|
Yeah - I'm good on bees... Long ago me, my wife, and a few other friends of ours were hiking up to a very strange burial site of one of the founders of a municipality here in LA, he died in the 30s and was interned in a 20' tall pyramid. Memebers of his family have also been buried up there until about 10-15 years ago- The plot is surrounded by a fence, but there are easy access points to get in and stand in front of this odd pyramid in the foothills of LA - Anyway, the last time we were up there, the girls slipped under the fence to get up close to it and like something out of a movie, as they were getting ready to slip back under the gate, a giant swarm of bees materialized and reared up over the pyramid and started wafting towards them. My best bud, whom I love like a brother, is very allergic to bees, so as I figured out what was going on, I looked down to see my butterball buddy tumbling down the hill to get away, meanwhile, his wife slips under the fence and my oblivious wife is standing there taking pictures! I screamed at her to come out and when she saw what was going on, she scooted out of there. No joke as soon as she cleared the fence, the swarm dissolved just as fast as it materialized. anyway, I'm loving zapped. My big event was this weekend and now I have 2 glorious weeks off, we knocked around yesterday, but today I just did some shuffling I've pretty much been commuting with the wagon for the last week and a half   this old girl is a hell of a car - funny enough, I have another buddy whos currently working up in the seattle area for about a month, he used to live up there and has been putting out feelers to see if he can find any of these wagons as parts cars to maybe grab a roof that isn't so rusty. shockingly, he called me today and said there's a guy who has one, but is thinking about selling - story on this developing after some coaxing, I got this sucker out and cruised for a bit  I have to do the brakes, I have everything, I just need to work up the energy to go out in the hot sun and get dirty more later
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2022 00:05
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 12:53 |
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:
A pretty decent 61 Econoline pickup went up on Facebook last night. $5500 in SLO.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2022 02:27
|
|
|
drat. Even with a bad transmission and housepaint over a bunch of dents, that's a screaming deal. I'd kill for that intact bed. I hate California.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2022 03:14
|
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:feh. DP. I was wandering through an old car hole once and saw a relatively late model Crown Vic (90s, where the rest of the lot was 50s to 70s vehicles), thought it might be promising for a cheap modernish drivetrain to get one of the other things there on the road with, decided to see what the engine bay looked like... The large volume of bees that greeted me when I popped the door to get to the hood release quickly convinced me to move along and ditch that idea.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2022 05:00
|
|
|
Bees I can deal with. Wasps can gently caress right off, particularly paper wasps. Like, I'll leave them both alone if they leave me alone, but bees are more likely to do the leaving alone. I've been stung by an entire nest of wasps when I was young, so they don't really bother me much, but it still stings, obviously.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2022 18:58
|
|
|
I always carry a fresh can of carburetor cleaner for the little bastards, who like to build nests in door jambs & fender wells. No fun like pulling open a door, trunk or hood to HELLO THERE & you can't really run or jump in a salvage yard. Then there was the time I got into a '74 Fury to get some dash component & disturbed a bunny that was hiding under the seat. Nearly poo poo myself.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2022 00:53
|
|
|
if it wasn't so drat hot I'd really be enjoying driving this boat around more. its having some issues that I need to find time to address. The transmission is like playing russian roullete. Before I bought this car in 2006-7? the transmission had been rebuilt. being that this is the first year for the buick auto trans, its kinda scary to deal with. I had a guy that knew them inside and out, he learned the trade from an old man and sadly worked at a place that was bought and sold a few times, when I called them last week, they said he had quit and moved on... eesh! anyway, sometimes it struggles to go in to gear, so something is sticking, you move the selector to d and nothing happens. give it a few revs and it clunks in and drives like normal I'm hoping to give it a flush and see what happens. the car needs to have the front brakes looked at as well, pulls hard to the left on stopping.  