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Harry’s Ranch
Tucked away off the Rogue River Highway (U.S. 99) in Grants Pass, Oregon is a small ramshackle used car lot that also doubles as the local garage. My good friend Harry (68 years old, but could easily pass for 67) runs the joint. Harry is actually one heck of a storyteller, and a pretty darn good mechanic too.
His mechanical skills I can vouch for. His stories, well, they sound real enough, but storytellers have their way about them, and Harry is no different.
There’s usually a few good ol’ boys hanging ’round at Harry’s, telling lies and rattling off one joke after another. It’s the kind of place one stops by to maybe listen to a few golden oldies coming out of the jukebox in Harry’s “office”, crack open a cold one, and watch Harry bust his knuckles on some rusted piece of iron from decades gone by.
When it comes to cars, ol’ Harry is more partial to the GM stuff, but seems to have a good appreciation for just about anything with 4 wheels. At any given time, you’ll find a wide selection of aged vehicles from the General, Fords and Mercs, Chryslers, and maybe even something more exotic like a Nash Rambler or a Studebaker Clipper.
I stopped by Harry’s one day last week. At the front of the lot sat a bright red ’66 Sedan de Ville, looking way to slick to be on Harry’s car lot. Turns out though, every once in awhile, some pretty nice cars end up here. Each one has a story to tell (I’m sure). Of course, I can’t get into every car’s history here in this column, but I can show you around a bit. Check out a few of Harry’s Cads here. Some nice, so not so nice. Just thought you’d enjoy the pics.
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1966 Sedan de Ville. One of the nicer specimens on Harry’s lot.
Totally roadworthy and ready to drive away. Can you say “Goodfellas”?
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Another ’66 de Ville. Still pretty solid, just enduring round after round of
blistering summer sun and torrential winter rainstorms.
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1970 Eldorado. This is one of my favorites. It’s an all-original one-owner car,
and Harry has all the original paperwork. Fairly solid car too.
I heard a thousand bucks would take it away. Hmmmm.
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1959! What a beaut. I’ve seen this car at Harry’s for LONG time now.
I think it originally came in for some work on the radio. Not really sure why it’s still here.
This thing seems to take up most of Harry’s back lot!
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Of course, there are cars other than Caddys at Harry’s place.
Thought you might like to see a few other rides while we’re here…
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1964 Pontiac Catalina Wagon. As soon as I saw this rusting family Truckster,
I thought of OPGI and the new Pontiac line of parts. Here’s a project for you!
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1978 GMC Caballero. Looks like it’s got plenty of redneck hell raisin’ left in it!
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Finally, a ’69 Chevelle Wagon in the guise of a Yenko creation. It’s got the Yenko
stripes and someone even stuffed a 427 under the hood. Fantasy land for sure,
but also plenty of good fun. This car has been here a long time as well. Could just
be put back to a nice regular old station wagon and still be an eye catcher.
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If you happen to be in southwestern Oregon sometime, drop by “Honest Harry’s”
place and say hi. He may just have a story or two to tell you.
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Commercial Break
By Tom Shaw
4-4-2 makes the scene!
We’re going back to 1965 a commercial break, to have a look at a period TV ad for the then-new Oldsmobile 4-4-2.
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Olds’ mid-size 4-4-2 was in its first full year of production, having been introduced mid-year 1964, and naturally, Olds was targeting the young buyer. This 60-second spot shows a 4-4-2 convertible pacing aggressively through a beach location, a logical setting given the popularity of beach movies and surf music back then.
Scene changes occur rapidly considering the spot’s age, a visual reinforcement of the “action” theme, picking up the 4-4-2’s “Instant Action” marketing buzzword. One sentence toward the end spans four scenes. Camera technique is limited to simple pans and a couple of mounted-on-vehicle shots. On-screen graphics are simple too.
