Technical Hot Rod & Custom Maintenance

I like to think I made up for it on the front end when it literally broke down every week, it has all averaged out.

 

Yep, just this week, my 36, runs like a clock....always. Till this week, starts running like a bag of crap, fuck, haven't done anything to the motor for at least five years, look at it from a distance, yep, headers starting to rust, got a minor exhaust leak, might as well go whole hog, tear headers off, pull plugs,(sbc), discover good looking plugs with a uniformly HUGE gap, like 50 thou, so, get more plugs, clean up and repaint headers. Pull cap, looks like new inside, wipe excess oil off engine, hell might as well change air filter, start that baby up. Good news, runs like it hasn't in a long time, but now the garage is full of smoke as the hot paint cures, serious worry I'm gonna have a fire, but luckily, no fire and good looking headers, (love stove paint), so into it for a ride. Revs right to the end and sounds absolutely beautiful, got my old girl back again. Good for another five years?

 

I figure lack of maintenance was the problem with the gentleman I helped this past weekend, it's pretty easy to spot a loose belt, I would think before he left Alabama he would have checked under the hood. HRP

 

Have not trusted anyone working on my stuff for decades...That being said I was getting prepared to take the '58 Biscayne into a shop to have the rear crank seal replaced after leaking way to long.
It had been running crappy for a few weeks and as always I was blaming the lousy fuel.
Didn't want it running bad when taking it to a shop so did a once over under the hood.
Yep, easy fix....#8 spark plug wire hanging loose....Dang, not only disgusting BUT damn embarrassing !

 

Shit... sounds familiar. I'm suffering with yet another NAPA POS part, now its the ignition switch. It was around $30.. not cheap. Every so often I have to screw around with so I can get the key out when I shut it off. Back on.. back off... until the key comes out. I'm going to try some lock-ease on the key but will be scouting a new switch.

 

I think of all the $100 cars I bought along the way. I had a $75 1966 Caprice that was a car someone local ran back and forth between Long Island and the Bronx every day for 8 years. The inside was real nice, some dents here and there. NICE running 283, covered from stem to stern with dirt and oil. I had it out in a Hollywood rain storm one night, figured I'd get stuck with it. But it ran and idled like a champ the whole way.

Now today, with everything done right... best of parts and all, I find that the good old days of cars were truly the good old days. My hecho en India lower a-arm bushings, one of the rubber pieces is coming apart. Like I said earlier, every NAPA part I've bought has turned to shit in less than 8000 miles. I have China-made ball joints on the car, the boots split without having drove the car. Just from sitting in the garage for 1.5 years. With all the old crap cars I've fixed for a living, I have never seen a ball joint or tie rod end with a split boot, unless it was whacked with a BFH.

 

Sometimes when everything seems to be working properly we tend to get lax about thinks, I was talking to a old friend at a recent cruise in, he was on his way to the Turkey Run last year and when they stopped for lunch his wife told him the passenger side front rim was smoking in the rain, he said the felt the rim and it was hotter than a 4 balled tom cat.

He let everything cool down while they at lunch and there was a gas station close by so he stopped and the owner allowed him to use one of the bays, he removed the rim and then the drum and discovered a bearing that was almost dry, he talked to the station owner and he called a parts house for 2 new bearings, he said it took a while for the parts to arrive but when they did the station owner gave him a hand and they were back on the road in no time.

Out of sight,out of mind, I plan on checking mine before I go on another trip, I honestly don't remember the last time I checked my front wheels bearings. HRP

 

Hello,

I have been the “maintenance” guy since I was little. At first it was washing our dad’s big Buick sedans for spending money. Then it was my brother’s 1951 Oldsmobile sedan for a wash and wax job to get me places I could not go by myself. No one called it detailing back then, but we did use every brush, including a tooth brush to get out all of the left over wax from those little nooks and crannies. From those “cleaning” jobs that got paid from my dad, to no pay from my brother, I learned the fine art and value of the wash/wax scenario.

