Been looking for a fun, cheap project car

[Blarg]

It nearly left me stuck at a gas station when it wouldn't start. First time it didn't kick over by the 2nd turn. Let it sit and waited for the carbs to air out, running way too rich right now. 

Bought a timing light to get it back on track, my 40 year old one finally gave out. 

[Lou]

this project doesn't seem very cheap 

[Blarg]

I think I outlined that earlier. Choose one of the three; Fun, Cheap or Project car. 

Fun is the car was restored by someone else and you pay for that but probably less than was invested.

Cheap, you don't care what it looks like, drives like, smells like.

Project Car, you're the guy that will invest far more into it than it's worth.

[Blarg]

I got the timing back in order and it ran fine but after fully warmed up it started to miss in the lower RPMs. I did a compression check and was amazed how strong and even each of the cylinders read. So it's not a valve or piston ring problem.

About a month ago I got up early and drove to Coffee & Cars in Corona, it's an informal bring what you've got car gathering, and again, after warming up it started it's lower RPM problem. Since I was an hour early I stopped at the Del Taco for coffee and breakfast burrito and afterwards hopped in the car, turned the key and it won't start. The starter engages and spins the crank but it just wont start. I'm confused as hell, it's cold out so it's definitely not vapor lock. I just timed the car so I was thinking it can't be spark but It smells like gas. I can't see anything disconnected under neath and after another ten minutes of trying to decide what to do I hit the key again and it comes to life. I go to the gathering, talk to a lot of people about the problem, no one seems to have an answer. When it was time to leave it started right up but still lugged and didn't want to run smooth in the lower rpms.

Fast forward a couple weeks and I've cleaned the pugs, done all of the tests I can think of, take it for a drive and get some lunch and again, it won't start back up. This time I'm screwed because I have a new bed being delivered and I have to get home. So I call a tow truck and $90 later we just get it in the garage and the bed delivery arrives.

By this time I'm thinking it could be a failing coil, that when it heats up it starts to give intermittent power to the distributor. So I buy a new coil and install it and the tests starts say it's working so I plan on another trip to Coffee & Cars since they were having a British Invasion theme. I get down the 71, roll the 91  for one exit and sure enough the damn thing it running poorly on surface streets in the lower rpms. I park it, lift the hood for show and wonder if it will start again.

The car got a lot of attention, four different guys said they owned one back in High School as their first car. I talked to the guy next to me about the hot start problem and he waited around to the event end and when I hit the ignition it wouldn't start. So we went through the double checking of everything we could and we both could tell it was pouring gas so we popped the distributor cap off and ran the starter to see what's going on inside. That's when we found I had no point gap. The car never should have started in the morning that way so we guessed it was a faulty spring that heats up and goes slack. We set the gap by eye and it starts on the second hit and runs smooth as silk. 

I get it home and just as I'm pulling into the driveway I start to hear a noise. I shut it down and popped the hood. rechecked the point gap with a feeler gauge and set it to the proper setting and started it up gain but the noise said we're not looking a point gap problem. 

That is the sound of $200 for a rebuilt distributor.

 

[Tank]

Ouch.

[Blarg]

The old distributor has about 3/8" vertical play on the shaft. That's not supposed to be able to happen which means something inside is seriously shot to hell. No rebuild parts were available so I had to go after market. Called up a trusted supplier and ordered a new distributor that is supposed to be plug and play. 

Installed the new distributor. It came with an electronic ignition module which is a plus. What it doesn't have is the adjustable vacuum advance which is dissapointing but it really doesn't need it. I just wanted it to stay factory original in looks. I may have thd old one rebuilt and stick it on a shelf for a backup. 

The electronic ignition required wiring both positive and negative to the coil. Once seated and wired up I pulled the Choke and turned it over. It sat long enough I had to wait for the mechanical fuel pump to catch up and after the third try it started up. 

Then all it required was to let the engine warm up and set timing. That required rotating the distributor and checking the timing marks with the strobe while also reading out where it sat degree wise on the scope. Once at 8 degrees I tightened down the clamp that holds the distributor in place and went to work on idle adjustments. 

Because the other unit was failing the idle setting was way off. Once I pushed in the Choke it died immediately. So I adjusted both carbs idle screws and locked them down. Or at least tried to. The first in row SU idle screw and fastening nut were stripped so I can't actually lock it in place. I scrambled through my collection of screws only to find this is a metric threading and nothing I have fits. I'm going to stop by King Bolt on the way to work to see if the have a replacement that I can get by with until I do a complete rebuild. Otherwise I will be paying $12 postage for a $2 part. I hate that. 

