Register now to get rid of these ads!

Hot Rods Confidence in your Ride??

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Revived 265, May 5, 2016.

  1. mgtstumpy
    Joined: Jul 20, 2006
    Posts: 9,214

    mgtstumpy
    Member

    Problems are electrical, mechanical or fuel. Driving will ID any bugs, fix them as they arise. Do it once, do it right and don't cut corners. Sometimes a temporary band aid repair will suffice until you get home but when you do get home, do it right and that repair won't come back to bite you later.
    I'd have no hesitation in driving my car cross country if I had to and could afford the gas bill. Then again I have auto club membership with reciprocal rights across the country and a cell phone. If going on a long trip I can upgrade my membership to cover contingencies such as overnight accommodation, towing etc if I break down etc
     
  2. This. They all break at some point. Either carry tools and fix it or carry a AAA membership card. Life is too short to worry about what might happen.
     
  3. David Gersic
    Joined: Feb 15, 2015
    Posts: 2,730

    David Gersic
    Member
    from DeKalb, IL

    The common element here is a fear of the unknown. If you don't know what the problem is, and you don't know when it will rear its head, and you don't know what you'll do when it does, you fear it. The cure for fear is knowledge and experience. Those build confidence, and you overcome the fear.

    Eventually, shit breaks. When it does, either you have tools and parts to fix it, at least well enough to limp home, or you don't. If you don't, a cell phone and insurance with towing coverage will get you home. Then you fix it, phone a friend to help fix it, take it to somebody who can fix it, or sell it and take up a new hobby.

    Fix the known problems first before hunting the unknown. Keep track of your changes, and if something gets worse, look at what you changed most recently as a probable cause. When troubleshooting something that was working, but now isn't, expect to find one simple problem, not a bunch of complex ones.
     
    1959Nomad likes this.
  4. You build confidence by driving it and fixing it when something happens. I generally carry more tools than I will likely ever need, but focus on carrying tools and parts for reoccurring problems that I have not fully figured out. A key is to drive the car for longer and longer trips as you progressively get more confidence.

    ...just reminded me, I have a 600 mile weekend drive coming up later this month, and I need to figure out why my gas gauge is wildly bouncing around.
     
  5. woodhawg
    Joined: Apr 11, 2009
    Posts: 1,021

    woodhawg
    Member
    1. S.F.C.C.

    Mine is only 2 months old with it's new engine. Every time I ride further and further. It is like climbing step, one at a time. My first long ride, 3 1/2 hours each way, is a week from tomorrow and at some point I just need to do it and see what happens. The little problems are getting fewer and fewer. Like a lot of people have told me " it is an 88 year old car and will have issues from time to time. You will get it.
     
  6. winduptoy
    Joined: Feb 19, 2013
    Posts: 3,316

    winduptoy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    The best thing to travel with is a good attitude, some cash and tools. I find that if I take those things and allow myself a little extra travel time I don't have any problem even when I have a problem. That said, I spend a lot of time pre-tripping my car to make sure that there isn't anything obvious such as a nail in the tire or the radiator was low on coolant. A new car doesn't like those things either, it is that now the onboard diagnostic bitch will tell you until you shut it down and deal with it.
    Besides, you meet the nicest folks when broken down in an old car
     
    wicarnut and Hamtown Al like this.
  7. 50dodge4x4
    Joined: Aug 7, 2004
    Posts: 3,534

    50dodge4x4
    Member

    I build my stuff from piles of junk. I know how everything works on it. For the last 15 years (and 4 different rides) I carry a small tool box with simple tools and a few unique to that ride parts. I will either be able to fix it with what I have with me, or what I can buy locally, or I can't. If I can't fix it where it broke down, tow it someplace and deal with it.

    My wife and I will be taking the coupe to Colorado in a couple of weeks (944 miles there, 1236 miles home on a different route). I'm checking everything over to be sure nothing is wore out, and replacing anything that needs to be replaced (which hasn't been much). I don't expect to have any issues, but it is just a car, and things break unexpectedly. We have towing insurance, a credit card, and access to the HAMB. What else do we need?

    I simply can't afford to have a car or truck I can't drive anyplace I need to go, at any time I need to go. Gene
     
    1959Nomad likes this.
  8. Gman0046
    Joined: Jul 24, 2005
    Posts: 6,256

    Gman0046
    Member

    Had a 62 Chevy Impala that once in a great while everything electric would just go dead. You never knew when it would happen. No crank, no nothing. I believe the problem was in the firewall plugs as shaking the wiring to the plugs would eventually restore everything to normal. Replacing Chevy firewall plugs is not an easy job to rewire. I never definitively fixed anything but always considered myself lucky when it fired right up. The problem arising was always in the back of my mind.

