Technical New wagon...loses power on ANY incline?

The trick is to find someone who can legitimately diagnose and fix an old car with problems. Most run of the mill repair shops won't even look at an old car.

 

Old Wolf, this reminds me of days heading out to work on a dozer or some other tractor that has been sitting out in the desert or in a field for awhile. First thing I'd do is walk around the machine with a hammer whacking the track pads and stuff, trying to wake up any critter that crawled up and settled inside. Makes you nervous when you can see sidewinder tracks around the machine. I recall one job on a landfill compactor, I had been working several days on it and was just getting it all back together, and when I picked up a crawl space cover that had been sitting on some rocks for a few days to reinstall it, there was a rattler curled up underneath it. Scared the crap out of me. It started to crawl off, but it was headed right towards the machine, so I grabbed a shovel real quick and smacked it's head, then chopped the head off and buried it. Took the rest home and skinned it and stretched the skin out on a plank. Another time I had about a 6" tarantula crawl out from under a dozer I had been doing an inframe over haul on. We were cleaning up for the night to head home, so it had been in there with us all day, probably sleeping. My helper caught it and took it home for a pet. The next day the locals told us not to worry about the tarantual's, they won't hurt you, but watch out for the centipede's, they're mean. haha! The best defense to keep snakes away is cats, because cats will torment the hell out of them. But cats draw in coyotes.

 

Back in the day I operated dozers ect. At nite the snakes and other critters get cold and sometimes crawl up on the machines because all that metal is a big heat sink. I long ago stopped killing snakes . I simply catch and relocate the poison snakes away from my place.

 

And that trick is getting harder every day. (and I think it is possibly a good thing). I can fix anything. However In not about to sell another minute of my life to anyone for any amount of money. There is a lot more of my life behind me than there is ahead of me. My time is worth more to me than any money someone would be willing to pay. The point I was attempting to make is that if you Don't have Know How and self reliance. Maybe the old car hobby isn't for you. I successfully use 1940,s farm tractors and nothing newer than 1972 hay equiptment. And I get a kick out of it because there aint one in a thousand farmers that can do that. I don't want everyone and his brother to participate. It ruins the novelty & detracts from the enjoyment. Simply put Im glad everything isnt easy peasy and ( Gold Chainers) cant easily buy their way in! Of course its kinda shellfish but that's how I feel.

 

That's fine, I would've let that one go to, but he was headed back to the machine I needed to work on, I wasn't done with it yet. Had he crawled the other way I would've let him go.

I've killed plenty of rattlers in the past though, and have had my share of fried rattle snake, coated in flour and fried in a pan on the stove, seasoned with salt and pepper, and washed down with beer. Actually, not much meat there, you probably consume more calories preparing it and chewing it that you get from eating it.

 

I get asked all the time if I'd do car work in exchange for cash. I tell everyone no, its not my thing these days. The next thing I'd have is people calling me up on Sunday nights after 10 PM. What me and the people I hang with do, it took us many years of trial and lots of error to accomplish. Old cars take knowledge and money to take keep them running. Sometimes you need enough knowledge to know where to spend your money if you lack the skills. This is why 18 out of 20 projects we see here stall or ultimately fail.

 

Is the generator lined up with the belt?,you can sight it to see if its all in the same plane?.if it has been changed or maybe installed wrong the pulleys wont line up,this will make a noise.Hope you get it figured out,i have been following this since it was posted,Good Luck. Harvey

 

Well I know newer OT cars with computers, I fix my own farm equipment, and excel more in the electrical side of things. I like classic cars and am learning as I go with this one. I hear this shit everyday and it really gets old. With my current situation, the car is on the other side of town- I work long hours over 2 hours away- am caregiver to an elderly grandmother which takes the majority of my free time and money. This "hobby that isn't for me" is one I picked up that she supports- so am trying to get this done so I can take her on Route 66 as my grandfather promised her but passed before he could. I am doing my best to learn as I have time. I understand people with more time on their hands and years experience will be better, but that isn't going to stop me. If I fuck it up, I will just learn from it and go from there. Negativity is one of the causes of death for progress...

Yes it was. I changed it out for a new alternator since I did the 12v conversion and it is just lined up by eye but is tracking almost perfectly it seems.
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Update:
I got by at 11pm last night on my way home from work and tried everything suggested. It is the waterpump making the noise, so I ordered a new from rockauto.

Should I flush the engine and cooling system again before I mount the new pump? Also, being in Texas- should I add an electric fan in addition to the mechanical to keep it cooler, or is mechanical sufficient when it gets 100+ degrees outside and sitting in traffic? Since I did the 12v conversion, it wouldn't take much to run the wires.

 

Everything under the hood is capped off. I havent taken the knob out of the dash yet though- rather leave it than look at a hole in the dash for now.

 

Why not install a electric fan? it could be one of those things like a spare tire. Hope that you never need it. But if you do your glad you have it.

 

Keep the electric fan simple, wire it to a toggle and use it when you have to.

