Saturday's beginning sucked, but it soon got MUCH better. I got up too early for a weekend morning so I could be prepared for the nine AM CORSA of Baltimore meeting start. I packed the tools I thought I’d need to do a brake master cylinder (MC) swap on Lucy. Then it was off to Carquest to pick up the new dual MC I’d ordered the night before. There was a problem. The part hadn’t arrived. I was pissed since this is the second time they’ve screwed up like this. After getting my money refunded, I headed down the road to Pep Boys where, lo and behold, they had the MC on the shelf and it was cheaper. I spent too long on their brass fittings' aisle trying to find all the adapters, plugs, and couplings required to complete the job and came up empty.
I left there with the MC and headed to CORSA of Baltimore’s first meeting of the year. Arriving late, the driveway was already pretty crowded. The host’s five Corvairs in the driveway primed the pump, so to speak, for a ‘vair-filled, sun-drenched morning. At one point, there were twelve of GM’s finest sitting in front of Rich’s house.
I told my story of woe regarding my MC parts hunt, and Rich offered me a complete conversion kit from Clark’s he had sitting on a shelf. I pulled the pertinent parts from the box and made a quick and fruitful visit to NAPA. Then, after removing the old single-reservoir MC and brake line and bolting in the new dual MC, I used Rich’s tube bender to form the new lines. Even with all the parts, the late start prevented me from finishing the project, so I had to reinstall the original MC and bleed the system at the MC so I could safely drive home.
By the time I got home, it was after one and too late to head to Millersville to deal with dead Ringo. Instead I called Ariel to tell her of the change in plans, and asked her to please have someone give her a ride to Ringo and try to get him to start one more time. Then I had Victoria change her clothes and she and I moved cars around until Glinda was on the ground and ready to roll. What followed was a very morale-boosting experience for both of us. She actually drove her car through the neighborhood and to the gas station. Other than some serious pinging due to the old, old gas, Glinda ran like a champ.
Today’s CPotD was taken soon after our return. Compare that photo to the following one taken a few years ago, and you’ll see the focus of the roadification portion of fleet management has changed from EMs to LMs.
After that excitement, we put Glinda and Old Betty back in the garage and I handed Victoria the grinder and had her start cutting off some more body panels from Old Betty.
The Corvair portion of the day ended when Ariel called and told me she had tried starting Ringo a few times and he just wouldn’t catch. I told her I’d be there the next day.
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