Keeping in Touch

“Sold the Corvair today. Thanks for all the help with questions we've had. The experience of owning it was one I won't forget.” I received this text from one of the guys that bought Lucy from me about a year ago. Out of the seven Corvairs I’ve sold to other people, I’ve only been contacted after the fact by three of them. Wilma’s buyer and I met up at the 2012 Corvair convention; YellowVert came by and bought some seats from me about a year after buying the car, and Lucy’s buyers texted me a handful of times asking for help with a few easy issues. When I sold Heidi, I was given the new owner’s name and address. I really should get in contact with her and see how things are going. Other than Heidi, I’m fine not knowing the current status of any of the other ‘vairs that have passed through the fleet.

Twenty-five days until the NECC time trial event at NJMP. While there are four weekends within that span, two are already booked. That leaves me quite the challenge to get Glinda To-Do list whittled down to nothing. Here’s what’s left.

Play musical cars with Glinda ending up in the garage on jackstands
Get the flywheel/pressure plate assembly balanced at House of Balance
Get the leaking front tire fixed
Fix the busted gas gauge (I’m hoping it’s just a short)
Drop the drivetrain
Swap PG/differential for 4-speed/diff including new pilot and throw-out bearings
Swap the clutch and shifter linkage parts including the new tunnel pivot
Reinstall the drivetrain and top off the fluids
Adjust and install the racing carb with the new linkage
Swap the bench seat out for the racing seat
Install the racing harness
Get a helmet

I estimated I’ve still got at least 25 hours left of work. An hour a day. That’s not asking too much, is it?

There is an issue with devoting time to cars, and it’s illustrated by the photo to the left. This void in one of our bathrooms was recently created by yanking out the tub. There's a similar void where the sink and vanity used to reside. By the end of this weekend, radiator and toilet removal will add a third and fourth void. These voids in my house will certainly cause voids in the spare time I have to work on a car.

Lucy’s For Sale…Again

I was perusing Craigslist today using SearchTempest, and discovered a listing for one of the ex-fleet cars. Lucy is available for $2600 in Woodstock, VA.

Doesn't sound like the sellers have done anything to her since they bought her from me.

She’s Gone

Another appropriate title to this post would be, “I Could’ve Sold Her Twice”. Last Thursday I received a message on the CorvairCenter forum from a prospective Lucy buyer. He was responding to my post about which car I should bring to Sunday’s Corvair Ranch Open House. While he would not be able to attend the event, he told me he was “98% sure” he wanted the car.

Late that same day, my phone vibrated with a text message from a VA area code asking me if there were “any known problems on the red corvair.” I didn’t see the text until the next morning, but I immediately responded with a long message that basically told the interested party that she was good-to-go, with the only rust-though being a couple areas under the trunk lid. After a few back-and-forths, the sender asked for my address and told me he and his buddy would be at my house in two hours. True to his word (amazingly), two younger guys pulled up at my curb as promised and began giving Lucy a thorough inspection. I let them look a while before I moseyed on down the driveway and said hello. They were real excited about what they saw (thank You Lord) and Lucy luckily fired right up and they took her for a test drive. They were gone a while (got slightly lost), but once they returned, they asked what my lowest price was. $2300 was what I told them and $2300 was exactly what they were hoping for. SOLD! Now I can pay Victoria for Glinda and begin in earnest the work to trackify (see sidebar) that car (more on this later).

It took a while to gather all the stuff that was included (lug wrench, extra lug nuts, spare fanbelt, chrome trim, Monza badges, etc.), but I was finally able to let them go. With their departure, I could sit down with the family for dinner, and they asked me how I was doing. “There’s a small hole in my heart,” I joked. After dinner I checked my e-mail, and found another message from the first prospective buyer. “My wife thinks it would be a fine 50th b-day present…we’ll work out a deal.” I felt so bad having to tell this guy I’d just sold his birthday present. Fortunately, he took the news quite well, responding with a, “It wasn’t meant to be.” During this time, I was working on Heidi trying to get rid of the two bubbled paint spots above the rear wheel arches. I carefully wire brushed the bubbles away and used my new spot sandblaster to remove all the rust. This was followed by a generous application of rusty metal primer to keep any future corrosion at bay. Friday night I applied a few layers of filler and let it fully cure until the next morning when I sanded the repairs smooth, cleaned the areas, and then used my new airbrush to shoot a bunch of light layers of urethane primer. I was trying to get the repairs done in time to take her to the aforementioned open house, but a b-day dinner for the lovely Loriann took precedence over that plan, and the final painting and clear-coating didn’t occur until yesterday afternoon. It was so nice not having to match the paint since I had quite a bit of the silver left over. The finished product turned out pretty good if I say so myself. A little sanding once the clearcoat is fully cured and it will be difficult (I hope) to see the repairs.
 