Fix one thing, another shows up. But at least I'm not paying mechanic prices for labor so it's all my own time which if you ask some of my clients it ranges from priceless to worthless. 

Oh, it drives a hell of a lot better right now. I took it for a test drive down to the Railside Cafe for a celebratory coffee. I can't wait to see what it does once it's all dialed in. 

[Blarg]

That is one good looking truck. I really like the 72 Chevey and Ford pickups in the two tone. Ford did theirs with Wimbeldon White instead a more pure white on the Chevey. 

I know it's only a photo but your paint looks to be in good shape. To do it right you'd have to have a lot of trim pulled off and then some stuff isn't going to survive the process and down the rabbit hole you go because those little dings in the front grill are going to stand out with the new paint.

Before you know it you've got 20k into what was going to be a $3500 respray. And the last thing you'll want to do is go load up some gardening supplies in that next to new truck. 

Or you live with some patina and pull into car shows with a survivor label being factory original and get some respect from old guys that bought them new back in the day. 

 

[Blarg]

I'll ask around. I have a guy that deals with restorations from budget to big bucks and knows body/paint shops in the Orange County area. 

[Adam]

Yeah sweet car! MAGA

[Stradling]

On 1/18/2019 at 10:20 PM, calscuf said:

So I have a 1972 Chevy C-20 “Highlander”.  It’s an uncommon trim package that was offered late in ‘72 that basically has plaid seats, with a few other upgrades.  Today, plaid seats is what differentiates a Highlander vs. any other C-10 and C-20 trim package.  Apparently the story is that Chevy needed to sell its remaining stock of 1972s before the new body style 1973s came out.  So they threw a bunch of high end options on the trucks at a discount and, genius idea, “let’s throw some plaid seats in, too!”  

So today the Highlander is a uncommon and not well known relic of late 1972.

I bought mine about 5 years ago (when I sold my ‘66 Mustang but couldn’t give up having a classic) and over the years it’s been my Home Depot and back truck and short haul big items truck, but little things kept going out and I didn’t fix them.  

I was on the verge of selling it but I decided to have all those little things fixed (headlights, heater, gas sending unit, fuel pump, starter, wiper motor).  Everything is functional now and I’m in love again with the truck and am going to start fixing things up.  

Anyone else own or owned one of these 66-72 Chevys?

I need to do a few things on the interior, which I can do myself, but I also probably need a paint job, I definitely need to do something about the wood bed that’s deteriorating.  Any suggestions on places that will do body or paint work at reasonable costs?

Here she is:

I know nothing about this kind of stuff, but your truck is the Chevy version of the type of Ford I want.  I want an early 70’s Ford pick up to drive around.  Very nice looking truck Cals.  

[Blarg]

Cals, my guy only deals with one paint shop and they only work on specialty vehicles. The work is outstanding and a lot of the local showcars were done there. That means $$$$$ instead of $$$.  Sorry, unless you really want to go nuts you'll have to find some other source. 

[Blarg]

Last January, around my birthday, my Spitfire suffered a rust embolism. One day I was driving around happily with a new distributor and locked down carbs and then one morning it's arteries clogged and it went straight to overheat. 

The place I originally had work done pulled the engine but never flushed it or the radiator. So 15 years of sludge eventually broke loose and clogged all of the engines arteries. 

At first I thought it was a faulty thermostat and pulled that and tested it but it popped perfectly at 180 in a pot of water. Then I figured a water pump and on inspection it did have a bad internal bearing so I ordered a new one and installed it without any problems. The car still overheated after about 2 minutes of driving. 

I could see through the radiator opening that there were globs of rust on the top and the water that did flow was Mississippi muddy. After flushing the radiator I thought I had solved the problem but no, the clog was in the internal of the engines water passages. Probably why the old water pump was failing, it could move the sludge loose. 

I always wanted to get an overdrive and since the transmission had known problems this was the time to do it. So I had the car towed to my new mechanic and the engine and trans were removed and I gave him a unicorn to install. A brand new, never been used Laycock Type D overdrive in its original Triumph Motor Company packing crate from back in 1972.

The engine went to L&R Engines with instructions on how I wanted it ported, head shaved, had it bored to .040 over, new pistons, valves with a 3 angle seat cut and higher performance camshaft. 

