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Working on the 60 Electra


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6 hours ago, Bill Stoneberg said:

I have ordered a new tank (a 63 Riviera tank with modifications to the neck) and sender for the very reason we are putting new Holley in-tank pump in.  Help keeps the pump cooler and no vapor lock.

Rob has an external pump, and he wants one too. He has had issues in the summer with vapor lock with the Riviera.

 

  Am I remembering you are going EFI?   NO "vapor lock"  with that.

 

  Ben

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6 hours ago, Bill Stoneberg said:

I have ordered a new tank (a 63 Riviera tank with modifications to the neck) and sender for the very reason we are putting new Holley in-tank pump in.  Help keeps the pump cooler and no vapor lock.

Rob has an external pump, and he wants one too. He has had issues in the summer with vapor lock with the Riviera.

 

  Am I remembering you are going EFI?   NO "vapor lock"  with that.

 

  Ben

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6 hours ago, Bill Stoneberg said:

I have ordered a new tank (a 63 Riviera tank with modifications to the neck) and sender for the very reason we are putting new Holley in-tank pump in.  Help keeps the pump cooler and no vapor lock.

Rob has an external pump, and he wants one too. He has had issues in the summer with vapor lock with the Riviera.

 

  Am I remembering you are going EFI?   NO "vapor lock"  with that.

 

  Ben

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Had a fun time today… no working on the car, at least the Electra.

Friends had a car show at their restaurant today and both Rob and I drove over to it. He took his 64 Riviera and I drove my 80 Coupe De Ville. Show was nice, no early cars. 
We had lunch and then headed for my house which is about 90 miles or so through the hill country of Texas.  Best part was that we traded cars. I know his Riviera very well as I was the previous owner. But he has made changes that made it feel like a different car.

One, he we was able to get the seat moved back so I was comfortable in the car. Amazing what a difference that made.  It wasn’t bad before and didn’t stop me from driving the car, but it’s much more comfortable for this fat boy now.

Two he has done engine and accessory work.  A different cam that breathes better and gives more torque. EFI and a better exhaust makes the car sound better and run better.

Anyway, it was a fun drive for both of us as he enjoyed the trade too.

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Sit right down folks and let me tell you the tale of the rear axle. 

After pulling the rear wheels and drums, one brake shoe was soaked in grease. Rob thought the axle seal was leaking and that he was going to have to pull the axle and bearings.

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After much investigation, he discovered our friend and nemesis RTV.

Yes, a prior repair repair person strikes again with his tube of RTV.  Bernie, you wondered what else was stuck on, we found something.

 

The fool used Sooo much RTV he literally blocked the oil drain back hole for the bearing and retainer. See oil passes through the bearings and then drains to that little pocket chamber in the retaining plate and down through the hold into the lower part of the axle tube. He blocked it off with 4 tons of RTV So it just built up into a greasy like congealed crud from heat and then oozed out all over the brakes.

 

So a new axle gaskets and seals and we should be able to stop the leak without RTV.

 

 

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That's a worse use of RTV than the previous "worst use" I know about.  The prior worst use was from a friend at work, ages ago.  Chevy had a warehouse clearance on small block 400 short blocks.  I sold three of them to co-workers.  One used some old 283 cyl heads on his, using clear RTV as valve cover gaskets.  Seems that he used enough to sqish out into the valve springs when everything was tightened down.  Valve spring dampers, external, it seems!  We all got a good laugh out of that, as we shook our heads.  But the same guy rebuilt a Varialble Venturi carb on a Ford LTD trade-in and it worked the first time.  FWIW.

 

Glad you found the reason the Electra didn't stop as well as it could have!

 

Take care,

NTX5467

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There is no greater pleasure than working on a car and find that you are the first visitor to a mechanical location. I put a new bearing in mine a few years ago. That little rubber sealing ring around the outside of the bearing may have caused the RTV solution to spawn.

 

If you showed your findings to the previous tinkerer I bet the first two words would be "I thought". The two most dangerous words in the English language. Imagine how many times you have heard them and what happened right before they were uttered.

 

A toast from my Irish bardic ancestors:

"May your problems be small ones and ne'er distraught. So you can always smile when the man says "I thought."

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22 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

There is no greater pleasure than working on a car and find that you are the first visitor to a mechanical location.

 

Although I appreciate being 'the first', I actually get more satisfaction from returning something to it's original state following failure induced all, or in part, by someone else's supposed 'repair'.

 

So, I find Bill's axle seal repair story very pleasing...  ;)

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The new gas tank came.  Some cutting on the neck to get it behind the license plate and it will be set.

