project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[Skizzer]

Mercedes 3-litre diesel from a W124 and run it on used Canola and pork rind.

 

Add a turbo with the wick turned up if you’re going racing for pinks.

[busmansholiday]

If you want s diesel, and as this says straight 8, what about a Gardner 8LXBT. Mind you, it might stick out a bit at the front

[Squire_Dawson]

I am waiting for the nickel test...

[Inspector Morose]

Hmm, diesel.

 

Six pistons.

 

Forced induction.

 

Of the period.

 

Got to be one of these then.

[PhilA]

I am waiting for the nickel test...

Once it's all back together, running and tuned up I'll see if I can balance a nickel on it.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

 

Turns out switched off, I can't even balance a nickel on it. Best I can do is lean it against a head bolt.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

Can't get them here, not going to import one either. Shame on you.

 

Phil

1.6 hdi or 1.5 as it is now outta connect

 

theres prolly more transits in usa in 5 years than pontiacs built

[bigstraight6]

Is it bad that I just thought about refitting this car with a big six turbodiesel if this engine goes pop?

There's enough room to...

Phil

As much as I like Diesel engines, no! I’d be inclined to source a spare engine which should be straight forward enough over there with all those fantastic treasure trove junk yards that you have, you could have hours of fun taking it apart and rebuilding ready to go in the car as and when. I’ve been on the lookout for a spare engine for my Zodiac for that just in case scenario for a number of years, not so easy....

[PhilA]

Haven't done much recently. Jacked the car up onto stands tonight, didn't get very far as it was a lesson in safe working around jacked up cars for my niece. Also physics and stuff.

 

 

Took a look and the screws that hold the U shaped section on are hidden behind the damn ventilation ducting and I don't really want to pull all that out. I may end up drilling the rivets out and refitting with nuts and bolts.

 

Phil

[Tomtation]

Really enjoyed reading through this!

 

Eleventy million points for ingenuity and escutcheons. Also has inspired me to tinker and plan some upgrades* to my BX GT that has been languishing unloved.

 

Also bloody gorgeous car, all curvy and shiny!

[PhilA]

Undid the wheel and pulled it off on the driver's side.

 

Big old brakes!

 

Brake line is chafed. Going to need to address that. I think I might be able to reach up behind the ventilation pipes and undo the bolts that hold the U shaped section in. Ran out of time tonight.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

A question: Based upon experience, what would be the best method of removing the old semi-dry, semi-tarry underseal from up under there?

 

Some of it is still slightly ok, the rest is flaky and dry in sheets. The flaky stuff should come off with a scraper to leave surface rust behind. If I'm in there I might as well clean, treat and re-seal the metal.

 

Phil

[Rocket88]

If it's dry, paint scraper................Once you start using trying to use any method that generated heat, the bloody stuff starts to go gooey, and then becomes a nightmare

[Squire_Dawson]

On mine, where the underseal has still been in condition like this, I have left it be and just worked around it. If it doesn't come away easily its more trouble than its worth. Could try spraying a small area with penetrating oil/WD40 though and see if that softens it.

[Rocket88]

Black bed liner makes a good protective coating.........

[PhilA]

If it's in good condition still then it may just get coated over, but I would like to get some rust treatment up underneath to try slow the corrosion. Overall it's pretty good but there's a few places it's setting in.

 

Unsurprising, given the age and the location (seams under the wings).

 

Phil

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

A question: Based upon experience, what would be the best method of removing the old semi-dry, semi-tarry underseal from up under there?

Some of it is still slightly ok, the rest is flaky and dry in sheets. The flaky stuff should come off with a scraper to leave surface rust behind. If I'm in there I might as well clean, treat and re-seal the metal.

Phil

Get off as much of the old underseal as will come off with scrapers, solvents such as standard thinners to get the rest off, treat the rust, paint and patch in with a modern underseal and then underbody wax over the whole under wing area.

 

HTH

[Squire_Dawson]

Tbh with steel as thick as this it won't give much grief unless woefully neglected, and even then if the body was hanging off it would still be safe thanks to the separate chassis.

