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'51 Chieftain


PhilAndrews

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On 11/22/2020 at 7:48 PM, PhilAndrews said:

I have a feeling that was the primary change made- the standard Hydramatic, if so fitted, is physically able to do things like 3rd gear hold.

It's nice that they decided to develop it a little and reply to customer requests.

 

For in the flat around here, the regular Hydramatic works well, I could see where 3rd gear hold would be useful. 2nd gear is too much of a jump down for holding speeds where there's any kind of traffic behind you.

 

Phil

changes were made in the valve body so that the D^ position allowed 1-2 and 2-3 just like ^D position but no 3-4 up shift until 70 mph.

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20201212_113453.thumb.jpg.b122b8c7926a2c65538620f0fdb727b9.jpg

Today ended up looking like Texas Chainsaw Massacre; managed to get ATF everywhere...

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Thoroughly cleaned the valve block which does behave better now. 

 

Went for a drive. Fuel pump is acting up again so that needs a rebuild. Other than that it drove pretty well, considering. Held 55 without complaint for about 30 miles, which on a 4.1 rear end is booking it!

 

Phil

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Phil, the brake binding you previously mentioned-

was that because of a brake hose with an internal (2-part hose) swelling,

causing a "check valve" type issue, not allowing fluid to bleed back?

I once had this happen with a '52 Chevy convertible with a defective new front flex-brake hose.

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1 hour ago, Marty Roth said:

Phil, the brake binding you previously mentioned-

was that because of a brake hose with an internal (2-part hose) swelling,

causing a "check valve" type issue, not allowing fluid to bleed back?

I once had this happen with a '52 Chevy convertible with a defective new front flex-brake hose.

No, all the hydraulics are new, hard lines, flexi pipes and wheel cylinders. The master was okay but since it's been pressed into service it's leaking now so I'm going to fix that.

The issue is the shoes are 30 thou' oversize, but the drums aren't in bad shape and aren't worn so I had to put them in off center and let them bed in.

That makes adjusting the anchor position difficult so at speed one shoe is grabbing and self-energizing and pulling itself on slightly.

I just need to readjust it all.

 

Phil

Edited by PhilAndrews (see edit history)
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Good luck with the fine-tuning, and hopefully you'll "be in that number" if we actually get to do our Lagniappe Drive-In Movie night in Houma this month (or next).

Our plan is to broadcast sound on FM radio, and those of us whose cars don't have FM can bring a portable radio or some other substitute

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4 hours ago, Marty Roth said:

Good luck with the fine-tuning, and hopefully you'll "be in that number" if we actually get to do our Lagniappe Drive-In Movie night in Houma this month (or next).

Our plan is to broadcast sound on FM radio, and those of us whose cars don't have FM can bring a portable radio or some other substitute

AM-only here! (Plus, at 45 Watts the radio does a good job of flattening the battery if left on for a couple hours with the engine not running).

 

If I can iron out the kinks by then, that is.

 

Phil

 

 

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On 12/13/2020 at 5:43 PM, PhilAndrews said:

AM-only here! (Plus, at 45 Watts the radio does a good job of flattening the battery if left on for a couple hours with the engine not running).

 

If I can iron out the kinks by then, that is.

 

Phil

 

 

 

It is OK to go modern for our events-

It is more important to visit with folks than just to bring the old car !

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It may end up that way, went in to clean up a few electrical contacts and the brake master cylinder has given up and barfed all is fluid on the floor.

Colder weather, I guess.

 

I'll pull the cylinder off and take it apart and inspect the bore. If it's still serviceable I'll get a rubber rebuild set, if not I'll get a new or rebuilt master.

 

Yay fun!

 

At least it decided to do that in the garage and not on the highway.

 

Phil

Edited by PhilAndrews
Autocorrect (see edit history)
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  • 4 weeks later...

Had a little time after work.

 

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All bolted in and tightened up.

 

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Poor picture but the brake pedal is adjusted to the correct height for the correct maximum travel.

 

Started readjustment of the shoes but ran out of time. More tomorrow.

 

Phil

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1 hour ago, Summershandy said:

I remember having to go back a dozen times to re-tighten those fittings at the junction trying to stop a weep. 

I thought I'd never get it. Hope you have better luck! 

Interesting to see the design difference. 

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Slightly different, not too far off though. 

 

Phil

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Been putting some miles on it lately, it's nice to be back behind the wheel.

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Cool morning today saw it functioning as a cloud generator.

 

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This afternoon after work, grocery store run. It's fun to stand back at that distance and watch people's reactions to the car.

 

Phil

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On 1/11/2021 at 6:35 PM, PhilAndrews said:

Been putting some miles on it lately, it's nice to be back behind the wheel.

