Ttotired
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Posts posted by Ttotired
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I do everything I possibly can as v12link says but I also did the stitching as well, but I do not think a checkbook restorer should be ragged on though Just because someone is not good with their hands, does not mean their passion for the cars are any less than that of someone that get up to their neck in grease, they just do it differently, they might have to work at it just as hard as the "do it yourselfer" by working long hours and saving and skimping to afford to write those checks
Sometimes I wish I was the guy that wrote the checks as I wrestle that stinking left over of a bolt that snapped off out of the engine block with bruised and bloody knuckles from punching the exhaust manifold when the stupid bolt broke
Different strokes folks
Mick
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First of all, its always helpfull to say what car your talking about
That temp bulb has to come out from the engine, its a sealed tube all the way, If it breaks, the gauge will have to be repaired
On my 58 buick, the bulb was stuck in the head, I was able to get a core plug out from the back of the head and gently pry it out from underneath
Fuel gauge should be electric?, perhaps its an oil gauge
Any temp gauge that has a capillary has to be undone from the engine, oil pressure gauges with a capillary normally have a replaceable line, so, that can be undone from the gauge itself
Mick
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Yep, 55 BUICK is 12V, 55 PLYMOUTH is not, my bad
I am active on a mopar forum as wellThe reason that you change the coil to 12V on an electronic system is that the electronics are (normally) designed to run on 12V
I wont say that they are ALL designed that way, but personally, I havnt seen one (used to put lots of kits in when I was an apprentice), so best advice is to follow manufactures instructions (A real man only does this when nothing works, wife is on your case and your at the point of calling someone else in thats going to laugh at you)
The coil output voltage on an electronic system is higher than a points system purely because of the "clean" switching that is achieved with a transistor
I wont go into depth, plenty of stuff on the WWW if you really want to work out its operation, but its advisable to change the rest (leads rotor, cap) when a conversion is done and its better to get heavier plug leads if you can, just because of the higher voltage
Mick
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As a cold suggestion, not sure about the room you have, but have you thought about one of these?
Mick
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The need for a ballast resistor on an aftermarket or electronically modified distributor is entirely dependent on how it was made and what coil you use
Most electronic style ignition systems use a full 12V system, and do not need a ballast, but a 55 being a 6V system, I dont know (never fitted one to a 6V car)
Mick
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All you can do is change the ratio of the shift linkage if its range is not long enough to get all the gears? Or put a floor shift in it?
Only way your going to get the markings right is to get the shift indicator needle moving within the range of the plastic screen, then get a new screen made and printed to what you want
Its modified, means nothing will fit now (unless your lucky)
Mick
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To make reproduction panels to fit like original, they need to be form pressed like the panels were originally
The repair sections got for my 60 dodge were helpful if they were cut up and used in small sections, as a full lower section (fixing the wheel arch on the rear 1/4) they were hopeless, no chance of fitting, rockers were about the same (4dr), but no real choice there as the dodge ones are heavily sculpted and not just a gentle curve
Mick
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Yes, but sometimes the most knowledgeable people can be the biggest pain in the backside and tighter than a fishes ****** as well
Ebay, craigs, and collector car magazines and not forgetting (assuming you can move it) car shows
How many times do you hear someone going on at a car show how they wished they had a car they could show or cruise in
Pictures are a must (and lots of them), basically, no picture will = no sale
Good luck
Mick
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Switching to neg earth should not cause a problem, but be careful messing around with generator polarities as its really easy to destroy the contacts in the regulator
Trying to motor a generator is the easiest way to re polarize it (if you made it run with a negative cable to the frame of the generator, it will now be neg earth)
If the ammeter is open circuit, then it wont show charge
As for the posts on the generator, the earth one will not have an insulator under/on it, the other 2 are easy, the armature one will make reasonable spark when you try to power it and the field one will be much less and sort of sound different
As for voltage, once you work out the field post, do a current draw on the field circuit and that will tell you
Hard part is I cant remember what the current should be, but a 6V coil, tested on 12V will have double the current draw of a 12V coil tested on 12V.
Off the top of my head, a 12V field should be about 4 amps, just not 100% on that
Mick
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I have just entered the facebook thing and I have no idea how to get it rolling (I think once you get people looking at it it starts to work?)
Not sure why the comment about the yellow pages though?
