Sometimes It's My Fault, Sometimes It's Not

I crawled under the car and looked at the starter.  The wires are supposed to be color coded but they are both black with age and dirt.  I thought I had put the long wire back where it came from and I'm not sure how I made the mistake because I decided to stop making mistakes last year so I'm not sure how it happened.  After switching the wires the car fired up.  It was the longest 3 seconds in history as I waited for the oil pressure come up.  After the short eternity it jumped to 50-60 psi.  My relief and thankfulness was immense.  I went for a test drive and picked Nick and Daniel up and headed into town for the first drive.  Nick has helped out quite a bit on various issues with The Clam that required an extra hand and Daniel's father helped me rebuild the engine so they both somewhat had a vested interest in how it would turn out.  The oil pressure and temperature did very well, with the oil pressure dropping to a healthy 10 psi while hot and idling and 40-50psi when on the road, but the transmission still was not great.  There seemed to be some small slipping in overdrive and also a vibration at a certain rpm.  There was also some shudder, but the transmission guy said that was typical of a newly rebuilt 700r4 for the first few miles.  By the time I was near home it began hanging in 3rd gear and not wanting to go into 4th.  I pulled it in the driveway and checked a few things with no success and called it a day.

Today I wanted to do some more investigating of the TV cable and also wanted to try to get the rocker molding closer to installation.  I couldn't find anyone with a sandblaster that I could use so I reluctantly geared up to use my small one.  It's hard to imagine why anyone wouldn't want to dress up like this in late July.

The rocker moldings extend from in front of the rear wheel, under each door and along the bottom of the front fender to behind the front wheel.  Round clips hold the molding in all areas except on the front fenders.  These areas have rectangular metal pieces that screw into the fender.  They were rusted pretty bad, though not rusted through.  I couldn't mount them back on the fender in this condition so that meant I had to sandblast and repaint them.

Next, I examined the TV cable again.  I read and reread all the instructions and tutorials I could find on this cable.  I had noticed that mine had not "clicked" into place when the final full throttle adjustment was made but I had assumed that it perhaps didn't need the extra adjustment.  Today I tried to manually pull the ratchet-adjustment on the TV cable assembly and found that my cable had no ratcheting abilities.  It is somewhat difficult to explain how this relates to the operation of the proper adjustment of the cable, but in short there is a TV cable housing with a button.  The button is pushed which allows the sheath to be pushed back into the housing.  Then, when the cable is pulled during the full throttle adjustment the sheath extends so that full extension of the cable can be achieved.  The pictures below show the sheath pushed in and in the second picture shows how it should be able to ratchet-out to allow extra travel if needed.

When the sheath extends there should be a clicking noise as it ratchets out.  My sheath cannot be pulled out at all, unless I push the button and pull it out, which is not how the device is intended to work.  I called the company and tried to describe my situation.  The guy seemed somewhat hesitant to believe me, stating they have never had this problem before.  They also tried to charge me shipping to swap out the cable.  I explained that if they see that my cable is faulty I don't expect to have to pay for shipping so they agreed to reimburse me for the shipping when they see that mine is, in fact, faulty.

After this I finally was able to wax The Clam for the first time.  After a thorough wash I used my new DA buffer.  I have detailed cars since I was 15 years old.  It's what I used to do when I started working at dad's dealership during the summers between school.  I have always hand waxed all my own cars.  For me, this was a tedious process.  I tend to really, really bear down and wax a panel with several passes when I wax a car, so the hand waxing process was very time consuming and it also would take a physical toll.  I always assumed the day would come when I would not have enough time and the physical toll wouldn't be worth the result.  I found that with today's new DA buffers that the job they do is not only better than a hand wax job with today's harder clear coats, it's also much, much quicker and much, much, much easier.  I was told it was important to keep chemicals off of the woodgrain because the material it is made from would absorb them so I covered it with newspaper-endrool.  I hope to eventually make custom, cardboard pieces that I can quickly tape up and reuse for this purpose.

Bad News is Good News

Today I spent the entire day taking the oil pump out of the car and checking the oil pump check valve for debris.  Many people insisted that removing the engine was the best way to go but I couldn't see that working for my situation and I'm glad I didn't try to pull the engine.  Unbolting the engine mounts and raising the engine ended up being 100 times easier than if I had tried to remove the entire engine.

First I had to cut a couple 5 inch blocks.  After removing the bolt from each engine mount I reinstalled the bolts and slid the blocks underneath.

