Tag Archives: Auto Restoration

The MOPAR’s 318 Part I

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Before we start, I’d like the readers to know that these segments will not be an all-encompassing reference effort.  But I will have details that might not be well-known and some long forgotten.  Hopefully, it will be fun to read and informative.  The first few segments will be engines I’m familiar with.  I’ve owed a lot of cars and at least one of the Big 3 (Chevy, Ford, Chrysler) and all with different engines (and one with two).  First engine I am going to tackle is the 318.  I owned a Dodge Dart in the mid to last of 1970’s and it did have the 318 manual transmissions and at this very moment I can’t recall the other specs, but I’ll find them in this research. It that a great engine and simple to work on.

I’ve heard it mentioned that the 318 was Chryslers’ 350 (referring to GM’s 350, that’s been in existence for… just about forever…no it hasn’t but that’s another segment).  Of course the 318 didn’t have near the run that the 350 has, but it’s got some pretty interesting history of its own.

Let’s start with when the first 318 was used in a MOPAR car and what followed that up.  We’ll also look at some specs and some configurations it came in, you know carbs, cams and the like.

In the 1958 Plymouth the 230 c.i.d Powerflow Six was used as the standard engine, same as the previous year.  Chrysler did have V8s that were a possible option in 1957 and 1958, namely 301 and 277 cid.  However, it’s believed that the 318 was to replace the 277 c.i.d and the 301 V8s as the car maker moved toward try to capture a larger market.  The 318 had 9.25 to 1 compression ratio with 225 horses, it became the standard V8 used in the Plaza, Savoy, and Belvedere.  Perhaps the most powerful configuration you could get at the time was called the 318 Dual Fury (Sport Fury) V8 aka the Super-Pack rated at 290 horsepower; the dual was for the two  4 barrel carbs. The rest of the configuration included solid lifters, high performance cam, dual point distributor and dual exhausts.

The drive specs for the 1958 (which was a great looking car)

’58 Fury

 

shows that the standard block of for the Fury was the 318.  You could add the sport fury to it and go from 225 horses to displacing 350 cid and producing 305 hp, with 2 Carter, 4bbl carbs.  The nickname for the engine was the “Golden Commando” and it was paired up with TorqueFlite auto trans.

Oh, by the way 1958 Ply Fury was the star of the Stephen King book entitled “Christine” and later the  movie.

There is a lot of talk, even today about the Hemi, “Yo..dat got ah Hemi?”  It was a great design. But we won’t talk about the Hemi in this article, but we will mention the polyspheric cylinder head.  What is a ployspheric cylinder head?  That was a question asked by one of my frequent readers and this was my reply.

Poly is short for Polyspherical head. Some say it was a forerunner to the Hemi (Hemispherical head). Basically it was based on a theory that you could get more combustion or volume by angling the intake and exhaust valves then if you had them parallel. From Hemmings  Motor News book of Chrysler Performance Cars…”The ploy’s exhaust valve is located parallel to, but offset from, the cylinder axis.”

This increased the efficiency.  The hemi was constructed and designed to increase the efficiency with a more angled system. The shape that the valves make are semi-circular with the Poly being a little flatter than the Hemi.  I did the below image in Paint.

Poly-Hemi

 

This image is from Hot Rod and Hemis.com and shows the Hemi, Poly and the regular A series engine chambers.

www.hotrodandhemis.com Compare Hemi, Poly, Series A

 

Plymouth was not the top of the brand at Chrysler so back in 1956 it didn’t get a Hemi.  It did get was called the A series engine which came in 4 different displacement (277, 301, 303 and the 318).

To be continued.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

plymouth fury

Auto Factoids for the Week of 7/23/2010

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7/20/1984 E.L. Cord was in Missouri.  If you think he’s only responsible for the Cord 

1937 Cord

 

 Think again!!!!  How about a company that included Stinson Aircraft, Checker Cab and American Airways (now American Airlines)? But let’s just stay with the cars.  How about the Auburn and Duesenberg?  His history is a good read. 

7/23/1894 first auto race.  It was organized by the Parisian magazine “Le Petit Journal” between the Paris to Rouen.  And the winner was………… Count Jules-Albert de Dion it took  6 hours and 48 minutes at an average speed of 19 km/h (which was approximately 11.806052652509345 p/h). I don’t know what he drove but 2nd places was taken by George Lamaitre and he drove a Peugeot: 

Peugeot 3 hp

7/24/1929 – 2, 000,000 Model A Ford built – A huge milestone. 

1929 Model A

Question from Reader Dodge/Plymouth 318 Poly

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Steve asked. 

As long as you are on the subject what the heck is the difference between a regular 318 and a poly 318? 

