Old cars

[Opcom]

I like my old a 74 Dart. It has the slant six, 93K miles. The engine doesn't smoke and the rest is in good condition.

I rebuilt the distributor because the vacuum advance was bad, but might have got it one tooth too advanced because at maximum retard it wants to knock on the highway at high throttle. Didn't do that before. Before I was laid off I was rebuilding the rest of the car.

The front seat was very mushy and the fabric was shot so I had it reupholstered with duck cloth for durability keeping the original vinyl and and firmed up a lot with dense foam padding so it's like a newer car. Also had the seat rack moved so it can go back 3 more inches. The dart's a smallish car.

Got all new and rebuilt brake system, drums, suspension parts and shocks, bearings, seals, and added the optional front sway bar. That made a huge difference in handling as it used to tilt severely. Can you imagine that a car would have been sold with no sway bar??

New power steering pump and hoses, added a power steering fluid filter which it did not have, in the return line. Who knows how much trash might be in there that didn't flush out.

Also bought the parts for the air conditioning, compressor, drier, valves, orifice, etc. all but the hoses. My friend has R12 for me.

The gas gauge and temperature gauge don't work right but I think it's the regulator that plugs in behind the back of the instrument panel. The radio also has no power. Lovely stock AM radio. Need an FM converter and maybe an 8-track, as well as a vintage CB. Oldest under-dash one here is from 1983.

It needs some carburetor work. It runs rich and the accelerator pump shot is short. So the float is likely low and the mixture mis-adjusted. Even so it runs OK, although it has a hard time on the highway, hard time doing 70. Timing and carburetor, and the rocker arms need adjustment.

At some point I was disappointed that it needed so much work, but like anything else that is so old, stuff breaks and if it is never maintained then it makes a mess.

[KC4ALF]

This past summer I sold my 1951 Dodge M37. I a slight stroke a cple of yrs. ago and my right arm just wont work the shifter, as of now! Having sat for two yrs, all the canvas was beginning to rot, and rust started to appear through the many layers of OD paint. Sold it to a Military collector along with the all spare parts. She's up and running again! Mind you I kept all of the Green radios As the arm gets better...a Model T truck!

[w3jn]

That M-37 needs a strong right arm to row the shifter and various transfer case levers.

At least a Model t requires no right hand at all since shifting is done with your foot.

[VE3LYX]

W3JN
This ones for you. If you listen real close you may hear me hollerin YABA DABA DOO! Lotta fun for an old fart like me doin this a couple of times a year. This was at Picton Airfield sept 2012
Don

[KL7OF]

W3JN
This ones for you. If you listen real close you may hear me hollerin YABA DABA DOO! Lotta fun for an old fart like me doin this a couple of times a year. This was at Picton Airfield sept 2012
Don

Don...Why aren't your hands on the steering wheel???

[KC4ALF]

Yep you needed a strong right arm and a you had to stand on the brakes! And never, ever exceed the maxium speed on the motor or you get to play throw the rod through the block! But she was a fun truck especially in the winter, considering she had ho heater, because the Army did not consider this a cold weather climate!

[VE3LYX]

Don...Why aren't your hands on the steering wheel???

wow you are paying attention!
This picture was my light bulb moment with this car. Even though I had run V8s all day and had some success even with cars of similar weight I didn't realize I was applying the brakes until I saw this photo. I thought I was just at the ready to apply them. So the next time out (2013)I did exactly that , let go of the hand brake and put BOTH hands on the wheel. Won every race  beating some I was almost even with by now almost half a track. In this picture the barke is fully on at half track. The faster I went the harder I pushed . The slant six has no trouble overdriving the brakes but it was slowing me down and had been for 6 years. After I cured that at this years race I found one of my regular competitors who I used to beat occasionally (32 Austin bantam with a 460 ford with a tunnel ram) hiding from me in his buddys car trailer. I was trying to give him his copy of a picture the track photog gave me of the two of us running last race and he thought I calling him out for a run. He had run into the next trailer and was hiding in the far front corner with his head tucked down!
This is the ultimate QRP rig . 246 cubes running against everything bigger.
I am not a very good driver as you quickly deduced from the photo however engine building has been my life's work.
This lil six has had every part wrung heavily and almost nothing in it is off the shelf.

for me it is ham radio all winter and then the two Picton Airfield races for the summer. Homebrew in both hobbies. Life is good.
Don

 

[K9PNP]

Yep you needed a strong right arm and a you had to stand on the brakes! And never, ever exceed the maxium speed on the motor or you get to play throw the rod through the block! But she was a fun truck especially in the winter, considering she had ho heater, because the Army did not consider this a cold weather climate!

Heater??  What heater??  I know what you mean.  Only saw one M-151 jeep with a heater and it was originally in Alaska before we got it.  Never did see a duce-and-a-half with a heater either.

Did get to drive a M-37 a few times.  We always thought it could climb trees if you could get the traction.

[Carl WA1KPD]

My toy- 1950 GMC 1.54 ton. 4 on the floor 96 hp engine. All origonal. Even a GMC tube radio. Plans include the addition of a 40 meter transmitter and Elmac PMR-6. Everything is interesting as it is 6V pos ground..

[N3GTE]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42774321@N08/3938817460/

I've got the N3GTE mobile. It's a '61 Ford Falcon. Noting to brag about as it still need a lot of work to make it nice. It is road worthy and it takes me to the radio show that are around here. We went over to Kutztown Pa in the fall it's abt an hour and a half away. 3 spd 144cid pretty much all stock.
Terry N3GTE