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

Thank you very much sir.

 

OK, Swanny! That wagon is way too nice to have this on-going problem! If you would be willing to drive it 175 miles to my friends shop I could meet you there and, once and for all, FIND that problem. My friend is the best there is and I guarantee that he will find that irritating problem! And FIX it!

 

I have a new HEI dizzy coming for it, new plugs and wires again. I am really regretting buying a $35 "new" dizzy from Autozone. Japan cannot make good parts for the 70's cars. I appreciate the offer and if this doesn't cure it I will gladly take a road trip up to see you. Good news is I pulled the front bumper, sanded, painted the inlay and it's back on and looks great

 

Before

After

 

It's a gorgeous wagon and I hope that the new dizzy solves the problem! If not, we can make arrangements to get this thing solved once and for all.

 

Thanks for the compliments silverfox, I love the wagon. I had my heart set on another Chevy but I wouldn't give this one up for the nicest Chevy I could find

 

Rather than wade through this gainly thread...which I will do if necessary in the future....but, for now....That's a BUICK 455 in there, right? And it still has the original intake and carb?

 

Yes, 455 and original intake, carb with 51,000 miles. I had the carb rebuilt, replaced the points style dizzy as it was rusty from sitting for 13 years, new plugs, new wires. I did not set the dwell on the dizzy and that is probably my problem. So instead of messing with a points style dizzy any longer I decided to go to HEI. I will run a new power wire for the HEI and retain all the stock wiring so incase I ever want to go back to stock I can.

 

HEI is good...it may solve your problem.

 

I've realized I walk past and around the car WAY more than I do anything to it, drive it or work on it.
Can't wait for night shifts to be over and I can take the car out more.

 

My friend and I made a carpeted mat to protect the newly refinished rear cargo area. We made it so it covers the cargo area (1st pic), but also unfolds to cover the tailgate (2nd pic), and/or the rear seat when folded (3rd pic). The trim around the edge was made using the old headliner. Oh and I also installed a new factory style battery cable set.

 

That looks really good, Tico. Nice job!

 

Found one issue with the wagon. The four barrels on the carb were hung up causing a minor leak I repaired that and the minor hesitation issue is much better. It also has a lot more power now since the four barrels work properly. Hopefully the HEI dizzy and new plugs will complete the repair and get rid of the hesitation

 

I finally got my aluminum rims all polished up and on the car!! I had a tense moment when I realized that I was jacking up my drive wheel (in the slight grade of my driveway) after having forgotten to put chocks under any of the others. The car rolled forward and tipped over my jack (thankfully) before coming to a stop. Looks like my jack has a bit of a bend in it now but all survived. S'what I get for getting over excited about new parts.
Some pics of the newly installed rims here:
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=186158#post186158

 

Cyber, that is NOT a "slight" grade sir when you are working on a 2 ton rolling machine! Get some wheel chocks please.


This was a busy weekend for me and Rat Hole Customs. We started out by leaving Salem at 6am for a drive to Portland where we took in and tried to sell t-shirts to the masses at the annual Portland Transmission Show. It's their 30th year and over a thousand rods and customs showed up covering maybe 20 square blocks on the east side of Portland.

Lots more pictures here and I tried to concentrate on only the wagons... but there was so much cool stuff driven to the show this year.

Portland Transmission Show/Papa's Toys

Then we drove the wagons all the way over to Cornelius Oregon for a one-day only open house and show and shine. The "house" is Papa's car collection, the now passed away owner of a local trucking company, which is huge to say the least. No million dollar Duesenbergs, but the Packards, Lincolns and Caddys make up for it. Papa also loved Corvettes, Thunderbirds and finned Chryslers with hemi engines. It was quite the sight, not to mention the tons of rods and customs hanging out in the parking lot. What a day!

Ratmobile #1 suffered from fuel line problems on the drive home and so we got separated about 30minutes from home. But I know he made it based on his Facebook posts... hahaha.
But I got stuck for a time with a hot engine.

With a hole in the radiator core I have to keep the cap lose or it builds up pressure and leaks out. But the problem was... the ambient air temp hit the high 80's yesterday so with the lose cap I was losing cooling fluid all day and after 240 miles there was little left. Good thing I brought along two gallons of water and antifreeze.
Really need to save up for that very expensive radiator.

As for what I did to my car... when I got home the P.O. had delivered a new eBay purchased Tachometer. Now installed I can see what rev's I'm pulling on the hiway. Radiator is all filled up and I'm shopping around for another better one.
Happy Mothers day all you Mothers out there.