Flint or bust......

[Paul Steinberg]

Went to have the Chrysler aligned, and one part replaced, only to find out that the front end is totally worn out. Hunting down replacement parts today. A year ago, everything was tight. Since the car had sat so long, the ball joints had rusted, and this past summers driving has torn them up. Got the ball joints, but still need the elusive bushings for the lower control arms. Seems that all the old rubber is failing and needs to be replaced. This will cancel out my making it to the Carnation Meet, but I should be on schedule for Flint, but my pockets will be grossly lighter...

 

[John ED Renstrom]

but the car will be so much tighter

 

[Paul Steinberg]

I located the two strut rods that I need on a "pick a part" parts car in a back yard in California. Dan Scully is going to be taking them off this weekend, and sending them to me. Got to love those rust free California parts cars. The only thing that I haven't located are the tie rod ends and the center drag link, and hopefully those will not need to be replaced anytime soon.

 

[Rick Franklin]

drag link? theres a joke hidden in here but im NOT gonna touch it!

 

[Ron Devies]

If you do not come to the Carnation Meet that is fine but we do have a $200 cancellation fee for not coming. That is payable to me in Flint.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

It looks like "bust", since it broke down on the Massachusetts Turnpike this morning on the way to having the ball joints replaced... Nothing drastic that throwing more $$$$ at won't fix.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

will better now than half way there. what happened/ will I ever get to see this car?

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Can't say for certain if you will ever get to see the car..... The welds that hold the ignition point plate in the distributor to the base which is driven by the distributor shaft broke loose, and the point plate was flopping around inside the distributor. This is my analysis of the problem upon removing the distributor cap and rotor. I will give it further analysis when I get the car tomorrow. This is known as a catastrophic failure... good one second, and bad the next. There is no way to know when a problem like this is going to happen, so there is no way to prepare for it.
I did get to use the emergency lighting to slow the traffic behind me, so I could coast from the left lane, across the right lane, to get into the breakdown lane. It was morning rush hour traffic!!

 

[Richard Vyse]

Come on Paul, "You can do it!". You are the Man and can get it fixed and be on the road by Friday. Sorry to see this happen and know it is very frustrating.

 

[John Royark JR]

Paul, you BETTER get it fixed, I've been waiting along time to see this car in person!

 

[Tony Karsnia - Deceased - 1971-2020]

Left lane to right lane to breakdown lane, huh?

Good thing you didn't swerve to the left to avoid the turtle...

 

[John ED Renstrom]

or to stop to pick up that sick feeling on the pit of your gut. but then the same thing happened to me coming home for the kingsport meet . we lost the electronic ignition in the 86. here one minute gone the next. any one with a old chy distributor they can loan Paul?

 

[Steve Lichtman]

That's why they call these things "money pits". Welcome to MY world!

AAA Plus is your friend......

 

[Paul Steinberg]

The auto parts store was able to order a "rebuilt" unit and have it to the repair shop by 3 PM. In the meantime, they replaced all the ball joints, and upper control arm bushings. It is scheduled to be on the alignment rack by 10 AM, and ready to leave by 11 AM. This leaves me with one day left to get all the rest of what I need to do done.

 

[Steve Lichtman]

This leaves me with one day left to get all the rest of what I need to do done.

Then you'd better hurry up and get off the computer so you can get to doing what you need to do to get done before you get going!

 

[Richard Vyse]

Left lane to right lane to breakdown lane, huh?

Good thing you didn't swerve to the left to avoid the turtle...

I got that Tony.

 

[Richard Vyse]

the auto parts store was able to order a "rebuilt" unit and have it to the repair shop by 3 pm. In the meantime, they replaced all the ball joints, and upper control arm bushings. It is scheduled to be on the alignment rack by 10 am, and ready to leave by 11 am. This leaves me with one day left to get all the rest of what i need to do done.

yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Just got home, and had to stop at a friends to borrow a timing light to set the distributor base timing. It runs well again, and it steers even better than before. Need to do some small items, and it should be ready for the road tomorrow evening. I'm planning on leaving at daybreak on Saturday, however, that time may change, depending on what has to be packed into the car beforehand.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

sounds good I hope to avoid running into you in the parking lot in flint. no since in ruining both our trips. see you there.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Hey Steve............

Does this look familiar? There are only a few differances... One, I have all the tools to do the job, but the job is taking a lot longer. Two, I don't have my able assistant Jeremy to help with the wrenching and holding. Three...... my replacement bumper will be correct for the car, so I shouldn't have to put the old one back on... Four... This disassembly took me over 5 hours to do, since I have to deal with rusted bolts and nuts that don't want to come apart. Chrysler's better idea is to use headless bolts in the bumper brackets that are pressed into holes in the brackets. Problem is that they just spin in the holes. Tomorrow I will be welding the heads of the bolts to the bumper brackets, so I can finish removing the nuts. Definitely not a parking lot job!!!!