I've also made another small >$20 purchase that has been coming for a long time, ill elaborate later. __________ In a shocking turn of events, I have also made a purchase of a rust free top for my wagon I creep hard on the facebook buick groups and awhile back I put out a want for a rust free top for a 54-56 wagon, a guy contacted me and said he had one and he wanted $1800 for it.... I said that price was a bit too much for me and kinda put him on ice - we'll call him "G" he claimed he had a junk yard and had lots of buicks- asked him for a few other things and he went quiet pretty quick when I started asking for pics, but the pics he had sent me of this top looked pretty great, when I asked for his phone to call him, but he got dodgey, and just told me to send him a check for the top and I figure out the shipping from southern Idaho - This kinda went dry for about 5-6 months, but I had a funny feeling about it, so I just let it stew. My buddy is up in the PNW for a month doing some work, and he had just purchased a giant 1970s kenworth dump truck, which will be pretty cool to see itself, he's bringing it back down in a few weeks and asked if he needed anything hauled. I hit up the guy that had the roof and he didn't get back to me quickly, but when he did, I again asked him for his number and he just responded "top sold" - which I find to be complete and udder bullshit. I'm not trying to toot any horns here, but I don't think the market for mid 50s buick station wagon tops is too strong right now. I told my buddy about this saga, and being a car guy himself he said he knew of a guy in southern Idaho with a giant yard full of cars, so he gets on the horn with his connect, we'll call him "J" and sure enough.. he sends me pics of the same parts car, with the same bullet hole in the A pillar.  So with a bit more digging, "J" is the true owner of the yard and "G" is an opportunist who is trying to sell stuff out of the yard without "J"s consent.. So lets say that this roof is coming home at a fraction of the cost - there's more news on that too, in that they have several versions of my other cars in similar shape at this yard, as well as other cars from our friend circle, so dump truck boy could be coming home with a load of car parts. if this all comes true, the wagon will be getting a major overhaul and perhaps even a paint job, making it... the first classic I will ever paint. I'm also fully planning to enjoy what the car looks like without a roof on it.. story developing. ____ in other news, a few weeks before the great pulley explosion of 2022, one of my beautiful reproduction pancake air cleaners failed.   The fella that makes these is such a great dude, and he's been dealing with some pretty harsh life dramas, so I didn't feel like bugging him to ask for a new base... which is not out of line because he publicly and viciously stands behind his products... Instead I thought trying something new may be kinda fun - I'm not big in to stacks or anything open, the car is outdoors without the hood so often, I dont want to get crap down the throats of the carb so I need a closed solution   nothing like some nice polished aluminum Edmunds poo poo, if this logo looks familiar to you, these are the alternative to these beasts which live on my 48 buick.  I drove with my new air cleaners on friday, and they nearly rattled loose, so I spent some time with locktite today and now I'm good with it! speaking of cruise nights, check out this visitor from the future that came to hang out with us  oh drat, an old man spec 32 coupe with an odd powerplant...  hold on a second why aren't those carbs connected and why do the headers go... nowhere.. and why was it dead silent when it came in... https://www.current-la.com/ so I knew this was coming, but I didn't know how close it actually is.. I think its cool but I have mixed feelings about it, these guys come to cruise with us a lot and are great guys, but I had no clue this is what they were messing with behind closed doors, they currently have a few hot roddy cars that they are doing and a kid that totally knows his poo poo when it comes to ev stuff. I really like that they are doing this, I'm just not ready for it yet.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2022 08:03
|
|
|
I've lately imagined that someone out there should be building drop-in modular EV traction units that look like ICEs. My reaction is the same as yours: tomorrow is here today, holy poo poo. I know I posted in my Pontiac re-paint thread an old-man rant about American ingenuity and quality - lamenting its passing - but this proves that we are not completely dead in that department. Curious to know if anyone, anywhere in the world is designing and building such things besides beta-testers like Neil Young and the LincVolt. Push comes to shove I'd convert the Bonneville to keep it on the road. Engine & transmission push half a ton in mass, that should take care of most of the batteries, and on these older beasts, there's plenty of room. I've been researching replacing the traction battery in my sister's Prius, and that thing is a lot smaller than I thought, and accessible too. It's about 65-lbs; even tripling it for a 60s land yacht, it'll fit no problem.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2022 15:58
|
|
|
LobsterboyX posted:The transmission is like playing russian roullete. Before I bought this car in 2006-7? the transmission had been rebuilt. being that this is the first year for the buick auto trans, its kinda scary to deal with. I had a guy that knew them inside and out, he learned the trade from an old man and sadly worked at a place that was bought and sold a few times, when I called them last week, they said he had quit and moved on... eesh! Our 80's Ford did this and it ended up just being low fluid so hopefully you have a simple fix like that. In our case it was leaking slow until I towed with it and it started pouring out, ended up with a rebuild "while we're in here".
