Ben called me up this evening, sounding somewhat more alert than usual.
He had borrowed a cel phone from somebody he was with and reported that the
Celery Wagon was making some "really bad noises" and one of his associates
opined that it might be piston rings. I've had piston rings go bad and they
were usually pretty silent. He was almost to Osage Hills State Park, about
15 miles west of town. So I drove out there with the Volvo Taurus and he
was there with 3 friends. We opened the hood and I told him to start it up.
¡¡Mercy!! The most awful internal clanking I've heard! I had him shut it
down immediately. I brought him and his friends home and arranged to pick him
up in the 164 at 6 on Monday morning (gotta have him to Tulsa at 12:00 to enter
the Navy). I put the chain and pipe in the trunk of the 164 and was in the
house relaxing a bit when my wife suggested I call a wrecker. Scottish as I
am I was reluctant and even more so when I talked to the prestige vehicle
recovery service here in town and they quoted about $120. Out of curiosity
I called another fellow and he said it would probably be around $80. So we
went out with him and he picked it up and brought it home - turned out to be
$90, still a bargain in my wife's opinion. I strongly suspect that it threw
a rod or was far along in the process of doing so from the nature and location
of the cranking, not far from the fuel pump. I'll keep you posted when I
tear it down. The gray wagon has a stock B18 that may be in good shape (I've
not run it so far) and if it runs OK, I'll just swap it in and build up another
for the gray wagon, whose body is in better shape and has leather upholstery.
One thing for sure about the celery wagon's engine - it is NOT a damaged
timing gear!! I've heard plenty of them and this was a LOT worse!
Have a great Memorial Day!
ps: I'll call Ben at 6 in the morning. He needs to get used to waking up early!
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!