I was told that getting the pan out would be a terrible pain, but it couldn't have been easier.  I drained the oil last night so that the windage tray and all the components could drip all night.  I removed the fan blade so it wouldn't hit the shroud and removed the starter.  I also unbolted the exhaust from the manifolds.  I ended up having to remove the rubber fuel lines between the pump and the hard lines to give more room for the engine to move.  The pan came out with plenty of room to spare and there was practically no mess at all.

When I pulled the pan I found debris in the bottom.  Closer inspection showed that these were probably the pieces that resulted from when I had to tap the timing cover because the fuel pump bolt was stripped out.  The milky look of the oil is from all of the break in additives dissolved in the oil.

With the pan out of the way I found that the pump screen was still intact, so that revealed the screen falling off wasn't the problem.

I found that I didn't even have to remove the windage tray to get the pump off.  The pump shaft that goes up and connects to the distributor installs from the bottom, so you have to be careful when you pull the pump down to not let it fall out and hit you on the head.

This was the big moment.  I removed the cap and spring to get to the check ball.  If there was no trash here that would mean the trouble was in another, unknown location.  If I opened this valve up and didn't find a problem it would mean that I would have to pull the engine again and have it completely disassembled to find the problem.

Success.  I found trash had wedged the ball into the housing.  If you look close you can see the biggest piece between the ball and the wall of the housing at the 11 o'clock position.  It wouldn't even budge and I had to take some tools and pry it out with some difficulty.

After the ball was out I found more trash in this area, behind the ball.

I took the pump down to a local shop and used their parts cleaner to thoroughly clean the entire pump and all of its pieces, after I disassembled it.  When I put it back together I cleaned it with brake cleaner then coated every piece with new motor oil.  Then I put petroleum jelly in the pump gears to aid in instantaneous oil pick up.

I called around and couldn't find an oil-pump-to-block gasket that I could get without waiting two days.  I finally called a friend that works at a parts house and he happened to have a driver at a distant store that had one so I was able to pick it up and an oil pan gasket, new filter and six more quarts of oil.  I came back and it took the entire rest of the day to install everything.  When I finally had everything reinstalled and hooked back up the sun was almost set.  I turned the key and nothing happened.  I looked at the neutral safety switch, since that had caused this exact problem in the past, but I found that it was in good working order.  I'm still not exactly sure what the problem is but by this time it was dark.  The most likely culprit is the starter wiring.  At this point I'm not sure if I wired it incorrectly or if something else has happened.  With the new exhaust it is very difficult to see and access the starter solenoid, so it is possible I made a mistake.  It seems as though this car is bent on not being driven.

Under-Pressure

Much has happened since the last update.  I'll try to relate it all in order the best I can.  Sometime within progress listed, April's parents came down to visit for a week to help us move some furniture and get the house finished up as we prepared the nursery for Rose.  We also ended up fixing a few things here and there that had needed to be done around the house.  Also, we got the air conditioner fixed on The Caprice so April and Rose can have proper air conditioning in these extremely hot and humid days of summer.  There was a vacuum problem that was causing the air to only blow out of the defroster and bottom vents which kept the car from cooling properly in the intense heat.  After some testing it turned out to be a deteriorated vacuum line that had to be run through the firewall and out to the vacuum canister.

I had to call the powder coater and encourage them hurry along with the trailer hitch.  After finishing the transmission I was not able to reattach the exhaust until I had the trailer hitch in place, which meant that I was not able to run the engine until the exhaust was in place, so everything was contingent on getting the hitch in place.  They got it finished within a couple days of me explaining the situation.  When I got the hitch back I found that it didn't fit, despite the fact that the guy I bought it from said it came from a Pontiac Safari.  Here is a picture of the hitch and the car it is said to have come from.

 
 The pieces shown below slide into another part of the hitch and go up in between the framerails, mounting on the inside of each.  I spent a significant amount of time trying different ways that they could have possibly mounted on the other car but several clues indicated without a doubt that they had bolted to the inside of the framerails of the other car.  These pieces ended up being so long that even when pushed completely together, as I have done in the photo below, they were 1 inch too wide to fit up into the frame rails. 

