Caxtonia
New Member
Hey everyone! A while back I posted some pictures of my 1958 Chrysler Windsor 4 door sedan, and then went awfully quiet. She's been getting some work done over the last year, and I thought maybe some of you would find it interesting.
Since last summer I've been having an issue with the engine dying on my after warming up and trying to push above 40 MPH. We'd gone through and done a whole bunch of work like rebuilding the carb twice, replacing the fuel pump and filters, we found a bad wire in the distributor, we even replaced the intake manifold gaskets! We found that the intake manifold bolts were barely tightened at all, the service manual calls for 30 foot-pounds but I could break them loose with one finger. Not good! But we did all that and STILL the car died on me after only a few minutes of light driving. Hills were unthinkable. Finally, a friend suggested we blow out the fuel line running from the tank up to the filter, and sure enough that fixed it! That might have been the issue the whole time, go figure.
So, fuel system problem fixed, we prepared to take her out on a proper cruise. But first, she needed some new gas. So we trekked down to the gas station, filled the tank with premium non-ethanol gas, and....she refused to start. Bugger! We got a jump, got her back home, and eventually discovered the generator wasn't generating. This probably started last year as well, I often had to get a jump after taking her out on a test drive but didn't think anything of it at the time because I was focused on the fuel issue. So, having discovered a new and different problem, we pulled the generator and went in search of a repair shop that could fix it. That was last week, and only this morning did I get a call back saying it was fixed and ready for pickup. So this afternoon will be (hopefully!) her first proper cruise of the year.
And now, pictures! Here's that troublesome distributor wire:
And here's the replacement gaskets getting ready to be installed:
There's a LOT of dirt and oil and grease and cobwebs everywhere. Some day I'll have to give her a proper scrubbing!
Here's a general picture of the engine:
I'll be sure to upload some more pictures of the car out and about this afternoon, assuming she survives the trip!
Since last summer I've been having an issue with the engine dying on my after warming up and trying to push above 40 MPH. We'd gone through and done a whole bunch of work like rebuilding the carb twice, replacing the fuel pump and filters, we found a bad wire in the distributor, we even replaced the intake manifold gaskets! We found that the intake manifold bolts were barely tightened at all, the service manual calls for 30 foot-pounds but I could break them loose with one finger. Not good! But we did all that and STILL the car died on me after only a few minutes of light driving. Hills were unthinkable. Finally, a friend suggested we blow out the fuel line running from the tank up to the filter, and sure enough that fixed it! That might have been the issue the whole time, go figure.
So, fuel system problem fixed, we prepared to take her out on a proper cruise. But first, she needed some new gas. So we trekked down to the gas station, filled the tank with premium non-ethanol gas, and....she refused to start. Bugger! We got a jump, got her back home, and eventually discovered the generator wasn't generating. This probably started last year as well, I often had to get a jump after taking her out on a test drive but didn't think anything of it at the time because I was focused on the fuel issue. So, having discovered a new and different problem, we pulled the generator and went in search of a repair shop that could fix it. That was last week, and only this morning did I get a call back saying it was fixed and ready for pickup. So this afternoon will be (hopefully!) her first proper cruise of the year.
And now, pictures! Here's that troublesome distributor wire:
And here's the replacement gaskets getting ready to be installed:
There's a LOT of dirt and oil and grease and cobwebs everywhere. Some day I'll have to give her a proper scrubbing!
Here's a general picture of the engine:
I'll be sure to upload some more pictures of the car out and about this afternoon, assuming she survives the trip!
That's the first time in a year that she hasn't died on me once while out driving, and the generator works like a champ as far as I can tell. Here are a few pictures I snapped last night:
