Time for an Update

It’s been a while, and, fortunately, nothing very noteworthy has happened in the month or so since I last posted. I’ve been switching back-and-forth driving Glinda one day, Ringo the next. Last Friday evening, after struggling to see though the foggy windshield during my drive in the rain, I decided to spend some time on Ringo addressing his defroster/heater and some other niggling issues. First on the list was adjusting the latch plate on the driver’s door again. A little adjustment out, and latching was again accomplished without slamming.

Moving on to adjusting the idle speed of the engine, I connected the dwell meter to the coil terminal and ground to read rpm. The meter’s switch was set to dwell and I noticed the dwell changing as I blipped the throttle. Hmmm. Off came the vacuum advance hose, and subsequent blipping showed no movement in dwell. Unfortunately, the dwell was off by a few degrees, so I had to adjust that back to around 32 degrees, but not until I’d plugged the vacuum hose with a golf tee. Once the dwell was to spec., I readjusted the timing to about 12 degrees BTDC. Finally, I could give the idle screws a few tweaks to bring the idle speed to a little over 500 rpm with the transmission in Drive.

Next on the list was heater/defroster. I climbed under the dash, removed the three retaining screws, and dropped the controls so I could make sure all the levers were unbroken and properly set. They weren’t. The air one was bent (didn’t need it anyway), the heater one was pulled from its bracket, and one of the two defroster cable ends was also out of place. Knowing the cable was actually seized and that I was going to adjust the heater at the flapper under car, I left the heater one alone, but did re-seat the misplaced defroster. Turning my attention to the defroster doors in the rocker tunnels, I checked their operation and they were good-to-go.

Once I backed the car up on the ramps, I blocked the front wheels and released the parking brake. With 7/16ths and ½ inch wrenches in hand, I slid under the lifted rear and pushed the heater box door wide open. Next, I tightened the parking brake cable nut a half-dozen turns or so.

By that time it was late, so I called it a day.

Monday and Tuesday were Glinda days, but yesterday morning I grabbed Ringo’s keys and slid behind his wheel for my morning drive. I noticed, as I accelerated to get on the beltway, that the throttle response was not a good as the last time I’d driven him. Looks like I need to bump up the timing. Today he again was my chosen whip, and, while I could still stay up with 65-70 mph traffic, I wasn’t happy with the loping at part throttle. I’ll also be checking dwell and looking for vacuum leaks the next time I’m under his engine lid.

Update Time

I’ve been very, very busy with home projects so ‘vair projects have been off limits. That changed the last couple evenings when the lovely Loriann’s not-so-lovely daily-driver needed some mechanical attention. Since determining it needed new rear brake pads took no time Tuesday and doing the replacement took no time last evening and I was already in grungies and out in the garage both evenings, I figured, “what the heck, get Glinda back on the road.”

So, I did just that. Tuesday I adjusted the clutch cable and threaded on the retaining nut, unhooked the vacuum advance, set the dwell and timing (more on that later), removed the racing seat and belts, and pushed the front bench back into place. Last night I bolted down the seat, bolted in the factory seatbelts, zip-tied up wiring, and installed passenger door sillplate. That meant that finally, after over two months of being out of service, Glinda came down off the jackstands and was driven down the driveway.

This morning I drove her into work without issue. Well, without issue is a bit of a stretch. While the engine didn’t die and she didn’t strand me on the side of the road, her engine is not running smoothly at all. I don’t know if it’s clogged carbs or something electrical, but it’s not right. That brings me back to the question of timing. The shop manual for 1968 states timing for a manual transmissioned 110 HP engine should be set at 4 degrees BTDC (before top dead center), while Powerglide engines get 12 degrees. I’m not sure what drives this difference, so I decided to go with the higher number and just listen for pinging. Since it’s been cool and will only get colder, engine heat shouldn’t be an issue. In the meantime I’ll search the web for some smart person’s explanation of why there’s a difference.

In hopes that the chuggy running is fuel related, I’ll make sure I do some full-throttle no-throttle runs this evening to try and suck anything that might be clogging the tiny passages in the two Rochesters. It is my goal to install the Pertronix II electronic ignition module and associated new coil, so if the problem is spark related, that will cure it. Just not sure when I’ll get to it.

Hopefully, the snow (and thus the salt) stay away a little longer so I can put some miles on the car.

It’s All in the Prep

Last Friday night seems like a week ago already; so much has happened since then. I’ll put off my write-up on yesterday’s track event for a second blog post.

Friday evening I had some driveway time available to me, so I took on the task of giving Glinda a tune-up. I’d sprung for the good stuff when I placed my order with Clark’s so I was optimistic that, once done, she’d run smoothly up into the higher revs. The job went surprisingly well. I got the new points and condenser installed without dropping any of the tiny screws – TYL. I got the plugs changed without stripping out any threads - TYL. I got the rotor and cap changed without crossing any wires. With all the new parts in, I adjusted the point gap to an indicated 34 degrees on the dwell-meter and the distributor twisted to an indicated 12 degrees BTDC (before top dead center) on the timing mark. With that done, I cut down and installed the two-and-a-quarter inch tailpipe I’d recently bought. This would ensure that the hot exhaust gasses would exit aft of the car’s body. While I was fitting the pipe, I discovered the bracket I’d clamped to had broken, so I needed to re-clamp – this time grabbing more metal under the clamp.

Saturday, the lovely Loriann posited, “Wider tires means a safer car, right. Well, put the longer studs on.” With that encouragement I dove into the stud replacement project. Starting at Glinda’s right front, I jacked up the right side of the car, supported it on a jackstand, removed the front wheel, followed by the drum, and finally the hub. With a lugnut in place over the end of each stud, I whacked them all out with a hammer and then, using a washer-backed lugnut and my ½ inch impact wrench I pulled each new stud until the knurl was fully seated in the hole. The other front hub went the same way, while the rears had to be done with the hubs still in place.

Once all the studs were in place and the hubs and drums reinstalled, I mounted the IROC wheels and lowered the car back onto the driveway. With some driveway-time still available, I proceeded to install the new throttle linkage kit I bought with THRaF money. It was more of a challenge than I’d anticipated and the end of driveway-time came before it was completely installed. I set the alarm clock for early Sunday morning, and finished the job before the lovely Loriann left the bed.

It took another hour or so that evening to pack parts and supplies in the back of the truck, drive Glinda to the gas station to put fuel in her tank as well as fill two five gallon jugs with hi-test, and, finally, hitch her up to the truck.