Projects Mild custom '51 Pontiac Chieftain

Getting road grime on it just means youre using it right

 

Fitted a new muffler, much less headache inducing on the highway.

Season of photogenic mornings is here.

Phil

 

Just been driving about. Went to the Balloons & Boulettes festival yesterday, got to hang out with a bunch of other people which was fun.

Weather remained nice so I went out for a short drive last night.

Need to dig in and start on some work on the engine soon.

Phil

 

Don’t you just hate the damn bugs? Out here where I live the poor car gets pelted with bugs all year round and sometimes it’s just crazy how many bug carcasses you have to scrub off the front end.

 

In FL during luv bug season the car would be black in about a half hour if you were running to the east coast across the swamps. Have to stop half way and get the first layer off the windshield just to see the road. Baking soda and hot water would remove them quickly so long as you did not let them bake on in the tropic sun. Fun times!

 

Hot, hot, hot.

All the windows rolled down, out on the highway.

Phil

 

Perhaps one of these,

 

Evaporative coolers only work in dry air. Phil is on the coast, the air is already saturated with moisture.

 

Sadly yes. Here, those do nothing but get moldy in summertime.
Idling with the A/C on my newer pickup will drop about a pint of water on the ground from the evaporator drain in fifteen minutes. The dew point is always near the ambient temperature here this time of year. 65% rH feels arid.

Phil

 

Car's still here. Still going places.

Phil

 

If you don't get them off soon they will eat into the paint! I don't drive my OT GTO when they are swarming here in south Georgia.

 

Coaxed the starter into life. Really need to do something about it.

Went get milkshakes. It's running okay but it's definitely grumpy from being sat up.

Still, looks good sat on the driveway. Currently managing an eclectic collection (the green one being the reason I've not been posting much here, it's been taking to the time and money).

Phil

 

A little Ospho and couple squirts of Rustoleum rattle can and your good to go !...

 

Yeah.

I tried ignoring that and so far it hasn't fixed itself...

 

Out and about, today.

A small meetup in town for breakfast. Not many people showed because there was another event they all went to.

A little scenery to stare at on the way on from there into the city.

Traffic queue as far as the eye can see. Got stuck for an hour in that. They were digging the whole road up to install culverts.

Still, it was nice to drive through the city. Lots of thumbs up, yells, thumbs up and generally positive vibes.

To Do:
adjust brakes
valve job
brainstorm the gearbox because it gave me neutral instead of 4th twice in hot traffic.

But, that was 120 miles round trip, a mix of highway and city. I held 60 mph up the bridge over the Mississippi on the Interstate, passing other cars who had no idea you gotta push on the gas when you go uphill. Nothing like a 74 year old car passing up modern traffic...!

Phil

 

I know you have kept your Pontiac mostly stock but have you considered tapping the transmission and incorporating a liquid to liquid heat exchanger to stabilize the fluid temperature? You are familiar with the transmission so you would be able to identify an outlet and a return. You just need an exchanger with radiator water on the other side to give the transmission fluid a steady operating temperature. Then figure which transmission fluid works best at that temperature.

 

I have and I have experimented; there's something at fault internally that's intermittent. It might be my fault in the rebuild. I have a couple theories I'm chasing, the most likely leads to the transmission coming to pieces again.

Phil

 

I guess, to clarify, the oil viscosity past 20W makes no difference unless it's very cold; the only change that makes is the 2-3 shift is a bit slow.

The primary theory I have is the clutches are intermittently leaking too much oil.
The oil delivery sleeve is new, the rings are new but the drums themselves were good used parts. I replaced the clutches and steels and at the same time fitted new annular rubber seals.
If the rings are leaking because the drum surfaces are worn, but when I back off the throttle it causes things to shift inside axially and seal better then that could be it.

I have avoided one workshop manual test so far because it's horribly messy, and that is to pull the valve block off the gearbox body and apply compressed air pressure to the passageways that lead to the bands and clutches. Operation and leaks can be checked for. If I pull the lower pan off I can apply force to the drums radially and axially in place and check if that causes excessive leaks also.

Something like that where the valve body can only flow a limited amount of oil and things are all out of wack because of that is a possible reason- if clutch 1 is leaking then it would cause at least a couple of the things it does.

Phil

 

Thanks for providing the continued updates, Phil. I always read every one, and have enjoyed learning a bit from your journey.

 

Testing with air it is important to know that if you put 100psi and clutch engage, its not a sign its good.
Testing with 15 psi will show you real deal.
Been there, done that.

 

New to the site and this has probably been answered before:

Just coming to the end of restoring this monster and will be changing the Hydramatic gearbox oil soon, it's only done 43,000 miles but at 75 years old I think it's about time to use new stuff.
I've got a barrel of this, opinion please.....

 

@PhilA would likely know best. He will chime in here soon.

 

@Rob Mawdsley will that work? Yes. Will it leak? Yeah. You'd need to do a full flush and then another change after driving it a thousand miles or so to make sure you get all the old oil dregs out- the type A gets very very sticky when sat up for a long time and in thin film or around the sides of valves and such. Once the valves start moving the new oils have significantly superior detergent qualities and will eke out all the dirt that's been hiding in the old oil in crevices and corners. You may find the oil changes get a little more rough with this because it's a lighter grade oil.

When changing the oil I would strongly suggest dropping the lower pan, as the drain hole leaves about an inch of oil in the bottom. You will need a new gasket. RTV doesn't work on these because when parked the oil level is well above the top of the pan once the torus drains down. New gaskets are available (cork style which compress well to take up the flex in the steel pan against the case).

My suggestion is the Hydrostatic drive oil that Caterpillar/Deere/Case/Allison etc use in their plant machinery, specifically for that and not just regular hydraulic oil (they both work but regular hydraulic oil lacks the anti froth additives that high speed transmissions require, particularly the Hydramatic as it has no windage tray- open the lid on the power steering reservoir of a car after it's been running a while for an example why). It should be SAE 20W. I use J20A+ but any plant machinery place there should stock that or an equivalent. A full change is 11.5 liters.

Phil

 

Thanks for your reply.

I checked out the requirements for Caterpillar/Deere/Case/Allison etc., and the stuff I've got already meets their spec's including anti-foam and other additives.
In 1993, GM released new Dexron-III fluid which is backward-compatible with transmissions using earlier Dexron fluids. Dexron is a registered trademark of GM but is now manufactured by others under licence. So all looks good.

I just need to get the gasket.
Rob

 

It's international, but Fatsco have been great to deal with for my transmission. Worth investigation.

 

I looked at them but the shipping was $60 for a $11 gasket. Found a UK supplier who has them for £23 shipped (Rolls Royce parts)

 

Glad you found that. I wasn't thinking that RR used them, so good catch.

Phil

 

I know it's off-topic but I'm looking for an oil bath air cleaner and an external sun visor

 

eBay.

 

Cold snap today.

Nice and toasty warm once it's up to temperature.

Phil