Fellow fiends:
Well, three scrapped knuckles, one cheep cigar, and a few pints of...
fermented malt beverage later, the OD is in the '63, wired and working! It
is a treat for a jaded fool such as I to be able to cruise at 70mph and
under 3500 RPM (see? my wants are few). As some on the list will remember,
this saga has taken me about 9 months of hair pulling and chest beating and
peroidic shaking of fists up towards the clouds, but its in now and I'm very
happy with it (Many many thanks, Randy, Don, & Brian!). I would even swear
that the new prop-shaft is better ballanced than my old one (dieing U-joint
in the old one?); the whole car seems to run smoother and quieter.
I have a few questions on the proper use of the unit, however. Principally,
I want to know the net-wisdom on the need to use the clutch while engaging
and disengaging (sp?) the thing. Cruising in true 4th at about 3700 rpm, I
engage the OD electrics and about 2 seconds later the OD slots in, without a
lurch, much like the feel of an automatic slipping into top. OTOH, under
deceleration (say, entering an exit ramp), at the lower RPM (say, 3200) when
I disengage the unit it only takes half a second and there is a noticeable
lurch. The lurch is surely due to engine compression and the need to
increase revs. But... is this lurch and sudden increased load tough on the
OD unit? Should I use the clutch and gradually ease into true 4th or just
let it do it its own way? My impression is that these units are tough, but
I don't want to be needlessly hard on it. I plan on being burried in this
car and I plan on living for several years.
Possibley relevant to the above, I have yet to install the vacuum switch.
The unit is running now with the two leads to the vacuum switch
disconnected. The only reason I haven't put the vacuum switch in is because
I don't have any vacuum line in my garage at home and I haven't gone to the
local parts place (not a good reason, I agree, but there it is). I'll do
that today, for sure. Will the vacuum switch influence this? I understand
its function is to disengage the OD only when the car is decelerating (high
vacuum). What I don't fully understand is why that matters. I mean, the
unit works fine w/o the switch connected, or am I incredibly stupid and
missing something here (don't answer that!)?
Anyway, many thanks for any advice.
Will Zehring
p.s. I suspect my wife believes, in this case, that OD stands for over-dose.
Bless her heart.
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