Technical A Kid's First Project: 1957 Fairlane 500 Town Victoria.

I got a belt, and its too short now.

its the same type of belt as the old one i took off, but i cant find it

 

i decided to clean up my generator and put some never sieze on the brackets.

this is the minimum adjustment,

and this is the maximum, any ideas?

 

i am an idiot. the bracket is backwards, the side that moves is supposed to be on the generator.

 

Your not an idiot, it's called learning.

 

i flipped it and i still dont have enough space.

 

ive measured, 45 1/2 minimum, 48 1/2 max

meaning the belt length i need is between 43 1/2 and 46 1/2, accounting for groove depth

 

If you have a close parts house, get 1 each-44"-45"-46" x 7/16 inch belts and take back the 2 you don't use.

 

With a bit of research, ive determined this car has the "heavy duty cooling" option. the pulley is meant for a 1/2 inch wide v belt, which is 44.5 inches long. which is why the 45.5 inch 3/8th wide belt didnt work.

 

randomly off topic, i just found a bool (ford) cap buried beside the ancient concrete slab.

 

my day has been made completely. This guy noticed i was working on my car, he stopped, and turned around to check it out .

It is a beautiful 1958 ford skyliner, its been in his family since 1967 and is a fully optioned car stock. if it was an option, it has it. it was a smooth running engine, a quiet exhaust, even the top worked beautifully.

He gave me his contact information as he knows some people with 57 ford parts, among other things.

 

This is the best part of playing with old cars…meeting new people along the way!

 

it really is the absolute best part, is meeting people who love these cars just as much as you. this car was far from perfect, it had dings, rust, scratches, the usual. but in my opinion, none of that matters, he drives it, its in beautiful condition, and his father is who painted it back nearly 50 years ago. the motor was smooth and had obviously been well kept, the car was an automatic, 352 interceptor. the top even went up and down.

i never thought i would see one in person, let alone have one drive into my driveway on a sunday afternoon.

 

amazon sent the wrong belt, they sent a 43 inch belt, which is entirely too short, i ordered a 44 1/2.

also, i never sent a picture of my hose fix, if it works it works.

 

lets see who can spot whats new

 

New rust spot?

 

I’m gonna say curb feeler. I think the rust was there already

 

Hub caps?

 

I see it now, the curb ticklers!

 

these are ogs from the 50s, so i have them mounted a tad high as i dont want to actually hit a curb with them and possibly break the spring steel.

 

Don’t worry about breaking them. They’ll rust out the fenders and fall off long before that happens!

 

well, spring steel has a habit of crystalizing as it ages, and can snap in high stress situations.

 

No it doesn’t unless it gets work hardened. Steel does not change its structure all on its own. It must be heated or worked.

 

did a little bit of cleaning, i was hoping to get my car in the garage this weekend, but the beetle needs an oil pan apparently, someone previously overtightened the plug, and then did it again with an oversize plug.
at least i can do door panels

 

New upholstery? Looks nice!

 

the old one is still there, i just have blankets tucked over it, i need to make some elastic straps for the back of the front seat.

 

shoulda listened to my dad... i asked for one ride around town, and he said "fine, take it for one ride, if it breaks down, youre in serious trouble."

it broke down, of course. but know i know something wrong with it. while i was driving it, it started running rich and eventually flooded. my dad was waiting with the truck, at home, for me to call or text, when he towed me he had me put it in third while he was towing it, and once we got on main street, it started to pop from the hot exhaust, so i turned the key on and "POP" it fired off and ran.




i also have to fix the neglected parts of the yard as punishment for the next week, could be worse

 

i figured out what it is, my generator isnt charging any more, and its "running rich" is weak spark

 

Also, I'm officially a hooligan. people in town complained on the towns facebook page about the "hooligan flying around town without a muffler" (I actually didn't go over 25 mph, so no clue what they mean by flying.), does this make me a hot rodder now?

 

i ended up accidentally breaking a generator lead, and thanks to @e1956vs bit of advice i know its a quick and easy job. at least the bearings are still good so i dont need to worry about them

 

I don’t think a non-charging generator would cause weak spark if the battery had enough left in it to start the engine.
My alternator took a dump once and my truck never ran rich.
Yes, weak spark could be a contributor, but I think fixing the generator will just solve a charging problem.