Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[Xeen]

Congratulations on the big win Vic it's well deserved.

[AKC]

Vic - My heartfelt (albeit late) condolences on the passing of your father.

I'm glad you were able to get CRLS's bugs worked out and got to do some cruising (and WINNING!!!)

Hope the hammer doesn't bite...

[Jason7121]

Nice award Vic and Kathy it was well deserved!!

[Vic1947]

Thanks again, everyone. Means a lot to me!

We've been busy remodeling, so haven't been posting much. But there was a local swap meet this weekend which presented a perfect opportunity to clean off some shelves (which puts a smile on Kathy's face.) So Friday afternoon, I took CRLS over to Chip's (LowElco) to borrow his utility trailer. Loaded it up yesterday and we were in line this morning at the crack of dawn. By lunchtime, we'd moved $800 worth of gently used parts and headed home. Unloaded what didn't sell and took the trailer back to Chip's place.

This is where my really great day headed into the crapper. As I was angling to get the trailer backed into Chip's driveway, the high pressure line from the PS pump that feeds into the Hydraboost blew up. By the time either of us realized what had happened, I'd dumped a quart of PS fluid onto the neighbor's driveway, all the way across the street right up to Chip's driveway. I couldn't have made a bigger mess if I tried on purpose. What you see in the photos is AFTER Chip and I spent about 20 minutes grinding oil absorbent into the pavement. Chip called me awhile ago and said after I left with the tow truck he'd used a brew of Mean Green, Dawn and water from the garden hose which helped a lot.

Soooo... Crusty went home on the hook (again!) and is now sitting in the shop with Pig Mat under it everywhere. Turns out the culprit was the crimped end of the hose I got from CPP. At first I assumed it was the end I cut and assembled with the fitting and ferrule they sent, but it was the swaged end instead. Going to call them tomorrow and ask if they've seen this before, and if they have, do they have a solution.

I'll be cancelling my appointment at the upholstery shop tomorrow. Had planned to have them pull the custom inner door panels so I can rework the (occasionally balky) door handles. Will have to save that for another day.

[Orange67]

Man thats a bummer. Congrats on th win, and hope everything else settles in. Love your truck man.

[swamp rat]

Well at least it wasn't anything you did but man that's got to put a damper on a persons day!

[rustytruck50]

Man, that's the craps...(paraphrased)...reminds me of the first drive my Cousin, who was a big car guy, took in my '68 Camaro. I was pretty proud of it because it was my first car & we had only driven a couple of miles when the alternator bracket broke & we had to limp it home. I was embarrassed and disappointed. It got fixed, just like this will. Guess it's part & parcel of the stuff we love.

[cornerstone]

Man that sucks Vic. I bet it was a mess in your engine bay also. I guess several of us have a similar story. In 1989 I had taken a fellow employee on a quick lunch break joyride in my 69 fastback mustang and blew the same high pressure line and it spewed all over the glowing red headers, quickly filling the cab with smoke. It FREAKED him out, I guess he thought we were fixin to blow up or something so he bailed while we were still rolling to a stop. One of those complete chaos moments you never forget.

[mcbassin]

Dang! That sucks! I've use that same style fitting on my fuel and tranny cooling lines. I think that hydraboost uses a lot higher pressure though. Must have made a real mess of your tidy engine compartment too. That would really suck if had happened during hard braking.....

[Low Elco]

My comment was, at least it wasn't in the center lane of the freeway!

[Vic1947]

Pretty funny stories! I'd bet we've all been there one time or another. I've got Crusty back on the road. Been awhile since the house remodel took priority. On the day the flooring crew was here, I sneaked down to the shop and replaced the faulty line. CPP came thru for me and sent a complete new line kit under warranty... even though it's been a year and a half since I bought the parts. Their tech said it was the first time they've heard of this problem but wanted to send a complete kit to be on the safe side. Excellent customer service. FedEx on the other hand could have done a better job. Check out the CPP box clearly marked FRAGILE. Squeezed like an accordion.

Made a test run to our local Lowe's store to return some unused flooring materials and had no issues whatsoever. I cut a short length off the end of the original hose and put a reusable 90 deg. end on it. I'm carrying it as a spare (just like the serpentine belt) in case of a repeat but hope I won't need it.

[sduckworth13]

Glad to know you got it back on the road Vic!

[rustytruck50]

Good to hear, Vic! Nice to see that CPP did the right thing and took care of you

[Low Elco]

Nice to hear they took care of you. Glad it's back up and running.

[knomadd]

Wow, been a while since I checked in. It's a damn good thing you were where you were when the line blew. I've had a master complete brake failure and thought similarly about what "could have been" had it happened at a different time. Your guardian angel was watching out for you that day. Glad you got it fixed. I need to put a spare parts box in my bed, for those "just in case" situations.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Wow, been a while since I checked in. It's a damn good thing you were where you were when the line blew. I've had a master complete brake failure and thought similarly about what "could have been" had it happened at a different time. Your guardian angel was watching out for you that day. Glad you got it fixed. I need to put a spare parts box in my bed, for those "just in case" situations.