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2022 16:06
|
|
|
LobsterboyX posted:
that webpage is just a web poster with no info - it's like this?: https://www.webbmotorworks.com/ that guy also makes faux flatty V8 and V12 casings for modern gas engines as well as the electric smallblock.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2022 22:14
|
|
|
That's a Webb Motorworks logo on the "valve cover". Decent chunk of change for that, but sounds like it's a turnkey kit that they plan to offer.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2022 00:26
|
|
|
I guess these fellas were working with webb for a short time. There are like 4 guys that are all neighbors here in the valley, one guy started doing a conversion to his chevy, and the other guys kinda fell in line with it, just so happens that one of the guys is a hardcore engineer that worked for mining operations doing all kinds of things electro-motive. The other fella is just a straight car guy with a beautiful fab shop in his back yard, he's been building cars for customers since the early 90s. hearing them go on about this car, it was so deliberate, they know they aren't reinventing the wheel, they know that there is a market for this already, they are really just trying to make their version of it and market it to the set of people that will be most against it. Hell, it really opened my eyes, not because I was desirous of it, but rather because it was super interesting.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2022 20:31
|
|
|
STR posted:That's a Webb Motorworks logo on the "valve cover". Sure as poo poo. Missed that. The Webb EV kit is only in the SBC V8 format as far as I can tell, but there's nothing to stop someone from putting an electric motor inside one of the other Webb faux covers. Like, say, for example a flatty 12 one. I love the idea - for a hot rod with an exposed engine, you've got two choices - either showcase the electric stuff (which could be problematic in weather outside of sunny Cali) or disguise it. It's probably easier, though more expensive, to hide it like they did. Mind you, if they already had the disguise kit from hiding a SBC before, then it's sort of a no brainer. Could be fun to mod one of those mockup blocks for this, or if you're a masochist, hollow out an otherwise-unusable cast iron or aluminum block.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2022 22:36
|
|
|
Darchangel posted:Could be fun to mod one of those mockup blocks for this, or if you're a masochist, hollow out an otherwise-unusable cast iron or aluminum block. I like this idea. Bonus points for blocks with extra inspection holes.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2022 22:47
|
|
|
Darchangel posted:
I think it'd be fun to make a completely nonsensical version... SBC but with the distributor at the front, flathead v12 with the wrong number of spark plugs or exhaust tubes, etc. Be creative.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2022 19:29
|
|
|
Big Daddy Roth Rat Fink energy
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2022 20:30
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2022 20:48
|
|
|
There was one company that made a motor setup - I think it may have been a one-off for the particular car - but they mounted the motor controller and related elctronics in two aluminum heat-sinked boxes set on top of the actual motor, in a 90-degree V. An EV-8, if you will. It looked pretty good. I think it may have been that early Mustang built for top-speed mile runs. fake edit: Kinda https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098780_ford-mustang-electric-drag-car-does-0-to-60-mph-under-2-seconds-targets-200-mph  This is more what I was thinking: https://www.motorbiscuit.com/electric-crate-motors-allow-anybody-to-swap-out-a-combustion-engine/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XodUn6XSB2A
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2022 00:01
|
|
|
In my last post I posted this picture: That night I decided to buy a new set of tires, these tires were over 13 years old, a lot of the drivability issues I were related to how old, stiff and out of round these tires are.  tadaaahhh!  So the story with the old tires is that my college buddy was building a truck about 10 years ago, he bought these tires and decided that he didn't want to do white walls, so I got these at a bit of a discount. the were the wrong size too, these are 7.60 - 15s, and the correct size for my car is 8.20 - 15 - just look how these tires fill the wheel wells, not only do they look amazing, they ride like A loving CLOUD. The car used to shudder and slam at the slightest bump, these new tires are firestones, I'll post a closeup when I clean them up  heres the old ones for reference:  I kept these because you always need good looking rollers, I put them up for sale with a huge disclaimer that these SHOULD NOT be driven on, and they were sold within the hour.. a friend took them for his project car that wont be on the road for a few years, so I'm ok with that - wound up just giving them to him speaking of never working again, I got another set of props!  everything is coming up lobsterboyx so I spent an hour and cleaned and lubed up my 1953 Roadmaster Luxury liner  the next day to continue the streak, the guy that got my tires called me up, I was out, and said "when you get home, check in front of your car, i left you a gift for giving me those tires" oh hay! its the missing dash panel for my roadster!  