project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[PhilA]

Front right wheel bearing died. 

Was out and about on a pleasant evening jaunt after a storm.

[Stinkwheel]

24 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Front right wheel bearing died. 

Was out and about on a pleasant evening jaunt after a storm.

At least american car wheel bearings are old school, should be a 10 minute job to replace right? Dont forget to pack that grease in well.

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

29 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Front right wheel bearing died. 

How old is the bearing?

[PhilA]

5 hours ago, Stinkwheel said:

At least american car wheel bearings are old school, should be a 10 minute job to replace right? Dont forget to pack that grease in well.

Yeah, simple press in affairs. Not a complex task to change, thankfully. They're ball bearings, there's a retrofit set that uses taper rollers which I think I'm going to upgrade it to.

5 hours ago, Momentary Lapse Of Reason said:

How old is the bearing?

Potentially as old as the car but I have no idea. I haven't changed any since I've owned the car. I cleaned and repacked them and they've always been slightly noisy but this is a significant change so its time has come.

 

Phil

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

27 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Potentially as old as the car but I have no idea. I haven't changed any since I've owned the car. I cleaned and repacked them and they've always been slightly noisy but this is a significant change so its time has come.

I think you have had value for money out of the bearing then!

I couldn't remember if you had changed any wheel bearings in the Seven Years, this month, since you introduced the Chieftain.

 

[PhilA]

2 hours ago, Momentary Lapse Of Reason said:

I think you have had value for money out of the bearing then!

I couldn't remember if you had changed any wheel bearings in the Seven Years, this month, since you introduced the Chieftain.

 

It's had a few things, but not that. 

Seven years.. so it has been. Time flies.

[PhilA]

The day started out well. Pretty sunrise, crisp cool air, not a cloud in the sky. 

What better day to start taking the car to pieces? Pulled the plugs out. They're a bit random and the rear two have been sitting in rainwater. 

Still, there's plenty of stuff to pull off as well as the plugs. 

Thinks including the cylinder head. I spy a couple unhappy valves from here. That being the reason for the disassembly- six cylinders 115psi or better and two around 60. Bores are all okayish- worn but not damaged. 

Pulled all the valves to bits. I would like an electric wrench for this tool, for sure. Ratcheting wrench will have to suffice. 

Yeah. About 10k on that. Modern fuels are terrible. 

It's not the proper way if it doesn't work. 

Seats cleaned up nice. 

Valves are modern stainless replacements which clean up shiny more than matte. Still, looks good.

It was all going well on reassembly until I dropped this into the oil pan. Cue 3 hours taking the oil pan bolts out (half of them are obscured above the suspension, and the pan cannot be dropped at all without removing the steering.

Then it only drops about 5 inches on the back edge. Still, managed to fish it out and finish up putting the valves back in. 

Not the cleanest car up underneath.

Went find the head torque pattern and tightened it all down. 

All back together. Valve clearances set. Runs much better now. Before, holding it on the slight incline coming out of the parking lot at AutoZone using the throttle (light throttle, about 700rpm) the misfire would shake the car. Now, it's smooth. That should help fuel economy. It certainly improves torque at the low end. 

Having run it a while the source of a significant oil leak was determined to be the oil pressure warning light switch, it was leaking out of the electrical connector. Warranty replacement! 

Got that put in, just in time for the biggest storm we've had in months to blow through. Sitting inside with all of the storm/tornado/flood warnings pinging on my phone. 

Wheel bearing was ok, noise was the tire being low pressure. Bias ply tires only start to visually look low at about 10psi. Pumped them all back up to 30. Drives better now. Who'd have thought?

The car thanked me for all this by breaking the driver's side window. 

 

Phil

[eddyramrod]

...In the way they do!  All that work, then it does something so left-field...  Looks gorgeous as always Phil.  I'm looking forward to meeting it in six months!

[Mondeo Enjoyer]

That is absolutely lovely. Cracking car 

[PhilA]

Took it for a run to get fuel and groceries.

Ran okay, definitely more perky at speed. However, it was running a bit warm on the highway. 

It was also a bit difficult to start so I checked the ignition. 

Yup, that's slipped. Reset it, tweaked the air fuel mix and now it's running well.

 

Just gotta keep it running...

 

[PhilA]

It's currently doing duty as An Car, and it is doing that quite well. Almost to the point of redemption. 

Pull up to a red light and check the gauges because now it feels like it's stalled at idle.

[Snipes]

On 01/08/2025 at 22:30, PhilA said:

It's had a few things, but not that. 

Seven years.. so it has been. Time flies.

Feels like only five minutes ago you were going to amazing lengths to keep that ungrateful Renault Alliance thing going.

[PhilA]

4 hours ago, Snipes said:

Feels like only five minutes ago you were going to amazing lengths to keep that ungrateful Renault Alliance thing going.

Yup, about 3 years ago I sold it.

It's had a new interior fitted which isn't all faded and torn up, headliner etc. Apparently going ok still.

[PhilA]

Weather's been nice, and had been ferrying people about. Forgot about the back windows, which if wound down fully get into a geometric lock and refuse to come back up. 

Pulled the door card off. Never taken this one apart before I don't think? Maybe but if so it's definitely been a while. Lubricated everything and found a missing nut which wasn't helping matters 

New 1/4-20 on there with a washer. Better. That braces the rear window channel. 

I managed to lose the retainer spring while trying to take it off the handle. It disappeared into the stratosphere. Bought an elderly handle from Napa that's dated late 80's. Packaging was once red. 

The offending item removed from the new handle. 

And clipped back on. Pain in the ass things they are too. 

Wandered around the hardware store and determined a door bumper would be about right to replace the rubber that is long since gone.

Result, the window now stops where it should. 

Stuck it all back together. Window now goes up and down as it should. Mostly. Needs new window channels and plastic rollers but that's task to ignore for another day.

[PhilA]

Dome light wouldn't switch on from the switch. 

Turns out the rivets had stopped making contact with the electrical lugs so I took the switch to bits and soldered the rivets to the electrical lugs. Now I get a beep of continuity from both on my multimeter. Time to reassemble it and see if it works.

[PhilA]

That seems to be ok. 

Fixed the door switch which was dirty and only worked occasionally. Having to fiddle faddle with the door plunger switch to make the light come on was getting old.

[PhilA]

Surprisingly, the light is actually useful. 

I also managed to leave it switched on. Slight disadvantage of the switch actually working now.

[Jenson Velcro]

Nice. Cool pic.