Whatever happened to Radio Shack?

So, one of my latest endeavors has been working through an old fuel sender for my Jensen Healey. These old senders are such simple things, based on resistance and utilizing fair amounts of very small gauge wound wire. This sender, once I removed all the rust and debris, is no different.

I went through normal channels looking for a replacement unit, but these things are scarce these days, and my only option was to bodge a unit from a different car. I opted to take the third route, rebuild the unit myself. I figured that sinc thes were so simple it should be no big deal, right?

Well, everything came apart ok. Once I got inside the unit it was a matter of removing the old rivets that held the innards in place. So, then it was off on my normal saturday parts runs to go get supplies. The winding wire from the unit is 30 AWG wire, somthing I recognized immediately from the days of playing with magnets and build your own circuit kits as a kid. So I ran over to my local radio shack. I'v been rather sad about the decay of the local radio shacks for a while now, but they have what I need 50% of the time and I figured this stuff was relatively normal, so it shouldn't be hard to locate.

I was wrong. I should have known when I walked in and the employee asked me if I needed help. I responded, "a roll of 30 AWG wire." He pointed me to the speaker cables. Thn I went and explained it to him, and he went to look it up on the computer. Then I went digging around in the parts area in the back. Well, that wonderous parts area of my youth is now only 5 feet wide and has almost nothing useful. He then came back to me to let me know that they didn't stock it. Frustrated, I looked around and realized that Radio Shack isn't Radio Shack any more. Instead it's a cell phone / speaker cable / remote control toy store.

I've lost a treasured place, and it makes me sad.

And finally, I did find a source for the wire. I had to buy it online because noone stocks it in a gauge smaller than 26.

Studebaker Champion Update

I installed the restored vibration dampener, fan and pulley on the Studebaker this morning. After a little fiddling she ran like a top. Here's some video:



She was running so well that I opted to run around the corner to the gas station and properly fill her tank. She drove down there well, though the brakes are a little sketchy. Filled up the tank, put air in the tires are proceeded to head home.

Halway back to the house she died on me. Couldn't get her to turn over, though everything spun well. Popped the hood only to see that the carb was not only flooded, but seeping. It appears that the amount of fuel now being delivered was just too much for the old carb. After a couple hours she started, got her the last 1/2 a block home, and went online and ordered a carb rebuild kit.

Cheers!
Jody

Barret-Jackson Part 3

The wife and I went back to Barrett-Jackson on sunday. I shot another 300-ish photos. Thy've now been uploaded to the site and available on the Barrt-Jackson auction page.

Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2009 Photos (Part 2)

I've spent the entire day annotaing and uploading photos. I now have all of the photos I took yesterday online. You can see them all at: Barrett-Jackson 2009 Auction Photos

Cheers!
Jody

Barrett-Jackson 2009 Photo Library

I've started going through the 700+ photos taken yesterday afternoon and preparing for the additional batch I'll be taking on Sunday. So far I've put the photos taken of th GM Heritage collection vehicles up first, and I'll be adding more as I get the rest sorted.

You can view the photos here: Barrett-Jackson 2009 Scottsdale Auction Photos.

Cheers!
Jody

Barret-Jackson 2009

So I had a chance to wander about the 2009 Barrett Jackson auction today. Shot over 700 photos, and will go back for more on Sunday. Saw from amazing Packards, a brilliant Studebaker and nice Healeys. It was a great day! As soon as I've sorted the photos I'll start posting them. The dust and the lighting made it hard, but I tried to shoot pictures as best as I could.

1953 Studebaker Fuel System Article

I've completed the writeup on restoring the fuel system of my 1953 Studebaker Champion. I did end up having to replace the fuel pump though I thought I wouldn't have to. Old Annabelle now runs and drives!

Here's the article on restoring the fuel system: http://www.theymightberacing.com/Projects/InSitu/SC53/FuelSystem.aspx

Jody

De-Rednecking the yard

So, between Christmas and the baby the front yard was looking a little worse for wear. My junior greasemonkey and I put away (or so I thought) the car tools in lieu of the yard tools. I was in the process of pulling the cars out of the driveway only to learn that the Jensen Healey wouldn't start. Turns out that the fuel pump on that car died between the last time I'd driven it and today.

After a bit of pushing to get it moved and 1/2 of a day cleaning the yard we determined that I did have a spare fuel pump in the garage. 20 minutes later the JH was running again (yay for no more car pushing).

The day was capped with a bike ride with my daughter. She's just learned how to ride and we've been going in longer and longer trips through the neighborhood. It turns out this is a vry dangerous thing to do, but not in the way you might think. While we were driving around I found an old Triumph Spitfire, a 30's panel wagon, a 70's Chevelle, a VW Beetle and a 70's Corvette. At this rate bike riding will keep me in new car projects for the next couple decades!

It runs!

The new fuel pump arrived for the Studebaker Champion yesterday. I installed it last night and put the battery back on the charger to get it charged up appropriately. With the new pump installed the old girl turned over within seconds and started to run!

I'm still hearing the squealing from below the fan in the front, and the brakes aren't really functional, the carb is pretty gooy and starting to leak, and I found that somwhere inside the firewall the heater is weeping coolant. None of these are big issues, I'm just happy to be able to start the car and listen to her idle.

Any time a car runs it's a danged good day in the shop!

Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year to all! (And happy birthday mum!)

Yestrday was a day in the garage metered with an equal share of success and failure. Did more work on Jensen Healey door panels. Getting the vinyl to lay over the door handles has some tricks to it.

I also reinstalled the freshened fuel system into the Studebaker Champion. Everything looked good until I tried to start it. Apparently the 50-ish years of crud on the fuel pump was th key to keeping the old thing from weeping gasoline all over the place. So, while everything is in place, a new fuel pump had to be ordered. A week or so it'll be here. For those who might also need a fuel pump for their Champion it appears that Autozone carries them very cheaply on their online website.

Jody