What have you done to your wagon lately? (Let's keep the thread going!)

The bloody wagon :banghead3::banghead3::banghead3:. I was in to the throttle pretty hard a couple of times on the way home from a vintage trailer event and when we got home it was sounding very rough. It has been acting up for a while and I did not take the time to research it before that last towing adventure so it is entirely my fault for not taking care of it right from the start.

 

All the one's I saw had plastic floats. Some looked like they could hold a brass float but the manufacturer went with the blown poly float because it's easier to manufacture. Prices ranged from $52 to $79.
If I were you I would start googl'ng for your year and make. You also will want to probably pull the sending unit so you know what you are looking for because there are many cross-over items in the automotive manufacturing world. You might find that some farm tractor used the darned thing for the last 40 years and if you get it at a Farm Suppy house the cost could be a fraction of what it would cost you from Obsolete Fleets catalog.

 

Well, today I bit the bullet and spent the equivalent of a brand new Edelbrock carburetor on an Oregon title, registration and new plates for the 'Surfrat wagon'.
For those who live in Oregon, I went with the new vintage look "Pacific Wonderland" plates which replicate the original yellow letters on blue field design used when the car was new. Wallet a lot thinner, but at least I am legal now.

 

My wagon left me stranded last Wednesday afternoon. It's no longer my daily driver and I decided to take it to the post office to get the cobwebs out. I took my dogs along with me. On the way home it died on me. AAA sent a tow truck from 70 miles away and it took 2 1/2 hours for them to get there. It was in the mid to upper 90's and my poor dogs didn't like it. I had water but it was warm. Luckily a lady stopped and gave me some cold bottles of water. It turned out the field wire for the alternator had broken. I fixed it and it seemed to work fine and put a couple hundred miles on it. I replaced the headliner on Saturday, that was fun, and Monday I installed some coil spring spacers up front to level the car out. Now the alternator is overcharging. I dropped the alternator off at a shop to get rebuilt.

 

I'm glad you got it home, I'm more glad you clearly have brains and travel with water for your dogs ( so many don't), and kudos to the lady that gave extra water.

 

Dad and I gave her a bath over the weekend.

 

If you want rear disks you might be able to get something off a 78 or so Cadillac. The brackets and calipers should bolt up. You can just replace the front brakes if need be a lot of cars in the 60's through 90's had disk/drum setups.

As for stalling, have a look at all your vacuum lines and the brake booster. Maybe you need to turn up your idle speed?

 

used the master power setup on my ford wagon and they were easy to install and had good customer service. search the net for steeltech solutions conversion just did it on my chevy and they work well

 

The Caprice.



I just took out the bench, and put in some '67 GTO buckets.



Working on taking out the 300 hp small block...



And putting in this 700 hp big block.



Then the small block is going in my wife's Biscayne.



That will keep me busy for a while!

Rick

 

I love that car, rick. But, I hate front bench seats so I love the update of the buckets! And, being a BB guy...I am now SUPER jealous of your wagon.

 

That Caprice is SWEET!

 

---Yea it is !

 

I think you speak for many of us...

 

Both those cars are beautiful. Thanks for the photos.

What I've done today is very minimal but I removed some of the trim panels in the back in search of seat belt mounting locations. Haven't found a good spot for them yet.

 

Thanks Guys!

Now today, I have to fix my wife's Biscayne.

Last night she drove it to a school thing with the kids, and in the parking lot the bolts for the idler arm "popped"! I am glad she was backing in and not cruising along.

I put grade 5 bolts in it. Lesson learned!