Well it's been over a week since the drags, here's my adventure. I've made it to all of them, and they just get better. This year I decided to take my Roadster. Four weeks before the drags it's sitting in my shop with no interior, no brakes, and a new set of carbs that haven't been driven more than a mile. Plus the car hasn't been on the road in four years. My first thing to finish up are the frying pan backing plates for the front brakes, (I did a separate post on those) and bleed the brakes, next it's the interior which I did myself. I get it all done except for the seat covers, I decide to farm them out. I have 9 days left before it's time to leave. My upholstery shop of choice says three to four weeks just to sew up the seat covers, that won't work. I find a shop in Lincoln that says he can do them. We bump heads on price, but he finally decides to do them for $50.00 over what I want to spend, but that includes a Minibike seat too, so I leave them. I get the car started, and it sounds great, but it hasn't been driven yet. I decide to drive it without the seats, and it runs like crap. It falls flat on it's face at half throttle. I work on the carbs, the ignition, and the timing, with no luck. I pick up the seats on Friday, a week before the Drags. They haven't been mounted in the car yet, I have to build all the brackets, plus they need to tilt forward to access the battery, and fuel tank. I get that done by Tuesday before the Drags. It still doesn't run right, I readjust the carbs and think it's running good, but now it's the Wednesday before the drags, and it's raining. Rain in the forecast for Thursday too. I decide to drive it in the rain to check out the carbs, and I have it fixed. It's running good. We leave Friday morning and head south on 65 Hwy, my buddies 15 year old son is riding with me. We follow his Dad who's towing his Roadster, and has a truck bed full of Minibikes. Right before Preston a big dog comes across the road right in front of me, I hit the brakes, swerve to miss him, but nail him with the right front tire. He spins off into the ditch. There's no place to safely stop, so we keep on going. I'm still sorry I didn't stop to see if he was OK. We make it to Springfield with no other problems. We spend the day at the swap meet. We get ready to leave and head to Joplin, and I have a fuel line leaking. It's split at the clamp, so I shorten it, and off we go. Shortly after leaving Springfield it starts dropping cylinders, my first thought is it's the carbs. It won't run over 60 mph, 40 on the hills. We stop three times. Sometimes it will start to run better, but mostly it's hitting on two cylinders. We make it to Joplin. Later that night I find out it's oiling two plugs. I change the plugs and wires, plus the fuel line and filter, it's running good again. Half way to the Drags on Saturday, it drops the cylinders again, now it's really running bad and I pull over, Raven pulls up behind me too. It clears up, so off we go again, only to have it do it again, I drive it to the drags anyway. After we get parked, I pull the plugs, and they are oil fouled. Crab and his friend Chris are parked next to us, and Chris offers to take me to Pittsburg Kansas for more plugs. We take his bitchen 39 Ford. I buy the plugs, plus some antifoulers to space the plugs back farther. It won't run with the antifoulers in it, so I take them out. I make two passes down the track, both times it fouls the plugs right at third gear. I decide not to try and drive it home. I make a call to my buddy in Sedalia, he say's he will come down to Joplin on Sunday, and tow me home. I clean the plugs and get it ready to drive back to the Hotel in Joplin. We leave right as the last few cars are running so we can beat the rush. The cars running good, I'm driving it pretty hard, 70 mph in third gear. We turn onto the road that leads to the Hotel, and get sideways around the corner, then we smell something burning. At the next light the engine shuts off, and won't turn over. We push it into a parking lot and try to find the problem. Seems the alternator froze up. We have about five miles to go to the Hotel. I loosen the belt so the water pump will turn, and it starts up, so off we go again. Then the belt breaks about two miles from the Hotel. I keep shutting it off and coasting. and we make it to the Hotel. It never got hot. My Buddy shows up at 4.30 pm in Joplin on Sunday to tow me home, I was the last car in the Hotel parking lot. Today was the first I looked at it since the Drags. I cleaned it up, and changed the alternator to the one from my S10 4cyl engine I had left over after I did a V8 swap to it. I had to make a new bracket, and rewire it to get it to work. Now I need to buy a new belt, I'll do that tomorrow. I'll look into the plug problem after the summer is over, it might need a valve job. It was a great weekend even with all the problems. I can't wait for next year. Dean (ps) I like these two pictures.
I had always wanted to see that car in person... glad you brought it man... and real glad ya had fun!
Wow, just one thing after another. At least you had fun. Your story beats the hell out of my running out of gas on the way home with the gauge reading at 1/8 of a tank story. Everyone I tell the whole story to laughs their ass off. Your tale makes me a little sad. If I had your troubles that would make me want to swear off cars for awhile. Marty McF.
It's no big deal. The cars not hurt. The ride home with my buddy was good. I had a great weekend. The car hadn't been out in over four years, it was great driving it again. I changed out the alternator, and put the belt on it today. I took it for a Little drive, it ran great. I'm thinking the alternator might have been causing my problems. I'll drive it around for awhile and see. Dean
I don't see the alternator as the problem with oiled down plugs. Valve seals, rings, several other things to check out. Does it blow smoke out the exhaust? Has the oil level dropped? Is there a PCV in the system?
I'm with you on the Alternator not being the problem, but it's running good right now, so I'll take it. I think it's really valve seals, it blows grey smoke on start up, just a little, but it's always done that. My theory on the Alternator is it wasn't putting out enough juice to fire the plugs. I can dream can't I? I need to take it on a drive down the highway at speed. I'm just stumped as to why it made it to Springfield, from Sedalia, with no problems, about 200 miles. Thanks, Dean
Man, all the work everyone goes thru for their car to make it somewhere. And most of the time you never hear of all of it. I would have had a hard time keeping my head up during all those problems. I tost my drink to you.
The Jalopy Journal
