Well, Austin has been hitting over a 100F for quite a few days. Today
was 107, a little warm for this parts. I pushed Rodney out of the shed
to get ready for the annual fall drives, when hopefully it cools down
a little.
I had put the battery on the charger, looking forward to not worrying
about the battery since I put in a Optima Red Top last year. Advantage
is the battery does not self discharge, but after a six+ months of
sitting
I like to make sure it up to full voltage.
Glanced at the charge meter to confirm it was sitting at "0 amps"
meaning
a full charge. Should be charged as I left it on trickle charge for a
full week.
Once installed, went to hit the ignition key. Heard the after market
electric
fuel pump start up, and when I tried the starter "clunk" in a soft tone.
Darn.
Tried checking connections on the starter, but my hands just don't fit
down in there! Finally got a jumper wire on it, connected to the
battery, and
was rewarded with a solid "Thunk!" of the solenoid. Darn.
By now, Skate, my 18 month old Border Collie/Rotty mix, decided
to see what I am doing. Unlike my older Rotty who just enjoys
a quiet day in the shade, Skate has to get into the action of things.
I noticed the needled & seats had stuck, spilling fuel from the over
flow vents on the rear carb. Easiest to just remove both float tops
at the same time, leaving the fuel lines attached. Once the floats are
off, figured it was just quicker to remove the rear carb to get at the
starter.
Got the rear carb off, leaving the choke cable attached, but flipping
the carb up and out of the way. By then I realized that is required for
the LOW WINDSHIELD car with the triangle plate in place, not
on a high windshield car. Darn! I do get fatigued in the heat, but
figured at least if I am not using power tools I can not do too much
damage to myself.
At least it made it much easier to reach the top bolt of the starter.
A nice inconvenient 15 mm across the flats, obviously a replacement
bolt. Just loosened the top bolt, climbing under the car to attempt
to reach the lower bolt. Difficult with my exhaust system, but kept
wondering what was going on as I expected a 14 mm head to the
bolt, yet looked like 17 mm. Of course Skate was quite happy to
have me in the back yard, by the shed, working on the starter.
Every time I got up he would try to jump up on the fender to
see what I was doing, every time I would climb under the
car he was back under it, too.
Finally after trying a 15 mm, 16 mm, and 17 mm, I could not get
the bolt loose. Seemed to be "about" a 16mm, but loose.
Yes, turned out to be a SAE with a 9/16" head. Sigh, how I love
previous owners (PO). Even better was the bolt wouldn't turn. Turns out
the PO had used a longer bolt than needed, and had DRILLED out
the back of the transmission and double nutted the bolt. After much
head scratching, I was able to loosen the back nut, then back off the
bolt. There wasn't room for the nut next to the transmission, so the PO
had ground off the back half to fit. Sheesh, with the amount of time
spent on the transmission housing, it would have been simpler to have
had a helicoil fitted.
Of course with the switching of open end, box end, and ratchets and
sockets, it was busy just to get one bolt removed. Skate thought this
was great fun, so when I stretched out to reach a wrench he beat me
to the wrench, pulling it closer to him.
"Gee, can I help, can I help, can I?" I could almost hear Skate.
Finally got the starter off, and ALMOST out the hole between
the frame and body. The flange was bent up a little, so I was able
to straighten with a large Crescent wrench adjusted on the flange
and pull it down straight.
Back into the cool garage, I cleaned up the layer of grease on the
starter. Removed the back cover, after removing two 7/16" headed
bolts (yes, remember SOME items still have SAE threads even when
attached to a Metric Engine). The brushes looked fine, plenty of life
left in them, strong springs holding the brushes against the commutator.
Checked the starter with a set of battery cables and remote starter...
uh oh, the starter worked just fine! What the heck???
Of course it just didn't seem possible. Went back to check the battery
charger, thinking maybe it finally gave up the ghost after 25 years.
Well, seems on my boys (or Skate?) had switched the charge voltage
to 6V! Arrrrrrrrrgggggg. I just spent three hours being kissed by a dog,
on a very hot day, getting a starter out to find the "new" battery was
dead.
I had thought to check the voltage of the battery, but just didn't check
it.
I was looking for a proper 10 mm bolt, but to not avail. Ended up
reusing
the bolt that was there, but made a custom brass nut to replace the
double
nut that was used previous. Still 9/16", but at least a ratchet can
remove it
now.
It the process of getting the starter back in place, once again crawling
under the car, it was getting rather warm. Sweat rolling into my eyes,
as Skate was doing his "can I help, can I, can I?" I just had to teasing
tell him I could use a drink of water. A few minutes later I thought it
was raining, nope Skate dragged the sprinkler over to me. Wonderful
dog, but not what I had in mind. Of course all the dirt he had tracked
around me was now mud, but he seemed to be saying: "See, much
cooler it is with damp dirt on you!". Ugh.
At least not all time was wasted. Noticed the heat shield was almost
ready to fail. It attaches to the SU manifold with two bolts. The metal
around the bolt holes will crack with fatigue after years of use. My fix
is simply to add a backing material (thin sheet metal), spot welding it
into place. Redrill the two holes, making sure they are accurately
placed,
and I'm back in business. The heat shield also provides a place for the
return springs to attach, and prevents the carb float bowls from
overheating.
I got the needle & seats of the carbs working fine again with a simple
trick. Usually when they stick open it is from the varnish from sitting
so
long. So I had my fire extinguisher handy, turned on the electric fuel
pump, and put a catch can under the float tops. Using my finger to
open and close the float level, the old varnish was cleaned off by the
fresh gasoline, leaving functional needle & seats once again.
Finally got everything hooked up, and took Rodney out for a spin and
to fill up the gas tank. Only took three gallons to fill him up, but
even with the gas stabilizer in the tank I like to have fresh gas put
into the car when it goes out.
At least a few minor maintenance items were taken care of, but never
had time to install a seat into the car! That was the reason for
pulling it out of the shed, and wanting to move it into the garage for
a few days... Oh well, maybe it will cool off by December for a
nice drive!
Cheers,
Tom Walter '68 2000
Austin, TX
|