Unlike later commercials which became mini-stories with plots and recurring characters, this one has just the lone car driving through an empty beach. The only person shown is the driver, decked out with a swingin’ Brylcreem hairstyle, nylon windbreaker, thick, black plastic shades, and white leather driving gloves. He has no speaking part.
The musical score is reminiscent of a fight scene in a secret agent movie - percussive horn accents, lots of bongo drums and the occasional tickling of the ivories. Voice-over is deep and dramatic, consistent with the spot’s period charm. Olds musclecar TV ads would change radically very soon, but this was the starting point - a milestone ad for a
milestone musclecar.
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We’re off the beaten path demonstrating the
newest high-performance vehicle of the year.
(car enters from left)
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The Oldsmobile 4-4-2!
(Spoken with drama)
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Four: 400 cubic-inch V8 engine,
345 horsepower.
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Four: 4 barrel carburetion.
(car drives toward, then over camera)
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Two: Dual exhausts.
(car drives away from camera)
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4-4-2 by Oldsmobile.
Instant Action, a new breed of car.
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This is the design, beauty on the run.
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Underneath - Redline tires,
heavy-duty springs, shocks, stabilizers…
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…give the 4-4-2 terrific road sense.
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Inside a 4-4-2…
(Driver quickly flicks the
steering wheel left and right)
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…creature comforts that just…
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…won’t quit.
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4-4-2 prices start lower than any other…
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…high-performance car in America designed…
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…for everyday driving.
(close)
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A/C 101. A primer on air conditioning systems for your vintage GM car. Part 1.
By Bill Carberry
The basics.
You may have read air conditioning install articles for specific info on how to put A/C in
a particular car.
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In this story, you will learn the basic operation of an A/C system and how it works (or should work) in a classic car or truck. Besides installing a complete A/C system, you may be considering upgrading your existing system whether it is OEM or an older aftermarket system. We will also dispel some common misconceptions regarding R-12 versus HFC-134a.
Understanding how the basic A/C system works and what is going on inside all those parts is a good place to start. Starting with the compressor, the refrigerant is compressed from a low pressure gas into a high pressure gas. In the compression step it picks up a lot of heat. The discharge hose carries the freon to the condenser entering at the top connection. Imagine the condenser doing for the air conditioner what the radiator does for your engine; gets rid of un-needed heat. In the condenser, the high pressure gas is cooled by the airflow through it and the refrigerant condenses into a liquid state. Most mid-1970s and older cars (and all aftermarket A/C systems) have a receiver drier in the liquid line after the refrigerant has exited the condenser’s lower connection. The receiver drier is basically a filter. Its primary responsibility is to dry the refrigerant - because moisture in an A/C system is the second most common cause of a failure. The drier has a powder called desiccant inside it to absorb moisture and also has a screen to stop any hard particles as well. After leaving the drier, the refrigerant goes to the expansion valve. The technical name is Thermal Expansion Valve because it opens and closes based on temperature changes as the system operates. It works pretty much like the thermostat in your engine’s cooling system. It controls the flow of refrigerant through it to maintain the correct pressure and temperature in the evaporator. The expansion valve changes the state of the refrigerant from a high pressure liquid to a low pressure liquid. Speaking of the evaporator, this is the next component that the refrigerant enters. Going in as a low pressure liquid, it pools in the lower part of the evaporator and evaporates from a liquid into a gas. This is the part that makes the cold air that we so badly want on those hot days. As the refrigerant evaporates, it actually takes heat away from the air that is already inside the car. The evaporator absorbs heat from the air pushed through it by the blower motor and transfers the heat to the refrigerant within. The evaporation process is helped along by the compressor that has its suction port connected to the evaporator outlet by the suction hose. The compressor draws in the low pressure gas from the evaporator and starts the refrigerant on its journey all over again.
When HFC-134a was introduced in domestic cars in the mid-1990s, everyone was concerned about what would be needed to get older cars A/C systems to perform the way they had with good old R-12. There were rumors and false information that led people to believe that 134a could not be made to blow cold air from the older systems. Comparing refrigerant to refrigerant, R-12 does transfer heat better than HFC-134a. But with some simple upgrades, this chemical imbalance can easily be overcome...
