Freddie's Back on the Road!

[MacDee]

Just heard back from the shop. The NEW torque converter, indeed, shredded itself!

[MacDee]

Maybe Freddie has a last name and it is Kruger?

There were no more torque converters available locally, so they're importing one from Michigan!! Won't be here 'till next week. Even the Ford Picnic is looking questionable at this point.

Speaking of luck... Here's a story I've never told before:

When I put the new seat covers in back in 2001, I found two little pyramids under the back seat. I remembered there once was a "fad" about pyramids, they were supposedly mystical and brought you good luck. Some previous owner of the car was superstitious, I figured, and put them in there for good luck! I'm not superstitious, so I didn't put them back when I replaced the seat. They've been sitting on my work bench ever since.
012.jpg
It looked like they might be valuable, otherwise, so I was just keeping them. From a recent search on the Internet, I discovered they're worth... about $15 each. So they're not valuable. But...

The first thing I'm gonna do when I get Freddie back,
...is SHOVE THOSE THINGS BACK UNDER THE SEAT!!

[ew1usnr]

Wow! That explains everything.

You offended the Pharaohs and they inflicted the mummy's curse.
Mummy's curse.jpg
(You probably had the same expression when your new torque converter disintegrated).

Put them back! Put them back!

[BadBird]

Which is worse. The mummy curse of sitting on two sharp things poking through the rear seat. Probably the mummy curse.

This has got to be the first time pyramids and mummies curses was on a car forum. . Larry

[Luva65wagon]

You should throw a few dollar bills under the seat for good measure. They have pyramids on them too. That ought to help future products installed on the car to survive for sure!



It'll give some future owner a booty to extract years down the road. That 'is' for certain.

[MacDee]

I got Freddie back last night. She runs and drives great!! (As she did the last time I tried to drive her home from the repair shop!)
I put the pyramids back under the seats...

I'm hoping to have enough confidence in her by the time of the Maltby show to take her there. It's only five miles from home....

[Luva65wagon]

Come on Gary! Have faith in the pyramids... and AAA.

[dhbfaster]

I'm thinking I can use some of those pyramids on my first drive....

[BadBird]

Are you putting three pyramids in the car. AAA looks like three pyramids to me.

[MacDee]

Well, we took Freddie for a nice long drive last weekend. We took her out on to SR202 between Duvall and Carnation and got her up to a steady 50 mph. No vibration!! She ran and drove very nicely, and she didn't break down!
She'll be making her public RE-debut at the Maltby show this Saturday (6/20). Hope to see some of y'all there!

[ew1usnr]

Well, we took Freddie for a nice long drive last weekend. We took her out on to SR202 between Duvall and Carnation and got her up to a steady 50 mph. No vibration!! She ran and drove very nicely, and she didn't break down! !

Hello, Gary.

You are cruising with the protection of the Pharaohs.
51 merc & pharaohs.jpg

[BadBird]

Gary, I am very anxious to see the completed car. Carol and I, with her mother are in Ogden Utah this evening and hopefully I will make the Maltby show. See you and others there I hope. Larry

[MacDee]

Freddie is running really well. We took her for a nice long drive (if you call 40 miles a nice long drive) and had no issues.
Well... one issue...
She tends to want to quit if you let off the gas really quick.
Say she's idling... goose it once and let off quickly; the engine speed will drop way below idle speed before she'll catch and continue running. On the trip, I was stopped at the entrance to the highway waiting to make a right turn. (There's a blind curve to my left so I can't see approaching cars until they're right there.) I start to move out to make my right turn, and suddenly there's a car rounding the blind curve. I let off, hit the brakes, and the engine quit.

I'm afraid to speculate, because this thing has been tuned by a PROFESSIONAL. I'm concerned, though, that maybe some of the stuff I did to the distributor and carburetor while trying to get the "previous build" to run may be jeopardizing its tune now. What I did may not be appropriate for the new, "shorter", cam:

The distributor has the flyweights arranged to provide the maximum amount of mechanical advance, 26 degrees if I remember correctly, and I put in the lightest springs on both weights. It's got a really quick, and long curve!

We (well... Pat) modified the Idle Fuel Restrictor port on the metering block in the Holley to provide more fuel at idle. It was the BREAKTHROUGH for the problem of the thing not being able to idle! I subsequently worked out throttle-response issues by going to richer main jets. The carb originally had #51 jets, it's now running #57"s.

I told all this to Professional who did the latest build, but I don't think he touched anything in the distributor or carb. I don't know how he decided on the initial timing, and I'm sure he only adjusted the idle mixture screws on the carb.

Any ideas or comments on the "wanting to quit" issue? ...or tune-up techniques? I'm tempted to try to re-tune it myself, but I'm very anxious about changing what the Professional has done!

[Luva65wagon]

Gary,

Because you have an automatic you'll want to add an anti-stall dashpot to allow the idle to come to the stop slower. With an automatic there is a tendency for the torque converter to load the engine on deceleration and cause a stall condition. Flywheels in manual cars have more inertia and prevent this. You can easily add one to the Holley by ordering their kit. I'm on my phone answering but you should be able to look it up on Summit and then order on Amazon if you choose.

Hope this helps.

[MacDee]

Hmm...
It does it even at idle in neutral.

Though...

A dashpot would probably help that too!

Thanks, Roger!