The Maiden Voyage

So I took the Sled to T&R Auto in Indianola - great guys and as far as I can tell, solid mechanics. One of the owners, Tom, was really communicative with me, described in detail what he had to do. They had the car for about a week and a half. I picked her up this morning.

Tom called within a day, and sounded totally purplexed. Seems the oil pump drive shaft was missing. That's right, as in incognito. They didn't bother to drop the oil pan, but Tom said it might be laying down at the bottom of the sump for all they knew. They put in a drive shaft and said that the car instantly sounded much smoother. But there's a significant possibility that damage has been done. A car can't run without oil for very long.

I'd asked Tom to rebuild the carburetor, and he did that. He also did lots of other small things for me, such as: install an additional in-line fuel filter. He indicated the fuel tank might have flakes of rust that would get into the line and engine. He had to fabricate a small part for the carburetor, somewhere in the throttle linkage, I believe. There were leaks in the radiator and possibly the heater core, so in went some stop leak. Also because of the possibility of damage to the main bearing or other engine parts, he added a thickening oil additive.

He also understood that the tranny might be shot, but before he could test it determined that the brakes were nonexistent. So in went a new master cylinder.Tom called me yesterday and indicated that the brakes work great now. He took it out and drove it for a bit. Seems the tranny is working as expected as well. But he did note that after the engine got hot it the oil idiot light would pulse when the engine revved down. Oil pressure might be flooring out...

But this morning I paid for all the great work they did, fired her up (she's a bit touchy but they got the idle right). There's a small "lock-out" box down on the steering column with a switch that gets toggled when the shifter is pushed up into park. If it's not engaged, the ignition won't engage. So I had to reach down and press it while turning the ignition.

I pulled out of the lot and drove the few miles home, some of it highway, with no problems. The engine sounded great.

Randy (the other owner) said I should change the oil in 100 miles or so.

Jen took video of the Sled driving home. I'll post that soon.