Condensing things.
The primary improvement required when retrofitting is to provide better cooling to the refrigerant as it passes through the condenser. A high efficiency condenser and better airflow through it will generally solve this problem. Older condensers usually had a single inlet connection that split off into two parallel tubes that snaked back and forth across and down until they merged back into one outlet tube. These were generally 5/16” or 3/8” diameter round aluminum tubes with aluminum fins. These older designs worked well with R-12, but HFC-134a needs better heat dissipation to provide equivalent cooling. Newer designs use either smaller diameter tubes or a wide flat tube that is internally divided into smaller passages. This design greatly increases the surface area contact from the tubes to the fins to provide better heat dissipation.
Even the best condenser needs air to flow through it to do its job. On the move, the air passing through the grille is plenty. But when stopped, the cooling fan needs to do its job. Older cars that only came with a four or five blade fan should have it replaced with either a six or seven blade fan. A fan shroud should also be installed if at all possible. Use of a fan clutch is OK as long as it is working properly. One drawback to a fan clutch (as far as the air conditioning goes) is that if the A/C is turned on right after the engine is started and the car sits at idle, the fan clutch has not had time to warm up and will not pull the necessary air through the condenser. By federal law, it is required that when a car with a belt driven fan is retrofitted, a high pressure cut out switch must be installed in order to prevent refrigerant release from the pressure safety valve. On classic cars having an A/C system installed, it is always recommended that either a binary or a trinary switch be installed. A binary switch will cut power to the compressor clutch in the event of a loss of refrigerant and also if the high side pressure exceeds about 400 psi. A trinary switch will also close a second circuit, enabling an electric fan to engage and provide added cooling when the high side pressure reaches about 225 psi. A belt driven fan is usually preferred as the primary cooling fan, and an auxiliary electric fan as back up will keep things working properly.
Is your cooling system up for the job?
Let’s talk about another very important heat exchanger; your radiator. I know this article is about air conditioning, but your cool new A/C system won’t be keeping you very cool if your engine overheats and strands you on the side of the road. If you are installing A/C in your classic where there was none before, you should take a close look at the radiator’s condition. Besides any obvious stains that may indicate a leak, now would be a good time to make sure that it is flowing at or close to 100% capacity. If it’s not, then the extra heat it will be subjected to from the A/C condenser may cause an overheating condition in your engine. OEM manufacturers almost always used a larger radiator in cars equipped with A/C. Look at it this way; if it’s 90 degrees outside and you put on your air conditioner, you have 90 degree air passing through the condenser and taking away heat from that heat exchanger. The air exiting the condenser may now be in excess of 120 degrees! Now you have 120+ degree airflow through your radiator. Can your existing radiator handle that extra load? Upgrading from a two row to a three row radiator will give about 50% better cooling from your radiator (assuming it did have 100% flow to start with!) With the recent rise in the cost of copper, many classic car enthusiasts are now spending only a few dollars more and upgrading to a quality aluminum radiator.
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The large tubes on older condensers were
fine for R-12, but not HFC-134a.
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Multi-bladed electric fan features straight fan blades. Excellent when heavy duty
cooling is required.
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Flex-A-Lite 1818 7 blade fan for light weight,
max air flow.
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Griffin Radiator offers the option of a fan shroud with electric cooling fan and an A/C condenser with nearly all of their many exact fit applications. Besides providing way more cooling than the factory radiator, it will also hold 18 psi with no problem - allowing the coolant to stay in the radiator even under extreme conditions. Putting a state-of-the-art A/C system in your car and leaving a questionable radiator in there would be like putting a big-block in a car with a stock 6 cylinder drivetrain. How long will that combination really last?
Next issue of Colin’s Corner, we’ll continue with the conclusion of A/C 101.
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Olds 4-4-2 Carpet Installation, part 1.
