Craig,
Great Story!!!
I can relate to the safety space for slowing down and the people that see it
as just enough room for them to squeeze in........"At the last minute". I
can tell you that in the early 80's before I really Rodded my truck, it had
a mild V-8 with a straight axle and all drum brakes. I did my share of fast
driving and made it a point to leave that space for braking but their was
always that Fool who cut in there. Well, at first they would be looking in
there rear view mirror to see my reaction to their maneuver but then it was
my turn to look at their facial expressions as I tried to slow my truck down
before decorating there plastic car with some real American steel. I was
lucky enough to have never been in an accident "knock on wood" and the
people that I barely missed made it a point to not have me behind them
before they came to the next stop just in case.
Oh, I happen to have that formula here as I was getting ready to add it to
a page I'm going to be added to my website. This information that I found
tells you how calculate for engine rpm and mph. It also has a quick little
chart that so you can see what your rpm's will be at 60 mph based on your
tire size and rearend ratio. So you can see really easy how a change to a
taller or shorter tire will change your rpm's. I would have calculated it
for you but you have to know the diameter of the tire.
RPM X TIRE DIAMETER
----------------------------------- = MPH
DRIVE RATIO X 336
WHERE "336" IS SIMPLY A CONSTANT TO CONVERT TIE TIRE DIAMETER TO THE LINEAR
DISTANCE THE TIRE TRAVELS.
-----Original Message-----
From: craig k <vwbus@ckoon.org>
To: oletrucks@autox.team.net <oletrucks@autox.team.net>
Date: Friday, April 27, 2001 6:55 PM
Subject: [oletrucks] Our Easter Trip (looong)
>I just realized I never posted a report of our Easter trip... you remember,
>I peppered the List with questions about timing before we went!
>
>I finally got the timing/carb/mixture right enough to drive; the truck
>still idles rich and idles high, but otherwise seems ok. I decided to take
>the access roads and 2-lane blacktops as far as possible to San Antonio, as
>I didn't want to throw it on the freeway without breaking it in a bit. This
>was a mistake. It took me 45 minutes to get 6 miles outta town, with one
>light taking 25 mintutes and 20 cycles to get through!!
> Next, I discovered that there are only 2 bridges across the Blanco River:
>I-35, and a road even the locals in Kyle claimed not to know how to get to.
>As soon as I got on 35, traffic slowed to a crawl. Now, I am not a speed
>demon, but those who ARE seem not to notice that my truck is not a
>3literABSairbag hotrod, and ride my bumper like mad in stop/go traffic, or
>they cut in front of me (hey pal, that was my SAFETY SPACE!!). By the time
>I got to San Marcos, it had taken 90 minutes to get 45 miles. The hell with
>it, I'm staying on the highway; I set the tach to 3100 and settled in...
>too slow, just pass me (for the record, 3000-3200 rpm seemed to be 55 or
>60. We have 16" LT 215/r85s and a stock 4:11 rear - any math whizzes wanna
>tell me what I was going? The speedo works every now and again... mostly
>again).
> The remaing 60 miles to my destination went by pretty quickly, and I
>ended up in San Antonio during rush hour... and the truck had a new trick:
>it would sputter to a halt every time we slowed down. It would start right
>back up, and as long as I kept a bit of pressure on the pedal it would run,
>but it was not a good experience. I finally pulled in to the breakdown lane
>and popped the hood. The idle adjustment screw (the one on the throttle
>arm) had backed out, lowering the idle speed below stall point. I cranked
>it back in, and joined the crawl again. I stopped every 20 miles or so to
>screw it back in, as it kept backing off.
> I finally got to where I was going, except I missed the exit! Luckily, the
>road I got off on eventually led me back to Stephanie's house. After 3
>hours of driving instead of the normal 90 minutes. Tranny had a lot of
>fluid dripping from it, and was low again. Added some fluid, and retimed
>the valves to check for any changes from the freeway cruising.
>
>Sunday we got up early and headed out to where the Easter family reunion
>was - near a large recreational lake in the south of town, about 20 minutes
>away. No problems. Unfortunately, it was 90 degrees and 96% humidity, and
>noone wanted to wear a big fuzzy bunny suit and ride The Easter Bunny in
>the truck for the kids. I must say, I was a bit miffed, as I'd rebuilt the
>bed and the rear axle JUST to do the Easter thang!
>To make up for it, her Uncle offers us his aftermarket sun visor (he has a
>48 Chevy dumptruck), which he paid ONE DOLLAR for. Has the brackets and
>everything!! Stephanie isn't sure as it means cutting holes in her baby.