I would not pay for a yellow pages add (over here, you get a 1 line add for nothing and thats enough for it to come up in a search), or any other print media actually, same stuff here in Australia, print media is dying
The thing is though, not all business is the same, for me, advertising in a hot rod magazine might work and because some people collect magazines, it can be a long term add (auto electrician), but its not targeted, I am on the west coast of Australia and I really doubt that someone from the east coast will drive over for me to repair their vehicle
But, if my business was a motel, I could advertise in the same magazine and it could be more beneficial as someone from the east coast could come for a holiday ect
Anyway, I kicked off my internet advertising by using an internet hosting site (Webs) that you can build your own site for free (gets you started), then google "free internet advertising" and see what you find and I also looked at competitors advertising to see how they got boosted and put myself on there as well (if it was free)
Basically, my advertising cost me nothing, just time and even then, I did most of it on a laptop watching telly
As I said though, its all moving to social media, which I have no idea about, but as a business owner, I now need to learn
Good luck
Mick
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As a tradesman (I am an auto sparky though), I will tell you nothing is more annoying than getting a box of parts because someone wanted to look at it
I would imagine that whoever was going to fix it wont be seeing them every day and wont know where every single screw ect goes (its a jigsaw puzzle), so, unless you do do it yourself, dont pull it apart, let whoever you have trusted to fix it do that, then they can test it a bit before it comes apart
Mick
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Must say that I love the "noodle" across the front
I can imagine what the inspiration for that came from
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No one can answer that question, so many variables, so little information, but $10,000 should get you started
Mick
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Yep
Being an auto electrician, I naturally assume some sort of circuit protection would be used
I was using a 10A battery charger (old cheap one) that has a built in auto reset circuit breaker, but if you use or add a battery to the mix, I would get another 15a auto reset circuit breaker to put in the supply line
The current draw of the de rusting does vary a bit, thats why the CB is better than a fuse as it will also (kind of) regulate the current used as well
This is all simple stuff though, actually similar to electroplating, but not as controlled
Mick
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He has his business address, but he is saying the bloke isnt there all the time
I warn you against the bolt cutter idea for 2 reasons
First, unless the laws are different in the US, breaking into someones property is still "breaking in" regardless of wether you are trying to retrieve whats yours
And secondly, being a small town, I bet people would know him, maybe even be friends with him, maybe even be friends with guns who might not be sympathetic to your problems, if you get time to tell them, that is
I agree with others, start trying to find another set, I know some stuff is really hard to get, but is this stress worth it
And name this guy, you are at the point of them being gone anyway, I guess this is called shooting the hostage
What sort of quality are you expecting after all of this if you got them back anyway
Mick
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I have used washing soda and electricity to clean off the rust, works great
Like all water based cleaners though, you need to get the oily stuff off first
I have a sand blaster and putting the parts in the bath first saves plenty of time at the blaster, but a rub with a scouring pad also works well after the bath
Just need a tub (I used a 50 ltr one) some leanths of rebar or any old scrap steel and a battery or a battery charger or both and some automotive wire
Stick the rebar in the tub (I used 4 pieces, one at each corner) and wire them together and connect to the positive (Important), then place the part in the solution and connect to negative, then leave it for a while, you know its working when you see bubble coming off the part
1 tip though, dont let the copper wire get into the solution, it makes a greeny black unpleasant mess
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As for pitting (I have not tried this yet) there is a product called Muggy Weld, which is designed for fixing pits in potmetal
If you google it, you should find it
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Priority is a matter of perspective, I deal with this problem all the time, the wife and kids seem to think that having food is more important than the various car parts I need
No idea what their problem is ????????
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Love wagons (dont have one), I think the only place your going to get that material will be SMS
http://www.smsautofabrics.com/
Apart from replacing the cloth (hard to tell, but) you might get away with the vinyl?
Good luck with it
Mick
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Should be a dynoflow according to my limited knowledge
Mick
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Check on the forwardlook network, but I am not sure that information was ever broken down, but there is a book by Darrel Davies (pretty sure thats his name) that documents all the Xram cars that could be found in the Chrysler build records
http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/category-view.asp
The only problem is that the records are not complete as they were/are on microfiche (I believe, I am not that wrapped up on the historical stuff) and some were lost or damaged
All the Xram cars were not built at the same time or anything like that, so their builds are scattered throughout the records
If I remember correctly, for 1960, be more like the 383 to have the rams, but both were available
Wish my 60 fury had them
Mick
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Looking at the picture, you can see where the arm was welded to the rim, so yes, it is supposed to be welded
Your going to have to clean that area up a lot more (widening it) because the heat from welding is going to travel up the steel and do more damage
Mick
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Quite sure they are, best thing to do though is to take your broken one out and take/send it to a drive cable maker
They will be able to make a new cable to your sample
Mick
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That I cant help you with, but I would like to hear how you go with the engine
Be cool to see pictures (if you can convince your mechanic to take some as he goes)
Mick
I am active on a mopar forum as well
1955 Buick Steering Linkage
in Buick - Post War
Posted
Hitting the curb will keep your wheel aligner in business
When I did my driving test (many moons ago now) hitting the curb while parking was an instant fail
Maybe a set of curb feelers might help?