 

Sounds like a fuel starvation issue..Its very possibly your fuel pump is tired and fuel line or filter clogged.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Car runs smoothly now. Just need to get the water pump changed out so I can test the transmission since I put the TransX in.

 

No need for an electric fan. Never hurts to flush the cooling system. Mechanical fan with a shroud will out cool an electric. It's worked good since 1954, leave it alone.

 

There is no shroud around the fan between it and the radiator. Should I make one then?

 

Its my opinion that changing the filter or adding some additive to a automatic trans is a waste of money. If you pull that trans pan and its dirty. There is only one thing that made those deposits. Its the friction material from the clutches and or bands. only one fix. Pull it out and replace any worn parts and install all new seals. And you have to clean it really good.

 

Why don't you put a water pump on it first and see. I drive a 55 with a 235 and original radiator, no shroud, and it never gets hot. I think you are getting ahead of yourself. Good anti freeze and a clean cooling system are all you need. Flatheads were famous for overheating, not Chevy sixes.

 

I learned one the hard way.
Trans working fine but fluid was dirty and about 3 times the recommend service interval. I Dropped the pan, installed new filter, cleaned the pan, and put in fresh fluid. The car went about 50 miles and the Trans was slipping.

My Trans guy told me to never toss all the fluid or clean the pan on a past due Trans service. Even though the friction material is suspended in the fluid it still worked. Save at least 1/2 the fluid and don't clean the pan. When I cleaned the pan I took the friction materials out of the Trans. His words, "oh it needed rebuilding, but it didn't need it today"

 

Back in '53 and '54, many Chevys were sold in Texas, and they did fine in the Texas heat, without electric fans, big radiators or fan shrouds.
" I like classic cars and am learning as I go with this one. I hear this shit everyday and it really gets old."
" I understand people with more time on their hands and years experience will be better, but that isn't going to stop me."
Concerning your statements above ......You may get tired of hearing our shit, but you're getting damn good advice from guys who want you to succeed, in spite of your ill fated decisions.
It's one thing to ask questions, just remember the answers here have a book full of actual value.
You have 9 pages of good, solid advice from guys who DIDN'T HAVE MORE TIME ON OUR HANDS WHEN WE LEARNED OUR MECHANICAL SKILLS ...... nor did we have the Internet forum to solve our problems for us.
Instead, we paid attention, we worked through our problems, we listened carefully to those who had more experience, AND we utilized our Service Manuals to answer our questions.
Good advice to follow, I believe.

 

Yeahhhh! What he said

 

Dont take that comment out of context. It was in response to saying the hobby might not be for me if I dont fix it myself. I do have a manual now and am working towards it myself as I have time. The only reason I had it in shop was to try to get it back up by Valentines Day as a surprise for the girl I was seeing. Thats over and I am back to working on it myself as I have time. I take all valuable advice and try if I can and have the tools.

 

Yep that was me who stated the hobby isn't for everyone. I tend to be a bit abrasive. However all the advice here or anyplace else is simply opinions. One thing Ive found is that when you learn something the hard way it usually stays learned.

 

Much of the "advice" is not simply random opinions open to interpretation or subjective conclusions. (Some is however ) It's a paraphrase of published info on troubleshooting hierarchy protocol. troubleshooting flow charts are based on proofs and dis proofs that need to begin at the beginning in order to obtain a conclusive diagnosis. It's based solely upon logic and follows the shortest path to a reach a successful repair of the problem.

If that hierarchy is ignored it generally results in conflict, confusion, excessive time, frustration, and excessive expenses. Trouble appears to an observer by the out come being different than what's expected - missing or different or wrong output. Troubleshooting begins by testing for the correct input. Without the input ther will be no output.

Anyone short on time or money can not afford to experiment or not follow the hierarchy.

For a simple and totally random and unrelated example, one could discover low vacuum and spend precious hours looking for leaks of vacuum, repairing phantom problems when in reality the engine is faulty and not even capable of producing enough.

Another stupid analogy, momma plugs in the blender and it doesn't work. Momma goes and buys another blender plugs it into the same outlet and that blender doesn't work either. Momma returned the broken new blender and gets another, however it doesn't work either. Care to guess what the problem is ? Care to gues where the trouble shootings chart starts? I assure you it's not starting at installing new brushes or a condemned appliance.

 

Thank you for your Opinion on opinions!

 

I am a little abrasive myself, but have been where you are with that Chevy. My money pit was a '64 Ford in '74 that everything broke on it in a matter of weeks. I was out of work, couldn't pay anyone to fix it. Just tackled one thing at a time as they popped up.

 

You're welcome

 

Its seems like the more I narrow things down, the more hours I have to work- so then cant have time to work on car. My waterpump was supposed to be in today...but looks like it has been pushed back until tomorrow. Which as long as I get it by saturday morning- I should still have time to get it on this weekend.

 

Great to see you are hanging in there. Ignore the naysayers and learn as you go.

 

take your time ,you will enjoy it more and have a better shot at making it right.

 

Just got a notification that the waterpump was left by my front door. So as long as the weather allows me to paint it, it will be on soon!