In addition to Dr. Peden’s two Rolls Royces, he keeps a stable of classic American cars. Tom Miro has made it his mission to make and keep them all road worthy. Here are Tom’s status reports on the collection.
That’s all for now – I know I had better figure out the TR’s brakes and electricals, but unless I replace Pam’s shocks and Rodney’s clutch hose, I will be completely out of good karma, just when need it most!
Even though they aren’t British automobiles, trust me, they have enough personality to populate the entire island nation! Hope to have these beauties sorted out before too long, so you all can see them doing what they were born to do.
Tom
1955 PONTIAC UPDATEAfter I recharge the Ford battery (of course it’s flat!), do some automotive warehouse Jenga, and check the brakes, we’ll be ready for a turn around the block. I am ordering a carb kit, b/c the Buick carb on the car right now has different vacuum fittings and the vacuum advance is not hooked up, so it will stumble. But run it does, and smoothly!
1950 ChevyIt spins very weakly, and oddly, does deflect the ammeter much when engaged. I expected to see it buried in the D when trying to start. The ammeter does respond appropriately to the headlights burning (discharge indicated which returns to neutral once they are off). I think the battery is fully charged. I will fit it to the ’54 to check. BTW, there is 6 volts to the coil with the ignition switch on (so switch is good, and the coil specs look good (it is a new coil). Point gap was atrocious, reset it with a business card (they average about .017) in the absence of my feeler gauges. Without spin, however, I can’t get her started. Interestingly, there is a hand crank attachment on the crankshaft, and I have seen a fellah on you tube fire one up that way, but not when it hasn’t run in, I don’t know, forever. I had also cleaned and rebuild the carb when I was fiddling to get the ’54 started.
There is an ugly looking, though operational 6 v starter on ebay for about 100 bucks. There are a ton of 6v starters for trucks, which have a lever on the motor body, I guess to attach the starter pedal. Sadly, incompatible. Folks also talk about using a 12v battery to jump a 6v system, most saying no harm will come to car if lights and radio are off. Clearly the battery in the ’75 Pontiac has a ton more cranking amps than the 6v.
Tom
I took the battery out of the ’54, which is the most constantly charged of the 6v brotherhood, and surprise, it spun over like a son of a gun, and guess what, it caught and almost started on the ether, but continued cranking only served to run the battery down. It was nice to feel, however, the battery cables weren’t crazy hot, so cutting leads and cleaning connections helped reduce the resistance.
BTW, with it’s “fuel tank” tucked in front of the radiator, and its roommates pushed back for some space, the ’55 Pontiac took her first short run up and back in the garage, the first time, I think in a good bit.. The brakes worked and did not lock up. and the rad sieving was down do a significant dripping.
Tom
7/15/2019: Tom rebuilt and reinstalled the carburetor including the leaky floats that were causing the petrol hemorrhaging soon after start-up.
7/16/2019: Tom cleaned and reinstalled the spark plugs. Now, with fresh gas and minimal squirt of starter fluid, the ’50 roars to life. Minor tweaking with the carb and timing and the septuagenarian Chevy thinks it’s a kid again. Now, on to the seized brakes — all four.
With the 6-cylinder at full power, we tried abusing the clutch enough to see if the drums and shoes would release their years-long embrace. The RR is the first to break free, followed soon after by the LR. The fronts are still locked up. Time for Tom to do more non-invasive surgery on the brake star-wheel adjustments. Again, but now with both rears alternately pushing and pulling the RF frees up then the LF. Not quite totally free wheeling, but at least all are turning. All lights, horn, and gauges work — except for the fuel gauge. The original gas tank and sender have been replaced with a generic plastic version with no clue if it has a sender or if it does, if it’s compatible. I think that, and a rubber clutch pedal pad, and perhaps a bottom radiator hose are the only things left on the punch list for this one.
