What Are You Doing To/With Your Car Today?
The last couple weeks have been busy on the couple days off my buddy gets each week. I'm semi retired, but since he's a mechanic, most automotive work around here gets done when he's off. First, we replaced the steering box on my 68 340 S vert. that required removal of the starter and dropping the tie rod and of course the steering column. Had to jack up the engine a bit, but didn't need to disconnect anything else. The replacement from Steer and Gear is a vast improvement!
Next project was my buddy, David's, Dart Swinger. The oil seemed to be bypassing the oil filter, so removing and resealing the oil filter adapter on his 318 was in order. Apparently the gasket and seal set he had previously used was not thick enough to seal. He found a source for a set with the correct thickness and reinstalled the filter adapter. the project did involve removal of the right side torsion bar for clearance.
While we were finishing up on that project, another friend stopped by and my buddy offered to help diagnose an issue with the clutch on the friend's Sunbeam Tiger (yes, its a Chrysler product even though they were built with Ford small block V8s). Turned out it was a leak at the boot for the hydraulic clutch. New parts have been ordered.
Then, it was my 68 318 Barracuda convertible. With the top up, I couldn't put the driver's side rear quarter glass up as it wouldn't align with the channel in the convertible top. The back seat and interior rear quarter came out. With a few adjustments we got it to work right.
The following two Sundays, my mechanic buddy and I spent helping another friend at his house on his Scamp. The Scamp just wasn't running right after it's owner had spent an extreme amount at a local shop to resolve it's issues. One Sunday was spent diagnosing the problems. During the diagnoses, we all decided we didn't like the Scamp owner's neighbor when he came over to the fence to ask that we not run the little 318 2 bbl while he and his wife were eating on their deck. The issues on the Scamp included an intake manifold vacuum leak, a carb vacuum leak, a carb fuel leak, and a missing vacuum advance hose. The second Sunday was spent solving those issues. We thought the worst part of the project would be that it was an AC car with working cold air. We had to move the compressor forward and out of the way without disconnecting it. But that wasn't so bad. The worst part was getting the stubborn intake off, and then scraping the old gasket off bit by bit. The old gasket seemed to have the consistency of Masonite, and it refused to be separated from the intake. At one point we even discussed getting an engine hoist to try to separate the intake from the block. Most of the day was spent trying to beat and pry the intake off and then slowly chipping away at the gasket. A carb rebuild kit had been ordered but didn't arrive in time, but, spare parts from old carb kits got the job done. The neighbor came over to the fence to ask about cleanup measures for the coolant that missed the drain pan and spilled on the floor of the garage. Next weekend, we plan to diagnose an intermittent problem with the Scamp that causes the accessories (turn signals, wipers, radio, etc) to sometimes not work. Gotta be somewhere in the ignition circuit if not the ignition switch itself.
All in all, it was a very productive four days (two Thursdays and two Sundays). A big thank you goes out to my buddy David Eldridge for all his work on my cars. And I know the other friends are just as appreciative.
The last couple weeks have been busy on the couple days off my buddy gets each week. I'm semi retired, but since he's a mechanic, most automotive work around here gets done when he's off. First, we replaced the steering box on my 68 340 S vert. that required removal of the starter and dropping the tie rod and of course the steering column. Had to jack up the engine a bit, but didn't need to disconnect anything else. The replacement from Steer and Gear is a vast improvement!
Next project was my buddy, David's, Dart Swinger. The oil seemed to be bypassing the oil filter, so removing and resealing the oil filter adapter on his 318 was in order. Apparently the gasket and seal set he had previously used was not thick enough to seal. He found a source for a set with the correct thickness and reinstalled the filter adapter. the project did involve removal of the right side torsion bar for clearance.
While we were finishing up on that project, another friend stopped by and my buddy offered to help diagnose an issue with the clutch on the friend's Sunbeam Tiger (yes, its a Chrysler product even though they were built with Ford small block V8s). Turned out it was a leak at the boot for the hydraulic clutch. New parts have been ordered.
Then, it was my 68 318 Barracuda convertible. With the top up, I couldn't put the driver's side rear quarter glass up as it wouldn't align with the channel in the convertible top. The back seat and interior rear quarter came out. With a few adjustments we got it to work right.
The following two Sundays, my mechanic buddy and I spent helping another friend at his house on his Scamp. The Scamp just wasn't running right after it's owner had spent an extreme amount at a local shop to resolve it's issues. One Sunday was spent diagnosing the problems. During the diagnoses, we all decided we didn't like the Scamp owner's neighbor when he came over to the fence to ask that we not run the little 318 2 bbl while he and his wife were eating on their deck. The issues on the Scamp included an intake manifold vacuum leak, a carb vacuum leak, a carb fuel leak, and a missing vacuum advance hose. The second Sunday was spent solving those issues. We thought the worst part of the project would be that it was an AC car with working cold air. We had to move the compressor forward and out of the way without disconnecting it. But that wasn't so bad. The worst part was getting the stubborn intake off, and then scraping the old gasket off bit by bit. The old gasket seemed to have the consistency of Masonite, and it refused to be separated from the intake. At one point we even discussed getting an engine hoist to try to separate the intake from the block. Most of the day was spent trying to beat and pry the intake off and then slowly chipping away at the gasket. A carb rebuild kit had been ordered but didn't arrive in time, but, spare parts from old carb kits got the job done. The neighbor came over to the fence to ask about cleanup measures for the coolant that missed the drain pan and spilled on the floor of the garage. Next weekend, we plan to diagnose an intermittent problem with the Scamp that causes the accessories (turn signals, wipers, radio, etc) to sometimes not work. Gotta be somewhere in the ignition circuit if not the ignition switch itself.
All in all, it was a very productive four days (two Thursdays and two Sundays). A big thank you goes out to my buddy David Eldridge for all his work on my cars. And I know the other friends are just as appreciative.