Projects Mild custom '51 Pontiac Chieftain

That changed to 7lb in '51.

I bought some little Dremel wheels yesterday, I'll have a go using them.

Phil

 

Silly little things today. New exhaust tip, I got fed up leaving sooty trails all over the concrete.

Phil

 

Found out why the exhaust was leaking at the manifold.

Two of the nuts that hold the downpipe flange on had fallen off and the downpipe was hanging loose...

Oops. Replaced those and done it up nice and tight again.

Phil

 

Double nut them with brass nuts,

Sent from my SM-G973U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

They were double nutted, but steel.
One side was still tight, I must've not tightened them last time I had it apart.

My fault.

Phil

 

Hallmark day today, the first car you ever drive might as well be as memorable one, right?

She did pretty well, considering.. needed help with the steering at slow speed. Her brother took a crack at it too and I couldn't get him to drive slowly enough down the street!

Fun times

Phil

 

I found this thread about a week ago. Took me a bit to read through it all. Thank you for all the great details on your fixes. There isn't too many people who would tackle that transmission rebuild. I wouldn't have attempted it but after seeing how you did it it would be something I would consider doing. The gauge rebuilding tech was excellent too. I subscribed to this thread and excited to see more restoration on this car.

 

I've just been driving it!

So far it's just been doing duties as Car, going places, mostly without complaint.

Needs a service, coming up soon.

Phil

 

Back in time...
(Don't know how to remove the LM)

Sent from my SM-G973U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I'm waiting on the film I shot to come back from processing- the weather likely had delayed that. Might have some usable photos. Maybe not.
We'll see!

 

I got my pictures back.

Misty Louisiana morning on a backwoods road.

Out at the baseball field. You can tell that's not a digital picture, the tail lights are red, not overexposed to white.

Quick snapshot in the garage.


Finally, what counted for a selfie back in the day.

Phil

 

Also, simply because:





Almost the same image, with two different cameras at the same time.

Interesting comparison.

Phil

 

Been adding on the miles a lot recently.
That's now 1450 miles since the end of last year. It's nice to have all the gauges working though.


Decided the car was looking a bit grubby, particularly the wheels.


Scrub scrub scrub. Whitewalls came up looking nice, which accentuated the dirt even more.


Couple hours later and it's washed and leathered dry. Better. Last week it was 25 degrees, this week 78. I can't keep up with this weather.

Phil

 

Looks like it's time to go get a malted!

 

Thursday!

Wife says "too much of a good thing". I tend to agree in this case...

 

Backed the timing up by ear a little to add some more advance, as the factory specified 10° was making the performance a little insipid.

Looking to be about 15-18° or thereabouts right now and that's properly livened the engine up and improved fuel economy.

Having leaked all over the driveway for nearly a week, it's parked in the garage because we're again due rain.

Phil

 

Started the car up today because the weather was fine enough to go out. It left hazy sunbeams in the garage.


Thursday tradition; looking a bit more smart at the milkshake stand, with the dog.
Oil change up due soon, I've been exercising the fuel gauge needle a fair bit.

Phil

 

Some good pictures, cars lookin good !

Sent from my SM-G973U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Nice....mine is still sitting in the garage. Ran the engine a bit today but I believe it's a dead player. Ran my fingers up inside the rear wheelwells feeling for rust. Almost wish I hadn't. Meh.

 

Run it until it goes pop?

 

Oil changed.

All 23 grease points done.

E-brake balancer cleaned and e-brake adjusted.

Shower time. Crawling about on the floor hasn't done my shoulder any favors, either. However, the car is noticeably smoother now it's got fresh oil.

Phil

 

I had forgotten how much of a difference an oil change and fresh grease makes. It makes the ride a lot less harsh and the engine a lot quieter.
All in all a good thing!

Got stopped by a couple people at the grocery store who wanted to look at the car and ask questions. Always double the expected time it takes to go anywhere because of this!

Phil

 

I keep coming back to this thread to see what you have done. I am always glad I did.

 

Man sees car. Man buys car. Man fixes car. Man drives car. Man services car because it's been driven.

Next up: Heater Fan Made A Bad Smell And Now Only Runs Very Slowly*.



* screenplay by George Formby

 

I'm really enjoying your journey Phil. Makes we want to get to work on my stuff. Thanks for posting.

 

Fan motor time.

Looking down under the hood, the fan motor is right there. Access is reasonable.


After undoing more than really should need to be undone, everything was out.


I split the fan case on the bench and removed the squirrel cage.


Pulled the motor apart after cleaning it.


Well, that'll be toast, then. It's melted the solder on the commutator and cooked the motor.

Wasn't there a 12v Bosch motor that fits?

Phil

 

Curiosity got the better of me. So I spun the commutator up clean.


Redid the solder joints.


Oiled the bearings and gave it a bench test. It didn't smell bad or pull excessive current (6v, 3.8A constant). The bearings were dry and binding before. Might see if this one lasts on bench test.

Phil

 

Phil, Napa has a book of 12 volt replacement motors. Might check there when the time comes.

 

Thanks. I'm going to run this on the bench at 12V for a while to see how hot it gets. If it fails again I'll grab a 12V version.
Reason being is this one moves a highly satisfactory amount of air running at 12V; ideally it needs to be drilled for cooling though.

Phil

 

Your attitude towards fixing things is inspirational. I'm sure most of us would have just made a trip to the parts store.