1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[BenHar]

No point in trying to get more power by increasing the revs.

Crankshaft is too long.

Supercharger might work.

Ben

[PhilA]

Went for a drive before parking the car up.

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Caught the damn bridge, waiting for the world's slowest double barge to pass by.

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Clouds are pretty though.

Phil

[PhilA]

Got the car nice and warm, then had my wife floor the throttle in D with the brakes fully on.
Tweaked the timing for peak RPM.

Went road test. Checked timing position with light (know where it was at least now) and adjusted on the scale marker. Got shortly better but torque was coming in a little low, about 1200-1500 and peaking at about 2000; it should come in at 1800 and peak at 2200.
Dicked about with it a bit more, got too warm, too dark, gave up and went home.

But, when it's tuned and it comes on song- man, it really feels like it's got some get up and go (even though it really doesn't!)

Phil

[mercrocker]

I settle for feeling fast these days!

[PhilA]

Well, it does have the feeling of that- when the timing is bob-on, and it's nicely warmed up, squeezing the throttle down at about 35 makes it thrum and the front end picks up and you get that purposeful growl from the engine as you pick up speed. Not much power but oodles of torque.

Phil

[PhilA]

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Fuel and vacuum pump rebuild kit just arrived in the mail.

Phil

[LynehamHerc]

I'm still surprised that you can just get these things without too much apparent hassle.

[PhilA]

I'm still surprised that you can just get these things without too much apparent hassle.

That's all brand new, stamped and machined on CNC.

$84 delivered which is pretty good considering it's a niche thing, but these AC pumps were used on so many cars from the 50's through to the mid 60's that there's a calling for them, particularly now as the rubber parts on this are ethanol resistant. The originals aren't.

Phil

[mercrocker]

I'm always envious of how many American car parts are still reasonably easy to get and appear to be of a good quality. Different to running a Cowley where anything other than engine parts that are available is 2nd hand and worse than what is on the car or Indian and worse than what is on the car.

[PhilA]

I'm always envious of how many American car parts are still reasonably easy to get and appear to be of a good quality. Different to running a Cowley where anything other than engine parts that are available is 2nd hand and worse than what is on the car or Indian and worse than what is on the car.

People have become quite discerning, and there's quite a large cottage industry that's formed around a lot of the common marques- GM stuff there was so much parts interchangeability across years and models that is become worthwhile making them again.
Less common brands you're often left high and dry, trying to find good spares from junkyards or collectors.

There's a moderate following of cars from each decade, some are show cars, others are daily drivers. The most popular ones grew into fairly large commercial ventures, starting with the trio of 55-57 Chevrolets, then up through sixties with Impala, Nova etc being catered for and then through to the iconic muscle cars of the early 70's.

The betweens can sometimes be missed but there's often enough overlap for things to be moderately available.

Phil