My Daytime Job

Gidday,

Yep I've been a signwriter since I was 17 years old, when I left school I taught myself and started my own business in my parents garage, practise, practise and more practise, row after row of ABC's and 123's, I learnt the old fashioned way with a brush and tin of paint.... Now I have all the modern computer generated signmaking equipment to produce high grade vinly decals and stickers which makes up a good part of my work load but I still do alot the traditional "old fashioned" handpainted way as it lasts and it's very rewarding to produce also it is an art form that is not taught nowdays but is still in demand.... Love it.

28 years later and still lov'in my job... Cheers

Two Chev's Out On The Road

Gidday,

Theres a first for everything so after a few hours in the resto shed installing the fuel filter and fine tuning my carby a little, we headed out on the road for a quick drive in a chev each for the first time and I can say that there was no racing of any kind, I tried but Ray won't be in it, before Ray had to suit up and make a mad quick dash back down the Hwy towards Melbourne against a very strong, gusty head wind as there were big rain storms predicted to hit this afternoon, btw they came to and he made it back just before it poured down..

Our drive over to the local park for these photos was a short one with fuel filters working very well and both our engines running very sweet and smooth.....

Thanks once again Ray....

Resto: New Glass "Carter" Fuel Filter Fitted

Gidday,

Today Ray rolled up in his 1928 Chev from Melbourne around 9.30am and he just missed out on a big serve of bacon and eggs that I had cooked up for breaky, better luck next time Ray!!
We had a couple of hours of work to do in the resto shed "fine tuuning" a couple of fuel issues on Monty and the first thing that we completed was to install a "1930's" "Carter" glass fuel filter onto the fuel line near the firewall, Ray picked up two every good ones from our mate Kevin in NSW so we had to get mine fitted up today then go for a test drive down toYarragon and "Coco's Cafe".
Ray had already installed his throughout the week and ironed out a couple of things while doing that so this install was straight forward, here are a few photos....

But first the bacon and eggs.... yumm

One box of olives, nuts and connectors makes the jobs easy to rig up the filter...

Fuel line disconnected and about to be cut to size to fit the filter .

Fuel filter connected to the Vacuum tank

Fuel filter installed, plumbed up and fuel flowing through it.

I have always loved the look of these old filters and this is another good job done..

ENGINE COMPRESSION TEST DONE

Yep thats right, before the fuel filter was installed this morning we whipped out the spark plugs while the engine was cold and we performed a compression test on the engine with Ray's tester that he has used on his Chevy engine over the years.

From the front to the back, Pot one 60psi, Pot two 55psi, Pot three 60psi, Pot four 65psi.

This was great and indicated that the engine has good life left in it as a reading of 70psi is considered very good and a reading of 30psi is considered "rebuild time"...... I was happy

Three Photos In the Park

Gidday,

These three photos were taken on the site of the old Trafalgar Primary School which has been a small  park for the last 35 years since the school relocated up the street, the two large oak trees that we played under as kids in the school ground are still standing and are so just lovely at certain times throughout the year....

Luggage Trunks

G'day,

Yep, I stumbled across a couple of very old luggage trunks at my cousins place the other day, he was have a clean out of a shed and I accepted the offer which was to good to pass up, they even have the original Victorian Railways ticket still attached to the lids from the last trip that these cases went on...

I love the look of them on the Chevy, so now I just have to wait until I have the car road registered and then head off on a trip somewhere.... Cheers

17,000 hits on the blog - Thank you

Gidday,

Many thanks to you all once again for taking the time to look in here from time to time and for following the progress of this old car and I am always surprised at the amount of hits that we seem to get on a daily basis and I cannot thank you all enough for your support over the past year.... Thanks

Some More testing & Sorting Out Of Monty.....

Gidday,

Well after the last few weekends of "testing out" and travelling solo in the Chev and venturing a little further each time, I arranged with Ray to come up and come out for a few breezy drives on this crisp winters morning but first on the cards was a lesson in "brake adjustment" as ole Monty had started to develop a bloody loud squeak in the rear wheels when you applied the brakes and only after they had warmed up and also the brake pedal itself was getting less and less so I gathered after 220miles the new brake bands had "bedded in" by now, so time to adjust them up, but how does one do this?
With the brakes all adjusted up nicely and me now knowing what to and how to adjust the bands,we both jumped in the Chev all rugged up and headed off down the Prince Hwy to Yarragon which is quickly becoming a favour little coffee haunt....

Now this is where Rays 30 plus years of vintage Chev experience kicked in because as soon as we started to head out of town while traveling up a slight incline, ole Monty gave a few quick stumbles at 45mph, I had noticed this before over the past weeks at this speed but just thought nothing of it, "its old car habits" as this is the only vintage car I have very been in... We discussed it and listened a little more as we headed to Yarragon and to my knowledge it was starting to stumble more than it had on other occasions but today I was driving it a little quicker than normal.....
We downed our coffee's and headed back to the resto shed to sort it out, where we quickly had the rocker cover off, the spark plugs and leads out and the distributor cap off..
We adjusted the valves and timing, cleaned and set the points, cleaned the spark plugs and distributor cap etc and had it all going again in no time..
Off we went out the onto the Hwy again and Ole Monty pulled away up the slight rise very well this time and reached 45mph quickly and felt very smooth, no stumbles and it was smiles alround from us both..... But no, how wrong were we?, the stumbles started again and it began to lose power and drop back to 40mph, "It had to be the bloody fuel" Ray said, "its not electrical, turn around and head back home"....
Again in the driveway we came and we slowly roll into the resto shed, Ray grabs for the service manual and reads up some specs to check some figures and I unscrew the bottom of the carby bowl off ... "Theres your problem, the float is adjusted wrong and is sitting at the wrong level, it's slowly starving of fuel at top speed", the correct level was set, the bowl goes back on and out the gate we go again...... BEAUTIFUL and now oh so much power comes from within this 21hp engine;

 Up Thorpy hill we headed to the top and it did not miss a beat, although a little slow as it is a long hard climb and the engine did not stumble once, we turned around at the summit which overlooks Trafalgar and I pointed the radiator cap for home and at one stage 55mph showed up on the speedo and on Rays GPS which we had stuck to the windscreen it read 85kph..... F%$K  ME!!... Monty was flying!!.

