Diving in.

[Knothead]

Hey everybody,
So I bought this 1985 5th Ave. the other day. It seems to be in decent shape overall, with a few exceptions. I finally got the time to give it a once-over and I'm seeing some issues. There seems to be a few aftermarket parts along with some shady wrenching. Would any of you more knowledgeable people mind taking a look at some photos and let me know what I need to do to make this car better?

Things I've found so far:

The source of my massive oil leak is the Passenger side valve cover gasket. Picked up a set from the parts store, will install on Monday.

There are aftermarket heads, intake manifold, and carbuerator. All Edelbrock. Cannot vouch for the workmanship of the installer or much else really. Are these helping me, or hurting me. Probably hurting. But so shiny!!

The transmission shifts smoothly, but gets in third gear as fast as it can and stays there. I noticed the kickdown linkage is not connected and I'm pretty sure that has to to with the aftermarket parts. Oh boy.

The a/c doesn't work. The heater equally doesn't work. The heater hoses have been removed. Not a huge deal to me at this time. Until it is.

Looks like I'm missing a belt??

No sign of a PCV system, but maybe I'm missing something.

There is a lot more, but I will go ahead and post the pics up and let you guys tell me what you see. Thanks in advance.

 

[Knothead]

 

[Knothead]

If I'm missing anything, or you guys need to see things from a different angle, let me know and I'll try to get a better shot. Thanks.

 

[Joe12459]

Sweet ride! The Edelbrock parts are probably not hurting, as long as the cam, intake and torque converter are at least somewhat matched, and as long as your state emissions inspection doesn't have an issue with that type of equipment, or more particularly the missing emissions stuff. The TV linkage absolutely has to be connected, or you'll destroy your tranny very quickly. Edelbrock makes the right throttle lever adapters for the linkage. I'm sure somebody on here will provide some pics of an all factory car, for reference. The truth is, if you're not concerned with being all factory correct, and it runs well, I would just fix the obvious issues and enjoy the ride.

 

[Knothead]

Sweet ride! The Edelbrock parts are probably not hurting, as long as the cam, intake and torque converter are at least somewhat matched, and as long as your state emissions inspection doesn't have an issue with that type of equipment, or more particularly the missing emissions stuff. The TV linkage absolutely has to be connected, or you'll destroy your tranny very quickly. Edelbrock makes the right throttle lever adapters for the linkage. I'm sure somebody on here will provide some pics of an all factory car, for reference. The truth is, if you're not concerned with being all factory correct, and it runs well, I would just fix the obvious issues and enjoy the ride.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not concerned about having the car factory correct, but would like to have a nice, reliable daily driver.

 

[slant6billy]

Second to Joe's comment. You need to inspect the trans pressure rod assembly. You are missing the top rod, but the pivot is there from what I see. There is a down rod to the lower pivot and then the third link to the transmission. Your Edelbrock carb has the mopar adapter. So what you want to do is get a proper throttle cable clevis pin. It should have the throttle cable on one side and a bigger game piece nub for the trans kick rod I'll take some pics and show you what I mean. The thing is the throttle cable will bind if the trans rod is connected incorrectly. I'll show you what I mean as I fire up the phone. What carb is that - 1406? 600 cfm that is? My 750 edlebrock has all the added pieces like electric choke and mopare add ons, but is too big for the average 318

 

[Knothead]

Second to Joe's comment. You need to inspect the trans pressure rod assembly. You are missing the top rod, but the pivot is there from what I see. There is a down rod to the lower pivot and then the third link to the transmission. Your Edelbrock carb has the mopar adapter. So what you want to do is get a proper throttle cable clevis pin. It should have the throttle cable on one side and a bigger game piece nub for the trans kick rod I'll take some pics and show you what I mean. The thing is the throttle cable will bind if the trans rod is connected incorrectly. I'll show you what I mean as I fire up the phone. What carb is that - 1406? 600 cfm that is? My 750 edlebrock has all the added pieces like electric choke and mopare add ons, but is too big for the average 318

Thanks for the heads up. Any pics you could give me would really help me understand how this thing is supposed to go together. I really have no clue which carb it is, but if you know of a way for me to find out, I'll go take a look.

 

[slant6billy]

Ok phone almost died, but here ya go.....

The back of the top pressure trans arm. some use that hole for a spring/ tension spring mount point.

There is the game piece adapter - although I just alled it that so don't go using it as the official term. Note the added stop screw I added ( Redneck firm shift fix).

