Ironstone concourse

 

Smog check for the 944

Today the 944 gets a smog check. I'm hoping it passes. I'm also hoping the guy driving it into the stall is going to stop talking on his phone long enough to drive a manual transmission car with both hands.

Great Video of Al Capone's 1927 Cadillac

http://cadillaccountryclub.com/blog/restoring-al-capones-1927-cadillac/

Portal Park CLC Meet

Today was the annual meet for the NorCal CLC held at Portal Park in Cupertino, CA

Here's my car at the end of the Eldorado row... which is always the most colorful row!

This interior is custom but is pretty neat.


The '60 Cad that belongs with the interior.

a 30's cad.

SF Presidio Concours D'Elegance

I got to do some judging at the SF concours, I got to judge a 1924 Kissel, a '34 Lincoln, a 46 Chrysler T&C convertible, a '37 Hispano Suiza, a '25 Bently, and a '38 Talbo Lago.

My Other Vehicle

My Other Vehicle is a Marin mountain bike I bought from a guy in SF about 5 or 6 years ago for a little under $100. I like this bike a lot. It was clearly used for some hard core mountain biking in the past (and has the dings and dents to prove it). But I am a much more casual rider.  But I love the bull-nose handles, and it's all black paint job.

When I bought it I got the cushion seat with the springs, I haven't been riding it a whole lot over the last year or so, but last Christmas I got some new tires and tubes for it, and I just added the bike rack with the panniers last night. I can't wait to do a run to the grocery store!

More Will It Start?

Today I took the 944 on a longer series of errands. I drove it over to Mill Valley where I went to the post office, and let it sit for about 10 min, it had a bit of a pause before it turned over, then to Muir Woods and let it sit for an hour+ and it started OK, then to the gas station, where it had a bit of a pause before it started, then to Novato, where I let it sit for about 30 minutes+ and it started right up, then to some guys house to pick up a part for my bro's jeep, where it sat for 10 minutes or so, and started right up, then to a friends house, where it sat for a couple hours and started right up. Another pass, but I still don't trust it.

I brought a set of jumper cables, and tools to clean the battery terminals...

Will It Start?

Today we played a little game called "will it start?"  with the 944. I drove it around town on some errands mostly to see if it would start at every stop.  It passed.

944 issues

Today my dad came up to help me with all the cars, the '67 eldo wasn't starting, and in my rushing aorund yesterday, I failed to notice that it was because it wasn't in park (Duh - I've been shutting in down while it was still in drive to avoid the dieseling that it prone to do - I'm lucky the emergency brake held). So problem solved in that car.

Then we put new spark plugs in the 95 to see if that solved the misfiring issue - It didn't.

Then we tried testing the alternator in the 944, but in order to get to the alternator to test it, you have to take the air filter assembly off, and in doing so you somehow starve the engine if air, so it' pretty much impossible to do this, with out a lift to take the plate off the bottom of the car to access the alternator from below..

I thought there might be an alternator problem because it would run, but then wouldn't start when I shut it down.

We got it to run for a brief moment with the air cleaner off, but the intake sealed up and it looked like not much current was running through the alternator, but then Jim came home, and reminded me that we had to clean off the battery terminals to get it to run last time. So we hooked the air filter assembly back up and cleaned the battery terminals and it started right up, and the batt. light wasn't coming on any more. My dad suggested getting some Battery terminal sealer, which I happened to have from when the 67 was having battery issues.

I'll test it around town tomorrow...

Rooky move

I went to visit my friend Michelle today, and from her place went to  a picnic. On the way to her house, I went through the Caldacutt tunnel and turned the lights on in my car. I apparently failed to shut my lights off, since when Michelle and I returned to her place, My car would not turn over. I realized my mistake, and checked the trunk to see if I had jumper cables back there. Luckliy I did! So Michelle let me jumpstart my car from hers. I'm glad I didn't have to use my AAA card, I think I only have two calls left to last until the end of the year.

Dash Crack

So the Dash Board in my 67 eldo was already cracked around where hole were cut for speakers on the top part, but today one of those cracks made it's way all the way down the front of the dash board. Which looks 80% worse than it did. I'll have to add dah board to the list of things to get for this car.

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...

Starter in 944 and Possible Source of the Thunking in 95 Cad

Today the starter is coming out of the 944. Of course this took some doing, first we had to push the car onto the street and then push it down the hill to push start it. But the lip of the drive way to the street was too steep so we had to pull it out with another car. Then we push started it and put it up on ramps in the garage.

The bolts holding the starter on were on super tight it took a while to get them loose. But it's off now. The original plan was to put new brushes in it, but I ordered the brushes over a year ago, and can't find them now. Also, apparently we need the biggest screwdriver ever made to get to them.

After looking online, it seems the cost of a starter for the 944 has come down, so I'll be ordering a rebuilt one for $99 from Kragen.




We also looked at the Cadillac to see what fell off,  The engine compartment revealed a huge chunk of deteriorating plastic that had fallen off the firewall. After searching for a while we discovered the bushing on the sway bar near the rear drivers side wheel had lost it's fastening strap and bolts. I'll have to find one of those.

Terrible Sounds

Today I drove the '95 Cad to a meeting, not very far away, but the sounds coming from the car were terrible! Lots of metal on metal clunking. I'm not going to drive it until I figure out what it is.

Something Fell of The Car

While I was driving to the bank, something fell off my car, I saw it roll away behind me in the rear-view mirror.  A thumping sound immediately started. I'm hoping it's not the hydraulic engine mount that has gone out...