end of the flex line goes into another M10 bubble tee mounted to the axle. For the lines off the tee to the calipers, I was able to adapt the pre-existing steel lines to fit by trimming and re-flaring them.

I invested in a halfway decent flaring tool before doing this job, and luckily everything worked on the first try and nothing leaks. Kinda wild how easy it was after fighting with ****ty handheld tools for years.

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Also, after making a quick mod to the tool before using it, I didn't forget a single flare nut.

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I bled the brakes until I got no air out anywhere and the pedal is a little disappointingly spongy. Maybe spongy isn't the right word, it just has a bit of travel before the brakes engage. It's not bad or anything, just a different feel than it was before. It may improve some once my pads get bedded in good too.

Speaking of, I put Hawk PCs on the front and EBC yellowstuff on the rear. Combined with the fact that bias isn't totally ****ed anymore, braking has improved exponentially. Before, I couldn't lock up the fronts no matter how hard I stood on it, now I can. I'm going to play with rear bias a bit to get it right, but this has me convinced that it was garbage before.

So anyway, I get done with all that, set my toe with some string as good as I can, and when I wiggle the steering wheel I noticed a clunk/rattle pretty clearly. I was worried it was slop in the steering u-joint but a little investigation showed it was the inner tie rod on the driver's side that had developed some play. Sigh.

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Ordered up a pair of those that'll be here this week, and then it's getting a new windsheld and a trip to the alignment shop.
 
Fixed the ebrake last night. I realized that since the old cable broke and I was going to have to crimp on a ferrule anyway, I could get away with just threading a new cable through the old sheath and that way I wouldn't have to pull the seats/carpet out.

That actually worked great, which was surprising.

I also put a new shift boot in the car. I really wanted to stick with the factory rubber one, but no matter where/how I positioned it, it would push the transmission out of either first and third or second and fourth. Andrew had the idea of using marine screw snaps just straight to the floor. That actually worked okay.

The boot doesn't look amazing, but it's better than the thing popping out of gear all the time, so I'll take it. I'll probably get Kyle Moran to make me a leather one that fits a bit better, but this will do for now.

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I had the same problem with the rubber boot in my car until I happened upon one at a swap meet that was all loosey goosey soft and flexible, whereas my old one was stiff and pulled the t5 out of fifth. This (fresher?) flexible one has never been a problem. I have it in there underneath a shift boot I got from Ian I think.

Coincidentally I just sent off to have your shift lever boot adapter thingy printed!
 
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