The other day it's not raining or ungodly hot so I decide to take my '79
Midget for a 200 mile round-trip highway run to the family farm to see
if it, and me, are up to the task of getting to Elkhart Lake.
Car ran surprisingly well and seemed right at home doing 65 down the
interstate. Just before the exit I need, about 80 miles into the trip,
my yellow oil pressure "idiot" light pop on and scares the bejebus out
of me! Good thing I also have a mechanical gauge that was showing a nice
60 psi.
Got off and went to the nearby McD to change my shorts and sort things
out. Circuit checks out. Bad pressure switch. This is a replacement
Borg-Warner switch from O'Reilly's that has failed me before. They offer
a lifetime replacement for the $6 switch, but I think I'll find a Lucas
one in my parts pile to replace it. How's that for irony?
Jump back in for the final 16 mile leg on two lane twisty roads. About
ten minutes in I hear a BANG and then a loud exhaust note. Find a place
to pull over and I hear a substantial exhaust leak from around the
exhaust manifold. Crap! It's only a few miles to the farm and I just
happen to have a spare 1500 engine in the shed.
Get to the farm and park in the shade. The car's too hot to monkey with
so I do the good son-in-law thing and cut about an acre of grass while
things cool down.
When I converted the car to twin HS2s a few years ago I also removed the
EGR valve and other pollution crap. On this car, the EGR sat on top of
the intake manifold with a pipe that ran down to the exhaust manifold.
These fittings are fine thread compression fittings not found at the
local Home Depot, so I had a short section of pipe, with compression
fitting, sticking out of the manifold with other end capped. Seems I
blew out that section of pipe, leaving just the hollow compression nut.
Space is severely limited, so I ended up removing the carbs and heat
shield. I try and remove the similar piece from the spare engine with
idea of bending over and sealing a section of the pipe and making a
plug, but it doesn't go well. I ended up removing the hollow nut and
using a 1/4 inch carriage bolt as a plug, head in first, filled with
RTV, a washer and double nuts on the exterior side and put it all back
together. It worked!!! So what if I had a little three hour delay. I'm
glad I had a decent workbench to affect the repairs.
Car ran fine home, although I did have to stop and reconnect a linkage
spring that came loose and it was running a little lean. A little
cleanup and some last minute tweaking and I'll be ready. What else could
go wrong, right?
See you all in ten days!
Lee
PS: While on the subject of vanity plates offending people, my regular
car's plate is FOX, my last name, and I get highly offended when people
think I'm somehow connected to Fox News. :)
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