The Transmission went to a specialist that works on all of Doug's prewar cars. He was very impressed he could still order almost every internal part save for the actual gears themselves. 

Piece at a time it all got done and various other fixes and additions to the car were made. The speedometer was hanging up and that was fixed. The overdrive is electronic and is only supposed to be used in 3rd and 4th gear. If it is engaged when in reverse it implodes, being a one direction (no, @Tank not the band) driveline. So Doug installed a custom relay that kicks it off if you downshift below 3rd gear. 

Today I stopped by because on Tuesday when I went over there the head was sitting in a box and the gasket on the floor. Somehow one of the head bolt nuts (yeah, another old technology of nut and bolt instead of nut attached to bolt) was not torquing down. It would tighten down until a few pounds short of spec then spin out. That caused a head gasket failure and detonation in the #4 cylinder. 

Detonation is bad, very bad. You would think that is what goes on inside of the engine all of the time, compression, spark, detonation. It does, when in proper timing but when you say a cylinder is detonating it means the spark, air, fuel mixture is out of whack and the fuel isn't as much burning but exploding. That can result in burnt valves, even a hole in the piston. There was a burn mark in the number 4 piston but no damage, thankfully. 

Today the engine is back together. The last problem is getting the refurbished carburetors in sync (again, @Tank, not the band) and the number 2 carb to fully return to its bottom position so it is at idle. I could be picking up the car Monday to take home after a long, long absence.

Proof of life. 

 

[Tank]

so what I took away from this, blarg, is that you don't have any good music in your old car.

bummer.

[Blarg]

I don't think I can get any of your favorite boy bands on 8 track. So I just drive listening to sweet orchestra of parts falling off.

[Tank]

16 hours ago, Blarg said:

I don't think I can get any of your favorite boy bands on 8 track. So I just drive listening to sweet orchestra of parts falling off.

Psssh. Just make your own like I do.

[Blarg]

So last week I drove my car home. I got the call it was ready and was pretty excited I was actually going to get to drive it again after 6 months in the shop. 

Down the street I went, 1st through 4th then flipped the switch for the overdrive and... 

Back to the shop. 

They had tested the car every which way before they reinstalled the transmission cover and carpet and somewhere along the line a wire from the overdrive relay to the column switch was disconnected. After a little rummaging under the steering wheel everything got plugged in and down the street I go again. 

This time no problem, shifted into 3rd, flipped the switch and the overdrive kicks in almost lugging the engine. It works perfect and I now have a 6 speed Spitfire. 

Of course this drive home is 90 plus degrees in stop and go traffic. I was taking the surface street route from. Brea to San Dimas because we don't want to wind out the motor in the first 300 miles. It's hot, sweaty and I'm drinking water and checking the temp Guage and it is rock solid mid way. No more rust embolisms to choke the cooling arteries. 

The only negative is a pervasive raw gas smell. By the time I get home and pop the hood the carburetors are dripping with gas from the overflow weep hole. After checking all the lines and the floats themselves it's really down to one probable cause; too high of fuel pressure. 

Rebuilding the engine I replaced to old smog control camshaft with a more aggressive cam. The fuel pump is mechanical and has a lever that it actuated by a rotating lobe on the cam. If the cut on that lobe is different than the old cam, the fuel pump may be pushing fuel at a higher pressure. I was kind of shocked to find out that the SU carbs really only need about 2-1/2 lbs of pressure. I am pretty sure the are getting closer to four which means the carbs are being flooded with fuel in the higher cruising speeds. 

So I went down and bought a fuel pressure regulator and will install in later when the weather drops down into the 80's instead of being 100 right now. I'll know in a short drive if this fixes the problem and if so Sunday I will take it to the San Dimas car show. 

[Blarg]

The fuel pressure regulator worked perfectly even if it is giving the wrong reading.it should be showing 3 psi on idle and yet it shows 6 which is double of what the carburators can handle. When I rev the engine it drops to 2.5. but it is doing the job so I really don't care at this point that it is actually wrong and yet right.

With that problem fixed I did drive it quite a bit and was going to take it to an informal Sunday car show in San Dimas. Saturday night I decided Carol and I could go out to dinner and drop by the location for the show to scout it out. Car stated up perfect and it wasn't a few blocks down the road that the noise from the transmission tunnel cover said, get home and fast!

