1939 Chevy coupe

[Captain]

This what "Ol Skool" Hot Rod Guys Do !!!
Help another Rusty Iron Junkie out,
And Share Knowledge (past experiences)
to do "A Field Repair" to get him to his home garage.

[1946Austin]

This what "Ol Skool" Hot Rod Guys Do !!!
Help another Rusty Iron Junkie out,
And Share Knowledge (past experiences)
to do "A Field Repair" to get him to his home garage.

Hopefully it's a permanent fix, and not just enough to get him home. I know if it was my car I'd feel comfortable leaving it as fixed, and not worry about pulling threads again.

[1946Austin]

Been awhile since I had any updates. Last fall I bought a set of larger air bleeds jets for my Quick Fuel 650 carb on the '39. It was just too gassy smelling at idle, and I figured I'd swap out the low speed idle bleeds from a NHRA winter nationals @ pomona to a bit larger Deora Project to get more air in the idle mixture. So after having new bleeds for 6 months I figured I'd get them installed before the first cruise of the season on Wednesday afternoon. That's the season opener of our Wed. night cruise and drags.
I warmed the engine up and checked the idle vacuum while it was getting up to temperature. Shut it off, and stuffed some rags down the carb to catch a bleed jet if I dropped one, and removed all 4 corners bleed jets. Installed the new ones, only dropping one which didn't go anywhere with the rag to stop it. Fired it up, and began tweaking the idle air screws for maximum engine vacuum. Once I'd adjusted all four corners the engine vacuum went from a measly 10 inches to 16 inches and smelled much cleaner too! That's pretty darn good vacuum reading considering how big the roller cam is in this engine!
Really quick little job that only took maybe 30 minutes and made the engine much better. Pretty nice throttle response when done, but just blipping it, not out for a drive. I'll see how it does on the street Wednesday when we go to the cruise in. First Wednesday of the year should get up around 2000 cars attending, and weather looks great at high 70's!

[1946Austin]

Drove to the opening night of our weekly Wed. night cruise at the dragstrip last Wed. When I got partway home I noticed the fan belt squealing every time I gave the engine some throttle. The next day I went out to adjust the belt and when I loosened the adjustment the whole alternator moved too much. I figured the mounting bracket bolts were loose, which are the same two bolts that hold the header around #1 cylinder. But checked both bolts and they were tight. Loosened them up and the bracket fell off, cracked across both bolt holes!
Took it to the shop and welded the broken pieces back together, and reinstalled it on the header tube. Went to put the belt back on and noticed it was worn thinner in width from the alternator being loose. So went to the local Autozone 6 blocks away and of course they have zip for V belts now. Young kid at the counter said "V belts are old school, and nobody buys them anymore". So he tries to sell me a same length serpentine belt! I just shook my head and left.
Tried an OReilly's not far away and they also had nothing. I finally went home and ordered one from Amazon. Seems Amazon still thinks V belts aren't obsolete as they had plenty of A width belts in a 53" length.

[1946Austin]

So the belt arrived from Amazon seller, and marked with the maker's name in bright yellow letters and a big "USA" beside the name. Then a few inches away in teeny letters, "Made in India". Too funny.
It does appear to be a high quality industrial looking belt like I used to see in the 60's or 70's though. But width is slightly wider than what was usual for car pulleys, so once installed the belt sits slightly above flush of the pulleys. That created yet another issue in making the belt length slightly short! So after some cussing, and irritation, I decided to sit down and consider my options. Wait for another longer belt, and hope it wasn't too long, or see if I could make it work somehow?
My alternator sits above the universal bracket, and has always been close to the valve cover on the driver's side. I wondered if I swung it down below the bracket if it would clear and swing closer to make the belt fit? I swung it down, and the belt slipped over the alternator pulley fine! So now how to tension it? I cut the adjuster section off my arm and mounted it to the alternator in a almost vertical position. The alternator swings up instead of away from the water pump, so had to change direction. I then bolted the other half of the arm to the pivot point on the water pump and swung it up to overlap the adjuster part of the arm. I clamped the two together with vise grips, and then removed the arm. Took it to the shop and cut through both pieces with the band saw, and then butt welded the cut ends together.
Gave it a test fit and it works great. Ground the welds down a little to dress it up, and shot some satin black on it and reinstalled it on the car. Worked out great, and now the alternator is a low mount, and I don't need to swing it away to remove the valve cover anymore. A win-win!

[DanStokes]

So those folks in India knew what they were doing!

[Captain]

Kinda Like "Reverse Engineering, eh?" on the bracket....