Regarding the trackification of Glinda, my priorities are making sure her suspension is up to snuff and that includes cutting a coil out of each front spring, installing new shocks at least on the front, swapping in the quick-steer arms I bought from my ‘vair-buddy Jonathan a few years ago, and getting a good four-wheel alignment. I really, really want to do a 4-speed swap, but I’m not sure I’m going to have the time (or funds). I was hoping to pull the needed parts from a carcass up at the Corvair Ranch, but my last conversation with Jeff indicated he wasn’t too hopeful that he had a prospective donor. Bummer. If worse comes to worst, I can drive her on the track as an automatic, but it won’t be nearly as fun. I was thinking I’d need to buy wheels (?) and new tires (???) since the current 185/80-13s are not track-worthy, but it occurred to me that Luna is just sitting in the portable garage on four very nice tires. I’m sure Victoria won’t mind if I take a millimeter or two of tread off of each one. I’ll be relying on the stock lap and shoulder belts to keep me in place during this summer’s convention track day and autocross. Getting her carbs modified with relocated jets and a good tune-up will, I’m sure, take up the couple months I have until Gingerman Raceway event.

So Close….

You know the rest. The prospective buyer for Lucy was all set to come down to Baltimore this Saturday, but then Monday I got an e-mail from him telling me was going to pass on her. Then, the prospective buyer for Heidi was all set to come up to Baltimore at lunch today, but then I got an e-mail form him telling me he’d just bought another ’64 that was for sale nearer to his home and was a color scheme his wife really loved. So, there you go. Still so very far from selling the two Corvairs I’ve currently got on the market.

With the rejections fresh in my mind, I pulled Glinda up onto the front lawn yesterday evening and shot a series of photos that I’ll use in the ads I’ll put up to try and sell her.

I really don’t want to lower the price for Heidi. I feel I’ve got her priced fairly (with a little negotiating room), and I know Brianna could really use as much money from her sale as possible. As a fellow Corvair hoarder answered, when I asked him how much for his rusted ’64 coupe, “Make me an offer, but I’m not giving it away.”

Lowlights

I haven’t been inspired to write much lately since my Corvair experiences have been rather negative. Here are the high(low)lights. I’ve had at least four different people make appointments to come and look at Lucy or Heidi, and only one has actually showed up.

I’ve had one person tell me over the phone that he would buy both for $6600 and that he was on his way to bank at that moment to get the money and he would be at my house that evening at 5:30 to buy both Lucy and Heidi. He never showed and he never contacted me again.

A guy called me on my way home from work and asked to see the cars right then. I accommodated him, and he proceeded to tell me all the things that were wrong with each car and then offered me about 60% of what I was asking. In other words, he wanted to see if he could something for basically nothing.

The one guy that kept his appointment had sent me a very positive “I will buy your car once mine sells” e-mail followed a couple months later by an “I’ve sold my car and I’ll be in Baltimore Saturday” e-mail, so I was rather hopeful he’d come through with a reasonable offer. Instead, he showed up late, wanted to chat even though he knew he was keeping me from a dinner party, and then went on to say he wasn’t interested in Lucy. This was after I'd spent an hour digging out all the parts I was including with the sale since he’d told me over the phone he wanted everything.

I’ve had a guy stop me from working on the lovely Loriann’s car so he could talk my ear off about how awesome Lucy was, take her for a test drive, come back and tell me again how awesome the car was, and then promise me either he or his brother would DEFINITELY buy the car AND I’d hear from one of them THAT evening. Nothing!

Then, courtesy of two parking tickets (Heidi and Lucy), I learned of Baltimore's 48-hour parking limit. It seems I can't park a car in the same place on a city street for longer than 2 days. So, now I have the pleasure of rolling cars around since I want to keep the two that are for sale out there on the street for any prospective buyer to spy.

The truck was finally put into service as a tow vehicle when, last Friday, I got the call from Ariel that she’d smelled smoke coming from the engine compartment and immediately pulled over onto the side of I-97. When I got to her, I discovered the alternator bearings had failed. Fortunately, I had a spare, that I pulled it apart, greased the bearing I could get to, reassembled and swapped in place of the failed one. Also, fortunately, the spare worked electrically so Ringo was roadworthy again that evening.

Last Saturday, I washed both Heidi's and Lucy's engine compartments. Somehow, unbeknownst to me, I managed to knock loose one the right side carb linkage from the throttle assembly, so when I took her out on the road that evening, she was significantly down on power. Fortunately, I was able to find the issue, locate the clip that had fallen off, and put everything right again.

Big Changes Afoot

I’ve had enough! The herd must be thinned! All non-essential Corvairs are to be sold! Headline it as you want, the bottom line is I’m selling at least two Corvairs.

I just got the word from Brianna that she doesn’t foresee a scenario where she and Nich will live close enough to us that they’d be comfortable using Heidi as a daily-driver. It was a hard and sad decision for her, but she texted me, “it’s time for me to sell her to someone who will appreciate her.” So, Heidi gets a good cleaning this evening and a For Sale sign put in her window and she’ll be my daily-driver until she’s sold.

