project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[PhilA]

Went for a ride today to the grocery store, round trip journey of about 15 miles.

Although a good portion of it is spent in 4th gear, it only one time decided to stick in first for any appreciable time and that was after sitting at a red light for about 3 minutes waiting to turn left in traffic.

That's a lot better than it was. In regular running it's been pretty good so I think maybe I'll pull it again and recheck and clean but I'm pretty happy with that.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

You can see what it does- out of the driveway it gets hung up. Bottom of the street it works perfectly.

Phil

[hairnet]

next time you drive by the dodge ask the guy if hes got any other interesting veehickles

[PhilA]

29 minutes ago, hairnet said:

next time you drive by the dodge ask the guy if hes got any other interesting veehickles

Which dodge? Couple houses down, old black Ram?

[hairnet]

17 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Which dodge? Couple houses down, old black Ram?

ROFL - you make i larf

 

[PhilA]

One lid, shiny but far from smooth. 

600-grit paper, dish soap and a touch of water. Smooth down and caress with the paper. With still fairly soft paint you can't just rub at it, it'll clog the paper then rip up (the paint) and put deep scratches into the surface.

You can feel when it's working well, the dish soap lubricates nicely while taking the sanded off paint away; you can hear the gentle hiss of the paper across the surface working at it gently. Patience is essential.

First pass complete. Dried off with paper. High spots have been taken down to a matte finish, remaining low points are still gloss.

Repeat until low spots vanish.

Then, the same all over but with 1500 grit paper and dried.

That's now nice and level, ready for another coat of paint and the process to be repeated.

 

Phil

 

 

[PhilA]

Second coat of black.

 

Gearbox only acts the fool when it's heat soaked. I have a theory. I'm going to test said theory next week. Watch this space.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Finished painting the horns. Now they need a bracket making up.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Drilled the rivets out that hold the brackets together.

Need to relocate them clocked round the horn a little, started on that yesterday but ran out of time.

 

I did do something i have been meaning to fit a while, cut the top off a shanked bolt (looks like it was for suspension or something) and cleaned it up.

Set it in place of one of the panel bolts.

 

Now the rod I use to prop the hood up properly can't slip. Better for being parked up at shows with it open, too.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, PhilA said:

 Better for being parked up at shows so all the [s]nerd[/s] hnnng can be seen

Phil

[PhilA]

I did things with fire and hammers.

 

Drilled holes.

 

Realized I measured wrong and gonna have to start over again.

 

But it's a start.

Phil

 

 

[tooSavvy]

Hi Phil

You may have noticed my 'leap of faith' into SlushBox commuting....

All but a Geo, bar name.

At 28k I can't imagine there being any shifter issues on the horizon. 1.0i for the greatest 'buckets of torque' cruising

..... may we long share the aroma of ATF (Dexron III) in our nostrils

[PhilA]

Nothing wrong with a decent automatic transmission, so long as it works.

 

Phil

[tooSavvy]

1 hour ago, PhilA said:

Nothing wrong with a decent automatic transmission, so long as it works.

 

Phil

Aint that the truth

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, PhilA said:

Nothing wrong with a decent automatic transmission, so long as it works.

 

Phil

And so long as it's well matched to the engine.

16v Saab 900 with the auto box is painful.  The 8v version on the other hand works lovely.  Just wish they'd fitted an overdrive/lockup system!

[PhilA]

That's the funny thing with this one- the engine is torquey so pottering about is fine but the fluid coupling does lock up almost solid by 1000rpm, in top you forget you're driving an automatic because it doesn't have the slushy flare of revs when you put your foot down.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Honk!

[hairnet]

Can haz teh horn

[PhilA]

 

Beep!

[PhilA]

I think I need to get up under the car again and check things- I've got a vibration that feels like the propshaft starting to kick in. Greeeeeaaat.

 

Wouldn't surprise me, many years devoid of grease, and it was a bit clink clank when I got it.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

3 hours ago, PhilA said:

 

Beep!

parp!

[PhilA]

Jacked the car up.

Right rear wheel is soaked in EP90 but the hardy spicers are ok

The clink clank is the differential and splines.

 

Rear axle rebuild time.

Phil

[2flags]

18 hours ago, PhilA said:

Jacked the car up.

Right rear wheel is soaked in EP90 but the hardy spicers are ok

The clink clank is the differential and splines.

 

Rear axle rebuild time.

Phil

Bugger. Old cars are such joy to own aren't they. Still, keeps us out the pub.

[hairnet]

nice arse m9

 

[PhilA]

I put some "stop leaking and shut up" in the axle. 

Adjusted brakes.

Changed oil.

Greased suspension.

Tightened fuel sender, was loose. 

Cleaned it.

 

Will be ok for now.

 

Phil

 

[hairnet]

hnng

i was gonna put some sidelight bulbs in the hairdressers car

last two were coupla quid

halfords want 3.50 for two

bulbs can wait

put 10 quids worth of pez in it - how rock and roll is that

no it didnt fill it (i put 18 bucks in the rented toyota and it filled it )

 

[PhilA]

I brimmed the tank, it was showing just under half. Put about $18 in it, which it'll suck down on the way to town tonight.

Phil

[PhilA]

76 miles. Half a tank of fuel. One breakdown. Unforecast rain.

 

Phil

[busmansholiday]

That's a big car that looks very small compared with the thing behind it. What went wrong, apart from it raining?

 

[PhilA]

3 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

That's a big car that looks very small compared with the thing behind it. What went wrong, apart from it raining?

 

I adjusted the rear right brake slightly too tight and it got hot, bound up and got a little smoky. 

I jacked the car up on the shoulder, backed the adjuster off enough to stop it getting hot but the bias needs to be reset.

 

Phil