Motu puts his hand on the girl in the bikini

[riffer]

These will give it away,I tell you in the morning.

Okay, I'll have a go -

it's a 1949 Ford Custom Wagon - a woodie, with a 239 cubic inch v8.

[Motu]

Close - it's a 1951,that's the Twin Spinner,a genuine woody - that wood is maple and was imported for the job,the work being done here using modern methods so it will stay together longer.You can see the Offy heads and the twin carbs came off only a few minutes before I took this photo.The normal dizzy tells that it is the later motor,up to about 48 they had the crab dist.Coming up for sale soon - I don't want it,too small for a bike to fit in the back.

[riffer]

Damn. I was close.

My grandfather had a '49 woodie when I was a kid, that's how I remembered it.

Of course, being a stingy old bastard his was only the six, but that wood was kinda cool to an 8 year old.

And woe betide me if I so much as even breathed on it, let alone touched it!

[Posh Tourer :P]

PT didn't see it,it was gone when he went past.

Damnit... I'll have to drop in sometime when I see a nice example of motor mechanics in your gargre....

And I have time..... :@

[scumdog]

These will give it away,I tell you in the morning.

Where the hell did you get a 'spinner woody? lucky bastard, is it as good as the pics show, (the 8BA flattie looks good too).

[Motu]

I don't own any of these things,they just turn up from time to time,there are more to come,I'll shoot and show things of interest when they come in.

[Motu]

How did you learn to drive? this is a 1959 ''Morrie Thou'' it's had a repaint but other wise is a genuine 57,000miles original,best 'Morrie' I've ever driven - even when new! The tyres measure 90mm across the tread with drum brakes about 7in dia,no more.

My brother and I both had 54 Minors,he wrote his off pretty quick and when I got mine we were riding bikes... the car was used as a parts chaser and Queen St on friday nights.2nd gear up the Harbour Bridge,then we used to take it on all the steep hills - a quick double clutch into 1st to get up Kitchener St,miss it and you had to back down again,no way could you start off on a hill like that.Before the motorways were put in you could go from New North Rd to Great North Rd...King St was the steepest,a mad full throttle blast down the hill then down through the gears to 1st and crawl up to Gt Nth Rd.My brother came home one day and said the diff had just ''blown up''......yeah,right....

I learnt to drive in this car,but never got my licence while I had it - one day I had to pull it out of a blackberry bush on a gravel road,the locals wanted to call the cops,but I wasn't too keen on that and hauled it out by myself while they watched.

[Motu]

Spinnin' along.

[Blakamin]

Spinnin' along.

Veeeeeery nice!

I'd love something like that living at my house!

[Motu]

No point guessing this one,the plate says it all.This is a 1950 single spinner,but it's kinda special being a Crestline,a 2 door (Tudor) that was the colour they were painted,not many of these things made.My first ever brake job as an apprentice was on a single spinner coupe,not a Crestline though.

I have done some work on this one,thought I might tell you about it cause it was interesting.He brought it down to me to put some test gear on because he wasn't too happy with how it was running,the idle was shit and was stumbling under load.Did the basics,good compression,new carb and good manifold,ignition was good - but it was 6 volt positive earth,my gear didn't like that too much,so at one stage I ran a seperate ignition - 12 volt negative earth,just incase there was something wrong there.On my digital scope I can crank the time base down to microseconds,looking right at the spark plug as the spark is going across the gap,I can even see it going across the rotor gap,some powerful shit that told me nothing was wrong with the ignition system.A conventional dist and not that crab thing I know nothing about,phew.

Time to look at things not normaly done.The vacuum was a couple of points down with a needle flicker - my next tool was one I made myself about 4 yrs ago...a vacuum probe to run on my scope,this doesn't tell me a vacuum reading,but shows me a waveform of each intake stroke as it happens in the inlet manifold,by triggering off no1 cyl I can find out which cyl is playing up - bit of seriously powerful gear eh? Paydirt! I can see a couple of cyls with faulty waveforms,or at least they are not the same as the other 6 - we have something wrong with the valves.The owner has his own mechanic to work on his old Fords,but says seeing as we have it there we may as well pull the inlet manifold and have a look.With the inlet manifold off we can see the valves - and low and behold - two valve springs are broken.I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself,I'm a pretty smart dude and my homemade gear has proved itself where others would hit a brick wall.I shoulda learnt by now eh?

This is totaly different valve gear than anything made in the last 50yrs,sidevalve V8s are not your run of the mill V8.This is a late model flathead and much simpler than the older ones - just pull a C clip and the whole vavle,guide and spring slides out of the block...we take them to the bench and strip the springs.They are all different lengths,these things have shrunk,they look a real mess.Kinda strange cause it's a newly rebuilt engine,new valves and springs,even new cyl heads.So the owner supplies us with new spring and we put it back together,oh joy,it's got adjustable tappets,so we set it and kick her into life - no change!!! bloody hell,it's a wonder the thing was running,and now it looks like we haven't done a bloody thing.

