[Tigers] This isn't fun anymore...

[Jay Laifman]

Stu,

I agree with you.  This kind of stuff drives me nuts, and it isn't fun.  In
the 35+ years that I have been driving and maintaining Sunbeams and other
cars, I have found that I DO NOT like chasing down parts and dealing with
things that break, especially when it is hard to find the right part, or
taking off the old part causes a bolt to break, or the part comes and it
doesn't fit or it's not as good as the old parts, or the threads strip
putting in on and on and on and on.

I have to admit that my experiences with Porsches have a been a bit
better.  Parts tend to come off easier, and replacement parts tend to fit
like they are supposed to.  But, it doesn't eliminate the frustration.

I have found that for me, the biggest pleasure is getting out and driving
the car.

That said, I happily brag about those 35 years.  And every time I've gotten
a car running again and the frustration is behind me, I feel a great sense
of accomplishment and I get even more emotionally attached to the car
(necrophilism I think it's called - at least that's what a college
girlfriend who was a psych major accused me of).

One final point, I've also found that when I've dived in 100% and fixed
things with the best parts available, and fixed more than needed, I've had
much more reliability.

I wish you look in breaking through the disappointment/frustration/anger
barrier to enjoying your car again.

On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 6:37 PM, Stu via Tigers <tigers at autox.team.net>
wrote:

> I took the Tiger out today for a little cruise with my son driving (don’t
> panic, Hagerty, he’s over 25).  When we got home I noticed that the trunk
> was a little out of alignment.  The nut on the fixed part of the right side
> hinge was loose.  No problem, tighten it up.  Only it wouldn’t tighten.  It
> feels like the stud is pulling out of the hinge body.  OK, I may have a
> spare hinge, if not, I can probably turn one up.
>
>
> No big deal, right?  But wait, the fun was just starting.
>
>
>  I was going to drive it back into the garage.  The key was on a few
> seconds while I readjusted the seat from my son’s position.  Then it took
> longer than normal to start, then smoke came out from under the hood.  Key
> off.  There’s a lot of heat coming out…  I pulled the hood release and
> could see flames…   Opening the hood, flames were coming up from the front
> of the carb area.  The garden hose was right there, so I gave it a squirt,
> cooling everything off, and the flames went out.
>
>
>  The front of the air cleaner is sort or singed, the element needs an
> inspection, the bottom of the hood is black and bubbled right over there,
> and there is one huge bubble on the outside of the hood.  Wiring looks OK,
> if a bit singed, and the plastic section that joins the choke heater down
> pipe to the air cleaner is melted.
>
>
> After things cooled off, we powered it up again, with the air cleaner
> off.  The pump was on, but everything was perfect, no fuel coming out
> anywhere.   It started and ran fine.
>
>
> So I’m guessing that something is going on in the float bowl, the valve
> occasionally sticking open or something.  There had been a couple instances
> of brief loss of power, and rough running this summer, so I suspect this is
> related.
>
>
> I cleaned and replaced a lot of stuff in the carb maybe a decade back.
> Anybody have any part numbers for rebuild kits that are available today?
> What Ford should I tell them I have to get the kit for a stock 260 Tiger
> carb?
>
>
> The fun is going out of this real quick.  Now I’m faced with matching the
> paint on the hood ( Imron from 1977), or a whole strip and repaint to get
> things to match, since there are too many layers of paint on it now.
>
>
> How was your day?
>
>
> Stu
>
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>
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