What did you do to your car today?

[will e]

Day number 5 to work AND..... Towed it. LOL. Yep, after bragging about driving it to work each day it decided to break down on me.

With no choke and a bit of a cam it always run a little rough first thing in the morning. Often times I will keep one foot on the brake and one on the gas at the first couple of stop lights just to keep the RPMs up a little.

Pulled up to the usual freeway entrance light and the car died. Started it up and it felt like it was running on 5 cyls. It died a couple of times even with me feathering the throttle. We have a long 2 lane entrance ramp so I stayed to the right as I milked it up to 55mph hoping it was just flooded a little or something and it would clear itself out but it didn't. Two miles into it I pulled her over and shut it down. After that it wouldn't really start, it kind of tried, without missing and almost diesling like sounding. Oh well AAA is my friend and they came and got me. It started last night when I got home from work but really rough. I am going to have to check it out today. I don't think it is anything major (unless I took out a lifter...)

I'll post up separate thread if I can't figure out what the issue is.

 

[jhawk635]

Day number 5 to work AND..... Towed it. LOL. Yep, after bragging about driving it to work each day it decided to break down on me.

Sorry to hear that! Hope you get it back on the road quickly and look forward to hearing what caused it.

I'm planning to drive mine for the first time in two years on Monday (that's if we don't get rain) so I'm really a bit nervous about its true roadworthiness.

 

[will e]

Day number 5 to work AND..... Towed it. LOL. Yep, after bragging about driving it to work each day it decided to break down on me.

Sorry to hear that! Hope you get it back on the road quickly and look forward to hearing what caused it.

I'm planning to drive mine for the first time in two years on Monday (that's if we don't get rain) so I'm really a bit nervous about its true roadworthiness.

Thanks and good luck with yours. Those first drives can be nerve racking. I was actually a little hyper nervous the first two days but by Friday I had settled into it. And then it dies.. lol

Could be a couple of things. I may have a stuck float in one of the carbs, maybe a piece of something in there.

I recently bypassed the tach and just spliced the wires together. I wonder if the tach is responsible for some of the voltage drop to the coil or is it all resistor wire? I will test with a multimeter but perhaps I burned up the coil.

Worse case is I ground a lifter. I had that happen before but I doubt that is what is going on here.

Let us know how the first drive goes! That's exciting!

 

[jhawk635]

Let us know how the first drive goes! That's exciting!

I'm going to take a 40 mile drive Monday with open headers to get the exhaust put in. We've been up and down the street a couple times and got it up to temperature to make sure there are no leaks. Damn forecast is 30% chance of isolated showers and I don't have a top on it yet so I may end up having to wait...I'll just have to see what it looks like.

 

[Mikes73]

We installed new retractable seatbelts in the front and rear of the car. The fronts have a shoulder belt that uses the factory mounting locations so the install wasn't to bad. Good luck with the car hopefully nothing to bad going on and I get anxious about the first few drives on a new build too.

 

[will e]

Day number 5 to work AND..... Towed it. LOL. Yep, after bragging about driving it to work each day it decided to break down on me.

Sorry to hear that! Hope you get it back on the road quickly and look forward to hearing what caused it.

I'm planning to drive mine for the first time in two years on Monday (that's if we don't get rain) so I'm really a bit nervous about its true roadworthiness.

Checked voltage at the coil with ignition on and it was about 3 volts.

Checked float bowls on each carb and none poured out fuel.

It got me a little worried and I started thinking the worse. So next step is to pull off the distributor cap and take a look. BINGO. As I removed the cap parts started falling out. Okay, well, one part that had broken into at least two pieces. On my Mallory the center has a spring loaded contact for the rotor, mine broke. A quick trip to the store and a new cap and rotor and it fired right up. Nice.

Going to take it for a test drive.

 

[will e]

Problem solved! Got it back on the road, running good. Washed it. Ready for another week of driving it to work while the weather is still nice.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Finished my engine to transmission assembly, and installed my starter. More minor fabricating was required to fit the Lakewood Bellhousing, but it's done.

Tomorrow if I get time, I'm going to finish prepping the engine compartment and move the car over and take the front off the "roller skates" to facilitate the install.

 

[Qcode351mach]

Finished my engine to transmission assembly, and installed my starter. More minor fabricating was required to fit the Lakewood Bellhousing, but it's done.

Tomorrow if I get time, I'm going to finish prepping the engine compartment and move the car over and take the front off the "roller skates" to facilitate the install.

Looks really nice ::goodjob::

Can't wait to get mine to that point.. I'm right behind ya..a few more weeks..

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

I'm not happy with the paint on the bellhousing. I wish I had taken it to be powder coated. Hopefully the heat of a running engine and headers will cure it into a tougher coating.

 

[will e]

I have mine out as well and am going to paint it flat black. I had done a gloss/semi gloss (don't remember) and the reflection was bad enough that sometimes I could hardly see. I kept a towel in the car with me that I would toss onto the dash. If I don't like how the flat black looks I will go back to the towel method.

I'll have to see how it plays out...at least I will have a towel handy thanks to you!

