spare parts

[Guest]

Al Will be driving my 59 hdt. from La Crosse Wi. to Horseheads New York. Will be touring with the VMCCA. Any suggestions for spare parts I might want to bring along ? The car is in good shape and has run well on 100 mile trips but have not driven it for long periods of time. Any ideas will be welcome.

[byersmtrco]

RE: spare parts

Replace all your belts and hoses. If the old ones are decent, take them as spares. Drain the coolant and repl w/new. Check the overflow tank for any signs of leaking (seams) Change all the other fluids too, while your at it. Everybody forgets about diff fluid. Repl that too with straight 80/90. Might not hurt to pull the drums. Check and adj all the brakes. Maybe pack the front wheel bearings. Lube the chassis. Check all the other obvious stuff too, while she's in the air (shocks tie rods etc) And tires obviously.

Do all that. Bring some simple tools (And a Cell phone), you should be good to drive across the US. Oh and a gas card.


John

[Alexander]

RE: spare parts

For a long distance trip carry a spare generator, fuel pump, water pump, distributor rotor and cap. Spare points and condensor if you are not using an electronic conversion. It may be good idea to carry these if your electronic ignition fails, so you can convert back.

I always also carry spare engine oil, brake fluid, transmission fluid, and a tool box.

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[tarps3]

RE: spare parts

from the sound of it, it looks like you need a hitch and just haul a trailer behind the 'ol bird! that's a lot of spare parts! ha!

about the gas card....get one with a high dollar limit! I filled up my car this weekend and had to stop midway thru fill up to sell a kidney for the last half of the tank!

an obvious addition to the list: a package of extra fuses and some wiring and wire tools. Some extra lamps would bee good too (tail light lamps, instrument lamps, etc).

Like I said, rent a trailer!

[JohnG]

RE: spare parts

You can buy a low volume electric fuel pump for about $35. If you attach wiring on to it with a plan of where to plug it in, then if your regular fuel pump fails, you can have the electric hooked up and working in a couple of minutes. You can either keep it in the trunk or attached to the wheel well in the left front, not far from the mechanical pump. A fuel pump can fail either because the diaphram went or if one of the two check valves fails, and in either case you walk, so this is a good item. It can also double for a pump for other things - I added too much tranny fluid and was able to quickly pump some out with it recently.

If no one mentioned a spare ballast resistor, they are cheap, small, and crucial.

john
'58 hardtop

[Alexander]

RE: spare parts

I have heard of ballast resistor failing. The one on my 1959 is still original.

These are generally good reliable cars. I have driven my 1959 from New York City to Detroit with no problem, but you need to be prepared. Many of the parts for these cars are no longer stocked at the auto parts store. You do not want to wait two days for a water or fuel pump.

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[JohnG]

RE: spare parts

the ballast resistor is really just 1 or 2 coils of very thin wire that simply get hot and drop voltage from 12 to 6 volts as a result. Any wire which gets repeatedly hot will get brittle and thin and may break. Once broken you have no spark.

Fortunately many old ones are all functionally the same and will work. Also they easily unbolt from the firewall and can be replaced quickly.

Thus you either have a real quick fix or walk. Not much in-between!

[Guest]

RE: spare parts

Al Thanks for all the information, Think I will have to hide all these items from my wife. She thought it would have been a good idea to trailer out to New York. I didn't want to average 9 miles a gallon towing the bird. Hope to average about 15 mpg at 75 mph.

Guess I need to make a trip to NAPA and bring money!!

[byersmtrco]

RE: spare parts

All those things Alexander mentioned . . . Good idea !!! Kind of forgot . . . All that stuff is new (or fairly new) on mine. Skip the roadside dist or gen change and just repl em before you go. More trunk room.

Or just take em. It's like anything else. If ya have it . . . Ya prob won't need it.


I did just repl all that stuff too on the 65. Well most of it. She's runnin sweet too. Plan on about 13-14 mpg at 75 mph. 15-17 at 65.
At 70+ you're crackin the secondary's open (3000 rpm aprox) Sounds strange, but I've tried it time and again. Well it was 10-12 mpg back when the 60 had the Holley 780 on it at 55 mph or 75. That thing was a hog Ran good one way . . . Wide open !!!

John

[Guest]

RE: spare parts

Al Thanks for the mpg numbers. This one has 55,000 original miles and most of the parts are original. I will bring replacments just in case of problems. Did check out the undercarrige and replaced the shocks and sway bar bushings. Also added an aux. power source for a F M / C D player. THe cigar lighter could not handle the power need to run the C D player.