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1951 Pontiac Chieftain


PhilA

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The car got a bit stuttery on the way home tonight so I decided to check the points.

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Trailing points had closed up sightly. Adjusted them out and also corrected a vacuum leak for the vacuum advance. 

 

Light throttle now feels a little smoother, slightly more effortless.

I might back the ignition off a shade more to see how it behaves.

 

Phil

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20210123_110351.thumb.jpg.c4f00ad44a55f349d2289113f8d582a4.jpg

Today, I modified the alternator bracket to have a little forward-backward adjustment.

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Why? New fan belt, correct size. Grips properly, charges better.

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Something arrived in! A new thing to replace what was missing. 

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Light!

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Lift the hood, it lights up. Happy with that, completes the engine bay.

 

Phil

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6 minutes ago, PhilA said:

20210123_110351.thumb.jpg.c4f00ad44a55f349d2289113f8d582a4.jpg

Today, I modified the alternator bracket to have a little forward-backward adjustment.

20210123_120338.thumb.jpg.b9164f1b36e57870479185ee21ba7e85.jpg

Why? New fan belt, correct size. Grips properly, charges better.

20210123_121147.thumb.jpg.d31e8524c6726218def4cdfcf6f9b16d.jpg

Something arrived in! A new thing to replace what was missing. 

20210123_142826.thumb.jpg.23b54db042a900b3f988fae2f5193c24.jpg

Light!

20210123_142831.thumb.jpg.262774a3368181a4156c83b58d284fb7.jpg

Lift the hood, it lights up. Happy with that, completes the engine bay.

 

Phil

cool - is that a period correct one?

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37 minutes ago, PhilA said:

20210123_110351.thumb.jpg.c4f00ad44a55f349d2289113f8d582a4.jpg

Today, I modified the alternator bracket to have a little forward-backward adjustment.

20210123_120338.thumb.jpg.b9164f1b36e57870479185ee21ba7e85.jpg

Why? New fan belt, correct size. Grips properly, charges better.

20210123_121147.thumb.jpg.d31e8524c6726218def4cdfcf6f9b16d.jpg

Something arrived in! A new thing to replace what was missing. 

20210123_142826.thumb.jpg.23b54db042a900b3f988fae2f5193c24.jpg

Light!

20210123_142831.thumb.jpg.262774a3368181a4156c83b58d284fb7.jpg

Lift the hood, it lights up. Happy with that, completes the engine bay.

 

Phil

Why did the new belt need forward/backward adjustment?

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Is it definitely the right belt? It seems quite deep in the pulley grooves, generally the outer face of v-belts I meet are nearly level with the outer diameter of the pulleys. A skinnier belt will work but won't be happy and obvs won't carry the same load as the correct item/will wear quicker.

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10 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Is it definitely the right belt? It seems quite deep in the pulley grooves, generally the outer face of v-belts I meet are nearly level with the outer diameter of the pulleys. A skinnier belt will work but won't be happy and obvs won't carry the same load as the correct item/will wear quicker.

Yeah, it had a 1/2" belt on before which was too thin by far, this is apparently the correct belt with, 5/8", same as tractors and stuff. 

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22 hours ago, PhilA said:

Redid the alternator alignment because the belt is noisy as hell after being parked up a couple days.

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Still noisy. Can't figure why. 

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Went get milkshakes, brought the dog along for the ride. 

 

Phil

Alt looks too far forward and at a slight angle. Belt looks too narrow.

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2 hours ago, hairnet said:

i was looking thru their stuff and theyve got some nice catalinas

theres a nice conv for 20k :) 66 - boss would be able to take you for a burger :D

mmmm stacklight.............. *dribbles

Bit too salty for me sadly.

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Decided to pull the alternator bracket apart again this afternoon to adjust it up.

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That's about as good as it gets- it's actually an optical illusion the two pulleys look "off" in angle, they are straight; the alternator was actually too far back before by about 1/8". 

It still makes a racket. The belt is 19/32" wide, the correct width for the pulley. For some reason they had it sit deep.

I'm going to get a belt that doesn't have the cooling grooves in- Gates do a kevlar mesh coated belt that's nice and quiet- I've got them on my lawn mower- it doesn't do a tight radius anywhere and has massive fan cooling anyway.

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Slightly more positive, I adjusted the hood stops so the grille lines up again, it was triggering my OCD before.

Every photo of a Chieftain I see on the Internet has the grille/hood adjusted incorrectly!

Phil

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On 2/1/2021 at 1:49 AM, STUNO said:

Tarted up with a very cheap respray job.  BE VERY CAREFUL!!

 

https://www.streetsideclassics.com/vehicles/5486-atl/1979-pontiac-lemans-wagon

apart from the glass doesnt slide into the tailgate

WANT

 

 

Arrowhead badges on the rear wings are not original to this car.

It's also interesting to note the rear windows on the GM A-Body cars do not roll down.  Seriously, look at the photos of the rear door cards.  Notice anything missing?  Yep, no window winders and no electric window switches, either.  You will notice, however, that the little vent window at the rear of the rear door can be tilted open.  This was the only source of fresh air for the rear passengers!

I can only assume this was one of GM's infamous cost-cutting decisions.  It's boneheaded moves like this which drove an entire generation of Americans away from GM and into the showrooms of their Japanese rivals.

 

 

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Bought some LED bulbs to brighten the rear lights up some.

Camera hates the bright red but you can see the light it casts on the ground.

Still not totally convinced, though. The bulbs are a little short for this and make the light as a halo on the lens.

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They are bright though.

 

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2 moderns with lots of lights as comparison.

 

Phil

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I thought about the lights a little bit and took one bulb out. There's a little lens in the top with 3 lights under it. This caused the bright slightly triangular blotch of light in the middle of the lamp by the retro-reflector.

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I scuffed the lens down a little to make the light a little more diffuse.

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Light distribution is greatly improved, satisfied with that result.

 

Phil

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