After 34 years road-trip with the Polara back to Montana

[HWYCRZR]

Back to the story…. Anyway at my Mom’s for the family reunion which started on Friday.

Parked it next to her common law husband’s ‘56 Chevy for a mini car show. There were a few of the relatives that remembered it. Mom probably appreciated it the most.

 

[HWYCRZR]

In all the excitement I forgot to post the pictures on the way there.

Hotel in Bismarck

Geese in Flight sculpture at 80mph. Entrance to the Enchanted Highway.
Enchanted Highway

ND Badlands at 80MPH
Unusually green. A lot of rain so far this summer.

Look! No fuel or temp gauge.

 

[HWYCRZR]

A couple more on the way.

Montana / North Dakota state line.

The start of the highway to the end of civilization. This is after my first stalling issue in Glendive, Mt. But got it started and it ran fine for about 190 more miles.

Road construction with gravel and a pilot car. Still running fine until I had to stop and wait for the pilot car. Died just when it was leaving. Got it restarted in time for the next run. Really thinking I got bad fuel.

Filling up with “good gas” after an assist from a New Jersey couple that drove me 32 miles round trip. I did buy a nice $25 gas can from this Oasis.

Sun getting low. Bugs getting thick.

Bird strike.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Back to Friday afternoon. As many people (except the ones camping out) left for the evening I pulled my car in the shop to rebuild my solenoid and change my dash voltage regulator. I ordered online had one of mom’s cousins pick it up for me. The solenoid I had ordered off e-bay arrived Wednesday afternoon before I left so had thrown it in my tool bag.

No lift here. Just Jack stand’s and cardboard to lay on.
Pulled my starter out and got it set up on the bench with plans to get up early and tear it apart to install the solenoid.

Did this right next to a ‘58? international.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Saturday morning hit the shop around 6 Am. Pulled the starter apart and installed the solenoid. Went to test the starter and as soon as I gave it power it started turning. It seems my new solenoid was stuck engaged. Pulled it apart again. Found that the new solenoid’s spring keeper was nicked up and not letting the plunger move. Pulled the smooth keeper off my old plunger and got some movement.
Put it back together and tested. Everything worked perfectly.
Got the starter bolted in place and installed the wires. Just finished up and decided to make sure my power stud was tight….. I twisted off the F’ing stud. I did have an audience of my two uncles when the cussing started.
I jumped on the internet and found O’rielies had a starter in stock in Great Falls about 20 miles away. I jumped in Mom’s van and went to pick it up.

Brought it back. Tested it and installed. Also changed my fuel filter and installed the wrong instrument voltage regulator.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Sunday morning, bright and early. Ready to get on the road. It was 60 degrees in Mt, but was supposed to be 102 in Fargo.
Started up fine. Ran good for the 100 miles to Lewistown. Filled with gas and just started to Leave the station and it stalled. I put the hood up and was about to fill the carb bowl with my Evian bottle of gas when this old guy (compared to me) and started asking about my problem. His first question was, is it a Ford or Dodge? I was thinking he wouldn’t be much help. But he started asking the right questions from his pickup seat. He ruled out the ignition, water in gas, vapor lock… he says it has to be something with the fuel pump and maybe the check valve were letting all the fuel drain back. At that point I went to O’Reilys down the street which was the only one open on Sunday to see if they had a fuel pump. They did not. I wasn’t even thinking about an electric one or that the fuel pump rod may be the issue. Any way the car seemed to be running good so with limited options I decided to continue on to Glendive where I may be able to find one. What could go wrong in 250 miles through nowhere?
Got about 70 miles in and stopped at a rest area. Left it running and ran in. Came back out, jumped in and started driving. Just got back on the highway and it stalled. Dumped gas in the carburetor bowl started up and drove a quarter mile before it quit again. Dumped more gas in. This time it kept going but with a little bucking for about another 1/4 mile. Then it smoothed out and ran fine at 80 mph. Then I hit this long hill and it started bucking again. I got over it and smoothed out again.


This water bottle with gas became my best friend.
Also a nice holder right by the battery.

Somewhere in here I got a rock chip in my windshield!!!!!

 

[Unix]

Jeeeeee, what a trip... Got me scared. In a week and a half i am heading out the the Power Big Meet (largest European US Car meet) in Sweden, from Poland. Over 2k mile round trip. Hope it turns out more trouble free in my 71 Newport ...

In regard to the stalling, and having to start it off a bottle, got me thinking a little bit about the fuel pump.

Damn, hope it goes better for you from now on !

