Messages

"On the way home from my friends where we spent 2 1/2 days doing all this he told me my brake lights stopped working. Got home safely with him behind me and tested the switch and it's bad. Generic GM switch used on late 60' to mid 70's Chev's, Camaros, el Caminos, et al. Have to get one and hopefully done."

GM didn't put more than two 1157 bulbs per side on the rear of those cars for brake lights. They installed three per side on Fieros and included a relay to drive one of the bulbs on each side.
Four 1157s pull 2.1 amps each for a total of 8.4 amps. H4s pull about 5 amps each for a total of 10 amps.

I think you are going to be burning up brake light switches with the H4s unless you use a relay.

Does the shaft have the splines on the end for the steering wheel?
If so it may be a '64 or an early '65 Corvair car box.
Shaft is 49" on a '64 and 47 1/2" on a '65.
The splines are different on these boxes than the usual chevy splines.

I've been buying my columns from a self serve yard in Pa for years.
He only charges $15 for a column, including tilt and tilt/tele.
I've only met his price once at a swap meet.

I don't know anything about jeep columns but I have swapped several columns into my '88 Celebrity and I've had a couple of them apart.
On the columns I disassembled there was a detent that was screwed inside the column. I tried to use a 3sp auto tilt column in my 4 sp auto without tilt. The detents were different (duh!) but they did swap from one column to the other.

I've had a '66 Corvair for almost 20 years now. After some long delays I swapped in a reversed 4.3 V6 into the stock engine location. Still not on the road because of moves and new marriage!

In 1971 I built a rear engined Corvair using the '67 350 that is in my roadster now.

I did a lot of Corvair research while in Vietnam in 70-71.

I've kept up on Corvairs since and have lots of documentation.

Corvair guys are just as "different" as street rod guys!  

Light blue wire is left signal and dark blue is the right signal if you still have the Corvair directional switch wires.

Wayne-
Do you have a picture of the housing for the Caddy filter?

I changed from the original '68 steel spring on my roadster's Corvette rear to a later composite spring. The ride improved greatly.
I think the composite spring is more progressive than the steel spring. The steel spring seemed stiff thruout the travel while the composite spring gets stiffer the more it has to flex.

You can test your led with a meter set to test continuity. If the led test ok for continuity one way and "open" with the meter leads reversed, it should be ok for your application.
If it tests good for continuity in both directions it is not really an led and won't work for you.

[Diode]

An LED is a "Light Emitting Diode" so I think you would not need another diode. A diode is a "one way" electrical device so the current will only flow in one direction so it also matters which way you hook up an LED for it to light properly.

"What manual do you have?"

The GM shop manual for my specific car (1988 Celebrity).

I have found the Hayes Manuals to be the best of the aftermarket manuals but they usually do not have as much detail on how GM designed things.

In case you ever need to turn the fan on easily just short the A & B terminals on the ALDL connector. I think this may disable the setting of codes but sometimes you may want the fan on without the AC.

I think that your dual fan setup has one fan coming on at about the same temp as my fan and then the second one comes on at a higher (and scarier!) temp.

"Shouldn't this have set a code in your obd1 system?"

No, there is no provision for a defective CPS to set a code.
I read the service manual and it describes the way the CPS works with the coil module:
The CPS sends a signal to the module and the module uses that below 400 RPM without input from the ECM. If there is no signal from the CPS the Module doesn't trigger the coils. I guess since the ECM is not involved in this part (below 400 RPM) GM didn't think it was neccesary to provide a code.
In OBDII cars there is a second position sensor behind the timing cover.
I think the second sensor was added as a backup to the original one sensor design. I guess having two sensors makes it even more fun trying to diagnose a problem.  :(D)

"eng temp 225-230"
The fan on my car is set to come on at 223-227 according to the manual, so your temp reading is not that high after idleing that long. Did your fan come on?

I've heard that bad grounds can cause a problem but I don't think they would take so much time to stop the engine.

I did have a coil module, once,  that would take some time to stop the engine. It seems like heat was the problem. Any chance of getting a cheap junkyard spare to test with?
Is your coil pack mounted on top of the engine near the firewall?
I got to be pretty fast at removing that type last Spring!
Mine is the older style with the module and coils mounted to the block near the radiator. The fan and shroud has to come out on mine to replace the module.

I bought a Hein Werner 2 ton for my son-in-law in February.
They have 2 and 3 ton jacks made in the USA even though the parent company is in China.
I think it was worth the money to get a US made jack.
tooldiscounter.com
It came to $306.26 with shipping.

I went thru the same sort of problem on my 88 2.8 Chevy a few months ago. Symptom was engine suddenly stopped running. No light or code set. First time it had run for about 3 miles. Towed home. Second time 2 miles. Towed home.
I changed the control module, under the coil packs, a couple of times, with cheap junk yard spares. No change. Engine would die idleing after 3 minutes.
I finally changed the crank position sensor. I also cleaned the oil out of the "sealed" wire conectors. Problem solved!

My 2.8 is the earlier version of your 3.1 engine, if yours is the 60 degree V6. The 2.8 only has the one CP sensor. It is located above the oil pan rail between the engine and trans. I broke the top off the old sensor trying to remove it.
I finally bit the bullet and removed the oil pan to push the sensor out from the inside. Some have suggested that the sensor can be pushed into the engine and be allowed to drop into the pan. I'm not sure I could have gotten enough force on it to drive it into the pan. I could just barely get my hand between the engine and trans.

"Could he weld/braze/solder a short piece of steel line in the fuel tank fill pipe (if it's removable) and run his return line to it?"

That is how GM did it on turbo and then later smogged Corvairs.