door gap is still pretty ghastly, but its better than it was  I sanded and painted this, i just haven't taken any photos of the finished product, it looks great, but it doesn't match anything else.. I'm getting closer to giving the roadster a full rattle can once over... - funny thing is that my car had another part on there that was not correct, and for years ive been searching for "the other side" of the dash panel, when I just needed THE dash panel.. Score so take a knee.. in a time long ago, before covid, before I had a child, when I was still making cash money being a freelancer and a general cool guy - there was a really fun event that happened every few months called "Chasin Los Tacos" The premise was simple, old cars drive together to taco stands all over la, dont barf, and maybe find a new spot.. not sure if that culture is too big in other places, but here, mexican street food is a huge part of our lives. The very last one we did in summer of '19 was massive, probably 60+ cars and 4 stops, by the end of the night we were so full, I fell asleep in my car in my driveway and my wife went in and left me there all night, good times. we all know what happened next, so needless to say, we haven't done Chasin' Tacos in a long time. that all changed saturday    We drove from Bobs Big Boy in Burbank to Elysian park, then back down to Frogtown to a catered taco early dinner. It was more of a testing of the waters to see if people still wanted to do this - and the answer was extremely clear that its back on - we're gearing up for another one in september, but we're going back to the old format of hitting multiple spots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysian_Park,_Los_Angeles The only downside is that my car was really hating life during this drive. It wasn't able to keep itself cool, which has been an ongoing issue, and getting this old girl up these steep hills was really killing it, engine making all kinds of bad sounds, the massive amount of heat and just generally hating life. I decided to really get in to the ignition system to see what the gently caress is going on, because I've done the entire cooling system, and after a talk with the rad guy, the ignition timing is an issue.  this is what the internals of my 42 buick distributor look like, notice the breaker plate that the petrtonix sits on this is the breaker plate that was in my 48 buick  its been hacked to poo poo and the pertronix sits in the wrong place. This unit has been in my car since I bought it nearly 18 years ago. upon further inspection, the plate that was in the car was FROZEN, meaning the car has not been able to advance outside of its centrifugal weights, and with that, one of the springs from the weights was broken and thrown off, and the mechanism itself was completely gummy. hmmmm maybe thats why it runs hot as gently caress. I had this Mallory plate that claims it works with my car, but it for some wacky reason, it fits neither of my cars:  now the 3rd option, a DUAL point breaker plate  obviously that wont work either. so my only choice was to remove the guts from my 42 distributor and put them in the 48 which was amazing. This car has not ever been this powerful before, I hauled rear end around the block for a bit, but I was still having some missing issues and other ignition related issues. I kinda rigged it back together, and got it to where it was running amazingly, but I sadly still can't time it correctly... I have a plan for this, but its going to take all my cunning, and another post. I also replaced the cap and rotor, I have to do plugs and wires - then reorder all this poo poo because I robbed it from my 42 parts box... these are the perks of being that guy that has multiples of the same car... or is it... in closing, I had great success today, I worked on the car for a good 4 hours and while I didn't achieve ultimate success, I did make some pretty giant breakthroughs and a lot is becoming clearer every time I have a success about this. The whole time I was thinking that there is no mechanic in the world that I could pay to really figure this issue out, there is no forums/facebook group guru that could spot these issues, and the voices of the past shade tree bullshit that has taken place with this car has really hosed it up for me, for so long... there is also no goose-chase parts runs that would have solved this either. The ONLY thing that could have worked is if someone had given me a distributor out of a known running car.. but that is like gold. I know these posts can be kinda boring and when I'm on a roll like this, i dont take too many photos, so I'm kinda just doing this so that I have a record of what I'm doing to these cars and can see the progress of them.. I'll leave you with this, a friend came over today to shoot the poo poo and wound up helping me with the car nearly all day. He's a car guy too and he loves the little fiddly poo poo like this, so having him around was super helpful. He made a comment today that struck me as funny so I took a photo to understand it better "when your in this garage, the only tipoff to the year is the barcodes and modern wd40 containers you have right next to the bench, what loving timeline is this?" 
