PhilAndrews

So far I've done nothing to the car other than pop the trunk to pull tools out. Been working, though yesterday they got the power back on and I didn't the afternoon putting more tarps on the roof of the house to try stop a couple leaks, and picked up some of the trash in the yard and started to sort the broken parts of the garage. Nearly got sunstroke doing that, too. Phil

Managed to chainsaw the car out of the remains of the garage. Found the sun visor under the car at the back. Big old dent in the hood, not too bad. This one not so nice. Should mostly pop out. Phil

Lowered suspension. Garage roof is sitting on the hood. Phil

I'm hoping the roof was lifted up and away from it. There's currently very little debris. Scratches and dents hopefully.

New aerial photography. You can see the route the tornado took.

House is mostly ok, roof is leaking in a few places. Neighbors kindly checked it. Garage didn't fare so well. The Plymouth is under the rubble.

Don't know if the car is wrecked after this hurricane. We evacuated to Texas, my house was right in the line of the storm. I'm trying to find out if the house is not too badly smashed or not. I'm expecting the car to be under the garage.

Wrench time! (7/8"). Dropped the oil, it had lost a good portion of its viscosity and was moderately dirty. That said, it's in a lot better condition than it was at 4700 miles when it was done last (now 6000 miles on the odo). Refilled with 30W diesel oil, which has many vitamins and minerals in. Oiled the linkages, greased the suspension, oiled the carb and needles, set the points, set the idle mixture. Definitely a car that doing a service makes a noticable difference to how it drives. Phil

The car has completed 2800 miles so far in my stewardship. It's not been parked up and polished, it's been driven about and enjoyed. Phil

Maybe I did do something right. It's getting better as I drive it. Phil

That's a nice car, looks like it's been kept indoors most of its life. Well outside my price range! I had considered using CVT fluid (Toyota particularly has a very similar composition to Type A) but it's not really a band/clutch issue. My problem appears to be down to the fact the bores are worn and do not slide as freely as they need to in the valve block. I've done as much remedial work as I can to it but it still likes to stick. The tolerances just aren't there any more. Phil

By the way, I have a copy of the Hydra-Matic shop manual you can borrow if you need.

Nope, your imagination! I had issues with my manifolds being bowed in the center, which I attacked with a belt sander. I run two gaskets in the middle and one on the outers. That so far has worked (sadly). Sure you don't have a bad vacuum leak?

oh look, here we are again. Took the valve block apart to clean and polish. Fixed the issue where it was engaging the parking pawl when reverse engaged. No longer drops to 1st from 3rd when slowing down then gently accelerating at about 5mph. Still sticks in 1st occasionally but can be persuaded to change to 2nd by tapping the throttle. Imperfect but better. Phil

I had a few minutes, so here's a quick rundown of the pump. Phil

There's a couple of likely culprits, but I'm fairly certain it's something in the throttle modulator circuit that's sticking.

After having done about 50 miles in it today, doing the valves makes the most noticeable difference to the running. At 45 (pretty much bang on 2000 rpm) it's near silent and progression is made deftly. In other news I'm now pretty sure I've got something sticking in the throttle modulator circuit on the gearbox to cause the gears to act weird. Mind you, twice today it changed gears perfectly, through all 4 from a standing start. The throttle modulator is meant to do 2 things: First it modulates the line pressure going to the servos and clutches, making a full throttle gear change much more violent and positive than one at light throttle. That is a simple bleed valve that's opened. Second it changes the road speed at which the gears change, by putting part of the bleed pressure behind 3 pistons that boost the gear change springs. So, a catch up on that- the governor spins with road speed, and increases pressure behind the 3 main gear change pistons. Each has a spring (or springs) which are each harder to compress than the last, meaning as road speed increases, pressure against the springs rises, the weak spring is overcome and the valve shuttles, causing the gears to change to 2nd. Then again to 3rd as the second valve shuttles, and then finally 4th. The valves are prevented from shuttling also by the pistons which have force in proportion to gas pedal position behind them meaning a higher road speed pressure is required to shuttle them if the gas pedal is pressed down. So, the incorrect behavior is thus: First gear will hold until 3rd gear engages, often missing 2nd or engaging it very briefly. 4th then will not engage until high road speed is achieved. Sometimes releasing the gas pedal makes it shift, other times not and it'll hang in 3rd. As road speed decreases, it'll sometimes go 4-3-1 and then suddenly to 2 with quite a jerk. Reverse often engages the parking pawl with the engine running. Things to bear in mind, the throttle modulator piston is not sprung. It is only returned by hydraulic pressure against the lever arm that actuates it. There's a secondary shuttle for the line pressure modulator. Either one of the pistons that push against the gear change valves is sticking open and preventing correct movement or the throttle modulator valve is acting janky. The throttle modulator valve has been recipient of minimal attention because it's in the top half of the valve block. I think I'll start there, so perhaps this weekend if the weather allows I'll drop the oil and pull the valve block off again and check the modulator valve assembly in great detail. It's proven it can change smoothly and correctly. It just needs to do it more often! Phil

