New member here. Recently I took my Chevelle out of storage. It has been there since 1991. It is a 1971 with a 383. After doing some prep work it fired right up. It has some light blue smoke. I did a compression and leak down test and number 2 cylinder is half what it should be. The motor was pretty fresh when I put it in storage. I guess I will drive it for a little while and see if it improves. Any suggestions?
I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for:
A tuner good with Holleys.
An upholsterer.
An electrical guy that knows Chevelles.
Any referrals would be appreciated.
67ss said
Jun 15, 2017
Welcome Dave,
For tuners couple places that come to mind would be TPIS or sharadon performance.
Upholsterer would be yellow dog or fred's
As for the electrical what are you needing done?
Larry Lucast said
Jun 15, 2017
I second the recommendation for Convertible Tops and Interiors by Fred: www.ctibyfred.com/
Dave E said
Jun 15, 2017
Thanks, I will check those places out. Electrical problems are mainly with the dash. Gauges not working. There are many loose wires in the dash, no tach wire. The wiring doesn't seem to jive with the diagram I have. This was all a problem when I bought the car, which was shortly before putting it in storage.
67ss said
Jun 15, 2017
Is it an SS car with a factory tach dash?
Dave E said
Jun 16, 2017
The dash has a seat belt light. From my reading they say that is 72 model year. So a different dash was put in, has the gauges. Not sure what the dash harness is. The lights, signals, brake lights all work. Starts fine.
Bobs_Place said
Jun 16, 2017
After sitting since 91 the carb could probably use some TLC. A little cleaning, gaskets, power valve and some settings.
How does the car run, hard starting, any stumbles on acceleration, dose the eng seem to load up? What is the list #of the carb?
Dave E said
Jun 17, 2017
The list number is 3310. A 750 vacuum secondary. It starts pretty good if I pump it, has an erratic idle. Jumps off good to about 30 mph, then falls flat in the midrange. With a gradual acceleration to 60. But I do have that one leaking cylinder on the engine.
Bobs_Place said
Jun 17, 2017
As for the sluggish running between 30 and 60, best guess is a bad power valve. I have seen the diaphragms in old valves become very stiff, the valve doesn't close and
causes a very rich mixture. Also check timing advance, make sure its advancing and not stuck.
The idle condition can be caused by idle mixture screws no set correct, reset for best idle also check for fuel dribbling from the boosters at idle. Shut the engine off pull the sight
plugs to check the fuel level in the bowls, if a lot of fuel runs out of one or both the needle and seat are not set correctly or leaking or the needle/seat oring is leaking. A carb kit
is about $30.00. The kit does not include the air cleaner gasket or secondary vacuum diaphragm, but can be ordered if needed. Get a can of brake clean to blow through all the
passages.
I would start with the kit and checking the timing as these are cheep and easy to do.
Hope this helps, let us know how it works.
bowtie said
Jun 18, 2017
Dave E wrote:
The dash has a seat belt light. From my reading they say that is 72 model year. So a different dash was put in, has the gauges. Not sure what the dash harness is. The lights, signals, brake lights all work. Starts fine.
Seat belt light came mid-1972.
Lost in the 60s said
Jun 18, 2017
Dave E wrote:
Thanks, I will check those places out. Electrical problems are mainly with the dash. Gauges not working. There are many loose wires in the dash, no tach wire. The wiring doesn't seem to jive with the diagram I have. This was all a problem when I bought the car, which was shortly before putting it in storage.
More info would help...is the car a Malibu or SS ? Is the dash now in it a sweep or round "SS gauge" style ? If the PO swapped in an SS dash on a sweep dash car, most of the wiring is wrong and would explain the loose wires and cobbling to get anything to work.
Bobs_Place said
Jun 18, 2017
There is also some differences in the wiring between round "SS" gauge panels with gauges (temp,amps,tach) vs idiot lights. The big diff being the amp gauge wiring. The engine also changes to accommodate the amp gauge.
Dave E said
Jun 18, 2017
I think Mitch it may have started as a Malibu. It does have the badging , front disc brakes, th400, and a 12 bolt rear. The dash harness does have the plug for the gauge cluster. Is there a way to tell what harness I have? I was thinking maybe I should pull the gauge cluster and take it in to have it checked out. Is APT a good place for that? I would like to find a 70 or 71 dash housing as long as I'm going that far. Thanks for the tips on the carb Bob. I've done a little carb work but never had a Holley apart. It does have a GM Hei distributor.
-- Edited by Dave E on Sunday 18th of June 2017 05:59:07 PM
New member here. Recently I took my Chevelle out of storage. It has been there since 1991. It is a 1971 with a 383. After doing some prep work it fired right up. It has some light blue smoke. I did a compression and leak down test and number 2 cylinder is half what it should be. The motor was pretty fresh when I put it in storage. I guess I will drive it for a little while and see if it improves. Any suggestions?
I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for:
A tuner good with Holleys.
An upholsterer.
An electrical guy that knows Chevelles.
Any referrals would be appreciated.
Welcome Dave,
For tuners couple places that come to mind would be TPIS or sharadon performance.
Upholsterer would be yellow dog or fred's
As for the electrical what are you needing done?
Is it an SS car with a factory tach dash?
After sitting since 91 the carb could probably use some TLC. A little cleaning, gaskets, power valve and some settings.
How does the car run, hard starting, any stumbles on acceleration, dose the eng seem to load up? What is the list #of the carb?
As for the sluggish running between 30 and 60, best guess is a bad power valve. I have seen the diaphragms in old valves become very stiff, the valve doesn't close and
causes a very rich mixture. Also check timing advance, make sure its advancing and not stuck.
The idle condition can be caused by idle mixture screws no set correct, reset for best idle also check for fuel dribbling from the boosters at idle. Shut the engine off pull the sight
plugs to check the fuel level in the bowls, if a lot of fuel runs out of one or both the needle and seat are not set correctly or leaking or the needle/seat oring is leaking. A carb kit
is about $30.00. The kit does not include the air cleaner gasket or secondary vacuum diaphragm, but can be ordered if needed. Get a can of brake clean to blow through all the
passages.
I would start with the kit and checking the timing as these are cheep and easy to do.
Hope this helps, let us know how it works.
Seat belt light came mid-1972.
More info would help...is the car a Malibu or SS ? Is the dash now in it a sweep or round "SS gauge" style ? If the PO swapped in an SS dash on a sweep dash car, most of the wiring is wrong and would explain the loose wires and cobbling to get anything to work.
There is also some differences in the wiring between round "SS" gauge panels with gauges (temp,amps,tach) vs idiot lights. The big diff being the amp gauge wiring. The engine also changes to accommodate the amp gauge.
I think Mitch it may have started as a Malibu. It does have the badging , front disc brakes, th400, and a 12 bolt rear. The dash harness does have the plug for the gauge cluster. Is there a way to tell what harness I have? I was thinking maybe I should pull the gauge cluster and take it in to have it checked out. Is APT a good place for that? I would like to find a 70 or 71 dash housing as long as I'm going that far. Thanks for the tips on the carb Bob. I've done a little carb work but never had a Holley apart. It does have a GM Hei distributor.
-- Edited by Dave E on Sunday 18th of June 2017 05:59:07 PM