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.

100 Miles travelled This Week

Gidday

This morning my son Codi and I installed a new simple freestanding sign for a church in Moe, but I made a little spelling error, Buggar!!, which I found out about when I got back to the workshop so I decided there and then to correct it asap, so I jumped in the old Chevy for its first official "on site job" and proceeded to then racked up a further 30 miles bringing the weekly total to 100miles travelled and btw it very much hates a strong head wind but is purring along lovely just the same.

SUNDAY

Pulled into the servo to fuel up the ole Chevy today after another 27 miles and once again weird looks and stares from fellow motorists, with people bee-lining straight over for a chat and a closer look which is a little funny as they fire questions at you, "What is it?", "How old in it?", "Hope ya heaters working mate", "Where'd ya get that from" and "How fast it go", I have a laugh and throw back some curly responses as I fill up the tank and walk in to pay for the fuel, then the attendant starts asking more as I pay.... But today as I came outside, to rug back up and jump in, there are 3 more people with cameras hovering around clicking away and the questions start over again. Soon I am on my way and off the down highway and headed to Yarragon for a run and by 12.40 the latte brigade are out in full swing and all logoed up as I pull into a only spot left in the busy street right outside the pub and when I returned from the cafe it was on for young n old, I just had to stand back and have a laugh as I watched peoples faces looking at Monty and this is when all the hard work from the resto is worth it as old cars like this should be out on the roads for all to see again and I said to dad under my breath "What have we done pop".... I soon walked over to jump in after a minute or two and this lady came out from the pub with her young son as I hit the startor button as they wanted to sit in it and get a photo which they did as I stood to the side and then they went off happy. - It's all just a little silly folks, its just a bloody old rusty car. Cheers

127 Miles travelled now..

Fowler Sign Company

Gidday,

After driving Monty around for the last few days and witnessing first hand the amount of attention it creates out in the traffic and basically everywhere I go, bloody ridiculous really, I sat down today beside the wood heater in our signshop with the two front doors and quickly hand-painted in flat black enamel paint some very old washed out looking signs then rubbed then back a little with a very mild scouring pad, the effect looks fantastic and it is now our official promo vehicle on weekends.....

Oh and please don't ask about the two different coloured doors, thats just how they came and will stay :)

Cheers Grant

Resto: New Clutch Installed

Gidday,

Well we don't muck about around here and come 8.30am Ray and I find ourselves standing in the resto shed for another Sunday morning working bee on Monty, make that another cold windy Sunday morning which Gippsland has kindly turned on for us again.
Like I mentioned in the previous post, yesterday while out on my first official "test" drive the clutch decided to stop working altogether without any warning to me, although I suspect there were some small warnings but I was untrained to notice these, but not any more after discussing this with Ray, but the clutch literally just through in the towel.

So now on this windy cold Sunday morning, we both stand there chatting and begin weighing up our options for the hours ahead as the clutch and gearbox are to come out, cleaned up, repaired and re-installed by 5pm..... so we begin.

With the floor timbers removed we begin to dismantle parts like brake linkages, leads, many nuts and bolt from this and that and with Ray calling the shots while busily working from one side for the car, I follow them from the other, all the while watching and learning as we go and once again his years of knowledge with 1928 Chevrolet"s and technical advice comes into it own on a jobs like this as we soon get into a groovy and making great time....

The tail-shaft is next unbolted and pulled back and few inches then raised up and sat into a position to give us enough room to unbolt and pull the completed gearbox, cross member and clutch cover back all in one go... 

With the gearbox, cross-member, and clutch cover now moved back and lowered down onto the padded trolley we could now get into the clutch housing and have a look about, but first we located the gearbox up onto the workbench so that I could get to cleaning up some parts..

While Ray was inspecting the damage to various parts, I got to cleaning out the inside of the clutch cover, which once again as with everything on this old car when pulled apart is covered in crud and dirty black greasy shit

Below is after a quick clean and soaking with degreaser, so next I used the air compressor attachment with a small wire bush attached, it came up really clean and nice and with a quick inspection and once over by Ray it was ready to be re-installed back on.

Now's a good time for a hot cuppa around 11ish and we're making good time.

With that all cleaned and ready to go it was now back to the car, and get a look at all the reddish fine dust inside and covering the flywheel, time for another clean up by the look of this.

After some compressed air and a good going over with the wire wheel which works a treat, we soon had the new clutch plate installed and ready to be all bolted back together.

