our cars can be. Had planned on doung routine maintenance on the modern cars this weekend. When I got out to the gargae, I'd noticed Lucy's left flank was down in the dirt - more so than usual. Pulled apart the rear suspension, and the main leaf was broken. Real odd break - a 5" diagonal crack running thru the location stud hole in the center of the leaf. Now I know you're not supposed to do this, but I like to experiment. Ground the break clean, v-notched it, and s***ched it back up with the MIG on high, going slow for good penetration. Afterwards, I cut a 2-1/2" x 6" repair plate and welded it on top of the mainspring all the way around the perimeter. I figure the combination of the weld, the plate, and the clamping of the u-bolts will keep it together - we will see. Dropped her on her haunches, and she sat nice and square - was able to take some air outta the bags (airshox) and still retain good ride quality. Lucy was right as rain on the way to a REAL auto parts store, so after doing numerous oil changes (the House of Speed and Chrome currently has five cars and two registered drivers) we opted to take Lucy to dinner. Upon leaving the restaurant, Lucy refused to start. *****. After fiddling with her for ten minutes, I gave up and hotwired the coil to the battery; she fired almost instantly. 'It's me - she HATES me!' cried the Peebmonster. 'You shouldn'ta said she was ugly when she first rolled in - I think she heard you', I quietly replied. Got her home and started doing point-to-point checks on the electrical. Three hours later, the dash was COMPLETELY apart and the problem found... Positive ground '50's cars care wired to take all current thru the ammeter, so there are these big honkin' wires running into the interior comaprtment and then back out. Over the years, the current load causes heat cycling, which in turn loosened one of the connections *slightly*. After runnin' a while, the contact resistance went up, and she didn't have enough juice to the ignition circuit to light off. Gonna clean it up (along with a rebuild of switchgear today) and re-***emble. That's the scientific explanation of mode of failure. The Peebmonster, however, remains unconvinced. Nearly an entire day spend on the Chrylser. Jealous old *****.
Do you think the cracked leaf was a result of removing leafs in the rear to lower it? That's how I want to do my '55 Dodge but I don't want to do it if it's going to result in a broken leaf.
I know exactly what you mean, i just brought home a new project 55 Olds, and my my daily (a 66 comet) has been throwing a fit about being replaced. It's stalled on me, wouldn't start a couple of times, and random things will just stop working momentarily. Damn things ******* me off.
Squab - No. It was busticated a LOONG time ago. The pix from the PO show that side down; I just didn't notice the break until recently. These old springs cyclically harden, methinks. There out of the five leaves on the driver's side - three were broken when I took ownership. I'm currently runnin' 4 on the driver's side (to compensate for the broken one) and three on the p***enger side. Gotta run 50# in the bags to level the car out with four p***engers; otherwise the ride is almost deat nuts level with the bags deflated. I'm runnin 20# just to keep the bags from rubbin'; that gives Lucy a little over an inch of rake. The '56 had a busted spring on the driver's side, too. The safety factor in removing springs would be to clamp them together with some spring clamps; I did that on the '56 17 years ago and it worked fine. If one leaf breaks, it's mechanially connected to the other one. I'm gonna do that prolly next weekend.
My '55 is my daily driver. Subsiquently, when I went on a job interview a few weeks ago, that's how I got there. I was interviewing for a Auto Shop teaching position. I met with the Principal and the Super Intendant at the district office. We talked for awhile, then the principal offered to give me a tour of the High School. It wasn't all that for, so he suggested that I follow him. That was ok by me. I get in my car, and turn the key. RRR..RRR..RRr..rrr..rr..r...click. Battery died. I hadn't had any problems with it previously. So, while the guy's waiting for me, I'm fiddling with my jumper box(which is a life saver). Took 3 trys before I could get it started. I'm sure it made a great impression, a guy applying to be a Shop teacher can't even get his own car started Either way, I didn't get the job...
Bug - I've got a fresh Type 1 battery you can have, but I don't know how to ship one wet. In the meantime - check the connections on the back of yer ammeter. Now that I've freshened the contacts, the damned clock runs fast. There's a big difference in the quality of power in the car now that the contacts are cleaned.
Thanks for the offer. I tracked it down to a battert terminal not making as good a connection as it could have. Cleaned it up and havent had a problem since. Next time I'm crawling around under the dash, I'll clean the ammeter connections too.
My 52 doesn't like to be left alone in the garage. I bought an econo-box daily driver Grand AM a couple years ago, and the 52 decided to lock a caliper the first time I drove it again after driving the GA to work for a week. Never had any trouble before that. I put the GA up for sale shortly thereafter, and returned the 52 to daily use again. Then for the Roundup, I decided to get her all gussied up witha new coat of purple primer... but then the front tires went out of balance as soon as I put her back on the road. Tire shop couldn't re-balance (I stood right there and watched them try.), but there was no visible issues like a busted belt or anything. I guess she just wanted a new set of shoes to go with her new dress?
The Jalopy Journal