This fuel starvation was not an issue or noticeable on start up, idle or while driving around town because naturally the revs are not high and the carby bowl/fuel flow could keep up with the usage, and even out on the roads travelling at 40-45mph it was right on the limit with only the slightest of stumbles which I noticed and thought it might be the fuel vac tank reloading but thought it was nothing to worry about as the engine was running very smoothly, and it would cruise along fine 95% of the time and me being the novice I am, put the stumbles down to Monty being just an old vintage car with a few quirky habits, live and learn I guess, but now all is good and it is running better than it has in quite some time.....

Total now travelled is 260miles...

Thanks Ray for spotting this problem and sorting it out today.......

Another "Used Look" 1928 Chevrolet Made Contact

Gidday,

Today when I opened up my signshop emails and quickly glanced down the list at my inbox I noticed one with the title "Birds of a Feather" which I thought was a little different and the opening sentence went like this:

Grant how are you?

No you don't know me but I have been reading your blog with great interest. I came across Ray's blog a couple of weeks ago and he has been a great help to me already by steering me towards some good parts suppliers and answering some of my dumb questions. I asked him when he plans to move up to Queensland so he can come round and share his knowledge firsthand.

He went on to say what plans he has for his old 1928 Chev, and yes it will be left "as is" and mechanically repaired as a driver with the same outcome as what we have done to Monty which was great to read as we need more "as is" old looking semi restored vehicles out and about on the roads.

It is good to hear from others who have got something out of my blog and also with the photos that I have listed on my blog during our resto process they are able to get the confidence and information to tackle their own rebuild one day..

219miles.....

Gidday

I ventured out and made my way down the Princes Hwy to Warragul on this very gusty Sunday morning with a "flat to the board" head wind all the way, I was calling in to see my mate "Fordy" at his "corner store", have a quick chat, a coffee, talk cars and bikes for a bit and then make full use of the tail breeze on the return journey before the rains come. Distance was 29miles, with my total now being 219miles or (353kms) in 3 weekends.... Cheers, Lov'in it, and it is running along lovely.

Total now 173miles

Saturday:

Gidday,

What a beautiful day it was....although chilly it was a perfect sunny saturday and after the morning fog cleared around 11am I was out in the Chevy and reversing it out the driveway, for the ladies were off shopping together, my son was at a mates place so I had a good few hours to myself so with a couple of layers of clothing under my winter motorcycle jacket, plus gloves and neck sock it was me, one old car and the open road........ destination? not to sure just yet.

I get down to the corner at the Princes Hwy and point the radiator cap west for I now must build up the confidence levels a little and veture beyond the township of Yarragon, 10 kms away, which has been the furtherest that I have gone from home, so today Warragul was my new destination for I wanted to go and show the chevy to dads younger brother, Uncle Pete.

It was to easy, didn't miss a beat, straight down the freeway and into Warragul, through the round about, up Smith Street and then out up Victoria Street to the edge of town to my uncles place, he and aunty came out all smiles as I pulled up a hit the klaxton horn, they were happy to see it as they had looked in from time to time on the blog..... "Gee's bud, Waynie would be proud of ya, he'd love to see it running again, well done bud, great job"......   That said it all.

After about 40 mintues I said goodbye and waved them was off as I drove ou the gate and headed a little further north to the small township of Buln Buln as this is where the in-laws live on a property and I was feeling like a quick cuppa before the drive home...... BONUS, as I opened the door, Kevin my father inlaw was cooking steak and egg sandwiches for lunch, yes please!, don't mind if i do!.

With my hot coffee coming to an end, the worlds problems all solved, plus some fruit cake eaten, I was again driving out the gate and this time headed east back towards home which is about 30 miles away out onto Bloomfields Road and then down towards the Princes Hwy again and all went well as I am now getting to know and understand this old vintage car, its rattles and squeaks, now it handles on hills, cornering and stopping distances required, and yes my confidence is growing with what it can do and how easily it does it which is all bloody good fun...


This quick vid was taken while travelling along Bloomfields Road towards Nilma North, rough yes but its just a bit of fun and I'm sorry about the speedo shot because I didn't come out to clear but I was sitting on 45 mph..........Cheers

Sunday:

Oil and Filter Change.

Yep, this morning I dropped out the oil and installed a new oil filter while I was at it, this is the fourth change in 18months since the resto began, with the first 2 changes just to flush the engine after idle revs etc, and the 3rd after approx 15 miles travelled over a 12 month period at slow to 20 -30mph speeds.
It had only been 170miles (approx 290kms) since I changed it the last time which was only a few weeks back and the reason being is with the recent driving "test" at 45-50mph and also the distances that I have travelled, this naturally gets the engine up to a good hot running temp for longish periods of time which this old motor has not done for many years and I am finding that the oil is turning a darkish brown over that short period of time and hopefully the colour changing will slow down the more I use and run the engine at good speeds and it cleans and levels itself out.

Cheers and thanks for looking in from time to time.