20210111_091934.thumb.jpg.b32141fd2af5d80caa35daaa17c3cf1e.jpg

Cool morning today saw it functioning as a cloud generator.

 

20210111_163314.thumb.jpg.b7470a95bf3d4264f8fec630c060cfb3.jpg

This afternoon after work, grocery store run. It's fun to stand back at that distance and watch people's reactions to the car.

 

Phil

My wife says my store runs take waaaay too long. I usually come back to the car with someone standing there, then explaining it's history including under the hood! LOL

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1 hour ago, Summershandy said:

My wife says my store runs take waaaay too long. I usually come back to the car with someone standing there, then explaining it's history including under the hood! LOL

I've not yet had anybody stop and talk about the car in that depth, it's always just been "Nice car, what is it?", which is fine in itself.

 

I guess if I were to go into the city and park up it may be different. 

 

Phil

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Driving home today, the car began to get a bit stuttery under light throttle, but was perfectly happy to pick up and go if I pushed on the pedal hard.

Ruled out fuel delivery issues so when I got home and the car has cooled off some I checked the ignition system.

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Trailing points had closed up a little so I adjusted them back to spec.

 

In looking about I also heard a slight hiss from the carb off idle- the vacuum advance pipe wasn't sealing correctly. Took that off and cleaned the union, reassembled and tightened down. 

 

The car is a lot less strained at light throttle now, imagine that! 

 

Phil

Edited by PhilAndrews (see edit history)
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On 1/24/2021 at 11:38 AM, PhilAndrews said:

Today the weather was nice so I went for a (surprisingly busy) Sunday drive.

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Got some more shots of that on film. I hope they come out.

 

Phil

 

Hi Phil,

I had planned to advise you of our scheduled chapter meeting in Houma, But we had to cancel out of concern for health safety .

Maybe next month?

Edited by Marty Roth (see edit history)
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11 minutes ago, Marty Roth said:

 

Hi Phil,

I had planned to advise you of our scheduled chapter meeting in Houma, But we had to cancel out of concern for health safety .

Maybe next month?

Just in time for my alternator to start causing problems!

 

All good, let me know what happens!

 

Phil

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I am not certain of the technical answer, I’m sure Charles can help. But I use a B45 Gates belt and it works perfectly. Available at any bumper to bumper. 
 

EDIT: it the 45 is too long they have B44, B43, etc. 

It fits well in these grooves. Grooves should be the same, length slightly different between your engine and mine.

Edited by cevensky (see edit history)
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I went through a few belts and the 40.5" I got from CPR plain don't fit- the 45" from Napa went back because it was way too long.

 

This one is 42.25" x 19/32" and length-wise it fits. I think I just need a "classical cross section" belt because this one is too fat at the base and is interfering with the pulley.

 

I'm going to see if they have that length by 23/32" in the "classical" shape (B) and see how well that works.

 

Phil

Edited by PhilAndrews (see edit history)
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A real world test today- the Cold Morning.

It was foggy and there was a chill to the air, leaving the car all misted up.

 

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I had left it on fast idle to warm up which left that lovely sooty mark on the driveway! The screen defrost and cabin heating work well, and the thermostatic valve does regulate the cabin temperature.

 

I had a few instances lately of people getting up real close when I was braking to make a turn; I've folded and fitted bright red LED bulbs in the rear lights which has made a big difference to how people follow the car now. I was worried that the lights would not have good contrast between tail and brake because a lot of LED's tend to but these actually have better contrast with the tail lights on than the 21/5 filament bulbs and the brake lights are brighter. Unfortunately today's drivers are used to being blinded by brake lights to grab their attention- these don't blind you but they make the low down and quite small lights by today's standards significantly more visible. I like the way the back of the car looks, I would rather it not be modified by someone else's fenders.

 

Phil

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20210204_135430.thumb.jpg.54b2eecb06fe87bfb2b640f8d7663f27.jpg

Full sunshine test.

 

Nice contrast. Happier with that. Hopefully the no name brand brake light switch will last a little longer than the last one now that it has less current demand. I'll take the slight additional safety margin offered by these bulbs considering how much I drive the car in everyday traffic, day and night.

 

Phil

Edited by PhilAndrews (see edit history)
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Well, I hear the gnashing of teeth and the wails of horror at the mention of "light emitting diode"...

 

We have 17" of sunshine piled up on the ground here, you can take it.

 

I also possibly have a lead on the correct back-up lights too, so keep an eye open for that. Those ones are good and they work but they're not right.

 

Phil

Edited by PhilAndrews (see edit history)
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