When I got my own car (58 Impala from my brother) I was already a wash/wax expert. But the years prior, I learned to change oil, filters, remove axles, adjust brakes, balance tires on a bubble machine. I exchanged the third member from 4:11 to 4:56 gears, use a timing light, adjust the lifters, gap and exchange racing spark plugs for everyday street plugs, etc. on that Impala. If I wanted to go somewhere, like Lions Dragstrip, all of the detailing chores had to be finished or else, I would sit at home listening to the drags floating in the West Wind blowing by our Westside Long Beach house.

How valuable was it? Detailing made the difference. We had the best looking 1951 Oldsmobile sedan around. The original pale yellow paint shined like no other. It was a hard sell as that yellow just did not look very bright. But, with the chrome shining, the paint stood out well. Add in the Moon Discs and it looked great. The photo depicts the late 1957 era after my brother got the Oldsmobile painted a Lime Green. Then he sold it to a friend and bought the black 58 Impala in the fall of 1957.

There was no comparison in detailing the 51 Oldsmobile sedan to detailing the black 1958 Impala. There were more curves, nicely designed panels, and custom touches directly from the factory that made this 58 Impala stand out anywhere. When the Impala was fully cleaned, shined, and buffed, it was like a deep,dark lagoon depth in the black paint. As difficult as Blue Coral wax was, it left the best, deepest shine of any wax product at the time.
When the Classic Car Wax product came out, that took over the detailing/waxing jobs until the Impala was sold in 1964.

Jnaki

As far as the learned maintenance procedures were for a non-driver at the time, it still hangs around in my brain to keep our current cars clean and shiny for our daily driving. One thing my wife has always said… “Women always feel guilty about something”… “You feel guilty about having one or both of our cars left unclean or dirty from the recent weather patterns.” Learned responses from the early days of maintenance, linger forever …

 

My Girlfriends father took his 46 Lincoln on a classic car cruise on the Merritt. As he put it his was the junk car of the bunch, some of the cars were million dollar cars. The group of cars had to stop several times as cars broke down, as he put it people forget that the cars back then were no where near as dependable as todays cars.

 

Sometimes cars entered in these type of shows sit 99% of the time and rarely get driven, it is not uncommon to see these kind of automobiles running hot. HRP

 

Saturday, sun is shining ...........not much to do, grass is cut, yard is manicured, small projects for house and yard are zero,..........might as well get into detailing hemi, cleaning small crevices of gunk, shine the v. covers, just some major get down and get er done cleaning and shining and paint touch up before the winter storage. It runs like new, small adjustment to idle, couple of varoom, varoooom's after an afternoons attention and then back it into the garage, kiss it good night and retire to the big chair and call it a day watching Motor Trend. Oh yeah, had it on the road for an hour or so, figuring since the rainy time is setting in this might be the last opportunity to wheel her around for a while (this is Washington with its no fender..... no drivey in rain law. Ran good!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday...........raining like the cow piss'n on a flat rock. Decided to back it into the back bay of its home. Get in, give it one pump of the pedal, turn the key, the only sound coming back is the fuel pump. WTF, must have left the ignition on. Nope good strong battery, bright lights, fuel pump is running away with its self. Get out, more disappointed than pissed, but not to happy. Check all over for wires knocked loose, none I can see. Just turned out the lights, tuned into the looser's known as Seahawks, and watched them blow it also.
Recovery was making and enjoying an "inside the house, in the rain" little picnic with hot dogs, gourmet condiments, chips and dips, etc and spending time with the little lady.
The widow has a new cover in the pipeline that will put it to bed and then some time after its temper tantrum is gone I'll go find out what it did to itself, getting back at me (I guess.)

Kinda glad to hear it happens to everybody.

 

Don't put it off too long, it can leave you on the side of the road.

 

I've noticed since my cat started staying in the garage a lot the grimlins aren't as active as they use to be.....