8/8/55 – test of first solar car. William Cobb created a prototype, but it was only a 15 inch model. Basically, an electric current was produced that in turn powered a tiny motor. The motor turned the vehicle’s driveshaft, which was connected to its rear axle by a pulley. I couldn’t find a pic of this one. However, Alan Freeman developed the solar-powered car in 1979 that you could actually put a human in. Here’s the pic. (It’s really just a bike…I think.)
Alan's Solar Car.
8/11/66 Chevy introduced the Camaro. There is some discussion on whether there is such an animal as a 1966 Camaro, they were, build in 1966 but sold in 1967. Here a pic.
8/15/56 Packard no longer producing cars in Detroit. Previously the Packard company bought Studebaker and tried to keep the Packard name a live in 1957 by reworking a Studebaker and give it the Packard name.
1956Packard
1957 Packard...looks alot like Studebaker
8/21/1897 Oldsmobile becomes a company. Of course the company is no longer in business another icon gone.
If you’ve been reading my “stuff” on this blog or Facebook or Racing in America http://www.racinginamerica.com/ (Henry Ford foundation) you might wonder…what’s wrong with this guy? Does he write for a living? Well if I did I’d be starving and driving a 1993 Honda Accord with only one plastic hub cap (that’s really my son’s car…he’s a starving artist – I have a plug for him on my blog – RJS Graphic design – he’s pretty good and he won’t strave..Mom won’t have any of that!!) instead of a shiny red 84 Corvette and restored 70 Mustang. I do it for fun, I haven’t made a single dollar from any of my writing. I don’t even have sponsors or advertisers for the places I leave my droppings. Actually this costs me money!!!!
So…yes..I do this for fun and the very informal approach I take…..eeeerrrrkkkkk…..ok folks…I don’t have an approach..real writers do. The way I like to do this is to just sit down and type…there’s no drafts, unless I save it to finish later, there is no real planning,(hell my poor readers are lucky if I remember to run spell check!!!) other than a Post-It-Note or an email sent to myself when I get an idea. Nope, I just sit down and type. If it is on a project I’m working, I sometimes take a break and with the fresh smell of GoJo still on my hands I just start typing and up loading pics. 99.999% of my blogs are done in one sitting. Type and post. (Sometimes I re-read them…mostly to laugh at my super great witt…HEY!!!!! DID YOU JUST ROLL YOUR EYES????!!!! That’s rude!!!)
So I have a list of ideas and one of them was to start a regular piece on engines (I mentioned this a while back.) But man, there’s a lot of stuff out there and great publishing works like the Hemmings nation and Hot Rod magazine do this all time. Am I going to add some thing never before discussed? Nope. Am I going to present it in way that nobody ever has? Well the way I write, yeah probably, no one write like this I don’t think.
My idea was to talk about an engine and include when it was first introduced and what it was used in and for how long, that kind of info. I’m a big fan of history, history of anything, buildings, streets, towns, cars, really anything that as a little history, I’m interested in hearing about.
So my issue was I just hadn’t sat down and picked one yet to write about. I was going to do the Ford 302, the engine my Mustang has, or the Crossfire in the Corvette and I will. But the other day I got my September issue of Classic Car #72 from the Hemmings nation and on the cover was “12 Dynamic Dodge Darts Fun Cars that you must own”. That triggered a memory of the Dodge Dart I owned when I was in college, I think owned it about 5 months..just long enough to remove all the rust and patch the holes and get it into primer before selling it.
As I read the articles in this issue, I remembered the 318 that my Dart had in and as I read further I decided to kick my series off with Mopar’s 318.
So over the next few posts I have some interesting details on configurations and various cars it was used in and some specs. I’ll try to remember to list the references so you can look up additional info.
Here’s my story of using household items to fix cars. Kinda like a turkey baster tool. Ha Ha.
Finally solved the fuel boil over problem on the 82 Cougar wagon with an inline six and 1 bbl carb.
I live and drive mostly above 2,000 feet and with the fuel blending today the fuel in the carb bowl will boil over and come out the fuel vent in the carb throat, pooling in the intake manifold causing a flooded condition resulting in hard starting when the engine is hot with the huge plume of black smoke when it did start. I’ve tried all manner of fixes that included: lowering the float, retarding the timing, advancing the timing and investigating whether the manifold, catalytic converter or the exhaust was restricted in some way. I built a heat shield out of aluminum and tried that. Some people had suggested using a thicker carb base gasket or even doubling the gasket which would have required longer mounting studs for the carb. Since it hasn’t been a daily driver in the summer due to a broken a/c I’ve put off the fix. I tried to find a phenolic material to make a carb base spacer for the carb that would insulate it from the heat with no luck.
