project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[PhilA]

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

This turned up at a local classic car get together yesterday evening, definitely from the same era as the Chieftain.  1947 in this case I believe.

I used to just look straight past cars that were this old, but more and more over the last few years I've been more drawn to them.

Particularly as that's a $80k vehicle...

[hairnet]

On 1/10/2021 at 8:55 PM, PhilA said:

 

 

[hairnet]

FRED REGURGUTATE

saw the gta running

what are the two missing buttons at the bottom of the binnacle?

and the cheef - the having no park thing and just leaving it in gear was that a hydramatic thing or a thing of the time?

 

[PhilA]

3 hours ago, hairnet said:

FRED REGURGUTATE

saw the gta running

what are the two missing buttons at the bottom of the binnacle?

and the cheef - the having no park thing and just leaving it in gear was that a hydramatic thing or a thing of the time?

 

Blanks, they have the securing screws behind them.

The parking in R was a Hydra-Matic thing; they figured why add extra positions? Parking a manual car in reverse was fairly common practice to save stretching the parking brake cables back in the day.

In a modern vehicle P does the same thing as this does, it engages two years at once and locks the gearbox up that way.

[PhilA]

Been driving about a whole bunch.

Went continue tidy up at mother in law's lot. Takes forever, glad I had spare belts for the mower. That's genuine mower-shite too, it's British Leyland levels of rusty.

Headed home. Warm air, window down radio on, engine humming away up the highway.

Got bugs all spattered up the glass. Can't say it's a trailer queen.

[PhilA]

Flip side today.

Fitted new wiper blades, which now work properly without chattering across the screen.

Phil

[PhilA]

Hit the highway at the weekend, cruising Louisiana Highway One.

Hot day car was running pretty well but on the way out the horn got stuck on, so I pulled the wire off and had a look when I got home.

Thankfully it all still comes apart with relative ease. 

Hammered the bearing out thinking my wiring had failed, but that was all in good condition. Turns out the rubber ring that holds the horn push off had gone soft, and the hot weather was just compounding that. The weight of the push was making the connection.

Had a little bit of light once the day cooled off, so I decided to look at the brightwork.

Gentle application of abrasives saw an improvement, which I'll need to continue with. Dremel doesn't like the work though, it overheated.

Phil

[PhilA]

A little more work and the Size Eight method of adjusting panel gaps was employed on the leading edge of the hood. Grille all lines up now.

[PhilA]

A hot and sweaty afternoon gave rise to some troubleshooting.

Engine cold, sat 2 days without running.

Compression test (dry, psi).

115

124

95

113

122

116

105

120

Compression test (wet, psi)

120 (+4.3%)

128 (+3.2%)

128 (+34.7%)

115 (+1.7%)

125 (+2.4%)

115 (-0.8%)

123 (+17.1%)

120 (+0.0%)

So, cyl 3 is a touch low... and comes up real nice when oiled down, cyl 7 is a bit marginal and again comes up nicely when oiled.

Result? Yea, the rings are tired. Dry, none of the cylinders leaked down over 5 minutes. All took about 5 compression strokes to come up to peak pressure.

Do I want to do anything about it?

[Jenson Velcro]

Knowing you only through your posts on here, probably yes…… but then you also have plenty of other things to sort as well 

[PhilA]

I wouldn't think twice about doing it before. Right now it's not a fun task for in the driveway.

[PhilA]

Suggestion is check the rings.

I found my spring compressor, also pulling the head and pan off is fairly straightforward though I don't have a plan gasket spare. I might have to order one and then lift it off.

I think I might just go the chemical route first, dump some glop into the low bores, see if they come round.

Phil

[PhilA]

I have had enough mechanical malarkey.

Instead, it got real. Out with the rotary.

Rear quarter, bring the bling.

Doing it but by bit in the late afternoon and evening when it's cool enough.

Phil

[PhilA]

Cleaned up the chrome on the front this morning before it got too warm.

I like this polish, it's called Quick-Glo, made for chrome- it's taken all the white polish compound out of the pits in the surface and makes the brightwork look way better.

[PhilA]

First cut pass on the side of the car. 

 

Phil

[PhilA]

All done.

Too hot outside now.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Refitted the sun visor.

[Matty]

18 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Refitted the sun visor.

Finding myself drawn to this era of American car more and more. Automotive art 

[hairnet]

19 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Refitted the sun visor.

 

[Crackers]

The thing's got presence like nothing else out there. 

Stunning looking car from every angle! 

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, PhilA said:

Refitted the sun visor.

is it just me, or does it look like the front wheel is flipping us off? car aint happy being photographed eh? LOL

 

(as others have said looking really awesome!)

[PhilA]

Bosh. New parcel shelf.

[hairnet]

garlic car photobomb

 

[PhilA]

I washed the car because my neighbor had a couple truckloads of dirt delivered, which they regraded their yard with using a bulldozer so everything got covered in dust.

Naturally ten minutes after I finish drying it, the rain starts.

Still, milkshakes with my sweetheart made up for it.

There's so much to do round here...

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Rebuild.

All the onions.

Rebuilt ✓

[PhilA]

Little bit of diagnosis this morning.

Cylinder 7 has come back around and is now a healthy 125psi.

Cylinder 3 is still low at 95; brought the engine round just past TDC on compression on #3 and poured the cylinder full of Berryman. It promptly all drained out until it got to the top of the cylinder. That stayed there, so leaky valve.  

I can pull the head off and lap the valves in again, that's fairly easy.

Polished the wheel trim logos- the red lacquer was looking dull, I had forgotten to do it when I did the rest of the car.

Now, relaxing on the front porch swing with an iced tea. Mais cher, welcome to de South, yeh.

Phil

[PhilA]

$210 poorer, I now have a reliable battery. 

The engine has never cranked over so fast! It also doesn't falter at idle any more so I'm guessing the ignition just didn't have the amps it needed to operate correctly with the old battery.

Phil

[PhilA]

 

Reset the valve lash and tightened up the manifold.

[PhilA]

Out for a run last night because the day had cooled down somewhat. I got first degree burns off the concrete while I was setting the valves, the sun had baked it all afternoon.

[PhilA]

The first of a few things for the car arrived in the mail today.

The rear wheel trims were painted by previous keeper unknown, and were looking a little tired.

I started to clean the paint off, and found the original red lacquer, now a faded pale brown, underneath. This confirmed my theory they were originally done like this to look jeweled.

The metal was in really nice shape underneath, having been mostly protected by the old lacquer.

Masked them up and painted with new red lacquer, same stuff as I put on the fronts years ago.

Much better! They look nice now.

Shame that's all you see of them. I'll cut and polish them in a few weeks when the paint is fully hardened.

 

Phil