keithb7

Family in town over the past few days. We had a great cruise last night. Wound up at Dairy Queen of course. A great night for a real nice cruise. Lovin’ the 4 doors. Getting lots of use touring family and friends around.

Its turning into a family affair as my brother and his daughter work on the bodywork repairs and paint. My brother is a professional autobody mechanic. My Niece is learning the prep & paint trade. My truck is in their capable hands. No short cuts, my Bro does an outstanding job. Cab lower rear corner getting replaced.

Making some progress. With the box off I can see that the fuel module in the fuel tank is original. I will change it proactively. It would probably fail on the first road trip 500 miles from home, after the box was reinstalled. I will also take the opportunity to replace the rear shocks. Easy peasy at this point. Brand new outer box sides:

Here to stay...

Yes. I understand. So does this answer your question? “What about adjustments?”

Well if I’d been a professional working mechanic since 1970, doing lockheed adjustments without the specIal tool, I would expect no less of myself. However since I’ve been wrenching on my car part time, as a hobby since 2017, I don’t get the same results. @Jakub I'm wondering have you personally adjusted these same brakes to perfection?

Bluefox what year car are you looking to improve? Just curious. Most old mopar brakes are the same anyway I suppose. I have spent quite a bit of time and effort attempting to get my brakes in top order. Within reason, cost wise. They work pretty good but still, I am used to better. I live up quite a long steep winding hill. The single master cylinder circuit works but it is in the back of my mind as I creep down the hill in low gear. In my experience the one issue that I can’t seem to dial in right, is the manual brake shoe adjustment. As the shoes continue to wear they need to be manually adjusted. Concentric. Without the miracle tool its no so easy to get right. Double pumps with the brake pedal get the shoes out closer to the drums and good performance, yet I know it’s not right. I have had my drums off multiple times to adjust. Played with minor adjustments too. They are pretty good, but I know could be better. In time I’ll likely go with front disc conversion and a dual master cylinder. I’ll probably wait until my current shoes are worn out. Putting $1,000 into old brakes is questionable when you could do the same and upgrade to front disc.

Tonight about 15 cars got together for a little cruise followed by a Dairy Queen stop. Very very smokey here from all the forest fires across British Columbia. We saw our local vintage steam train go by full of tourists. We stopped to let them have a look at our cars. We had a few good laughs over some ice creme later. Was a great night. L-R 1948 Cadillac. 1940's? Packard. My '53 Green Chrysler Windsor Deluxe. A rare 1960 Frontenac, Red wagon. A 1955 Ford in the back and a tan 1964 Studebaker Avanti. I was told that In 1960, Ford/Mercury came out with a Comet for the USA. Nothing was offered for the Canadian market. The Canadian dealers asked for something new and they offered the Frontenac for the Canadian market only. It has 11 Maple Leaf flags on it in various places. No brand Marque on it, just Frontenac. Here it is again below , as the steam train chugs by. Keeping the Mopar theme going here....My '53 is further back in this photo, with the large group of people checking it out. LOL. Actually the '64 Avanti was behind me. They were looking at the V8 shoe horned in there. Lots of thumbs up and compliments for my old '53 tonite from passers-bye. It brings me pleasure and the love affair carries on.

No heat shields Worden. I will have to do some research and learn more. I understand their design and function. Was there any in place when my car was new?

On a related topic. Someone once said to me, about quitting work mad, and leaving. Thinking you'll leave a hole that they won't be able to fill. They said "This place is like a 5 gallon bucket of water with your fist and forearm in it. Pull out your fist and see what happens." The hole is gone. The void is filled. The bucket carries on as normal. I don't know what happened here or why Doc is done. We'll continue to do our best to contribute and keep this great support group alive.

Getting ready to replace body panels and paint: This is the heaviest vehicle I have owned. I will say that these things are rugged. No 1/4" ratchet drives need apply. I needed a 3/4" drive breaker bar to crack most of the hardware to remove parts here. Considerably heavier parts than I am used to on light duty cars and trucks.