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2022 08:05
|
|
|
LobsterboyX posted:in closing, I had great success today, I worked on the car for a good 4 hours and while I didn't achieve ultimate success, I did make some pretty giant breakthroughs and a lot is becoming clearer every time I have a success about this. dude, you have become that guru. you are the source of truth for the rest of us. that's why you have to do everything the hard way. the true expert has no-one else to help him, i guess. LobsterboyX posted:I'll leave you with this, a friend came over today to shoot the poo poo and wound up helping me with the car nearly all day. He's a car guy too and he loves the little fiddly poo poo like this, so having him around was super helpful. He made a comment today that struck me as funny so I took a photo to understand it better someone posted the other day about how their driveway looked timeless because it was full of 80s stuff with nothing "modern" (lol) in sight. i thought of you and the vintage life you lead, but forgot to post about it. now i dont remember what thread that was, oh well
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2022 10:26
|
|
|
There is no better feeling than solving a chronic issue. It even eclipses the feeling of stupidity that comes from knowing the solution & wondering why you didn't figure it out sooner. DUDE I WAS OUT DRIVING & ENJOYING MY CAR (I sez to myself). What's the issue with setting the timing?
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2022 14:37
|
|
|
LobsterboyX posted:
Posts like this are why I bookmarked this thread, I don't think it's boring at all reading stream of consciousness old car tinkering. I suspect most other regular readers would agree. We're on the journey with you, and it rules learning about all this old school stuff!
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2022 15:08
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure I've driven through here in GTA V. The whole rest of this post is fantastic - glad you've (mostly) sorted the Big Buick's issues. I'm guessing that the '48 dizzy got mangled somewhere along the way. It looks like the hold-down screw sand the breaker pivot are reversed with respect to the '42 and Mallory plates, WTF? How odd.
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2022 18:48
|
|
|
Darchangel posted:I'm pretty sure I've driven through here in GTA V. You definitely have. As someone who has never lived in LA but has spent a lot of time there on vacation, Rockstar did an incredible job nailing the feel of Los Santos, to the point where I got major uncanny valley vibes the first time I made the turn out of the tunnel on the game's version of where I10 meats CA1 in Santa Monica.
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2022 18:58
|
|
|
IOwnCalculus posted:You definitely have. As someone who has never lived in LA but has spent a lot of time there on vacation, Rockstar did an incredible job nailing the feel of Los Santos, to the point where I got major uncanny valley vibes the first time I made the turn out of the tunnel on the game's version of where I10 meats CA1 in Santa Monica. I visited the LA area in 2015 or so for a couple weeks (temped at Mattel, which was awesome!), and got some serious deja vu in certain areas of GTA, like their version of the Pier, and PCH, because I did that drive one weekend I was there.
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2022 19:58
|
|
|
GodDAMN do I love that Buick. I look online sometimes, but always find sedans and never fastbacks(?).
