Tomorrow is my "date" with the DOT sergeant to find those "secret squirrel" numbers. Fingers crossed. Lots has gone on in 2 weeks. Got a couple hundred more miles on BigGirl, Been towed home twice because of plugged fuel lines from all the crap inside that old tank. Over it. Got a new tank and sending unit coming from Chevs of the 40's, we will see how good their products are! Ordered a kingpin and bushing set for the front end as well and some odds and ends, trim clips and a shift knob. Got a piece of plexiglass for the back and molested the old rubber and chrome enough to get it in. Found a Rochester and the oilbath aircleaner on a running '52 pickup, got those for $50, but the Rochester is not set up right yet. Waiting to get my ignition tune-up parts from Vancouver and then we'll try to tune it a little tighter. In the meantime, I got 15mpg my first fill-up and that was partly on the W-1 with no accelerator pump and partly on the Rochester that runs rich on the low idle circuit. I'm the weirdo that saves goofy crap too. Sometimes that comes in handy, like with the locks and keys situation... having old shit getting back to being used gives me a little wood, I confess. So Fall is here and wipers will be needed. So I go digging and came up with an extra set of transmissions and linkage, 2 wiper motors with switches and cables, 2 sets of vintage wiper arms and blade hardware... So I molested some newer wiper blades and "re-filled" the old hardware, tested the 3 vacuum motors and found which was strongest and put it all in. 20 inches of vacuum at maybe 2000rpm, 15 or so at idle. Pulled the heater blower motor and cables and lubed and straightened and got all that cleaned up. Switch is good, blower motor is off to get inspected. Water valve leaks. No bueno. So I check the spare, (yeah, I had a spare Ranco water valve hidden away...), it also leaks so some Toyota is letting BigGirl use it's water valve for now. Pictures... Too many words... Lovin' driving this thing around. Everybody smiles, lots of people want to tell me about their memories of an old car... Not a bad deal, AND 15mpg around town. Who's bitchin' about that? Not me!
Love the clothes pins on the fuel line! Been there done that. I have a '51 too, but mines a Ford. I've had it for over 25 years and enjoy it more as years go by. I have a couple of very nice Corvettes ('67 and 68), but I end up driving the Ford most of the time. Ya' done good.
And UPS delivered the tank today! My only bitch is that the bungs on the new tank are pipe thread coarse-pitch and not the same as the old tank. Had to set a couple different bushings to get the factory line to thread on, but it's in! Put a foam float from a '70's vintage Pontiac sending unit I had hanging on the wall. Gauge works awesomely now! Bad news- local electrical repair facility shook their collective heads over the heater blower motor. So Chev's of the 40's will get the nod again. Pix. Enjoy.
my dad had an old 49 fleetline 2dr(late50's early 60's)best driver he ever had.thru a fan blade thru the hood half a dozen times.too many revs out that ole 6cyl.He loved that car.sold it to buy a 60 3/4 ton chevy to pull our race jeep,nice memories
I have a four door Fleetline as well, it's a 1949. These old 4 doors need love too. Keep up the good work.
Nothing terribly new or sexy to report. Right now it is full-time school and just whatever needs fixing so that I can drive it every day. About 500 miles on it now. Found something interesting.. after a tuneup with new cap and rotor, points and plugs, I found a vibration had diminished. Around 50 to 55 it would give a little high frequency drivetrain "buzz", not thru the wheel when I tried to hold speed. If I was accelerating or fully off the throttle, it was not detectable. Thinking it may be timing related, possibly vacuum? Vacuum advance is super-touchy. when playing around under the hood, I see that old distributor flipping back and forth with the slightest throttle inputs. Got the whole body rubbed out now, so next I will start on the worst of the dents, seeing which ones I can hammer out a bit while driving it. Probably going to bite the bullet eventually and buy a re-pop wiring harness. Even up under the dash, some of the cloth is just flaking and frayed too badly now, leaving bare copper. Still working on the turnsignals... Still getting 14 to 15 mpg, almost all around town 35 to 40 mph with lots of stop signs.
The car is looking good. Not sure what to make of the "buzz", hopefully someone else here will have some solid advice based on their fixing the same issue in the past.