Russell
7/17/2018: Removed the ’56 Caddy starter, took her home for inspection/test. Brushes were brand new. I lubed bushings at both ends, and it spun just fine. Will now reinstall after I clean/ replace battery cabling. Replaced the missing trans cooling line, now to fuel line and install tees.
7/18/2019: I reinstalled the starter, but could go no further, as the jack refused to release. I’ll have to wait until the jack bleeds down – it will be ready tomorrow. This happened with the ’50 Chevy once before. Once she is back on her feet, the fuel line, the radiator, check and clean the battery cables, and see if she’ll spin up.
7/17/2019: The ’50 Chevy fired up with gas alone, but it is surging again. I suspect float level needs resetting, easy peasy.
7/18/2019: So . . you have a Stovebolt Six, and you’ve gotten it running, but it still stalls, surges, and generally misbehaving. The timing is spot on, so now what? Ah – the float level – I had adjusted the level too low, and that prevented filling the bowl and jets and the accelerator pump. What floored me was how significant increasing the level 1/16 of an inch would be. Now – she runs like a four door Rolex, starting without ether, either. The choke is so effective you have to go to half choke immediately after it starts, or she’ll smoke black out the tailpipe. The factory setting is 1 and 9/16 inch from the gasket to the highest point on the floats. That height turns out to have the float arm nearly parallel to the gasket surface.
Tom
7/20/2019: It’s official The starter problem the ’56 Caddy was suffering from was voltage/current drop on the battery cables caused by corrosion. With fresh cables on the car, the starter leapt to life and spun the big 365 with a vengeance. With a dose of ether down the carb, she actually ran. Now to rig up a temporary fuel source, reconnect the cooling system, and I think we’ll have #7 running.
Tom
7/22/2018: I am happy to report the ’56 Caddy is up and running very well. The car only needed a quick spritz of ether after mending the several cooling hoses, and reinstalling the radiator. Sadly, the power steering pressure hose is leaky, and well, sieving bright red P/S fluid. Everywhere. Except, of course, the pump, or the reservoir. More to follow, as I try to run down a replacement. One of the heater hoses has a small drip, but nothing horrible, and the water pump is, well, pumping.
I’ll also need to cut the battery cables down to a manageable length to allow a battery install, buy a battery, and pull the drain plug from the tank to ensure I drained all the nasties.
Whew! I think I will take a day or two off. When I return, I would love fire up the ’50 Chevy, and we’ll try to get her brakes to cooperate.
Tom
7/31/2018: The ’56 Caddy‘s new power steering hose arrived, and is now installed. It is amazing how a car this large could have so many tight spaces in the engine compartment. With her new leak free hose, she fires right up, idles sweetly, with a basso profundo voice, like a motor yacht, and has only two small water leaks from the miles of heater hose. Not too shabby!
The transmission operates in forward and reverse, and I eased her up and back gingerly in her berth to test. Brakes appear to be fine.
Now to reconnect the tank to the fuel line, cut the battery cables, and get a new 3EE battery, and she’ll be drivable. The right door is still in pieces, but that’s a job for another day.
’50 Chevy: I bought a brake spoon, in hopes that it will be more effective in releasing the shoes than my Craftsman screwdriver. I got the clutch a little warm yesterday, and I felt a little bad, but not too bad.
Today, I rebuilt the ’55 Pontiac‘s Carter carb at home. Tomorrow, install, and the little work remaining on the Caddy and the Chevy. Dunno whether we can remove, inspect, patch and reinstall the ’55 Poncho’s tank in time for the Cruise In, but hope springs eternal, they say.
8/1/2019: When I arrived, just after 9am, Tom was already drenched in his own coolant. He gave me an update on the ’56 Caddy‘s power steering and heater hose fixes. It now starts and runs like — well — a Caddilac.