    Gary
     
  9. Just be glad it wasn't an airplane. :eek:

    Just fix the damned thing and drive it, this is a no whining zone.
     
    clem likes this.
  10. 31Apickup
    Joined: Nov 8, 2005
    Posts: 3,365

    31Apickup
    Member

    I got the 31 pickup on the road in the summer of 87, worked out some minor bugs and drove it the furthest of about 60 miles. Summer of 88 I had this grand scheme to drive it from metro Detroit area to the Nats in Louisville. Had a buddy go with me, was nervous as ever but the little truck just purred along. later drove it to St Paul and back to Louisville and many other destinations. The guys in the area called it old reliable. This summer will be 30 years on the road ( Time flies), last weekend it was hesitating, looks like the accelerator pump has had it. Last went through the carb 20 years ago, it's well due. Always have a tool kit and a box of misc parts (extra coil, wire, etc). Unless it is something totally catastrophic, I know I can figure something out.
     
  11. hotrod37
    Joined: Aug 8, 2006
    Posts: 123

    hotrod37
    Member
    from Indiana

    Russ B. -- my '37 gas gauge does that when the ground strap breaks in the float lever in the gas tank. Since the tank is behind the seat, I just take the sender out and fix it.
    You might have to drop the tank in yours.
    Good luck.
     
  12. Thanks, that is what I was planning to do, pull the fuel sender. I can get at it from the top, just need to pull all the tools out of the trunk.. Maybe today's job.

    Edit: problem apparently solved. I added a ground wire to sender. Got a big gash on head from hitting it accidentally on a corner of the trunk lid. Took a short drive after the rain stopped.

    I guess the confidence builder is mostly just working on little problems as they come up, and regularly driving the car. The more you do both, the less you will worry when you take a longer drive.
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2016
  13. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    From experience that "I gotta get it done to go somewhere in it" short cut you took is the thing that will leave you on the side of the road every time.
    My biggest nemesis the past few years was the female slide wire end I used to connect the ignition wire to the HEI on my daily driver 71 GMC I had swapped in an HEI that worked great but the engine would quit going down the road because the wire end got just loose enough to break the connection. That usually happened on the way to work at 3:30 in the morning when it was raining.
    I can't say how many fuel filters I changed on it before I finally went and flushed out the gas tank. Same thing on my 51 Merc that had sat out behind the barn here where I now live for ten years while I was gone to the Army and then living in Texas after I got married. I plugged up a bunch of inline filters and then pulled the tank and flushed out dirt, sand and even a broken coke bottle neck. Thousands of miles including a road trip to Texas and Bonneville after that with no major problems except loosing a plastic timing gear. It took my dad to the rescue with my brother inlaw's dualie that time.
    If you drive them enough some time or other you will have some issue or other while driving. It seems like the high mile guys tend to have less issues than the guys who only take the hot rods out on weekends when there are no clouds in the sky though. Sitting and not getting driven regularly and then on only very short trips is still one of the hardest things on a hot rod street car.
     
  14. I had a '68 Mustang that every so often, no start. It happened a total of 4 times and the car always started at the touch of the key otherwise. No spark for no reason. If I let it sit and tried it again later, it fired up. And this was after it sat over night or all day at work. Not like it was hot and something electrical broke down.

    The Ford I'm working on now, everything is new. I wanted that early-on high level of confidence. I'm in the final assembly and should have it insured within the next couple of weeks. Plans are to drive it around town, go for longer rides from there. Everyone wants to go for a ride in it and I'll carry tools with me.
     
  15. adam401
    Joined: Dec 27, 2007
    Posts: 2,856

    adam401
    Member

    Here's some honesty for ya. Every old car I ever own is usually pretty unreliable.

    When I build or get one on the road, I almost always cut corners, reuse parts cast off by others that I shouldn't or throw shit together just to get it on the road temporarily but never get back to it.

    When I get some where and back without incident I'm always pleasantly surprised.

    The reality is that the time I'm done welding a rusty ass car together I'm burnt out and get frustrated and just want drive it even if it's constantly breaking down. Eventually I end up sorting it out on the side of the road which is stupid but it's the truth.
     
