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
The Jalopy Journal