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2022 22:05
|
|
|
heyou posted:Posts like this are why I bookmarked this thread, I don't think it's boring at all reading stream of consciousness old car tinkering. I suspect most other regular readers would agree. We're on the journey with you, and it rules learning about all this old school stuff! Same! Anything I can't plug a laptop into when there's an engine issue is black magic fuckery and learning about how it works is great. Also the practical stuff about nla parts and finding ways to rebuild them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2022 22:46
|
|
|
quote:GTA V As a resident, yes they really nailed a lot of it, a huge part of it that bugs me is that there is no valley  Captain McAllister posted:GodDAMN do I love that Buick. Sadly there aren't too many big body fastbacks around. Mine is one of only a handful that I've seen and know about - I see some ultra nice ones come up from time to time on BaT, Hemmings and Ebay, but they are usually from vintage dealers so they are typically very high priced. I haven't seen another like mine, in rough driver condition, in quite a long time. heyou posted:Posts like this are why I bookmarked this thread, I don't think it's boring at all reading stream of consciousness old car tinkering. I suspect most other regular readers would agree. We're on the journey with you, and it rules learning about all this old school stuff! That validates it! honda whisperer posted:Same! Anything I can't plug a laptop into when there's an engine issue is black magic fuckery and learning about how it works is great. its funny because for me its the other way around - I get wigged the f out when it comes to computer controlled cars - I did a fair bit of work to my old OBDII 1995 Buick Roadmaster Estate, about the most in depth work I did to it was replacing the ill fated OptiSpark found in the LT1 cars - I was very worried that it wouldn't be able to read it when I put it all back together, but it was pretty plug and play. I remember vividly talking to a fella on the phone about how he was going to tune my car - I got the new computer, plugged it in and it was like doing in the porntipsguzzardo ardo ardo ardo cheat code in to SimCity 2000 I've also done no work on my Toyotas, because I don't fully understand how things get reported on Carfax ect - I want all the work done to it to be documented so that if I ever did go to sell it, a potential new buyer could see that I've been diligent about maintenance with them - does that make me a boomer? PainterofCrap posted:There is no better feeling than solving a chronic issue. It even eclipses the feeling of stupidity that comes from knowing the solution & wondering why you didn't figure it out sooner. DUDE I WAS OUT DRIVING & ENJOYING MY CAR (I sez to myself). This breakthru was so heavy I had to sit down for a minute and review my entire history of this car dating back to '04 - so much of it makes sense and there are still some things that are perplexing me I bought this car from a vintage car dealership with not a whole lot of info to back it up - the guy that ran the place basically told me they got it for a deal because it was kinda rough, and that it was next in line for restoration, and if I wanted it, it would be as is. When I got the car I found a manual in the trunk and an old reg slip to the previous owner - I reached out to him and he was more than happy to give me the rundown of it. This guy was not a car guy and had a local gas station garage do a lot of the work. He spent quite a bit on this car, and in the end, he wound up selling it to the dealership for a paltry $800 - They made a bit of money off me, but even still at that point I was still quite far ahead of the game. The great thing is that I still keep in touch with the guy, he even follows me on instagram and is quite an interesting gentleman. He's watched me and my family grow with this car in the background which is very cool. So the issue with the timing: This car is timed by viewing a 1/8" strip on the flywheel thru a 1" square hole in the bell housing, right above the starter on the passenger side of the car, the same side where the distributor lives. The only way to do it is to stand on a block and stick your head within a few inches of a hot iron near 3' long inline 8 with a few hundred pounds of rotating metal spinning, all the while adjusting a distributor thats basically jammed in your right shoulder. It's a really difficult. heres a bare block for size reference:  When I got the car it had an aftermarket dual point breaker plate in the distributor __ For those of you reading that are like "tf is a dual point breaker plate" - well its the plate that the mechanical points ride on, the vacuum advance also attaches to this plate and advances the car based on engine vac, typically out of the factory, a car of this era would have a single set of points that would need adjustment, as well as fine tuning to get the dwell just right. These distributors also are equipped with a centrifugal advance, that works with weights and springs that can be "curved" for maximum performance. Typically you'd pull the entire distributor and put it on a machine like this to adjust it outside of the car  if you're thinking this is crazy, it sure is, I REALLY want one of these machines, they come up frequently but I don't know enough about them to know if they are complete and or can become complete and working easily. Restored ones come up frequently too, but the space investment and the fact that I'd only use this thing a handful of times in my life is kinda prohibitive. I know a few guys that have them, but they're kinda in the same boat as to the operation of it. __ anyway the dual points were still in the car when I got it and they