Another update...…… We were planning on taking the Nomad on the Good-Guys Road Tour next week.... I had a intermittent problem that kept cropping up...… I would get in the car and turn the key and click, click, click...… Battery was fully charged..... Humm !!!……. Went thru the Battery cables, cleaned tightened and thought the problem was solved.... Till it did it again...….. replaced the starter...…..problem solved.... Not !!!...…… Replaced battery cables...….. Same thing...… The only thing left that makes any sense is the Ignition switch...…. No time to get a "Real" GM switch and replace it......So... The Nomad is staying home and the Chevelle is going instead...…. Darn.... This car stuff is hard !!!!!

Ken

Did you put a new harness in the car? I had a problem some time ago with the original harness bulkhead with corrosion. It provided a periodic voltage drop in the trigger wire for the solenoid.................click click!

It would absolutely suck if you could not take the Nomad. You certainly have paid you dues with that build!

Wait Ken --- Remember when I drove (rode in - Rudy drove the entire trip) - the Chevelle and it was doing that --- and it was like the neutral safety switch connection or something.....


Come on buddy - don't give up on her!

Yes.........All new wiring in the car.....American Autowire kit.......

Greg...... Different situation...... Ended up being a loose alternator connection to the Battery.......Voltmeter showed voltage but the amperage wasn't getting thru to the Battery......and the Battery was getting minimal charging..... Found the problem after we got the car home last year..... The 10 ga wire I had going to the battery (way too small I have since learned) covered in the plastic casing....... Couldn't see the wire because it was inside the casing, but I smelled a weird smell in the engine compartment and was looking around and I noticed the casing was melting at the alternator....From the loose connection resistance heated the wire and pretty much melted the insulation...... It also took out the alternator.....I did some research and found out that with the Electric fans at least a 6 GA wire was required.... New alternator and 6 GA wire and now I can have everything running and the Voltmeter stays at 14 Volts...... Another education to the guy who thinks he knows everything.....LOL......

I are Smart !!

LOL

Ken

Here was the problem in the Chevelle !!….

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...97182F6D27.jpg

Just so you know -- we could all be touring in brand new 488's or Bentleys for what we have in all this crap.... God only knows why we do this. But damn I love it anyway! LOL


Just thinking about the clicking ----

Check grounds from motor to chassis etc

Check voltage at starter motor for voltage drop

Check voltage at ignition vs battery

Bypass ignition and hot wire -- to see if she starts

Neutral safety switch contact (assuming there is still one in the car)

In reference to the Chevelle...…….There was a loose terminal on the Neutral safety switch...…… since corrections the car is back to it's old reliable self...… (probably shouldn't have said that) LOL...….

Ken

Yep !!!...……. Donnie at Frame-up checked everything as above and we thought everything was O.K...…… Till it happened again..... That's why we suspect the Ignition switch....


Ordered a GM switch and it will be replaced when we get back from the tour.... Hopefully it will make it on next years tour

We checked all the basics, found a questionable connection at the negative on the battery and the car started 50 times after that over the course of two days without hesitation...........Ken called two days later and said it clicked again.

Have you tried a different battery ?

Funny you mention that.......Don't know if this makes any sense.....But I have a new Battery in the car...... after the click, click and then starting.....I let it run for a while, shut it off and decided to Trickle charge it..... when I hooked up the charger it said the Battery was 57% charged....... after a couple minutes I took the charger off for a minute and then re-installed it...... then it said the Battery was 97% charged....... Driving to the shop this morning I had that exact thought as Charley did .......I didn't think anything of it at the time, but that could be a clue.......
Man, This car stuff is Hard....LOL

Ken

Bad battery. We had an Optima on our C10 with a SBC that did the same thing. One time it would crank and run like a champ, then you get somewhere and it sit for awhile (meaning the starter etc had cooled off) and it would just click. Keep trying here and there and eventually it would crank and run like hell. We could take it in to the auto parts store and let them test it and it would show the battery was bad every time. We went through 3 Optima yellow tops before we switched to something else. Never had another problem and eventually sold the truck.

You will get it figured out, Ken!

Is it an Optima that is in the car? I'd change it out to something else.........ask me how I know

Hope you are using an optima charger specifically designed for their batteries and not a conventional charger.

Don

I took the Optima out as soon as I bought the car...…. It has a AC Delco in it...

Will tell you very quickly if it's a possible battery issue -- just jump it and see if she fires up every time you twist the key.

Also -- some parts stores (hate to call them that anymore) can do a load test on the battery vs just a voltage check... sometimes it's the load that takes 'em south.

While I love Jimi Day and Cam Douglas et al --- the Optima batteries have certainly lost their luster. Sears dropping them should have been a first clue....

There seems to be more reliable batteries on the market that don't have to be special.... and treated special.

Okay --- Are you taking the Nomad or not????

No. He shipped the Chevelle.