There was a knocking sound as if the u-joint had come apart and was trying to escape through the passenger compartment. Needless to say the car show idea was a no go and that Sunday I was trying to get pictures of what had gone wrong underneath. My son casually says, maybe there was too much weight in the car and that's why it was making a knocking noise. 

See, I jumped in the car and took it for a drive and that was exactly it.one passenger and the knocking noise was gone, two and the car settled down on top of the u-joint. So the following Tuesday I drove it back to the shop and discussed not only the thumping but also an transmission oil leak coming from the speedometer cable attached to the overdrive. 

The prognosis was the new overdrive mounts were attached to a new plate that had two sides to it that were different, one raised the other lowered. It was a simple case of flipping the mount and that cleared the drive shaft. The oil leak was another matter.

Researching the problem I read where the overdrive speedometer assembly had a small brass seal that looks just like a little washer. Research also said that for some unknown reason they never shipped the kits with this .39 cent washer. I had bought a complete overdrive kit that was from the factory, brand new, never used and it was exactly true to the time period, the bastards didn't include the damn brass seal.

So I take the car back home while we wait for that brass seal and I had to buy a couple other things because they won't accept a .39 cent order. During that time I noticed half way home that the overdrive only engaged in 3rd gear. Dammit!

Since the car was leaking transmission. Fluid like the Exxon Valdez, I decided I was going to refill the transmission. To do this I had to jack the car up. To get it high enough to get under it required I do the process twice. Once to put it on jack stands. The next was putting a riser on the jack so I could lift the car higher. As well support as it was, I couldn't get the car to wiggle at all in the final position, all I could think is we live in California and last month we had two sizeable earthquakes. 

Deciding that being crushed wouldn't be the worst way to go I started the process of finding a way to get a wrench to the drain plug. It was a task since my exhaust is right in the way, there is not really enough clearance for a hand and it required some creativity with an angle drive on a socket to get at it. It broke loose, I was able to unscrew it with my fingertips and the reward is it dropped on my head.

This is called fun. So was snaking a tube up through that same maze and pumping fluid into the hole until it overflowed. My $5.89 tool from Walmart made this actually quite easy, so easy that I ended up needing a spill tray underneath. Then came the fun of trying to seat the drain plug, laying on your back, not really able to maneuver your arms and every time it felt like I got a thread to catch it would slip out of my fingertips and, clunk, drop on my forehead. This only happened three times before I accidently got it to take hold. After cinching it snug it was time to move on to the next task. Wheel bearings.

The left front wheel had a scary amount of play and after I got the wheel and hub cleared I could see that the bearing wasn't snugged down at all. So I pulled them, cleaned off the old grease and repacked them then fitted them properly in place and tightened down the nut that holds them on. The key is to get the brace that holds the bearing in to be firm but not tight. Tight and the bearings bind and you damage the spline. Loose and the front end wobbles. I got it to that perfect zen point and locked it in place with a cotter pin. 

Off the jack stands in a two part process and it was test drive time. Fired it up, took it down the street and expected the refilled fluid to be the answer to the overdrive not engaging and... It wasn't.

Turns out when the brace was reinstalled to lower the overdrive there is basically a safety kill switch for the overdrive that has to have contact with the shifter in 3rd and 4th. That change made it so that little trigger never engaged so the overdrive never actuated. The whole purpose of this switch is you don't accidently put the car in reverse with the overdrive engaged and blow it to bits inside. This little mini automatics transmission is (ready for this @Tank ) one direction. So the default fail is actually a safety feature. You can't engage the overdrive but you also can't accidentally engage the overdrive so it's a good thing when it doesn't work (?) If that makes sense.

Back to the shop, the new parts are installed and it looks like the leak is fixed. The overdrive switch is lined up properly and everything is working. All I need to do is rack up another 100 plus miles so we can flush the break in oil then tighten down the rockers and play with the timing and fuel richness to get it to peak performance. 

Then on September 12th I and driving it all the way up to Santa Maria for Triumphfest. A four day event that is all about Triumphs and taking care and solutions and even sharing some parts or tool so others can fix theirs at the event before trying to get home without a flatbed. I'm hoping to be one of those guys that go to and from and only need gas.

 

 

 

 

[Tank]

i admire your dedication to this project.

 

and i'm glad you remembered me . . .

[Blarg]

I actually drove the Spitfire to work last Saturday, it was an 80 mile round trip all freeway. Went in early to miss traffic, it's so small I tense up when people are swerving in and out of traffic and this car is so low to the ground they may not see it, so I drove with the headlights on. Which brings me to the new problem.

