I finally got to put some time into the Brave this weekend.

I ordered the Edelbrock high performance water pump the day I got back from Dark Skies and it's been sliding around the back seat of my truck ever since. I put the same pump into the Turnip and it was like night and day temperature wise.

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After a 20 mile bike ride early this morning, I grabbed my tools and headed to the secret stalag to get to work. I had planned on pulling the radiator and having it checked but decided to leave it for now. I never boiled over in the 97 degree heat on the last trip, I just had the percolation problem (fuel boiling in the carb). The better performance of the new pump might be just enough to keep the carb cooler. This pump has an aluminum housing, high quality bearings, and a cast impeller that doubles coolant flow and keeps the pressure equalized on both sides of the pump and eliminates cavitation. (voids or bubbles).

I pulled the fan clutch, pulley, and power steering and alternator belts to make the water pump accessible. I pulled the 4 bolts that hold the pump to the pump housing and tried to remove the pump. It was frozen in place. 30 years ago some guy bolted it in place and it wasn't going without a fight. A few taps with a "swinging press" (hammer) and it came free. It took me nearly 30 minutes to clean the old gasket off of the housing in preparation for the new pump.

I carefully applied water pump sealant to both sides of the paper gasket and installed the new pump. I began to tighten the bolts when I noticed the pump was not turning. The impeller was interfering with the housing. CRAP!

I had gasket sealer drying on the flange and I had to get it wiped off quick. The install notes indicated that I might have to "file to fit".
I thought this meant to get it to fit into the housing. Actually it meant the impeller vanes themselves might need to be ground down to clear the back of the housing and spin freely.

I wiped the goop off of everything and went about grinding about 20 thousands of an inch off of the impeller vanes. The pump now fit nicely and the pump bolted in perfectly. I replaced the pulley, belts and fan clutch. Job #1 complete.

Job #2 was to check on the insulator between the carb and the intake manifold. Was it cracked? Dried out?

The first thing I noticed was that the previous owner had replaced the stock carb with a Holley. These M400 Dodges came with Q-Jet carbs sitting on a phenolic insulating spacer. The Holley was bolted directly to the intake manifold. No spacer. No insulation. HEAT directly transferring into the carb. Not good. This is the smoking gun!

Kragen had a 1 inch universal phenolic spacer for $25 with all the hardware included. SOLD

It took all of 5 minutes to install this spacer and the Brave started right up once it was all buttoned back up. She is ready to roll for Burning Man!

There are a few little things to sort out before the end of August.

I repaired some molding that was coming loose on the outside left rear corner. The cover of my roof air conditioner unit blew off in the high winds of Mojave. A new cover costs about 1/2 as much as a brand new AC unit. I have to decide if I want to just install a newer quiet, more efficient unit.

I need to replace my coach (deep cycle) battery since its totally dead and wont hold a charge for more than a day or so. I may get 2 Group 24 batteries at Costco and wire them in parallel since I have a huge battery tray. I still need to replace my front shocks eventually but the ride was really pretty smooth on the trip down to Vegas.

We shall see...

skid