Then, I just dropped Lucy’s asking price on Craigslist to $2950 in hopes of generating some interest.

Then, I got the green light from Victoria to sell Glinda.

Then, Ariel is about to set off on the adventure of buying her first car. Once it’s purchased, I’ll be asking her if it’s okay if I sell Ringo. I won’t be pressuring her, but my thought is she’ll never drive him once she’s enjoyed the comforts, both physical and mental, of driving a modern, reliable vehicle.

If they actually all sell, that would leave a dramatically smaller fleet of two - Luna and TwoTone. What am I going to drive if they all sell? I’ve got a really nice Silverado. What about track days? They’d be over for the foreseeable future. Would that make me sad? Sure, but I’ve got higher priorities in my life right now.

I’ve Been Remiss

My apologies for not doing a better job of updating the current status of the fleet. Let’s go down the list alphabetically.

Glinda: When last I posted on her, she’d just been given a replacement speedometer cable and I pronounced the project to be, “Job done.” Well, I blogged too soon. My first drive after the install showed I hadn’t fixed the problem. Last night I pulled the driven end of the cable from behind the right front wheel and discovered it was missing the squared off termination that mates snugly with the receptacle inside the grease cup. Oh well, it was a freebie. This morning I ordered a GNP from Clark’s.

Heidi: She’s at the ready and with some eighty degree days in this week’s forecast, she will become a daily-driver once again.

Lucy: I drove her a couple times last week, and noticed a faint fuel smell. I tightened the fittings around the fuel pump and drove her yesterday. There’s still some fluid around the fuel pump, but I’m now thinking it’s a slow leak in the oil pressure switch. Irrr. I’ve still got a few improvements I’d like to make to her including installing the three-speed shifter housing. Oh well, just takes time.

Luna: Victoria is telling her clients she will not be working weekends, so, hopefully, this will allow her to spend some time on her convertible. The new top is just lying on top of the frame patiently waiting for us to staple it in place – if only it was that easy. There are also plenty of other issues she needs attending to (see sidebar).

Ringo: I’ve been putting the miles on the only male-named vehicle in the fleet while Ariel does her long-distance commuting in a reliable rental car. So far, he’s performed flawlessly. TYL. Ariel is supposed to turn the rental in tomorrow, so I’d like to tighten the steering and the fanbelt before giving his key back to her. This evening should provide an opportunity.

TwoTone: Yesterday was a busy day for the newest member of our fleet. After Mikhaila tirelessly helped me clean the floor of the garage, we pushed her (the car, not Mikhaila) into place under the lights in preparation for actually starting to do some work. I’m figuring that with the nicer weather, I can deal with the day-to-day maintenance of daily-drivers out in the driveway while TwoTone sits on jackstands in the garage. Hopefully a rainy spring doesn’t dampen my plans (pun intended). I was finally able to synch up with TwoTone’s previous owner and get the front clip that we’ll use to replace TwoTone’s smushed nose. Not sure where I’m going to store the front eigth of an EM, but I’ll find somewhere safe.

No Sale

While the guy interested in buying Lucy really liked the modifications I've done to her, he was looking for a nicer specimen. I sent his contact information to Gary, the local 'vair guru, who I knew has been trying to sell his '64 Spyder (with a non-original engine) since it looks nicer than Lucy. Karma can be a good thing.

With some time left before the lovely Loriann and Mikhaila returned from their Girl Scout meeting, I donned grungies and headed out to the garage. I'd previously lubricated Glinda's replacement speedometer cable, so now was a good time to install it. Three bolts held the broken one in. Before installing the replacement, I slid on the grommet that'll seal the firewall hole and pulled the grease cap off the right front wheel. The old cable had left its end stuck in the hex pocket of the cap, so I had to pull it out with a pair of pliers. With the new cable in place and its wheel end in place, I screwed the other end to the back of the speedometer, snapped the grommet into its hole, and pushed the carpet back into place. Job done.

Make It Better to Make It Gone

I may have a prospective buyer for Lucy. He answered my Craigslist ad last week and we had a tentative appointment for him to stop by Sunday afternoon, but that ended up not happening (he did call me, so my faith in mankind is still intact). We rescheduled for Wednesday evening, but I'll leave Lucy parked on the curb while I drive something else to work tomorrow, so the guy can start his inspection prior to my arrival.

