Upgrades for the 'Burb

[DonaldSmith]

The weather has been nice the last few days, and Summer is coming, with a few car shows on the agenda. Time to go over the combination To-Do List and Wish List, and cross a few things off. I had just installed my extra battery for a 12 volt power source, for GPS and cell phone, when I saw someone list a PCV system as a most important upgrade. I figured I could do a PCV system in short order.

For the PCV system, I pretty much followed a January, 2005 post by Dwayne that I had saved. The fitting at the block is a 1-inch pipe cap and short length of pipe, held in place with the original bolt. A street ell tapped into the cap leads to 3/8-inch tubing to the PCV valve, which screws into 1/8-inch pipe fittings connecting to the manifold, with a tee for attching a vacuum gauge. I also closed off the oil filler cap, tapped the oil filler tube, and ran 3/8-inch tubing to the clean side of the air cleaner. After several trips to the hardware store, and trips back and forth to the shop to fashion pieces, it is done. Now I'm polluting at half the rate.

Then this morning I received a call from the Previous Owner of my 47 DeSoto Suburban. He was in town, and had the spare wheel he had offered to give me. He dropped off the wheel, inspected the car and all I had done, and then we had a good visit with coffee and car photos. He is so impressed with all that I have done with the car that he would like first right of refusal if I go to sell it. But then I would be the Previous Owner.

Now I have a wheel to paint, and the tire issue to mull over (WWW, cheapies, or no new tires at all). The Previous Owner's opinion is that since the tires have been kept out of the sun they should be all right. Hmmm. Mull, mull, mull,....

[martybose]

Being out in the sun accelerates the deterioration of the tires, but not being in the sun does not prevent deterioration ............

Marty