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1951 Pontiac Chieftain


PhilA

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  • 2 weeks later...

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Pushed the car outside because it was a really nice afternoon (after some really very bad storms last night).

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Washed the outside of the car down with suds, got rid of the bird poop and dirt.

Attacked the engine bay with my pressure washer. It came up really quite well. There's some bits where I'll still need to put some degreaser and work it with a steel brush, but for the most part it's ready to be rubbed down, rust treated and painted.

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I got covered in lots of flecks of really old tarry muck.

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Dried it all down and pushed it inside.

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All tucked away safely again. Nice to have a little progress on the car again.

 

Phil

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11 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Wish I could push a car in and out of the garage. Try it where I live and it'll end up half a mile away at the bottom of the hill, assuming somebody was steering. Otherwise your dragging it out of a shop window!.

 

Keep up the good work. 

The brakes and steering at least still work!

But, it's particularly flat around here, so the concept of "hill" is lost on most.

Phil

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I think next up, or soon, will be to pull the steering wheel off, the column out and have a jolly good poke at the steering box. I need to get a Pitman arm splitter, thinking of it.

 

My electronics desk is currently full of another project- a Zenith "Glove Box" radio for a '33 Ford Model A that I'm rebuilding. That may be will force me to do some proper work on the oily bits of the car...

 

 

--Phil

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Ok, the one at the store had 32mm jaw gap.

Need to measure. $17 to buy, $18 to rent? Strange math.

Bought a can of etch primer.

Purchased 6 reels each of 22 and 18AWG solid core wire to do both radios. Next up is capacitors and a couple high-wattage resistors.

Getting back into the swing of things.

 

Phil

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10 hours ago, Asch said:

I have a '48 Streamliner and have a workshop manual if you need the details of steering adjustment.

Pictures / Thread please.

 

Also if there's an exploded diagram of the steering box that would be great, along with adjustment procedure. The bottom bearing has way too much lateral lash in it.

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9 hours ago, Asch said:

Simply knocking the side of the pitman arm should release it. No need for a splitter.

Hm. I'll have to give that a try. I didn't even pull the nut off yet, been too busy for anything other than a bit of paint this weekend.

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I cleared the crep off the pitman arm nut and measured it.

1 1/4" which is just slightly bigger than any tool I own.

I found my exploded diagram, I need to study it because it does look like the lower race is ball bearings. If the cage has collapsed that would explain the lash.

With the pitman arm removed I should be able to take the steering box apart, clean the grease out and fix it up. Hopefully.

 

Phil

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I tried to make a little time this afternoon after work on the car. I pulled the lid off the steering box and cleaned all the old grease and dirt out.

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With the pitman arm removed, the shaft just pulled straight up and out. It was covered in a mix of grease types; some correct but dried up with the consistency of old toffee, some newer chassis grease which is just wrong.

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The insides of the steering box case are similarly horrible. With the shaft out it's possible to feel the lash in the top bearing. Cleaned up I'll push the lower part of the shaft into the lower bearing and feel how loose it is.

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The shaft itself is worn but not overly bad. I need to work on the roller wheel as the bearing has a little free play in. I'm not sure if it's all just adding up. Once it's cleaned up properly it'll be a little easier to tell.

 

Phil

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