Much of this last weekend was consumed with non-car activities, but I was able to complete Lucy’s alternator swap Friday night. With my new Harbor Freight soldering iron, I finished splicing the LM alternator harness into the EM harness. After protecting the soldered joints with shrink tube, electrical tape, and plastic armor, I installed the new voltage regulator. Since it is smaller than a stock EM regulator, I had to fashion a couple adapters from strips of sheetmetal leftover from past radio installations. I was finally able to turn the key and see if the GEN-FAN light would go on and then go off once the engine was running. I first plugged my charging system monitor (voltmeter) into Lucy’s lighter socket so I could see how much electricity the alternator of unknown provenance was putting out – if anything. The light came on with the key in the ON position, so I knew I’d wired up the idiot light circuit correctly. The light went off once I got Lucy’s engine to fire. The monitor was showing a nice, steady reading of greater than 14 volts. Project successfully completed.


The only other car work that was accomplished occurred Sunday afternoon and was precipitated by a Saturday morning text message from Ariel, “My car wouldn’t start so I had to take your truck,” and, “the battery is dead I think.” Thinking the terminals were corroded, I gathered up my voltmeter, wrenches, wire brushes, and Ringo’s key and headed out to the curb. The meter read over 12 volts once I probed the battery’s two terminals, so I plopped my butt into the driver’s seat and turned the key. At first, the engine barely turned, but eventually it began spinning fast enough for the engine to start. I let it idle for a while noting the charging voltage was above 14. That told me the alternator and voltage regulator were doing their job. Confident I’d put enough juice into the battery to get another start out of it, I turned off the engine and thoroughly cleaned the positive and negative terminals and connectors, reattached everything, turned the key to START, and the engine returned to a nice, steady idle. Fifteen more minutes of idling and charging and I pronounced him good-to-go (with fingers crossed on both hands). By the way, he started right up this morning.

I Thought This Day Would Never Come

The day when I actually got to choose what fleet work I wanted to do instead of what fleet work had to be done. Ringo is back on the road and, other than a rough idle during warm-up, seems to be performing properly. I’m waiting on Glinda’s replacement speedometer cable, but she’s still running reliably as my current daily-driver. Heidi sits patiently waiting for better weather, but when I did press her into service a week ago, she went willingly down the road. Mikhaila’s still not quite ready to tackle working on Two-Tone, so that left me with Lucy.

To solve the engine dying problem, I first cut away the tape over the connection between two 10 gauge wires that carry the main 12 V from the voltage regulator into the main harness. They were corroded and looked like they’d been getting hot – an indicator of increased resistance. After wire brushing everything back to shiny metal, I coated the connectors’ surfaces with dielectric grease, plugged them back together, and then enclosed the connection in a piece of shrink-tubing. That was Saturday afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to do the generator to alternator swap on Lucy. I thought I had all the pieces - the trick was finding them. I located the LM correct adapter on the shelf, its new gasket amongst a collection of gaskets, and the correct LM engine compartment wire harness. I dug out six different alternators and selected the one that spun the quietest. After raiding the Corsa engine for some bolts, all I was missing was a voltage regulator. To swap the adapter, I had to, in addition to the generator, remove the fuel pump. Once all the new stuff was bolted in place and the fuel pump and fanbelt in place, I tackled the wiring. The new harness can’t just drop into place – it has to be spliced into the existing wiring. The smaller wires solder easy enough with shrink-tube going over the joints, but soldering the main 10 gauge wires together takes more than my 45 watt iron. I’ve never been able to get reliable heat out of my big gun (rated 140 W), and last night was more of the same – couldn’t even melt solder. I cleaned it up and will try to get Home Depot to exchange it for a new one.

Good News is Good - Really Good

Ariel misunderstood my text request yesterday, and once she was clear she confirmed the gas gauge needle did in fact go to the Full mark after she topped off the tank with 87 octane. Thank goodness that issue has been resolved. Definitely good news.

Some more good news is that it looks like Lucy’s fix will be fairly straightforward. As reported yesterday, the consensus of the wise on the web was a bad connection of the main 12 Volt circuit – probably the one in the engine compartment. Many recommended I just bypass the connector and solder the two ends together permanently. Once I got Lucy home last night, I took at look at the connector. Lo-and-behold a PO had already done this bypass, but I couldn’t tell how well. I noticed right away that the joint was warm to the touch, and as I wiggled the wires, I saw the GEN-FAN light dimming and then getting brighter. I’m going to remove the electrical tape and re-do this splice, so hopefully that will take care of this. While I’m at it, I’d really like to do the alternator swap. I have everything necessary. It’s just a matter of time.

Speaking of swaps, I recently placed an order with the Corvair Ranch for a GUP speedometer cable for Glinda. While I was on the phone with Jeff, I asked him if he could hunt down a EM 3-speed shifter base for me. According to one of my favorite sources, Bryan Blackwell’s site, “Early 3 speed shifters are faster ratio than 4 speeds, so a quick upgrade is to use a 3 speed unit.” If Jeff’s able to find one, he'll include it in the order, and I’ll give the mod a try. I'm real curious as to how much it will reduce the long throws required to row through Lucy’s gears.

