Hey fellas, I had purchased a roadster here on the hamb a couple months back. Its a 29 roadster that had been sitting since 59 until the last guy started putting it back together. The roadster wasnt a driver but was a good start.I have been working on getting it running and driving.It has a banger engine. I noticed when I got it running the head gasket was leaking. It looked old and there was a bunch of water in the oil. Yesterday I drained the oil out and let it drip all night. Today I pulled the head to check the head and water jackets ect. There was a ton of wadding inside the block..(WATER JACKETS) My father owns an engine shop and said, this doesnt look good. After he left I started getting as much as I could cleaned out. I fired the compressor up and started blowing the jackets out.Thats when mice crap, seeds,nuts,sticks ect started flying out..It took me just over 2 hours but its all cleaned now and looks much better. Just though it was a good story to tell you guys..Thanks Here is a pic after..Its after 9pm now and I just got in..
That motor was sitting sealed up in the basement of the building so I wonder how long ago those critters were inside it. All the water necks had plugs in them. Huh, keep at it Brian, I am so pumped to see you get it on the road finally after a long long nap.
Amazing where a mouse can get, I have found mouse nests about everywhere. crank cases, intake manifolds, radiators. Blowing with air will break it up but my best luck has always been to get in there with a shop vac afterward to suck the rest of the crap out. I appreciate you looking prior to firing then complaining that it overheats. Good for you.
On the same subject, about 30 yr ago, my dad was restoring a 65 ford pickup. wasn't run for a while. We got it running, had a miss. Tested the compression , had one dead cylinder. We took the one head off, and sent it to the machine shop. Machinest took out a bent valve, under the valve was a dead baby mouse. The mouse bent the valve!
About 12 to 14 years ago when I first got my 41 running I needed an exhaust so I could drive it. I got one out of my brothers scap pile that had once been on his 55 chevy. It had been in the pile for 7 or 8 years, and was complete with cherry bomb mufflers. I got out the tourch and some bailing wire and got it all welded together...time to fire it up. Rat nest and acorns came blowing out the back of the car and bouncing off the tin walls of the shop, sounded like a machine gun going off. My brothers and I still laugh about it!!
Somewhat OT but, A friend of mine has an interest in a hunting cabin out in the middle of nowhere. He and his buddies went up there a few years back to deer hunt. No electricity, no lights, no heat except a wood stove they also cooked on. After several days he decided to stay behind and clean things up and just kick around the cabin. When he got to the coffee pot he put some water in it and heated it up, then went outside to throw out the water. Out came a mouse skeleton and some pieces of fur. He could see where it had been stuck to the bottom of the pot. They had made probably ten pots of coffee since they got there, and nobody could tell the difference! He just cleaned it, put it back on the shelf, and swore off coffee for the rest of the hunt.
That was mighty mouse right there, " Here I come to save that day, that means Mighty Mouse is on his way."
Thanks guys for all the stories..I also wanted to add..When I pulled the oil pan, the oil pump just fell out and rolled down the floor of the garage..That was interesting..When I took the oil pump apart..Seeds,nuts and all kinds of crap was inside the screen..Also the bottom of the oil pan was also full of seeds and nuts,mice poop... There were some interesting ones...Here is some more pics..Let me know what you think.. Just finished the fuel lines...
those lines look killer man! I really like what you have done with it so far. Great pics Brain, keep up the good work. p.s., you are right about running it with no hood, makes the car look totally different.
when i was a kid, we had an old tractor, that didnt run as the engine was locked up tight. i got to looking at it, and found that a rat got stuck between the starter gear and the flywheel. once i chisled out all the petified remains, got her running pretty good. all those years sitting because of a rat.
The dual updrafts are killer. A few months ago, I helped a friend fire up an old Model A. When we got it fired up, it shot out a bunch of old plastic toy pieces. They were from a Light Bright set if anybody remembers them. You stuck the colored plastic pieces through the black paper on thevscreen and they lit up. It was definitely a "blast from the past." -Mitch
The roadster moved by itself today..Ya it was only out of the garage and back in...But it moved..ModelAsteve..Yes it says vortex on the intake..Looks cool..Dont know much about them..Anyone have any info on the intake?
Great story, like the pix. "When I pulled the oil pan, the oil pump just fell out and rolled down the floor of the garage." When I was a kid, too young to drive or own a car, I used to watch the older kids up the block. One had his Mom by him a Model A for $25 and it ran so, so. They decided to make it into a "Archie" car like in the comic books, so they hack sawed the rear portions on each side off, more like a phaeton. I now know it was a fairly rare A400. They decided to pull some shims out of the mains/rods so they removed the oil pan and did that. Now, the problem, they tried over and over to get the pan back on but the oil pump with the spring on the bottom wouldn't stay in place to get it lined up and back on. Eventually, since it now longer was functional the Mom had it hauled away. I learned much later on my first stock "A" about the pipe plug behind the intake just above the pan. Used to hold the oil pump when you replace the pan, like the bolt on a sbc to hold the fuel pump rod. I still think about that A400 going to the scrap yard .
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