[SuperBuickGuy]

So the belt arrived from Amazon seller, and marked with the maker's name in bright yellow letters and a big "USA" beside the name. Then a few inches away in teeny letters, "Made in India". Too funny.
It does appear to be a high quality industrial looking belt like I used to see in the 60's or 70's though. But width is slightly wider than what was usual for car pulleys, so once installed the belt sits slightly above flush of the pulleys. That created yet another issue in making the belt length slightly short! So after some cussing, and irritation, I decided to sit down and consider my options. Wait for another longer belt, and hope it wasn't too long, or see if I could make it work somehow?
My alternator sits above the universal bracket, and has always been close to the valve cover on the driver's side. I wondered if I swung it down below the bracket if it would clear and swing closer to make the belt fit? I swung it down, and the belt slipped over the alternator pulley fine! So now how to tension it? I cut the adjuster section off my arm and mounted it to the alternator in a almost vertical position. The alternator swings up instead of away from the water pump, so had to change direction. I then bolted the other half of the arm to the pivot point on the water pump and swung it up to overlap the adjuster part of the arm. I clamped the two together with vise grips, and then removed the arm. Took it to the shop and cut through both pieces with the band saw, and then butt welded the cut ends together.
Gave it a test fit and it works great. Ground the welds down a little to dress it up, and shot some satin black on it and reinstalled it on the car. Worked out great, and now the alternator is a low mount, and I don't need to swing it away to remove the valve cover anymore. A win-win!

the r2.8 I'm putting in my wife's Jeep says "Made in USA" on the box, and most of the writing on the hoses and such are in Chinese. The box is made in the USA, but some parts (read, the entire damn motor) is sourced "from others"

[1946Austin]

It's been extremely tough to source USA made parts, and even when you think you did, it's still likely you got sold 3rd world parts. At least the India made belt seems to be good so far. I have noticed at idle I can actually hear the belt whirring when the rpm's are low. Disappears at around 1400 rpm's. Not sure what it is about the belt surface, but keeping an eye on it.

On an OT point. I almost always change my own oil on all our cars, but earlier this year I got lazy and paid a local garage to do it. Today it was due for another oil change on my Ford Fusion SE V6, so I jacked it up to drain the oil. Some clown tightened the oil pan plug so tight that the socket stripped off the bolt before it broke loose! It was a 12 point, so I grabbed a 6 point socket and banged it over the mangled head with my hammer and then had to put a cheater bar over the ratchet handle to get enough leverage to finally break it loose!
Same for the oil filter, but my filter wrench broke it free with less effort. Not sure what some moron thought, but surprised he didn't strip the threads out of the aluminum pan!

[Captain]

I still do my own oil changes.
Doing my 92 yr old Dads SUV.....
Same Story, AND they even Painted a Witness Mark on the Drain Plug !
The filter was about normal, mostly that there is NO ROOM to Work on ANYTHING on 2023-24 cars !! ALSO you have to REMOVE a Bottom Panel that covers the ENTIRE underside of the Engine Compartment. 8 more screws to be fishing for while you are under there !!

[SuperBuickGuy]

It's been extremely tough to source USA made parts, and even when you think you did, it's still likely you got sold 3rd world parts. At least the India made belt seems to be good so far. I have noticed at idle I can actually hear the belt whirring when the rpm's are low. Disappears at around 1400 rpm's. Not sure what it is about the belt surface, but keeping an eye on it.

On an OT point. I almost always change my own oil on all our cars, but earlier this year I got lazy and paid a local garage to do it. Today it was due for another oil change on my Ford Fusion SE V6, so I jacked it up to drain the oil. Some clown tightened the oil pan plug so tight that the socket stripped off the bolt before it broke loose! It was a 12 point, so I grabbed a 6 point socket and banged it over the mangled head with my hammer and then had to put a cheater bar over the ratchet handle to get enough leverage to finally break it loose!
Same for the oil filter, but my filter wrench broke it free with less effort. Not sure what some moron thought, but surprised he didn't strip the threads out of the aluminum pan!

my opinion on oil changes is dealer or do it myself (which is what I usually do)... I've sued far too many of these quick change places to ever trust them..

[DanStokes]

my opinion on oil changes is dealer or do it myself (which is what I usually do)... I've sued far too many of these quick change places to ever trust them..

On the other hand, if you need a new engine anyhow you can use one of those places and hope for a screw-up. I know this lawyer guy.....

[1946Austin]

I was having the local Ford dealer, and Subaru dealer do our two daily driver cars, and still use the Subaru dealer for my wife's Legacy. But the Ford dealer began to irritate me when I dropped my car off and later that day nothing was done! And another time I said I'd wait to hopefully get it done quicker, and sat there for 3 hours waiting. Then got a big list of overpriced suggested repairs after all the waiting.
So as much as I'd prefer to only work on my 3 classic vehicles, I went back to doing my Ford Fusion also.

[SuperBuickGuy]

On the other hand, if you need a new engine anyhow you can use one of those places and hope for a screw-up. I know this lawyer guy.....

and he advises you to avoid those places you know you're going to have to sue. I understand he'd rather work on his own cars then your choices made by ignoring his solid advice.