My 'ol T bucket has been in the barn since last year. Don't get to drive it much anymore.(health & age) Anyway, got it out, blew the dust off it, checked fluids, gave it a crank and vroom , fired right up. Giving it a shake down cruise, all of a sudden got a hot shower. Funny seein' water coming off the left front tire. Come to find out, I had put a rubber plug on the heater hose outlets that had been designed to be used for temporary usage. (heater core check) It had deteriorated to the point of uselessness and was pissin coolant over to the tire and from there to my face. No big deal, I replaced it with a loop of proper heater hose and started out again. Made it about 4 miles when the engine began blowing smoke out of the breather caps. Made it home to find that the lower hose had blown off the radiator. (first time building a car with no gauges) Engine got so hot it melted the wire harness crossing the heads. Thought it may have gotten hurt. Filled it up with coolant and hit the road again. About 2 miles from home the engine starts smoking bad on the right side. Oh shit ,when is this gonna stop? Come to find out the engine had over heated to the point that the right rocker cover gasket had split and curled up and oil was running down on the headers. Home again with replacement of said gaskets. One more time, and I quit.......... finally, down the road, up town and back with no leaks, engine seems OK, at least no smoke. As I pulled in the drive, I wondered what else could be wrong. Everything seemed fine as I drove it, but it seemed time for a check-up. Found a few things......... jam nuts on all the tie rods were a little loose, bolts that held the steering arms (flat) to the spindles were loose even with ny-lok nuts. Rear shackle nuts were loose on the spring. One lower control arm bracket had a split in the bracket welded to the frame, two bolts holding the Mustang gear to the big ugly bracket welded to the frame were loose. That pretty well sums it up. I don't consider myself a professional builder, but I have been building Hot Rods for about 55 years, and have "never" had an issue with shit falling apart. I guess it just goes to show ya that things can come loose or fall off if they're not checked periodically . Don't take that long to give things the once over, no matter how good you're fabrication skills are. Lesson learned, no harm, no foul, but hope not to do it again.
Moral to that story: check out your rod BEFORE you drive it. You're lucky nothing came apart on your steering system!
why would you not have a temp guage? Seems like cheap insurance for a replacing a motor. g;lad you are safe.
I'm terrible when it comes to maintenance. Once I put one together I know I should go back and check things periodically, but I don't. When I was getting ready to take my 27 to the Billetproof Drags I got under it and tightened up and checked everything, and was shocked by how many bolts were loose. My transmission bolts were finger tight, so was the shifter, and lots of other fasteners. Pure laziness on my part. Don
I'm into a build right now and I have to keep a checklist of what's tight and what's not. I'll be putting a clip board that hangs on a magnet from the center of the windshield trim, so I can't miss it... at least not in theory. We used to do this with the stock cars and had a hook that we hung the clip boards on.
I did a full rebuild/restoration on my OT Volvo before I did som hot rodding on it. I painted everything underneath, and as paint cracks, it goes loose, so when I get the time I go over all the bolts in the suspension and steering. When I tightens something/anything, I mark it with paint, across the bolt or not, and down to the part it holds. If my Lines dont Line up, redo, and repaint. Thats how we do it. So happy that no reportes of person damage, pedestrians or major accidents. Be safe! Better safe, then sorry!!!
I've started doing a pre-flight check since an incident a couple of years ago.I was going to a show about 2 hours away and once I got on the highway the car felt kind of funny.It was like I was fighting the steering to keep it straight.I pulled over and went over the front end- no problem. Just for shits and giggles, I climbed under the back of the car, and realized the panhard bar on the rear axle was loose.It made the car drive like a boat; I was thinking it was the crown in the road!Straightened that out and no more problems. other than assuring my brother I wasn't trying to kill him).Glad you and the car came through it unscathed.
The Jalopy Journal