[PhilA]

I'm just trying to stop the rust from coming up through from underneath. It's done it in a few places.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Based upon that, and previous experience with positive results, now I've cleared a bunch more space up under the hood I think I'll wheel the car outside, jack it up and pressure wash up under the arch and the rest of it that is all caked in a mixture of old grease and dirt as a starting point. The weather isn't forecast to be that great for the weekend, plus I'm on call so I'm rather limited in what I can do and where I can go this weekend.

 

I've my eye on a nice folding crane of 2-ton flavor at Harbor Freight, which if in stock, may be purchased this weekend if the stars align. I need then to see if my old lifting chain is still hanging from the carport at the mother in law's- I have one at the house that hasn't been outside and it's still in good shape. I'm figuring lifting from the head bolts (it's a method in the service manual) should see the engine and 'box out.

 

https://www.harborfreight.com/2-ton-capacity-foldable-shop-crane-69514.html

 

This being the device in question- on full extension it's good for 1000 lbs (engine + box is 860 lbs), think it should be up to task.

 

 

--Phil

[busmansholiday]

^^^^ Either that, or when he pops his head back under the bonnet (or whatever it's called over your side of the pond), it's going to drop on him resulting in in hour long episode of CSI.

[PhilA]

Thankfully the hood is spring loaded and falls to a bit of a droop. I put the rod in because the springs are a bit tired.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

All I managed to do was clean the threads on the lug nuts. Time ran out again.

 

Tomorrow maybe. At least the wheel is easier to put on now.

 

Phil

 

Edit: Found the 20% off coupon for Harbor Freight. Hopefully they have one of those cranes in stock!

[PhilA]

Today started out foggy.

 

It cleared a bit so we head to town for a bit of shopping.

 

Got back, pushed the car out of the garage and fired up the pressure washer.

 

Many years of crap removed. It would appear the suspension is also caster- and camber-adjustable.

 

Cleaned the garage, swept out and vacuumed up.

Pushed the car back into the garage, wiped it down a bit and put the big fan on it to dry it out.

 

It was at this point the pressure washer quit running. I had loaned it to the mother in law because she hired a handyman and he needed to borrow it to clean the outsde of her house.

Turns out the fuel tank had a lot of crap in, which had blocked the filter up solid, and the carb was clogged with fine black powdery muck. Spent 40 minutes cleaning that out, then the rest of the afternoon's light cleaning up.

 

A bit of progress. Happy with that.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Oh, and on a slightly more sour note, some mouth-breathing monkey applied so much torque to one lug stud that they sheared it; I discovered the wheel is similarly ruined on one lug hole. So, replacement wheel required on top of a new stud. Ugh. I can see this as moderately common though.

 

Reverse thread on the left side of the car, moron! GM was like that all the way to the seventies.

 

Phil

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

Shame when idiots swing on things instead of thinking!

 

Do your wheel (lug) nuts have any obvious markings on them for thread direction?

 

The wheel nuts on my pre-war cars have LH or RH clearly marked on the top.

And the nuts are brass/bronze so the thread in the nut will fail before the stud fails.

[PhilA]

I didn't see any. Like much of the manual in the car, the engineering practises that were considered the norm, and therefore didn't need explaining have since been lost, because you don't get to just pick from Chevrolet, Chrysler or Packard any more.

 

The nuts are steel; 15/16" so you can put some seriously big torque on them.

 

Phil

[somewhatfoolish]

Oh, and on a slightly more sour note, some mouth-breathing monkey applied so much torque to one lug stud that they sheared it; I discovered the wheel is similarly ruined on one lug hole. So, replacement wheel required on top of a new stud. Ugh. I can see this as moderately common though.

 

Reverse thread on the left side of the car, moron! GM was like that all the way to the seventies.

 

Phil

Any chance of building up the wheel with weld and grinding it back? Or are rims easy to get?

[PhilA]

Rims are moderately easy to source because they were common to a lot of models, basically the bog standard GM 15" car steel wheel.

 

The studs and nuts are harder to get because every sod breaks the LH threaded ones. It's halfway tempting to get a set of RH studs and do the left side of the car with them and keep all the lugs standard thread.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

I have a crane.

 

Phil