Max tongue weight 900 lbs. Max trailer weight loaded 10,000 lbs.

My latest Mopar addition. A 1998 Ram 2500 24 valve Cummins turbo diesel. Not to far away from qualifying for vintage plates! New body panels and a complete paint job coming soon. Low miles, and tons of very good maintenance records. I am stoked to have a real truck that I can actually tow with. @Worden18 this will get my '53 home if needed.

Very nice! I just bought a "new-to-me" truck. A 1998 Ram 2500 4x4 extra cab, long box Cummins 24V turbo diesel. I've certainly got some work to do before I post any pics. LOL. I need a tow/rescue vehicle!

Well tonight I finally got stranded due to vapor lock. Only 2 blocks from home mind you, so I'm not sure stranded is correct. I had just finished climbing the big hill home. Ambient air is about 87 F here this evening. I turned the corner at the top of the hill to proceed up my street. As I have done so many, many times before. Trouble free. A neighbour flagged me down and wanted to chat. I stopped and shut the car off. We talked for 10 minutes. The engine was hot after the big hill, the fuel in the fuel line vaporized. No go. I walked home. Waited and hour and went back. Still no go. I jumped in my Ram pick up with a big tow rope and had my wife tag along. I hooked up the rope and my wife played tow truck driver, up the last incline home into our driveway. The car sits outside over-nite tonight in the open drive way to cool off and settle down. I hope its not afraid of coyotes, bears and cougars. All seen here in the neighbourhood this summer. I guess I will take a look at a 6V electric fuel pump.

Our closest life long friends inherited a family car. The story unfolds like this: Grandpa bought a brand new car in 1973. A Chevelle Laguna. Then a boy started showing up who eventually married thier daughter. The young man loved the daughter and her Dad’s ‘73 Chevelle. In 1985 the son-in-law finally bought the Chevelle from Grandpa. By now the young man had a few daughters of his own. Today his Daughter is 45 and Dad is ready to let the car go to its new owners. Our friends. They needed help to go over the car and ensure it was roadworthy. We drove 3 hours down a mountain hiway to the Vancouver area where the car was located. We rolled open the garage door and found 5 years of dust, spiders and mice. We rolled it out. I checked over all the fluids, cooling system, electrical and more. It flashed up easily after I installed a new battery. We went through the brakes, wheel bearings and I dipped the diff oil. The engine had been replaced about 10 years ago with a hopp’d up 350. The cam was very aggreassive. In previous 10 years it had about 500 miles on the engine. Wiring problems were rectified with the aid of my multi-meter. Road tests were looking positive. The car cleaned up well. My task was to get it up the mountain hiway 250 miles home. I felt pretty confident the car would make it. Sunday morning we headed out. At a lunch stop and gas top-up I noticed the engine turning a little slower. Uh-uh. We had a good ways to travel yet. My multi-meter came in really handy again as I diagnosed a bad alternator. We charged it back up with our support vehicle. We made it! The car is now safely at its new home. We had a great fun weekend together. I thoroughly enjoyed working on the Chevelle. A good time was had by all. Our friend’s Dad is very happy that the car will be repaired, well maintained and regularly driven again.

That’s what I was thinking. Dry ice would be great. Do new guides really need to be reamed upon install as the instructions above pointed out?

What about installation tricks? Freeze the new guides overnight? Does that help them go in easier?

So straight out the bottom to the tappet area? Just air-hammer them out? Sounds easy.