Since it pains me to say that the car season is basically over for the year....The refining process will now continue over the fall and winter season.....Couple things I'm not comfortable with...… Ordered a new GM Ignition switch to hopefully solve the intermittent starting issue...… #2... I'm going to bite the Bullet and change out the Concept 1 Front drive set-up(single belt for everything) for a Wegner LSA front drive ( two belt drive) ……. In the 57 the single belt C1 set-up moves everything forward to align with the Blower Belt position...… In this position everything fits, But.…..There is no clearance between the drive and the fans and radiator...… So, in driving the car like we do across the country, if anything would happen to fail …….. the only way to access the components is to basically remove the radiator and or Core support (another reason I was hesitant to take the Nomad on the Road Tour this year)...… Don't want to be in that position..... With the Wegner set-up, there will be another 1 1/2" of room to at least have room to access the Pulley's Etc... One of these things you learn as the process moves along..... Gonna make it more Gooder !!!..... LOL


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...BB7C949FB9.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...9BEE71AB2B.jpg

Good choices Ken!!

Red and Grey primer go well together - so we can get some good photos!! LOL

Anything that makes it easier to repair on the road is the way to go. Wegner make a good looking system too.

hooly chit....................that's tight!

After buying the Glide Engineering seat 2 1/2 years ago...…. It's been a struggle trying to get the foam and covers made to have a comfortable decent looking seat...…. After being in three different shops and finally getting a decent job in the third shop, then finding out the seat was too wide and didn't fit...… I've had it with that seat..... Glide made new seat back frames so the seat would now fit, but, after being on the Road Tour a couple weeks ago and talking to Greg Weld and sitting in Bret Vogel's car...… I have decided to sent the original seat to Tracy Weaver in Nebraska and get him to recontour and work his magic on it as he has done many of these conversions………. Here are some pictures of the seat after receiving it from upholsterer #2 …….What a waste of time and her money !!!

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...813D6467_1.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...7D540313A2.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...BB1544222C.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...B250569987.jpg


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...0C3873984E.jpg

What a shame. Tracy does some amazing work.

Awesome that Greg referred you to someone who will finally get you what you've been asking for all along :)

"And" paid for !!!! At this point it is close to being the most expensive seat in the world.......LOL

I have installed a couple of Ciadella Nomad interiors. The quality seems pretty good.

Don

No kidding...and number of years that you have been trying to get it done!

Got some advice for you. Don’t finish until the night before the long road trip, gotta live by faith lol. Cheers 🍻

A couple updates...…. #1.... Took Welds advice and sent the original bench seat out to Tracey Weaver to work his magic to balance it out with contoured Foam and keeping the pattern looking some what stock to match...…
#2...… The intermittent clicking issue when trying to start the car ended up being a connection issue at the column mounted neutral safety switch
#3..... the Battery going dead ended up being in the aftermarket ignition switch included in the rewire kit...…… the original 57 Key bezel is still used..... It has Start...Run...off... and Lock on it...…..Unknown to me.... (Probably in the Instructions....LOL )when I would shut off the car and turn the key to the lock position...…. In the new switch it is actually in the Accessory position....When I looked under the dash while fixing the neutral safety switch I noticed that the Dakota Digital modules were lit up...… turn to the off position and everything went out and no more issues...….This Car stuff is Hard !!!!

Good to see you are getting it all figured out! :headspin:

https://lateral-g.net/forums/post_th...oken=154459176

Glad it wasn't a big issue to fix. It's got to easy some time.

A usual problem for me....... I make everything so complicated I can't see the obvious !!!

Time to fix another issue that came up with this particular combination...… I bought a Concept1 front drive system while putting the car together. After final assy it turned out that the single belt front drive setup was designed to run everything off the forward positioning of the Super Charger drive pulley. This had all the pulleys and tensioners in that forward position. After the Radiator and fans were installed, everything fit but just barely..... If something would have happened on the road there would have been some major issues having access to the components on the front of the engine..... An uncomfortable position I didn't want to put myself in..... So...… In looking at the other set-ups that are available, I decided to get purchase a Wegner LSA drive.....A two belt set-up that will provide a lot more access for maintenance in this particular application...… So... If you are going to need a LSA front drive set-up and install it in a car that has more clearance in front …… Here is a 100% complete Concept 1 system that has only a couple thousand miles on it and you can save a lot of $$$$$...… LOL....

Here are some ongoing pic's of the change over


New Wegner assy
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...DE50934EB5.jpg

Radiator out …… Concept 1 unit ready to come out....

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...493F85F3B5.jpg

You can see where the fan was making contact with the Tensioner
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...3ED92A1DC9.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...CFC5C82FCD.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...AA30CB2298.jpg

I have a harmonic Balancer puller in the garage some where......LOL......Waiting for the new one to show up so I can get this one off and start the re-install..

Hi! Been following your project for a while in silence.
looks like a well thought build and nice car :)

is that thermostat housing a custom piece or can I order it somewhere, got some space issues right there with my bracket for the supercharger and it looks like that would solve it :lol:

The Billet Thermostat housing is from Concept1...….


Ken

Moving along...… Got the new Harmonic Balancer installed...… LS engines are a treat in changing these......LOL.....Finished up with the drivers side install..... The Wegner unit is very well engineered..... But.. It is much wider than the Concept1 assy...…. Gonna have to remake the inlet Tube and move the Intercooler pump and change some of the power steering lines to clear the Belt...Here's today's progress


https://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a...z/IMG_4536.jpg