Well, after a week of tinkering, I'm going to take the gamble & drive my '40 from Hollywood to Tallahassee tomorrow, so any FL HAMBers see me broken down on Turnpike, I75, I10 - be sure & stop! Well, I guess technically, I'll be doing it later today as it's now after 1am!
Ernie if you find yourself near Ocala this Saturday morning why don't you consider joining us. 'Bout 50 flatheaders are gathering at the Don Garlits Museum just off I75 in Ocala. It's an event initiated by the "Ford Barn" on the web. Be cool if you can come. If you do look for a black `41 Business Coupe, that's me.
Thanks, Skate! Ratty, I am missing England! Whilst it only rained on me once these past 10 days, I think I'm melting from the heat & humidity!! Of course, I can go virtually anywhere & get into the air-con to escape it momentarily! HF - I'll still be in Tallahassee on Sat (if I make it there!) & I'd love to get to Garlits' place - haven't been there since shortly after it opened!! Be great to see a bunch of folks too!
I wish I could be there. I was just there last month. There is a Soony's real pit BBQ right in front of the museum, real good food. I always hit these when traveling south from here down 75. Have a safe trip and enjoy!!
Sedanman,,,how long's the BBQ joint been there? I was there in '03 & dont remember it. We did see some burnout marks that Big did in one of his Top Fuelers.
GOOD LUCK! Did that over the summer myself (& My Husband) with our flattie (coast to coast) with no problems. Had a great time- met a lot of super people!
I beleive it is relatively new. The last time I was through there was in 2000 and it wasn't there then. the whole area at this exit has really grown. It used to only be the museum and the indian river citrus store. Now it is hotels, restaraunts, etc. The black marks are still there in the back between the buildings of the shop and museum. I looked for a picture of them but they are on a disk at home.
Go for it Ernie......hope that coil holds up till you get the conversion, take some spare points & condensers! Kev.
Made it. Not w/o a few trials & tribulations, but nothing major (yet). Was running nice & cool at 65-70 & 100 miles north, hit a major traffic jam with no time to cool the engine down, so sitting there, it shot up in temp! Stared at that guage thinking of Limey's trip to Vegas until I couldn't take it anymore & drove on the shoulder pissing everyone off. Left the wife behind in the daily & figured if it died, she'd see me. Made it the 5-6 miles to the next service plaza & managed to cruise around 40 or so the last two miles to really cool it down. Topped up with gas & was going to cool the rad down, but it wouldn't start (still 6V) - heat soaked starter & I almost killed that battery. Took the time to re-clean the terminals & got it started. Was cooling the rad with a hose when the belt decided to start unraveling itself from the inside out!! Took the wife's daily to an autozone about 6-7 miles away and found a belt that would work - too skinny, but right length. Got an extra & back on the road. Seemed to run well & my son had to stop not too far down the road (85 miles according to the turnpike folks), so I decided to top off & check mileage. 5 gallons exactly - so I figured I was knocking down 17 mpg at 65mph! Not too shabby, so I planned my next stop for 170 miles just to verify. Got off I75 near Lake City 175 miles from the last top off & put 13.5 gallons in it! WTF? OK, maybe I didn't fill it all the way up last time or maybe it's getting worse mileage. I also check the oil - holding steady a hair under the full line. Continued about 70 miles & it acted like it ran out of gas!! So I pulled over and put about 3 gallons in from the can in the trunk (always be prepared!) & it seemed to cure it. I wasn't too far from Tallahassee by this time, so when I got in, I checked the car over for leaks - nothing found. So then I feared my fuel pump may be going & leaking gas into my pan!! Checked the oil & it was down to the add line. ??? So I used all my gas & at least a quart of oil the last 85 miles??? Will investigate this morning - not getting back on the road until Sun...
UPDATE - quick investigation reveals no real issues here. Managed to get the gas gauge working - nearly full. Fuel pump pushrod has been ticking, so may be worn a bit more - I think I "outran" the pump when I was trying to catch the wife (she left me at a gas station - long & funny story) & doing 75+ (definitely outrunning the dim & poorly aimed 6V headlights ) & I wasn't actually out of gas. Looks like an oil leak has started around the edge of the distributor or timing cover. Will clean it off & see if I can find exactly where - maybe temp-fix with some silly-cone. Pulled the plugs - they look great, so it's running right. Got an extra set of points (just in case) & a can-type coil conversion (need to go find a 6V coil now) as a spare - the brush on the original coil is marginal at best. Got a couple other tricks to try on the next run... Great way to get to know the car though...