    1959Nomad, bobss396 and gonzo like this.
  16. wheeldog57
    Joined: Dec 6, 2013
    Posts: 3,181

    wheeldog57
    Member

    Both Fords, coincidence?
     
    jeffd1988 likes this.
  17. Man I have been their went through a period were every time we took a trip the first two or three hundred miles were good then it would be carb or fuel pump or broke header, leaking valve cover lost oil fill cap even broke the rear end loose, [thanks Gregg in Daytona, that's another story] every one kept telling me I need to do more prep. I would checked and recheck the days before we left. Just keep driving and carry some tools it will work it's self out. So go have fun.
     
  18. seb fontana
    Joined: Sep 1, 2005
    Posts: 8,442

    seb fontana
    Member
    from ct

    My biggest issue in the last few years has been my break downs, stops to pee!
     
    wicarnut, jeffd1988 and arkiehotrods like this.
  19. gonzo
    Joined: Dec 24, 2003
    Posts: 1,876

    gonzo
    Member

    Truth
     
    adam401 likes this.
  20. When I first thought to post, I really hesitated...like for three month now, mainly because I fully expected a lot of serious negative comments....and now I see I'm not alone....also I really appreciate the comments...porknbeaner really says it, drive it, fix it....I think my real issue has been that I've only restarted this hobby two years ago and I'm still remembering and relearning how to do stuff....when I built my first 27 roadster, the trunk looked like a NAPA store, so many extra parts plus everything I needed to retire the car.....and now what did I do?? The two times I had issues I had no tools....and that is what I think has inflicted this fear....last time out the distributor rotor lost its screws, popped up, centrifugal plates grabbed everything and basically turned the distributor about 90 degrees...wow, was there noise!!!....got out expecting to see fluid on the ground and finally saw the plug wires wrapped around the distributor with some separated from the boots.....I had placed a ring terminal on my key chain to remember to buy more...and that's how I got every thing back together.....of course I was lucky....but now after these mails, I see I just need to spend more quality time on the road......again, you guys have been a great influence...
     
  21. jeffd1988
    Joined: Apr 12, 2016
    Posts: 537

    jeffd1988

    AAA 200 mile service. Tools in the trunk with parts. And just give the car good maintenance. You treat it right it will treat you right.
     
  22. clem
    Joined: Dec 20, 2006
    Posts: 4,188

    clem
    Member

    Drive it weekly, it will give you a lot less grief.
    Fixing it when it stops will give you the needed confidence !

    FWIW,
    Mine only seems to stop in the main street of my home town.
     
  23. Soon I will go over my car from one end to the other, top to bottom checking every nut and bolt to make sure they're tight. Anything on the engine & drive train was done, torqued and a mark from a silver sharpie on the heads.

    Back in 1973, we could buy a decent car for $100-200 and drive it immediately. Maybe do a tune up, change the oil and the minimum to get it to pass inspection. Drive it? Maiden voyage to Montauk and back, 120 miles each way was the usual.
     
  24. I've known Roger for many years but lost track of him,ehrn I met him he was driving a Model A sedan and had just returned home from the NSRA nationals,he seemed very confident with his car at that time.

    I think he lost interest and got away from hot rods for a while,He will be ok he just needs to log a few thousand miles on the car,any new build is going to have a few bugs. HRP
     
  25. krylon32
    Joined: Jan 29, 2006
    Posts: 9,396

    krylon32
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Nebraska
    1. Central Nebraska H.A.M.B.

    I have an issue with my deuce 3 window. After it warms up it starts to backfire out the exhaust. Ignition checked out ok and I'm leaning toward the carb. Never had one like this. Got a 650 Edelbrock Thunder carb sitting on a 300 horse 327? To much carb? Perplexed. Would like to drive it or my deuce roadster to the LARS. Used to just crawl in and go with almost no miles, must be getting old.
     
  26. topfuel55
    Joined: Apr 18, 2010
    Posts: 145

    topfuel55
    Member
    from Hebron IN

    I feel your pain! Just last night my Bride says take me to the phone store(20 miles). Go to back out of the driveway, annnnnd it's blowing black smoke and sounds like a Jr. fueler. Either a float stuck or a power valve died. Either way wrenches are gonna have to come out. Old cars.... They will try your patients. And I'm the worst about fretting about this weld, or that spring or those hoses... Run em wreck em and never check em!
     

Share This Page

Register now to get rid of these ads!

Archive

Copyright © 1995-2021 The Jalopy Journal: Steal our stuff, we'll kick your teeth in. Terms of Service. Privacy Policy.

Atomic Industry
Forum software by XenForo™ ©2010-2014 XenForo Ltd.