The Pitstop - 2020-07-17

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Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

1:28 PM

@BobCross - No lie. While I'm not in the basement, I spend way too much time in my office, lol.

2:08 PM

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 regarding this answer I just had to replace a bad battery a few days ago. I tried reviving it with a battery charger overnight but it never went past 11.0 V. The OP saw their battery voltage reach 12.9 V right after charging, so I wonder if the bad cell theory you were hinting at is plausible. I only have my experience with one battery to go by, so I'm really not sure

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

@Zaid - It seems plausible. I think they can either show the full voltage right after a charge or not ... depending on how its shorted ... well, at least that's my theory, lol

If there is an internal short, I'd wager that those are 2V you're never going to get back

In any case, I think the OP should check for parasitic drain

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Yes, internal short

and if it drops like what he's talking about, I think what I've suggested is very plausible.

Cool

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 what's the 454 famous for?

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

@Zaid - Engine?

2:14 PM

Yup

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

I don't know about "famous" but it was GM's largest displacement engine for a long time.

Stock engine

I guess I should rephrase my question lol

Is it known for it's reliability? I know it's got a very flat torque curve

And it can make heaps of power

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

The BBC is a torque monster, especially down low, so it was used for truck/towing applications. It also had it's performance variants as well. Like you said, make tons of power, especially down low.

I ask because I have a Roadkill itch to scratch :)

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

I'm liking where you're going!

The BBC is my favorite, hands down, of any engine

2:18 PM

And there are quite a few '80's Suburbans with 454's in them around my locality

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Really?

HOLY crap

noice

Yup

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

3/4t suburbans

3/4 ton

There are two different blocks used on the 454 which you need to be aware of

ok

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

They have two different deck heights (distance from crank centerline to the deck where the head is bolted on)

The standard car height is 9.8" (IIRC). The truck block is over 10" ... I don't remember the height off the top of my head.

2:22 PM

That means different displacements?

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

The reason why this is important is because since the deck height is taller, this puts the heads further away from each other when they are bolted to the block. Since this isn't the "standard" deck height, a regular height intake manifold won't work.

@Zaid - No

They have the same displacement, the difference was they put three compression rings on the pistons (which are a little taller).

gotcha

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

The stock heads they used on the truck blocks were absolutely anemic. You cannot expect them to turn much more than 4500 rpm ... they just die. They are, however, made for TONS of low end torque.

Well, at least for a gasoline engine

Not sure if you can see this ad, just to give you an idea

This one's fairly recent as well

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Yes, I can see both of them. I think its funny how Chrome translates from Arabic to English ... I'm sure what I'm reading is not truly what is written, lol.

I get a good idea, though.

2:36 PM

There's tons of them

Well.. relatively speaking

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Yes, those are awesome trucks, though the EFI on them is pretty much for the birds. They have throttle bodies, which makes them "okay" but not great. I'm not even talking from a performance aspect. Just from a fuel economy aspect ... they suck a LOT of fuel. They can easily be made more efficient and performance oriented.

Just takes a little bit of money

Performance heads, decent carburetor and modern ignition timing?

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

@Zaid - Even some stock oval port heads, decent cam, and carb (or port fuel injection) goes a LONG ways

I can imagine

This thing is that most of the performance mods are literally bolt-on

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Are you wanting to do all of this for the Suburban or just to use the engine in something else?

2:43 PM

If I do this I would keep it for the Suburban

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Okay!

So probably nothing crazy, just make it a little bit ... er ... more

Lol, yeah

Some moar

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

One of the problems with the stock engine is it has a really terrible compression ratio ... like usually in the 8.5:1 with the stock heads.

That's good for reliability though

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

If you can get heads which have a lot smaller chamber and can get it up around 10:1, it will make a LOT more power.

@Zaid - If by "reliability" you mean less chance of detonation, then okay. Other than that, no.

2:48 PM

I have no doubt about the potential for performance gains

And yes, I was thinking of detonation

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

A point of compression is worth about 3% improvement in power

Any idea when GM switched over to R134a?

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

without changing ANYTHING else

@Zaid - mid 90's ... thinking 94 or 95 ... I had a 94 Pontiac Sunbird which still had R12

However, switching over to R134A shouldn't be too big of a deal.

I'll have to see what the support network is like over here for R12/R22 just as a worst-case scenario

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

You can still use the same compressor and other major parts. They make conversion kits.

2:51 PM

yes, I'm aware

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

The conversion kits have different ports and expansion valve. Plus, I believe you have to clean the PAG oil out of it and put oil which is compatible with the R134a

You DO NOT want to spend the money to refill an R12 system in a Suburban. It just takes way too much refrigerant.

Yes, and that brings me to the single biggest obstacle for such an undertaking: a place to wrench on it

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Your new home doesn't have that ability?

Back in Qatar, I had space to do this kind of stuff. My current setup here isn't going to permit serious wrenching

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

that sux

2:56 PM

I know, it's a real shame because there are lots of examples of 70's-80's Americana out here

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Can you rent a wharehouse or small shop area?

