Yahooooo!
Got back to the car today to try and identify the source of the motor noise that has been so troubling. Motorhead friend and master mechanic Paul Austin joined me for the day. Attempts to diagnose the problem were fruitless, although Paul found that when you take off the oil filler cap, the noise got a lot louder. That seemed to mean in was internal to the engine. Shorting out a plug made the noise lessen, but not go away, and every cylinder seemed to have the same effect. Carefully listening with the help of a mechanic's stethoscope indicated that bearings, etc. were all normal. Our tentative conclusion was that it must be piston skirt noise -- pistons being too loose in the cylinders.
So we dropped the oil pan and took a look at the insides. The first good indicator was the absence of any metal in the oil pan, so things were wearing well. We checked the tightness of the inner oil pickup filter and metal splash shield that runs along the inside of the oil pan (bolts to the block), and it was all tight. But we took it all off anyway, then checked the clearances on a couple of rod bearings. Perfect. That left us thinking piston skirts afterall. Got it all back together and started it up. Lo and behold, the noise was no more, even after running it 20 minutes or so to be sure it got hot. It is too early to definitively conclude that we fixed it, but it seems plausible that there was some kind of harmonic vibration in that spash shield that we cured by taking it off and putting it back on. Guess we won't know for sure until we really get a chance to run the car for a longer period, but I'm interpreting all this as good news. The noise previously showed up very quickly, so not hearing it for 20 minutes seems very encouraging.
Here's me reassembling the spash shield.
Meanwhile, I got the newly refurbished steering wheel mounted (single spoke up on a '36, down on a '35) and got the horn installed. Here's a picture of Paul installing the horn button. Like so many things in this kind of work, what should have been a 5 minute job took half an hour. It turns out that refinishing the steering wheel meant that the horn ring didn't seat as deeply as it should. So Ken got some longer machine screws and ground down the heads down to fit. Voila, they worked and so does the horn.
Here's Paul at work, and a picture of the new wheel.
The chromed window frame parts are due back later this week, so that will allow Ken to finish the doors. Another two weeks and he should be done. All we will need is the running boards.
So we dropped the oil pan and took a look at the insides. The first good indicator was the absence of any metal in the oil pan, so things were wearing well. We checked the tightness of the inner oil pickup filter and metal splash shield that runs along the inside of the oil pan (bolts to the block), and it was all tight. But we took it all off anyway, then checked the clearances on a couple of rod bearings. Perfect. That left us thinking piston skirts afterall. Got it all back together and started it up. Lo and behold, the noise was no more, even after running it 20 minutes or so to be sure it got hot. It is too early to definitively conclude that we fixed it, but it seems plausible that there was some kind of harmonic vibration in that spash shield that we cured by taking it off and putting it back on. Guess we won't know for sure until we really get a chance to run the car for a longer period, but I'm interpreting all this as good news. The noise previously showed up very quickly, so not hearing it for 20 minutes seems very encouraging.
Here's me reassembling the spash shield.
Meanwhile, I got the newly refurbished steering wheel mounted (single spoke up on a '36, down on a '35) and got the horn installed. Here's a picture of Paul installing the horn button. Like so many things in this kind of work, what should have been a 5 minute job took half an hour. It turns out that refinishing the steering wheel meant that the horn ring didn't seat as deeply as it should. So Ken got some longer machine screws and ground down the heads down to fit. Voila, they worked and so does the horn.
Here's Paul at work, and a picture of the new wheel.
The chromed window frame parts are due back later this week, so that will allow Ken to finish the doors. Another two weeks and he should be done. All we will need is the running boards.
posted by Bob Shafto at 6:12 PM
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