The owners running out of patience and us out of time,it's nearly Xmas and he wants to go away in it,we reset the tappets a dozen times but it's still the same.What's wrong with it? he says...well,I dunno,but I'm adamant that we have a valve problem.This guy has plenty of flatheads,most of the ones I've showed you are his - they all run sweet,but not this one.It has an Isky cam,but he has run the same cams before,so have others...they all run sweet,this one is just a dog.Oh well,he takes it away on his Xmas run with his Ford club.

Next year it's fixed - and we find out the story that played out over the holidays.It appears the cheap $2 valve springs that everyone is using are crap,they shrink and break - yeah,we know that eh? Also he has been told the he has to run Isky springs with his cam,the standard springs won't cope with the lift and opening rate.So he got some Isky springs from a club member and they fitted them - and she runs sweet.Today she's a beauty,just a slight lumpy idle as you'd expect from a mild cam.

So,this has put me in a tight spot,I'm cleared for my stupidity,but get the impression I still should of been able to put my finger on it.But I wasn't in charge of the whole job,parts were given to me and I fitted them,that they were still wrong was unknown to all of us.But how to charge for my time? He is one of my local panelbeaters,we have a symbiotic relationship,he gives me work,I give him work,we help each other out....mates in the trade y'know.But as the law stands these days,I can't charge for work I don't do - if you bring me your car to fix,and I charge you 16 hrs labour,but it still runs the same...then you don't have to pay me,cause I didn't do the job you asked me to.We settle on that I just charge him for changing the valve springs,cause that's what I did,but I'll have to take all the dicking around on the chin.

In my job these days I'm in constant training,sometimes I pay hundreds of dollars for a 2 day course,I spend hours on the internet learning all sorts of obscure things about how to diagnose the modern motor vehicle - you don't think I thought up my vacuum probe out of my own little head do you? No,other people play around,bounce of other people,we all learn together.You can now buy one of the things for hundreds of dollars,but I made mine years ago for 60 bucks,and taught myself to use it.What I say on a job like this - is I have been on a training course,I learnt heaps,it was well worth the money spent.Not everyone gets to fart around doing major work on a 1950 Single Spinner Crestline eh?

[Blakamin]

wow.... glad he got it sorted.
my boss in the eighties had a car collection...
everything from about 5 model T's to a phase 3 GTHO only run on race days.
'57 continental, old chevs.. you name it!
luckily i was able to drive them all
pretty stoked as a teenager, as i always had an interest in old cars!
even restored myself a 59 zephyr ute about 6 years ago!

that crestline looks beautiful!

[pete376403]

.But as the law stands these days,I can't charge for work I don't do - if you bring me your car to fix,and I charge you 16 hrs labour,but it still runs the same...then you don't have to pay me,cause I didn't do the job you asked me to.

Unless you're a bloody doctor - how many times have you been to the quack, get charged $50 for 5 minutes and a scrip. Doesn't fix anything so you go back. Another $50, another scrip. and so on. But if its you fixing the quacks car - he pays once, no matter how many times he brings it back with some obscure fault

[Motu]

The 73 Mercury Marquis hearse is back today - we have some suspension work to do after it hauled a 360kg casket this afternoon.The guy who drives this one has been driving it since he was 18,the day it was delivered new.

It holds special significance for me at the moment - we used it for my mother's funeral a couple of months ago...I didn't ask for it,they knew which one to use.We talked a lot about what was going to happen in her last few months,and she knew I worked on a fleet of hearses,I often told her about the Mercury,but I didn't tell her she was going for her last ride in it,that seemed too cruel - but I bet she woulda laughed!

[Mongoose]

Some jobs have some great perks, reckon you have found one of those jobs awrighty!!

[texmo]

My brother and I both had 54 Minors,he wrote his off pretty quick and when I got mine we were riding bikes... the car was used as a parts chaser and Queen St on friday nights.2nd gear up the Harbour Bridge,then we used to take it on all the steep hills - a quick double clutch into 1st to get up Kitchener St,miss it and you had to back down again,no way could you start off on a hill like that.Before the motorways were put in you could go from New North Rd to Great North Rd...King St was the steepest,a mad full throttle blast down the hill then down through the gears to 1st and crawl up to Gt Nth Rd.My brother came home one day and said the diff had just ''blown up''......yeah,right....

I saw a starlet with 5 people in it try to do a hill start on king st and it just rolled back into the car behind it.