Put the seatbelts back in to take the k1500 down to fiancé's home town to bury her mother's ashes and pick up a little deep freeze from a friend. It was free and it works.
What did you do to your non-G Body project today [2024 edition]
- Thread starter pagrunt
- Start date
I wouldnt have believed it if i didnt take it off the car myself.
The noise that had to have made!
Thats what was left of the caliper.
Fri night I was prepping the Model-A for a 1.5hr highway drive East of me for a small-town parade event. As I went to move the car to start checking the basics, it was sluggish to start. It's been sitting for a couple of weeks, so I dismissed it. I ran s couple of errands & the situation didn't seem to improve despite buzzing around for several miles. I looked into it deeper @ the shop & found the battery cable ends pretty corroded when I went to check voltage. Cleaned all that up & 'while I was in there' I added some leads to allow easy access for a trickle charger and also provide an avenue to charge my phone (I've found this an important need when driving solo for extended trips in an A). After that, the 4-banger lit off like you would expect.
Those 'errands' mentioned were acquiring the remaining hardware needed for my duallys front suspension retrofit back to coils. With those items sourced, the front suspension came back apart to finish & paint items as needed. The plan was to get it reassembled before Sun night so it could go back to its storage location.
The early Sat morning - afternoon trip & parade duty in 'the-A' went well w/zero issues.
Sat evening, I worked to get the dually parts finished (fab work), cleaned, & rattle-canned by end of night.
Since the evening was still young & the-A was good to go, I ventured out to the local cars/beers/burger spot (Kellers, Dallas TX) to see the rides. Not much there by the time I rolled out (10:30ish) so I popped into a watering-hole a few blocks from the shop/home. As I left there to head home..... Nothing. Not a blip from the starting system. Checked all the usual suspects (fuses, cable tension, etc) & no 'ahh-ha'. I tried rocking the driveline to re-index the starter/flywheel. Nothing. I noted in assessing the basics one thing that I didn't hear was the low psi electric fuel pumps quiet hum. I threw in the towel since it was getting late & made the call to get it home on a stretcher.
Sunday AM was focusing on buttoning up the dually. None of my impact sockets seem to fit the GM OBS style lugnuts so I ventured out to a Harbor Freight. On this short drive, I noticed the BATT light was on in the Envoy & the voltage gauge was indicating under 12v. Jeeeeeeeez..... Put a meter on it to confirm the ~2mo old Oreillys alternator was dead.
So.... Sunday was reassemble the dually. Test-drive & rinse the dust/dirt off. Still needs sway-bar end links as the Ridetech Muscle-Bar 'end links' were feeling pretty flimsy. I'm going to go w/different links from Sphon & it will be completed.
Got another alternator for the Envoy & swapped it in. Good to go.
Made some calls to bounce ideas off my Model-A buddies regarding my no-start Sat night. One was sure it was the batt (3yrs old). The other said it was likely the starter. I felt it was something more because of the fuel-pump not running. Turn the key on & a starter may/may-not work. But turn the key on & even if the starter is bad, the fuel pump should have power to do its thing which had me thinking ignition switch or possibly a fusible link. I confirmed the A's didn't have fusible links so I focused on the ignition switch. Pulled it, checked voltage, wired it to bypass the switch & starter now works & the fuel pump hum could be heard/felt. Replaced the ign switch & back in business there.
It was a busy Sunday.....
Those 'errands' mentioned were acquiring the remaining hardware needed for my duallys front suspension retrofit back to coils. With those items sourced, the front suspension came back apart to finish & paint items as needed. The plan was to get it reassembled before Sun night so it could go back to its storage location.
The early Sat morning - afternoon trip & parade duty in 'the-A' went well w/zero issues.
Sat evening, I worked to get the dually parts finished (fab work), cleaned, & rattle-canned by end of night.
Since the evening was still young & the-A was good to go, I ventured out to the local cars/beers/burger spot (Kellers, Dallas TX) to see the rides. Not much there by the time I rolled out (10:30ish) so I popped into a watering-hole a few blocks from the shop/home. As I left there to head home..... Nothing. Not a blip from the starting system. Checked all the usual suspects (fuses, cable tension, etc) & no 'ahh-ha'. I tried rocking the driveline to re-index the starter/flywheel. Nothing. I noted in assessing the basics one thing that I didn't hear was the low psi electric fuel pumps quiet hum. I threw in the towel since it was getting late & made the call to get it home on a stretcher.
Sunday AM was focusing on buttoning up the dually. None of my impact sockets seem to fit the GM OBS style lugnuts so I ventured out to a Harbor Freight. On this short drive, I noticed the BATT light was on in the Envoy & the voltage gauge was indicating under 12v. Jeeeeeeeez..... Put a meter on it to confirm the ~2mo old Oreillys alternator was dead.
So.... Sunday was reassemble the dually. Test-drive & rinse the dust/dirt off. Still needs sway-bar end links as the Ridetech Muscle-Bar 'end links' were feeling pretty flimsy. I'm going to go w/different links from Sphon & it will be completed.
Got another alternator for the Envoy & swapped it in. Good to go.
Made some calls to bounce ideas off my Model-A buddies regarding my no-start Sat night. One was sure it was the batt (3yrs old). The other said it was likely the starter. I felt it was something more because of the fuel-pump not running. Turn the key on & a starter may/may-not work. But turn the key on & even if the starter is bad, the fuel pump should have power to do its thing which had me thinking ignition switch or possibly a fusible link. I confirmed the A's didn't have fusible links so I focused on the ignition switch. Pulled it, checked voltage, wired it to bypass the switch & starter now works & the fuel pump hum could be heard/felt. Replaced the ign switch & back in business there.
It was a busy Sunday.....
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Got that snowblower running. Now gotta get the other mechanicals funtioning.
Working on buddies 1969 Charger. The 512 stroker got hot a couple weeks ago and blew the head gaskets, luckily it was shut down before it milkshaked the engine, bearings look okay. Tearing out the engine we found a "floating" ground screw that would have kicked on the electric fans. Plan now is a re-gasket, skim the heads since they used o-ring gaskets, new bearings(piece of mind), and clean up the wiring mess that always comes with old cars.
More new "projects"
Custom Tudor Black Bay homage
AP style with custom record dial
Custom Sub style with two tone dial(hard to catch the tiffany blue rim on dial) and two tone case/bracelet
Co-worker brought me his father's watch, did a "sympathetic" clean up and new battery. Should have grabbed some before pics, needs a full restoration but looks much better.
Custom Tudor Black Bay homage
AP style with custom record dial
Custom Sub style with two tone dial(hard to catch the tiffany blue rim on dial) and two tone case/bracelet
Co-worker brought me his father's watch, did a "sympathetic" clean up and new battery. Should have grabbed some before pics, needs a full restoration but looks much better.
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