Project Austin street gasser.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Thanks! That snow was really coming down for a short time! I wa headed down the freeway and with the wipers on high I could barely see! Hope you didn't have to spend too much time wrenching in it!

it wasn't too involved (sarcasm) - just pulling the entire front of the motor off on my 6.2 diesel... ah well, it's times like this which give me stories for later (back in oh 12 we had the worst snowstorm in years.... )

[1946Austin]

it wasn't too involved (sarcasm) - just pulling the entire front of the motor off on my 6.2 diesel... ah well, it's times like this which give me stories for later (back in oh 12 we had the worst snowstorm in years.... )

All this on the side of the road, or did you get it home for repairs?

[SuperBuickGuy]

not the side of the road, at parent's house.

[1946Austin]

Got a cool gift today for the Austin! A friend of mine wasn't too hot on the big monster Autometer tach, and said he thought he had a old tach at home that was more in line with the theme of the Austin. Well today he brought me this very cool old Mallory 10k tach! So the Autometer will go on the shelf and I'll put the Mallory in it!

[DTR Voice]

Just watching the vid put a big ole smile on my face!!!!
Sooooooo Cooooool!

[1946Austin]

Just watching the vid put a big ole smile on my face!!!!
Sooooooo Cooooool!

Thanks! Does the same for me everytime I drive it!

[SuperBuickGuy]

way cool

[JOES66FURY]

Its amazing that something as simple as a tac can transform a cars interior.

Whats next on the list of things to do?

[1946Austin]

Its amazing that something as simple as a tac can transform a cars interior.

Whats next on the list of things to do?

Well besides mounting the tach, I went to the wrecking yard today and got an emergency brake setup from a donor car, so gotta fab up an emergency brake cable to fit the new handle and connect to the jack cable from the rear. Need to also get the wife busy and sew up a naugahyde boot to cover the new Ebrake.

[1946Austin]

I joined the I broke my engine club today! Actually a couple days ago, but didn't diagnose it until today.
I noticed earlier this week that the Austin seemed to be dead on one cylinder, and I went through the normal checklist to troubleshoot it. Started with pulling sprak plugs, then checking cap and rotor. Then got the compression tester out and found #2 cylinder dead. Pulled the valve cover and immediately noticed one rocker arm was sitting sideways off the valve stem. Then I noticed there was no pushrod! Time to dig deeper.
Pulled the intake manifold and sitting in the lifter valley was all but about 1.5" of pushrod. Looked at the head again and found the rest the pushrod laying in the head near #8 cylinder. Looks like it just broke cleanly, with no sign of anything that caused it. I called Summit and the tech said he felt it was a pushrod failure that caused the lifter to go, but he was happy to send a new one regardless. He also said I should also get a set of hardened pushrods to avoid any others failing, and would give me 20% off a set of 16 to encourage me to change them! I ordered a intake gasket set also, and he knocked off another $5 on that to help out too.
Looks like nothing else was hurt, and I'll have it back together as soon as I get the parts from Summit. Needless to say I'm extremely happy with the way Summit handled this! I've made a lot of purchases from them over the years, and liked dealing with them, but I'm an even bigger fan now!

[mlcraven]

Lucky. And good for Summit. No particular reason, but I'm a Jeg's man myself. Just re-read this entire thread; your Austin makes me giggle like a teenage girl, VERY cool. Hope you're back on the road pronto.

[SuperBuickGuy]

It's rare to find pushrods that aren't hardened. Any thoughts as to why it broke? do you have guides on the pushrods?

Also, before you reassemble it, push down on the valve to make sure it moves and isn't jammed in the guide.... do not ask me how I know about that one because I'm not supposed to cuss that much anymore.

In other news, I'll be at space 1294 (iirc) at PIR on Thursday next week... drop by, the Buick will probably be there

[1946Austin]

Lucky. And good for Summit. No particular reason, but I'm a Jeg's man myself. Just re-read this entire thread; your Austin makes me giggle like a teenage girl, VERY cool. Hope you're back on the road pronto.

Thanks! Should be back together early next week. Ed Iskenderian is coming to the local community college on the 16th, and I plan to have the car there for the get together, so I better have it running!

[1946Austin]

It's rare to find pushrods that aren't hardened. Any thoughts as to why it broke? do you have guides on the pushrods?

Also, before you reassemble it, push down on the valve to make sure it moves and isn't jammed in the guide.... do not ask me how I know about that one because I'm not supposed to cuss that much anymore.

In other news, I'll be at space 1294 (iirc) at PIR on Thursday next week... drop by, the Buick will probably be there

Yes, my aluminum heads have guide plates, and that is what Summit tech thinks caused the broken pushrod. He thinks it wore through, but no sign of wear on the pushrod. The break is clean and stright across, and looking at the pushrod walls there's no wear when I used a dial caliper to measure wall thickness. I'm guessing they're just old and brittle, and that was the cause. New hardened rods will hopefully alleviate the issue,
I'll keep an eye out for you at PIR next week. I'll have my blue '69 Suburban in my space at the racetrack #2476, but probably wont be around much ater mid day. Hope to see what I can find myself, although I don't have a wish list for anything particular.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Yes, my aluminum heads have guide plates, and that is what Summit tech thinks caused the broken pushrod. He thinks it wore through, but no sign of wear on the pushrod. The break is clean and stright across, and looking at the pushrod walls there's no wear when I used a dial caliper to measure wall thickness. I'm guessing they're just old and brittle, and that was the cause. New hardened rods will hopefully alleviate the issue,
I'll keep an eye out for you at PIR next week. I'll have my blue '69 Suburban in my space at the racetrack #2476, but probably wont be around much ater mid day. Hope to see what I can find myself, although I don't have a wish list for anything particular.

I'll have to look for you - unless I find a sack full of 100s I won't be doing much more than window shopping this year.... though heaven help me if the Buick sells because then I'll be travelling back to Seattle with an empty trailer.