Advance Setback...

The wife and I drove Nell to a meeting at church this evening.  I knew something was wrong as I pulled out of the driveway.  There just didn't seem to be much power!  During the entire 5 miles to church, I kept thinking "something just isn't right!"  It was bogging and lagging, and I couldn't go much over 50 on the freeway.  The car ran great yesterday... what could be wrong now?

By the time we got to church, I could smell burning plastic.  Nell was idling too low, and seemed ready to stall.  I pulled into a parking lot and opened the hood... the tach cable casing had melted where it goes over the battery heat shield.  This has never happened before... the heat shield was HOT... so were the exhaust manifolds... really hot!

Well, we went to the church meeting, figuring that Nell could probably get us home again.  She did, but it wasn't a fun ride.  The engine bogged terribly, and backfired under load if I gave it more than half-throttle.  I was grateful to get home without incident, and back Nell into the garage to cool down.

I suspect that the advance mechanism on the mechanical advance Mallory Unilite distributor has somehow failed.  It is a racing model with no vacuum advance, so it may not be advancing at all.  All the symptoms point to this.  I will check on repairing the distributor, but I may also be interested in replacing it with a '57 vintage Ford/Mercury tach drive distributor.  Having a vacuum advance will make the engine run cooler at idle, and will improve fuel economy a little.  Unfortunately, these distributors are rare and expensive... I've been looking for a good deal on one for almost two years!

I'll give the Mallory another chance... tomorrow I'll check the advance with a timing light.  If so, I'll pull the rotor and see if there is anything obviously wrong with the advance mechanism, like a broken spring or something.  If not, I may be going shopping.

Update 9/30: I checked the timing with a timing light, and it was all over the place.  I pulled the cap and rotor off the distributor, and found that the backing plate (underneath the advance mechanism) could be moved back and forth about 10 degrees!  This is not good, and indicates to me that something important has come loose inside the distributor.  I'm hoping that the pin holding the drive gear to the shaft didn't shear off, because that means there is probably a little piece of metal rattling around inside the engine! 

I plan on pulling the distributor weekend after next... this weekend I am taking a group of Boy Scouts on an Astronomy campout.  In the mean time, I'm looking for a '57 tach drive distributor!

Spare Tire

I've been going to cruise nights pretty regularly this summer.  It has been a real joy to share Nell with family, friends and strangers.  When my travel schedule allows, I try to drive her somewhere at least once a week.  This is necessary to keep the gas fresh, the seals wet, and the car fully functional.  Plus, I need a regular reminder of God's grace to me.

When I made my original decision about the wheels and tires on this car, I determined that I wanted a full size spare on a full size rim.  Having a spare tire in the trunk provides insurance against the possibility of a certain kind of road hazard.  Admittedly, the likelihood of this occurrence is pretty small, and the likelihood of it happening outside of cell phone and tow truck coverage is miniscule.  Still, for almost a year I stowed the full size spare in the trunk.  It wasn't a whitewall like the others, but it was exactly the same size... and it took up half the space in the trunk!  It was also awkward to remove, since it was bulky and must weigh about 50 pounds.

At one of the first cruise nights this summer, I met a guy with a '57 bird who had a compact spare in the trunk.  It was one of those collapsible jobs that they don't make any more... like the one that came in my '87 Firebird.  This kind of spare needs a CO2 cartridge and/or electric pump to inflate it before it can be used.  While it worked when I needed it on my Firebird, the cartridge/pump does take up more space and is one more thing that can go wrong.

When I started preparing for our trip up Highway 1, I kept thinking about all that room and weight in the trunk taken up by the spare.  I started looking for a compact spare that might serve, and eventually got a Ford-style 4 1/2 x 16 aluminum rim spare with T145/80D16 tire on eBay for $50.  This one was off a 98 or 99 Lincoln Town Car, but the same wheel/tire is used on Crown Vics and Mustangs.  I didn't know if it would fit, but I lucked out:

The Lincoln compact spare fits fine.  Nothing is close to rubbing in the front, and I don't intend to ever put this spare in the back because it is a different diameter than the other tires.  I'll have to rotate a front tire to the back if I get a flat back there.

Since the car has been lowered a little, I was concerned about ground clearance.  The spare is 1 1/2" smaller diameter than the stock tires, but this isn't really a problem.

And here's the reason I wanted the smaller, lighter spare!  Trunkspace!  Note the original spare tire rest on the floor above the fuel filler... the original size spare really does take up half the trunk!  I keep my tool bag & jumper cables  underneath the spare when I travel.

Having more trunk space was very handy on the convention road trip!  It only weighs 25 pounds, so it's very easy to take in and out.  I wouldn't want to drive very far on it, but I do like having the assurance that a piece of road debris isn't necessarily going to ruin my trip.  I still like having a full size tire &  powder coated  wheel in the garage if I need it, but I feel comfortable that my tire hazard "insurance" for long trips is adequately covered by the compact spare.

I took on another minor improvement after returning from the convention.  The driver side mirror had come loose in an awkward spot, and was rattling so badly that it was pretty much useless on the freeway.  The problem is in the way the stainless mirror shell is riveted  to the ball joint.  I couldn't get to the back of the rivet without popping the glass out of the shell, and I really didn't know how to do that without breaking the glass.  What to do?  JB Weld to the rescue!

JB Weld is basically 2-part epoxy fortified with fine iron filings, and it's pretty tough stuff.  Filling the gap between the stainless shell and the ball post with this stuff tightened up the joint and eliminated the rattle, for far less than the cost of a replacement mirror head.  Since the passenger's side was a little loose too, I went ahead and did the same treatment on that side.  This may be a temporary fix, but I'm happy with it for now.  When I reassembled the mirrors, I applied a very thin layer of white grease on the joints to make them easier to adjust.

I'm getting ready for another life milestone in November.   God continues to bless me.  I will have to elaborate on that in my next post.