Re: The Duchess Project: 1940 Super 8 Convertible Sedan

Posted by Joe Santana On 2021/1/31 12:17:10
Hi, DC,

Yes, I have a fuel pressure gauge. If you search the Forums for "electric fuel pump vs. original” you’ll see my set up.
“It’s always something with that car,” is a favorite quote of A Certain Person.
As far as daily driver goes:
1. There is nothing on the car that can’t be repaired because of part failure, old age, accident, or vandalism (rare).
2. People in 1940 drove cars for everything, not just trailered to a show or driven on a tour at elderly speeds and short distances.
3. I’m 78, so statistically, how long do I have to keep this car running so I can do something I love?
4. Most parts and repairs, I have found, cost less to replace and repair than for a similarly nice modern car.
5. If you want reliability, you have to stay on top of regular maintenance and fix things as they crop up (Hence the comment: It’s always something. . .)

Confirming:
1. Yes, it’s still 6v, positive ground.
2. Yes, the lock-out switch ‘plunger’ attached to the dash, has wanted to slide forward gradually and unnoticed until at about 3/4’s forward the tranny makes a loud noise. To correct this, I twisted the adjusting clevis so, when the plunger was pulled out of OD, the engagement lever on the OD was farther forward, as far as the threads on the cable for the clevis would allow. Now it seem it only moves forward toward engagement if I use reverse, but other than that instance, it stays out. I did cut a piece of pvc cable cover to hold it, but haven’t needed it since I made the adjustment.
3. The OD would never engage on its own. It would just slide to a point where it made noise. When I push in the plunger, it always engages if I’m going fast enough (22mph). The OD operates as it should in all gears, except for the kick-down function.
4. On one occasion, after coming off the freeway using OD, I came to a stop light in a residential area and pulled it out of OD. When the light turned green, I let out the clutch the gear engaged after a big clunk. It had done this before, but on this one occasion, the standard gears stayed in free wheeling when I let off the gas. At some point soon after that, after using the OD again, using the reverse again, the system corrected itself and I had engine-braking in standard gear again.
5. The kick-down function does not work, correct.
6. I do not manually disengage just because of deceleration but because the traffic speeds are too slow, too many traffic lights, slow speeds on residential hills when engine braking really saves the brakes. The stalling was before I replaced the floats. Yes, the governor functions as it should.
7. The only malfunction is the kick-down.
8. PackardDon Pierson had a similar experience being in OD, 2nd gear, slowing down to 5 mph and not putting in the clutch, hitting the gas and boom. I do have a throttle guard on the Duchess now, but it is not set correctly. I plan to do this when Ross returns. But to me, it’s not worth the risk of the muffler exploding again because it could blow an eardrum.

9. The solenoid is well grounded. No rusty bolts on the Duchess. The undercarriage is pretty clean. The rebuilt solenoids installed in maybe 2017. I will go under and wipe down the solenoid.
10. Control relay is on the firewall. There is a video testing the contacts. You can hear the solenoid also click when the contacts are manipulated to set the momentary delay between when the upper contact is released and the lower one releases itself.
11. Photos on thread show the connections for each segment of the circuit. For the wire from the kickdown to the OD extension, I dropped a wire clipped to the kickdown straight down under the car. Connected that wire to multimeter and from multimeter to extension junction. The I tested from extension junction to governor. Then I connected the junction wires and tested from kickdown to governor. For the relay to lockout, I clipped to the relay and went in through the vent window to the lockout switch.
12. I have no mechanical ability. Backwards often looks correct to me. My process is. It takes me 3 times doing something wrong before I learn to do it right.
13. I run Valvoline 30wt VR1 high zinc hi-pro racing oil. Ain’t the cheapest oil change. I have 1800 mi since Oct 1, so I’m due again.
14. Yes, it looks like fun because you can't hear the cursing.

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