were very old, worn and the car didn't run very well with them. I have created a pre-flight checklist for the things I need when I get a new car, or help get a old car on the road, and that always includes a Pertronix system so past Lobsterboyx seen here:  did the right thing and simply installed a new set of points on 1 of the 2 locations. this KINDA worked. but think about this - the cars point of "break" was split in 2 for the operation of the dual points, meaning that point is now 90 degrees out from its original spot. ok, cool just twist the distributor until you can see the timing marks... oh yeah, I've never successfully seen them... ok well it sounds good here, tighten it down I then proceeded to enjoy the car  for a very  very  very  very  very  very  long time. It always ran hot, it always ran sluggish, in addition to this timing, the tires were very much out of round, causing really harsh driving. Right before covid struck I made up my mind to really make this car 100% drivable, it was my dream to bring my son home from the hospital in it, but covid had other plans, so here's a list of the things I've done to it since Jan 2020 in an attempt to make things right: dual carb intake swap new water pump block flush radiator clean/check out by a shop full fluids new rear shock couplers changed fluid in shocks (another story that I'm sure you'll find amusing) multiple alignments multiple tire balancing tire shaving new wheel bearings front brake/hub replacement brake drum turning new front brake shoes All of this work yielded little to no change in drivability what more? well this past weekends tires solved pretty much every driving issue the car had - and honestly I'm mad at myself for not doing this sooner. this ignition business - I changed the dual breaker plate out for an original one, that I took from my 42 - now this I feel really bad about because I hate taking stuff from other cars, but in this case, the 42 distributor lobes are so worn, that it may warrant replacement anyway the distributor breaker plate is now in its stock form and advances freely. In addition to this, I used a brand new cap, rotor, spark plugs, pertronix and matched coil that I had for the 42 for my 48 - upon further inspection of the one I removed from my 48, it was in fact a 6v variant.. which was also bad news, I had never changed it over when I did the 12v conversion years ago, and miraculously it was still working. The pertronix rep i spoke to this morning said "that should have been a charred ball of plastic by now. hm.. Ok - so now I have a fully refurbished ignition system, with all new parts, including spark plugs, which I did about an hour ago (the plug read came out good, but shows evidence of running hot, a darker straw color than I'd like, and pretty black plug no.8, which is probably just an artifact of it running so lovely for so long, or maybe a bad plug wire.. I did re-jigger that plug wire, so maybe it will be good now. ) The pertronix is now in the correct, factory spot and the breaker plate is now a stock unit. I have a set of cloth covered suppression core wire with new terminals and boots coming to me. this should be the last piece of the puzzle* *I'm slightly concerned about the tiny springs on the centrifugal advance - when I pulled it out, one had popped off, and the weights were a bit gummed up. I spent some time cleaning and using some fresh, thin machine oil to get it functioning perfect, but I do worry that the springs may be sprung or will pop off again... and at this point, what is the correct weight of spring to replace them with if they are bad... . I tried to check timing on it yesterday to no avail, still physically cant get my head and the timing gun in the right position to see the illusive mark... OR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! maybe when they rebuilt the transmission they never put the flywheel back in the correct position to where you could see the timing marks.... The factory shop manual calls for 6 degrees of advance from baseline timing for the big series cars, with the vacuum advance installed and functioning - no big deal if I had a mark... I'm going to try one more time.. and if I'm unsuccessful, I'm going to go to plan B which is going to involve taking the car to TDC - which I really hate doing because its hard to be precise, then making a mark on the harmonic balancer, which further frustrates me because these are known to spin a bit - the str8 is a really well balanced engine, it has to be, but the balancer is a massive chunk of iron and 75 year old rubber.. so that doesn't bode well. I'm also planning to fine tune with a vac gauge. I think the biggest takeaway from this is that who knows how long that breaker plate I pulled out of the car had been frozen... The car has been unable to advance... even with that alone, I've noticed a giant gain in power and as of right now, I've been mashing out all over the neighborhood and freeway and I just cant get it hot, even tho the ambient is in the low 90s right now. so I could just go back to my old ways and leave it alone, because right now, its running better than it has ever run, or do I just go the extra mile and finally put this timing caper to rest...
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 08:04
|
|
|
Would it help to get one of those endoscopic cameras that hook to your phone and tape it to look for the timing while your head is above and safe?
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 12:36
|
|
|
everdave posted:Would it help to get one of those endoscopic cameras that hook to your phone and tape it to look for the timing while your head is above and safe? My concern on that is the frame rate on those aren’t the best.. with all the flashing of the timing light, would it be able to keep up?