I've Got a Word for You - It's ARGH

Last night I finally got Ringo running and out of the garage – but not without him making it far more difficult than it needed to be. After installing the rest of the stuff to the top of the engine, I hooked up the battery, slid behind the steering wheel, and turned the key. Two weeks of evaporation had emptied the carburetor bowls, so starting the car took a few tries of pouring some gas down a carburetor and cranking the engine. Just as I thought the battery had no more to give, the engine started and settled into a decent idle. I figured I was home free. NOT.

As I was checking the belt travel on the running engine, I was blipping the throttle. During one of the blips, the throttle stuck at a higher rpm. It took some searching, but I found the cause – a broken linkage on the right carb was allowing the hi-idle cam to intermittently hang up in the ON position. After replacing the broken part with a GUP from my stash of spare carb parts, I thought I was home-free. NOT.

As I was re-checking the belt travel on the running engine, I discovered gas leaking from the fuel pump. It took a few turns of each screw, but I was able to stanch the flow of fuel. I then thought I was home-free. NOT.

As I was backing the car out of the garage I pulled the headlight switch, but the void in front of Ringo stayed unilluminated. I jumped out of the car and verified I had taillights, so I knew it wasn’t the headlight switch. It had to be the ever-troublesome hi-beam floor switch. I pulled back the carpet and jiggled the connector and, sure enough, the lights came on. After a few pull offs and push ons the contacts were clean enough and the lights stayed on and the floor switch functioned properly. I then thought I was home-free. Only time (and Ariel’s driving) would tell. NOT.

Ariel’s report to me this morning said the car runs fine, but after filling the gas tank, the needle only indicates 3/8ths tank. So the problem wasn’t the sender (even though I thought I’d verified it was using four different gauges). Irrrrr. I’ll go back to trying different gauges. I may have to break down and connect Ringo’s circuit up to Lucy to checkpull a known good gauge out of Lucy to check. Could all my supposed GUP fuel gauges be bad?

Speaking of Lucy, it broke down last night on Ariel’s late drive home from work. According to her, after cruising fine for about thirty minutes at highway speeds, the car had the simultaneous symptoms of engine down on power, headlights dimming, and GEN-FAN light illuminating brightly. After about a second everything went normal again, but the problem came back about ten seconds later only to disappear again almost immediately. This went on a couple more times until the engine died, the headlights stayed off, and the GEN-FAN stayed on. She coasted to the shoulder, tried getting the engine to refire, before giving up and calling Victoria to bring her a ride. This morning I drove the truck to Lucy’s location expecting to have to flat-tow her home, but (of course) she started right up and I was able to drive her to a safe parking spot about a half-mile away. I’ll go get her after work.

I posted the issue online and the consensus seems to be a bad connector between the battery/generator and the fuse block. There’s one in the engine compartment that’s notorious for corroding, so that’s where I’ll start. If that’s the fix, then I got off lucky this time.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon rolled around that I could have some car-time. My first tasks was to get Lucy reliably on the road again. I’d been recharging her dead battery, so I checked the voltage and it was back up in the 14.6 range (good-to-go). I started her up, but she still wouldn’t idle nicely. I determined the idle circuit on the right carb was clogged, so I took her out on the streets, and once the engine was warmed up, made a bunch of first gear, floor it, let up fast on the throttle, and hope the vacuum sucks out the clog runs up and down the hill near the house. Finally, that cleared it out and the idle was back to its 650 rpm smooth self.

With that victory, it was time to turn my attention to Ringo. I was back to dealing with the fuel sender. I made some resistance measurements with the sender outside the tank. While they should have been 0 ohms at fully empty and 30 ohms at completely full, I was getting 5 and 35 respectively. I tried matching a gauge to those parameters, and got one that was close. I installed the sender with the new float and started pouring gas back into the tank. The needle didn’t move and neither did the resistance. I’m done with this game. I’m replacing the sender. Since I already smelled like gas, I decided to empty the two or so gallons that I’d just poured into the tank. I clamped off the rubber line and pulled the end of the hose off the tube. While holding it over a drain pan, I removed the vise-grips, but nothing came out the hose. I’d not poured enough gas into the tank to get the level above the highest point in the sender’s tube, so no siphon could be started. Irrr. I had to remove the retaining ring from the sender and have the gas gush into the drain pan through the larger opening.

Onto the last of the three projects for that car – the belt-eating pulleys. I found a smoother-looking idler replacement on the shelf, so I cleaned the light rust off the mating surfaces with scotch-brite and installed it first. Then I moved on to the fan pulley. There are four bolts holding that to the top cover bearing and while removing the last one, it slipped out of my hand and fell into the volume under the engine’s top cover. CRAP!!!! I tried fishing for it with a magnet, but came up empty. My choice at that point was to leave it with the hopes it won’t jump and damage the fan, or pull the top cover off which entails removing carbs, alternator, etc. I chose the former and then went hunting for a replacement bolt. After fruitlessly going through a couple containers of fasteners, I went to a late model engine sitting in the portable garage to cannibalize a bolt. When I found that the bolt was a different size than the one that had disappeared, I had verification of my ongoing fear, and that was I’d installed an early model fan on a late model engine. That resulted in a slight misalignment of the pulley grooves thus causing the belt-eating. Now I had no choice but to pull the cover and replace the fan with the right one. I decided to save that for another time since it was nearing dinner time.

