New tires

The 1967 Eldo is getting four new tires today. White walls that match even! And we're switching back to the size tire that should be on there: 235 75 r15. What was on it before was a 255 70 r15, which is apparently a truck tire according to Scott at my local Americas tire co.



If you look closely, you can see the orangish-red of the Cadillac sticking out at the end...

I like the thinner whitewalls.

No running cars

93 smoking from engine
67 bad tires
944 alternator

Fetching the 67

I rode my bike to Target this morning and got a can of fix-a-flat, put that in the tire, which pumped it up about half way, then loaded the bike into the car (it barely fit, I had to roll down the passenger window to close the door.), and drove to Chevron down the street and pumped the tire up the rest of the way.  I then drove to America's Tire Store to get new tires, but they were closed so I drove home.

Flat tire

I took BART to a class I was taking in SF today, and when I came back,  I found my rear drivers side tire completely flat. I opened the trunk and there was a spare that seemed like it was inflated, but there was no jack or tire iron. I tried calling a couple of friends who live in the area to see if they could bring me a jack and tire iron, but they were all out of town. So I locked up the car, and walked home and thought about my options. 

Success! kind of...

Today, I cleaned the battery terminal on the 944, and tried starting it, and vrooom! it started right up! but after I started it a second time to move it out of the garage, it gave me a waaa-waa pause... vrooom.

Then as I drove it around the block (ok, more like 20 blocks...), the battery light came on. I'm now afraid I didn't need a starter at all, and that I need an alternator.

Next steps: make sure the belt isn't loose, check the alternator.

New Starter for 944

Jim and I installed the new starter tonight, but the car still does not start. Tried charging the battery, which had in fact lost all it's charge, but that didn't work, all that happens when you try to start it is a click! whirrr... we'll be trouble shooting later in the week...