Not sure what something like that would cost in SA

It wouldn't be an arm or a leg but I would need to be super diligent about planning the whole thing out

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

I hear yah.

There's a season for wrenching

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Yah, and it's not this time of year, lol

3:00 PM

Starts around November, ends around May

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

At least where you're at, lol

Yup

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

And usually at 12-midnight, lol

Yeah, nighttime isn't too bad

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

When I was in Saudi, I worked the night shift, which was bearable.

I was there from the end of August through the beginning of May, so I didn't hit the hot months

3:03 PM

Looks like you just missed the worst of it

September's pretty hot though

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

There were "other things" going on at the time, so the weather was only a minor part of everything, lol

Oh yeah, that's true

How's the transmission on these beasts? Are they problem areas like the 4L60E on my Lumina?

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

In the meantime, if you go forward with your build ideas on one of these, let me know ... I have a lot of knowledge on these and should be able to help you plan things out.

Sure, will let you know if I do

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

@Zaid - They usually had a TH400, which is known as one of the toughest trannies GM ever built. IIRC, the newer 4L80 is basically the same tranny with an overdrive.

This doesn't mean the TH400 cannot be improved upon, but they usually aren't a weak point

3:09 PM

gotcha

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

One of the weaker points in the "newer" TH400's is the sprague unit ... the ones they used in the late 60's early 70's is a lot better than the newer ones.

The older ones had a lot more sprague clutches in them.

Which makes them stronger

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 I just ran Google Translate on the second ad and I'm rolling over laughing: "and a hook attached to it to pull and a female fish for electricity"

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

@Zaid - Exactly ;)

I was cracking up on it as well ...

Not that I can read Arabic, however, I KNOW nobody would be actually writing that in an ad for a Suburban.

It says in Arabic that it has a tow hook with female connector for electrical winching

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

That makes a lot more sense :o)

I only every to just try and get the gist of things when reading Google translations

3:18 PM

Agree... word for word translations rarely work out... it's all about the gist

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Whenever I use Google to do a translation for me where I'm putting something out to someone, I usually do the "double translation" method, where I'll translate it into the language I want it to go to, then translate that back to English to actually see what I've got.

3:29 PM

anyone know who user bubba is?

@Moab don't know.. I originally assumed it was a regular playing a prank but not sure anymore

Yeah, smells of trolling

that or just wants to sound like a redneck hillbilly

The questions are in general and can't really be answered intelligently.

I answered one the other day - although I have to confess that was more out of boredom than anything else

How does he have any rep?

Ok, I can see some of his questions have downvotes countering upvotes

user image

anyone know what year this old Catalins is?

3:41 PM

'62

Thanks, my son got it with house purchase, no title but probably can get a bonded title here in Texas.

@Moab looks like it could be a fun restoration project

See if I can get it running! Being dropped off at my house in an hour.

@Moab aside from the complete lack of paintwork it actually looks to be reasonably intact, of course who knows about the mechanicals

IIRC they were all 6-point-somthing V8s

4:23 PM

@Moab For the record, I have a lot of hillbilly kin and we generally talk pretty well. :-)

Also, if you find a question to be below the standards of the site, please don't hesitate to flag it. The mods have been discussing this kind of thing lately and we're always hesitant to use mod powers as a first step

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

5:09 PM

@Moab - Either a 61 or 62, would be my guess

Upon closer inspection, I agree with @motosubatsu - It looks like a 62

@Moab - I'm rather tired of "his" forced colloquialisms.

5:25 PM

The real problem is that for a non-"native speaker who knows what dialect this is supposed to be", the posts are hard to read. Poor communication ==> bad answers to questions

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

@BobCross - Just "bad" all the way around.

2 hours later…

7:19 PM

Factory AC car too, was tagged and running in 2008

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

7:37 PM

@Moab - Sounds like a winner, bro

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

8:27 PM

@Nick - Here's where I'm talking about

Something to realize before you even go into KKB.com is, they over price things, both in the private real, but especially when you take your vehicle to a dealership.

8:58 PM

Hello! I was directed here for advice. Please remove if not allowed. I am struggling to understand the options to effectively Blue Book the value of this Van: https://www.rentavanlincoln.com/sale/2019-ford-transit-t-150-10-passenger-van-unit-6756. There are so many options what do not align with the options in the listing.

2019 FORD TRANSIT T-150 10 PASSENGER VAN (UNIT 6756) MILES: 17,000

Can someone instruct me on the process? I would appreciate it.

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

@Nick - Hey! Like I was saying above, you have to understand KBB.com runs a little bit high in their estimates.

Since you can only use the number which comes from there as a guide, just do the best you can when plugging in your vehicles specs.

9:15 PM

Thanks!

9:26 PM

@Nick, please feel free to stop by any time. The chat room is open to pretty much any kind of chatting! :-)

She is a 1962 Catalina manufactured in Kansas City Kansas. Decoded the vin.

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

@Moab - As a kid, we had newer Catalinas. The first I remember was a 69, then I think we had a 74. I've always loved Pontiacs. :o)

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