Later last night, Ariel informed me that Glinda's speedometer wasn't working anymore. She'll be driving Lucy now until her car is back on the road.

I’m Being Punished

After being off the roads for exactly five months, Lucy rewarded my finally getting her on the road by being ornery. As I reported yesterday, my effort to drive her to work was a non-starter – literally. When I got home from work, I poured a gallon of gas into her tank. Then, instead of having to crank the engine a few seconds to fill the carbs with fuel, she fired right up and settled into a decent idle. Okay, that meant she hadn’t really been out of gas. I let her engine run a couple minutes before shutting her down with the thought, “We’ll see what’s what in the morning.”

Well, this morning it took a few minutes, but she showed me what’s what about four miles from home. While she grudgingly started in front of the house, and then again at the gas station after I filled her tank with nearly ten gallons of 87 octane, she refused when her engine died at the first stoplight after that. Her battery had hardly any charge even though I’d just driven her about ten minutes.

It took a few phone calls to home before I roused Ariel from her beauty sleep (sorry ‘bout that). She threw on some warm clothes and rescued me with the truck. I’m sure it wasn’t the situation she’d imagined when “dreaming” about her first time behind the wheel of Dad’s new Silverado :-). Nor was it the situation I’d imagined for the truck’s first foray into dragging dead Corvairs around.

I hooked one end of the tow chain around Lucy’s crossmember and the other around the truck’s hitch and had Ariel drag Lucy and I into the closest parking lot. While underway, I dropped the shifter into 4th gear and let out the clutch. Lucy’s engine came to life and settled into a troubled, yet steady, 500 rpm idle. I quickly removed the chain and tossed it into the truck bed, directed Ariel to follow me, and drove the petulant car home and straight down the driveway. The engine died again once I put the clutch in. Irrr.

I Guess There Can Be Worse Phone Calls

It’s so sad that when my cellphone vibrates and the display says it’s Ariel calling, a deflating sense of dread immediately overcomes me. Nine times out of ten it’s not bad news, but ten percent of the time it’s, “my car’s crapped out again.” The call from her Friday morning was one of those one-out-of-tens that really ruins my day. “Daddy, my car won’t start. It’s making that noise like the last time you had to tow him home.” Irr. It appears the starter I rebuilt with an old Bendix drive now needs a new Bendix.

Since the truck is still not ready for towing duty, I got to spend my lunch hour going to Harbor Freight and finally buying the 7-into- four plug adapter so I can plug the towing lights into the Silverado’s outlet. I also bought a couple hitches, now with a 4” drop one with a monster 6” drop. Since I wanted the ball at the same level it was with the Suburban, I measured the height on the Suburban before it went away, but used my worklight as the unit of measure and I didn’t have it with me Friday, so I too the guess-work out if and just got the two Harbor Freight had available. I tried to do a side-by-side in Photoshop and it appears the HUGE wheel openings on the truck make it look much taller than it really is. In other words, I thought the 4” would be enough.

When I got home, I used my worklight and found that the hitch I’d been using on the Suburban is less than two inches taller on the truck than it was on the Suburban, so both hitches will go back. I was going to get A’s car that night, but the snow, non-working towing lights, and a great desire to get Lucy back on the road all prevented that from happening. I did get my car done, but I was in the garage until after 1 AM. I first filled all the seams with sealer, then installed the rear seat back, carpet, speakers, sill plates, rear seat bottom, seat belts (after drilling new holes in the patches for two of the belts), and, finally, the front seats. I installed the two lower engine shrouds so Lucy’s salon will have heat and a GUP speedometer cable I'd bought from the Corvair Ranch. The last thing I did was top off the transmission with 90 weight gear lube.

Saturday morning the lovely Loriann and I went to watch to see Mikhaila’s cheerleading team compete. On the way we stopped at Harbor Freight, and, after returning the hitches, I bought a connector for the towing lights and a heat gun to shrink tubing. When I finally got home Saturday, I rewired the lights and then Ariel, Victoria, and I headed out to drag Ringo home. Ariel got to Ringo first, so I asked her to see if he’d start. Sure enough, my powers are strong enough that just being within fifteen feet of the problem, I was able to magically fix the problem. A turn of the key and he started right up. She drove him home without issue. Then, yesterday afternoon, it started right up for me to drive into the garage.

