Projects Mild custom '51 Pontiac Chieftain

Today was interrupted by the use of power tools.

What's left of my garden fence now ready for pickup.
Had a little time tonight before it got too dark- started putting some wax polish on the car.

It'll come round. I need to get my panel beating hammers out from the garage.

Phil

 

Broke down today!

Was headed out, car begins to stutter and misfire. Nursed it running on a few cylinders to Auto Zone. Popped the hood, liked to lose my fingerprints on the coil.

Walked in, bought a coil for a 60's era Chevy, fitted it in the parking lot and carried on my journey.

Older cars aren't too bad when they break down.

 

Checked and gapped plugs. All pots a nice sienna color so I'm good with that.

Cleaned and gapped points, then re-set ignition timing. Test drive success, runs really nice now.

Phil

 

Brought the kids to the park to go rollerskate today. They were surprised everybody fit in the front seat!
Fun day out. It's nice to be out and about again.

Phil

 

Had ten minutes to spare so had a bit if a go at the dinks and bumps on the car.

Needs a light skim of filler there to take up the ripples but that's not bad now.

Not right, yet. It's an awkward place to work.

Phil

 

Nearly finished in the garage.

(Please ignore the OT vehicle)

Workbench should be able to go back together, need to prop the wall up a bit better and get in under there to pull a the car parts and tools out, then I can drop the wall and take it apart.

Once that's all cleared at least I have a place to park the cars again.

Phil

 

Been out and about today.

Got caught at the bridge.

Washed the car quickly tonight.

Stop in at the drive-in for a chocolate malt.

Good times.

 

Tweaked the timing a touch tonight, checked the plugs. They're pretty happy.

Fixed the left headlight connector, the spring clip went rusty, stopped making a good contact and the light got all dim.

Test drive now shows it's really happy at about 45 which is pretty much cruising speed in this car, so that's great.

Phil

 

Continued tune-up tonight because I had set the ignition a little bit too far off and it was pinging under heavy throttle at low RPM.

Tested the vacuum diaphragm, lubricated all the linkages and set the ignition a few degrees back, gave it a test run and it's running sweetly now.

Fixed the low note horn, the points had corrosion on them.


Cleaned the screen wash jar and put some decent quality fluid in. Now I want an orange soda.

All good!

Phil

 

Wife, dog and I went get milkshakes this evening, which was most pleasant.
Tonight it's rather cool (by standards down here, at least) so I decided to go properly set up my headlight aim.
I head out down the only quiet, unlit road around here which is way out in the sticks.
I set up the lights, put the trim back on. Twist the key, push the starter and it just cranks with no fire.
Try again and it rapidly slows, the headlights getting real dim. Shut everything off, pulled the fuel pump switch. I hear the pump spin fast then load down- I guess the float bowl evaporated off. Tried the starter again, churning slowly then one pot fires, then again... suddenly it fires into life. I give it a few good kicks of the pedal to make sure it damn well knew it needed to stay running, then dropped it into gear and head home.


New battery time, methinks.

Phil

 

Phil, I gotta say that your posts are inspirational!

 

They're right on the edge of how far the buckets will adjust. That's the problem with a tail-down stance. At least they aren't dazzling people now.

Next up, I hit a pothole and the passenger side front shock doesn't appear to be attached to the suspension any more. The bushing disintegrated!

 

Phil, love "the night ride" pic. Love the dash. Oh, and times two on what tubman said. Keep on keeping on.

 

Keep on. Looks good. Wish I had a 2 door, same color.
Thanks,

jim

 

Thanks, y'all. Times have come now that I need to start putting some money and effort back into the car.

Phil

 

I am a SPEED DEMON.

Had the car up to 65 today.

It's much happier at 45.

Nice evening with sunbeams to finish a rather busy day. Set the timing back just a touch and on this fuel now it doesn't ping.
Also, being driven more, at higher speeds the valve block is behaving a little better. Ish. It mostly changes gear correctly. Nice when it does!
Was stopped at the grocery store by several people asking about the car. Everybody left with a smile. Isn't that what is all about?

 

Begone, completely broken Monroe Manumatics!

Hello, new Delco Advantage shocks!

No pictures of doing the work because oily, greasy, dirty, swearword laden work.

But, I can say this. Talk about totally transform the way the car drives. No more fighting to stay in a straight line over bumps. It has however highlighted that the rear shocks are also pretty darn tired. At least those are easy to change.

Phil

 

Car's having a Christine moment. I fixed the front shocks; the radio has repaired itself.


Went fill up, decided to try the car on E10 87 octane, last tank was 114 miles on 13 gallons, so just under 9mpg.
Now it's running like doody and needs to be set up for this tank. Persnickety old car!

Phil

 

Good to see the old girl on the road. I bought a '56 Cadillac back in the 90's and the shocks were so worn it would literally bonce like a pogo stick!

 

It wasn't quite that bad, but it was real slack. Two of the rubber bushings had made a bid for freedom, which didn't help either.


Today, trying to remove the rusty water line from inside the parking light lens.
Got some (quite old and nasty) evapo-rust soaking down. Shall see if that even works at all.

Phil

 

Have you checked out a 'paintless dent repair' outfit? I don't know how much success they'd have with the early steel, but it could possibly save the paint. My local guy here has worked near-miracles on my late model DD a few times.

 

I was considering it but the paint is way gone already; really the car needs painting again.

I may see, because the roof has some creases. If they cannot, I'll buy myself a pin welding jig and slide-hammer the dents out.

Phil

 

Short answer? No. That didn't remove the rust.


So, I went all mediæval on it.

Sometimes brute force works.


Looks a little better now. Just need to go over the chrome again...

 

37 miles today in errands. 30 of that was a round trip on the highway, which was real good to clear the motor out doing 55.
52 is actually the peak of happy speed, 55 the gearbox gets out of its happy whine and gets warbly but overall doesn't complain. You know there's a set of speeds that your car likes better than others, where everything gets into sync.

Just sucks that nobody wants to go 52 in a 55. (Not that they want to go 55 in a 55 either but that's their problem!)

Also I'm not putting ethanol gas in again, it sucks.

Phil

 

Been driving all over.

Went clear more of the yard by the mother in law's lot (can't say house any more because there is no house any more)...


Humming along the highway. New shocks help a lot. Keeping a fair pace there, too! Bugs all spattered up the glass, radio on. Can't say I don't drive it about.

Phil

 

Bad weather's hit. Just fitted a new pair of wiper blades.
These ones work. Shame the windshield leaks...

 

Phil, Can’t tell you how much I like following along your journey.
I would recommend the paint-less dent repair highly. My Tahoe had 5 dings in my door and my guy charged $150. He set up his light and put his classical music on and went into the zone!

 

I may have to see if there's anybody in this area who actually does that.

We have a couple bodyshops but they only really do insurance work.

Phil

 

Went to the store to get some gardening stuffs, hot day. Car doing well though, cruising Louisiana Highway One.


Had to disconnect the horn because turning the wheel was causing it to honk at innocent people.
Got home and started pulling things apart.

I thought the wire may have come off the slip ring or started to chafe, but no.

Everything still in good condition. Turned out the rubber ring that supports the horn push is going soft, and the hot weather is just making that worse. I need to either get a new one or bolster it out a touch with some new foam.

Phil