The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

The good: I now have a new set of points, a condenser, and a distributor cap, and the compression in my cylinders is good, ranging from a high of 130 psi to a low of 110 psi. Last night Ariel's dad came out and pulled my spark plugs, one at a time, cleaned them and checked the compression in each of my cylinders before reinstalling the plugs.

The bad: My engine still doesn't run right. Cylinders 1 and 4 have intermittent misses. Ariel's dad told Ariel that he's got new plugs he'll install and he'll ordering some new wires, so I hope they replace them to get me running smoothly.

The ugly: My transmission leaked about a pint of fluid onto the garage floor during the last few days. A little transmission re-conditioner should fix my leaky seals.

Let There Be Light

And there was light.

Last night Ariel and her dad came out to work on me. They installed new headlights, taillight bulbs, and a turn-signal flasher unit. I rewarded them with fully functioning headlights and taillights. My floor-mounted high-beam switch is a little iffy working about half the time it gets pressed, but maybe with more use it will get better. They'd already verified that my backup lights work. There is, however, something amiss with my brake lights and turn-signal switch. The brake lights won't work even though there is 12V going though the switch when the pedal is pressed. Also, with the key turned to on, both green arrows on the dash are illuminated, and when the stalk is moved to a turn, there's no blinking. There are other strange symptoms that make them believe that a simple cleaning and adjustment of my switch will fix the turn signalling. Since my brake light circuit also goes through that switch, that should fix that problem too.

While under the dash they discovered a drop of brake fluid at the bottom edge of my master cylinder. That’s not good, but, after sitting for so long without being used what can they expect? I’m hoping, as are they, that usage will allow things to work right again. Regardless, Ariel's dad said he'd do the hard, harder, hardest test on my brakes before they drive me down the road again.

They also installed new wiper blades and ran my wiper motor. They found that I don’t “park” my blades when you turn my switch to off. Ariel’s dad will do some research as to how to fix that problem.

Ariel's dad told her that I'm getting close to being licensed, so that's definitely exciting. He said that the list of things to do is getting short. Fixing the turn signal issue; lubricating my front wheel bearings, suspension, and steering components; installing the seatbelts; doing an oil change; and checking the differential fluid level is all that's left. There are other things that they'll want to do, but they can be done after I'm back on the road.

Ridding Me Of Gremlins

Gremlin n. An imaginary gnomelike creature to whom mechanical problems are attributed. (dictionary.com)

I'd always felt that gremlins should be blamed more for electrical, rather than mechanical, problems. Mechanical problems can normally be seen, and therefore explained, while electrical problems are hidden, and therefore a pain in the rear bumper.

When Ariel was giving me the electrical once over, she tried my horn - it works, my radio - it doesn't, my turn signals - they don't, my headlights - they don't, my taillights - they don't (but my license plate light does), my heater fan - it does, and my backup lights - they do. Looks like I have a few gremlins that need evicting.

Last night, her dad started on that project. He found that both taillight bulbs were completely bad, but there is 12V to both sockets when the headlight switch is on. That's an easy one to take care of. He also determined that my right front headlight bulb is fine, but there's no electricity at the socket. Oh-oh; not so easy. I hope that didn't scare him away permanently because he got called away right after that discovery and didn't come back.

Glasspacks = Loud

Ariel backed me out of the driveway and onto public streets yesterday. Her dad wanted to give her the privilege of the first drive. My tranny was still acting up, so she carefully drove me up and down the street and then back into the driveway. The whole time her dad was trying to get her to "step on it." He told her that, at five miles per hour, he would never know if I'd shift out of Low. Once we were back in front of the garage, they checked my tranny fluid level and her dad had to add about three pints to fill me up.

Then came the fun. Her dad took me out with Ariel's sister Victoria along for the ride. He really "stepped on it," and I responded with decent throttle response, positive shifts, and a whole lot of LOUD. With dual glasspacks mufflers (I use the term muffler loosely) there's not a lot between the explosions in my cylinders and the outside world. At idle, my blat, blat, blat is subdued, yet promises more. At higher RPMs, I deliver on that promise. Sounding like a race car, I've got a nice, nasty roar. Ariel likes it and so does her dad, but he's concerned that on the highway all my passengers are going to need earplugs. He's got my original single stock muffler exhaust system, so he's considering toning down my roar. How sad. Maybe there will be some compromise we can all agree on.

While out driving last night, Ariel's dad heard a little clunking from my front end. When he lubes my front suspension, he'll check for looseness. I hope that he doesn't find anything significantly wrong. Hopefully it's just something simple like a worn Pitman bushing.

Back & Forth, Back & Forth

I'm getting close to being on the road again. Last night Ariel's dad adjusted my dwell, timing, and idle mixture and speed and took me for a drive - up and down our driveway, again and again. During our time together he discovered some possible issues with me. First, my transmission is a little hesitant, both shifting into gear and staying there under low rpm. Hopefully, just exercising me will fix that. Second, my headlights and taillights don't work. When he pulled on the headlight switch the only light that came on was the one over the license plate. I'm sure that he'll pull the bulbs and make sure that they're good before getting too excited. Third, my GEN/FAN light stays on a lot when I'm idling. I'm hoping that he cleans my generator's electrical connections before he decides to replace my generator.

Hey There, I'm Over Here

Ariel's dad was out in the garage last night rummaging through his tool chest. I thought that he was going to give me the tune-up I need, but no. He had another car to work on. The nerve.

I recently found out that there's another Corvair in the family. Ariel's big sister has got a '64 Convertible. Here's a picture.


They've discovered some more of my history. Originally I had what is called a road draft tube that vented my crankcase gases to the outside. In 1963, GM replaced that setup with a PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) setup that sent the gases back into one of the air cleaners through a PCV valve. One of my previous owners took parts off of a 1963 engine and updated me with a PCV setup. Or, and they've still got to figure this out, maybe I don't have my original engine anymore. More sleuthing for them.

I've Been Driven

Finally!!! Ariel and her dad came out and worked on me, and I rewarded them by moving in and out of the garage under my own power.

Sunday afternoon they came out to the garage and installed one of my heater hoses. In order to do that, though, they had to remove my starter first. After they installed my new carburetors, hooked up my battery, and sprayed a bit of carb. cleaner down into my venturis, Ariel turned the key and I started right up. Ariel's dad noticed that the exhaust from my right side tailpipe wasn't hot, so he checked the carburetor on that side and found that no fuel was getting out. He took out the filter and reinstalled it correctly, and I ran even better. They took me down off the jackstands, and Ariel drove me out of the garage. Ah, the light of day. Now that they now I'll behave for them, maybe they'll take me out for a spin around the block.