I’m going to replace the Bendix drive (ordered today). While I wait for that part, there are a number of niggling problems with that car I want to address. First, I wanted to clean up the wiring job I did when converting Ringo to electricity maker to an alternator. A few cuts, some soldering and shrinking tube, four zipties, and that project was completed. Second, I wanted to fix the non-functioning gas gauge. To troubleshoot if the sender is the problem, I made a bunch of resistance measurements at the sender’s contacts while emptying the tank. While the first measurement (with the tank about half full) was 14 ohms (about halfway on the 0-30 ohm designed range), all the subsequent measurements made as the tank was being drained were 11 ohms. I’m hoping (praying) that I just stuck the float on wrong and it’s hitting the side of the tank preventing it from dropping all the way down. I’ll remove the sender the next time I get out to the garage and see what resistance measurement I get across the range of arm travel. A new sender is $55 plus shipping, so I’m not buying a replacement unless I truly need it. Finally, I want the engine to stop eating fanbelts. Before turning car back over to Ariel, I’m going to replace the pulley wheels with the smoothest looking ones I can find on my shelves. I think the pitting on one or more of the wheels is wearing out the belts much too quickly.

This morning I'd intended to drive Lucy to work, but I knew a stop at the gas station was an immediate priority. I didn't even get to pull away from the curb, since I couldn't get the engine to fire. I think (hope) her only issues is an empty gas tank.

Isn't It Ironic?

Last Thursday, I spent a short evening in the garage applying primer to all the exposed metal of Lucy’s floor. The welds, the portions of the patches where I ground off the paint all got a slathering of the brown stuff. It’s ironic that Rustoleum’s Rusty Metal Primer is rust colored.

No Odd Spots

Yesterday evening, under the guise of changing the oil and filter in the lovely Loriann’s daily-driver, I donned grungies and headed out to the garage. After completing the simple task as promised, I did my prep work for the last application of POR-15. I went to each rust hole left in Lucy’s floor and cut out pieces of fiberglass cloth just large enough to span each opening. Before I removed the lid from the eternally (seemingly) staining liquid, I did something I’d seen smarter painters do. I pulled the wrist openings of the neoprene gloves over the cuffs of my sweatshirt and secured the junctions with bands of masking tape. The inevitable drips and dribbles of POR-15 would not find their way onto my skin. Then, finally, I was able to empty my last jar of POR-15 getting most of the contents on Lucy’s rusted externals and the aforementioned patches, while only a small percentage ended up on the cardboard I generously spread out to protect my new garage floor tiles. Once the coating hardens, I will go back with the Rustoleum primer and paint and add a few coats onto the porous patches hopefully making them impervious to water. I’ll also fully coat the outside surfaces of the metal patches with the same primer and paint to ward off any attacking tin worms.

Lucy's Becoming Enclosed Again

I spent a good chunk of Saturday making molten metal in my garage. The task was welding in the three patch panels that span the length of Lucy’s driver’s side floor. The first panel was to be welded from the inside to recreate the now mostly missing driver’s footwell. I first finished prepping the attaching surfaces (the perimeter of the patch and the adjoining areas of the existent, solid sheetmetal) by wire brushing off the POR-15 and exposing nice, bare, silver steel. Then, with .023 diameter wire in my Lincoln MIG welder, I tacked the panel into place. With each tack, I hammered the profile to match undulations in the floor. Once tacked in, I went back and laid in more weld between each tack to solidify the attachment. With that panel finished, I moved on to the patch under the rear seat. This one had many more bends to accommodate the curve of the rear firewall, so it took some extra relief cuts, but in the end it, too, succumbed satisfactorily to my tacking, hammering, and final beads of weld. That left the patch that spanned the area from under the driver’s seat to the rearmost patch. This one, sadly, had to be welded from the underside of the car. I used a couple jacks to hold the patch while I made molten metal around its perimeter. It took much wiggling, contortions, and swearing to squeeze under the car with my new welding helmet on, but I was able to get the piece put in place and welded in without too much angst.

Now is a good time to rave about the self-darkening welding helmet I recently got at Harbor-Freight. Over Christmas break I painted a car door for a work-buddy of mine and he thanked me by handing over a $50 gift certificate to one of my favorite toy (ahem, tool) stores. I used it to get their top-of-the-line helmet. It made working in the cramped confines under Lucy doable instead of impossible.

I’ll try to shoot some photos of my scraggly-looking welds tonight before I commence coating everything in primer and paint and hiding under carpet. UPDATE: Here are the photos.

Bye, Bye Suburban

WARNING – THIS PARAGRAPH IS WITHOUT CORVAIR CONTENT: At less than six years old, the beautiful Silverado pickup the lovely Loriann and I just bought is the youngest daily-driver I’ve ever had the pleasure of driving daily. It goes down the road so nicely, and is much, much quieter than the Suburban or any of the Corvairs. The seats are so supportive that while travelling home from southwest Virginia, I didn’t have the need to continually shift around to stay comfortable. The buying experience was painless as I’d set everything up beforehand with phone calls and e-mails, so I was in and out of the dealership in about 15 minutes. There is one item I need to address before the truck is totally tow-ready. I must purchase an adapter that converts from GM round trailer jack to generic flat four. Oh darn! I’ve got to Harbor Freight again.

