Clean Cars

Sunday, after church, I launched into cleaning Heidi. I think it’s the cleanest this car’s been since I repainted it. Once I was done washing both inside and out, I Armoralled the top and the vinyl and repaired the crack in the dash pad. I then drove her onto the front lawn and took some photos which I’ve posted on Flickr.

Next, I installed Glinda’s new speedometer cable and thoroughly washed her inside and out followed by a generous application of Armorall and a thorough cleaning of the windows. I ended the day by reinstalling the stainless trim around her windshield and backlight. Once we have good weather again, I’ll take photos.

Last night I noticed, as Ariel was pulling up in front of the house, that Ringo’s right rear brakelight was out. Fortunately, I discovered the not-quite-connected connector before I tore into the light housing. Love those easy fixes that, sadly, are few and far between. Next, I got out the adhesive caulk and tried to affix the bottom corners of Glinda’s backlight stainless trim. The clips aren’t close enough and those corners just flap in the breeze. After putting copious amounts of caulk in the joint, I strategically placed bricks on top of rags on top of the trim to hold it down while the caulk cures. I’ll check out whether I was successful or not tonight.

I’ve had a few responses to Heidi’s Craigslist ad, but they’ve been the typical kind (i.e. someone calls and sets up an appointment and then cancels 2 hours before, someone calls and sets up an appointment and then never shows, someone calls and you quickly find they don’t have a clue and this is not the car for them). Waste of time.

Oh Yeah

With all the For Sale excitement, I forgot that I spent an hour or so working on Corvairs yesterday. In preparation for Ariel taking over the reins of Ringo again, I tightened up the steering box, adjusted the brake pedal height, tightened the sunvisor retaining screw, tried getting the heater control to fully shut off the warm air (failed), checked the fluid levels and fanbelt tension.

Then, I fired up Heidi and let her idle and warm up in the driveway before checking the transmission fluid level (still above Add).

Finally, I unburied Luna with the hopes of starting her up. I checked for fuel in the tank by sticking a hose through the filler tube. When that came up dry it was time to call it an evening.

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.

Crazy Ray’s Three ‘Vairs

The gentleman that came by to look at Lucy last Wednesday mentioned he was just at the Fort Smallwood Rd Crazy Ray’s junkyard and saw they had some EMs out for the picking. It just so happened I needed to make a junkyard run to get a part for the lovely Loriann’s daily-driver, so today was the day to take an extended lunch. After procuring the PT Cruiser part, I wandered over toward's the GM area of the yard. I was, however, waylaid by a really cool ’55 Plymouth Savoy. This car has some unique features foremost of which, in my mind, is a dash-mounted transmission shifter. A precursor to the Corvair’s Powerglide shifter perhaps? I couldn't help but snap some photos that I've posted on Flickr.

Finally prying my eyes from the fifty's awesomeness, I moved on and found three ‘63 Corvairs sitting nearly side-by-side in various states of dismemberment. The first one I inspected was a Spyder with much of its drivetrain displaced and dispersed on the ground. It's worth mentioning that the engine block was stamped with an RB. This letter combination is from the very desirable 140 HP engines found in the LM Corsas. Interesting. And strange that whoever did the swap did not include the required harmonic balancer, but rather just swapped the solid pulley wheel from the car's original turbocharged engine. Looking for one of ‘vairdom’s holy grails, the engine thermostat, I located the two bottom shrouds and found one good thermostat and claimed it. Sadly, I forgot to check for the even more valuable holy grail, the temperature sensor. Before moving on to ‘vair number two, another coupe, I snagged three unused brake shoes. The fourth one was missing its liner.

This one still had its engine in place and both thermostats were in good shape. A few minutes Iater, I had liberated both of them. While prone with both hands under the car, I noticed the muffler was in really good shape – no rust or holes. I’m sure TwoTone needs a good muffler. Extricating the exhaust pipe/muffler assembly was only slightly more difficult than getting the thermostats with two of the four manifold bolts doing their normal thing of snapping under significant torque. The other two unscrewed nicely, and after cutting the rubber hanger, the ungainly assembly was lying on the ground.

The last Corvair was a 4-door with a really solid body. While its drivetrain appeared basically intact only missing its air cleaners and carburetors from the top side, the underside was missing both shrouds so no thermostats. The interior had been mostly stripped away, but lying loose on the floor was a brand new 4” heater hose. Hmm. I’m sure they don’t want much for one of these. Snagged.

Remembering Crazy Ray’s only takes cash, I pulled out my wallet to check how much I had - $45. I toted my treasures over to the payment window, where I was told it would cost me $42.95. This isn't the first time they've taken nearly all my money. It’s like they know exactly how much money I have. I guess I need to take less with me next time. It's really a moot point since they've finally joined the twenty-first century and accept plastic payment.

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.