The problem with a lot of new parts for our cars nowadays is really bad quality. I had my ignition coil fail within 2k miles from new, and i bought one of the better ones of Rockauto. Same applies to a lot of other parts. The first thing u have to do on new alternators off rockauto is change the bearings, they are of complete **** and useless quality. Just my thoughts on the times we live in.

 

[HWYCRZR]

I guess I should finish the trip.

And then…….. about 25 miles out of Circle Mt. on a Sunday afternoon it decided it was all it would take.
My “bad gas” and “vapor locking” turned out to be my fuel pump. Spoiler alert… it was my fuel pump rod, but didn’t know it at the time.

I was stopped at the bottom of the a long hill halfway in the road. (The ditch starts next to the white line.

Not a lot of traffic. About 2 or 3 cars in 10 minutes. Then this guy and his wife stopped and asked if they could at least pull me up the hill where there was a large pull off. He found a long cable and ratchet strap and pulled me too the approach.
He was a local rancher and had some pretty good mechanical skills as well.
We both agreed that it was the fuel pump. He said that he had a few cars we could try to borrow parts from, but said they were Fords so likely wouldn’t find anything.
They knew the local parts guy so gave him a call. He offered to run over to his store and see what he had. The guy helping suggested that if the store didn’t have the right parts we could try an electric pump and saw exactly where we could tie in. They headed to town giving me the assurance that they would find something that would get me on the road again. About 1/2 hour later they called and said on regular fuel pump, but they would get an electric and hoses.

They came back with a nice little Eldebrock pump with the right flow and pressure, about 6ft of hose and clamps. I love working with people that know what they are doing.
Took about 10 minutes to install and started right up.
We mounted it to the radiator support. Used the horn ground for the pump and clamped on of my jumper wires to the power wire taped it together and shoved the alligator clamp onto my relay so it wouldn’t fall off. I would have to bun hook it each time I stopped for gas but I was ok with that.

 

[HWYCRZR]

At least when I was stopped it was only 70 degrees.
After we got back into ND the heat hit us. When we got to Bismarck at 7:30 Pm it had cooled down to 96. All the windows and vents were open.
After filling with gas and about 200 yards on the road it stalled on me. With the electric pump it quickly restarted before I came to a stop.
Vapor lock in the fuel line somewhere after heat soaking when filling?
Anyway made it back to Fargo around 10:30 PM. It was still 91 degrees and humid.

About 1500 mile round trip.
What an adventure.
Thanks to the great people that stopped and offered assistance and making sure I was back on my way.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Things I learned.
It sucks not having a temperature of fuel gauge when having issues.
My wife is very patient, but will be a while before she is ready for another road trip in the Polara.
Sometimes you have to think outside the box to make something work.

And there are still great people out there.

Now I need to fix my issues:

Fuel pump and rod. Rod is about 1/4” shorter than it should be.
Replace my Instrument panel voltage regulator. A 6 volt Ford one (that looked exactly like my 5 volt Solid-state) does not interact well with my gauges.
Replace my meter match and re Calibrate.
Get my chip in my windshield fixed

Done
Done
Done
And
Done

Ready for another road trip.

 

[Unix]

Sounds like fun ;P

For the 2k mile trip i plan on packing spares:
Alternator
Ignition module
Cap + rotor
Voltage regulator
spark plugs
Complete distributor w/pickup coil
Ballast resistor

Any other thoughts what might come in handy ?

 

[thethee]

Sounds like fun ;P

For the 2k mile trip i plan on packing spares:
Alternator
Ignition module
Cap + rotor
Voltage regulator
spark plugs
Complete distributor w/pickup coil
Ballast resistor

Any other thoughts what might come in handy ?

Fuel pump and pushrod

 

[Ripinator]

Sounds like fun ;P

For the 2k mile trip i plan on packing spares:
Alternator
Ignition module
Cap + rotor
Voltage regulator
spark plugs
Complete distributor w/pickup coil
Ballast resistor

Any other thoughts what might come in handy ?

Duct tape and vice grips. . .

 

[3175375]

Spoiler alert. The saga will continue.
I think the 5 year warranty on all my new parts expired at the same time.

And it will be sometime before my wife will go on another road trip with the car.

8^O

You have reminded me of our recent trip to Weston, Missouri and Guthrie, Oklahoma. I had just stopped at one of those center of the freeway Valero/McDonalds north of Emporia, to stretch my legs. Upon entering the on-ramp, the engine on the RV throttled down, threw check engine, transmission and ATC lamps. I pulled over and got onto the I-35 expressway and it happened again and again. I had pulled into the emergency lane and thought about this a bit and read the owners manual. I tried again and it happened again.
I thought that there may be water in the fuel filter and proceeded to drain the fuel filter water trap (located aft of the rear axle on the driver’s side). Mind you, I had about a foot from the side of the RV to the right edge of the slow lane.
I laid down on the ground, scooted under the RV and opened the drain petcock and fuel and water came out, splattering all over me.