>
> We packed up and headed home early, as the lights on the truck are not
>reliable (new harness, but the original lightswitch still has that
>bimetallic strip for a fuse... the new headlights pull more amps through
>the old connections, heat up the strip, and out go the lights. They'll
>blink on and off about every 2 minutes. Not very legal). We got 2 miles
>from the picnic and whoooooaaaaaarrrrbumpbumpcoughbuck.... the truck had NO
>power, was kicking like a mule, and wouldn't accelerate. Stopped at a gas
>station, poked at it, filled the tank... gas in pump, gas in carb. Hmmmmm.
>FELT like an icing carb, but it was 90 degrees out! Drove up and down for a
>bit, no change. Sigh. Called the road service for a flatbed tow home, as it
>was now too dark to drive even if I COULD fix the thing. I had the carb
>apart and was cleaning it when the wrecker showed up; NOW the fun began!!!
>
> The driver attepmted to drive the the truck onto the flatbed. 45 degree
>angle! Needless to say, it didn't work. Stephanie turned away and told me
>to let her know if he wrecked the truck! He gave up, and went to put chains
>on it - "Say, where are your chain locations?" Ummm, our truck was built
>many years before and doesn't have em. He wanted to use the motor mount,
>and then the front axle... I didn't think the axle would like it, but we
>didn't have much choice, as otherwise he was gonna leave. Got the truck on,
>and now we had to chain it down. As we discovered the first time we went
>round a corner. Ever see an AD tilt on two wheels? On a flatbed? Not
>pretty.
>Stephanie decided to ignore it all and stay sane; I made the guy stop, we
>chained it down using a hole for a brake line ("I'm not allowed to do that
>- might cut the brake line!" Flipping the truck, however, is ok...). He got
>back on the freeway, and said "I'll take it easy" and proceeded to get in
>the passing lane and go 70!!! I had my eyes glued on the rearview mirror;
>if the truck moved an inch I would see it. After 10 or so miles, he turns
>to Stephanie and says: " Do you want to hear the radio?" Wanting to be
>'polite' she says, "oh, uh, ok, sure."
>
>My blood freezes.
>
> He tunes in a 'modern country' station and puts it up pretty loud. Now I
>work at a record store, and I love music, and I love country music, but
>'modern' and 'country' don't go together too well for me... softrock/pop
>tunes sung by guys in cowboy hats are my idea of hell. For 20 minutes.
>Seemed like 2000.
>
>We got home safe, and got the truck off the flatbed. Tipped the guy $20,
>because he wasn't as bad as I make it out to be, and was as concerned as I
>was about damaging the truck once he realized it was going to be a
>more-difficult job than with a modern car. LONG day. Now, how am I gpnna
>get home?
>
>Woke up early and attacked the truck. I had begun to suspect the carb, but
>went through the whole tuneup procedure - points, timing, advance. Then
>repulled the carb. Yanked out the main jet and looked through it... or,
>MOST of it, cause there was a big ol goober of potmetal corrosion or some
>such in there, effectively cutting off all but the lowest fuelflow. The
>poor thing was starvin'! Blew it out, reassembled. VROOOM! As long as
>nothing else gets in there, I'm home.
>Left a bit later, and made good time till I got to New Braunfels. Now, New
>Braunfels is EVIL on I35 - either little ol ladies are STOPPING on the
>highway after merging, or it is torn up to make a new I35 that seems to go
>zigzaggy all over 10 miles or so. Today it was torn up. Luckily,
>Stephanie's Grandmother lives here, and I know the town ptretty well; after
>crawling for 15 minutes, I spotted an exit, zipped off and cut into town,
>and went up the Old I 35; it meets back with the highway a ways past NB.
>Luck was with me, and I soon raced ahead of the jam; a school bus stuck in
>the jam didn't catch up with me until we hit the Austin city limit sign!
>
>I think the truck was as glad as my dog and I to see our gate.
>
>Tranny needs attention (no real seals, just gaskets, right??) and I still
>need the correct main jet (I ran a 50 to San Antonio, and the plugs showed
>it ran lean - no pitting, but very white and dry. I put in a 52, which is
>too rich... need to find a 51. Guess what the stock jet size is? :) ).
>I pulled the headlight switch; taking it apart and cleaning it would
>certainly help the problem, but I punted, and wired the bimetallic fuse
>shut, and put an inline 16 amp fuse between the power wire and the switch.
>Tooled around town today, and it all seems dandy. Except fot the puddle of
>tranny fluid it leaves everywhere :P
>
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>craig
>caretaker of
>stephanie's 50 3104 216 5-window deluxe
>oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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