Poly is short for Polyspherical head. Some say it was a forerunner to the Hemi (Hemispherical head). Basically it was based on a theory that you could get more combustion or volume by angling the intake and exhaust valves then if you had them parallel. From Hemmings  Motor News book of Chrysler Performance Cars…”The ploy’s exhaust valve is located parallel to, but offset from, the cylinder axis.”  

This increased the efficiency.  The hemi was constructed to increase the efficiency with a more angled system. The shape that the valves make are semi-circular with the Poly being a little flatter than the Hemi.  I did the below image in Paint. 

Poly and Hemi

 

Thanks for the question Steve!!!  More to come on the 318. 

Thanks for reading. 

Tim

From a Reader – Household items to fix Cars.

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Tim,

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.

Steve Sears
Ridgecrest, Ca.

84 Corvette – Power Steering Work II

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As I stated in my last post, the molded hose for the power steering unit is no longer made.  So here is an idea that can be used to get around that problem for really just about any regular hose for just about any use. As long as the diameter is correct you can you use metal pipe for the molded portion of the hose.  My plan was to remove the shaped hose and take it to a shop that specialize in shaping pipe or least as a sideline to their metal work business.  They can normally create any shape.  After that is shaped, you can use straight hose on each end to attach to the fittings.  You’ll need two additional hose clamps. This is made easier if you have the metal shop slightly grind down the ends to slide into the rubber hose ends.

 Pls note that you have to be sure that metal is proper for the area you are going to use it in and for the fluid that is going to pass through it.

 So that was my plan for replacing the discontinued hose.  I typed “was” because as I got into the project I realised that particular hose was not necessary to replace.  This was a stroke of luck, because it would have taken a few days with the Corvette apart to get that accomplished.

 I’m going to give you a heads up right now.  I did NOT finish this project just on my own.  Nope, that whole Average skills and Average tools thing plays an important role in accomplishing projects.

 I took a couple of videos and I’ll see if I can get WordPress to work better than last time and I’ll toss them in at the end of this entry.

HELPFUL HINT:  There is a lot of fluid in the power steering reservoir.  As soon as you release the hoses, it’s going to poor all over the front of your engine and then on the ground.  An oil change tub will help keep it off the garage floor, no staining and no tracking it around. However, it will still run down the  engine.  So, I used a turkey baster.  EEEERRRKKK…(yeah it’s in caps!!!)  Do not put it back in the kitchen when you’re….NO…NO..NO….In fact if you are smart, ask first!!!  I did and I was surprised to hear  “Sure, but you’ll have to purchase a replacement.” For a minute I thought….well that’ll come out of my car budget….and I thought…I wonder if I can clean it up…and…ummm…(kidding of course).  It worked great and I just have to purchase one…but not until Thanksgiving!!!!  $10 bucks says..I’ll forget and have to run out on Thanksgiving and stand in line for 1.25 hours, if I can find one at all.  BTW – I recommend “Pampered Chief” brand for power steering fluid removal!!!! The next couple of pics show where we are on the engine and the hoses.

Reservoir and it's bracket

 

Parts Id

 

The two circles indicate the two bolts that need to be, “at the least loosened” if not removed.  You’ll notice that one can not be removed, unless the pulley is removed. I’m not going to take the pulley off and there lies the issue that I needed assistance with. 

But I did manage to remove and check both hoses, which resulted in the determination that the discontinued molded hose was still in great shape and not a threat to leak any time soon. 

Another look at where we are

 

Intro "Kitty" neighborhood cat that often shows up and sits in or on my cars while I work on them. Not having Thumbs, he's really no help.

 

A good look at the hoses. Most of the mess is not from the hose, but the cracked reservoir.

 

Here is at the end of the bulk hose that goes from the reservoir to the power steering pump. 

Old hose 1

 

Old hose 2

 

It was in pretty bad shape. 

PS pump and the mess!!!!

 

And here is the pic with the new hose attached. The hose had to be routed back through the reservoir bracket. 

Hose Upper connection

 

Hose lower connection.

 

As it turned out the actual removal of the reservoir required the removal of some key bolts that did in fact impact the position of the alternator.  As I removed the bolts I noticed the alternator shift.  At the beginning I didn’t think that was possible, because there is a solid bar attached to the alternator and the engine, however it did not.  I had most of the bolt out and decided that I’d better get them back in and I did except one and I should not get that one to line up.  

So off I go to my favorite place down the street and I had them finish it up. 

Here are some after pics. 

Lower Hose connection and PS Pump

New reservoir.

Another repair down.  It’s been a couple of tough months for the Corvette and her engine is going to need a good detailing, but not just yet.  I have another huge modification come up…a new intake.  That will be pretty soon, so keep checking back. 

Thanks for reading. 

Tim. 

84 Corvette – Power Steering Work

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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. 

Thanks for reading 

Tim

Auto Factoids for the week of 7/11/2010

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We got a first and a last on the same day – 60 years apart.

