project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[PhilA]

Very common style of the era to have the numbers set up going around the arc.

The dots behind the needle line up with it- in photographs often I'm at an odd angle to avoid glare or odd reflections. That makes nothing line up due to parallax error, but sitting in the driver's seat the dots line to nicely with the numbers and make it easier to see.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

but kens an old fart

needs bigger magoos

 

[PhilA]

Doesn't quite fit properly but it should do for now.

 

Considering it's not actually for the car, it's good enough. The connections on the back are the same too.

 

My drum fan died, the bearings quit. Just as summer is getting really warm. Joy.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Resurrected!

 

 

Sounds like a VW Beetle with bad big ends but it runs again.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

Dead presidents

Sadly I've got plane issues already and I've not even left

[PhilA]

Ah, a stack of Jacksons. Very good

 What's wrong with the airplane?

[hairnet]

15 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Ah, a stack of Jacksons. Very good

 What's wrong with the airplane?

going home - they changed it - not norwegian

wamos (?!) i know norwegian were cheap but at least their planes were this decade

this lot dont even have seat screens

want to ring norwegian to speak to them (about other issues) but theres no uk help - either us or oslo ffs

*grinds teeth

[PhilA]

I hear the Douglas DC-6 is quite comfortable

[hairnet]

im not old enuff to remember those

[PhilA]

Fan completely crapped itself. Bearing fell to bits. Poo. It's hot outside.

 

However, I have not been shirking the work; I have wired in the ignition switch and a bunch of other stuff. Reverse lights, starter inhibitor and such. Need to wrap the loom up under the dash.

Put the dash back in and everything is connected the way it should be. Got brake lights, turn signals, headlights. Even the clock works.

Phil

[hairnet]

47 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Fan completely crapped itself. Bearing fell to bits. Poo. It's hot outside.

 

 

git

i amused myself listening to the cricket and opening the window and listening to the crowd cheering nathan lyon  (man u score i hear it) the cricket not so much

but today

 

[PhilA]

Ok so

Everything's wired in, even the fan blower though it ultimately needs to be removed and rewired and greased (lot of work I don't know if I care to do in this heat).

Ammeter registers a charge with battery charger hooked up in place of ammeter.

Horn no longer goes through ammeter.

Took driver's side door switch apart, cleaned it up and now that works, which is nice.

Clock showed I had everything connected up for 40 minutes.

Getting there!

 

Phil

[hairnet]

you know when you did radio fixage - were banging choons hidden gonna happen - i cant remember

or will it be jim reeves on repeat

 

[PhilA]

Radio is still in bits, need to buy some parts for it still. It fell down the ladder of priorities.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Fixed the switch. 

Looks like it had become a bit hot.

Sure enough, the contacts were spring loaded but took a bit of levering to get out. Reshaped the part it sits in and reassembled.

Yup, that works. Just needs a new lens now.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

[PhilA]

Had a brief moment and fitted the radio antenna because the hole in the wing was annoying me.

 

It goes up and down up and down up and down.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

 

 

[PhilA]

Spoke to the transmission place this morning. They have a brand new old stock front oil pump waiting int he wings for me. I'm going to replace the nose seal simply because that one is 50 years old.

Gotta box up the old pump and send it back as a core return for $50; will be able to order the new pump and thrust washers Friday because SWMBO say that's too much to spend until I get paid with the kids going on summer camp, starting school, band instruments and crap. Hopefully that'll be here maybe Tuesday-Wednesday of next week and I can start putting things back together.

 

In the meantime I'm gonna try see about cleaning up the remaining ancillaries on the engine and reassembling that. I need to try and bush out the alternator lower spindle to fit the bolt that goes through the hole in the timing chain case plate. Got to finish looming up the wiring harness (need to run the wire for the temperature sender and the alternator warning light- the engine side loom is separate from the rest-of-the-car loom so that's good, I can build that and get it cut to length once the engine is in and that gets loomed up by itself.