Nobody makes a tank for the Electra but a 63-64 Riviera tank will fit with some modifications.  The tank is correct, it is the filler neck

that needs some modifications.

 

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Edited by Bill Stoneberg (see edit history)
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14 hours ago, 37_Roadmaster_C said:

really like this thread. I am learning about a whole lot of things t

 

Yeah, Like how happy I am that I dropped my '60 Electra off for a transmission rebuild the Tuesday of Good Friday week and picked it up the following Wednesday all done.

 

I'm not much for naming cars, but if I was.

 

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23 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

Yeah, Like how happy I am that I dropped my '60 Electra off for a transmission rebuild the Tuesday of Good Friday week and picked it up the following Wednesday all done.

 

It would be nice to be able to do that.  All the transmission shops, even the one that have been around forever, just laughed at me when I told them it was a dynaflow.

 

 

Anyway more cleaning, scraping and blasting is going on. I thought we had all the parts we need, but that wasn't the case.  So more parts are ordered and more parts are on the way. 

 

Before and after pictures.

 

 

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I see the wheel cylinder is not with the cleaned parts. If you are planning to put new ones in buy local and take a fitting with you to test the threads. Some real poor thread tapping is coming off those ocean ships. You might consider having your original ones sleeved. Hydro-E does a great job with fast turn around. And I think the quality of the castings on the original is much higher. Sleeved and rebuilt or old stock with new rubber would be preferred in that order. ,

 

Whatever you decide be wary of parts that come in plain brown boxes.

 

Just kidding about the "one more thing" but that is the main reason I farmed mine out. I knew if I took the rearend and transmission out I would be under there for at least two years doing just one more 10 minute job.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Finally got the parts and work has somewhat slowed down for Rob.

 

Back end is almost done.  Brakes and axel is back together and now he is replacing the gas tank.

The dont make a tank for that car but a 1st gen Riviera tank fits with some modifications.

Basically you cut the filler neck off the old one and replace the new one with it.  

If your tank is rusty and crusty its a good replacement.

Considering we are putting a in tank Fuel Pump in for EFI we thought it was a good idea.

It fit right in.....

Now to put the pump in.

 

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On 12/14/2021 at 1:04 PM, Bill Stoneberg said:

Finally got the parts and work has somewhat slowed down for Rob.

 

Back end is almost done.  Brakes and axel is back together and now he is replacing the gas tank.

The dont make a tank for that car but a 1st gen Riviera tank fits with some modifications.

Basically you cut the filler neck off the old one and replace the new one with it.  

If your tank is rusty and crusty its a good replacement.

Considering we are putting a in tank Fuel Pump in for EFI we thought it was a good idea.

It fit right in.....

Now to put the pump in.

 

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Good to know! 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Back to work on the car after having company and work all through the holidays.

 

Cut another hole in the tank and put in the Holley in tank fuel pump.  

Put in a new sender that will be used for the gas gauge.  Closed off the other inlets and outlets on the sender unit.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

More work on the gas tank and pump.  With the in tank pump, the head of the pump runs into the trunk floor.

So, to do any type of repair or work on the in tank pump, you would have to drain the tank and then remove it.

Not our idea of fun.....

 

So we decided to cut the trunk and build a access panel under the wasted space by the spare tire.   This way, we can do anything we need on the pump including replacing it.

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Edited by Bill Stoneberg (see edit history)
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A rainy and cold weekend (at least we didnt get mega snow) and Rob got some lines run.  No help from me as I am avoiding Austin (and friends) till the infection rate slows down.

But the lines are now run from the pump to the firewall and all new brake lines are run too.

 

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12 minutes ago, Bill Stoneberg said:

A rainy and cold weekend (at least we didnt get mega snow) and Rob got some lines run.  No help from me as I am avoiding Austin (and friends) till the infection rate slows down.

But the lines are now run from the pump to the firewall and all new brake lines are run too.

 

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What material are you using for the lines?

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It was a Fuel & Brake Line weekend. Got the fuel lines all attached to the frame and ran all the Brake lines.  Not a lot of fun but now all we need to do is bleed the brakes and the car will stop.

Plus that section will be done. Most of the lines came pre bent from Inline Tube.  They fit well.  We had to make the master cyliner lines as we went with a dual pot master Cylinder.

 

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2 hours ago, EmTee said:

What the heck is that little 'bead chain' that appears to be hanging from the torque converter...?  :huh:

Its to to turn the shift light on like you see in drag race cars 🙂

 

Seriously, I cant answer that question at the moment.  I will take a look this weekend while I am at the car and let you know.

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