Each of these pieces slide into another receiver-type fitting.  Because of the thick powder coating they did not want to fit and it took a good bit of work to get them sanded down to where they would once again slide inside of their housing.  They would get stuck inside the housing and require lots of hammering to remove.  In the picture below you can see how much I had to remove from the end of each piece.  There is a lip on the inside of the frame rail so I had to remove enough to allow the pieces to slide together close enough to go inside of the lip and then slide back apart to bolt to the framerails.  There are two bolts that go through the housing on each side, holding each piece in place.  Because I had to modify this part of the hitch to slide closer together it meant that this hole no longer lined up.  Because of legal liability issues no shop wanted to drill a hole in a trailer hitch, despite the fact that this particular hole is not load bearing and is also redundant due to the fact that theses pieces and held in place by the frame bolts.  I found a friend of the family with a drill press and after I made some very careful measurements he drilled the holes with no problem.

The first day that I attempted to put the hitch on Nick helped me lift the pieces in place.  The second day, after all of the modifications had been made, I used the jack.  The two pieces from the previous picture go toward the front of the car and mount left to right.  The center piece has a mount that sticks up and goes between the storage tray for the tailgate and the frame and bolts to the frame.  The rear of the hitch, near where the receiver hole is, bolts to a plate that itself bolts to the rear bumper.  In this picture, this rear plate is already bolted to the bumper.  The guy who sold me the hitch sent me all the hardware but I replaced it all with brand new, grade 8 bolts.  It was somewhat expensive but I wanted to make absolutely certain that every bolt was as strong as it could be and top notch.

Here is a picture of the hitch in place.  You can see the frontward pieces have been slid into the center piece and the new bolts slide through the new bolt holes.  At this point the ends have also been bolted to the framerails.  Also, you can see where the rearward plate bolts to the bumper and then to the receiver portion of the hitch.

The frame is not fully boxed so these sleeves were installed around the bolts to give strength to the framerails and keep them from pulling together when the bolts were tightened.  These sleeves were a very tight fit and had to be tapped into place with a hammer.  Getting everything lined up and the bolts started took quite a bit of time and effort.

After I got the hitch installed I used wire to temporarily rehang the exhaust and took the car to the exhaust shop to have it put back to its proper place.

The final pieces of the trim were finally finished and eventually my order of body clips finally came in.  Installing all of the trim was more than a one day exercise.  A few pieces of the trim was all but smashed completely flat.  I had to reshape these pieces every so slowly with the vice and some leather and a hammer.  The hardest part was getting them to return to a shape that would still latch to the clips on the side of the body.  Eventually, after a few days of working, I have everything back on the car except for the bottom aluminum rocker molding.  The fender moldings and emblems required me to remove the lower fender bolts and pull the fender away from the car to get access and then realign the fenders.  This picture is in the middle of making progress toward straightening the very front, driver side piece that goes in front of the wheel.  It was probably in the worst shape of all of the pieces, being almost entirely paper flat in the beginning.

Because a 700R4 transmission is so particular about the pressure it must have I borrowed a transmission gauge from a friend that is a diesel mechanic to check the pressures before I drove the car any distance and risked damaging the transmission.  I was interested in the operating pressures of the transmission, but most important was to make sure the initial pressures were within the acceptable range because if they aren't the transmission can be instantly damaged.  After seemingly endless research on the internet I determined what the correct pressures would be.  The transmission gauge came in a kit with three different gauges and many different fittings.  After finally getting them together I was able to hook the line to the port in the driver side of the transmission.  In all my research I also found that my transmission is a 1990, which means it is one of the desirable years in terms of what to look for when finding one to swap into an older vehicle.  If I remember correctly the post 1987 transmissions are what is wanted and the pre '87 transmission are said best to be left alone.

There is a particular set of tests to perform and readings to be taken during each one, which makes doing these tests a two person job.  Nick came over and using my timing light as an rpm gauge was able to rev the car to the appropriate rpms while holding the brakes when necessary as I handled the under-hood operations.  I made a chart that I copied from the internet to record all of my findings, which ended up being three sets of readings from each gear, some with and without the TV cable connected.  One of the most vital parts of the test is to ensure that the transmission shows an instant pressure increase the very moment there is any movement of the gas pedal.  In a previous test drive, I  unfortunately found that the transmission has a shudder between gears.  I spent a lot of time researching this and also called the reputable transmission shop that rebuilt my trans.  They said that with the type of 700R4 build that I have it is typical for the transmission to have some shudder for a few miles and since I haven't driven my car over two miles yet I wanted to make sure my pressure readings were within reason so that I didn't cause any damage as I attempted the break-in period.  They said that if the problem persists they will make it right.

