Hello, all. Said hi in the introduction forum, and I'm now the proud owner of this beauty. To recap the backstory, I found the craigslist ad which was 22 minutes old at time of viewing. Talked to owner on the phone and figured out in a hurry he was a guy that really doesn't know cars. Just bought a toy three years ago, played with it one time, and parked it in his garage never to touch it again. He was unloading it on the cheap due to selling his house (one of two summer homes) and not wanting to fool with hauling it from Alabama to Vermont and wanted it to sell quickly. (Mission accomplished). Upon poking around at the seller's, he couldn't seem to get it to start without jumping a positive wire from battery to coil, saying he thought there was something wrong with the key switch. Although the tires were brand new three years ago, he didn't know if they were any good now. The seller's son (who did know cars and owns several pre-1950s rides) had been fooling with the car when I arrived and informed me the fuel pump didn't seem to work and attributed it to having dried out from sitting 3 years. (I kinda had a feeling that would happen). Heard it run for a bit from pouring gas in the carb, and bought it straight-away. Came back the following weekend with a trailer. The good news - the car is almost all original (cept the paint). 216 flat tappet/babbit engine. 6 volt. perfect glass. It's very well preserved from having apparently sat in a warehouse for 25 years of its life 2 owners ago. Better news: Paperwork in the glove box shows $2k worth of work done to it in 2007 including new exhaust, new gas tank, new brake lines, new fuel lines, new carb, new wheel cylinders/brakes/drums turned, valves adjusted, etc etc etc etc.... and judging by the freshness of all the above-mentioned items, this girl has clearly sat in a hangar ever since all that work. The gas tank doesn't have a speck of dirt on it. Despite all that work being 7 years old, it might as well have been done last week. Bad news Upon driving it home, I checked the master cylinder and found it didn't really seem to have any brake fluid in it. I thought that to be a bit odd. While on the trailer, so I could more easily reach the bleeder valves, I put brake fluid in and worked the pedal, then had my gf help me while I bleed the brakes. Got brakes back and they're real stiff and solid. Installed brand new fuel pump that sucked real good when I actuated it by hand. Tried fooling with the old fuel pump and couldn't hand pump it. Tossed it. It had stale gas in it, to which I added a gallon and a half of fresh gas. Fooled with jumping the wire from the battery to the coil and got it to fire up and idle. Warmed up and eased off the choke. Tried removing the jump-wire and it would start to stall. In playing around later, I took the wire off at one point to stop it and it was still running. I was excited for a second that - hey the coil is working right! Then I suddenly panicked because how was I going to turn off the car?! Then I thought... "Heeeyyy.... wait a minute...." Jumped back in and turned the switch right. It shut off. Turned it left and started it. It fired up. I started laughing and explained to my girlfriend that apparently there was no wiring short. You just have to turn the key left to straight up and down for ON and turn it right for OFF. The opposite of what everybody's used to. So can somebody tell me is that normal for a 50 Chevy? Or did somebody wire the key switch backwards? The engine has zero smoke, no signs whatsoever of oil leaks, and the engine seems to be in very tight, perfect working order. Oil on the dipstick is clear, clean amber color. When I checked the coolant level on the radiator before I ever cranked it up, it still had a little pressure. So the cooling is tight. All the hoses look brand new. So we jumped in for the maiden voyage down the street. Turned right onto University, the main street, and got to second gear. Started going uphill when she started sputtering and stalled out. We rolled her off to the side while I tinkered with it for a bit. Poured some gas in the carb and couldn't get it to fire up. Ran back to grab my girlfriend's car and slapped a tow cable on it and went back. We had to go somewhere in a short while so I gave up for the day and parked it. So yesterday, it occurred to me that I may have made the CLASSIC shadetree mechanic mistake of sorting out every problem except the most obvious. It sputtered out when we were going uphill, and my girlfriend suggested "Maybe it just ran out of gas." I think I poured too much gas in the carb when on the side of the road and flooded it. In fact I think I'm sure of it. So yesterday, I disconnected the fuel line going into the carb and hit the starter and verified that gas was squirting out. Fuel was pumping there. But since we were now on flat ground, it didn't rule out having run out of gas. Reconnected the line and started the Chevy. It fired up without much effort. Decided for good measure to drain the gas tank to get rid of all stagnant, stale fuel. Disconnected the fuel line at the carb again and turned the engine over until fuel stopped squirting out to clear the fuel lines of stale fuel. Sprayed out the carb with carb cleaner. Put fresh gas in, and the ole girl runs like a champ. At this point it was getting dark, and I didn't want to test drive with low visibility in a college town full of drunk frat boys in case it stalled again. So once I get off work, I'll attempt taking the girl for a spin again. (Not uphill this time until I fill the tank full.) Wish me luck.
Somebody in some old thread somewhere on the HAMB once said his favorite thing about the 216 was the amazing sucking sound it makes. I concur. That sucking sound combined with the rattle-clatter of the engine is a symphony of mechanical beauty.
