Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

[P.S.]

Add me to the list of stock distributor supporters.

I had nothing but trouble with my newly acquired Tudor until Tom Wessenberg talked me into rebuilding a distributor using all stock components, including the special super flexible wire (that most people seem to overlook and use regular wire). Have about 10,000 miles on it now without a single hiccup. Have not had to readjust points either. Make sure your distributor points cam is polished! As they come from the various dealers, they are ground and machined, but not polished. No matter how much you lube them, they will wear down a rubbing block. If you polish the rubbing surface of the cam, the rubbing block won't wear out.

[Slotblog]

Thanks for the input, P.S!

[ora masters]

how do you polish a cam my freind is haveing trouble with points closeing up grease on block is not helping
thanks ORA

[Slotblog]

Hope no one will be annoyed that I brought this thread back from the dead after almost six months...

Wanted to bring folks up to date a little...

Regarding the dist, I installed one of Bert's rebuilt modern units and other than a little trouble finding the dimple in the timing gear to locate TDC, it worked fine. No more ignition problems.

When researching dist stuff, I was very surprised to see that when the cars were new, Ford recommended adjusting the original style points every 100 miles!

Current issue is a short somewhere and I am pretty sure I know where to look. I replaced the old sealed beam units with the new high-tech reflectors, the non-H4 halogen bulbs, and new bulb sockets with wiring. Of course, the lighting harness was toast so I installed one of the nice repro harnesses as well. After I finished the install, everything worked as it should.

A couple of weeks ago I went to start the car and the battery was dead. A quick charge got me going again but now the headlights won't come on and if I don't pull the fuse after shutting the car off, the battery goes dead again rather quickly. I figured there's either a problems with the harness to socket connection on the back of the headlights (which everyone seems to complain about) or some issue with the light switch itself. I was exceedingly careful with the harness to headlight connections but I suspect that's the problem. Hope to be able to investigate this issue during the coming week.

I was wondering if anyone has come up with a more reliable connector at this location? Don't see anything in the catalogs.

Attended a Ford dealership car show yesterday where a local radio station was broadcasting remotely and they interviewed me about the trip for ten minutes or so.

Dunno how many FordBarn reader are also AACA members, but there's a four-page article about the trip that will appear in the May-June of the Antique Automobile magazine that's currently at the printer. They've even used a photo I took for one of the covers, not the front, either the back or one of the inside covers.

And just last week, I was approached by the Atlanta Journal Consitution newspaper to retool my trip story for the "Personal Journeys" feature that appears on the front page of the paper's Sunday Living section most weekends. It's not a done deal yet, but it looks like it is going to happen.

Having been involved in the collector car hobby since I was 12 years old, I'm rather amused at how big a deal some are making about our trip. Back in the '60s, the collectors I knew thought nothing of driving their cars wherever they wanted to go.

My best man, Donald R. Peterson, has a 1930 Packard Speedster he drives a lot. He has a plaque he props on the windshield most of the time when he shows the car. In part, here's what it says:

"Between June 6 and July 9, 1995, this 1930 Packard 734 boat-tail speedster was driven 9,638 miles through all 48 continguous states by Donald R. Peterson."

My little trip is nothing compared to that! LOL!

[Fred K-OR]

Greg, good to hear from you again. Sounds like you are taking good care of your rig.

About your current questions. Do you know if your battery is good? Sometimes when a battery is bad, it will not hold a charge. Also you may want to install a cutoff switch between your battery and your starter that you can turn off rather than taking out your fuse. Sorry but don't have any good ideas on your wiring problems. May just have to go through it and see if you can pin it down. Good luck

[klawockvet]

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Good looking batteries with good looking terminals can still be bad. Before going any further be sure to pull the cables and scrape and file both the battery post and the cables. I just went through that on mine, recharged the battery and life is good again. For some strange reason this has been happening more often for me than in previous years. This is the fourth or fifth instance in the last few years.

[Mitch//pa]

when cleaning the battery terminals check for a draw with a test light..

[SteveB31]

Your dead battery problem is not likely in the lights, since the lights are not on when the car is off. Most likely the problem is the battery, or the engine wiring, because the only things that can drain the battery are things that are hot all the time. Those things are the key switch, the horn, the brake light switch and the generator/alternator. Those are the only things that have power to them 24/7.

[cohammer60]

Good luck , that will be a trip to remember and 50 years from now will be hard to believe you did that . Have a picture from 1962 standing in front of a train about to leave Rome Ga to Florida took half Day and all night with all the stops but my brother and I will never forget it.

[Slotblog]

Originally Posted by Fred K-OR

About your current questions. Do you know if your battery is good? Sometimes when a battery is bad, it will not hold a charge. Also you may want to install a cutoff switch between your battery and your starter that you can turn off rather than taking out your fuse.

Fred, the battery in the car was newly replaced before I bought the car and would cheerfully crank the car after sitting for a month... before I replaced the lighting harness. Still, you may recall we drove 80% of our trip with the generator overcharging a good bit so it may be low on water.

Yeah, I'm using the starter mounted fuse as a cut-off switch. Too easy just to flip the fuse out to disable everything but the starter. And if I do that, the battery stays up and will start the car... I think. It's worked that way a couple of times anyway.

Originally Posted by klawockvet

Good looking batteries with good looking terminals can still be bad.

True and I will indeed start at the battery. Joe Wylie at Bert's replaced the battery box in Denver midway through our trip, so I'm pretty sure this isn't a terminal corrosion issue.

Originally Posted by Mitch//pa

when cleaning the battery terminals check for a draw with a test light..

Mitch, I know that test and it will be the very first thing I do.

Originally Posted by SteveB31

Your dead battery problem is not likely in the lights, since the lights are not on when the car is off. Most likely the problem is the battery, or the engine wiring, because the only things that can drain the battery are things that are hot all the time. Those things are the key switch, the horn, the brake light switch and the generator/alternator. Those are the only things that have power to them 24/7.

Always good to have the advice of an expert, Steve!

Originally Posted by cohammer60

Good luck, that will be a trip to remember and 50 years from now will be hard to believe you did that.

Since I'll be 61 in July, in 50 years it'll have to be someone else remembering it! LOL!!!

Thanks for the advice, gentlemen. I'll report back once I've figured out the problem.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Does the ammeter move at all (like discharge) when you put the fuse in place? This of couse will take two people to see. Check the brake switch for being stuck on.

[Jwilli]

Good luck and have a safe trip.

[Slotblog]

The May-June issue of the AACA's Antique Automobile hit the mailbox yesterday, with the abstract of our Oregon to Georgia trip. They used one of my pics for the inside front cover, which was nice.

At least one FordBarn member is mentioned in the text. If you're not an AACA member, you can read the article on my hobby website here:

http://slotblog.net/topic/60001-trip...club-magazine/

[rocket1]

I just read the AACA article,thanks I enjoyed it.

[CarlG]

I'll look forward to receiving my copy of AA.