After finally getting and confirming all the readings for all of the gears of the transmission I rolled the windows down and prepared to drive The Clam into town for the first time on a test drive.  No sooner than I had pulled out of the driveway I looked down and noticed the oil gauge was sitting on its peg at 0 psi.  This is always an alarming thing to see.  The car had just been idling for about 30 minutes while Nick and I tested the transmission and there had been no audible signs of any distress from the engine.  I pulled back into the driveway after checking things over and cut the car off.  I found that while the engine was hot the pressure would sit at 0 psi and if you hit the gas some it would go to 10 psi.  While the engine was cold, it would hold 10 psi.  Previously, I had 20 psi when hot and somewhere between 30 and 50 when cold.

I began doing research into all the different reasons that could cause this issue.  Aside from the huge letdown of not getting to take my first test drive, I now had to accept that I could be facing catastrophic engine failure.  I determined there were no kinks in the mechanical oil gauge line.  I used the gauge my friend let me borrow and attached it to the oil gauge line.  I was let down to see that my in-car gauge was functioning perfectly and the new gauge showed the exact same low pressure readings.  After removing what was the hardest-to-remove oil filter I have ever experienced or heard of in my life, I replaced it with a new one.  Still, the oil pressure was dangerously low, yet at no time did the engine give any audible signs of oil deprivation.  I began to go onto forums online and also search the internet for as much information as I could about low oil problems with Pontiac 400 and 455 engines.  I found that there are two valves in the oiling system on these engines.  One is inside the oil pump and controls pressure and another is a bypass inside the filter housing.  This filter housing bypass is designed to bypass the filter to allow pressure to the rest of the engine in the case of a filter becoming stopped up.  I found an old Pontiac dealer service bulletin on the internet from the 1970s indicating to the GM mechanics at the time that low oil pressure had been a problem.  It described making a block off plate for the filter housing and then cranking the car with the coil wire pulled, or the HEI ignition fuse pulled in my case, so that it would crank for 30 seconds without starting.  In theory, this could flush out any debris that could be stuck in the ball-check valve in the oil pump.

I took the oil filter housing off and took the plate off the bottom to check the bypass spring.  Everything looked fine.

I happened to have some 1/16" steel so I made the plate as described in the service bulletin.

Unfortunately, this did not fix my problem either.  My next step is going to be to remove the oil pump and check for debris clogging the ball-check valve.  I truly hope to find something here because if there is not anything clogging this area it means I will have to pull the engine and have it torn apart to find the problem.  Pulling the pan will be no small feat.  Many recommend pulling the engine but given my particular circumstances that would be much more difficult for me.  I am going to have to unbolt the block from the frame and raise the engine and lower it back on blocks.  Hopefully this will give me enough room to finagle to pan out from under the engine and allow access, though messy with oil dripping all over the place, to the oil pump, where I can, hopefully, slide it past the crank and remove it.  

Junkyard Dog Days of Summer

I had to go to the Pull-A-Part two days in a row.  It was borderline dangerously hot.  I had intentions of going there and finding a long driveshaft from a truck or van and then taking it straight to the driveshaft shop to have it shortened.  When I got to the yard I found that every driveshaft was bent due to the way they haul the cars around on a forklift.  It was exceptionally hot and humid with temperatures near 100 degrees and the humidity through the roof.  I ended up getting so hot I forgot half of what I went to get.  I didn't find anything I needed that day except for a rear seat belt that I intend to install in the rear of my '57 Chevy so I can carry Rose around in her car seat.

When I first got to the yard I thought I struck gold.  They had, literally, just moments before set this 1977 Grand Prix in place, so all the parts were still there.  I have read that all Pontiacs from 1977 on had the larger, 5x5 bold pattern wheels.  I was excited to find some cheap Rallye II wheels.  After I got three off I decided to measure them to make sure and unfortunately found that they were the 4 3/4", small bolt pattern.  The one short drive we took in The Clam revealed that April really doesn't like the way the shoulder harness buckles.  Because it doesn't retract you have to tighten it across your chest and it holds you firmly against the seat.  She says it rubs her neck and makes her feel trapped.  This car had roof mounted, retracting seat belts.  I got one of them almost all the way out before I realized the lap portion of the belt had been cut.  Another bust.

