The Unexplained Recovery

In yesterday’s posting, I reported that Glinda’s Monday evening test drive resulted in frustration. Mentally prepared to spend last night swapping ignition components to solve her rough running, I first took her for a quick spin around the neighborhood to see if, when cold, there were still problems. Wouldn’t you know it; she ran fine. Seeing how long this would last, I drove her to the gas station and filled the tank with 93 octane. Pulling away from the station, the acceleration was smooth and normal. Now I’ve got to keep going. Out onto the interstate I went, gathering speed easily until the needle was well beyond 70. No hesitation, no stuttering. All’s good. Remembering that Victoria had said that sometimes the symptoms didn’t appear until after she’d left the freeway, I pulled over and sat for a couple minutes before proceeding. Back up to 70 was a piece of cake, but I was noticing some buffeting from the winds. Back home again and bundled up against the frigid winds, I decided I had to do something. I chose to install the front spoiler knowing it would help Victoria keep Glinda in her lane. While it was uncomfortable lying on the ground in the wind, it didn’t take me too long to get the part attached.

With that complete, I shut the garage door and pulled out the recently arrived floor panels for Ringo. With them approximately placed, it was obvious I was going to have to get some more sheetmetal to fill in the rusted out areas the panels would not extend to. I’m formulating a plan for Ringo’s re-flooring and here’s the current list:

• Remove the heater duct tubes from inside the rocker areas.
• Cut away the rotted metal of the inside walls of the rockers.
• Coat the inside of the rockers with POR-15.
• Close up the rockers by welding new 16-gauge sheetmetal across the openings tying itinto sold metal at the top and bottom edges.
• Cut away the rest of rotted metal.
• Weld 18-gauge sheetmetal to the new pieces providing a ledge that the new floor panels will attach to.
• Weld in the floor panels.
• Fill in any remaining gaps by welding more 18-gauge from the new panels to solid surrounding metal.
• Use seam sealer inside and out and close off all the joints.
• Prime and paint inside and out.