The Barn Burner

[CheapJeep]

more from today...

I finally got around to messing with the th350. I had cleaned the case and torque converter up before I installed it. After mounting the shifter, new Greddy dipstick, and a little fluid I found a couple of leaks. I bought a B&M shift kit from Oreilly's the other day and afterwards added a new braided flex dipstick, deep trans pan, etc to my Jegs order which arrived Sat. morning.

Trans pics....

After dropping the pan...nasty.




New stuff.




Installed

[CheapJeep]

Pics of the air filter, new trans dipstick, and Electrical...




Finished harness...







Tested all of the wiring and components. Only had two mishaps, one being the fuel pump to battery instead of ignition and the other with the rocklights and driving lights with the painless relay. Worked out both issues and it's good to go.

[CheapJeep]

Made more progress today before heading back to CS.

Ran more wires and hooked up alot of the electrical. Dad has done an awesome job, everything looks really clean loomed and dressed. Only a few items left to connect. We did run into a couple of snags but after some trouble shooting all the electrical bugs were worked out. Added B&M trick shift atf to the trans and it's ready to rock.

Temporarily dropped the fuel cell in and added fuel. Fixed a small leak at the inline fuel filter, the back cap wasn't tightened down all the way. Also found that I had the wrong fuel pressure regulator. I accidentally grabbed a reg with 2 outlets instead of 1 outlet and 1 return (they look the same), going to swap it out so no biggie. Had a leak coming from the passenger side water pump port. Pulled it off, resealed it, and no more issues.

After all of that we had spark, fuel, and I manually turned it over to get oil flowing. Cranked it a couple times but nothing. Decided to double check tdc even though I was sure it was correct. Pulled the drivers side valve cover off, bumped it to top dead center on the number 1 cylinder. Popped the cap on the distributor and the rotor was pointed at the number 1 cylinder. Put it all back together and advanced the timing to 13 degrees. Cranked it again and came really close to running several times. After shooting a flame out the passenger side exhaust that almost set my dad ablaze, smelling enough fuel to give me a massive headache, and seeing that it was dark, we decided to call it. Getting it so close to running then having to bail sucked but I still had to pack up and head back for school.

With such a short deadline dad is planning on having Bill and the guy that builds drag car engines come out to get it going in the next couple of days. I imagine that it's something really simple but with a time crunch, being out of town, and finals I have no problem enlisting help and expertise.

[AggieTJ2007]

try the crank the motor while a second person turns the distributor untill the motor starts

[CheapJeep]

Update...

Electrical is pretty much completely finished and working, only thing left is to install the headlights and front turn signals.

As for the engine, it ran after Bill and Ricky shimmed the starter and adjusted the valves, rockers, and lifters. Ran into a problem with the harmonic balancer and flexplate not being correct which they immediately figured out. Bill ordered the correct balancer and flexplate this morning which will arrive tomorrow.

I will be going home tomorrow to work with them getting the new balancer and flexplate installed, should be fun.

[AggieTJ2007]

Sounds alot like the midnight flywheel replacement on "Da Beast" before Katemcy.
For the real affect you should wait 2 more days before fixing the problem

[DRAGOONRANCH]

And source the flex plate from one of your buddies that just so happens to be in town off his drilling rig and also just so happens to have one sitting 'out back' in the pile of cars.

[CheapJeep]

Hell Yeah! After a year and 4 months the Barn Burner finally rolled out of the shop under it's own power. I have to give massive thanks to my dad, Bill, Ricky, and Wierd for their knowledge, help, and hard work to get it running in such a short time. Without their help there's no way I could have had it ready to go to Clayton from the stage I had it in.

After getting it back together with the new balancer/flexplate we fired it up and set the timing. Hearing it for the first time was awesome, sound's badass... Afterward's dad worked on the last couple of electrical item's while I set the rear brakes, added more atf, etc. Pulled it out of the shop tonight and ran it for 20min. at 2,000rpm to break in the cam, went well. Found that the notion of "you get what you pay for" applies to headers as well. The black paint/coating burned off. Pretty badass to drive it again even if it was only in and out of the shop.

Going to wait on doing the bedliner until after Clayton. Tomorrow I'll start mounting the seats, fuel cell, harnesses, and other odds/ends...then take it out for a drive.

Ricky and his son in-law have a blue jeep/buggy on rockwell's and said his son in-law is supposed to be taking it to Clayton next weekend too. I'll have to keep an eye out for him.

Here's a pic, smoke is from the header paint.

[DRAGOONRANCH]

Bad ass pic Robbie!

[redcagepatrol]

good pic, that came out really well. Nighttime, into the light, the shadows look sweet.

Glad to hear its running, can't wait to see it on the trail!

[CheapJeep]

Thanks.

Everything is back in and mounted except for the skidplate. I ran out of time today and there are still a couple of things left to do. Since I have finals through wednesday my dad is taking the jeep to Ricky's shop tomorrow. Replacing the old steering box (hopefully with a psc if it's possible), oil change, and other fine tuning. Should be done and ready to go wednesday.

Drove it down to the house tonight.

[CheapJeep]

They're actually just white LED lamps...

One vehicle equipped with neons in the club is enough.

[colman]

looks good you need some more silver or black or something to break up the smurf blue tho

[Eckert]

no joke. you must have a got one hell of a deal on blue paint. looks good and glad its all in one piece.

[FJAggie07]

looks good you need some more siler or black or something to break up the smurf blue tho

fawk that I think it looks great. way to be a lil different.