We're hanging in Tallahassee until Sun morning - then to Dothan, AL for a day. Mon, we hit the road again westbound - hope to make Shreveport, (but we'll stop at Alexandria if we need to) Abilene the next day, Albuquerque Wed. (I10-I49-I20-US84-I40) Wrenched on the car - got a new belt & 6V coil at NAPA (on the shelf). Pulled & flushed the radiator - I dredged up some "stuff" since the car has sat so long. Cleaned & checked the points/rotor - looked good. Managed to break off the field wire from the generator, so will sort that in the morning & get it out on the road a bit around town.
Not really...mainly interstates. Doing a lot of driving at night too...we'll see though (got the camera! )
Is this the car that the heads are going on? If so you are giving it quite a workout!!!!!!!! Good luck, I wish I was there to be your co-pilot as you make the drive 1/2 way across the states in a flatty. Good going Ernie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Will be monitoring for status reports along the way. Kevin
Kevin, Yes - eventually, the Cyclone heads will be on the '40. I also drove the first leg wearing my Cyclone shirt! Another short drive tomorrow - 'bout 100 miles. Got a few of the issues ironed out - a little "fine tuning" if you will. We'll evaluate on the short leg to see if we're moving in the right direction!
We're 28 miles west of Dothan in Enterprise on US 84 if you head this way and need any help. Chuck 334-348-2171 Enterprise is becoming a retirement mecca, don't tell anyone
Well why not? Where else are you gonna find a Boll Weevil monument?? I know Enterprise well - did a bunch of flying out of the little field (EDN) years ago...
Glad things are going well for you, and you're back in the states. Stu sends greetings from Germany. They all went to Vienna, Austria this week.. Tough life!
Nice to see your back in the states Ernie, Next time your over this way stop in for a visit if you have time, I will even buy the beer. Hope you and the 40 have a good trip. John
Update - we're in NM. Drove the '40 to Dothan from Tallahassee & seems all the issues were solved - ran cool. Got a trailer & after a very late start (paperwork with my house via fax), made it to Alexandria, LA very late at night. Next day, made it to Abilene, TX and picked up my '55 Willys Wagon - backed the '40 off the trailer & pulled the Willys up. There were a couple reasons for trailering the middle 900 miles. My wife had never towed anything before, so I wanted to let her get comfortable with me in the car. I also had never towed with this Durango before, so wanted to be sure it pulled well before I let my wife loose with it & my boy strapped in the back. All went well. For good measure, I pulled the carb apart in the hotel that night & cleaned it up - there was some gunk in it, so I'm sure it helped some. The next day, we set out for Albuquerque. I kept having fuel issues though - that "running out of gas" near Tallahassee after filling up 70 miles earlier wasn't - I was "out running" the fuel pump. I had had a tick in the engine that I attributed to the pump pushrod, so after "out running" the pump several more times at progressively slower speed as the country started to go uphill, I decided I'd work a roadside fix. Found a Wally-World in Lubbock where we stopped for lunch & bought a packet of small washers & some JB Weld. I pulled the pump & JB Welded (quick set version) a couple of washers inside the pump cup to take up the slack of the worn pushrod. Didn't help much. While in Lubbock, I pulled the pump apart just to look at it - the diaphragm looked sound, but I had no way to check the one-way valves. Now I was thinking maybe one of those valves wasn't working well from all the sitting. What to do? The Willys has a 12V electric pump - one of those cheap-O "electronic" solenoid-types. I pulled it & bypassed the mechanical pump, ran some wires in to the car & hooked it up to one of those 12V boosters I had bought for this trip - the kind you plug into the wall to charge up & leave in your trunk - because my '40 is still 6V! Well, that didn't work either - in fact, it may have been slightly worse. I thought maybe the gas cap wasn't venting, so I pulled it off & stuffed a rag in the tank neck & tried again. Another few miles & the same thing - it seemed to be getting worse. On a whim, I pulled the supply line to the pump in the engine compartment & tried to blow through it. Man, I saw stars! It was blocked - I blew & finally got it free. Hooked it back up & it ran great. Except, now the 12V electric pump was blowing the needle off the seat of my '94!! So one more stop to re-connect the stock pump & we were finally on our way - all this very slow progress only had us to just south of Farwell, TX on the NM border. It was late, but we decided to push on through & got in later than we wanted (hey, we gained an hour going into NM!), but got here. All in all, the old car did over 1100 miles to get out here & has the bugs & dirt to prove it. Been driving the old girl daily, but yesterday, the oil pressure dropped drastically on me. At idle, it's below zero & I can only coax 10lbs out of it, so I slowly made it home to check things out. Taking a break from the trouble shooting today - pulled the pump & checked the pushrod (was worried the shimming might have put enough extra side load on the pushrod bushing it might have worked it free), but all is OK. So now I'm off to buy a mechanical gauge to verify the 66 year old OEM reading. Fingers crossed!
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