The finer points of installing carpet in your
vintage GM vehicle.
Does the world really need yet another story on carpet installation? Turns out, it does.
We’ve seen and heard many a carpet install story gone wrong.
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This is really one area where most do-it-yourselfers try to cut corners (sorry) and end up with a sub-standard job. No need for that anymore. Doing it the right way takes time, but the end result is more than worth the effort - as you’ll see here.
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When putting down carpet and/or foam, we
always use 08090 Super Trim adhesive. This
glue gives you ample time to work the materials before a permanent bond takes place.
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We start off by installing Dynamat sound
deadener on the car’s bare floor. Eric rolls
out the material to take out any humps,
and presses out the overlaps.
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He applies aluminum tape to all the edges and seams to keep from getting the butyl on his skin and clothing, while working the carpet in to shape.
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Factory press molded set available for most cars, but they take time and patience to install properly
(as we will see in the following photos).
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We always order it untrimmed, this allows us to cover more area. A few preliminary fits will help diagnose the troublesome areas, and also
where we need to add extra foam.
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We install additional padding
to complement the install. The sides of the driveshaft tunnel at the back is a common
area needing extra attention.
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Knowing how to cut around brackets for the
seats and this console mounting bracket
toward the rear seat are important.
Small “x” shaped slices work best.
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The next step is Dynaliner. The pressure
sensitive adhesive backing allows it to stick
to the aluminum cover of the Dynamat well.
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It comes in a few thicknesses; we chose 3/16”
and 5/8” to add to the different areas. This material also forms a barrier by holding
back high floor temperatures (exhaust heat).
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The rear taillight wiring harness is taped down to minimize problems during foam work. We use 3M high temp duct tape for this to assure adhesion.
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Eric peels back the paper from the adhesive.
It’s very sticky, so be careful when placing
it down - it’s hard to pick back up.
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A tool of the trade is this angle grinder with a 40 grit disc Roloc 3M. This files the foam down nicely in high areas with excellent control.
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This is the foam edge near the step plate.
This area needs to be as thin as possible
to allow the step plate to lay down flat
- without being on an angle.
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Often you have to put a thin piece of
foam “Dynaliner” next to a thicker piece to
fill in any voids. The grinder levels
the two down within seconds.
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Foam areas, like around the gas pedal studs, need to be flat and tapered out gradually to
allow free movement of the pedal to keep
from wearing a spot in the carpet.
The grinder thins it out in this area well.
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The foam is down and leveled out. It’s time to start installing the carpet. Eric likes to work from the center out to all 4 corners for best results. He is applying some glue at the rear center floor over the driveshaft tunnel to hold a small section in place. He then works it down the line outward.
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To the left and right of the driveshaft tunnel
he works his hands in and around to see where
a fit problem may be. Here he has a gathering
of extra material where the rear passenger’s
feet or heal would touch.
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He cuts a small notch under where the seat
will be and glues it down. This will be
undetectable once the seat is installed, so no
wear can take place on the splice. The same problem exists on the other side.
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It is time to pre-fit the rear seat in place to check the fit around the tunnel. The foam work helped it lay down well, as seen (red arrow), with no gaps and not too tight to snap the seat in place.
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Using a heat gun 12-18 inches away, you can
get the carpet hot enough without distortion.
Then simply press it in place to form the plastic backing. When your hands start to feel uncomfortably hot, it’s about the right time
to start forming!
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We encountered a gathering (or pucker) of material right alongside the console from the floor up, just below the gas pedal linkage. This is a good time to show you some other techniques.
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Eric begins to heat the carpet and then lays a
dolly weight against the gathering. He works
his way up outward on the carpet 1-2 inches
at a time.
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Next issue of Colin’s Corner, we’ll continue with the conclusion of our carpet installation.
Source:
Jeff Lilly Restorations
11125 F.M.1560 N. San Antonio, TX 78023
(210) 695-5151
info@JeffLilly.com - www.JeffLilly.com
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The End is Near!