Mike Pittinaro left Austin last night for his long drive home with his new 67.
As said yesterday, on Friday, I picked him up from the Austin airport, and drove
him to college station with by black 68 LeBaron. We played with his GPS on the
way, and checked out speedo errors on the LeBaron. At 75 it was only 1 mph off
according to the GPS. Unfortunately, it proved that at higher speeds the
readings were inconsistent and innacurate, but we still had fun. For a minute,
I was wondering if the GPS automatically warned the local authorities and
sending them our position if it measured aircraft type of speed magnitudes at
groud level. Fortunately, no law authority showed up.
We picked up the yellow 67 coupe and started the driving back. Mike P. being
from washington DC area, was impressed with the open roads of TX, and he
started driving his 67 like it was designed for. We were cruising at over 85
for may be half the time for the short drive back to Austin (about 100 miles).
It must have been a sensation for the other drivers seing two more or less
identical, for the most part of unidentifiable make, and oversize old cars
passing them. At some point we tried to compare high speed acceleration (both
cars have dual exhaust, as all Imperials should have). The better flowing
heads of the 68 along with the bigger HP cam gave the performance edge to the
68, but as my car suffers ocasionally from fuel starvation, the 67 was catching
up every time my engine temporarily lost power. I think my problem is caused
by old and dirty fuel lines. The smaller (stock) cam of the coupe though pulls
very nice off the light with excellent throttle response, and the 0-30 mph
acceleration is very strong and smooth.
Mike's coupe has a stock 3 speaker FM radio in working condition. We were both
impressed how well the radio sounded. It was not far behind the LeBaron's
multiplex. The foot operated scanning switch is super cool (too bad the
multiplex did not have this feature).
I also gave Mike a ride in my old 68 Sedan. We both agreed that the Sedan with
a few more engine mods had the edge in performance over my LeBaron. The
faithful 440 of the sedan seems to like the higher rpm's better, and the quiter
exhaust only barely lets any audible V8 rumble in the car. Or may be its the
excessive wind noise due to the long shot weather stripping. The intake sound
is very clearly audible though, especially at WOT, even at 3 digit speeds.
Until I replace the ugly vinyl seats though and some more work, this car will
remain my secondary transportation.
Before Mike left Austin, we decided to drive his new car around in order to
identify possible problems with it before his long trip back home. Also, that
was an opportunity for Mike to experience the very nice town that Austin is.
As we excersized the car, found an old leaky fuel line, which was easily
replaced. We did hit a lousy speed bump though too fast (Mike did not see it
and I failed to warn him) and the impact made the carb acting funny (this car
had what looked like an aftermarket holley). The car was running too rich. We
decided that the primary float may be stuck, and after some hits with the back
of a screw driver, the carb started behaving itself. The victory was short
lived, as the carb started acting again (black smoke was pouring at all loads).
The hits with the screw driver did not solve the problem this time. Then, we
tried what had worked on my LeBaron long ago when I had similar troubles. To
disconnect the fuel line and let the carb starv of fuel (the fuel pump pumps
the gas in a container, which we then return back to the gas tank). This would
let the floats settle and open up the needle valve, and allow the crud to come
off and get sucked in the engine. That did the trick eventually, and the rich
operation stopped. But one of the floats (probably the float for secondary
throttle operation) got stuck in the closed position, so his car had no power
at high rpm from then on. This problem was not corrected before Mike left, but
we both thought that the car will be OK for the long cruise back. Hopefully,
Mike will make it to DC with no more carb problems, and he will rebuild or
replace that troublesome Holley afterwards to restore the power.
I also have another thing in common w/ Mike P. I convienced him about a year
back to buy a 67 Volvo 122S, which he has had lots of fun in. Now, he
convinced me to buy one, and mine should be here in Austin the next few days.
Too bad it was not here this weekend.
D^2
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