Pictures. Everybody loves pictures, right? 750 plus miles in 2 months. 1959Nomad, saw someone else on here with a similiar drivetrain "buzz" at about 50mph, hoping to hear he's figured it out or eliminated it. This is my 3rd DD with a torquetube drivetrain. Neither previous ride had this odd speed-related vibration that sure doesn't seem to be wheel balance. (1946 Jimmy 1/2t and a 1954 Jimmy 1/2t) . Got the inside of the roof and package tray all POR 15'd and then 2 coats of custom mixed Rustoleum to match the original paint put on. Foil over bubblewrap insulation in doors and roof. That dome light bulb hasn't been touched since I bought this car... just sayin'. And the lighter is untouched, functional . FYI, a cheap cell charger works fine to keep my phone charged... right off the 6-volt system. And a spare slightly tweaked pair of stock front bumper brackets made the fabrication of a bolt-in hitch receiver seem appropriate. Dump-runs, trips with my son dragging our 2-strokes out to the woods, gets a lot of attention and some giggles. People want to talk and tell stories...
Good work on getting the big girl on the road, it's great to hear the you family is not only supportive of your hobby/choice of transportation but enjoy it right along with you. As previously mentioned, you have a knack for storytelling. Subscribed to your thread, looking forward to your progress. Pete
Those coil springs around the outside of the brake drum? There aren't any on this car, but now that you mention it, a lot of the older rigs I've owned had them. Talking it over with my friend today (retired VW mechanic from Denmark) and we decided I probably ought to check the u-joint. Never had an issue with a closed shaft u-joint before, so the thought never occurred to me. Still seems weird that it never shows up 'til about 50mph and only under partial throttle on flat ground or slight downhill. Huh. Thanks all for the interest and input. Not too many weirdos around that want to drive a 60 year old car every day. Well, a few here in our neck of the woods. Forgot to remember when I was listing the torquetube dailydrivers I've had... 19 years ago I had a '51 1/2t Chevy 3 window, 216 with a 3-speed, still 6-volt too... cracked block and I had no money, so I traded it for a '61 Ford unibody with a Y-block... that's a whole 'nuther tale!
The spring around the outside of the drum is to cut down harmonic resonance aka squeaking during braking. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I'm loving this whole thread!! As was said before, you DEFINATELY have a way with words...makes you WANT to read about everything you've done. I love the back yarding hotrod approach you are taking. I too will have to address the cracked wiring issues you face. I read somewhere that the drum spring was to help cooling. I'm not sure how much credence to put behind that though. LOL at the weirdo comment...I drive a 59 year old hearse that has less paint on it then your car does. I guess I qualify for "weird" status.
Scrubby...that second vin number thing is really for 1969 or 1970 and later..whenever they went to the stickers in the doorjamb that had the vin. Since the DMV rarely deals with old stuff they want to apply the same rules. As long as your tag in your door jamb matches your vin your golden....if the number on your title was from the engine that is now gone...you might have to start fresh. A private vin verifer wont bust your balls about the second vin number....he can probably walk you through the best way to go forward....btw.....neat car....fleetlines look great in 4 doors...
Thanks Black Panther. DOT chick/sergeant/officer Morgan already signed it off so we're golden now. Issue was that I got the car with minimal papers from Washington in a dead man's name. Now I know his son, the guy I bought it from, but the paperwork was looking messy and I like to take simple one-step problems to the DMV! So I strapped a set of cold black-n-yellow plates on BigGirl and we told a beautiful story at DMV of how it was my grampa's old car and I registered it in the 80's, blew up the motor and parked it and then subsequently lost the paperwork because I'm just a dumb ole hick. Now I rebuilt the motor with my son so that he can "connect" with granddad... won't you help us please, Mr.DMV? And so they did. I go there patient with a smile and never let them see if I am frustrated or annoyed and it seems to pay off. The motor number doesn't match the title from Washington either because Floyd's folks had replaced the original in about '70 with a "new" one from a Bellingham-area machine shop. Block and head in it now date code as a 1950. Little spot welded weights, huh? I will check. Just had the wheel off last night... stuffed a deflated basketball and some lumber up under the front fender and used a rubber mallet to work a big dent out right above spindle centerline. A few little dimples to hammer-and-dolly out later.. not great fenders anyway... rust out on the bottoms in the back and near where the grille bolts on. Off to Algebra class... btw, a genuine "thank-you" to the tax payers allowing this 45-yearold to go back to college and feed my family. Put all my eggs in the "Construction Basket" back in the '80's and now I can't hardly get 6 months straight of work in any year for the last 5 years. Not complaining, just real grateful!
The Jalopy Journal
