Car show fun.

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WHAT A DAY!!!!

Here's the report from the car show yesterday...

I got there and found that I had not installed the gasket on the lid for the oil filter on my 57 correctly, and it had leaked oil over the side of the motor. So, quick fix of straightening the gasket and it is fixed.

Then my buddy Neal leaves the show to head home. He was our best of show winner and has a beautiful 1969 GTO Judge. He made it nearly to the gate when it stalled and wouldn't restart. My buddy James and I went to boost it off. As soon as we removed the battery cables, it died. James and I had diagnosed it as either a bad voltage regulator or a bad alternator. James left after we called AAA to pick the car up and tow it back to my house. Tows under 100 miles are free, our house was 97.8 miles!!

James got on the interstate and made it two exits before he hit something with a tire and blew the tire out. He did not have a jack or a spare with him in his 72 454 powered El Camino. I sent my tools with another guy from the show who had a Chevy bolt pattern spare to bail him out.

We got home about 9:30, and I sent Neal home in the wife's daily driver. I told him I would fix the car today and he could come and get it. I knew I had a bunch of spare parts that were not being re-used on my wife's 69 Camaro project.

I swapped the good alternator and regulator off Angie's Camaro onto the car, but it still wouldn't charge. I put on an internally regulated alternator I had on the shelf, and wired it like my tractor, and presto! Voltage at battery. So, I started trying to bypass the generator light so it would work right.

Then things went sideways...

I pulled the pigtail off the regulator to make a jumper wire, and the wiring hit the case of the regulator and sparked. I pulled off the battery cable, and removed the convoluted tubing covering the wiring. The charging wiring from the regulator to the alternator was completely fried. So much wire was cooked that I could not fix it on the car. I had to remove the engine harness and fix it on the workbench using half of the old harness off the Camaro for parts.

Just think how bad it would have been if Neal had taken the advice James and I gave him and put on a one wire alternator at the show. Could have burned the car to the ground with that much wiring damage.

So, moral of the story: 1: No good deed goes unpunished. 2: Check your wiring out every now and then. 3: Watch out for stuff in the road, especially if you don't carry a spare 4: Kids are best carried in the trunk (see photo) 5: Sleep, it's what's for dinner!