We had it all installed and back together by 3.30pm which was the time when Ray headed off down the driveway and up the street for a good test drive, I then stayed back and started to clean up the shed, pack all the tools away and sweep up the floor and it wasn't to long before Ray came driving back in with a smile on his face and declared that Monty was now fixed and ready for the road once more.......

Listed below are the items that needed attention as list by Ray.

Replace the clutch plate.

Replace the carbon thrust washer.

Retighten all casing bolts, one of which had come loosen and allowed the actuating lever to mover and ream out the carbon thrust washer.

Very sparingly lube a very dry spigot bushing.

Clean up both the pressure plate and flywheel surfaces.


As always Ray I cannot thank you enough to your help, each time you having to travel out from Melbourne for the day which is a 3 hour round trip in itself... I've said it before and I will always be letting you know mate, that your help is very much appreciated... Cheers

BTW here is quick video of how to finish off polishing the Flywheel, it's not the safest but it certainly is the quickest.

Unregistered Vehicle Permit

G'idday,

With the wet weather holding off but still very overcast I quickly had breakfast washed down and I was out the door on this gloomy Saturday with the unregistered vehicle permit in my hand and I was headed right for the resto shed.

With a few tools thrown in the back it was time to give ole Monty a bloody good test drive and sort out the bugs if there were any to sort out.
First stop was the local servo for a fresh tank of fuel and the first full one in quite some years and by now I was starting to worry a little at the amount of WTF looks it was attracting as we sat in amoungst the modern vehicles.

I now had one destination in my mind so it was onto the main Princes Hwy, where we headed east as we made our way out of town for the shortish drive up to the cemetry on top of the hill.....

Then it was back down through Trafalgar where I quickly called into Mums house for a chat and showed her the Chevy again as she likes to keep up to date with the resto and then I was onto the touristy township of Yarragon before the crazy weekend traffic arrive where I parked Monty in the main street, grabbed myself a hot coffee and by this stage I was grinning from ear to ear...
As I sat across the road enjoying the cuppa I was a little taken back by the amount of people that would slowly cross the street a wander over and have a good look at Monty as he quietly went about his business of pissing hot water onto the road from the radiator overflow outlet as you can see in the photo...... Love it :)

With the windscreen coming a little loose on the way home and me having covered 20 miles already I quickly headed for the resto shed where some running repairs were sorted and then I was off again.
In total I had covered 48 miles before my day came to a sudden stop, I pulled up at a corner and went to take off and nothing happened, I had no clutch at all, I could dump the clutch in 1st gear and not move anywhere..... BUGGER and 12kms from home.

I give Ray a call from the side of the road and I am soon told that "You ain't go'in anywhere sunshine, Ya done a clutch"........Hmmmmmm SHIT!

I quickly give a mate a call who lives around the corner and within 20 minutes I am sailing down the road under tow behind his V8 Jeep and we headed straight for the resto shed.
Once home I ring Ray back and have a chat about it and run through what and now the car was travelling up to the point of nothing.....
Ray tells me that he has all the spare parts to replace the clutch, "what doesn't that bloke have in his spares shed" and so now it is planned for a another good Sunday in the resto shed tomorrow.

So looking back on the test drive, yes the motor goes very well, starts great, will sit on 45 -50 mph easily, the brakes are good and getting better, even though it was a cold 10c degree overcast day, I had on my good BMW motorcycle riding jacket, beanie, and gloves and it was fine in behind the windscreen but it did not rain and that would be a different story

I keep you posted.........

Resto: Let There Be Light

Gidday,

"Let There Be Light".......

Well indicators, tail light and brake light to begin with, headlights, cowl and dash lights are to come.

Yes today which being our traditional Sunday working bee day on the Chev, Ray and I installed the indicators, taillight and brake light, well mainly Ray done the bulk of the work as electrics and myself are not a good combination as I hate the stuff .
We ran all the wires as old Monty had never had indicators fitted before in its life so it was a little fun and time comsuming job, 7 hours in fact to lay it all out and thread it all around, over, under and through all the tightest of places but in the end we have it all working great and the little "Hella" amber lights look neat and will also provide some much needed safety when out in the fast moving traffic once we are registered and all set to go...

Hmmm, there's an orange wire left over...

The small "Hella" lights below really suit the era of the car

One working nice and bright brake and taillight

Quick video below of our days work....

Many thanks once again Ray, your help and knowledge around these old vehicle is priceless.