Now that I am back on the road I can confirm the flat black makes a big difference in reducing the reflection. I noted that a parking lot I would be in at during lunch I was able to see through the windshield going towards the door of the establishment. I remember in the past this was always a bad angle. So keep that towel handy.

I actually like the way the flat black looks, kind of sets it apart but I think for your ride and level of detail you might want to keep it the way it is now. You can always paint it flat later if you find it troublesome.

 

[Duncan Mach72]

I actually got the car out for a drive today, dry & windy but mild (10 or 12C), not bad for England in February. Went to one local American car meet, nice slammed '63 2-door Bel Air in white (air suspension), some trucks & then a guy turned up in a nice white 2012 Boss 302.

After a while he & I went to another meet 8 miles away of Jap/Euro owners who are ok. They liked my car a lot! Holley float adjustment came loose & leaked, sorted that, visited the studio I used to run and got another leak where the fuel pipe enters the engine compartment.

I've done about 50 miles this week which is the most for about 4 years! Last weekend was great, nice & sunny, had an excellent blast along the local dual carriageway.

 

[73StangCoupe]

I was planning on a coat of mothers wax and cleaning the wheels. I got it out and checked all the fluids and saw that the oil looked terrible. So I ended up changing the oil with valvoline 'VR1. I picked up the oil and mothers speed ball. I gave it a quick coat of wax and cleaned the wheels with the speed ball, it worked great. Wanted to take it for a drive but it started raining.

 

[Duncan Mach72]

I was planning on a coat of mothers wax and cleaning the wheels. I got it out and checked all the fluids and saw that the oil looked terrible. So I ended up changing the oil with valvoline 'VR1. I picked up the oil and mothers speed ball. I gave it a quick coat of wax and cleaned the wheels with the speed ball, it worked great. Wanted to take it for a drive but it started raining.

Pity about the rain! I'd like to run my car on VR1 but I want 10w30 which they don't sell here, only 20w50. It's hard to buy oil with ZDDP in here, hell it's hard to buy mineral oil.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Well the engine and transmission are in place, though there is still a lot left to do. I have to say putting them in assembled was too challenging to complete without some help, but I only needed assistance to push the engine into position as I lowered it the last bit onto the mounts. Rear of the car was up in the air as high as my Jack stands could safely support it, and I used a ratchet strap from the transmission to the rear axle to pull the transmission into position.

Note to others-plug the tailshaft of your transmission or fill after install LOL

I think I am going back to work for the next few days and get some rest

 

[73StangCoupe]

I was planning on a coat of mothers wax and cleaning the wheels. I got it out and checked all the fluids and saw that the oil looked terrible. So I ended up changing the oil with valvoline 'VR1. I picked up the oil and mothers speed ball. I gave it a quick coat of wax and cleaned the wheels with the speed ball, it worked great. Wanted to take it for a drive but it started raining.

Pity about the rain! I'd like to run my car on VR1 but I want 10w30 which they don't sell here, only 20w50. It's hard to buy oil with ZDDP in here, hell it's hard to buy mineral oil.

Not to change the subject but I always wanted to ask someone from the UK if they watch a car show called Wheeler Dealer? I love it!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[cudak888]

Not to change the subject but I always wanted to ask someone from the UK if they watch a car show called Wheeler Dealer? I love it!

Add one from the U.S. who enjoys it.

Come to think of it, Wheeler Dealers (UK), Chasing Classic Cars (US), and Hemmings' My Classic Car (US) are about the only productions that remain entertaining in the realm of vintage vehicle TV shows.

Everything else is a drama-filled joke filled with bad bodywork, faked values, and boring hosts who spend most of their time proving that they have bigger balljoints than the next guy.

-Kurt

 

[sm3570]

I love Chasing Classic Cars. I like Wheeler Dealers most of the time, but some of the cars they work on I'm not too thrilled with. In one episode they restored a Soviet era Polish car that was terrible.

 

[Duncan Mach72]

I was planning on a coat of mothers wax and cleaning the wheels. I got it out and checked all the fluids and saw that the oil looked terrible. So I ended up changing the oil with valvoline 'VR1. I picked up the oil and mothers speed ball. I gave it a quick coat of wax and cleaned the wheels with the speed ball, it worked great. Wanted to take it for a drive but it started raining.

Pity about the rain! I'd like to run my car on VR1 but I want 10w30 which they don't sell here, only 20w50. It's hard to buy oil with ZDDP in here, hell it's hard to buy mineral oil.

Not to change the subject but I always wanted to ask someone from the UK if they watch a car show called Wheeler Dealer? I love it!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

Strangely we don't have a TV! We just download stuff to watch (use Netflix etc) & use the internet for news. Some friends of mine do like to watch it, I guess I should catch up on it.

 

[cudak888]

I love Chasing Classic Cars. I like Wheeler Dealers most of the time, but some of the cars they work on I'm not too thrilled with. In one episode they restored a Soviet era Polish car that was terrible.

The FSM Syrena. Still more enjoyable to watch that segment than any episode of American Hot Rod or the 5000 identical copy-cat shows that have since followed.

-Kurt