1961 Parkwood Advice

Ok men.... I am almost done with the 6 month project to get what was a cool weekend low rider to a cool daily driver.

Now that we have done the interior, power options, suspension, 20" wheels, bodywork, etc, etc...... I thought it was time to go for a drive. That did not go so well... She hardly got out of her own way. Before the restoration, I drove her once and she seemed to drive fine...but now terrible. That said, I took it to my local mechanic who figured out that I was having coil issues and to my relief I had 145 psi on almost all my cylinders with none being more than a few PSI different.

Once i got the good news, I decided to do some upgrades to make the engine look as good as the exterior and interior. Chrome valve covers, edelbrock intake, edelbrock 500 CFM carb, MSD ignition, wires, and a few other items.

Ok...time for a test drive... though better than before, the wagon still seems a bit gutless. Sure the it is a stock 283 that has never been rebuilt but since compression was good, i would think it would perform better. Mechanic says that the motor is running fine but rather it may be the 3 speed tranny that I may not be liking.

Now than, here are my current concerns...

1) I can hear the valves clatter a bit...when I get on the gas hard. On the freeway, while cruising in 3rd, it seems to go away. But, when I launch or punch it....oh yeah, I can hear it. Not loud like, this is going to blow, but I do hear it.

2) When launching in 1st, i have to get on the gas a bit so that it does not bog. maybe I am just not used to it but it seems like it should be easier.

3) Unless I put it in first then out, then back again, and keep making sure it firmly falls into 1st, when I launch, it will pop out of gear and make a nasty clunk. Once I fiddle with it and it falls hard into position, it stays there. Where these all like this or is this bad?

4) Gear Ratio and get up and go... 1st almost seems like a granny gear only taking me to about 10-15mph, 2nd feels/sounds like I am in my grandfather old truck and gets me to about 45 mph at 3K rpm, and 3rd feels tall with the car needing to build up to speed as it gets on the freeway. It is going but not like my Automatic 327 impalas. I get to about 75-80mph at 3K rpm.

Ok... if someone has experience with this platform or even drove in them and know if this is normal or not, I would surely appreciate your feedback. At this point, I am not sure if I just have normal running 49 year old 3 speed, 283 or if something is wrong. Also, any tips on how to quiet down the valves without rebuilding the motor? I was trying to avoid the cost as I just broke the bank making it look pretty. Thus far, I put anti-smoke in the oil as well as a bottle of sea-foam. She does not smoke much, or at all, but the valves (maybe one lifter) is still noisy. Maybe I need a fuel additive or thicker oil.

Shawn
408-887-5898

 

You say your valve chatter is faint on hills....timeing?

I have a 65 truck, inline 250, tired,slow, but wom't stop. My valves chattered loud big time, even ideling in the drive way. I started useing 20/50 motor oil and now my vavles have a faint tick compared to CHATTTTEERRRR.

It's a old motor, and should be treated as such. Stop "launching it". If I understand you correctly, your flooring it off the line, driving her hard. Not good for a old drive train.

 

a few pics of her...

 

Launching and oil

Surely not trying to burn rubber...just need to get the revs up or it feels like it will bog out when I take off in 1st.... I fear that if I get on it hard and try to drag race it, something would break so I am surely trying to be as ginger with her as possible.

I was told 50 wt Diesel would be a good option...anyone heard of this use and does it quiet down the motor? Again, at idle, I can't really hear it much...but when I accelerate, it has that sound...

 

The key may be the 20" wheels. You say it would drive fine before that. Regarding the 3 on a tree...those tranny's had to try and be be the best of all worlds. That's why they eventually went to a 4 speed, then 5 & 6.
EDIT:
By the way....gorgeous car.

 

20s

I though about that... probably hard to get those big wheels moving with the same tranny ratios for the stock 14". thus maybe why it take a bit of time to pep up to speed. Hmmmm.... The previous owner had 13" wire wheel on it and it seemed to get rolling easier.

It would seem that if the 3 speed was not up to snuff... then a 2 speed Powerglyde of the same era would have been worse... but I don't know much about transmissions so I am probably way off in that comment.

 

Duh, I missed the bling bling wheels part. You bet thats alot of the problem, your motor/trans has to work alot harder to get those things rolling. I'll bet you noticed your ride quallity is worse also....drive over a dime and it feels like a speed bump.

My truck had 20''s on it when I bout it and I thought yeah, drives like a truck. I don't prefer the newer bling wheels so ASAP I got stock steel rims. My ride comfort was like nite and day and the tired old truck did seem to have more pep.

Diesel oil is good also, if not better.

