Ironmightys Americana 1952, 58,59, 73 & 85

[ironmighty07]

So after the leaky left wheel cylinder I had planned to swap out the RHS as well but the test drive on Monday hinted at something loose on that side.
Thought quick check this evening should highlight whatever was worn... dang... nothing obvious suspension/steering wise but it did throw more light on the "rebuilt" cylinders😒


Looks like that hex head has been in there a while and if you've got the cylinder off why wouldn't you take the broken bleed screw out, equally the fact I got both cylinders delivered via Rock Auto for under £50 the pair it simply irritates me.. combined with the sketchy use of household 3 core in the "rewire" it looks like the latest acquisition is going to need quite a bit more work...but equally it still looks cool and for "only" 3.8 litres and 2 spd trans it Cruises quite well.

[ironmighty07]

How to confuse a stupid person... take one old car, with a period accessory in the form of an aircon unit and installation with a noisy tensioner/idler bearing. Stupid person assumes this is probably some obscure imperial American spec bearing.
Pressed out the pulley OK so wander down a factor with tales of vintage Americana.. he's wander back & forth through the books... nope nothing imperial.... because it's a metric bearing, a bog standard 6203 so cheap and thankfully ex stock(less joy on the vee belts, with need to be a 13mm wide and not the 11mm ones the Plymouth is presently fitted with.

[ironmighty07]

I don't like being critical of previous owners but one niggle on the recent acquired 52 Chevy has been a weeping sump plug on the fuel tank...
Now it's a lovely piece of work, in aluminium but the filler neck is totally wrong but not a catastrophe. Built in the UK for £400(receipt came with the car)...pictures from the seller..





So the leak was annoying, and was I hoped a simple fix.....

Anyone see the problem with the sump washer I just removed? I cannot believe you go to the expense of a custom tank and then bodge the sealing washer🤯... so much shoddy work on this vehicle it's a case of accepting anything I look at needs re-doing.... but it does look cool and that's the main thing😎

[ironmighty07]

The Chevy needed a spare... so logical thinking was buy 2 wider wheels, fit those and relegate the "best" of the old wheels to the role of spare....





So it's now a rusty lump, with a water leak, dodgy wire and more patina than a 2dr needs, but with 2 super shiny wheels👌

Tomorrow is a "brakes" day, first up changing brake pads on the daily Audi then change the calipers, hoses plus discs & pads on the Plymouth now the Servo modification is complete(including electric vac pump for both Servo and heater controls)

[ironmighty07]

A bit of a "WTAF" moment this morning... have tar/bitumen find it's way into suspension in the past but never anything like this😲

So my initial plan to change the calipers out after the previous "gravy" fluid issue is now the full front suspension rebuild I had been planning for later..but took the opportunity to scrape the stuff off(mix of chippings, bitumen and grease)... looking better now but still think I'll go strip it all and refurbish it now.



Becoming a little frustrating how many jobs are stacking up on both the Plymouth and the Chevrolet at the minute, some in part because of shoddy work previously but also the 64 and 71 years old.
Better to take the time and get it right the first time I intervene despite the frustration.

[ironmighty07]

Examples the loose and slight knock in the front suspension... these are the upper arm bushes.


Currently wrestling with the torsion bars, could be a long and frustrating task😭

[glenanderson]

Yeah, the newness has definitely worn off those.

[ironmighty07]

The hotch-potch of parts on these vehicles continues to frustrate. The suspension is now fully stripped out the Plymouth, the right hand side revealing more of the weird tar & stone treatment😬 and evidence of worn bushes...






This "protection" is proving a real challenge to get the ball joints out, they're threaded which is great but even with generous amounts of penetrating fluid and induction heat it's still a long & arduous task to get them free😒

But the gift that keeps giving has slapped me down again... turns out my steering tie rods are not the original ones for the vehicle🙄, and were probably added as part of the brake disc mod.

It appears what's fitted is 1960 onward bits, based on the measurements so another Rock Auto order it is, whilst the other components are getting powder coated.