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 16:27
|
|
|
I highly doubt it. If you poked one in with the engine off you could probably use it to verify your theory that the flywheel timing mark isn't oriented properly.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 16:33
|
|
|
LobsterboyX posted:My concern on that is the frame rate on those aren’t the best.. with all the flashing of the timing light, would it be able to keep up? As long as they aren't synchronized, you'll get images. They may not be very bright, but frames will match up often enough that you'll get something.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 16:42
|
|
|
Any recommendations to a good one? I mean, that would be a helpful tool to have in the arsenal, not only for this job...
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 16:55
|
|
|
I would mark it at TDC while static to put the stake in those worries. Then set the timing with a dwell meter. You’re almost there. This whole thing reminds me that I’ve been driving my Bonneville for nearly 22-years now with a harmonic wobble from the rear at 35 and again at 70-MPH. I’ve replaced everything, including two sets of tires, brake drums, sway bars, drag links, bushings, springs, and swapping out the rear for a posi unit. I know I’m going to find out that it was something stupid, Like Spending three years to chase down a weird noise & vibration in the 383 in my ‘65 Fury & eventually discovered that all of the bell housing bolts were loose. By me. Nothing like spending years solving problems I either created unwittingly or forgot about doing. LobsterboyX posted:Any recommendations to a good one? I bought a wireless Bluetooth DEPSTECH brand off of Az for $50 to borescope a Honda JDM engine. Haven’t tried it against a rotating assembly. It’s now $31. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Aug 2, 2022 |
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 20:06
|
|
|
LobsterboyX posted:These distributors also are equipped with a centrifugal advance, that works with weights and springs that can be "curved" for maximum performance. Typically you'd pull the entire distributor and put it on a machine like this to adjust it outside of the car Fun fact - my best friend's dad in grade school, and next door neighbor, worked for Sun, and had one of those in his garage. He was also a drag racer - like actually drove a Top Fuel for a while in the '70s, sponsored by Good Times Machine vans. Fun neighbor to have when you're into cars, as I was. I wouldn't be surprised if he still had it, though he's in his late '70s now and might have sold it off when he sold his nostalgia dragster years ago. So, on the timing issue. TDC is fairly trivial to find. What's stopping you from making a pointer and your own mark on the front crank pulley where you can see it? You could even do it temporarily if it's a concern. A little math would let you do some degree marks in either direction, too. PainterofCrap posted:Nothing like spending years solving problems I either created unwittingly or forgot about doing. I feel that so much it hurts.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 22:02
|
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:
It's poetry. Put that on a tin sign and hang it up in the workshop.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 22:40
|
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:Nothing like spending years solving problems I either created unwittingly or forgot about doing. This is gonna hit home for all of us who have a vehicle we've owned for decades. Darchangel posted:So, on the timing issue. TDC is fairly trivial to find. What's stopping you from making a pointer and your own mark on the front crank pulley where you can see it? Also this. I'm seriously considering this for the Opel because not only does it have the same bullshit "the timing mark is on the flywheel", but it's also apparently set up so that you time it off of cylinder 4, not 1. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 22:49
|
|
|
IOwnCalculus posted:
Do they have the same TDC, just firing on alternate revolutions?
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 23:03
|
|
|
boxen posted:Do they have the same TDC, just firing on alternate revolutions? This got me thinking since you're right, on an I4 cylinders 1 and 4 should always be at TDC at the same time so it shouldn't matter which of those two you time it on. Apparently it's some bullshit from the FSM that was badly translated from German, because GM is always gonna GM.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2022 23:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 12:53 |
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:I would mark it at TDC while static to put the stake in those worries. My mercedes had a slight harmonic driveline vibration. This bothered me for a couple years, replaced the guibos, etc. Never stopped. Then one day I had to replace the carrier bearing and found that the marks on the two halves of the driveshaft weren't lined up. Put it back together on the marks and now it's perfectly smooth. It's always something stupid. Also fun fact, up until fall of 82 (i wanna say september?) you should NOT line up the marks on a w123 driveshaft. They were marked in the production line, put together randomly and then balanced. Finally in fall of 82 (production started in what, 76?) someone realized that the factory workers were not lining up the marks before balancing the driveshafts, I got lucky and mine is an 84. The factory service manual for the car actually describes this (poorly translated from german, of course).
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2022 13:16
|
|
