project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[PhilA]

Just been out and about adding miles to the car. 

Little bit of maintenance today, replaced the rear shocks. The right hand one had seized up and the left one wasn't far behind.

Rides a lot better now, funny that.

[2flags]

I love the fact that you can still get the parts for a 70+ year old car. There are lots of cars only 15yrs old that you are told, "Sorry sir, we don't do those anymore." 

[PhilA]

1 hour ago, 2flags said:

I love the fact that you can still get the parts for a 70+ year old car. There are lots of cars only 15yrs old that you are told, "Sorry sir, we don't do those anymore." 

What's more amusing is even the big box stores have the cars listed, and a large volume of parts- often with the more common bits in stock.

Try the same "locate parts for my cars" on Halfords or ECP and see what comes up. A-Z have cars listed back to 1930.

Phil

[loserone]

Do they just have bigger warehousing and more stock, or is it some element of parts compatibility with other cars which add up to make it worthwhile?

[PhilA]

4 hours ago, loserone said:

Do they just have bigger warehousing and more stock, or is it some element of parts compatibility with other cars which add up to make it worthwhile?

A lot of the consumable parts were design once then use forever. Bit like British Leyland did. 

So yeah, generally if the part continued life on, especially into popular models, then the availability is good. 

For instance, these shocks fit my car factory stock, and also a bunch of 60's and 70's cars, then on into 90's pick-up trucks and various other models.

The engineers said "look in the book and see if there's something that'll work".

Phil

[loserone]

Presumably if you wanted to find a Morris marina door handle* or Maestro indicator stalk that would be pretty reasonable even at ECP?

* other stereotypical shared parts undoubtedly available 

[PhilA]

8 hours ago, loserone said:

Presumably if you wanted to find a Morris marina door handle* or Maestro indicator stalk that would be pretty reasonable even at ECP?

* other stereotypical shared parts undoubtedly available 

Maybe not trim specific, but walk in to expect a fuel pump, spark plugs, distributor parts on the shelf, and other things like brake shoes, carburetors, engine internals on 2-3 day special order.

 

Phil

[somewhatfoolish]

The US plus the NAFTA area all have very similar vehicles, it's a big market so provision of spares is easier than over here.

[PhilA]

Had a little time after work free, so broke out the polish.

Got the roof and back end done before running out of time. Need to finish the rest tomorrow.

Phil

[PhilA]

Looks a little more cared for now.

Phil

[PhilA]

Bunch of travel today. Went had lunch in Jean Lafitte with friends.

Restaurant was nice, this the view from the table. Look closely, there's an alligator.

After lunch went out for a bit more of a drive, plenty more scenery.

Split off from the group and went into the city to grab some shopping. Quickest way home made today a hallmark day- first time on the Interstate. 

Car did good, surprised that the other drivers were so well behaved. I was doing the speed limit which helps (though that means the rest of the traffic is doing 5-35mph faster).

 

12mpg average which isn't bad considering how fast I was going.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

On 9/23/2023 at 2:47 AM, PhilA said:

Looks a little more cared for now.

Phil

Hubba

[hairnet]

Thing

Beemer

Modern pick up

Animals

Silver thing ????

[2flags]

That car really is the business. Just the coolest car out there. Love it! 

[PhilA]

8 hours ago, hairnet said:

Thing

Beemer

Modern pick up

Animals

Silver thing ????

Modern pickup

1964 Buick Wildcat

Jeep

Pontiac

 

Animal

[PhilA]

Oil changed. All greased up, adjusted, tightened, topped up and checked.

Vacuumed, laundered, washed, polished and waxed.

If all goes well tomorrow to Mississippi.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Trunk packed.

Also, new green light arrived for gearshift indicator.

Works nicely. Happy with that.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Cruise: achieved.

[PhilA]

I pulled the plugs to check see after that run back.

Not bad, a little pale perhaps. I tweaked the mixture slightly and will check them again, but at 60 the majority of the mix is coming from the main jets anyway.

Turns out the pinion seal is unserviceable after this trip. Hardly surprising. I'll see about ordering a replacement.

 

Pulled the dash out, which is a horrible job at the best of times. Lubricated the speedometer cable, pulled the speedometer mechanism apart, found a little felt pad under a tiny freeze plug looking piece and oiled it up. The speedometer is a lot more smooth to turn now so that's good. Adjusted the hair spring tension to try and correct the speed reading.

That's now 60 by my GPS. Close enough that I have no immediate urge to remove it all again.

A couple of the lights in the dash had failed segments so I replaced them. 

With the leftover good pieces, I took the bulb out of it's base and created an LED version of it.

After a bit of calculation of the resistor value, it works nicely.

Means all the gauges now light up the same color, something that had been bugging me since I changed the tachometer.

 

Phil

[2flags]

Looking good. 

[PhilA]

Just ordered some spares for the car. Mostly rubber components.

Typically the most needed part is on back order (pinion seal).

 

Phil

[hairnet]

https://fabcraftmetalworks.com/product/rear-axlera9-0150-5/

[PhilA]

3 hours ago, hairnet said:

https://fabcraftmetalworks.com/product/rear-axlera9-0150-5/

That's the right one, yes. 

If the current one takes too long I'll order that.

[PhilA]

I decided to dick about with the transmission tonight to see if I could improve the hot upshifts.

No joy upon adjusting things so it didn't hit a complete stop. 

So I returned to the book and reread the diagnosis guide.

I read a passage I had skipped over many times because it starts "low oil pressure", which I don't have.

...I never checked those two plugs. 

There's a good possibility the governor side one is leaking. I'll check it when I can (gearbox apart again, fun).

Phil

[PhilA]

Went dog through old photos and this is the best I have.

Inconclusive. 

Need to pull it apart and check those two plugs.

[PhilA]

The plugs are good.

The sleeve bore - I had forgotten how bad that was.

So it was made less bad.

 

It still doesn't work right, but it's a bit better.

The reverse lockout doesn't work though. That might be all of the issue. I can't get it out because it's got a double crimped pin. 

I might be getting a replacement, so if I do first I'll try that, second I'm going to pull this one to bits, especially if that fixes it.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Cold weather here, briefly. 

Transmission is working beautifully.

Spare part on the way; if that doesn't fix it I'll stick some heavier oil in it and call it a day.

Replaced the passenger side screen defrost tube. It wasn't working any more.

Phil

[hairnet]

3:48  

[chaseracer]

11 hours ago, hairnet said:

3:48  

😀😎

[Rocket88]

59 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

😀😎

That looks as shonky as most Alfas….😱😂