A few weeks ago I attended a Triumph Club meeting in Montebello in the early evening. It turned out to be the club's last planning meeting for Triumphfest, they are the sponsors this year. So I got a chance to meet many of the members and discuss what was going to go on is a couple weeks. Since it was midweek and a bunch of the members were coming from work they didn't bring their Triumphs. So there I was, the new guy with the only Triumph on the lot. Which worked out OK since because when I left one of the members noticed my rear running lights weren't working and so that was now on the list for repair.

I dropped the car off yesterday with my list of fixes and adjustments before the trip. The car now has about 460 miles on the new rebuild and several test drives of increased distances and speed. So it's due for it's first oil change, adjustment of the valves, reconfigring the timing for more performance along with leaning out the carbuerators.

We also have to deal with the rear spring finally settling after three years and add a couple of spacers to even out the camber. It went from too much positive camber to now too much negative camber. I want it set at about 5 degrees or less of negative camber, it's around 10 right now and it alters the tracking on the rear.

Last is topping off the rear differential fluid. It has had a slow drip ever since I got the car back on the road and it has to be pretty low by now. The last thing I need is the rear end to sieze up on the drive up HWY1. It would be bad, like crossing the streams bad. 

Once the mechanical is completed I take it over to an upholstery shop and a new roof will be installed. After owning this car for over a decade I'm finally pulling the old frame out of the garage closet and getting some canvas slapped on it so the car looks legit. I'm just wondering if I can fit under the roof. 

[Blarg]

[Adam]

I'm gonna need a car next year I think. @nate was right. Hyundais are total garbage. 

I want a Tahoe but I'm morally opposed to spending $50K on a car. Ford Flex is appealing. I'll probably end up with a Honda Odyssey, which would be the smart play. If my wife leaves me or croaks I'll be able to pick up bitches, no problem. 

[nate]

Everything GM makes is total garbage.  Don't get a Tahoe.

Honda Odyssey comes close to $50k btw.

We just ordered a Tesla Model 3 Long Range

[Blarg]

Today I took the Spitfire to the upholstery shop for the top installation. They only would work with Robbins brand convertible tops, which was fine by me because they are of very good quality. The only problem is it takes 10 days to get one from the factory. So I ordered it two weeks ago and today was the day. Or was going to be the day. The top that was sent was for a Triumph TR6. Looks like I go to Santa Maria in a hoody.

I have another problem with the rear end, getting a clunking noise like the U-joint on the differential is banging against something. That and after getting the rear spring back to normal it has a shimmy, like something isn't properly bolted back down. So tomorrow I'll be picking the car up from the Upholstery shop after they are done with the trunk and drive it back to Brea to fix whatever is wrong on the underside. I'm hoping it's not actually the differential because I doubt I can get it diagnosed and parts in time to rebuild that.

[Blarg]

Should have just made this a blog. Anyway, Triumphfest starts today. I stopped Goleta to pick up two new wire wheels, the old ones splines are worn and the wheels are not picking down right so I get some shudder from the rear.

I had asked the guys at Moss Motors, a parts supplier in Goleta, on Monday where I could get them mounted. They suggested Big Brand Tires (a chain) just 6 blocks away. I made an appointment for 10 am, show up early and get a bunch of excuses as to how it will take extra time and they couldn't finish before 3pm. First it was, they were too backed up. Then it was my wheels were such a rare and special type it would take longer. I told them to stuff it. 

So I checked tire stores in Santa Maria and the first independent I called asked all the right questions as to what I needed and said no problem, bring it by and we can do it now. So we will see how that goes.

The good news is I've made it to Buelton without and real problems except for the overdrive slipping out of gear in 4th. With a little coaxing by wiggling the stickshift I can get the cutoff switch to stay engaged. But it's slowly getting worse. By the end of the week I may be forced to hold the damn thing against it the whole way. That will suck but we will see.

 

[Blarg]

8 miles out of Santa Maria the Spitfire started losing power and the temp gauge crept to hot after being center gauge all day. Visions of disaster ran through my head as I kept rolling along since there were no offramps and if a head gasket had gone it won't care where I finally limp to. 

Then... The temp gauge started heading back to cool and the car started to pick up power again. A false alarm but why, other than to raise my blood pressure, would the little beast does this? 

Wheels are getting mounted and I'm chilling at a restaurant that was established back in 1941. I hadn't planned on eating here but I always like finding these places.