Car Repair Situation

[Iowegian]

@fester:

When you say shoebox Ford are you talking about 49/50s?

My dad had a '50 flattie Business Coupe way back when - Duntov heads, Offy 2x2 intake with an Isky cam. Tuff stuff for the day. Looked really industrial, like something the phone company would have bought. Cool car, though.

Big azz diseased Dutch Elm tree fell on it during a windstorm - smushed the roof down to the seat cushions, and that was that...

 

[cfz2882]

auto tranny repair

i have had to repair a few automatics and they weren't too hard to take apart and reassemble;most recent one was the 700r4 in my z28-aftermarket converter blew it's thrust bearing and spread debris through the tranny,had to take all apart and muck out before reassembly with stock converter back on.
easiest clutch replacement i ever did was a '68 chevy pickup with 3-spd stick-took me about 4 hrs as a 16yr old kid LOL.

 

[fester]

mileage

Add overdrive, plug and play fuel injection and choose your gears wisely and just about anything from the 50s - 80s will get respectable mileage. I had a 73 f100 360 that got 17+ MPG, 3speed, no OD and a 2bbl carb. My 72 454 Nova, TH400, 3800 stall and 4.10s got 11 mpg. what did that Vette have, 5.13s? My Grandmother had a Mazda in the early 80's that got 38 mpg hwy via a carb and 5speed OD. My 01 f150 gets 14 - 15 hwy with FI and OD! Boy, we've really come a long way, haven;t we. The idea that newer vehicles get this awesome mileage is bunk. It's all in the combination and choosing your parts well. Just because it can smoke some econo box doesn't mean it has to suck fuel. Besides, I'm thinking of jacking the compression to around 14:1 and running it on CNG. $1.79 per GGE and 130 octane!

FEster [this post was last edited: 10/29/2012-00:51]

 

[fester]

shoebox

yeah, 49 - 50 something. not sure of exact year. The guy wasn't sure and is looking for the paper. It's not cherry. Prolly build a lead sled DD with it if it pans out.

FEster

 

[hydralique]

Duntov heads . . .

Do you mean the Ardun hemi-head conversion for the Ford flathead V8? That's a rare and desirable piece of kit, hopefully saved after the car was destroyed. The standard flathead isn't efficient or powerful, but I do enjoy hearing an old Ford with one, they just have that special "blat-blat" sound as they go down the road.

 

I have no idea what rear end the Corvette had but I'm pretty sure it wasn't 5.13; the car was very stock and clearly hadn't been ordered with drag racing in mind since the 327-300 was BOL for the '66 models. It was a nice old car, dead reliable with good brakes and handling but the typical Corvette rattles and mediocre steering. Overall I liked it even if it wasn't really my sort of car, and at the time gas was cheap so the mileage was more of a joke than a serious issue. I did install a brand new and correct Holley carb, we were lucky that Holley made a batch of them for the 327-300 around '90. Someday I might even get it back on the road, but with gas at over $4.00 now I doubt if my sister would use it so much!

 

[fester]

auto tranny repair

The hardest part of building my TH400 was finding the various thickness shims to set clearances. The zit punks at the parts houses couldn't find them and the trans shops wanted to do the job and wouldn't sell them. This was back in the late 80s when only scientists had computers.

FEster

 

[qsd-dan]

simple solenoid tapped into the valve body

Ugh, valve body. Don't remind me.....

 

[hydralique]

Eeek!

I'm glad I prefer manuals, so much simpler to maintain and operate!

 

[qsd-dan]

Eeek!

It actually isn't that bad, just a little time consuming keeping everything in order and keeping parts as clean as possible during re-assembly. If only Ford knew how to half-ass build a slushbox, especially an overdrive unit. (shakes head)

I'm glad I prefer manuals, so much simpler to maintain and operate!

Yeah, I exclusively drove manuals as daily drivers for 17 years, but I hate to admit this (and my younger self would slap the shit out of me for saying this), but I'm starting to get REALLY tired of shifting gears. I've been floating the gears for the past few months in the Accord. Yeah, I know, not good for the syncros in the very long run, but I'm sick of shifting!