Quite a Weekend

Friday night I got some garage time and used it to mostly disassemble the PowerGlide automatic transmission that will eventually go into Ringo’s drivetrain. The last couple times I’ve driven him, the transmission has upshifted fairly reliably, but a different issue has not gone away. That is the propensity of the transmission to shift itself out of Drive and into Neutral by letting up on the throttle. To my mind, the reduction in rpm reduces the pump output and then there’s not enough pressure to keep things engaged properly. Regardless of the actual mode of the misbehavior, I don’t believe that it will get better, so I’m proceeding with a replacement.

Following the instructions laid out GM’s manuals for the 1961 and 1965 models as well as their instructional film printout I bought from Clark’s I was able to tear down the unit to the point of removing the rear oil pump. I posted the in-process photos I took on this Flickr group.

I got a little bit of time on Saturday to work in the garage, but yesterday afternoon and evening were both filled with automotive exploits.

First, Glinda got some much needed attention. I fixed one of the speakers; the other will need to be replaced, so I pulled that one for Victoria to find a new one. I tightened the oil pan bolts and topped off the crankcase with a qt. of Shell Rotella 30 weight. I checked the fanbelt - it’s snug, but not tight. I found the source of the steering squeak – it’s a bad pittman arm bushing and a replacement from Clark’s has been ordered. I checked the lube level in the steering box – it’s fine. I rotated the tires front to back since I saw the right front has some odd wear on the outer edge. Once the bushing has been replaced, I’ll have her take it in for an alignment. I lubed the sticky catch on the driver’s door and both ends of the heater cable. I pulled the wheel hubs and checked the brake shoe thickness – all’s good there. While I’d have liked to have addressed the cold-start idle issue, I instructed Victoria to just let Glinda idle a bit before pulling away from the curb and she’ll be fine. Sadly, Victoria reported to me that this morning the speedometer and odometer were not working. Looks like jacking up the front end caused the old speedo cable to fail. A GUP replacement has been ordered from the Corvair Ranch.

Lucy was next to take up residence in the garage. She had a blown brake line due to rust and, of course, it’s the one that runs on top of the gas tank, so with the car up on the ramps, I drained and removed the gas tank (only broke one j-hook and a couple of hose clamps). I decided to do both front lines with the better access, but that doubled the number of fittings I had to break loose – three of the four required vise-grips, but thankfully none broke off. Today I visited the NAPA near my work to get replacements, but they only had one new bendable Poly-Armour line so the lovely Loriann ran by the other local NAPA to get the other. I’m hoping to have them installed and bled tonight.