A hot tune-up day today. Set the valve lash, a number of them had closed up, one was massively wide. Nice and silent, smooth and running on all 8 again. Phil

I now have the correct back-up lights, courtesy of a friend. Those look better. Phil

Went for a quick drive and the gearbox is actually better now, which is nice. The plunger is a single plastic piece, but the big rubber seal pulls off with a great deal of trepidation. It just sits in the groove.

A hot half hour with hammers. Overall profile is now just about right. Now the wrinkles need to be finessed out. Phil

I put a (rather crude) drawing and description on my thread, based upon rebuilding mine. Primarily mine had bad vacuum leaks from perished and hardened rubber components. Phil

Joe, Completely missed this, I'm sorry! After much pfaff I have managed to make my pickle jar washer reliable. Which type do you have? The one with the little UFO on the top or the bakelite one that has all the working parts inside the jar (like mine)? The two main things I had issues with were: The main seal was dried up and very hard. I took the metal O ring out of the bottom and it all came apart. There are two seals, the bigger one that just seals one way (vacuum) and the smaller one at the bottom (pump). I forget what I used- might have been brake cleaner but that brought the rubber back around again to being supple. I also squashed it between two pieces of plywood with a heavy weight on top to get it to flare back out again. Once that's done, if you put your finger over the vacuum port you should not be able to pull the piston out of the bore. If you can, check the valve on the top of the body, there's a rubber seal that on mine was completely perished. It was drawing in through there instead of pulling the piston up. What's *meant* to happen is if vacuum is held on, the piston is drawn up compressing the spring. Once it reaches the top, the little plastic rod inside pushes the fiberboard flapper inside at the top against the vacuum port, closing it off and at the same time pushing the valve open to atmosphere, meaning the vacuum is blocked and air can get back in, making the piston be pushed down by the spring, pumping fluid to the screen. Let go of the vacuum and the valve is pushed off the port and the vent valve is closed. If those 3 rubber pieces are good it should pump. Phil

It's 88 degrees in the garage and there's a storm brewing. What better time to grab a scraper and a 1.5kW heat gun?! Got this far before deciding enough was enough and heading in. I need a smaller blade to get into the crease but that came up well. Most of the metal is sound still. Now I can see the bumps and dinks and putting the dolly against the inside will be a little more effective than it was when it was cushioned. Phil

Continued my archaeology. Removed the incorrectly profiled and attached lower quarter "repair". I then removed several pounds of Bondo- more yet to go. I put a bit of gloss paint on the quarter where I removed the body filler. It was quite rippled, from what I can see somebody tightened a ratchet strap around the back of the car at some point. A little work with hammers has seen the correct overall profile close to being back. Still needs a little more finesse. I need to remove the old rubberized paint from the inside of the panel. I had also continued the removal of the rusted sheet metal in the trunk. There's a bit in the corner where the panel wasn't put together correctly and the water sat between the seams and rusted them out. Mass production at its best. Phil