Joe's Elco is a project that I recently inherited. My wife's grandfather, Joe, was the original owner. When he passed away, the car went to her dad, who was also named Joe, hence the name of the car. Dad left us this summer and after a small amount of consternation among the family, we took the car home to fix it up. I wanted to make sure this car was put back into good shape so that the family could enjoy it for years to come.
The Elco hadn't recieved much in the way of maintenance during the last decade so although it looked pretty good, it needed a lot of help. The list of weak points included the brakes, steering, suspension, interior, engine, paint and body-pretty much the whole car.
When the day arrived to tow the Elco home, it barely moved under its own power. The trans, rear differential, brakes and engine were all dangerously low on vital fluids because of various leaks.
On the bright side, this car should be easy to fix-up since aftermarket parts are readily available thanks to the an automotive family tree that shares a branch with the Chevelle. Also, with the exception of a small amount of body rot in the floor of the cab and rear lower quarter panels, the body is in suprisingly great shape for a 41-year-old car.
When we topped off all of the fluids, the car did run, but the engine smoked so bad that I swear I saw the EPA tailing me in an unmarked van as I cruised the neighborhood. I remember my father-in-law telling me once that the original timing chain had broke and although he did replace it, he never got around to rebuilding the engine. Time has a funny way of keeping us from doing what we really want to do. I know he wanted to hot rod that small-block but he never got around to it.
I can only assumed that a few valves met the pistons when the timing chain broke and the valve guides and seals are likely trashed. The odometer shows under 90,000 miles but it's probably flipped over at least once and the piston rings are probably shot as well. She's tired and needs a rebuild or replacement power plant. I've got something very cool in mind to put more pep in her step.
But, back to our little road trip. The plan was to kill several birds with one well-placed stone. Marcel was going to tow his '56 Chevy to Whipple Superchargers to have the blown 407ci V-8 dyno-tested. I was going to drive the Elco to PPC Customs for some preventative maintenance. Mainly, I wanted to prevent death due to weak brakes and sketchy handling for myself or any other family member that got behind the wheel of Joe's Elco. Both shops are near each other so a convoy northward was in order.
So, at 4am in the morning, we hit the road cruising at a whopping 60 mph. The Elco seemed to be OK with our pace, but we stopped twice to add oil anyway.
Near the I-5 and Highway 99 interchange, inTulare, there is an excellent roadside spot to check out a vintage bomber and fighter jet as well as take a leak.
That's me adding more dino oil to the hungry engine while "Vegi-Dan" works the camcorder. We filmed the whole trip so at some point when we get around to it, there will be some cool video here to check out. I wearing that beanie for two reasons: first off, the Elco has holes in the floorboards right above the leaky exhaust system. Second, I had to drive with the windows down to keep from passing out from the carbon monoxide fumes and it was barely 40 degrees out. I froze my giblets off during the trip but boy was it fun!
Stay tuned for part two of the trip! Oh and for those of you waiting with baited breath for Marcel to actually write a blog, I'll kick him in the ass next time we are in the garage to put some pics up of his awesome '56. Later!
-Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment