When you get ready to buy some parts seek out Gary Wallace. He's the four cylinder Chevy guru. Shouldn't be hard to find on their forums.
I looked him up, thanks! The clutch was rusty, from the rodents, and I decided to see if I could fix it. It was stuck, the internal levers were rusted to their pivots. I first sandblasted it, then put it in the press and removed the 8 bolts that hold the outer ends of the levers to the pressure plate. Then release the press, and the cover comes off, etc. I got the lever pivot pins out, without breaking anything, blasted the parts the rest of the way, and put it back together. I put the disc in, andbolted it to the flywheel, and put it in the press again to test it....seems to work. I also lightly blasted the disc, it cleaned up nicely, and looks like it has plenty of lining remaining. I also blasted and polished the sleeve that the carbon throwout bearing rides on. I guess I need to buy a new carbon, they cost around 60 bucks. But first, I"ll see if the engine is any good! also I made a couple more gaskets for the trans, and got the cover and torque tube ball back on it. I can shift it now. Yay.
thanks! it is neat stuff. I worked on the vacuum tank today, soldered up some pinholes in the bottom, checked the float, made a new gasket. It kind of works, when run by a vacuum pump, and when I put my finger over the overflow hole (I guess that valve isn't working right). Also my NOS points came in the mail today, so I installed them, and put in a coil, and put the carb back on. I got it to make a little smoke, but it's not really trying to run. I may play with the starter, and see what kind of damage I can really do.
Jim....vicariously excited....that motor wants to run! Watching that video I experienced the same thrill I get when I light something off thats been dead for years/decades. I dont know if you mentioned it....but how long do you reckon its been sitting? It sure looks like it has enough compression to run...
I got it to run for several seconds...didn't get the good run on video, of course. The carb seems to be doing strange things, which is not surprising. The ignition might be acting up too, it's hard to tell.... The lady I got it from grew up on the ranch, she's almost 60, and she remembers it sitting there all her life.
Jim....ive resurrected my share of derelicts....most recently a 1956 T Bird that had been parked since 1975...but your Chevy looks like its been sitting way longer than that....keep plugging away!
Jim....I dont know if you addressed it...but it has an electric starter right? Or at least something that looks like one on the drivers side... That last video made me smile...
Jim I am sure you know this and have already done it but-- Before running the engine anymore drain and clean the pan.Many old cars and tractors I have drug out of fence rows had nice,clean looking oil.When you pull the pan there is a huge amount of sludge in it.I reckon the particulate matter in the oil settles out over the years.When it gets warm it plugs up the oil pickup and things go downhill pretty quick.
Keep f---ing with it and you will get it going ,love to start old cars that have been sitting for years. Frank
You got spark, gas & combustion. From there it's just dialing it in. You are living the dream my man.
Yeah, it has a starter....I just haven't felt like messing with it yet. It probably works just fine. I should also see if the ignition switch works. The wiring is in pretty bad shape, not much insulation left on many of the wires. But the ignition and starter switches are both there, and might be made to work. It would be helpful if I could sit in the car and run controls while trying to start it. Unfortunately the spark and throttle controls, that go on the steering wheel, are stuck. There are four long skinny steel tubes (spark, throttle, support tube, steering shaft) inside each other that sat in the weather for decades. I got the two smallest ones out of the two larger ones, but both pairs are stuck. Also the floor where the starter switch mounts is still kind of there, but it's a rotted broken piece of plywood, so I have to do some work to mount it again, or find another switch or relay. I don't really want to touch the battery cable to the starter to start it.
I'll see if I can get someone to order it at a store for me...or maybe I'll have to order it online....they don't seem to stock it around here, something about there not being any cornfields.
I just mix gear oil with grease until it has the consistency that you are after something like honey is about right. On my 33 chev coupe the gear box was noisy also due to straight cut gears and the bronze bushings which usually wear out fairly quick compared to more modern gearboxes with needle bearings. When I first took my car for a spin it was making some horrible noises from the gearbox turns out someone only installed one bushing in the countergear which in turn made the countergear lock onto the countershaft causing it to spin in the housing which is a press fit.
I read in the chev 4 thread about the springs in the vanes of the oil pump being destroyed over time by the oil. Just a thought.
The Jalopy Journal
