Sunday, August 19, 2012

One reason it’s bad to not run your car for more than a year.

Carbon buildup.

My little brother came over to help me get the bad transmission out of the convertible and put the good transmission in.

We didn’t get very far, a cursory glance and further inspection revealed that the good transmission isn’t going to work.  They are both basically the same transmission, the bulletproof Ford C-6, but the bell housing, which is where the transmission connects to the engine, isn’t the same.

The convertible has a 390 CID medium block engine.  The wagon, the car the transmission came out of, had a 400 CID big block engine.  That means that I’m up the creek without a paddle, medium block and big block engines have different bolt patterns where the transmission bolts up.  So we decided to give up for today because I’m going to have to buy a new transmission, we found one online for $1,200, which means saving up for it.  Bleah.

So instead we fiddled around with the truck.  Took off the front grille and bumper so we can get that painted this week.

We also had to start it up to move it forward so we could maneuver the good transmission back behind it for storage.  Which reminded my why I should have been running it for 10 or 15 minutes every month or so.  Huge billows of grey smoke filled the garage (Blue smoke is bad – means you’re burning oil.   Grey smoke just means you’ve let it sit too long and need to let it run for a bit.)

We had to evacuate the garage for a while so that it could air out.  Which was fine, we pulled the truck  forward and got the front end out of the garage where we could work on the grille and bumper in the fresh air.

By the time we were done tearing it apart and ready to put it back in the garage, the exhaust from the truck and the air in the garage were clear.

Now it’s ready to get painted and I have the winter to save up the money to buy the new transmission.  Wheee!

5 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Well I learned something new!

I don't drive my car that much...but I should run it every once in a while anyways, I suppose.
~

Max Sartin said...

If you drive it at least once a month, you'll be fine. That will help prevent the carbon buildup and keep the gaskets and seals from drying out.

Gilly said...

Ugh! I can feel that grey exhaust in my throat - excuse me while I get outta here!

carmilevy said...

I think it's the coolest thing that you have such a gift. While I understand what's going on beneath the hood, I'd be lost if I actually had to pick up tools and do something with them.

Wish I lived closer so I could watch you do this stuff live :)

(Grey smoke...love the connection to the theme!)

Unknown said...

Seriously? A year without tuning a car is absolutely impossible to happen. First, the car batteries would be definitely dead by that time, the transmission oil would’ve also dried up already. Same thing goes with the gasoline. Well, these are just a few problems that you can actually encounter. This is why it's really important to have the car revved up at least thrice a week.
- Jae Gunderson