Ironmightys Americana 1952, 58,59, 73 & 85

I don't like being critical of previous owners but one niggle on the recent acquired 52 Chevy has been a weeping sump plug on the fuel tank...
Now it's a lovely piece of work, in aluminium but the filler neck is totally wrong but not a catastrophe. Built in the UK for £400(receipt came with the car)...pictures from the seller..





So the leak was annoying, and was I hoped a simple fix.....

Anyone see the problem with the sump washer I just removed? I cannot believe you go to the expense of a custom tank and then bodge the sealing washer🤯... so much shoddy work on this vehicle it's a case of accepting anything I look at needs re-doing.... but it does look cool and that's the main thing😎

A bit of a "WTAF" moment this morning... have tar/bitumen find it's way into suspension in the past but never anything like this😲

So my initial plan to change the calipers out after the previous "gravy" fluid issue is now the full front suspension rebuild I had been planning for later..but took the opportunity to scrape the stuff off(mix of chippings, bitumen and grease)... looking better now but still think I'll go strip it all and refurbish it now.



Becoming a little frustrating how many jobs are stacking up on both the Plymouth and the Chevrolet at the minute, some in part because of shoddy work previously but also the 64 and 71 years old.
Better to take the time and get it right the first time I intervene despite the frustration.

Yeah, the newness has definitely worn off those.

Being focused on other things for a little while but starting to move everything into a unit and then boom the big E350 decided starting was for losers....
Tracked it down/decided it was likely a fault in the glow plug circuit.... and ta-da!!!

An interim "bodge" confirmed this to be the immediate problem(but the test also induced quite a lot of smoke) with the vehicle starting on key pretty much immediately. it's a fusible link, a hefty £1.73 from Rock Auto(and shipped with some other bits for another projects) but that fact it's failing suggests the glow plugs are earthing out so replacements for them(look really tricky to change on the 6.9IDI engine(worse for this engine with turbo plumbing in the way!)

I seem to have an ever increasing number of cars, and an ever decreasing number that are roadworthy/usable.

Been working on the Chevrolet whilst alternating with another troublesome project a when spares or lack of means I have capacity.

As mooted elsewhere, the Chevrolet had been "rewired" previously but I was never really happy with the standard of it. Domestic 3 core cable, towbar wiring and lots of overly heavy cable in places it doesn't need to be.



Finally tackled stripping out the "harness" behind the dash and whilst I thought it looked bad when I'd checked last year... its actually far worse including this excellent "busbar" arrangement.



So it's a full rewire ripping out everything, throwing in a HEI distributor and refreshing the cooling system(and the problems swapping the water pump out)...

Still waiting on other parts decided to grab the opportunity to start installing the brake disc conversion. To be clear the drum brakes weren't bad but I hate the master cylinder mounted on the frame below the floor annoyed me so when that started to fail last year decided I'd go for bulkhead mounted solution and migrate to discs at the same time.
Handily the old wiring "harness" passed through the route where the master cylinder mounts go so it's great to be rerouting that as well.

Plus usual volume of road tar and crud needing scraping off the underframe components🙄

Well that might explain the fuel spills and general scent of petrol in daily use😬
The more "work" is revealed on the Chevy just saddens me... why spend the money on a custom tank and the demonstrate such incompetence installing a gasket and 5 x M5 screws to the degree it leaves a 1/4" gap at the sender, then add in the sender not being suitable for the ethanol content(see "melted" plastic internally)... its more delays whilst I wait on a new sender🙄

ugh :I and the crudely cut access hole is the icing on the cake

some people should.. just put the spanners down and take up another hobby

hopefully the threads in the tank arent damaged?

Whilst everything is apart I've started to tackle a job that I've been reluctantly eyeing up for a while... as I find common place lots of classics have decommissioned heaters with either the plumbing or electrics(or both) isolated. With most of dash components out the way the access will never be better and whilst waiting on more connectors and bits due being unable/unwilling to retain the old bits I decided I'd take the fan motor out.. its only 5 screws...

Famous last words, with three of those screws needing drilling out🙄... however it did reveal a rather large amount of animal nesting material...

.... or at least I thought it was bedding. The car has been in the UK a while, so pretty sure this is all USA rodent evidence but still very surprised when vacuuming this mess out it started with a significant lump... that had vertebrae on display🤢

Guess I can officially use the term "rat" to describe this car now not just "Patina".

Remarkably the blower motor still works really well although think the bearings might have seen better days after I bench tested it with a variable power supply(cheap Ebay purchase but really useful for testing electrical items off car). Suspect its probably a 6v unit given how fast it goes at that voltage so looking for a 12v unit that might drop in