Finally my wife went to Wal-Mart and bought a plastic cutting board for me on my request. It’s made from a hard polyethylene material that’s just over 7/16″ thick. So, I did the obvious scientific test on the material. I got the car to operating temperature and held the cutting board to the exhaust manifold and it did not melt. So I cut the board, drilled the carb bore hole with a 1 and 7/8″ hole saw, drilled the stud holes, made a thin gasket for both sides of the material and sealed it with red high temp permatex gasket maker and installed my new base plate. To test I drove the car in 108 degree heat to full operating temperature for 10 miles with the now fixed a/c blowing hard and the boil over problem is gone. There is no longer any fuel smell or hard starting when hot due to fuel in the intake manifold. Finally after almost 8 years this annoying problem is fixed. I don’t know why this material insulates so well over the factory thick gasket but it does.
The material doesn’t seem to be affected by fuel either.
I’m sure others have been baffled by this problem since most fuels today contain ethanol and other materials that lower the boiling temperature of gasoline. Altitude certainly plays a part as my car never did this at sea level even in 100 degree weather.
Two guesses as to my next project on my C4……cricket…cricket…cricket…Give up? Fine, its replacing the power steering reservoir and connected hoses.
Just for fun? Nope, who’d want that mess of a job, just for fun? No…no it is not an upgrade but a serious leak.
Hey kids its story time!!!! Let me tell you about the big shiny Vette that ate all of the average guy’s car budget. Grab you binkies…it’s horrifing.
If you’ve been reading my posts, you may recall (“come..you ‘member!!!” {I stole that from the comedian George something}…..What you don’t hang on every word I type?…You don’t re-read my post to memorize all my car woes and tips and humor???..that’s what I figure…yet I keep on typing….its good therapy for me!!!) that my vette over heated, not once, but twice!!! Freak catastrophic radiator hose split and then the fan frying it’s self.
After I got it back from the shop, where I had them check the electric work I did when installing the new fan, I noticed a leak under the car in the driveway. I hate leaks under my cars, almost as much as the Ms. hates the side affects they have on our driveway (I’m not crazy about them either). The leak was not too big and when I cleaned it up, I chalked it up to left over coolant from the over heading, it had the right consistency. Then I washed the car. Nice shiny beautiful red…money swilling Corvette!!!!
Drove the car to work and home again and came back out a bit later to put the garbage cans on the curb….errrkkk…hey…Tim..no one, not one single person, cares why you came back outside, and just as many care where you put the trash cans… and I’m going out on a limb here…but I’m betting the total is the same for whether you drove it to work…to the store…or Japan…got it bro???!!! These are valuable minutes of our lives being spent here reading this!! Ok..I got it. The pool was bigger than before and it no longer could be mistaken for coolant. It was without a doubt, transmission fluid, or power steering fluid. Whether it is GM or Ford, either of their recommend power steering fluid looks and feels similar to the transmission fluid.
Dreading the worse news, I decided to first check what I hoped was the problem, power steering fluid, I’d hate that less then tranmission issues. Luckily…(isn’t that the way it is with older cars..your happiness is measured by the size of what’s broken, or needs replacing)…it appeared that it was just the top of the hoses on the reservoir, near the hose clamps…perfectly understandable….it’s an old car..and simple to replace (remember that later on in this post).
Here are the hoses:
Hoses leaking near the clamps.
I’m thinking…oh..”SLAM DUNK” easy fix. Perhaps, but come on….really….does it really ever turnout that easy…yes it does…but not this time!!!
After further inspection, I noticed something else..oh…you’ll love it!! I’d tell you but you know a pic is worth 250 cuss words (most of those aren’t real words but I do have some unique arrangements of the classic 4 letter ones and a few bigger). Ready??? NO!! For the pic… make up your own cuss phrases!!!
Sigh!!!
Well that does make it a clean sweep…everything above the pump up needs to be replaced!!! Ok, still not horrible, so I’m much happier knowing it’s not the transmission!!!! Just order the parts and we are home free.
And that’s the end of the story…expect for the part where the hoses aren’t available any more and OMG, you betcha, they aren’t straight hoses. Here…take a look!!!
From the reservoir, down to the pulleys, nothing but bends!!!
Better look at the hose going straight down the Front of the engine block
They are molded to hold shape, there is no room for anything but the exact bends or they will rub against the pulleys and last..oh..maybe a week!!
And finally…
And a little wider view.
The reservoir and one hose that is supposed to fit are on their way…be here tomorrow. The other hose is not available…no not out of stock and on back order…not made any longer.
But I have an idea….I’ll give that to you tomorrow.
