What's new with the engine?

Not much. In fact most of it's pretty damned old. There's gunk on/in that block that's probably twice my age. Lots of it... and it's thick and nasty. The deeper we dig into this car, the more we are coming to realize that it is a living testament to the quality of old school American engineering. I've lost count of how many times I've stopped, looked, and thought "Damn... all that and it still runs."

We've been busy up in the engine compartment. A previous post mentioned that the carb had come off, and it's now disassembled and mostly clean. Turns out the shaft that hold the choke valve and connects it to all the linkages that control choke was busted beyond repair, which might have been a deal killer for that carburetor. Dad managed some pretty impressive networking though, and found a shop in Mount Vernon run by Terry, who's an expert on these things. We paid Terry a visit last week and ended up buying a beat up top end off a similar carb from him for $20. It just happened to have a shaft of the right length, with the right cuts in it, and dad was able to drill and tap the necessary holes in the end to attach us to all the linkages. So my friends, it looks like we're keeping our carb. :)

In other news outside the block, a closer look at the radiator revealed it to be in rough shape. Still holding most of it's fluid, but leaky, and definitely looking shaky on the inside (read: thick brown sludge on everything.) We yanked it out last weekend, and it's now in a shop in Bellingham being rebuilt. Along with it, dad took the alternator, which has passed a professional inspection and looks sound, so it'll be getting shined up in dad's shop. And then there's the things attached directly to the block...

No Radiator?

Let's start with the exhaust manifold. We noticed early on that it was missing some bolts. As it turns out it was missing most of it's bolts. Dad will have to fill in the blank on the exact number holding it in place, but it wasn't many. There are some other bolts missing from other parts of the car too, but lets stick with the exhaust for now. We always knew the manifolds would need to come out, and when we finally yanked them, there were no gaskets either. Awesome. Those are getting the spa treatment in Bellingham currently.

After a fair amount of deliberating, we decided it would probably be best if we took a look inside the top end before we tried to run it again. So next the intake manifold came off, and I'd say we were immediately validated in our decision. Unbelievable crap has accumulated in the gallery. Thick gooey, chunky crap. Looking down the passages into the heads, the air intakes look rusty, but okay; however, the water passages are filled with the same brown sludge that's in the radiator. There's an exhaust crossover passage that is meant to warm up the manifold, and that's pretty black, but no surprises there.

And finally, tonight I pulled the valve covers off. More of that grimy gunk. Piles of it. Quarter inch deep in some places. And this in and around all the valve levers & such. It is amazing that this car fired up and ran with all this crap in it's guts. It's hard to do the image justice with a snapshot picture, but this one shows some of the gunk:

New Pipes

Put "Mabel" into an exhaust shop yesterday afternoon. At one point there was a full dual exhaust on that car, but it had seen better days. The passenger side was missing everything from a point upstream of the muffler, and what was left of the tube had been crushed mostly closed. The crossover tube was still there, a.k.a equalizer tube or "Y-tube" as they were calling it in the shop. So called (I think) because it attaches to a Y who's other ends are the coupling to the exhaust manifold, and the downstream exhaust tube. So it's right there.

As a result, a lot of exhaust from the passenger side manifold was being pushed back upstream, through the crossover tube, and out the driver side. But there was still plenty coming out the holes on that side. Not to mention that the crossover itself was almost completely rusted away at one point. Driver's side was in better shape. The muffler and tubing was mostly there, minus any tip on the end. There were some dings dents and holes, not to mention missing brackets, but at least it was there!

The shop we used was Beyond Repair in Everett. These guys are close to my house so we could drive her right there. If you're wondering why we decided to get new pipes put in so early in the process, our trip from home to the shop provides the best explanation I can give. I was upstairs when dad started her up (in the garage, which is downstairs.) She was so loud the whole house was literally rumbling, and the oak floor in my bedroom was vibrating my feet like a massage chair. When I got downstairs dad had already pulled out, but the cloud of smoke *in* the garage (thanks to the nonexistent tailpipes) was thick like fog. Rolling down the street not only are we getting a nice blue deaths-head of smoke out the back, but it comes out all four wheel wells too. Hilarious and awesome in it's own way, but not practical.

Beyond Repair turned out to be a great shop, and they do more than just exhaust. We'll probably be back in there now and again for work, or just to get advice. They were enthusiastic about working on this car, and they did great work. In and out, in a couple hours, and for a great price. Our thought going in was to put a pair of Flowmaster 50 series in there, or something similar, but the owner at BR happened to have a pair of old school Smitty glass-packs that were $80 a piece to the Flowmaster ~$130. I'm no expert, but a couple of the car guys coming through that shop were drawn to those Smitty mufflers sitting out like magnets. And when it was all said and done, the sounds was that nice mellow rumble we were looking for, so the risk ended up being worth it.

All new tubing, brackets etc., and a pair of chrome tips, courtesy of the shop, because all this car needs is more chrome. XD I've got pictures of the car up on the racks going in, but forgot the camera on the trip to pick her up. I'll try to grab a couple from underneath some time soon & get the whole set posted.

First Weekend

New picture albums up (in the "Pics" link to left.) Video of an engine start now on youtube. We're in business!

This weekend we retrieved the Car from Lopez Island. Loading onto the trailer turned out to be cake. Sam (my dog) took his first ride in it while we pushed it down the gentle slope of the road and onto the trailer ramps. We stopped off to give her a bath and managed to plug up the drain with all the years of crap that had accumulated on/in this car. The paint's looking a bit more "Adobe Beige" and less "Lopez Mold" afterwards.

Getting her off the trailer was a bit more of trick. My garage is behind the house, down a steep & narrow driveway. We decided we'd get the trailer aligned then coast down the rest of the way and onto my back patio, which is sheltered by my deck. The goal was to get her running out there, at which point she could go into the garage under her own power. We're lucky she's came with strong brakes, that made the whole thing about as easy as could be.

2 new spark plug wires, 1 new fuel filter, 2 ft of fuel hose, 1 new battery, about 3 cans worth of WD40 and some starter fluid down the carb and she turned over like she'd never even stopped running. =D The exhaust isn't all there so she shakes every window with a three mile radius, and that's just sitting at idle! Not bad for one days work.

Sunday we started tackling some of the many, many, many things this car will eventually need done. Lots of WD40, penetrating oil, vinyl cleaner, & elbow grease involved here. We took a long look at the electrical system; currently the generator isn't hooked up at all, and the voltage regulator has wires where there probably shouldn't be. So the battery gets its charge from the house mains for now.

After a morning of poking, prodding, and scrubbing, we decided it was time for some more test. Fired right back up, drove back and forth on the patio no problem, so Sam and I piled into the passenger seats and up that hill we went, roaring and smoking and having damn good time! =D Imagine this old beater of a '57 Chevy coming growling down your street with no hood on it, blowing smoke and making so much beautiful noise you could hear her coming long before you ever saw it. We got a lot of smiles and waves and looks of "what the fu...?"

Back at home we pulled right into the garage where she'll be living from now on. Now the real work begins. :)