When it all turns to crap, you need a cup of tea and a biscuit
It’s been a challenging week in the Glenlyon workshop. We’ve been working on Tom’s wonderful HG Monaro build and have struck a serious snag…or three!
The body is done, the 427 small block motor is together, as is the TH350 transmission. Plus, we have a custom-made rear end that’s in and a custom-made front end that’s more or less complete.
All good? Nope. When we went to drop the car on to its engine/front end, we discovered the mounts aren’t right. They don’t allow enough clearance to the transmission tunnel. There is no way we’re going to start hacking into that beautiful body, so it’s back to the drawing board on the engine mounts.
The ones we have at the moment is the third set, and they’re close but not right. Now it’s tempting, particularly given the several goes we’ve had at this, to spit the dummy and start blaming people. The hold-ups have been unwelcome and costly in various ways. Sometimes, that’s how one-off builds go.
However no amount of ranting and cursing will fix the problem – usually the direct opposite. My advice? Walk away and have a cup of tea and a biscuit. They have amazing healing properties.
So, now we’re all calmly discussing the situation and trying to nut out a solution. We’ve sent the whole package to the builders of the front end, so they get a good first-hand look at what we’re wrestling with.
One of the issues is we don’t have a lot of space to work with, and simply dropping the motor further isn’t possible as it will foul the steering rack. A new solution is being nutted out, which may involve moving the engine forward a little, then lowering it. In any case, I know we’ll eventually get there.
Now here’s a little story about a Mustang that wouldn’t cool. We’re talking a sixties fastback and a very pretty car with a fairly quiet 289 V8 in it. So nothing radical.
However the increasingly frustrated owner couldn’t get it to cool the engine efficiently, meaning there was no way it was going out on a hot day or even a warm one. He’s done the rounds of all sorts of people, changing over radiatiors and even pulling off the heads for a look around.
The solution was in fact deceptively simple – change the water pump. A lot of cars of this era are running a relatively inefficient blade pump, which kind of does the job but is far from ideal. We’ve switched that over to a far better impeller design – it looks like a mini paddle wheel – which is much more effective. And guess what? The cooling issue is solved.
Here’s my tip:
Filter, baby!
Now we’re coming out of lockdown and the borders look opening, it’s a good time to change your oil and check all the other fluids. If you’re messing around with the spanners, it’s also a good opportunity to give that old fuel filter the flick and shout your car a new one. Filters (get a reputable brand) cost next to nothing when you look at the total cost of owning and running a car.
LETTERS:
Free Gemini
Despite huge sales, good original Geminis are quite rare
Hey Mick, I’ve been offered a first-model Holden Gemini coupe by my grandparents, who’ve had it for decades and have decided to move it on.
It’s running and seems in fair shape, but the interior and paint are starting to look a bit sad.
Is it worth putting some effort into? And what should I be looking for?
Terry Vince
YOU NEED to grab that one with both hands before anyone changes their mind! They’re a great little car and I remember them as being pretty good fun to drive. If it’s first series, it should be a TX, which I think was the best-looking of them.
It’s a while since I worked on the little Isuzi four-cylinder petrol powerplant (there was also a diesel), but I remember them being a good thing. They came with a dual throat carburettor and a decent set of headers will wake them up a little. In any case, there are no tricks to working on them.
You’ll be looking for rust at that age, and it’s worth finding a good tin man or woman and making sure any fixes are done properly. A lot of the small cars from that era are back in demand again, and that would be one of my top picks as a project.
Love/hate Alfa
Couldn’t agree more with how complex modern motors have become. A recent example for me is my 08 Alfa Romeo Brera V6, which recently stranded me by a hot and dusty highway when all the electrics died.
An RACQ truck to the local auto electrician fixed that problem. But what I hoped was just a dead battery turned out to be much worse. The alternator’s not charging.
No biggie, on most cars, but not on this little Italian Hot Momma. The auto electrician couldn’t even see the alternator!
After a conversation with my usual mechanic, I discovered that it’s buried under the motor, hard up against the firewall! He didn’t want to touch it either, as it requires much of the suspension being removed to just get to it! So it’s a main dealer job, and I was dreading what it was going to cost.
It’s in with the dealer awaiting the new alternator, which thankfully only has to come from Melbourne and not Milan. The cost is going to be $2900! $2000 for the part & $900 for labour.
I still love the car though. This is the first time it’s let me down in 18 months and 25,000km of ownership, which for an Alfa is pretty good.
But when they bite they bite hard!
Gary G Smith
WELCOME TO Alfa ownership, Gary. They’re not the only offenders with weird placement of components. French makers have also been repeat offenders. Then again, I put a new starter in Ed Guido’s Toyota Soarer V8 not so long ago, and that was a nightmare. The offending part was hidden in the back of the engine vee, under all the induction gear!
That said, I reckon that Alfa Romeo V6 is one of the all-time great engines, and the cars are beautiful. At risk to your sanity, I reckon everyone should own at least one Alfa in their lives.