7/12/1922 – Frist Checker automobile  built

1922 Checker Cab

 

7/12/1982 – Last Checker automobile built

1982 Checker Cab

 

7/14/1955 – First Karman Ghia – I really like these cars.  I might own one some day, but maybe a Covair instead!!!

1955 Karmann Ghia - didn't change much from '55 - '74

7/16/1935…first parking meter in place in Oklahoma City, 30 minute later was the first parking ticket.

First Parking Meter

Thanks for reading

Tim

Auto Factoids for the Week of 7/4/2010

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Here ya go, enjoy. 

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. 

1942 Chevy Front.

 

1942 Chevy Backside

 

I think it looks great!!! 

7/8/1909  The first Hudson was built. 

Hudson Roadster from 1909

 

Thanks for reading 

Tim

1970 Mustang – Replacing my Pillar Post Moldings Part III

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Caulk another tasks down on the restoration of the Mustang. 

I finished up the pillar post molding last night.  Here is the before: 

Pretty?

 

Now these were not as labor intensive as the dash-pad but here were some issues. 

We’ll walk through them. 

The removing the dash-pad was chronicled in my earlier post and that was pretty quick now that I’ve done it twice. 

Once the dash-pad was removed there is an additional piece that needs to be removed, or at least a couple of screw removed on each side. That is the top molding: 

Top Molding

 

 In the picture above I’m pointing to one of the screws in the top molding that runs the length of the windshield.  That screw  is actually through the pillar molding which is partially behind it.  The top molding has 5 screws, two on each end and on my coupe the fifth is in the center and holds the plastic snap for the ends of the sun visors.  That screw does not have to be removed there is plenty of play after the removal of the four other screws, to safely (without forcing anything) remove and install the new moldings. 

The next step is removing the two additional screws that hold the pillar molding to the pillar. 

Screw Marked Remove

 

and this one: 

Second screw to remove.

 

It’s tough see there but here is a good clear picture…that old mold was so deteriorated it actually fell apart. 

Lower molding screw.

 

When I said it fell apart……. 

Yup. It was in bad shape.

 

The other side came/fell off the same way, in pieces, nothing left to do but snap the other pieces on and…eeerrrrkkkk(insert braking sound)…”Yeah..anybody know if you can insert sound in there a WordPress blog??” ….cricket..cricket…cricket……huuummm where’s my…oh I have no staff…well, only when my son visits (he does some on my graphic design..more on my new logo search later..maybe you all can vote on one??) back to my eeerrkkk…we need to discuss quality of workmanship for reproduction parts.  That won’t be a long discussion..”sucks”…there ya go, end of discussion. 

But really I know that they try, and I am grateful for something that looks almost as good, especially for a rare car like mine (…meaning not very sought after..at least not yet…therefore the profit in making any unique parts is next to nothing.) 

One of the first things about this particular molding is that is about 1/2 the thickness of the original and made of light plastic.  This worked out because the holes are not exactly lined up and there was a larger problem. 

Offset isn't correct.

 

As you can see the molding on the right (the original) where the screw driver blade is located, is recessed about 1/2 an inch, if not a little more.  On the left (new molding) there is almost only about 1/4 of an inch..maybe a bit less.  If the material for the new molding was as rigid as the original there would be no flex in the material and the lack of offset for tab on the new molding would not have allowed the use of the original screw, it would have been too short. Additionally, screw holes A and B  in the picture below were not aligned properly and would not have enough ”give” but allow installation, if it was stiff as the original. 

Improperly aligned.

 

 Was this engineering genius or happy mistake? 

Generally, the fit was close, not contours car show inspect-able close, but close enough for the local guys.  But if you can find parts made from “original tooling” (we talked about that when I was install the dash-pad for the first time) buy those, if your Average Budget can handle it.  These molding just aren’t available in any other tooling. 

With the holes in the wrong place it took some pressure and jostling to get them into place.  One tip I can pass on is do not tighten the screws until you have them all started.   I had to leave the top two screws out far enough to allow movement to get the bottom screw in. 

Keep the screw loose to maneuver the piece around.

 

 In the end the result were pretty good. You be the judge. 

Left side

 

Left side bottom (and my vette in the background)

 

Right side (and my neighbor's truck...like you need to know that!!)

 

Left Side bottom

 

Over all it took about 3 hours with interruptions with phone calls and neighbors stopping to chat.  It’s like Soaring over on www.MustangV8.com forum said..”Those are the kinds of tinkering jobs I like.  You get satisfaction you can actually see.”  (BTW – I like that forum, the Classic Mustang section is great.) 

Thanks for reading. 

Tim 

Vette troubles Overheading Do’s and Don’ts Part I

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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.   

More coming up.  

Thanks for reading   

Tim.