WARNING – ANOTHER PARAGRAPH LACKING CORVAIR CONTENT: At some point before the first digit of my age becomes an even number again, I WILL drive my ’65 LeMans, fully restored, down to my buddy Bill’s house in central VA. As of today, however, this poor, patient car is only a very solid starting point for what will be a long, hard road of restoration. This past Saturday morning was a shot of hope and inspiration that I occasionally need to keep this dream alive. My son-in-law Nich and I joined my long-time Pontiac buddy Bill and his friend Tony, for a frigid Saturday morning of sidestepping frozen cow-pies while wandering the car-filled pastures of a central Virginia farm. We stayed away from the expansive Mopar section and oohed and ahhed at a collection that included a number of late-fifties Chevy’s, the occasional Ford, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac, and the ones we really came to see, the Pontiacs from a 1958 Cheiftain through a 1972 LeMans and many, many models and years in between. When we’d seen all there was to see, we entered a block building and maneuvered our way around and between aisles of fenders, seats, quarter-panels, dashes, hoods, trunklids, air cleaners, etc., etc., etc. It was an incredible experience. I asked one of the guys who worked for the owner, if he was getting out of the business, and thankfully, the answer was no, he’ll be into this for quite a while longer. Great, I don’t need to fret about losing out on the ’65 quarterpanels I need or the overhead-cam-six engine I want to buy, rebuild, and install as my car’s means of motivation. Now to just get TwoTone finished.


Finally some fleet news. Friday, I took the day off and focused on Lucy’s floors. After putting her back up on jackstands, I made some measurements for the front driver’s footwell and began cutting out the first patch from New Betty’s scavenged hood. A simple bend at the front, a bit of trimming at the side and rear, and dozen or so 5/16ths holes, and it was ready to install. The patch from under rear seat was a bit more of a challenge since it had to bend and curve to match the transition to the rear firewall. After some more cutting and pounding, it was ready. Finally, I measured and cut the bridging panel that’ll span the space between the front and rear patches. Once it was complete, I put the flap wheel on my grinder and cleaned off the POR-15 from areas where I needed to weld. At that point it was time to quite, so I could be ready to hit the road for our weekend in VA.

I’ve Dirtied my Pretty New Floor

I’d let the cold, cold evenings stop fleet work for long enough. It was time to start rolling ‘vairs onto my new garage floor and then work on them. Saturday morning, after a few attempts, I was able to get Glinda running and maneuvered into the garage. Rebuilding a starter with a new Bendix drive and bushings went much easier this second time around. Also easier was the R&R of a starter in a LM. There is far more room for maneuvering than in an EM.

With Glinda’s engine now spinning with every test-turn of the key, I put her at the curb and drove Ringo onto the still-pristine floor tiles. My task with him was to prevent battery rundown if Ariel leaves the heater blower on with the engine off. I needed to move the heater blower circuit to one that’s energized only when the ignition is switched to ON. I did some research in the manual and found two fuses designated for the heater, one 10 amp circuit for HEAT. BLOW and one 20 amp for HEATER. The former was the one the blower was currently hooked to, while latter was the switched circuit. So, I simply moved the terminal from one contact to the other and voila, problem solved.

After finishing with Ringo, I called the guy who’d responded to Lucy’s Craigslist ad. He’d changed his mind, and wasn’t interested anymore. I was now at a crossroads with Lucy. Fix her floor to make her more sell-able or leave her as-is and devote my time to TwoTone. After a few moments thought, I made up my mind and drove Lucy into the garage and began work on the floor patching. Out came the grinder with a wire wheel attached and I attacked the loose rust on both the inside and outside surfaces of her floors. With the chunks, flakes, and dust vacuumed up, I laid down some big pieces of cardboard to protect my new floor and proceeded to POR-15 the upward facing sections of floors. The passenger front floor well had a few rust-through holes, so I overlaid the entire footwell with fiberglass and gave it all a healthy coat of POR-15.

The next day, I tackled the underside and got it completed except for a section under the backseat. That’ll be one of tonight’s activities.

While I covered the area of the floor where I was painting, the flying dust and rust bits, combined with the melted snow, has made the rest of the floor very dirty. It will be interesting to see how difficult it is to get back some semblance of niceness once Lucy is out of the garage.

In support of Lucy’s next task – welding in the patches – I bought a welding blanket from Harbor Freight on my lunch hour today. That’ll protect the plastic floor tiles from sparks that would probably put burn marks in the meltable material. Finally, the last bit of news is I’ve begun the process of buying the white Silverado as the Suburban’s replacement. I’ll be travelling down to central Virginia to pick it up this weekend. Needless to say, I’m exceedingly excited about this acquisition.