No simple jobs
I recently read Morley’s and Bob Watson’s stories on simple jobs that ran into much larger projects.
Had a similar problem with my old 1957 Willys Truck. The motor was rebuilt some time ago but has done only a few hundred kilometres since and I have noticed that when idling the oil light would come on. Bugger.
I ordered a new oil pump and on one recent Friday morning decided to swap out the old for new. Late that same afternoon I finally got the old pump out, it is mounted on the outside of the block and should have been a breeze, but the housing is cone shaped into the block and it was extremely uncooperative when it came to removal.
Saturday morning came and I go to fit the new pump, it has an off-centre slot and can only go one way, be a breeze I thought. About lunch time the new pump was still not fitted but the old one would slot up no problem at all.
I decided the slot in the new shaft must have been incorrectly manufactured and decided to give the whole job away, but before doing so had one more go, and would you believe the new pump went straight in.
By this time the pump, the Willys and I were not really on talking terms, but there you go.
Start up went okay but obvious timing needed a fiddle, that done, and the Old Girl was running well.
Looked at the dash and at idle the oil light was on, give it a bit of a rev and the light would go out. Sat and thought for a while and thinking words that should not go into print in this fine magazine recalled that while the engine was out, I sent the instrument cluster away for refurbishment.
The wires going to the oil light and the amp light are both purple. I very calmly swapped the wires over and vowed never, never to tell that it took two full days to change over a perfectly good oil pump because some fool, me of course, hooked up a couple of wires incorrectly.
Vaughn Becker
WHAT A brilliant story, and good on you for telling it. It can be all too easy for something like that to happen, particularly if you’re a little distracted when doing the final fit up.
Since you raised the question of oil pressure, I should add a tip. After any major build, I like to check what’s going on with a manual guage – ignoring what the (usually) electrical unit in the car is telling me. It’s a good way to double-check what’s happening. I even have a long extension hose, so I can tape it to the windscreen and take the car for a gentle drive.
My FC
Many great family memories aboard the FC
May I say it was a nice surprise to see on page 12 of issue 458 the image of my old FC Holden. My parents purchased her in November 1964 and from what I can ascertain we are the second owners. It has been fully registered in our name the whole time. It was our only car until 1976 when an XY Falcon sedan was acquired, and it then became mum’s rocket.
I remember on an initial run with my dad in the XY we were going down the Monaro Highway and he was cruising along in second gear. I said, “Dad, you have one more to go.” Big change from the 132.5 Grey to the big 250 Ford!
From memory it has failed to proceed on only three occasions. First, when I was a very young boy and whilst mum was driving it lost a tooth on the gearbox cluster. Second, as we turned left into Auburn Street in Goulburn on the way to Windang and towing a 6×4 trailer full of camping gear, it stopped dead having stripped a timing gear.
A passing taxi driver, seeing my mum upset at the failure, offered his services and initiated repair alongside the gutter outside of what I recall a Fossey’s store.
The third incident was on the way to Batemans Bay just outside of Braidwood on came the oil pressure light along with the ensuing big end bearing knock.
It has been an amazing vehicle with many trips on the old Hume to Sydney, countless times to the coast up and down the Clyde Mountain and in 1973 all the way to Port Macquarie with all the luggage on the roof rack and a boot full of twenty litre drums of petrol as there was a strike on at the time.
As Editor Allen stated it is one of those old machines that you feel that you can head on down the highway in, which I do, and just sit back and chill and let it do its thing. I do admit I have trouble coming home and putting her in the garage.
If I may also make comment regarding the jamming of the selectors in the column shift HQ – Mick’s Workshop, Family Truckster. I have carried out many times over the years a simple fix regarding this issue by firstly making sure the 9/16 nuts that secure the levers on the side of the three-speed gearbox are tight.
Then hop in the vehicle and gently cycle a couple of times to and fro through the neutral gate of the gear shift to settle all the components. Next, open the bonnet and fit a worm drive type hose clamp to the very end of the column and tighten, not too tight, just firm. With the design of this column the very end spreads open allowing the components to move and eventually jam. The hose clamp prevents the column from spreading and the gear shift mechanism from jamming. I have carried out this fix on HKs through to HZs.
Graeme McKie
THAT FIX for the gear selector should work. One of the issues is the links have nylon bushes, which no-one ever seems to replace until they fail. I reckon they should be replaced once every blue moon as part of your maintenance.
The FC looks great – I can easily imagine cruising the highways in it..
Trivial pursuit
Old roller
The loveable Goggomobil Dart has featured in issue 459, while its T300 cousin was in issue 457. Do you know many Darts were made? With a production run from 1959 to 1961, just 700 are thought to have been built locally.
Got a problem?
Want some advice on a build or a potential car purchase. Heck we’ll even tackle long distance diagnosis. Drop MIck a line at uniquecars@primecreative.com.au
From Unique Cars 459, Nov 2021