After leaving the yard without finding a suitable driveshaft I still continued on to the driveshaft shop.  Some of the research I had done suggested that the yoke I got from the '89 truck a while back was not correct for my 700R4.  The splines would not push all the way in.  When I got to the shop I asked the guy there about the yoke and found that there is a lot of misinformation about yokes and there are several different lengths.  After talking to him for a while I came home to do some more research.  After making some measurements and doing some more research I found that along with different lengths there are also different style yokes.  A couple of differences being that the splines do not go all the way to the end of the shaft on the inside of the shaft and the rear of the yoke having a vent or weep hole to relieve pressure.  This type of yoke uses an O-ring to seal against the shaft.  After finding this out I realized I did not have the correct yoke for my application.  After pricing different options I found that having my driveshaft lengthened would be the most cost effective course of action.  Notice the vent hole in my first yoke.

The next day I returned to Pull-A-Part to find the right yoke.  I had done some research the night before and had an idea of what size to look for.  I ended up finding a 1994 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham with a 5.7.  This car was massive.  I wish I had a picture of it, it was the last of the real cars that GM ever built and it was a real beauty.  Because my shifter linkage was missing a few parts I ended up getting the linkage from the Cadillac after I noticed they were similar.  I grabbed a few more parts that I had on my list-o-parts which I had forgotten the day before in my overheated stupor and came home so I could take the yoke off the driveshaft I had to buy to get the yoke and then put the new yoke in the transmission and take the measurements.  After getting the measurements I took the new yoke and my old driveshaft to the transmission shop.  Once there he explained to me that my old driveshaft could not be used.  Luckily, he had an old, used driveshaft that was exactly 7/8" longer than what I needed so I was able to buy that from him.  It was a Ford driveshaft so he used the special U-joints that have different sized caps on each side.  He called the next day and already had it finished so I went to pick it up.

I always like to try to support local shops.  This shop, Clinard's Driveshaft Shop, has been in business since 1962.  The owner took the time to explain some things to me and help me understand some things I needed to know.  As you can see in the picture the location is very near the heart of downtown Nashville.

Here the difference between the two yokes.

The guy at the driveshaft shop explained to me that the clips shown here need to be turned toward the pinion instead of the strap.  That is how they are meant to be held in and centered.  This picture actually shows them backwards but I turned them this way to make the gap in the clips able to be seen.

The new-to-me driveshaftshaft

The new yoke fit exactly right

As it turned out the linkage was so similar I didn't need to modify anything.  I just took the parts I needed from the Cadillac and changed them over to the Pontiac linkage.  I also grabbed the bolt that holds the shifter plate to the side of the transmission because the new stud is metric rather than standard.

After finishing those up I attached the transmission lines which turned out to not only reach the new fittings in the transmission, they were the same thread size, so all I had to do was bend them a little and they screwed right in.  Then I moved on to attaching the TV cable to the transmission.  After feeling the hole I found it hard to believe that it would fit.  I tried a little but stopped because I didn't want to damage anything.  I called the tech line for the company I ordered it from and told the tech how difficult it was to get it installed and said I didn't think it would fit.  I was told that was normal.  I tried again and managed to get it very close to fitting but it seemed almost impossible to get fully seated.  At this time a massive thunderstorm moved in and it began pouring rain.  I stayed under the car for a while but eventually water began to run underneath so I had to come in.  When I got in I started doing some research on the internet about the topic and found a video that explained that the TV cable comes with a grommet and a newly rebuilt transmission will also have a grommet already installed, so it is necessary to remove the grommet from the TV cable.  I knew that I had left the cable outside and it was still stuck in an awkward shape because I had pulled it up very snug with the bolt that holds it in place.  I had to go out in the rain and fix the problem to ensure that the new grommet wasn't damaged.  After doing this the cable fit exactly as it should.

This is the grommet I removed from the end of the new TV cable.  I was basically trying to cram two of these into each other.

Here is how the TV cable should look when fully seated into the port on the transmission.

While I was at Pull-A-Part I found a 1994 Lincoln Mark VIII.  From what I have researched these cars have one of the best electric fans available today.  They are fairly expensive if you buy them online so I grabbed this one from the '94 Mark that I found and it only cost 20 or so dollars.  I will eventually install it in The Clam which should cool better as well as keep the engine from having to turn the fan which should free up a mile per gallon or two.