 

Remaining stuff in the cabin- gotta put the hoses in for the screen wash nozzles, the screen de-mist vent pipes have fallen apart and are no more good and I am gonna put the heater box back in with the valve needing doing because that's not gonna get done before the car's ready to run.

 

--Phil

[hairnet]

21 hours ago, PhilA said:

Had a brief moment and fitted the radio antenna because the hole in the fender was annoying me.

 

 

[PhilA]

So, last night I went and took a look at the alternator. It's a Delco unit, used in early 60's Chevrolets. However, the lower mounting point does not line up with any of the generator mounting points on the engine so the previous owner just turned it upside-down and mounted the adjustment bolt to the engine and put a thin bolt through the lower eye onto the adjustment arm, which has been bent badly to shape.

This ain't gonna work for me. There's a company that makes an adapter bracket, which is basically just 4 pieces of L bent metal bar held together with a myriad of bolts in a sliding adjustable fashion.

I'm going to attempt to make one as a test. I have a bit of steel bar that is kinda suitable (it's about half as thick as it really needs to be but if it works in test I'll consider shelling out $45 for a proper piece) so I'm going to try make my own that attaches to the original mounting points but allows for the alternator to be correctly lined up with the belt and held in place properly.

 

--Phil

[scdan4]

You are moving on apace with this. 

Looking good.

[LightBulbFun]

7 hours ago, PhilA said:

So, last night I went and took a look at the alternator. It's a Delco unit, used in early 60's Chevrolets. However, the lower mounting point does not line up with any of the generator mounting points on the engine so the previous owner just turned it upside-down and mounted the adjustment bolt to the engine and put a thin bolt through the lower eye onto the adjustment arm, which has been bent badly to shape.

This ain't gonna work for me. There's a company that makes an adapter bracket, which is basically just 4 pieces of L bent metal bar held together with a myriad of bolts in a sliding adjustable fashion.

I'm going to attempt to make one as a test. I have a bit of steel bar that is kinda suitable (it's about half as thick as it really needs to be but if it works in test I'll consider shelling out $45 for a proper piece) so I'm going to try make my own that attaches to the original mounting points but allows for the alternator to be correctly lined up with the belt and held in place properly.

 

--Phil

interesting  I was going to say a couple posts back "an alternator in a car from 1951?!"

then I remembered the car had been converted to 12V so they would of had to have changed the original 6V I presume Dynamo?

(very nice work as always BTW!  )

[PhilA]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

interesting  I was going to say a couple posts back "an alternator in a car from 1951?!"

then I remembered the car had been converted to 12V so they would of had to have changed the original 6V I presume Dynamo?

(very nice work as always BTW!  )

Yeah, 40 Amp 6V dynamo with external regulator was standard factory fitment.

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, PhilA said:

Yeah, 40 Amp 6V dynamo with external regulator was standard factory fitment.

interesting thats exactly 240W like the Dynastart unit the Model 70  (aka a dynamo once the engine has started)

(id of expected the chieftain to have larger unit given the size of the car, was 240W some sort of limit for automotive dynamos or is it just a coincidence in this case?)

[PhilA]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

interesting thats exactly 240W like the Dynastart unit the Model 70  (aka a dynamo once the engine has started)

(id of expected the chieftain to have larger unit given the size of the car, was 240W some sort of limit for automotive dynamos or is it just a coincidence in this case?)

Well, with the headlights and radio on, you'd be drawing about 210 Watts so that's about average for cruise. Police generators has higher output, admittedly but that's because they were expected to be idling a lot with lights on.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

A little bit of metalwork tonight. Cleaned up the garage, heated bar stock to cherry red with my torch.

Bend bar stock neatly and leave to cool naturally.

 

Gotta cut that to size tomorrow and make some more pieces like it.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Made 4 pieces.

Painted the radiator black while I was waiting for the pieces to cool.

Got a fair way through making the bracket and ran out of time.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Bracket almost complete. Needs one more bolt hole drilling through on the rear alternator bracket and the lockwashers putting on.

 

It tightens up ok. I'm going to assemble things and get it running and see if it squeaks and if it charges well.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

Ooft