project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[tooSavvy]

^^ +1

[PhilA]

There is that, I guess.

 

Really I just need to finish it and post the finished picture and move on to getting the car running again...

 

Phil

[PhilA]

 

"Barn Find".

 

It's dirty enough to be. Not gonna get addressed this weekend though, things are all on hold.

We have a cross-country jaunt to New York state for a wedding.

 

Reminds me, I gotta write a speech...

 

 

Phil

[hairnet]

Stalk mode on 

 

Phil you have pm about vanity plates ?

[PhilA]

Ooh. When is that for?

[hairnet]

just looked at it again - thought it said

 

13th september  ?

[PhilA]

Might have it running by then. Woo

[hairnet]

10 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Might have it non starting due to non us person drool by then. Woo

 

[PhilA]

Have WD40, we good.

[PhilA]

Pushed the car outside because it was a really nice afternoon (after some really very bad storms last night).

Washed the outside of the car down with suds, got rid of the bird poop and dirt.

Attacked the engine bay with my pressure washer. It came up really quite well. There's some bits where I'll still need to put some degreaser and work it with a steel brush, but for the most part it's ready to be rubbed down, rust treated and painted.

I got covered in lots of flecks of really old tarry muck.

Dried it all down and pushed it inside.

All tucked away safely again. Nice to have a little progress on the car again.

 

Phil

[busmansholiday]

Wish I could push a car in and out of the garage. Try it where I live and it'll end up half a mile away at the bottom of the hill, assuming somebody was steering. Otherwise your dragging it out of a shop window!.

 

Keep up the good work. 

[PhilA]

11 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Wish I could push a car in and out of the garage. Try it where I live and it'll end up half a mile away at the bottom of the hill, assuming somebody was steering. Otherwise your dragging it out of a shop window!.

 

Keep up the good work. 

The brakes and steering at least still work!

But, it's particularly flat around here, so the concept of "hill" is lost on most.

Phil

[hairnet]

the madness with the beard needs to drink less coffee?

[PhilA]

I think next up, or soon, will be to pull the steering wheel off, the column out and have a jolly good poke at the steering box. I need to get a Pitman arm splitter, thinking of it.

 

My electronics desk is currently full of another project- a Zenith "Glove Box" radio for a '33 Ford Model A that I'm rebuilding. That may be will force me to do some proper work on the oily bits of the car...

 

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Ok, the one at the store had 32mm jaw gap.

Need to measure. $17 to buy, $18 to rent? Strange math.

Bought a can of etch primer.

Purchased 6 reels each of 22 and 18AWG solid core wire to do both radios. Next up is capacitors and a couple high-wattage resistors.

Getting back into the swing of things.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Started on a bit of bodywork tonight. Attacked the rust and paint with my wire brushes, then applied Kurust.

Carefully applied the etch primer I bought yesterday.

Then ran out of satin black paint. Still, moving forward on tidying up the engine bay.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Bought some satin black paint and finished the radiator shroud.

 

Looks better.

 

 

Phil

[LightBulbFun]

happy to see work slowly resuming on this awesome thread/car

 

[Asch]

I have a '48 Streamliner and have a workshop manual if you need the details of steering adjustment.

[Asch]

Simply knocking the side of the pitman arm should release it. No need for a splitter.

[PhilA]

10 hours ago, Asch said:

I have a '48 Streamliner and have a workshop manual if you need the details of steering adjustment.

Pictures / Thread please.

 

Also if there's an exploded diagram of the steering box that would be great, along with adjustment procedure. The bottom bearing has way too much lateral lash in it.

[PhilA]

9 hours ago, Asch said:

Simply knocking the side of the pitman arm should release it. No need for a splitter.

Hm. I'll have to give that a try. I didn't even pull the nut off yet, been too busy for anything other than a bit of paint this weekend.

[PhilA]

I took a quick look and the nut is nowhere to be seen.

 

I didn't have time to clean it up, but I think it's under the dirt somewhere...

 

Phil

[purplebargeken]

Highly impressed with Crud Cutter for rust, better than  Kurust.

[PhilA]

This is actually some random Loctite stuff but chemically it appears identical to Kurust. It's got that oily/milky/purple thing going on.

 

Got a big pot of it so it'll have to do!

 

Phil

[PhilA]

I cleared the crep off the pitman arm nut and measured it.

1 1/4" which is just slightly bigger than any tool I own.

I found my exploded diagram, I need to study it because it does look like the lower race is ball bearings. If the cage has collapsed that would explain the lash.

With the pitman arm removed I should be able to take the steering box apart, clean the grease out and fix it up. Hopefully.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Tool!

Coupled with judicious application of torque:

Just hitting the pitman arm resulted in a few dents in the pitman arm. I think I'll need a puller...

Diagram was sideways. Top and bottom are plain bearings.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Second tool of the evening. A modest 2/3 leg puller, rated 2 ton. 

Puller, along with a 4lb lump hammer meant that it finally decided to yield. I've left it here tonight, I want to clean it up a little and mark the splines.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

I tried to make a little time this afternoon after work on the car. I pulled the lid off the steering box and cleaned all the old grease and dirt out.

With the pitman arm removed, the shaft just pulled straight up and out. It was covered in a mix of grease types; some correct but dried up with the consistency of old toffee, some newer chassis grease which is just wrong.

The insides of the steering box case are similarly horrible. With the shaft out it's possible to feel the lash in the top bearing. Cleaned up I'll push the lower part of the shaft into the lower bearing and feel how loose it is.

The shaft itself is worn but not overly bad. I need to work on the roller wheel as the bearing has a little free play in. I'm not sure if it's all just adding up. Once it's cleaned up properly it'll be a little easier to tell.

 

Phil

[Sir Snipes]

Be interesting to see how it steers once it's all refreshed and correctly adjusted. I know it's never going to be a 'Teg Type-R but it's probably never had the right kind of maintenance it's whole life.