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

Good luck with the car, it really has been a challenage for you...hang in there...you'll find the problem.

 

Well, Butch, my '63 Wagonaire is finally getting interior work done. The seats are all out, and in my basement (AKA the upholstery dungeon). I've got the carpet set mostly installed, all of the jambs painted to match the new paintjob, the new door weatherstrip is all installed. Finally found a source and got a new window channel kit for the tailgate! Still trying to figure out the headliner, but I'm getting there.
Kelly

 

lol... I don't think anyone else is going to either, they are all tired of hearing of my wagon problems. lol.

I don't know, I have hung in there for 7 years and its just setting and ruining. Next step is to try to find a carburetor (cheap) or see if someone has a good one that I can borrow to put on the car to see if that is the issue. If the carb don't help, I am convinced that the cam was improperly installed and I will have no other choice but to trade it off for another wagon or sedan.

We will see!

 

Drop down the exhaust and test it. It's free.

 

Yeah, if you can find someone that can do it for free - no one I know likes to deal with old cars or wants to deal with it. lol. I am not really sure how to go about it... I am not a mechanic obviously, lol.

My dad looked under there and where the y-pipe goes into the muffler is loose, so there is a major exhaust leak there (air is able to escape) and then at the tailpipe itself, there is tons of exhaust air coming out, so most people have told me that shouldn't be it. I don't know though, maybe I can crawl under there and try to saw it loose and go from there. I wanted to try to find a carburetor to borrow to see if that may be the problem... someone said it sound like one of the jets were not working, but both appear to be.

I moved the car again, stopped on the steep part of the driveway and literally floored the car... it barely moved forward and started shaking - I had to back it up and get a running go to get up the hill. That car should have spun the tires going up that hill with it floored. Something is wrong. My dad seems to be convinced that the cam was not installed properly and is advising me to trade the car for something else already in driving condition.

I don't know, I am going to try to see if someone has a carburetor I can borrow and then see if I can get the exhaust cut off.

 

My family used to have a 74 Ford LTD Brougham with that "magical loss of power" thing one of you is describing... It turned out, the problem was one of the vacuum hoses on the top of the engine had gotten toasted and was leaking. A new hose fixed the problem...

 

Thanks! Well the thing with this cars vacuum lines is that hey are all fine as far as condition, but Lord only knows if they are run properly thanks to the clown that did the engine work on this car a few months ago, but it was even low on power before the new cam installation. I have yet to find any source of information that tells you what line runs where. I actually ordered a factory 1972 Chevy service manual (that actually arrived today) hoping it would have a detailed chart of where all of the engine vacuum lines are supposed to go, but not ONE mention of vacuum hose routing. How in the heck is one supposed to know where the hoses go?

I guess the next step is to try to borrow (or buy, ugh) a good carburetor and test it out and/or start to cut off the exhaust system although I don't think it is stopped up, I swear I don't, but who knows. Who would think that an early 70s Chevy V8 could be so puzzling? Only me... only me. lol.

 

A few quick thoughts, and sorry if I am covering ground that has already been covered, but I just don't have the time to run back through 215 pages of posts. Sorry.

1) Have you confirmed the torque converter is good?
2) Is the trans verified as good?
3) have you checked the adjustment of your shifter to make sure the transmission is fully going into gear?
4) Does the car idle smoothly?
5) Have you tried spraying your vacuum lines (especially at connections) with carb cleaner to see if that affects engine RPM?
6) Assuming you have a vacuum module on the trans to control shift points, have you confirmed that line is good? (I had one that was soft and pliable, but very loose!)
7) Have you checked compression on all cylinders?
8) Has the valve train been inspected (check for bent valve, push rods or damaged valve train components).
9) Were the lifters changes along with the cam, and was it properly broken in?

Again, sorry if I am covering things that have already been tried. GOOD LUCK!

 

Un-bolt the exhaust pipes from the exhaust manifolds. If the bolts/studs on the manifolds are long enough just loosen them up enough so the pipes can drop down to let the exhaust escape. It will be loud.

I thought the whole point of taking the front of the engine apart was to verify the cam was installed correctly?

 

It was... we (or I) got as far as the harmonic balancer and could not get the bolt off (I think the dumbo put lock-tight on it or something), so I gave up and put it back together.

 

1-2-3 - no, just assuming it is... the car will go and stop. How do you "test" a converter? 4- sometimes, but sometimes there is a sputter, but it does have exhaust leak. 5-6 - nope. 7 - Yep, all were fine. 8 -supposedly the guy that worked on it did. lol. 9 - yep, new lifters when cam was installed. Not sure about broken in, the car has never been driven more than .5 of a mile since the cam was installed. Afraid to take it on the road.
I am going to try the loosening of exhaust/new carb if I can find one and if that dont solve it, I guess it will find a new home because I have had it with this car.

Thanks!

 

Finally got the wagons roof and tailgate into slicksand primer, and as a bonus got the gas door done as well.











This is what parts of the roof looked like when I started sanding/grinding on saturday. I had to remove the mounts for the luggage rack, because my dad threw the original one out in the 90s. Still gotta get a few dents out of the front of the roof, but thats the last of it besides wet sanding for primer sealer.

 

Looks good! Keep up the good work!

 

i replaced my front bench for lincoln seats in the original color brown looks great now i only need the hedliner to by don

 

Wagon is looking good!

Judging by the 3 bars on the door, is that a 62 Meteor beside the wagon?