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1951 Pontiac Chieftain


PhilA

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Not quite @paulplom standard but hopefully good enough.

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Hand bent the vacuum lines. No idea as to the original routing but this made sense.

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Oil pressure line has a gentle coil, vacuum line split and connected with rubber vacuum hose (needs clamps). Made up a little piece to screw down to the firewall, with a piece of rubber hose around each pipe to protect it. The oil pressure line has the original coiled spring cover over it which is nice.

Hopefully that'll do. Need to run a wire up the same way for the oil pressure switch, going to install a light for that as a secondary warning.

 

Phil

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I've been directed towards a guy who professionally rebuilds Trico wiper motors and he's not that bad in terms of price. I think that may be a viable option.

I cleaned and reassembled the wiper motor.

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The paddle is a slightly tighter fit but still doesn't make adequate contact all the way around as the rubber is old, worn and perished.

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I tried hooking up the vacuum canister to see if the extra stored vacuum (aren't privatives funny, how can you store nothingness?) but that had little effect.

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It got dark so to actually do something productive I pulled the car out onto the street and set the headlight aim correctly. I also pulled the parking brake on and drove down the street with that extra load, which burned all the crap out of the cylinders. I had a thought and parked up, chocked the wheels, put the brakes on and brought the engine up to the stall speed of the fluid coupling in Drive. I then set the ignition timing for maximum engine RPM. That's a way to make it get warm quickly.

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There's a little mayo on the oil filler cap so short runs in this humid weather means a lot of moisture had collected inside the engine.

I think I have it about right because now, from about 1000 RPM if I blip the throttle the engine revs up faster than the tacho needle can keep up and it screeches the fanbelt momentarily. 

I also noticed, with the lights off that the turn signal arrows were blinking in time with the ignition, rather odd. I pulled the connectors off the bulbs at the front and it went away so the wiring is collecting the RF energy from the ignition system and the balance of the system is so that the LED bulbs are illuminated slightly (which really doesn't take much at all). I think I'll change them out for incandescent bulbs.

It does show the system is noisy though so that needs to be addressed. New plugs, wires, condenser and points should help.

 

Phil

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Jacked the car up on the driver's side, pulled the wheel off and decided to see if the top brake locknut would shift.

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Surprisingly it just undid with minimal additional force.

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Scrubbed it down with a wire wheel in my drill and dropped it in a pot of Evapo-Rust to clear the pits and threads.

Tomorrow paint

 

Phil

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Funny, driving home last night I was pondering about the future of the Chieftain; I was thinking about loading it up with sound deadening and good seals and making it as quiet as possible to cruise around in.

Wife interjected and said forget that, it would be better if it could lay frame.

 

She surprises me sometimes. 

Phil

 

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On 2/1/2020 at 12:45 PM, PhilA said:

Funny, driving home last night I was pondering about the future of the Chieftain; I was thinking about loading it up with sound deadening and good seals and making it as quiet as possible to cruise around in.

Wife interjected and said forget that, it would be better if it could lay frame.

 

She surprises me sometimes. 

Phil

 

and again in "The Queen's English"? ?

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On 2/1/2020 at 12:45 PM, PhilA said:

Funny, driving home last night I was pondering about the future of the Chieftain; I was thinking about loading it up with sound deadening and good seals and making it as quiet as possible to cruise around in.

Wife interjected and said forget that, it would be better if it could lay frame.

 

8 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

and again in "The Queen's English"? ?

She surprises me sometimes. 

Phil

 

noel - GTFO :D

see also decked - slammu - on the floor etc

 

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This afternoon I was determined to do something constructive on the car. That began here, with it still jacked up in the air.

 

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Yup, that's where I left it. So, I began to pull it apart.

 

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Grease cap left a little to be desired.

 

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Outer race still looked ok, if not a little dirty.

 

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Cleaned it all up. Some fool broke the grease scraper by bending the split pin up into the space it scrapes out. I pulled a few bits of the bronze out of the cap.

 

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Wiggled the drum free. Unfortunately there's grease on the shoes. Suggested action is burn it off because it's only just on the very outer edge, doesn't appear to be much.

 

Blah

 

Phil

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If it's only a wee bit then the traditional tips of giving them a soak in hot water with soap powder(I've even read of people boiling them, no idea if that makes a difference or is a good idea) or dunking in some horrific solvent like toluene or acetone may be worth a go?

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Second suggestion for hot soap in water so I think I'll see about getting an old pot from the charity shop or something and setting it to cook the shoes. I've got a burner on the grill so can easily do this outside. I don't fancy cooking asbestos in the kitchen.

 

Phil

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Got a little assistance from my niece tonight- her at the brake pedal and me with a large lever stopping the rear shoe from moving.

Successfully freed up the front piston.

However, now that has occurred pressing the pedal creates no more movement of any brake shoes.

It does create a nice trickle of brake fluid from the front piston though.

 

That answers that one, then.

(Much prefer failed brakes in a controlled situation than at 65 miles per hour on the highway)

 

Phil

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