Good to hear your on the mend! Amazing what age can do to our body's. An older person once once told me, "my body will not let me do what my mind wants". Being 78 now I reallly understand what she meant.
UPDATE! Still alive and kicking (barely) although most must have assumed that I just kicked the bucket. Somewhere around Thanksgiving or just a day or two following that I came down with Covid. Despite the fact that we have had all of those previous shots and boosters. Figured I would sail right thru this crap but the "bug" had a more devious plan apparently. I don't believe that I have ever been so ill and incapacitated as that 10 day deal with this virus. Along the way I thought I would share it with the little woman. A gesture that has garnered me even more points as we get closer to our 60 year anniversary. The virus did suck the life out of me, not so much with the little woman. Now we are well into December and the holidays. Cold as a bitch with a lot of wind this winter much like an old-fashioned winter we recall from days past. Just could not get motivated to go out to the shop, sort of just laid back for a while. Felt like I was in a fog if you will. Lost 20 lbs along the way......not a bad thing, I guess. Then the episodes started with total exhaustion and fatigue anytime I do anything above normal like going up stairs. Oh yeh, lots of fun and then I get to experience the joy of dealing with the medical system. To date despite many tests, scans and catherizations we still have no definitive answers. Now I have one more scan next week and then meet with my third cardiologist on April 10th. Yea, nothing happens quickly anymore unless you get yourself admitted to the hospital. Meanwhile the seasons are changing, and the hot rod is up on stands right where it has been since last fall. A week ago, I decided that I have had enough and went back out in the shop. Have to pace myself but did get some things done. Last fall I discovered that you cannot press the clutch pedal. Like pushing against a brick wall so I pulled the master cylinder and had my friend sleeve it to 7/8 with a kit from Wildwood. Then the operating angle of the slave just did not seem right now that the clutch is working so I fabbed up a small bracket to move the end out to the frame. Now I needed to weld that bracket to it's new spot. That appears to have corrected the operating angle. Added oil to the tremec trans and dropped the car back on the ground. Pulled the plugs out of the engine and rolled the old Olds over to produce some oil pressure before trying to start it since it has been setting since August. Today ? ?, weather permitting, I will roll it outside and fire it up to see how things work together. Maybe tomorrow as it is pouring outside and of course I have more friggin dr. appointments today. A few pics of the new arrangement for the slave cylinder. As you can see the single sheer required a new bracket to box in the attachment area providing a double sheer. I used a grade 8 bolt just to be safe. The bracket pic has vanished so you will just have to use your imagination a little. Back later with more follow up.... .....
Wow Walt, sorry you had to go through all that. Glad you are feeling better. Hopefully your strength and stamina will return with the sunshine this spring. At least it looks like you’re close to having it out on the road again. Best wishes.
That's a lot to go through. Glad to hear your feeling better, and able to get back to working on that beautiful Model A.
After what seems to have been a lifetime this hot rod now sets on the floor again. Charged the battery up and filled those 97's with some fuel. The Olds fired right up without any issues. However, I couldn't shift the tranny as the clutch is not disengaging which I knew could be an issue as I have been messing with extending the length of the clutch arm to get a better mechanical advantage. So, back up in the air for the moment while I look at changing the length of the arm. Fairly easy proposition as I had allowed for just this issue when I added the extension. I removed the extension and cut a slot in it to allow over two inches of travel. Reinstalled it at a position that made it an inch shorter. It now shifts thru the gears. Time to go on the road! First reaction is how much more pep this Olds has now that those 3 cylinders have compression. The tranny shifts well and I really like the downshift into first without double clutching! Engine was idling a tad bit high but that was just a weak return spring which was a quick fix. Temp gauge is not working but I bet that is a poor ground on the sender from too much Teflon on the threads. Another easy fix. Raining today and snow in the forecast. My warm spring weather is passing for the moment. Today I will work on reinstalling the headlights. Purchased some small snap terminals from the electrical aisle at HD that appear to be just what I needed to terminate the five wires in the bucket. I will post up a pic after I install those. ......
