I'm Done Blogging For A While

I've turned over the blogging to Ariel's dad, Tom. He'll be updating you on all the adventures I put he and Ariel through. TTFN (Ta-Ta-For-Now).

Here's the link to corvairfleet.blogspot.com.

Sneaky Problem

After Tom and Ariel finished getting me back on the road, a new problem arose that was tricky to diagnose. The symptoms were: started up just fine, idled and ran for a few minutes fine, engine died when stopped at a light, started up again until next stop and then died, started up and would run fine on the highway and afterwards. Tom thought it was a choke issue since the engine only died soon after it was started. He checked me when I was cold, and both chokes were closed. He started me up and I ran just fine, but Tom increased the fast idle speed somewhat by opening the gap circled below. After idling for about 2 minutes, my engine died again. Tom tried to re-start it, but I just cranked and cranked. He inspected my carbs only to find there was no gas. To make a long story short, he looked around and discovered that my inlet fuel line had a hole rubbed through on its underside where it was contacting the sheetmetal shroud. See area circled in red. Since this is on the vacuum side of the fuel system, it didn't spew gas as an indicator of failure - just left a small clean spot on the shrouding. Tom scoured his collection of pulled parts and found a replacement line - one that didn't rub on the shrouding - and installed it. All's fixed after re-adjusted the fast idle speed back down again.

Back On The Road

Sunday, Tom spent the afternoon putting my front suspension back together. He also hooked up the new gas tank, adjusted the fuel pump (that was making a knocking noise), replaced the wiper motor (now it will actually park correctly), adjusted the brakes, pulled off the bottom engine shrouds and thermostats, and tightened the loose fuel fittings. On the test drive the engine died at the bottom of the hill. Thinking he hadn’t put enough gas in the tank for the pickup, he hiked back to the house and drove his car down with more gas in the can. Another 2+ gallons and my engine still wasn’t getting gas. After another trip home for a replacement fuel pump that he installed and all’s great. I cruise along smoothly and brake straight with no more clunking or pulling.

Getting My Front End Back

Ariel and Tom started reassembling my front suspension last night. They got just past the point of installing the springs. Ariel says I look like a functioning car again. One more good evening and I'll be back on the road.

Gas Tank In / Corvair Ranch Is Fast

Last weekend Tom was able to replace my gas tank. First though, Ariel primed and painted the outside, while Tom used up the rest of the sealer he had on the shelf to coat as much of the inside surfaces as possible. Installation is not without its challenges, but since he's done a few Tom's gotten pretty proficient.

Luke at the Corvair Ranch called Friday. The refurbished control arms were complete and in the mail back to us. They arrived Monday and look great. Now Ariel and Tom need to find the time to put everything back together.

Dissaembly and Cleanup

Last night Tom finished removing my upper and lower front control arms. Today Ariel cleaned off all the grease and put a coat of primer on them. Tomorrow they'll get a coat of black paint and get sent to the Corvair Ranch. There they'll get new bushings installed.

Front End Woes

The other day I ran out of gas. Tom came and rescued me and drove me home. As he turned me into the driveway he felt a clunk from my front end. After parking he wiggled my front wheels and felt more clunking. He asked Ariel's mom to wiggle the right front while he stared at the suspension joints. As she tugged he saw a lot of play at the upper control arm bushings. So I'm coming off the road to have my front end rebuilt. He also promised to get around to swapping my gas tank while the front end's apart. Not really the next project he wanted to do, but it’s still car work.

Towing Home - Brake Issue

Ariel was supposed to drive me to meet her family at Hershey Park, but the night before she was going to take her friends to the store and discovered an issue with my brakes. Change of plans. Her family came by and got her. After a day of roller-coasters, they came back and hitched me to the back of their Suburban.

The next day, Tom pulled the rear wheel drums off and found that one of my brakes shoes had lost its lining - not good. He replaced and adjusted and I'm as good as new.

I Don’t Like the Cold

But then who does? The other day, my speedometer cable had had enough and busted. Fortunately Ariel had me home on her spring break, so her dad, Tom, was able to raid his stash of used parts and refit me. Before installing the replacement, he lubricated the entire length to prevent any sticking. Should be good for another forty years, right?

Some other little items needed attention during the last week. Tom repaired the radio and re-mounted it in the housing. One of the screws holding my sideview mirror’s mounting plate came out, so it got replaced. The wire powering my lighter had come off, so it was tightened and reinserted. The heater cable got too hard to pull, so Tom used a pliers to turn it all the way. Ariel will be stuck with full heat until she drives me home again.

One thing that didn’t get fixed was my turn signal switch. On the drive back to school, she discovered that it wouldn’t blink any more. Tom will fix it when he sees me next.

Violated

One night, while parked in the college parking lot, some sub-human decided he wanted my cheap radio. He ripped on it until he broke off the faceplate, and then changed his mind. Tom was pretty angry at Ariel, since I had been left unlocked. Ariel reported the incident to school police. Surprisingly, the radio would still play through the stereo jack.

New Tunes

For Christmas Ariel received a new radio/MP3 player. In addition to the AM/FM radio, it has a 1/8 inch stereo jack to plug in an MP3 player plus slots for both a USB thumb-drive, and a SD memory card. I think she’ll only use the radio and stereo jack. Her dad installed it in a used radio housing since he had to make some cuts. Thus he left my original one uncut.

A Sticking Throttle is Dangerous Thing

With all the rain, my little leaks have resulted in a gas pedal that does not pivot freely. Referring to the JPEG, the steel shaft (7) gets rusty and fills the space inside the bushings (2) with crud. The throttle spring at the engine is not strong enough to overcome the binding and the throttle sticks – not good. To fix this problem, Tom first removed the pedal then the two screws that hold the support (3) to the floor. He then forced the shaft out of the support exposing the rusty portion. Sandpaper removed the crud and some grease coated the shaft both lubricating and protecting the shaft from further rusting, then it was all put back together and everything is safe again.

Ariel and I. Together Again

A couple of weekends ago, Ariel was able to get a parking pass from her university police department. She came home that weekend and drove me back. For Thanksgiving, she drove me back home, all around the area, and back to school. NO problems. I like being driven again.