I saw this link on another forum. I like looking at old photos and thinking about life back then. The people. Culture. Styles. Transportation and more. I got lost here for about an hour. Many photos are available in hi-res. Especially the Panorama section. Very good detail. I zoomed in and took screen shots for wall paper use. I found some great photos that really seem to capture the various eras. Lots of automobile and street scenes. Here are a few samples that I really like. Grab a coffee, go here and lose yourself for an hour: http://www.junipergallery.com/ I have no affiliation other than wanted to share what I think is a great collection. Look at the mixed modes of transportation in NYC here. 1910 era? Early mechanics at work: I love this one too. So many great pics. Enjoy. - K

Limiting my risk exposure seems to help me deal with the trials of owning an old car. I am young enough to get over, under and around it. I do understand how this will change as I age. Today I can lie at least partially on part of my back with my feet over the driver's seat back, with my face up under the dash. Looking up and arms up, working for longer periods of time. LOL. That's gonna end eventually I'm sure. Today I do limit my trips to within my region. I up'd my AAA coverage too, to get me towed home if needed. I do love my old Chrysler but I also understand it's risks. 400 miles one way, alone with limited tools or support? Not anywhere near my scope of tolerance. I will take some trips, that do expose my breakdown risk but I also spend a ton of time over, under and around the car. I must admit, if I can't/won't do that, that's the day the car goes up for sale. These old girls need a fair bit of maintenance for sure. Especially compared to modern vehicles which many folks buy new, drive until the first sign of maintenance, then sell. When the last straw breaks the camel's back, I get it. Good luck whatever you decide @Don Jordan.

Quick dark oil, to me may be an indication of an excessive amount of exhaust gasses getting into to the crank case. Black sooty stuff. This could indeed be an indication of worn piston rings. Also this could be caused by excessive valve lash or worn valve guides. A compression test will take out some variables for sure. I would do both a dry and wet compression test. Meaning put a few drops of oil into a cylinder, then test. Could the white puff of smoke coming from under the car be burning coolant? That could mean maybe a bad head gasket or a cracked cylinder head or block. Are you monitoring your coolant level? Losing any? Is your crank case oil level growing at all up the dip stick tube over time? Perhaps consider taking an oil sample and taking it to a lab for analysis. They can tell you if there is coolant or excessive soot and oxidation in your oil. A quick easy place is to go to your local heavy Duty Caterpillar equipment dealer. Buy 1 SOS Oil sample kit. Take it home, take a proper sample, fill out the form and bring it back to the CAT dealer. A few days later you'll get the results. Probably will cost $12-$15 US dollars. If you do this, message me about how to properly take a sample so results are not skewed.

I’ve been actively looking at the Dodge trucks within the era mentioned above. I’m not seeing a lot. I see a few here and there. I am not in a hurry to buy. I’m just learning about the Dodge 1/2T market. I saw a beauty at $60K Canadian. That’s certainly not what I’m interested im spending. A recent one on-line in Reno looked appealing. My wife is quite a gem. She is a builder, carpenter, renovater, electronic repair, do it all type of person. Not your average man, let alone woman of skill. For example just this summer I rented and helped her set up scaffolding. She’s proceded to replace and repair the aged stucco on our large home and repaint the whole thing. In the process she repaired gutters, trapped and terminated squirrles nesting in our attic, dug out and pulled 5 large tree stumps, then jumps on my stand up Jet-Ski for some down time. Lol. That’s just the tip of her iceberg. I love having that kinda help around the house. My point in this is, she’s shown interest in a vintage truck as mentioned earlier. New to me is that she also wants to get into some coveralls and restore an old Dodge. Body work. Welding. Sanding. Parts replacement. Swap meet finds. Everything. I’m pretty decent at mechanical repair and rebuilding of various systems. I am sure my wife would do a damn fine job at most any assisgned task. I’m excited at the opportunity to work together on project such as restoring an old Dodge truck together. We just passed our 25 year aniversary. I’m sure we could work very well together on a restoration. So I’ll keep an eye out for the right truck or two. I’ll keep feeding her enthusiasm and start the welding leasons this winter. We have a plan and we’re going for it!

Great weekend and its only Sat yet!

Lol. It keeps commin! Oh well. 2 more things fixed up better than it was. You won’t be able to contain the smile when you are back out cruising.