Power Tour story

[Brian Safford <bsafford@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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This will be a pretty long post, but I think it's a great story about how
many good people are out there .

 

The beginning of this story is my mistake of having someone else work on my
'62 Dart - someone who only had $$ as the incentive.  I had an oil and trans
leak, and wasn't having any luck on my own trying to fix them, so I took it
to a local Tuffy shop I had used for years for brakes/mufflers.  The owner
had a pretty nice older Chevy Malibu drag car, so I figured he was a 'car'
guy and would take good care of my Dart.  He took the oil pan off and the
trans out (at my request - I planned to get it rebuilt at a local trans shop
I had also used for years).

 

He said the rear main seal had been installed backwards - not sure why it
just started leaking after being that way for 3 years, but hey, he was a
'car' guy, so I believed him.  He said he could install a new one without
having to drop the crank.

 

Time passes . trans gets rebuilt . I deliver trans back to 'car' guy, and he
puts the engine/trans back together.  Calls me to say the intermediate shaft
driving the oil pump snapped shortly after he fired it up for the first
time.  Blamed it on 42 year old steel.  I bought a new one, delivered it to
him, and was driving the car home shortly thereafter.

 

Couple weeks pass . then I drove the Dart from Novi, MI to Saline, MI on the
Saturday before I left to go on the Power Tour - to a guy's (Dan) home/shop
where he works pretty much exclusively on Mopars.  I just purchased a new
Road Demon carb and needed someone who knew what they were doing to set it
up for me.  He turns out to be a *great* guy who really knows his stuff, so
I know I'll be bringing the car here again whenever I need something done.

 

Sunday morning - my son and I leave at 7:30 am to drive to Springfield,
Illinois to join the Power Tour.  I realize that I had left my complete Dart
shop manual at the guy's shop in Saline, so we decide to drive there, as
US-12 goes right by his place.  We get about 5 miles from his place when my
oil pressure gauge goes to zero and the oil light comes on.  I immediately
pull over ( in front of an Antiques store :-) ) . knowing full well that I
just snapped another intermediate shaft.

 

I call Dan . note that it is 8:00 on a Sunday morning . he's in his shop,
working on cars . says that he'll get me back on the road if I can get the
car to him.  I call AAA and get a flatbed to come pick me up and delivery me
the 5 miles to his shop.

I gladly wait about 2 hours while he finishes up with the car he was working
on. He takes an intermediate shaft out of a car he has in his yard and gets
me back on the road.  He mentions that he'd be concerned about something
possibly floating in the oil pan causing the problem, but we're in a hurry
and figure we'll be okay.

 

10 hours later we show up in Springfield at 10:00 pm, missing all the day's
activities.  We crash at the hotel, get up early the next day to join the
3,000 other cars for the drive to Indianapolis.  45 minutes on the road, the
oil pressure hits zero again!  This time in the middle of no-fargin-where.
We were at an intersection where there were 3 corn fields and a fenced-in
grass field belonging to an oil pipeline company.  There was a guy mowing
the grass . he shut down his tractor and came over to the fence and asked
what was up.  When we explained, he said that he has at least three of those
intermediate shafts for a small block Chrysler back at his shop . calls his
brother, who then sends his son (this guy's nephew) out to deliver the part
to us.  15 minutes after breaking down, I was holding a replacement part in
my hand . and they didn't want any $$ for it.  Incredible.

 

I then called a friend of mine who was a shooter with Hot Rod Magazine, and
he gave me a phone number to call.  I called it, and in less than an hour an
automotive transport semi truck showed up, loaded up my car, and hauled it
the rest of the way to Indianapolis Raceway Park for free.  Incredible.

 

Oh, by the way, during the 45 minutes I was broken down there, at least 100
cars stopped, offering help.  My son and I took advantage of two kind souls
who gave us rides (my son rode in a sweet '72 Road Runner - myself in a nice
68 Ford something-or-other).  Incredible.

 

We get to Indy at about 3:00 pm . enough time to watch a couple hours of
drag racing and wander about the vendor tents and such.  My car shows up at
about 5:00 pm.  The GM Goodwrench trailer goes out of their way to lend
whatever assistance they can to help me fix my car . I have the part, but
this time I'm determined to drop the oil pan and see what the heck is
causing all the trouble.

 

I send my son to a local part store for 'stuff' . he returns with a
hydraulic floor jack, a couple jack stands, and most important, a powerful
telescoping magnet so we can get the end of the shaft out of the oil pump.
We jack it up, get the jack stands in place, and drop the pan.

 

There had to be a whole tube of black silicone *inside* the oil pan . the
'car' guy from the first paragraph had used copious amounts of the stuff to
seal the pan.  The screen on the oil pickup was completely full of the black
goo.  No wonder the pump was seizing up and causing the shafts to snap.
*sigh*

 

We were missing a few tools to finish the job, but a couple of folks that
happened to stop by while we were working on the car came through.  We
didn't finish that night, as they closed the track at 9:30 pm.  We got a
ride to the hotel, grabbed a few hours sleep, and were back at the track at
7:00 am to finish the job.  A few minor setbacks but we had it buttoned up
and were on the road at 10:00 am - 1 hour behind the now 4,000 or so cars
that were heading to Nashville.

 

Suffice it to say we had no further problems, and made it to Nashville where
I dropped off my son (he lives/works there). I was so tired I decided to fly
home and have the car shipped back to me.

 

Sorry for such a long post, but I am very grateful for the unbelievable
support I received during this rather interesting journey, and I thought you
folks might enjoy hearing about it.

 

I can't wait to do it again next year.

 

Regards,

Brian Safford

'62 Dodge Dart 440


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