Closed things up and things started working better, but not until we got to the Emporia off-ramp, more than 2 miles down the expressway.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, except the black water tank waste drain valve started leaking (literally oh $hit). I fixed that (actually yesterday) after we returned home.

I hope that you have the courage to make another road trip!

 

[Boydsdodge]

Just finished reading, can't imagine the cussing on that trip. I was. Just reading your post has me swearing at my screen. LOL.
On the starter sticking and no gauges, I had that happen on my 67 Coronet, it was the ignition switch sticking on start and not returning to run. Found it when I went to turn car off and as i touched key the movement was enough to stop the starting and gauges came back to life. I was on my way to Detroit for the Woodward cruise on our crazy 401.
Don't get rid of your electric pump yet, I went through two push rods, one the original, second was a comp. I think the comp is likely reason but my thoughts are it is like wiping a cam lobe and lifter. You can't just install a new lifter. I now run a Carter full time in the Coronet.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Just finished reading, can't imagine the cussing on that trip. I was. Just reading your post has me swearing at my screen. LOL.
On the starter sticking and no gauges, I had that happen on my 67 Coronet, it was the ignition switch sticking on start and not returning to run. Found it when I went to turn car off and as i touched key the movement was enough to stop the starting and gauges came back to life. I was on my way to Detroit for the Woodward cruise on our crazy 401.
Don't get rid of your electric pump yet, I went through two push rods, one the original, second was a comp. I think the comp is likely reason but my thoughts are it is like wiping a cam lobe and lifter. You can't just install a new lifter. I now run a Carter full time in the Coronet.

View attachment 540628

I was pretty calm. Mainly thinking through the next steps or scenario.
I did get a new hardened rod from Hughs engines. I also have the electric pump and hoses in my tool bag as back up.

Also put some Chrysler lube on my exhaust cross over. I usually do that once per year when I change my oil. I am not sure if I did it last year with every thing going on. It was a little sticky at idle but still at 3/4 open. (would open all the way with a little throttle) Now when hot it should be free enough to be open a little more.

I am not afraid to go again. I should now have most contingencies covered.

 

[patrick66]

My wife, our one-year-old son and I drove to the Mopar event at Bandimere near Morrison, Colorado back in 1992. My Coronet was fresh out of a three-year-long storage while we were stationed in Germany. The car ran magnificently. Other than the A/C being non-op and the fuel gauge took a crap on the way to Denver, the trip was going wonderfully. Then the rain hit just East of Denver along I-70 on the way back to Oklahoma. Wipers wiping furiously...then the DS wiper and arm decided to depart the car forever - ZING! - off it goes! At 65 mph, of course! Thankfully, Limon was just 20 miles further along, and I knew they had a Dodge dealer there. Being just 26 years after the car was built, I was hoping they'd have the arm and a new blade. The parts guy looks at the Coronet, he says "give me a couple of minutes!", and he reappears with a brand new, and correct, arm for a '66. Cool! I asked him "what do I owe you?" It was a freebie. I think he took pity on me and the fact I had a baby in the car. The Dodge dealer was a family-owned and operated dealership. The parts manager was the owner's oldest son.

Ended up being a pretty good trip!

And I can definitely relate to the fuel problems you had (different trip, same Coronet!).

 

[413]

Rain-X is a must, then you don’t need to turn the wipers on at all.

nothing worse than a tank of bad fuel.

good job on the repairs.

if you have an Ohm meter then you have a gas gauge when the limiter quits. Tap in at the kick panel.

 

[fury fan]

Great story!

Even the bad stuff is good stuff - you met people that helped you in time of need, salt-of-the-earth folks. The Media would like us to believe that social activists and 'influencers' are the only good people left - but we all know better, and you got to meet a few along the way.

Take your wife on a roadtrip again - how likely for it to be more difficult than this one?

 

[HWYCRZR]

good job on the repair

if you have an Ohm meter then you have a gas gauge when the limiter quits. Tap in at the kick panel.

Yep 10 ohms full, 23 ohms 1/2 full and 74 ohms empty. If the sending unit is 100% calibrated.

Although grabbing the ohmmeter out of the trunk and crawling under the dash wasn’t first on my list when I was still halfway on the road.