True that, Duane! I've heard that the accumulator on the HydraStop will supply enough pressure for three powered stops before it reverts to "manual" (which is really no brakes at all). I'd be lying if I said I trusted that to be 100% the case.

So... time for something new.

Kathy and I drove over to St. Louis today and I purchased my next project. It's a 1957 Chevy 210 4dr station wagon dressed as a Bel Air. Has a 283 ?? with some sort of 3 speed auto trans in place of the stock Powerglide. A little rust, but looks manageable. I'll be posting to the Alt builds thread when it gets underway.

[cornerstone]

AWESOME!!!!! Love me some wagon action! More inspiration on the way!

[rustytruck50]

Those are so cool!!!
Lookin' forward to this one!!!
Congrats on the purchase!!!

[rustytruck50]

A guy I worked with in Lincoln had one, but it was a 210 2dr....sky blue & white with black & white interior, 283 with 3OTT and Smithys. The story goes that his brother bought it new & drove it many years and parked it when he felt he was done with it. My friend, a car guy unlike his brother, inquired about the car and bought it for a dollar because it was just a used up old car. It got a cleanup and the mechanicals freshened up & was good to go. He knew I was infected with the car bug & one day he brought it to work and asked if I wanted to see it...are you kidding me!!! When I came back inside, he tossed me the keys and said he wanted me to take it when I went to lunch. One of the best lunch breaks I've ever had, to say the least!

[bevis1]

so how did you get it home?

[sduckworth13]

Cool ride Vic!

[swamp rat]

This one is gonna be fun!

[Vic1947]

I think this ought to be a fun one. I was so tired last night I didn't say much about the circumstances. A friend found the wagon on FB marketplace. It took several days to arrange a meet where I could see it in person. It was located about 220 miles from us near St. Louis which is an easy drive on I-70. It had belonged to an older fellow who had passed away and was part of his estate. His son said that his mom had passed about 15 years ago and there was no one around to tell his dad NO anymore, so he'd accumulated over a dozen project cars, including this one. The seller mentioned he'd had over 3000 hits on the car in the first 24 hours. And probably, a half dozen guys tried to trade him a Harley for it. I believe I may have been the first to show up with cash, though.

I'd arranged for my buddy to meet me there if I bought it and he would trailer it to my house. However, the car seemed to run okay and the brakes sorta worked, so Kathy and I decided I'd drive it home and she would follow. If it broke down, we could always call Jim and have him load it up and haul it the rest of the way. Plus, my brother-in-law, Rick had already thrown down and said if I didn't at least try to drive it home, I didn't have a hair on my azz.

It was raining lightly when we left and I didn't even get out of the driveway before it died... the first of many, many times. It has a new carb on it, but something's not right. I got good at shifting it into neutral and revving the engine to keep it running if I had to slow down. The wipers worked, but the blades were shot, so I had just a small patch I could see out of. By the time we got it out on I-70 pointed back to KC, I knew I was in for a Roadkill episode. It topped out around 65, but was doing pretty good for awhile. We stopped at all the rest areas and several truck stops to check on things, but it seemed okay except for being down on power. None of the gauges worked, but they'd added some aftermarket ones. The only one of those that worked was the oil pressure and it held steady at 40psi. You could tell the engine was staying plenty cool so we forged ahead.

At about the halfway point, it nosed over and wouldn't run but about 50. Pulled off the road and discovered that the rubber gas pedal had slipped off the throttle arm and was sitting under it. After putting it back in place, it resumed doing 65, but was having an increasingly harder time pulling the hills. We made our last stop about 65 miles from home and by then, despite all the problems, it looked like we just might make it. When we rounded the corner to go up the hill to our house, it was barely making 5 mph. Coasted into the driveway and it promptly died. But we made it.

My right shoulder and knee were throbbing and shaking from the effort. At times, I had to use my hand to push down on my knee to keep the gas pedal matted. Some Advil and a good night's rest took care of all that and I'm looking forward to the coming build. No delusions this time. Plans call for a Roadster Shop frame, LS or LT power, Dakota Digital, Vintage Air... the works. The downside is that I'll be moving Crusty down the road. I only have space for one project car and I need to sell to have the funds to do what I want. I missed getting a good spot in the December Mecum auction, but they said they'd call me when they open the books for the one in March. Till then, I plan to tinker around with it, get the title work done and start a build thread. Stay tuned....

[bevis1]

Roadkill fer sure! I'm proud of ya.

[rustytruck50]

Hate to see Crusty leave, but this is a great replacement!