PhilAndrews

Road trip today, made an 84 miles round trip. The car did well. Met Mr. Fred and his cars today- a very pleasant time was had. Thank you for your hospitality! Phil

I'll check and see if he still has it.

It rained a little today. I tidied the garage because I got flooded in. Phil

Went get Chinese because I didn't feel like cooking and it cooled off a little. Tune up seems to have worked because I'm now averaging about 14mpg around town. Phil

Makes a massive difference to summertime running. Phil

I took my screen wash pickle jar apart again because the last time I went to use it the thing didn't work. I had used some brake cleaner to make the seals a little more pliable but it appears to have finished off the repeater valve o-ring. I replaced that and the piston pulls nicely now. Another job checked off the list. Phil

Make no, install yes. that's an original GM item.

Yeah, with a few miles beneath the wheels in getting a better feel for the car, how it should and should not behave. That goes along with how much things can be adjusted for better running, too. Phil

I had a thought. What does a dynamometer do? Well, it loads the engine up against the wheels. Ok, so being as I have an automatic gearbox with a fluid coupling, I can do the same to a degree. So, with the stall speed of the fluid coupling known (approx 1500rpm) I had my wife hard on the brakes then flat to the floor on the gas. I then quickly adjusted the ignition for peak RPM and had her shut things off- no more than 5 seconds of that against the gearbox, all that engine power going into heating the fluid up. Went for a test drive and it's not bad. I think it needs to come back ever so slightly because peak torque is meant to be 2200 rpm not 1500 so that's something for another day. Right now it's got some serious get up and go compared to how it was before. I even had it up to 60 (per GPS!). Phil

I added a tee at the manifold and attached my vacuum gauge. With the engine nice and warm after a fairly long run, I set the idle mixture and ignition timing. Runs better now, doesn't pop and bang on overrun either. Phil

Out for a drive. But where to? Local drive-in. Went get a chocolate malt, tonight being the last forecast day of pleasant weather this week. New cars are... So big. Phil

Washed and leathered and ready to go out for a drive. Weather's warming up, too. Phil

Intake tube in place. Pipe and repaired duct in place. All works again, but better now the duct isn't all mangled. Phil

Rewired, reassembled and now it's put back in the car, working. Phil

Working with the portable fingerprint removal tool tonight. Continuing work on cleaning up the sheet metal. Phil

The ductwork from under the car was in pretty poor shape, looks like someone jacked the car up onto it. Is that spiral ducting original? It doesn't feel like it would be. I beat on it with hammers until an acceptable shape was achieved. More to follow. Phil

Curiosity got the better of me tonight so I cleaned up the commutator, polished the bearings, oiled them up, redid the solder joints and reassembled. Brief bench test showed 3.7A steady at 6V and no untoward noises (it would howl and shriek before occasionally because the bearings were dry). I'll redo the feed wire because the insulation has gone bad and go from there. Phil

There was talk of a Bosch 12v motor that fits these housings as a replacement, or am I dreaming it?

Well that was fun. Actually no, it wasn't. Pulled the fan apart. Pulled the motor apart. Well, that's been hot enough to melt the solder. That motor is toast. Phil

Oh, and the heater fan smells like it has burned up a winding because it smelled like singed lacquer and now only runs slowly. I guess I do get to pull it out after all. That gonna be fun.

Oil change time. Yeah, that needed doing (about 1000 miles). Greased all the points on the suspension, brake pedal and propshaft. Also took the e-brake balancer off, cleaned it, adjusted the cable and set the handle correctly. It's running more smoothly now and doesn't smell quite so blue. Phil

Took the car for a run this morning. It's nice to have all the gauges working. I've done 1454 miles so far, which is pretty good going, I think. The car was filthy from those miles, the wheels particularly. Gave it a jolly good wash. Much better. Presentable again. Phil

I got the photos I took developed. Misty Louisiana byway. Sunset at the baseball field. Yours truly! Phil

Well, so far it's doing duties as Car, going to work, going to the store. Needs a service coming up soon, grease and oil. Phil

Hallmark day today. First car you drive might as well be a memorable one, right? She did pretty well, dressed up in headscarf for the occasion. Phil