1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[PhilA]

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Curiosity got the better of me tonight so I went to the garage and spun the commutator up clean in the drill.

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Redid the solder joints.

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Polished and oiled the bearings, reassembled and gave it a brief bench test. Didn't draw stupid current (6V 3.7A steady) and didn't get overly warm. I'll redo the main feed wire and go from there with it, I think.

Phil

[DodgeRover]

Are you dropping the voltage down to 6v for it?

[PhilA]

Are you dropping the voltage down to 6v for it?

No, I'm going to see if it overheats now that it's been lubricated. It moves a highly satisfactory amount of air at 12V.

[PhilA]

I assembled the fan into the housing and tested it.

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At 6V it's drawing a moderate amount of current. I need to run it at 6v and again at 12V and measure the temperature difference of the motor.

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I forgot to take a picture before I started but this is what the underneath duct came off the car looking like.

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I spent 2 hours smashing the shit out of it with a hammer.

Also, the question of if the car spent most of its life in Mississippi/Alabama- yes. It did. How do we know?

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Geology. That's Alabama clay right there, removed from up inside the duct.

More to follow.

Phil

[PhilA]

I had a few minutes so had a go at measuring the temperature of the motor.

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Ambient.

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After 15 minutes of 6V it's stabilized at about 20 degrees over ambient. Not bad, considering it's not a ventilated motor.

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Run for another 10 minutes at 12V to see what it would do. Another 10 degrees on top; the end cap reached about 106F. None of the case was too hot to touch.

Not too bad overall, solder melts at about 370F so it's not quite that warm there. I'll pull it apart again and check for any signs of distress.

Phil

[PhilA]

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Started work on the sheet metal again tonight. Chiseled off what remained of the old underseal.

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Surprisingly, where the underseal was attached properly, the paint was in fairly good condition.

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Portable fingerprint removal tool was working overtime.

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Fan clamshell.

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Ductwork and the other half of the clamshell.

Not perfect but it's better. I like gloss black.

Phil

[PhilA]

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Rewired, reassembled and now it's now in the car and working.

Phil

[PhilA]

Pictures in the daylight.

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Up in the front wheel arch, the intake pipe for the fan.

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Pipe and repaired ducting- this was an issue because the pipe was bent to fit how the duct had been mangled- I ended up having to put a jackstand under the pipe and lowering the car down onto it gently to get it to bend to shape so I could tighten the bracket.

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Best shot of the fan, it's all tucked down the back.

Phil

[LynehamHerc]

Maybe I'm misreading where things are but if I'm not do you either plan to run over people so that they can admire your, admittedly excellent work, or display it with mirrors underneath?

I suppose as a perennial bodger having pride in my work, say least car wise, is an alien feeling for me. If it roughly fits it's good to go.

[PhilA]

Maybe I'm misreading where things are but if I'm not do you either plan to run over people so that they can admire your, admittedly excellent work, or display it with mirrors underneath?

I suppose as a perennial bodger having pride in my work, say least car wise, is an alien feeling for me. If it roughly fits it's good to go.

I understand that too, in this case I had pulled it off, I needed to beat on a couple of pieces with hammers so that made a mess.. while it was off I figured I would wire wheel it down and fling some paint on it to try protect it again for a few more years.
Ultimately the shiny bit in the wheel arch needs underseal, so that'll be poopoo brown and funky looking but it'll stop the paint chipping off.

Phil