Over the weekend we had a couple dimwitted scares.
On friday night I had headed over to the local hardware store.
Not even 100 feet from the parking spot,
the green 40 lost power.
Good thing there was enough momentum to get it under a light.
It took about 25 minutes to figure out it was just a fuse.
That was the first thing I had checked,
but the main glass fuse still had the full center filament.
Of course I had brought no tools, no flashlight, no spare parts...
I ended up checking for voltage the old fashioned way,
by sparking +/- jumper cables down the main line.
There was a tense moment when I considered ripping out the whole wiring system.
You know how it is on friday the 13th.
The problem was found just before my cousin Brandon showed up.
Any worry was smoothed out after a couple beers over at Chip's house.
What better way to burn off the past weeks frustrations.
(you'll read about 'em later on.)
Thanks for letting us drink all your beers!
Saturday morning was totally useless with a rare IPA hangover.
Sunday morning Jakob and I scoured through the swap meet.
On the way back there was this horrible screeching sound.
We pulled over a couple times but there was nothing obvious,
until the last time when the screeching was non-stop and twice as loud.
My ears are still ringing!
It sounded like a nut had fallen off and was lodged in the flex plate,
or the torque converter had come undone and was spinning,
or the transmission had just grenaded,
or the engine had sucked something down the carburetor.
While diagnosing the problem,
I was imagining a $1000 rebuilt AOD transmission,
and a month of tearing the car apart...
By chance I sat in the seat,
and flipped the power switches back on.
Guess what happened?
The starter wanted to turn over.
Ahhhh...
Not seeing the obvious,
the gauge had fallen out of the dashboard hole,
and grounded the starter button!
Holey Chit...
The loose gauge had fallen out so many times in the past 7 years,
it was common to wedge it back in.
Nothing like this had ever happened.
A simple piece of twine fixed the problem.
(someone had cut out the original mounting tabs)
What a good feeling to be able to drive it home and forget the potential nightmare.
This was the instigation I needed to scrape together an air cleaner,
as the same sound could have been made by sucking up a random nut or washer.
Yeah I had been driving without an air cleaner this whole time...
Funny as the day before, the kids and I had scrounged up all the parts.
You know there was no way I was going to buy a cheesy $20 air cleaner,
when I could buy an air filter and some recycled kitchenware,
then spend part of my day in bliss.
My original idea was to find an aluminum cake pan,
until we found this heavy duty Saladmaster stainless saucepan.
I had no idea there was a cult following for Saladmaster goods.
If everything works out,
there's a possibility this air cleaner will be free!
Anyone need an old handle?
The key to this air cleaner working properly was a riser base,
with a little gap for the bowl vent.
An unseen piece of aluminum that looks to be whittled out by a handsaw.
The original plan of cutting out some rectangular slots,
gave way to easier hole saw action.
Here's a tip...
When hand drilling multiple large holes,
map out all the center points,
and start drilling in an opposing pattern,
not one after the other in line.
Than if you get tired of drilling or your holesaw gets dull,
it looks like you planned it that way.
I may hammer the bottom lip to curl it out,
but looking at these pictures it doesn't look too much like a saucepan,
other than the spiral burn marks on top.
I'd definitely do this again.
Instead of a cheesy chinese chromed POS,
this stainless housing will outlast the rest of the car.
I'll bet the price of Saladmaster 18-8 saucepans will hit the roof!
TP
 |
| swap scroungers |
On friday night I had headed over to the local hardware store.
Not even 100 feet from the parking spot,
the green 40 lost power.
Good thing there was enough momentum to get it under a light.
 |
| stuck |
It took about 25 minutes to figure out it was just a fuse.
That was the first thing I had checked,
but the main glass fuse still had the full center filament.
Of course I had brought no tools, no flashlight, no spare parts...
I ended up checking for voltage the old fashioned way,
by sparking +/- jumper cables down the main line.
There was a tense moment when I considered ripping out the whole wiring system.
You know how it is on friday the 13th.
The problem was found just before my cousin Brandon showed up.
Any worry was smoothed out after a couple beers over at Chip's house.
What better way to burn off the past weeks frustrations.
(you'll read about 'em later on.)
Thanks for letting us drink all your beers!
 |
| culprit |
Saturday morning was totally useless with a rare IPA hangover.
Sunday morning Jakob and I scoured through the swap meet.
On the way back there was this horrible screeching sound.
We pulled over a couple times but there was nothing obvious,
until the last time when the screeching was non-stop and twice as loud.
My ears are still ringing!
It sounded like a nut had fallen off and was lodged in the flex plate,
or the torque converter had come undone and was spinning,
or the transmission had just grenaded,
or the engine had sucked something down the carburetor.
While diagnosing the problem,
I was imagining a $1000 rebuilt AOD transmission,
and a month of tearing the car apart...
By chance I sat in the seat,
and flipped the power switches back on.
Guess what happened?
The starter wanted to turn over.
Ahhhh...
Not seeing the obvious,
the gauge had fallen out of the dashboard hole,
and grounded the starter button!
Holey Chit...
The loose gauge had fallen out so many times in the past 7 years,
it was common to wedge it back in.
Nothing like this had ever happened.
A simple piece of twine fixed the problem.
(someone had cut out the original mounting tabs)
 |
| saladmaster 18-8 SS saucepan air cleaner |
What a good feeling to be able to drive it home and forget the potential nightmare.
This was the instigation I needed to scrape together an air cleaner,
as the same sound could have been made by sucking up a random nut or washer.
Yeah I had been driving without an air cleaner this whole time...
 |
| precision |
Funny as the day before, the kids and I had scrounged up all the parts.
You know there was no way I was going to buy a cheesy $20 air cleaner,
when I could buy an air filter and some recycled kitchenware,
then spend part of my day in bliss.
 |
| saucepan air cleaner |
My original idea was to find an aluminum cake pan,
until we found this heavy duty Saladmaster stainless saucepan.
I had no idea there was a cult following for Saladmaster goods.
 |
| saladmaster deal? |
If everything works out,
there's a possibility this air cleaner will be free!
Anyone need an old handle?
The key to this air cleaner working properly was a riser base,
with a little gap for the bowl vent.
An unseen piece of aluminum that looks to be whittled out by a handsaw.
 |
| perich brothers drillium |
The original plan of cutting out some rectangular slots,
gave way to easier hole saw action.
Here's a tip...
When hand drilling multiple large holes,
map out all the center points,
and start drilling in an opposing pattern,
not one after the other in line.
Than if you get tired of drilling or your holesaw gets dull,
it looks like you planned it that way.
 |
| saladmaster hot rod air cleaner |
I may hammer the bottom lip to curl it out,
but looking at these pictures it doesn't look too much like a saucepan,
other than the spiral burn marks on top.
 |
| ford 302 SBF |
I'd definitely do this again.
Instead of a cheesy chinese chromed POS,
this stainless housing will outlast the rest of the car.
I'll bet the price of Saladmaster 18-8 saucepans will hit the roof!
TP
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