7/6/1946…..U.S. began producing car again after World War II. It is a bit misleading but some cars companies did continue to produce cars. At the very onset of the war (1942 thereabout), some of the first effort were to build the cars without all the chrome, painting the trim instead, the first “blacked out” (they were actually called “blackout specials or models” ) which became popular with the grilles in muscle cars later on. Washington dictated that stainless-steel and chrome would not be allowed on cars except on of bumpers, bumper guards, and windshield wipers.
WOT (decided to give her a name) is back in the driveway. Compression and heads all checked out. 3 cheers for American Iron!!!!
(OK..WOT is funny because it’s a crossfire with least HP in the C4 Generation.)
Took it for a spin after picking it up and everything seems to be fine.
New hoses, new thermostat, new coolant..yeah…all of the old stuff is back in town, new transmission fluid (maybe over kill but there is the a school of thought that a major overheating event can cause a failure…safe..not sorry) and oil change (I’m not sure what happens to engine oil at 300 degrees – but safe…not sorry).
The other day (7/1) was a record-setting day for me. Oh..yea..setting some personal bests, that….well….frankly I could have done without!!!!
So I thought I’d take a minute or two to jot down the events of the day, as a form of therapy, and maybe I won’t feel like having all my cars crushed and moving to a small Quaker community in PA.
Ok…. that does feel better. Now say it with me…”I’m OK and You are OK”.
So here’s the story and I’m being as dramatic as necessary!!!!
Drove my 84 C4 to work as normal yesterday………
>>>Oh..hey wait…..I did this Corvette owner thing a few weeks back…guess what it was?…..{silence….cricket…cricket….cricket..} Give up? Ok..fine I’ll just tell you. I got a personalized license plate…No..not a vanity plate that says “Studly” like my wife wanted me to get!!! {{If you only knew how funny that last statement was..my wife hates those plates, although I believe he thinks I am studly!!!}}. Nope I had to get clever, I wanted something that defined my car. You have no idea how many times I get asked…”Yo…what years is it?” My neighbor next store ask me that every time he see me outside my house…he’s 80 something…so I’m very polite about it (’cause I’ll be 80 some day), and tell him it’s a 1984, and always ask him if he wants to take it for a spin and we both laugh. (Man..you’re getting your money’s worth reading this one..three stories in one.) Any way I thought if I could squeeze the year of my Corvette into the plate and I wouldn’t have to answer it as much. ( I actually got a stamped “1970” plate at a place in a shopping mall for the front of my Mustang for the same reason…Arizona only requires a rear plate…funny..they still sent out two plates though!!!) (Geezzzeee..there’s 4 stories for ya…I don’t think I remember what the orignal was??!?!?!). The plate reads “84C4WOT”. Deciphered it means 1984 C4 (the generation) and WOT = Wide Open Throttle.
Wow was that painful to read through? Hope not!!!
Ok, back to the original post. Got to work just fine no problems. Now, this time of year it’s get’s pretty hot here is Southern AZ and I think yesterday was about 105 or 107. My work day went by as slow as it possibly could and I had to hang a little late to finish up a task. I head home and I got about 4 miles from work and I noticed the cars behind me slow down and to a little swerve in the road. If you’ve driven here in Tucson much, such things are not extraordinary, there’s a lot of weirdness here on the roads.
Approximately 1000 yards down the road I see my digital temp gauge, jump to 260 degrees. Now the 1984 C4 runs hot by factory standards. The electric fan has a factory setting of 223 degree before it kicks on…but 260…is not good…not by any stretch. And picture my expression on my face when 200 feet further it shot to 280 degrees. I’m doing about 45 and I’m in the middle lane of a 3 lane street and traffic is heavy. I know I need to pull this thing over or that which is currently going very bad..is going to get even worse. I cut off the next car where there was the smallest of a gap and dove for a Circle K (like a 7-11) parkinglot about another 500 yards away. As I pulled in to the parkinglot…my temp gauge read 299 degrees (my first new record of the day..beating the old temp by a whopping 17 degrees…”Tell him what he’s won Johnny!!” ” Well Wink, he’s won a cooked corvette and gas saving trip on the back of a tow truck!!!!”.) DOOM!!! was the only word that came to mind….ok..fine…that wasn’t the word…but it did have 4 letters.
I stopped it, turned it off, popped the hood latch and jumped out of the car to get the front lifted up…. I expected to see coolant gushing out of every place imaginable, but the engine compartment was pretty dry…I’m thinking..this is not good…nope….not good at all. There was a little fluid on the frame and a small wisp of steam, but nothing to make you think there was an Old Faithful event about to occur. I checked the coolant overflow tank and it had a small amount of fluid in it..very small, odd for something that was about to blow. I quickly checked the hoses that I could see, without touching anything….every thing was hot, and they looked fine. I could even see a portion of bottom hose, it seemed ok. I stepped back and looked under the car and there was only a very small puddle. Corvettes are pretty low to the ground which makes it hard to see anything will out getting down on the ground, but I had on white paints and when it is 107 degrees in Tucson, the pavement is about 115!!!