A few months ago, Tom managed to spray enough WD40 into the shift linkage/steering column to free up the shifter from its decades old petrified grease. Today’s project was to replace the Carter carburetor that Tom had rebuilt on the ’55 Pontiac in hopes of taking it to tomorrow evening’s Lower Dexter Cruise-in. After everything was back in place, the ’55 roared to life with only a little spritz with the starter fluid. Re-torquing connections on the carb dried up a couple of niggling fuel leaks. I had requested a photo-shoot so, we hit the public roads (the first for the Pontiac in a long time) in search of a scenic backdrop. As the Pontiac came to a rest, it took a spontaneous old-man nap, and not enough grunt left in the battery to re-start. So, we made a fifteen minute hike back to the garage, retrieved a fresh battery, returned, and replaced the battery. So, Tom will have yet another of Dr. Peden’s cars to show off tomorrow.
Russell
9/3/2019:
Got the correct Caddy battery at Advance Auto – just over 100 bucks thanks to a 25% off coupon. Fuel tank is, sadly, plugged. I blew compressed air into it from both ends with no joy, and removed the fuel line and probed the tank connection with a long wire hanger, again with no success. Looks like another Pontiac “fuel tank” for a while, at least.
The ’50 Chevy continues to test my patience. There are two star wheel adjusters per wheel, and as it happens, the brake spoon flat can’t reach one. So, I have one locked shoe and one freer shoe per front wheel. What does that mean, you say? It means the clutch freaking hates me . . . Aaaah, progress. I did in fact run all the fuel out of the tank, so I have that going for me.
Aug. 7, 2019
As I had hoped, with the powerful battery shared by the ’56, and the ’75 Pontiac, two gallons of fresh fuel, a spritz of ether, and a new ignition cylinder, the Eldorado roared to life on the second try – runs smooth and strong with no hesitation. The lights, brakes, radio and power antenna, and transaxle appear to be operable, but alas, its windows, top, trunk release, and a/c are not working. Fuses, perhaps? Once I replace the steering wheel (powerful anti – theft device, this!) and clear the center row, I should be able to pull her out, and maybe put that no motor ’67 Mustang in its place.
Discounting that automobilia non-grata Dodge and the organ donor Mustang, does that make it a 100% GM engine-running garage now? Let me know when you need help with the Mustang relocation.
Aug 7 at 8:34 PM
All save that no-account 1977 Olds Cutlass. I think bypassing the neutral safety switch should get it running. If not, the ignition switch may have pooped the bed. I’ll give you a shout when we are ready for garage Jenga.
Dec 15, 2019
BTW, using the Charger’s key ( a crappy screwdriver), got her to spin over just fine. No spark, so it will need ignition stuff. Fried my jumper wire, so I may have connected up to the wrong coil terminal. Coil will need testing, and although points/condenser appear newish, but the breaker plate they sit on looks really cheezy. This is my first Mopar – I wonder if they are all this way?
Dec 15 at 2:46 PM
Despite my best efforts, the Charger’s coil specs just fine. The points are junk and there is no condenser installed. Sheesh!
I will get a new set here presently, and install them later this week. I’ll let you know when,
Dec. 19, 2019
The freakishly cold weather has made me hesitant to drag you to Ice Station Zebra to attack the recalcitrant Mopar. Hell, I barely wanted to be there!
Bought a point/condenser set for 10 bucks, installed and set them. As I had said the coil checked out, so we’ve got that going for us. After a spritz of ether, a jumper from battery to positive coil terminal, and the ol’ screwdriver key, she spun over and coughed, Good sign, so spark was sparking in the combustion chambers. With no more success than that, and numbness setting in, I removed the carb and brought it home for cleaning/setting/hoping.
Disassembled the Carter AFB, and found it had been gone through, badly, at some time in the past. The jets had stuck, pretty common with these Carters, but a ham handed “technician” had wrecked the screw slots in a vain attempt to remove them. One of the needle seat was missing a gasket.. Emulsion tubes and vents were bent, a result of sloppy reassembly and forcing parts together. The accelerator pump was improperly assembled, missing springs and check weights, rendering the acceleration circuit inoperable. Finally, someone had disassembled the carb linkage and reassembled it in the wrong order, impacting the secondary barrels. What a mess!
