Slow, Driving Rustoration 1972 Dart
First story from this weekend involves cruising, breaking down, heading back into town, breaking down, and finally redemption.
Saturday morning I got up planning on changing the starter even though it didn't fit the first time. Armed with new information I was ready to try again. I got in the Dart and it started. That was not typical, the last few times I had to jump it to start it. I was going to warm it up and wash some more grease and road grime off of the front end and engine. It was running very well so I decided to take it for a short road trip, just 5 miles out of town and back.
She ran great and I even got on it a couple of times with decent response. I came to the place I wanted to turn back to town and it coughed and died. I could tell it was flooded. I pulled over to the side of the road an started looking for issues. Normally I just let it sit for a few minutes and it's good to go again but I went to check the carb and there was gas all over the intake. I had taken my tools out of the trunk but I did have a 1/2" wrench, a regular screwdriver, a phillips screwdriver, and a very large pair of channel locks. So basically I could fix whatever was wrong. Wrong.
Luckily a guy in a Dodge Ram stopped by to see if I needed help. So we started taking the carb apart. I thought maybe the float was stuck or needed adjustment. This is a new chinese carter 2bbl knockoff. When we got the float out I could tell it was heavy. Yep, leaky float. Bad day on the soldering line I guess. I set the float on the exhaust manifold to see if I could see where it was leaking. No luck. I decided to empty the fuel from the bowl, put it back together and just run back to town balls out to try to avoid the flooding.
By now the warmed up starter was having none of it. We tried jumping but you could hear the starter dragging, luckily he had two batteries on his diesel Dodge and he hooked up another set of jumpers. After letting it charge for a few minutes it finally started. I headed right to the only place in town I knew would have a float in stock. A locally owned independent parts house that has been in our town since before I was born. I avoided stops as much as possible and made it to the intersection right before and stopped and it died and wouldn't start.
I pushed it across the intersection and into a parking space. Bought the float, installed it, and then waited for the car to cool down enough so the starter could crank. A couple of people tried to jump me but I couldn't get enough amps to turn the dying starter over fast enough. Finally another diesel Dodge Ram parked right beside me. They asked if I needed a jump. Yes! The good news was now it ran so much better than before.
I drove home and changed the starter. All I had to do was grind about 3/16" off the head of the engine transmission brace bolt and it fit perfectly. Now it starts easily! I didn't realize how bad the starter was, I was always assuming my battery was shot.
Here is the size comparison of the old and new starter, you can see the longer field housing on the new one
If you ever run into this issue, this is what it will look like after you grind your bolt head down.
Next up ... Guess why the car stopped moving suddenly.
First story from this weekend involves cruising, breaking down, heading back into town, breaking down, and finally redemption.
Saturday morning I got up planning on changing the starter even though it didn't fit the first time. Armed with new information I was ready to try again. I got in the Dart and it started. That was not typical, the last few times I had to jump it to start it. I was going to warm it up and wash some more grease and road grime off of the front end and engine. It was running very well so I decided to take it for a short road trip, just 5 miles out of town and back.
She ran great and I even got on it a couple of times with decent response. I came to the place I wanted to turn back to town and it coughed and died. I could tell it was flooded. I pulled over to the side of the road an started looking for issues. Normally I just let it sit for a few minutes and it's good to go again but I went to check the carb and there was gas all over the intake. I had taken my tools out of the trunk but I did have a 1/2" wrench, a regular screwdriver, a phillips screwdriver, and a very large pair of channel locks. So basically I could fix whatever was wrong. Wrong.
Luckily a guy in a Dodge Ram stopped by to see if I needed help. So we started taking the carb apart. I thought maybe the float was stuck or needed adjustment. This is a new chinese carter 2bbl knockoff. When we got the float out I could tell it was heavy. Yep, leaky float. Bad day on the soldering line I guess. I set the float on the exhaust manifold to see if I could see where it was leaking. No luck. I decided to empty the fuel from the bowl, put it back together and just run back to town balls out to try to avoid the flooding.
By now the warmed up starter was having none of it. We tried jumping but you could hear the starter dragging, luckily he had two batteries on his diesel Dodge and he hooked up another set of jumpers. After letting it charge for a few minutes it finally started. I headed right to the only place in town I knew would have a float in stock. A locally owned independent parts house that has been in our town since before I was born. I avoided stops as much as possible and made it to the intersection right before and stopped and it died and wouldn't start.
I pushed it across the intersection and into a parking space. Bought the float, installed it, and then waited for the car to cool down enough so the starter could crank. A couple of people tried to jump me but I couldn't get enough amps to turn the dying starter over fast enough. Finally another diesel Dodge Ram parked right beside me. They asked if I needed a jump. Yes! The good news was now it ran so much better than before.
I drove home and changed the starter. All I had to do was grind about 3/16" off the head of the engine transmission brace bolt and it fit perfectly. Now it starts easily! I didn't realize how bad the starter was, I was always assuming my battery was shot.
Here is the size comparison of the old and new starter, you can see the longer field housing on the new one
If you ever run into this issue, this is what it will look like after you grind your bolt head down.
Next up ... Guess why the car stopped moving suddenly.
