All it needed was points and a condenser. Of course, I came to that conclusion after throwing a bunch of other parts at it first (and leaving the points on the counter as I walked out the door the first time). That raucous exhaust note comes courtesy of a massive crack in the exhaust manifold and a really high idle. After a little fiddling it runs like a car with a bad exhaust manifold that needs a carb rebuild.
With that box checked, it’s time to address wiring to impart such luxuries as starting the motor from inside the vehicle and functional stop/turn signals. Following that it’ll be time to address the translucent floors, hopefully with a solution that can tie the floor, future cage landing spots and subframes together as one. But the in the mean time, I’m pushing towards that first around-the-block drive.
Easter Sunday Ranchero Resurrection
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11 responses to “Easter Sunday Ranchero Resurrection”
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Oil pressure? Compression? My ’70 F-250 with the 360 ran on no oil pressure for years, and my mom’s Camaro 327 fouled one plug and ran most of the time on 7 cylinders… but these things are more important if you’re racing!
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Oil pressure is like 50-60 psi.
Haven’t bothered with compression. It’ll only cause me stress.
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How old is your boy? I keep trying to engage my 4 y.o. when working on the car (of course, it’s less fun stuff like van maintenance), but it seems he has inherited his father’s ADD, and if nothing happens for a few minutes, he wanders off.
Oh well, at least I’m trying. More than my old man ever did (mostly because he wasn’t a DIYer, I mean — he was a good father). He’s really into his Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, not to mention building his own out of Legos, so there’s a chance I can get him engaged when he’s old enough to comprehend what’s going on.
My oldest daughter, OTOH, loves to man the tool box while I’m stuck under the car. She’s nearly as fast as I am at finding the correct socket and wrench size when I ask for it, which is awesome. I have yet to bring her under the car with me just because it’s often so dirty and she doesn’t have any coveralls, but perhaps I need to remedy that, if she continues to show interest in mechanical things.-
My son wasn’t too much into hanging with me in the garage. By the time he was 5, he was tearing apart the scale models I let him have. He’s 13 now and will come to help in the garage if I need it but usually he figures it out and gets bored. I’ll throw in some science without him knowing… like calculating engine displacement or compression ratios.
He’s headlong into Xgame bikes. He buys and orders his own parts and installs using his own tools. He had a falling out when he discovered girls for 2 months in 6th grade but he wised up and came back. -
Let it happen. I was replacing the PS reservoir in the R and my youngest came-out. I thought it was that he was going to go to a friend’s place, but instead he hung-out with me fetching this and that for me. I was replacing the faucet in the kitchen and my oldest came-by, then he handed me tools and held the flashlight. Basically if you have enough broken stuff to fix every now and then your kid and you will be in the same place in the same time.
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http://www.greazerz.com/
^^^Coveralls
First and foremost: patience and tolerance. Things get dropped and scratched. Instructions are not followed quickly enough. Work slows to a crawl while dealing with other things.
After that, it helps to have a parallel task for them to be working on. My 5yo has some hand tools and likes to do things like drill and screw pieces of scrap wood or metal together. Sometimes they take breaks to help Mom plant stuff in the yard.
I’ve got a series of posts brewing about all of the above, but I have to split by “free” time between writing and wrenching, so…
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I am crushing your… radiator cap.
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Please, never place anyone you love between two cars when one is running, or being started. I have seen the consequences first hand. It is disastrous. MW
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Good catch, I’ll definitely be more careful next time.
I have both of my sons out there with me a lot, and I’m always trying to strike the right balance of safety/precaution and allowing for participation and occasionally painful learning experiences. Ultimately the responsibility lies with and I need to be conscious of this stuff.
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Please, never place anyone, let alone your child between two cars when one is running, or being started. I’ve seen the bad consequences first hand. You would never want that to happen.
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Damn I hope my son gets that “car enthusiast” joy 🙂
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