----Bill,,, I know the Dykstra family a bit and I know there is no quit in thier vocabulary. Jake would have kept at it until it was absolutely right!....Bill S

Thanks for the all encouraging words!

Last night I was able to get the smog pulley installed and put the belt on. The engine compartment now all buttoned up. In regards to the brake bleeding, I had some issues getting enough fluid out of the rears - even removed the new line I installed and blew air through it to make sure it was not constricted somehow that I could not see, not sure what is happening here but the fluid is just dribbling out and not a stream like the fronts. Fronts bled perfectly right away. Will take another shot at the rears tonight - maybe I did not allow enough time to make sure fluid was moving through the rear system completely. Getting closer though!

EDIT: Looks like my new valve may not be centered - thanks Tim for the tip! Lots of YouTube videos on how to correct this, also just bought a re-centering tool too.

2 steps forward one step back.

I was not able to get the valve re-centered last night despite multiple attempts at simulating a leak in the front by opening the bleeder valve while my lovely assistant smashed the brake pedal to move the piston the other way.

I decided to move back to the engine and fire it up and test all of the new accessories. I put the new wheels and tires on and put the car on the ground to move to the next phase despite the brake issues. Highly impressed with the new carb from Eric. It's been about 15 months since I last started this car. With a new carb and conventional thermostatic choke (vs. electric on the old carb) and a newly rebuilt fuel pump I figured it might take some finagling to get it running. I spun it over until it had oil pressure and it fired without even having to pump the gas pedal, went to high idle and ran perfectly - finally some good luck! After a bit of a warm up it came down to medium and then normal idle, so that is a huge part of the project that is now mostly complete. The new temperature sending unit appears to be working properly as well. I have a minor fuel leak at the rear inlet I need to address by snugging up the line a bit - but otherwise all good.

Having a hard time inserting the video of the car running but here is the link:

https://youtu.be/Y3pDBzgpED4

Liking the look of the new wheels and tires, wheels are 15 x 7 and tires are the modern size equivalent of F60-15.

WOW, the wheels and blackwall tires look like they belong on there...:cool2:

Good grief the brake issue....it's pizzing me off and I'm not the one dealing with it...:mad2: I know you'll get them working somehow, but what a pita.

----Jake,,,Your Chevelle looks fantastic with that wheel and tire combo. Congrats!!!.....Bill S

Fantastic detail on this Chevelle Jake!! :headbang:
Being a Malibu, having those 400 numbers on the fender, really appeals to me! Maybe we will see it in Class of 72 come November??

The brake issue... guessing that the "BRAKE" dash lamp is lit? I may have mentioned previous, but I've had luck centering valves by STOMPING on the pedal a few times. Good luck! - Bill W

Thanks Bill - I was fortunate to have Bob invite me to the inaugural Class of '72 display at MCACN in 2012. Yes - the brake light is on and we tried stomping on the pedal a bunch last night - but we'll figure it out.

Looks great Jake!!!!

Make any progress Jake?

Yeah. What Tim said:scholar: