Zeno's DD Galaxie

"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
05/10/2017 at 09:55 • Filed to: None

There is no stuffing the worms back in the can.

Under car, replacing bits in the front suspension - lift engine to clear a bolt, and discover motor mount is sheared. Add to list. Notice drip on front crossmember, radiator damaged at trans cooler lines. Add to list. Replacing U-joints, rear shocks and rear trans seal are toast. Fix seal, add shocks to list. Replace trans vacuum actuator, governor seal is leaking, add to list.

Immediately before all this, tried to start car to bring it in, starter solenoid stuck. Added to list no actually, replaced immediately, because that can’t be allowed to continue.

Previously, tried to time engine, discovered bad vacuum advance. Tried to time again, discovered harmonic balancer had shifted. Rebuilt carb, failed to note that Ford Wacky Plastic float had apparently added density, so now have to replace float or continue to see gas seeping back to the tank through the float valve and periodic flooding.

Replaced front seal, probably still leaking oil from somewhere. Replaced balancer.

Will the new balancer solve the oil leak *and* get things timed right? Will the new float make it possible to start after sitting more than a day? Or will new and exciting (and improbable) failures continue to crop up? Stay tuned.

Meanwhile the Wacky Fun Wobbly Crank setup on the front suspension has been tightened up (at least for now), and I’m going to tie the two sides together.

I’d have been able to rebuild it to factory tightness perfectly if such a thing as a 15/16"ID/1-1/16"OD bushing stock existed. It does not.

DISCUSSION (23)

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 10:18

Well, considering that it is living up to its reputation of Fix Or Repair Daily right now...

Doesn’t replacing the turbo on your W124 now seem like an easy and *good* idea?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
05/10/2017 at 10:20

No, because even buying and replacing All The Parts on teh Foard, it’s still cheaper and less time consuming. Illogically.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 10:22

That’s because you haven’t found a 603 engine that you could just drop in place.

But that’s what you get for trying to rebuild that and acquire a Lincoln.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
05/10/2017 at 10:23

Also, got telemarketing call day before yesterday informing me that my car’s warranty was almost up. REALLY? TELL ME MORE

Kinja'd!!!

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 10:26

I got one of those about my Silverado.

Yeah, I don’t think you really want to warranty a 329K mile HD pickup.

Especially since it has shocks and stuff that needs to be done...

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
05/10/2017 at 10:30

PREEXISTING CONDITIERNS BREH

DON’T TELL ME WHAT I CAN’T BUY INSURANCE FOR

StoneCold > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 10:30

Will the new float make it possible to start after sitting more than a day?

You don’t start your car with the gas peddle pushed to the floor? Best/worst way to start a flooded car XD

Kinja'd!!!

WilliamsSW > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 10:33

Tell ‘em you want buy an extended warranty - on the Lincoln. You have an opportunity to confuse the hell out of them—

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 10:38

FAKE NEWS!

THEY WERE READY TO SELL IT, AND SINCE I HEARD IT, IT MUST BE UNIVERSALLY SO!

Future next gen S2000 owner > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 10:48

I used to get that a bunch. “Our records show your car’s warranty is about to expire”. Great. I’d like to purchase your product. “What car do you have?” It’s in your records.

And around and around we go.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > StoneCold
05/10/2017 at 10:51

It’s not having trouble with flooding while starting, it’s flooding intermittently while running, usually at idle. The starting trouble is due to having no gas in the carb, despite no apparent leaks. I have to crank the lousy thing full. As far as I can tell, it’s siphoning back about half of the bowl capacity through the fuel pump because the fuel pump’s check valving is Fo Shit. Will this improve or will the fuel pump also need to be added to The List? Time will tell.

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 10:57

If the drainback check valve is integral to the pump, swap it out.

RallyWrench > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 12:23

So did you do the U-joints too? I’m sure that’s what took the rear seal out. One thing I was thankful for on the Fairlane was that the engine and mounts were pretty good, but whenever I got under it there was a cascade of goddamnits as I found more rust or suspension problems. Was the carb float actually absorbing fuel and thus adding weight?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RallyWrench
05/10/2017 at 12:50

Did the U-joints. I know for a fact the rear one was dead because it had no seals left and was dried out and crusty, and my dad’s henchman (who was helping me with it) made a remark about the front one being bad when he knocked it apart. As to the carb float, I think it absorbed fuel since I think the weight was a bit off when I rebuilt - and with the nitro plastic they’re made out of, it’s not obvious when one is soggy like it is with a metal one. Regardless, I didn’t replace the float seat or needle when I replaced other carb bits (because they seemed to be and felt fine), so I’ll replace them *and* the float, and make sure the float height is correct since I didn’t double-check on rebuild. Best to make sure everything is good.

Did you know that nobody stocks the upper control arm bump stops? Nobody. It’s a single bolt blade style one, so there are universal ones that are *close* but not a direct match. Will most likely have to order some rectangular-ish ones and bandsaw them down.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RallyWrench
05/10/2017 at 14:43

Have had it confirmed by my dad and henchman that the old float was heavy, and he says additionally that the fucky Motorcraft/Autolite spring doohickey that retains the needle had gone awry. Fixed now and retimed (I guess he got bored?)

RallyWrench > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 14:46

Seems odd that bushings aren’t available, it’s a common enough car.

RallyWrench > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 14:46

Nice to have anonymous henchmen do your dirty work!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RallyWrench
05/10/2017 at 15:05

“Rodney” - but henchman is such a fun word. Used to build dragsters, got in with the wrong crowd and got a meth conviction, has been clean for years but still trying to rebuild his life because keeping up with probation tends to be a buttfuck if you have no head for numbers and a hard time finding employment. “Behind on your probation fees?! MOAR PROBASHUNZ!” Hence my dad’s henchman. Blindingly fast mechanic, despite missing an eye and thus does not keep the sockets in order, so much.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RallyWrench
05/10/2017 at 15:12

Most people would leave them loose. 98,000 miles over 54 years, and I’ve got maybe .010 of wear off the ID - most people nuts enough to care have sprung for a solid conversion by now, I’d wager. Me, if it weren’t for the nose dive (which isn’t so bad with a small block), I’ve have wanted to rebuild exactly factory, but in the mean time I just wanted to get it tight enough to put together with a bar brace.

Which my horribly ghetto solution (copper tube packed to “tight” with aluminum tape) should suffice for. In the mean time, I can get brass tube on order at a 1-1/8" OD/1"ID, so just get that and cut a slot and I’m home free, with some retaining tension.

If I’m bonkers enough to take it apart again. The bushing replace (and lower A-arm crack welding fix!) needed the A-arms out, but removing the outer sleeve and re-coring, not so much - probably doable on the ground with a jack under the arm.

Final note: coil springs intended to be replaced without compressors are The Tits. Push on spring, hook on *designed hook* on A-arm, jack into place. So quick, so convenient - if hilariously sketchy. Although... I’ve got about a quarter of collapse in my driver’s spring, so it was easier.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RallyWrench
05/10/2017 at 22:57

Forgot to mention something in a note - I now have my own version of Ford’s special tool T57P-3006-A. Handy for any and all FERDs of the ‘60s with directly opposed ball joints. Works great. I made mine out of a block of 1 1/4" square steel, a 1/2"-20 bolt (actually an oil pan plug), and a #8 nut to make a “ball” for the head of the bolt to push against the bottom stud and stay centered with.

Kinja'd!!!

Right where the point in the diagram is, they expect you to remove the upper spindle bolt that goes into the top of the brake setup. Ha, no. I just notched mine to go around the bolt, because really.

RallyWrench > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/10/2017 at 23:42

Well that’s cool. Gotta love making tools, seeing a factory diagram and saying, nah, fuck that I’ll make one. Why the hell they wouldn’t just notch the original tool? Oh yeah, Ford.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RallyWrench
05/10/2017 at 23:47

My suspicion is that the extra-fucky brake setup that requires that bolt had not existed on prior models when they engineered that tool, so the tool had seniority. Then again, this is the company that contracted out special bronze bushings for the crank delete on ‘64 police and taxi models that are so rare that there weren’t any pictures posted of the parts online until this March, so a modernized version of a basic tool WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN IMPOSSIBLE. Maybe they were worried about strength, I’unno.

RallyWrench > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/11/2017 at 00:23

I’ll bet there’s more than one still running around with such a solution, I can only imagine what old-school garages did to these things.