Ok now I'm antsy about getting the K30 done. I went by National Carb yesterday. Great place. Terry took me in the back and showed me more about QJets in 5 minutes than I'd ever known. I had no idea there were so many different variations of the QJet. After talking with him and choosing how I wanted it I paid my $220 and it'll be ready in a week.
The other big issue is the exhaust. The diesel flanges are too small. I've tried just about all the cheap SoB ideas I had. Chris and I hit the junkyard yesterday but I just couldn't find something I was happy with. I think we're going to remove two studs on each side so I can redneck engineer the diesel flanges enough to get it to the muffler shop. I'll have them do from the manifolds to right after the transfer case. Might even get them to do an H pipe. I was thinking put it right behind the transfer case so it could sit up high but does it need to be closer to the engine?
Other than that I need to wire in the electric choke, redo a fuel line clamp and tidy it up. Sucks that I'm this close and just sitting in a holding pattern.
I called National Carb after lunch and they said it would be ready today. So after my nap in car pick up line, Lil Stampie and I ran down and picked it up. We were rushed for time but we got it mounted.
Quick parts run for all the last minute things and then ...
https://www.youtube.com/embed/0kdbep9_RxY
Still needs a lot of little stuff. Throttle bracket needs relocating, needs the vacuum advance installed, and a bunch of other little things but now is the time to celebrate with Mexican.
That sounds amazing, don't change a thing. 
In reply to mazdeuce:
Yeah well on the list tomorrow is get it to the exhaust shop.
Wooo!!
Also that Quadrajet is gorgeous- it looks brand new!
In reply to Gunchsta:
Yea National Carb is great. Shameless plug https://www.nationalcarburetors.com.
Full disclosure I know the brothers of the owner but didn't drop any names when I went in. They really do a great job.
Are you driving to the exhaust shop? 
In reply to Dusterbd13:
Well of course. Don't forget that I'm from SC so redneck engineering comes natural to me.
Stampie wrote:
In reply to Dusterbd13:
Well of course. Don't forget that I'm from SC so redneck engineering comes natural to me.
You're from south Carolina? Explains so much......
Your "mounted pic" looks suspect. 
In reply to Crackers:
Lol I think the two rear nuts were hand tight. If I remember correctly I took that picture while I was waiting on a wrench.
You should get some video of the drive to the exhaust shop. Including the open exhaust burnout.
TLDR ... I've been rushing to much and we broke it but not permanent.
Ok so in the carb picture above you'll notice that there's no vacuum advance on the distributor. When we got the engine the vacuum advance was bent. I removed it because it prevented the cap from seating. This morning I went to install the new one and it's hitting the intake. What I should have done was step back and figure out why. Instead I went full cojones ahead and said berk it I'll make a lock out using the bent one. Tacked the arm to the mount and installed it. We then replaced the throttle cable mount with a Cadillac one and got it in a better position. We wired up the choke and put heat shrink on all the extra wiring. Went to start it and the starter doesn't sound good. We figure it's a low battery and head to lunch while it's charging. At lunch we discover the exhaust shop closes at 3pm so we know we can't make that. After lunch we buy a fish tank for Carol, look at a 66 Mustang in pieces, hit a garage sale hitting a jackpot in old tools, pick up Chris's F150 from the dealer, and head back. It's raining by now so nap time. After nap we throw the charged battery in and same problem. I want this done so I pull the starter and we take it to Auto Zone. It test good but the guy is cool so he warranties it just to make sure. I'm tired of rolling around on the wet concrete so we call it a night. Over a drink it hits me. The only real change was the advance. I think I locked it too advance and it's kicking back. Then I look at other SBC images and sure enough it looks like my distributor is probably one tooth off which puts the vacuum advance to where it doesn't hit the intake. So that's where we're going to start tomorrow.
Put the new starter in, pulled the distributor, rotated it ~45 degrees, redid the spark plug wires for the proper lengths, and started it up on the second distributor adjustment.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/19M51GwRHNI
Only issue now is a massive power steering leak.
I think I'm going to rename this truck to Nickel and Dime. I had a custom power steering hose made today. Again I was in a rush so Carol took it to them this morning. Chris picked it up. I talked to them on the phone. Steering box end is the wrong fitting so I'll have to get them to redo it. My fault as I should have marked the hoses instead of trying to explain over the phone.
So while that was apart we decided to investigate a knock we heard at idle. We suspected the water pump just from the play in the shaft and sure enough after removing the belt it's nice and smooth with no knock. Good thing it's a SBC so the water pump was less than $30. Think we'll do the power steering and water pump Friday evening Was hoping to take it to the exhaust shop Friday morning but now it's looking like Saturday at the earliest.
I'll be interested in seeing/hearing/reading what you do for exhaust. My suburban has an old set of duals on it that seem to have reached their half-life.
And wow...I wish I had known about National Carburetor a few months back before I put a Holley on our K20. Not that the Holley is bad, but it would have been easier/cheaper just to get a Quadrajet from then and swap out in only a few minutes. Live and learn...
ClemSparks wrote:
I'll be interested in seeing/hearing/reading what you do for exhaust. My suburban has an old set of duals on it that seem to have reached their half-life.
Right now it's a true dual system and I like how it's ran other than they went below the frame rail to avoid the shift linkage. I'm just going to replace the front half with a H pipe behind the transfer case. I'll try to take pictures up on the rack.
Sounds like a good exhaust leak. Or is that just the video?
Also, congratulations!!!
In reply to Dusterbd13:
Thank you. Yes it hasn't been to the exhaust shop yet. That's the first time it's moved on it's own in about 18 months.
pimpm3
SuperDork
9/4/17 7:24 p.m.
Who is going to do the exhaust? Ian at s & s on st johns bluff is a good guy and is reasonable price wise.
When are you going crawling?
Always a fun milestone...moving under its own power. Nice work...I know how big a project it is (literally...everything's a little bigger/heavier on these).
In reply to pimpm3:
I was going to take it to Rainbow Muffler on Phillips but I'll check Ian out. Thanks.
In reply to ClemSparks:
Thanks. I'm happy it's doing something and didn't blow up.
In reply to mazdeuce:
Man the list is long still. It consist of:
Get brakes more than barely functional.
Put heat shield on rear of passenger's manifold.
Hook up vacuum advance.
Hook up trans kick down switch.
Get exhaust done.
Adjust carb.
Break stuff until I fix everything else.
Then I can go wheeling.
I forgot to give a shout out to Josh. So we literally meet this kid last night. He's Chris's daughter's new boyfriend. He comes over and hears us talk about working on the K30. Says he always wanted to learn how to work on cars so he jumped in. He was doing everything. He'd grab the tools then do the work. He changed the water pump with us just telling him what to do. Near the end I find out the kid didn't even know what the water pump does but he sure wanted to learn. Anyway not many young people impress me these days but he was one. Added bonus was he rolled with all of the E36 M3 talking we did.
Props to Josh.