[ironmighty07]

Being focused on other things for a little while but starting to move everything into a unit and then boom the big E350 decided starting was for losers....
Tracked it down/decided it was likely a fault in the glow plug circuit.... and ta-da!!!

An interim "bodge" confirmed this to be the immediate problem(but the test also induced quite a lot of smoke) with the vehicle starting on key pretty much immediately. it's a fusible link, a hefty £1.73 from Rock Auto(and shipped with some other bits for another projects) but that fact it's failing suggests the glow plugs are earthing out so replacements for them(look really tricky to change on the 6.9IDI engine(worse for this engine with turbo plumbing in the way!)

[PhilA]

That tar/gravel/trash is common on cars here; until recently, diety roads were settled down a bit by grading the dirt smooth then spraying molten tar on top with no bonding agents (for instance, gravel). In the sunshine it's picked up and flicked everywhere.

Phil

[ironmighty07]

I seem to have an ever increasing number of cars, and an ever decreasing number that are roadworthy/usable.

Been working on the Chevrolet whilst alternating with another troublesome project a when spares or lack of means I have capacity.

As mooted elsewhere, the Chevrolet had been "rewired" previously but I was never really happy with the standard of it. Domestic 3 core cable, towbar wiring and lots of overly heavy cable in places it doesn't need to be.



Finally tackled stripping out the "harness" behind the dash and whilst I thought it looked bad when I'd checked last year... its actually far worse including this excellent "busbar" arrangement.



So it's a full rewire ripping out everything, throwing in a HEI distributor and refreshing the cooling system(and the problems swapping the water pump out)...

[glenanderson]

I like the “busbar”. Very creative. 🤣

[ironmighty07]

Still waiting on other parts decided to grab the opportunity to start installing the brake disc conversion. To be clear the drum brakes weren't bad but I hate the master cylinder mounted on the frame below the floor annoyed me so when that started to fail last year decided I'd go for bulkhead mounted solution and migrate to discs at the same time.
Handily the old wiring "harness" passed through the route where the master cylinder mounts go so it's great to be rerouting that as well.

Plus usual volume of road tar and crud needing scraping off the underframe components🙄

[glenanderson]

Very nice.

[ironmighty07]

Well that might explain the fuel spills and general scent of petrol in daily use😬
The more "work" is revealed on the Chevy just saddens me... why spend the money on a custom tank and the demonstrate such incompetence installing a gasket and 5 x M5 screws to the degree it leaves a 1/4" gap at the sender, then add in the sender not being suitable for the ethanol content(see "melted" plastic internally)... its more delays whilst I wait on a new sender🙄

[crockpot]

Good grief that is truly awful.

[Ratchet]

ugh :I and the crudely cut access hole is the icing on the cake

some people should.. just put the spanners down and take up another hobby

hopefully the threads in the tank arent damaged?

[glenanderson]

That’s really disappointing.

Still, once you have sorted it you’ll have some peace of mind.

[ironmighty07]

Whilst everything is apart I've started to tackle a job that I've been reluctantly eyeing up for a while... as I find common place lots of classics have decommissioned heaters with either the plumbing or electrics(or both) isolated. With most of dash components out the way the access will never be better and whilst waiting on more connectors and bits due being unable/unwilling to retain the old bits I decided I'd take the fan motor out.. its only 5 screws...

Famous last words, with three of those screws needing drilling out🙄... however it did reveal a rather large amount of animal nesting material...

.... or at least I thought it was bedding. The car has been in the UK a while, so pretty sure this is all USA rodent evidence but still very surprised when vacuuming this mess out it started with a significant lump... that had vertebrae on display🤢

Guess I can officially use the term "rat" to describe this car now not just "Patina".

Remarkably the blower motor still works really well although think the bearings might have seen better days after I bench tested it with a variable power supply(cheap Ebay purchase but really useful for testing electrical items off car). Suspect its probably a 6v unit given how fast it goes at that voltage so looking for a 12v unit that might drop in

[kevins]

you could just use a ballast resistor on the original motor.