 

I'd agree to check the timing. Maybe pull the distributor and see that it doesn't have any problems like a broken spring. If that were the case it would advance the timing too much.
Might be a bit too much carb, that's a 2bbl right? Might require jetting and tuning the power valve.
I'd check the linkage first on your tranny, and also check/replace the fluids if it hasn't been done recently. Check for a properly functioning vacuum modulator.
Yah don't expect this engine to burn rubber, she's a cruiser.

 

Well....you have effectively made the gear ratio taller with the taller wheels (6 inches!). Coupled with that tranny it will likely never get off the line like it should. And the rest of the gears are now taller too. It's a damn pretty wagon although I, like Fat, do not like bling wheels. But to each his own. For performance, however, you should go back to 14" wheels or change the tranny. Even changing over to any stock tranny will not let it operate correctly with the tall wheels. You may have to play with rear end gears etc to get it right.

 

Beautiful car, Nak8. Love the styling of the '61 Chevy.
If you're planning to keep it for a long time, it might be wise to invest in a powertrain upgrade (350 / TH auto?) You can keep the 283 / 3 speed for the next owner.

 

valves and tranny

Ok...lifters were not the problem of the noise. I mistakingly took an exhaust leak as valve noise... Now then....still have the issue of it popping out of first gear when I casually drop it into gear. If I go into reverse first, then into 1st, it stays in gear when I take off. I did adjust the clutch so that it engages sooner which solved the impression of having to rev the motor to get it moving. Now, I can modulate the clutch and accelerator move smoothly.

Any tips on what may be happing in first? Maybe a shift fork?

 

The first standard 3 tree I learned to drive was a 59 Chev truck, I was always told to double clutch or put it in reverse before droping into first. At 10, 11 years old I never thought to ask why and it's just instink to keep doing it that way when I drive my 65 truck now.

Maybe some of the more seasoned vets can help with your question. Maybe there was/is a real reason. I'm going to drive my truck to work tommorow, I'm gona keep in mind not to to "in" reverse before I put it in first...I'm courious now.

 

Pretty wagon, but as has been said you have changed up the effective gear ratios. The engine now has to work harder to move the car. Engine, transmission may get stressed and start to wear out or break.

Here is an automotive calculator for figuring out what you had before, have now, and might want to wind up with. From an off roading site, so some categories you could skip, like "crawl ratio". http://www.4lo.com/4LoCalc.htm

If someone went from 195/70-14 tires to say 245/45-20. or 24.8" tall to 27.8" tall tires. Using the same rear 3.00 ratio. To have the same acceleration and mpg's as before you would need to change your axle gear to a 3.36. That's not a huge jump, but the larger the difference, the more gear you'd need to have. Not to hard to do on a Ford, but I think GM's are kind of involved to swap gears.

couple other cool sites, you may have already found these: http://www.oldride.com/library/1961_chevrolet_parkwood.html

The impala page has more info, some of which should be the same or similar. about 2/3 down is a section on transmissions, axle ratios. http://www.oldride.com/library/1961_chevrolet_impala.html

Like other have said, I think a trans swap would help the engine with those big wheels/tires. Check this out: http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/1004sr_1963_chevy_impala_700_r4_overdrive_automatic/index.html

The cheapest thing would be getting tires closer to the size the factory originally put on it. Next cheapest is probably finding out what rear gear ratio you'd need to get close to what the factory put in it, then getting that gear swapped into your axle. For me, the most fun would be watching craigslist, hitting junkyards for a TH200 or 700 R-4 from a late 80's-early 90's truck, or if you want to shift gears the t-5. A wrecked s-10 with a 4.3 have T-5s that I think would bolt up. Those 4.3's made between 160-195 hp, pretty close or better than what your 283 made when new. I imagine those trans can be found cheap in any junkyard or craigslist ad.

Sorry for the novel. It's kind of fun to think of all the possibilties. I do it with my old stuff all the time. Probably why it takes me so long to get any work done on them.

 

Is first gear fully synchronised? Maybe it is not completely "in gear" so it jumps out on acceleration. shifting into reverse may help line the gears up and thus get truely into first gear. try to figure out which trans you have, it may not be fully synchronized. Is it ever hard to downshift into 1st? Always? Only when cold? Never?

If not, could be shifter linkage, shift fork, worn synchronizers, or some internal problem. Do you have other problems, like does it get jammed or bind, stuck in between gears also? I'd think linkage in that case. Otherwise, keep shifting in the R before 1st and see if it still pops out of gear.

Hope you get it running the way you want, nice looking wagon.

 

Gears

Wow...thanks for all the advice...

I don't have problems in R, 2nd or 3rd. It is only 1st that it jumps out. Again, going into R first and then into 1st helps most of the time but not 100%.

I am thinking that I will simply need to regear the rear end. If I go to shorter gears in the rear, say 4:11 gears, do you think it would solve the problem and give me that muscular feel I was hoping for, even with these larger tires?