Luckily, the carb kit they used, along with the instructions they clearly didn’t read were still in the pile of old carb kits. I swung by the warehouse, picked up the kit and put it to work. It’s all back together, correctly, and as good as I can make it.
I reinstalled it this morning, and filled it with fuel. Armed with the ether, I spun her over and it caught and ran, badly. Racing back to the fuel and my jury rigged fuel tank ( a funnel and line to the carb intake), I managed to get her running better and settled down to warm up. It sounds like it either has a big cam or a small miss, can’t decide. It also needs an oil change badly, as its oil was contaminated with old gas in the past, and is doing no one any good in the sump right now.
After an oil change I may fiddle some more, but another dead one is back to life. Whee!
Tom
Dec 15 at 4:37 PM
I’m pretty sure this Charger and “Christine D’ Floorjak” have conspired to do you in. Don’t turn your back on either.
Dec 19 at 11:24 AM
The freakishly cold weather has made me hesitant to drag you to Ice Station Zebra to attack the recalcitrant Mopar. Hell, I barely wanted to be there!
Bought a point/condenser set for 10 bucks, installed and set them. As I had said the coil checked out, so we’ve got that going for us. After a spritz of ether, a jumper from battery to positive coil terminal, and the ol’ screwdriver key, she spun over and coughed, Good sign, so spark was sparking in the combustion chambers. With no more success than that, and numbness setting in, I removed the carb and brought it home for cleaning/setting/hoping.
Disassembled the Carter AFB, and found it had been gone through, badly, at some time in the past. The jets had stuck, pretty common with these Carters, but a ham handed “technician” had wrecked the screw slots in a vain attempt to remove them. One of the needle seat was missing a gasket.. Emulsion tubes and vents were bent, a result of sloppy reassembly and forcing parts together. The accelerator pump was improperly assembled, missing springs and check weights, rendering the acceleration circuit inoperable. Finally, someone had disassembled the carb linkage and reassembled it in the wrong order, impacting the secondary barrels. What a mess!
Luckily, the carb kit they used, along with the instructions they clearly didn’t read were still in the pile of old carb kits. I swung by the warehouse, picked up the kit and put it to work. It’s all back together, correctly, and as good as I can make it.
I reinstalled it this morning, and filled it with fuel. Armed with the ether, I spun her over and it caught and ran, badly. Racing back to the fuel and my jury rigged fuel tank ( a funnel and line to the carb intake), I managed to get her running better and settled down to warm up. It sounds like it either has a big cam or a small miss, can’t decide. It also needs an oil change badly, as its oil was contaminated with old gas in the past, and is doing no one any good in the sump right now.
After an oil change I may fiddle some more, but another dead one is back to life. Whee!
Dec. 27, 2019: I replaced the fuel filter which was due, but the Ford could not draw fuel from the tan, and I just didn’t have the heart to suck fuel through to the filter and get a mouthful of petrol. I traced the fuel line from the fuel pump back to the tank, but saw no problems, but could not see where the line connected to the tank. The exploded drawing placed the intake at the top of the tank, making me think the tank had to come down for access, making me curse ‘ol Henry.
Turns out however, the old feller wasn’t near the sadist I thought he might be. Forums spoke of a trapdoor in the trunk floor that allowed access to the pickup. In this model, access is limited by the rumble seat (surprise!) but access there is. Not only can you see(!) you can actually touch(!!!) the line into the tank, which, not surprisingly has been modified, removing the hard line compression fitting and replacing it with a flexible hose and clamp. I will try to disconnect the line from the tank, remove the hard line from the hose patch midway in the run, and replace the aft line. The rubber hose back aft may be perished, or perhaps a size too large, which could certainly lead to air leaks which can challenge the pump’s ability to draw fuel, ala the cracked McDonald’s straw that made drinking a chore.
We’ll see how she goes.
February 5, 2020