It never ends

DeeVeeEight

Fast Pedalphile
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
Messages
2,284
Location
Southern New Jersey, USA
So the 79 has been sitting for a few years and I finally got the engine and trans in and get the car on the road for a test ride. About 3 blocks from the house the trailing arm bushing decided 40 years was enough. Back to the house, order the parts, replace the bushing and shims. Test ride, 1 block from house, fan belt cuts through heater hose - back for repairs. Test ride, starts to rain - wipers won't work - back for repairs, wiper motor is doa. Test ride, opposite side trailing arm bushing takes a dump. Yeah I know - shoulda done it last time. Try to get hood open - really had to struggle, the cable is toast between the latches. It never ends. On the bright side, it runs great and I can't wait to work the gremlins out and get back to enjoying the car.
 
.On the bright side, it runs great and I can't wait to work the gremlins out and get back to enjoying the car

See ?? Brighter days are ahead !! Well.. normally !
 
I bought my '72 in '95 and so most all of the repairs/mods like that were done in the first couple of months.....after that the car has been subject of much modifications and upgrades, so much that NOW there is nothing stock, wheels through roof, stem to stern.....

:D
 
Wasted afternoon.

Just venting from a crappy afternoon. The car ran well last week during the first test drive of the year. Been curious what the current car weight is after a few additional mods the past couple years, so I decided to take it to a local truck stop to get the car weighed. Backed the car out of the garage (even on a warm day this engine is cold blooded) and into the street, and the engine died. Damn thing wouldn't restart (cranked but no lite off). Well, shit, I'm half sideways on the damn narrow subdivision street, and blocking potential traffic. I'm facing uphill, so I can't get out and push the car back into the driveway, so I just coast a ways downhill backwards and crowd the right side to allow traffic to go by. Now, how to get the damn car up the hill and back into the garage? (Wife's at work, and I don't know many people in this new neighborhood). No brilliant ideas strike me, so I back my Tahoe up to the '69, and hook a short tow strap between them (and then wonder what will happen if the strap broke/slipped). So, I grabbed three large blocks of wood, and put them behind three of the Corvette's tires. I get in the Tahoe and put it in 4WLO, and pull the '69 up the hill for about four feet. I get out and move the blocks back against the vette tires, and then back into the Tahoe for another four foot pull. I repeat this process about 17 times, until I get the Corvette pulled into the driveway. From there I can push it up to the garage door (the weight reduction sure helped out on that part of the chore). Then I hooked up a come-along to the '69 and the far end of the garage lift and pulled the car back up on the lift. A couple hours out of my life, and nothing to show for it.

I had hoped this afternoon to get the F/R axle weights for the car, and then turn the car sideways on the scales to get a L/R weight of the car. With these numbers, and a bit of algebra, I believe I can derive the corner weights.

If the car starts tomorrow, I'll give it another try to get the weight of the car.
 
Strange, my '71 Buick 350 is hard to start cold and can be difficult but the 'Vette starts with barely a touch of the key. I wish you luck in getting it started and getting it weighed.
 
Strange, my '71 Buick 350 is hard to start cold and can be difficult but the 'Vette starts with barely a touch of the key. I wish you luck in getting it started and getting it weighed.

I appreciate the encouraging words.

I did finally get it running. I hooked up my timing light and cranked the engine over, and the timing light indicated I wasn't getting any spark. I thought shit, hopefully it's not the ignition module, as I believe I might own the only three of these modules in existence (they were a prototype piece intended for a European customer, but IIRC we didn't get the contract, so other than the handful I kept I believe the rest were destroyed). Nevertheless, I pulled the distributor cap, and things looked okay visually. I checked the coil by turning on the ignition, and then with a jumper wire tapping/shorting the coil C- terminal to ground (simulating dwell), and got a spark, so was happy there. I then hooked my 'scope to the coil C- lead, and cranked the engine, and it showed dwell, so that indicated the magnetic pickup and the module were likely okay. So that just leaves the rotor and cap, items I've never had issues with before. I looked the cap over, and other than a little dusting inside, it actually looked quite new (I'm pretty sure the cap is a few decades old). I cleaned it out with a paper towel and alcohol, and dried it out. The rotor looked like it's got some miles on it, but nothing terribly obvious wrong with it, that I could see. I had to run an errand for the wife, and ended up stopping at a nearby parts store and bought a replacement rotor (what the hell, they're pretty inexpensive). I put everything back together, and checked for spark with the timing light, and hot damn, the engine started right up (apparently some fuel still remaining in the manifold).

I've only ever seen a rotor appear to be the cause of a no-start twice in my life. Once years ago when I helped my uncle get his 50's Massey tractor running, and apparently today with the '69. I need to look the rotor over with a magnifying glass to see if there's any cracks or arc trails.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get to the scales and see what the car weight is.
 
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