So what my observations imply is there wasn’t enough coolant in the car to boil…and at about 300 degree…it would be boiling!!!
There are only a couple of things that would a cause a complete drain of the cooling system.
1. A hose coming off. Since there wasn’t any coolant on the upper part of the engine, so the top ones were fine and what I could see of the bottom hose it seemed normal.
2. A cracked block or a head would have had the Vette running poorly before hand and I would have noticed.
3. Freeze out plug failing. I’m thinking this was the problem. A freeze out plug is just that, a metal plug in the block and heads of your engine. They are there mainly for cold weather climates. If the coolant was mixed wrong with too much water and should this mixture freeze, the plugs will pop out during a “freezing event” allowing expansion of liquid hopefully saving the engine’s metal from cracking from the pressure.
Freeze Out Plug
Freeze Out Plug in the engine block.
Why is that so bad? They look pretty simple to put back in. Sure they are, right…after you pull the entire engine out!!!
So there I stand, white paints looking soiled, red Vette with hood up and smelling like a burnt carrot, 107 degree, humid as hell, and it starts to rain. Can you picture it?
I made a quick call to my GM Motor Club and they arraigned for a flat-bed. 2 hours later my lovely wife meets me at the Circle K and we wait together for another 45 minutes(total of 2.75 hours) for a truck to show up (my second record of the day… breaking my last tow truck wait by 1.25 hours) and 45 minutes after that I waiting in my favorite repair facility parkinglot waiting for my poor Vette to be dropped off (where it would sit, in the dark, overnight, all alone and wounded). Too much drama?
Let’s get to the do’s and don’ts.
1. Do pull over in a safe spot as soon as possible.
2. Don’t continue driving. Don’t try to make it home or one more block/mile. You could just be making it worse.
3. Don’t keeping it running after you stop in a safe place. It isn’t normally going to cool it down and again you could be making it worse.
4. Don’t touch anything under the hood. Don’t open the radiator. Don’t open the coolant overflow reservoir.
5. Don’t try filling it with water or coolant immediately. Just let the car cool down all the way down.
6. Don’t try driving it after its cooled down, even if you filled it with water. 100% chance that what caused the overheating, didn’t go way.
7. Do call a tow truck.
8. Do call a friend or someone and let them know where you are, at the least.
9. Do get a motor club of some kind. Average Guy with average budget..right? Towing is expensive, very expensive. I like the GM Motor Club. I pay about $69 a year and I’ve used it twice this year already. I have my son’s car covered and my Corvette. (The Mustang is covered by Haggerty insurance.) Within town the towing is free up to a certain mileage, both this years tows were free, saving about 250 bucks a shot, that a good deal.
Ok. I’m no Oprah but I just finished a book that race car people will love. If you love dogs, auto racing and a good story you are going to love reading “The Art of Racing in the Rain” By Garth Stein.
Go get it. (no I don’t get paid for this…I just like it.)
6/14/1832 – Nicolaus Otto was born in Germany…”Who?” He invented the gas motor engine. An engineer and experimenter, Nicolaus Otto invented the first practical alternative to the steam engine in 1876 — the first four-stroke internal combustion engine. He called it the “Otto Cycle Engine,” and as soon as he had completed his engine, he built it into a motorcycle.
The Otto Motor powered Cycle
6/16/1903 – The BIGGIE….Ford Motor Company was established. On the same day in 1953 Ford introduced the power steering. (Two for the price of one)
Also on 6/16/1896 Jean Peugeot was born in Paris. Founder of Peugeot the auto maker. The family began with coffee mills and bicycles and then cars.
6/18/1943 Tom Gale was born in Michigan, Flint to be more exact. His Dad was a designer for Buick and his grandfather worked the assembly for Buick. Guess where he went to work when he finished school….nope….Chrysler.. Gale became head of design in 1985. He previously worked on the some of the iconic cars such as the E-bodies-Barracuda and Challenger and was a major contributor to the Chrysler Portofino concept car.
1987-Chrysler-Portofinow Concept Car
6/19/1947 the Tucker shows up in Chicago.
The Tucker-Torpedo - I love these cars!!!!
And on the same day, 1969 GM produced the 4 millionth Cadillac.
This isn't actually "THE" 4 Millionth Caddy..but you get the idea.