I'm pointing to the throttle cable clevis point. So the cable and trans rod are on the same pivot point, just on opposite sides of the throttle arm . you may need to bend the arm (zigzag), since it has moved the point further outward towards the drivers side fender

That is the stamping for the carb size- mine is a 750 "1407" and the e choke kit to the left- makes it more driveable

 

[Knothead]

Ok phone almost died, but here ya go.....
View attachment 19878
The back of the top pressure trans arm. some use that hole for a spring/ tension spring mount point.
View attachment 19879 There is the game piece adapter - although I just alled it that so don't go using it as the official term. Note the added stop screw I added ( Redneck firm shift fix).
View attachment 19880
I'm pointing to the throttle cable clevis point. So the cable and trans rod are on the same pivot point, just on opposite sides of the throttle arm . you may need to bend the arm (zigzag), since it has moved the point further outward towards the drivers side fender
View attachment 19881 View attachment 19882
That is the stamping for the carb size- mine is a 750 "1407" and the e choke kit to the left- makes it more driveable
View attachment 19883 View attachment 19884

Thanks for taking the time to put this together for me and for the good info. I have to go in to work, but will report back on which carb I have when I get back home.

 

[slant6billy]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together for me and for the good info. I have to go in to work, but will report back on which carb I have when I get back home.

No problem Glad to help. FYI - if you can score an aftermarket trans pressure cable from Mancini, I have heard it is one and done w/o any issues afterwards. They ain't too cheap.
But they take guess work out.

 

[Aspen500]

I second the throttle valve (aka "kick down") cable deal. Either from Mancini or Bouchillon. Solves MANY problems of finding the right parts and getting them to work, especially with a modified car. Like Slant 6 said, they aren't cheap but are worth it.
This is it. Bouchillon or Mancini, same kit, same price.
BPE TorqueFlite Kickdown Cable Kit - Bouchillon Performance Engineering

You have no PCV system, just a pair of breather caps. There should be a port on the carb for the PCV hose. You'll need to get a PCV valve grommet for the valve cover also. If those are twist in caps, you can also use a Ford style cap that takes a grommet and valve, that twists in the same spot.

Like this: Crankcase Breather Cap

 

[Knothead]

I second the throttle valve (aka "kick down") cable deal. Either from Mancini or Bouchillon. Solves MANY problems of finding the right parts and getting them to work, especially with a modified car. Like Slant 6 said, they aren't cheap but are worth it.
This is it. Bouchillon or Mancini, same kit, same price.
BPE TorqueFlite Kickdown Cable Kit - Bouchillon Performance Engineering

Thanks for the info and the link.

 

[Aspen500]

I just added something to the post about the PCV system, but you beat me to the punch! lol

 

[Knothead]

I just added something to the post about the PCV system, but you beat me to the punch! lol

Hahaha sorry! Thanks for that info also. The breather caps are not twist in, they just push in there.

 

[jasperjacko]

For what it's worth, That looks like an air gap knock off intake, heads might be pro comps ? Someone had more money than skills for sure, but you have some good stuff to work with and once sorted out should be a good setup. Wish you were nearby, i'd help you with some tuning. Looks like the hose on the front of the carb should be for pvc. Water neck on manifold is backwards for some reason.

 

[Knothead]

For what it's worth, That looks like an air gap knock off intake, heads might be pro comps ? Someone had more money than skills for sure, but you have some good stuff to work with and once sorted out should be a good setup. Wish you were nearby, i'd help you with some tuning. Looks like the hose on the front of the carb should be for pvc. Water neck on manifold is backwards for some reason.

I was told by the previous owner that the carb, intake, and heads were all Edelbrock. The heads say Performer RPM, I haven't looked for any markings on the intake. I plan to go over it more thoroughly tomorrow when I do the valve cover gaskets. Thanks for your input, and I too wish I was closer so you could put eyes on this thing.

 

[Knothead]

Well, I found my oil leak.

Then while doing the driver side, I found this pushrod shoved through the rocker arm. I ordered a new rocker arm and a new pushrod. Any ideas what would cause this to happen? Should I be concerned about anything else?

 

[Knothead]

@slant6billy The inscription on the carb is hard to read but it says 1405 or 1406. Hard to tell.

 

[slant6billy]

600 cfm. Now you got some homework to do. What ignition is it running? Mopar 4/5 wire box? I don't see the vacuum advance port being used. It is the port by that 1406 stamp. Is you distributor a vacuum advance? Push rod through the rocker? I'm worried about No3 intake cam lobe. And this runs / idles ok? You should have a noticeable miss at No3 Hydr lifter for No3 is suspect.

 

[Knothead]

600 cfm. Now you got some homework to do. What ignition is it running? Mopar 4/5 wire box? I don't see the vacuum advance port being used. It is the port by that 1406 stamp. Is you distributor a vacuum advance? Push rod through the rocker? I'm worried about No3 intake cam lobe. And this runs / idles ok? You should have a noticeable miss at No3 Hydr lifter for No3 is suspect.

The distributor does not have a vacuum advance. I don't know what a mopar 4/5 wire box is, but I don't think I have one. It seems to be a straight forward ignition system, coil, solid state distributor, wires, etc. It does not idle very smoothly, and now I know why. Do you think the lifter on that cylinder has malfunctioned and caused this damage? It is my belief that the pushrod got stuck in the rocker arm when it penetrated and hasn't touched the lifter in quite a while. I could not get the pushrod to move at all in either direction. It seems lodged in the rocker.