by Walter Payne
Al Bohn warmly welcomed us to his beautiful garage on a chilly February morning, Saturday the 11th to
be exact. Carburetors were to be the focus of this month's workshop. Claude and Al had a smart looking
Zenith neatly laid out with a rebuild kit and ready to go. Unfortunately, a worn throttle shaft prevented
the rebuild from going any further. Much discussion ensued regarding bushings, oversized throttle shafts,
and reamers. After a quick look-up from the nearest catalog, I heard "Let's order this one." The Zenith
in question looks like it will be fitted with an oversized throttle shaft. Stay tuned for a future workshop
featuring the rebuilding, reaming, and whatever else it takes to bring that old carburetor back to life.
What next? Our esteemed club President, Fredrick, has been having some mystery chatter from the drivetrain
of his truck when engaging reverse. In record time, Al had his beautiful Red 1930 Pickup truck hoisted aloft
on his handy-dandy car-lift. Ron soon came out from under the truck wiping his beard with another dark spot
on his shirt. That wasn't BBQ sauce he was tasting. Right away, due to the abundant amount of oil dripping
from various parts of the undercarriage, the general consensus was clutch slippage. It was also pointed out
that loose or worn motor mounts can have a similar effect and may be contributing to the problem. Worn and
slightly loose rubber pad mount discs were found to be present, but no replacements were on hand to affect
a repair. In another case of mechanicus-interruptus, there would be no satisfactory solution this day.
The quail radiator cap on Fredericks truck did however receive some attention with the addition of some homemade
gaskets to better keep it flying proudly down the road.
Perhaps the case of the mystery chatter will be solved in the next installment of the LSMAFC Restoration Workshop.
How will our hero get his truck out of this predicament? Stay tuned and find out after the break…or next months
column as the case may be!
In attendance were Ron Taylor, Al Bohn, Claude Folta, Fredrick Khoury, Walter Payne, Joe Hocker, Jack Reeves,
John Ftacek, and John Sullivan.
Thank you to our fantastic host Al Bohn for a warm and friendly place to meet, work, and commiserate with friends
old and new. Oh, and thanks for the cookies too!
-30- Walter
A lift is a wonderful thing to have.
We spent most of our time under Fredrick’s car. There was more oil under there
than Spindle Top. We needed raincoats to keep dry from all of the oil dripping. It looks like he changed his
oil from the outside. Not sure what he needs a drain plug for. He doesn’t need to worry about that beauty
rusting. When he left he didn’t even need to start his engine—he just slid home.
Claude
Adding a gasket to the quail cap.
We also were going to rebuild a carburetor, but the throttle shaft was so worn out
it kept falling on the floor. We were all too old to pick it up, so we just left it there. Al was going to use a
magnet to pick it up, but it is made out of brass so I think he just kicked into the weeds.
The cookies were good.
Claude
Pictures by Walter Payne and Claude Folta
