Projects Mild custom '51 Pontiac Chieftain

...and the Chief came to the rescue again. Had to go jump my sister in law's car. She left her car on at work and the battery went too dead to start the car.

Ammeter is a handy tool to have in this case. Showed her car taking a charge, then not as it started.

Phil

 

Delivery day.

Brand new valve block. Gummed up solid with storage oil which has solidified.

Phil

 

Couple days in the ultra-sonic cleaner?

 

Nope. FIRE!

Experimentally heated the old oil up which has the desired effect. It loosened up and allowed me to pull all the moving parts out.

The parts on mine that are worn out and causing trouble. These are much much better.

Got it all fully pulled apart and thoroughly cleaned. Checked the movement and it's all good.

The bores are beautiful. Brand new (despite this not actually being NOS, it's a factory rebuild).

Got it all back together though, and ready to be fitted.

Phil

 

Looks great! Hopefully it'll work as good as it looks!

 

Nice little ride, hopefully it shifts like that when hot.

 

Starting to feel like "cream tea and cottage garden"?

 

It's a lot better. Still a bit sticky in weird ways occasionally but that's not too bad. I can always pull it and swap pieces until it works right.

Phil

 

First off, thanks for the video.... it took me down memory lane to my Mom's '53 Chieftan that my Dad bought new. It was a straight 8 like yours and shifted just about the same: 1-2 comes pretty quick.... it only holds first long enough to get that tank moving. 2nd holds a little longer, then the shift to third slides in just like yours is doing now. 3-4 takes a while at moderate throttle position. If your foot is in it, third will hold 'til about 45-50mph (as I remember, but I could be off by about a zillion mph) then 4th will shift with a bit of authority.
I think at this point you should be comfortable enough to thrash that thing a bit and make a few heavy-footed runs to see how it shifts under higher pressure. Those transmissions were tough and took a lot of abuse, so you won't hurt it, just "break it in" a little bit more.
Congratulations on making a huge leap in performance.
What fluid are you running now?

 

Phil you need to look into a career change to standup comedy LOL

 

It changes well under full throttle. 1st is up by 15, 2nd changes to third about 30, 3rd holds until about 55 and none of the changes slip.

Light throttle it'll change by itself into 4th at about 15, so it's stickier than it should be- I can fix that.

Currently running Caterpillar/Allison 20W wet clutch transmission oil.

I think summertime 30W would be better- right now we're at Michigan summertime average temperature and it's begining to misbehave. Below 65°F ambient it's fine.

We've got some cooler weather coming up at the end of the week. I'll compare it then.

Phil

 

Certainly won't be today; just noticed I left the driver's window open all night.

Normally that's not a problem, but it's been raining steadily since 4pm yesterday...

 

I hate it when that happens,

 

Eesh. The roads around here suck.
Hit a pothole in the middle of the road, bang. Scrape.

Thought I had lost the exhaust pipe.


Nope. Top of the shock mount sheared off and left the rest dangling by the axle.
I only put those in September, too.

Phil

 

A little hard to hit the "like" button on that one. Hopefully the shock is all that bit the dust.
Merry Christmas

 

Whoa!!! That's not a very good recommendation on that shock manufacturer. Care to name them and maybe save others from that grief?

 

Hopefully, I'll get up underneath tomorrow when it's light and take a better look. Thankfully there's enough room for it to have just flipped down.
Now, granted, there's a possibility the top mount broke, twisted and that sheared the mount off with the impact from the road surface.

Oh, you might not know the name, a small niche manufacturer.

Monroe.

 

I think I've heard of them.....
Another well known manufacturer that can't be trusted anymore.
Thanks for the reply.

 

Looks like it might be a case of "we didn't have one to test on but this measurement should be close enough".
The previous one was taller.

The upper mount has been fouling the top of the shock, looks like that fatigued it.

Angle grinder time.

 

Not quite so hasty, looks like it might be a simple miscalculated measurement and needing a slight redesign.

 

Just ordered a pair of new shocks.

Car is out of service with a case of Low To The Ground.

Phil

 

Just ordered a pair of new shocks.

 

Problem isolated and remedied.


Clearanced the mount. The new shocks, despite being the same part number as the old ones, have less space between the crown of the shock and the mounting radius.
That doesn't foul now.

Phil

 

First drive this morning shows ride quality is resumed.

This strange voodoo witchcraft has occurred though, the dew on the glass went all strange. I cannot explain it.

Gearbox changes gear nicely though, lending credence to the thing needing a heavier oil for summer.

Phil

 

Well, i just came trip to open my roads with volvo-bm and snowblower.i can just imagine your pain about cold weather.

 

Was out for a drive tonight. I hit a piece of asphalt, literally. WHAM!


Gearbox crossmember collided with a with a worn out piece of road where the vehicles passing have caused the middle of the lane to be pushed upward like putty. I need to check, I hope that's not bent now.

 

Jeeze and winters just getting underway...it's crazy out there...rim bending and tire piercing potholes...ice flying off trucks and cars that can take your head off...keeps your eyes in scan mode always...Happy New Year Hamber...

 

Thanks and to all!

 

Today began at 5am with a phone call; my sister in law works security and doing short rounds in any vehicle is hard on the battery. Today was sideways frigid rain, so a run down the 4-lane fighting with oilfield trucks (you know the type, mud-pluggers sticking 8" out past the wheel arch, body and suspension lift, exhaust that's battling in diameter with the wheel rims), having floods doused over the car by passing trucks hitting deep standing water... again the Pontiac rescues a new car.
Complexity comes at a cost. At least when I switch the key off and turn off the headlights the battery isn't being used at all...

Phil