Since I have been concentrating solely on the mechanical issues I came up with a way of keeping the water from damaging the interior.  The weatherstripping I have installed so far keeps the leaks down to two specific spots.  On the passenger side the tub is angled to drain the water into the spare tire well, where I have removed the drain plug so it runs out immediately.  On the right, with April's permission, I borrowed one of her pots which I empty every so often as it rains.

Martha Rose Eula

With the exception of last year when April I went to stay with my old friend and college roommate in Birmingham, Alabama so that we could, the next day, go look at The Clam to see if we would buy it, we have gone to the riverfront in Nashville to watch the July 4th fireworks for many years now.  Because she was so close to her due date, we decided that the heavy rains and several miles of bumper to bumper traffic and shoulder to shoulder people all under a series of explosions might not be the best place for a pregnant lady.  We decided to stay home this year for the 4th.  That day, April began feeling very slight contractions, but they were the type that could mean that pregnancy was possibly still a week away.  Nick came over and we got some food and then watched the city's fireworks from our front doorstep.  After they were over Nick and I were in the garage and April came out and said her contractions were getting pretty painful.  We called the doctor and he said to try to wait 30 minutes and if they continued to come into the hospital.  We didn't want to have a false alarm.  After about 20 minutes we headed to the hospital.

We finally got settled into the room around 11:30.  April had decided she wanted to abstain from using an epidural, so she gave birth with no pain killers.  Our parents and family came down to wait in the waiting room, as well as Nick and also April's good friend Shelby.  I stayed by the bed coaching April until Rose was finally born at 7:18 am, Friday 5th, 2013.  Everything went well and Rose was healthy.  We called April's parents and they drove down from Indiana.  By the end April and I both had been up over 24 hours and April's parents had been up over 28 hours.  Nick took the day off work.  I can't distinguish the next 3 days apart from one another, they were all a blur of days in the hospital sleeping odd hours in a fold out chair.  Many friends and loved ones came to see April and Rose and eventually we were able to come home.

I found this is how all men stand in the delivery room.

Unfortunately, The Clam isn't ready yet for Rose because she decided to come two weeks earlier than they said she would.  The nurses said she was full term, so it seems that the due date was off.  Her birth came at a very convenient time.  It rained for almost three entire straight days, so I couldn't have gotten any work done and it wasn't a complete loss being stuck in a hospital room for three days.  It finally stopped the day that we were to come home.

And the (to the car guy) very important first ride home in The Caprice.  I wanted to have a clean Caprice for the ride home but the never ending storms made sure that didn't happen, but at least we had air conditioning because it was exceptionally hot and humid after the storms.

Cable TV

Today I made the mount for the TV cable.  Before reinstalling the carburetor I taped off a few places and repainted parts of the manifold that had become dirty due to the modifications I have been making.  After reinstalling the carburetor I got some preliminary ideas on where to begin by holding the pieces in place.  Then, I started cutting away at the mount I had ordered which was originally intended for some other type of car's application.

I was very fortunate here because up until this time I had thought that the mount would need to be completely cut apart and rewelded back together with various angles and measurements.  It first appeared that it would need to be a completely separate mount that would bolt to the manifold in two different places.  After getting the mount cut down to a size that allowed me to hold it closer to the area that it needed to be I was able to determine that it would fit onto the existing bracketry and work very well, giving me the geometry I needed to keep the TV cable in line with the mounting stud.

I first thought I might drill two holes and bolt the parts together but then I decided that tack welding it together would be the best route.  I put some ugly tack welds on the piece rather than a solid weld because I didn't want it to be completely permanent.  Also, since the new mount covered up the rear return spring hole, labeled "P" in the picture below, I drilled it out to allow the spring to be placed back in its original location.

After tack welding both sides and drilling the hole out I primer and painted the new mount.  I decided to go with a cast iron finish.

The cable is physically in place, but has not been adjusted yet, so there is no tension on the line.  By putting the "L" shape part of the TV bracket on the passenger side of the original mount it gave a placement that was close to perfect alignment with the TV stud on the carburetor arm.  I had some clearance issues with the bolt that holds the mount to the manifold.  It was necessary to remove the washer and lock washer to give clearance, so I used blue locktite on this bolt as a substitute.  I was glad that everything turned out nice and tidy and all of the original components were able to remain in their original locations. 

The left to right alignment is pretty good.  I'll be able to tell more about it when the line is adjusted and tight.  If it is not aligned just right I can bend the arm of the TV mount to give the cable a straight mode of travel.