These are the small connectors I spoke about above And what they look like inside a head light bucket The levers can be lifted to disconnect at anytime as required so these are reusable and a snap to use. ......
Hi Walt, congrats the car looks great and sounds like you will be ripping up those mountains very soon. In a very unexpected twist I was able to buy back my A coupe! I sold it 10 years ago. It's the car that got the 324 that I bought from you sometime around 2011-2012. When I bought the engine it had blue paint and I was unsure of its history but this could be a clue, "Don't forget the 324 Olds was also used in the GMC truck till the end of 56 production along with the Pontiac V-8." Hope you put lots of enjoyable miles on your new ride. Dave
Update, again! Still playing around with the clutch improvement. Decided that I could gain a bit of advantage by resleeving the master to 3/4 inch. I feel this will give me just enough advantage to make clutch operation considerably better given that the slave is 7/8. While waiting for my weekend machinist I decided that I would switch the rear suspension over from the small bags to coil overs as I have just not been happy with the ride and the constant adjustments to find the right sweet spot with airing up those bags. So out they came! Fabbed up some spring pockets and bolted them in place, added the coils and adjusted the shock travel. Seems to sit right and has a lot more movement than before so now we get to take her out for some road tests. I feel it will ride a lot better as a friend has the same set up in his coupe and seems satisfied with his ride. Sorry, I did not take any pics. Still waiting on my machinist for the master cylinder which is Ok as I have had yet another medical event! Been fighting this thing now for over almost 2 years and it was getting to the point that I just could not do anything strenuous without needing to set down and catch my breath. I mean jacking up the rear of the rod was enough to put me into stress. Just crazy! I have a new cardiologist again but this time she has her act together and instantly strapped a monitor on me which now concluded that I have a severe heart block (no kidding) and my heart is actually stopping while I am sleeping. I suspect that is not good! After a series of other tests, she sent me into the city for an emergency pacer procedure. All over and done with in just a couple of days. Yes, I feel and look like I was hit by a bus, have this foreign looking bump in my upper chest but the 'ol heart pump seems to like the addition. Under restrictions for 4 weeks. The usual crap, nothing strenuous liking lifting and being an idiot, so I have kept busy doing little stuff that requires very little effort. Arm is coming back this week, swelling is gone, and I feel like I am getting back to a normal position. The surgeon and the Medtronics rep both have told me that I can continue welding so long as I stay with a 120v machine. I feared I would not be able to weld again but they feel it is not an issue so long as I avoid the larger machines. Time will tell as I intend to check it out in a few weeks. And there we are. More to come as we mend up.
Best of Luck with everything. Getting older isn't easy. Myself I've been looking for the person who came up with "Golden Year's" so I can bury my 10 wide shoe where the sun doesn't shine on him. Seems like every week I've got medical appointment also, that get in the way of working on my cars.
Take care of yourself, don’t lift. I have an implanted defibrillator that just got replaced last September. I understand what you are going through be careful.
Thanks fellas for the comments. Mending slowly and being careful for certain. Over the first hurdles and feeling better now. Had my neighbor's son mow my lawn. That's a first for me. I had picked up a 66 283 just before the medical delay so I have been doing small stuff like cleaning small parts and just about everything that does not require any lifting over the 10 lb. limit. It had been freshened up prior to an accident which totaled the vehicle. Very clean on the inside and no ridge in the cylinders to speak of. Put a new double roller on it and a newer oil pan since the original was not repairable. Got to tack the oil pickup on and will button this up with the help of my neighbor to do all the heavy lifting and crap I can't do. Have no plans for it at the moment. Just felt the 283's are getting scarce so I will keep it in storage for another day and it gives me something to do while under the watchful eye of you know who.
It surprises me that more folks don't go with the internal hydraulic throw out bearing. I had to have the trans in and out a couple of times to get the shims right, but it has been flawless ever since. No mechanical linkage all seems like a plus to me.
Vic, certainly hindsight is 2020 on that one. I have cursed myself for not biting the bullet on the internal unit. Going to give it one more go on the in place system as soon as I get the MC back from being resleeved. Hoping that works, if not then I will order the Mcleod unit.
The Jalopy Journal