So got the car back on the road, turned on University and it sputtered out again. (I'm starting to think the car really hates University Ave.) There's fuel going to the carb, but I suspect it's not getting IN the carb. It has a glass bowl fuel "filter" right before the carb. Upon taking it apart, I noticed the cork was brittle and just by touching it, crumb bits stuck to my finger. I suspect a bit got in the carb. Possibly some other foreign matter. Tossed the gasket and will either look for a rubber gasket I can re-work to fit, or I'll fabricate one. Even if it's not the offender, getting rid of the disentigrating gasket can only be a good thing. Any other suggestions?
Ignition switch. Left-off. Center -on. Right - accessory. Best advice I received about old cars. Buy a manual.
Thanks for the info, guys. BTW, this car has a Rochester B carb. I may be best getting something else less problematic than the Rochester. Haven't owned it a week and already giving me headaches.
So I retrofitted a PCV grommet from Autozone as a gasket for the glass bowl filter. I ordered a filter element from rockauto that THEORETICALLY will fit in it so that it actually filters again. In the meantime, from tinkering in my driveway, the car idles fine, but when revving it, i got it to choke up and stall out again just like it did on the street. Wouldn't fire back up. Hit it with a single shot of spray carb cleaner, and it fired right back up and ran perfectly normal. So there's some gunk or something sticky in the carb and the carb needs a proper cleaning. That's the problem. I'm out of town on business the next three weekends (out of the whole damn COUNTRY for one of em!), so it'll be a while before I have time to REALLY get to drive her. But always good to have something to look forward to.
Nice looking project. I think the Fleetline has to be one of the nicest looking classic 4 doors ever built. Doc
Yeah, guys.... I really like the way the rear doors are sort of designed to flow into the rear fender flare... I mean when you look at em, they really retain most of the look of their two-door brethren. But the convenience of having 4-doors, which I definitely prefer. I can't wait to start playing music gigs with the car. It's so roomy, i'll easily hold my guitar, amp, gear bag, and even have room for a single-unit PA. Probably all in the back seat with room to spare in the trunk for anything else. I'm surprised how smooth and effortless the column shifting is. I owned one other column-manual before. A 74 Chevy truck. And it wasn't as smooth and from time to time would jam in 1st. (....Man I loved that truck.)
Son of a biscuit-eater.... I can't get this car to run right. I had it running the other day and drove down to the end of my street and circled around. Seemed like coming back, the engine was getting weaker and weaker. Hit the carb with a blast of carb cleaner, and it choked up and stalled out. Ran the battery down trying to restart. Today i took apart the carb to get access to all the tight spaces and gave it a thorough hosing out with carb cleaner. Put it back together and can't get it to idle without stalling out. Since from what I've read, Rochesters tend to be prone to leaking and problems anyways - should I just spring for a Carter and be done with it? Any other tricks I can try?
I know I'm going to be waaaay off here, but could the exhaust be (partially) plugged? Sounds to me like you have pretty much sorted the intake part of the engine workings... Maybe you could disconnect the pipe and see if that helps? I too think the Fleetlines are some of the best looking four doors out there. Best of luck! Dave
With the exhaust being practically brand new - and the engine doesn't put out any smoke, I don't suspect the exhaust is gunked. It certainly is puffing out seemingly efficiently from the tailpipe. I bought a Carter W-1 carb on ebay for 60 bucks. Seller couldn't really identify exactly which W-1 it was - but to the best of my figurin via an identifying website (http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/CarterChevroletW1.htm), I've nailed it down to a 391s. Slapped it on and got all the connections going and she runs - but all choppy and jittery. I think a couple cylinders are missing. Took it down the street and back four times, slightly downhill and uphill back through all three gears. The carb seems to be working pretty good and it hasn't stalled out or choked up once. Just keeps on running consistently - much better than the Rochester. Now, I suspect a plug or two got fouled or gunked from my previous tinkering. So when I get a chance, I'll pull the plugs, examine em and clean or replace as needed, and see if that smooths out the choppiness. But I'm excited that we're real close to a road ready car now!
Bew ya. Cleaned off the fouled plugs, and the engine is running smooth. Drove it down the street and back. Then drove it for a longer drive up near the square, stopped and put some gas in it. Cranked up and drove it home. No problems at all. Gas station clerk came over and was really wowed by the car. She was like "It runs on gas? You don't have to put special gas in it? You need to drive it more often! It's beautiful!" Now to get the wipers working.....
I used to have an air-cooled Type 2 VW van. I learned very quickly that every time I drove somewhere, a guy was gonna stop me on my way through the parking lot and start spouting all these fond memories of the one they had, and get into details about camping trips in Colorado or whathaveyou.... I learned to allot for an extra 15 minutes on any errand. Fortunately, I like talking to people.
The Jalopy Journal
