A Short Shift in the Garage

I scored a little garage time last night, so what did I do? I worked on the truck (aka Tow Vehicle). I purchased a replacement power door lock switch for the driver’s door months ago, but never got around to installing it – until last night. I pulled the door panel off after removing the three screws behind the two pop-off panels, disconnected the plug from the switch, popped out the frame from the panel (with switch), and took it to the work bench where I pried the switch out of said frame. I pulled out the replacement and noticed right away it wasn’t going to be a direct drop-in. Irrr. The toggling parts didn’t match, nor did the switch bodies. The toggles just popped off and I swapped new for old, while the frame was hacked down to accept the new, larger switch. I needed to replace the now-missing retention feature of the frame, so I applied some RTV and crossed my fingers. I plugged the switch back into the cable and tested the buttons and they worked. The reassembly was a breeze and I was on to working on a Corvair.

Since Scarlett (and Mikhaila) were off somewhere, I worked on Glinda, and, of course, the task I chose wasn’t even on the To-Do list. I decided to swap off the stock front wheels for the Camaro wheels so the wheels now all match. In doing so, I also put on the replacement center cap (replacing the one that went lost sometime while Mikhaila was using the car). I now need to buy the CHEVROLET insert (another $10 to Amazon). With Glinda now properly shod, I put together the last of the carburetors. This one is the second of ’68 vintage and is earmarked for Luna since I stole Luna’s ’66 bases to be modified. With that done, I called it a night.

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.

Will It Happen?

Will the winter of my discontent come to an end this weekend? Will Glinda become more than just the object of my rejection? Can I find the source of her gas-hoggedness? Will the 4-speed swap begin? I pray the answer to all these questions will be a resounding yes come Monday. The weather is predicted to be tolerable, there aren’t any house projects scheduled, and Ringo is currently roadworthy (TYL).

With TwoTone in the driveway, Glinda has the place of honor (in the garage). My plan is to start my car-day by checking her fuel pressure. It’s supposed to be 3-4 psi. Anything higher than that will cause the level in the carburetor bowls to be higher, and thus reduce gas mileage. There is a fix to reduce the output pressure of the pump, and that is to shorten the length of the pump’s spring. I’m praying this is the problem, and that the fix goes easily. Next on the agenda is installing the new stereo and speakers that have been sitting on the garage floor for a few months.


Item three is slapping on the IROC wheels and tires I bought at Rich’s parts sale. I posted the following doctored up JPEG on Facebook today to get opinions on how I should colorize the wheels, if at all. For now I’ll put them on plain, but painting the insets of the spokes body color is a leading candidate for change.


Finally, I’ll begin the 4-speed swap by installing the pedal assembly. I won’t care if the third pedal can’t do anything – I’ll just zip tie it out of the way. Hopefully, this will leave me time to gather together all the parts and pieces that I’ve collected for this swap allowing me to determine what I’m missing. Finally, I’ll check the condition of the flywheel. My hope is that it’s in good enough shape for me to replace the unreliable rivets with 7 mm bolts.

Come Monday I’ll report back on what, if anything, I actually accomplished.