project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[PhilA]

Oil change done.

Grease done (23 points).

Brakes adjusted.

 

Runs nice and smooth now. 

That's what 1000 miles in an old engine looks like. A portal to hell.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

That was a worse job than I had hoped for. Rusty bolts and more of it had to be taken off in order for it to come out.

Split the fan casing and removed the squirrel cage.

 

Cleaned the motor up and split the case open. Wasn't great looking.

 

Yup, it's been hot enough to melt the solder off the commutator contact posts. New motor time (one that's 12v).

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Curiosity got the better of me tonight.

So I spun the commutator clean in the drill.

Redid the solder joints.

Oiled the bearings which were dry dry dry (think that was a big cause of problems) and gave it a brief bench test. Not overly bad, I'll redo the main feed wire and go from there.

 

Phil

[somewhatfoolish]

The brushes being worn to nubs won't have helped with heat generation.

[PhilA]

3 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

The brushes being worn to nubs won't have helped with heat generation.

The brushes can't have been much longer than that when they were new. They just don't fit in the holders any deeper.

[PhilA]

I cleaned a significant amount of Alabama out of the fan case and assembled it all together.

 

Ran it for a while to see what it would do.

 

6V fully loaded it draws just over 5 Amps. It gets warm-ish but on 12V I need to measure how hot it gets.

 

Between times I set about on the ducting sheet metal. This piece looks like someone jacked the car up on it.

Many hammers later and it's looking a bit better. Certainly good enough to move air about, which is better than it was.

Phil

[PhilA]

A small experiment tonight.

Took the ambient temperature with the motor cold, at rest.

Ran it 15 minutes at 6v. 15 degrees increase in temperature. 

Ran it a further 10 minutes at 12v. Not a huge increase, the hottest part by the brushes was 106 degrees so that's a fair bit off 370 for the melting point of solder. I'll pull it apart and check for any signs of distress.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Hammer, chisel, underseal.

 

Wire wheel.

 

Paint.

 

Progress is being made. I like gloss black. There's not much to say about cleaning up metalwork and putting paint on it, really.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Rewired, reassembled. Bolted it into the car but no pictures of that yet because it's dark.

Phil

[hairnet]

11 hours ago, PhilA said:

Rewired, reassembled. Bolted it into the car but no pictures of that yet because I'm in the pub

Phil

 

[PhilA]

Pub, yeah right.

 

Intake pipe up in the wheelarch.

Floor heater duct and piping in place (was a pain because the pipe was bent to match where it had been crashed into before).

Best view of the fan. It's in there.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

oh you meant bud on the porch :D

 

[PhilA]

26 minutes ago, hairnet said:

oh you meant bud on the porch

 

That's about as good as it gets these days.

Maybe Coors light on a good day

[hairnet]

nowt wrong with that

can i buy you some?

 

[PhilA]

3 hours ago, hairnet said:

nowt wrong with that

can i buy you some?

 

Sure, won't say no to a beer after this week just gone by.

[PhilA]

I washed and leathered it. The trees think it's autumn.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, PhilA said:

I washed and leathered it. The trees think it's awesome.

 

Phil

 

[PhilA]

With the got weather coming in, fuel vaporization is a big problem with this car, so there's a draw-through pump up under the chassis near the tank. 

I had it connected to the starter button but in traffic that's awkward.

So I added a pull switch and light. Means I can run the pump in traffic easily and clear any vapor lock without having to run it all the time.

That'll work, and it's powered from the ignition circuit so I can't forget to turn it off.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

...and an update to that, I tested it with the pump on full time.

I drove from here to the grocery store at speed then left the car idling in the lot as I checked to see that it wasn't overpowering the pump intake, pipes or float. Everything was happy so I latched everything down and went for a higher speed run on highway 308.

 

Hot damn.

 

The car pulls hard at 60 with the pump on. Off it feels strained. I guess that's my answer, then.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Last day the drive-in is open for a while. Went get a chocolate malt.

Despite being a big car, modern pickups and SUV's dwarf the Chieftain.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

I put a tee on the manifold and attached my vacuum gauge. I set the idle mixture hot, set the timing to suit. Runs better now, doesn't pop and bang on overrun either.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Tonight, with gumbo for dinner, there is beer to celebrate a successful tune-up.

[2flags]

Love this thread. I am in awe of your skills sir. The car looks fantastic.

[PhilA]

I had a moment tonight where I got the fussy notion that I needed to fix things.

So, I pulled the screen wash pickle jar out again because last time I went to use it the damn thing didn't work.

I had a go at seeing if I could get the main seal any better, but it's already pliable again after a little treatment with brake cleaner. With my finger over the intake tube I could still move the piston up and down, albeit against a modest resistance.

I replaced the rubber ring with the end off my blow gun nozzle, filed flat and sanded smooth. With that fitted I couldn't pull the piston down, the seal grabbed as it should.

Reassembled it and bingo. Screen wash.

Múy bien.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Really didn't feel like cooking and the day cooled off somewhat so I went pick up Chinese.

Setting the timing has improved the fuel economy also, looking at the gauge I would say somewhere 12-14 mpg at a mostly steady 45mph.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

Photo tart

[PhilA]

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

Photo tart

Yes

[PhilA]

Last bit of good weather for the next couple weeks so I decided to go for a spin in the car.

Kept that up for 15 miles or so both directions. An Eye-Tal-Ee-Un Toon-Up appears to have done a world of good because it's running nicely now. Blown all the soot out from me driving it about gently like Driving Miss Daisy.

Really need to redo the suspension. It's lovely to ride in on smooth asphalt but as soon as you get on sun beaten, truck-rutted old blacktop it has you sawing the steering wheel back and forth to keep it going where you want it to go.

But, it does do okay. Burned about a quarter of the tank tonight on this escapade, the economy is likely better at about 45 but it got nice and toasty and run like it needs every once in a while.

Fun? Yes.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

mopar needs a phil walkaround

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

Mopar or no car