Projects Mild custom '51 Pontiac Chieftain

Fettle? Never heard that term. Looked it up:
trim or clean the rough edges of (a metal casting or a piece of pottery) before firing.
How fitting a term, now fire that bad boy up...….that's what it meant, right?

 

Yes, to tidy up rough edges is to fettle.

I still have to trim down and then crimp the distributor end of the wires. But, then I'll be able to get it running again.

Phil

 

That whole thing looks good! Ya can't beat 8-in-a-row.

I have a cheap (Northern Tool) vise. One day, I was pounding on something, missed, and a big chunk of bondo popped off of the vise. They must have used it to hide a casting flaw that didn't effect the functionality of the thing. I picked up the chunk of bondo (compete with paint), looked it over, shrugged my shoulders, and threw it in the trash. The vise looks kinda funny, but still works fine.

 

Sometimes, you crack me up Denny.
mike

 

I've also now got a replacement oil filler cap on the way to replace that one. It's all dented and that irks me.

Phil

 

I measured up and marked how long the wires needed to be.


Cut them down to length and fitted the boots.


The wires were supplied with a nice little crimping tool.


Repeat.


Bend the ends and put the boots in place.


All put in place. 4 new spark plugs. Still got a misfire, waiting on the last 4 plugs to arrive.

Phil

 

Screwed about swapping plugs around. Better. This is a pleasing result.

Phil

 

Hi Phil,
I found out something funny about my 53 Pontiac that maybe is the same as your 51. I thought I should pass it on to you in case you didn't know. I was looking thru the owners manual and discovered that on the dipstick from "Full" to "Add Oil " is 2 quarts and not just one. That is really odd. Every car I have ever owned from "Full" to "Add Oil" is one quart. See the picture below. So if the oil capacity is 5 quarts this means at "Add Oil" you only have 3 quarts of oil in the pan. That doesn't seem like much. It is also funny it says "it is good economy to let the oil level approach the "Add Oil" mark before having your oil changed". WOW..If you did that and forgot to have your oil changed for a week or two you could be driving with only 2 quarts of oil! Anyways I just wanted to pass that on so you don't run your engine out of oil.
Greg

 

Boy, I think that says alot about the original "Target Market" for these cars when they were new.

 

What I read on that subject matter was gasoline economy was second fiddle to oil, tires, brakes and other consumables. If you did 9 miles per gallon of gas but could go 4000 miles between oil changes then OH BOY WE ARE BETTER THAN THE COMPETITION

Phil

 

Greg,

I had noticed that when I changed the oil last. I'm used to having to keep an eye on the oil levels of my cars anyway. Oil is a daily check!

Phil

 

New plugs.

 

Degreasing solution and ultrasonic energy. Rinse and repeat several times, then into the barbeque at 350F for fifteen minutes to dry out.


The rest of what shouldn't be on it gone.


...and a squirt of black.

Phil

 

Yeah, that looks nice.

Phil

 

I've used one for years, great to clean carb parts and many other small items. BigO

 

It's also good for lights. I started on the other taillight lens.


Buzzed the surface down smooth.


If it looks okay when it's wet, that's promising.


Threw the first coat of red lacquer and left it to dry.


Rubbed down and put a couple of fresh coats on the other lens. That looks better, it should polish down nicely once the lacquer is hard.

Phil

 

By George! I think he's got it!

 

Clear coat on the driver's side lens. Still wet in that picture; once it dries it should polish up.


Passenger side. Second coat. Then a rub-down. That helps to get the lacquer to bridge the cracks. Once that's taken hold, a few more coats to match the color of the other side and then clear coat.

Phil

 

For giggles, I found a video of one of these straight eight engines on a dyno:



"Gnarly". Ha.

Phil

 

Thanks for posting dyno clip Phil! All done by 3800 rpm. But so smooth you couldn't even tell it was running....

 

Yup, all low end! 100/200 not bad figures though really. Wonder if it was the high compression version.


Clear coat had dried overnight. Not too bad.


Had a go with cut/polish/wax.

I'll buy that for a dollar


Phil

 

Was that 108.7 HP? That is not bad considering JWL pulled 87 IIRC out of a fresh rebuilt 8BA?

 

Granted, but that's 3.6 liters versus my 4.4 so a little more for the same engine RPM.

(There's no replacement for displacement?)

Phil

 

Little things. I took the rear lights apart fully, and went to try reassemble them as the previous keeper had... Misplaced the screws. Well, the holes didn't line up.


Do, I did what they didn't and swapped the buckets, as the RH one was in the left light and vice versa. With the correct bucket in place, I found some screws that worked to hold it in place, clamping the lens to the bezel.


Shiny.

Works nicely, too. It's red again!

Phil

 

Actually, an 8BA (239ci) is close to 4 liters, so that's even better.

 

Then they went and stuck it in a heavy car with an automatic transmission!

Though, with that much extra power I need to make sure the back of the car looks good, because that's the only view anyone's going to see*.


Phil


*Once they catch up with and get stuck behind

 

And, welcome back Loudbang.

 

Rubbed back to key.


Another couple coats. Getting better.

Phil

 

I'm not sure if this lens is too bad to do too much with. I'm eyeing up some alternative options right now.

Also, my wife said that I should sell this once it's all done and use the proceeds to purchase another car.

Trying to work that out


Phil

 

Final coat of red. Slightly wobbly but better than it was by far.
That'll dry, then I'll add a few coats of clear and flat that smooth, cut and polish. At this point in time it looks like it may have been rescued. Tomorrow, once the lacquer is dry, we will see.

Phil