[AT] Yellow Farmall now cold starting

Guy Fay fayguyma at execpc.com
Mon Jan 3 07:05:38 PST 2011


'80 Chevette was a great car- easier to work on than a '79, there were some
major changes. I got 187,000 out of one before the back axle fell off going
down the road. (It only partially fell off- all of a sudden the car refused
to go in a straight line, rear suspension point in the spare tire
compartment rusted out, common problem).

I was running an errand for the parents one time in the hills of
southwestern Wisconsin bring Arkansas tomatoes back to our sweet corn stand
before the homegrowns had kicked in. Between me, my sister, and the
tomatoes, we had a thousand pounds in the car. Or maybe it was a thousand
pounds of tomatoes, plus me and my sister. The two door with the rear seat
folded down was good for about 80 dozen of sweet corn on a regular basis,
never did get 90 dozen in.

Worst thing about them was if the progressive carburetor got screwed up.
Nearly impossible to fix.

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of charlie hill
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 7:36 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Yellow Farmall now cold starting

That should have read '80 Chevette.

-----Original Message----- 
From: charlie hill
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 8:10 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Yellow Farmall now cold starting

Rob I had an 8- Chevette.  It was the standard gasoline version, 2 door and
stripped down.  I bought it to commute to a construction project.  People
laugh at them but that was one tough little car.  I hauled 3 other guys with
me every day.  All but one of us over 200 lbs and a lot of times we had
heavy tool boxes in the back.  It wasn't unusual for someone to be late
coming out of the house and I'd have to hustle because if you didn't get
through the "brass" gate by 7 am you had to go back home and miss a day of
work.  It would cruise along at 80 mph or better with all that load and
never complained.
I kind of wish I still had it.   I got in a wreck with it once.   A garbage
truck turned left into a side road as I was passing him.  I locked up the
brakes and hit him in the rear tire of the truck hard enough that the
Chevette jumped up off the ground and turned about 180 degrees before it
slammed back down.  I got out and looked.  The front bumper was pushed over
to the side about an inch but there wasn't a scratch on it.  The garbage
truck wasn't hurt either, not even a flat tire.  We called it even and went
on about our business.  Later on I raised the hood and the battery was
outside of the battery box and hanging by the cables between the box and the
engine.  Any of you familiar with Chevettes know that there is about an inch
of space between the sides of the battery box and the hood.  Yet the hood
wasn't bent and the battery box wasn't broken.  I guess the whole car flexed
enough for it to come out but I've never exactly figured out how.  A few
weeks later I got to noticing that the gap between the drivers door and the
B pillar was less than 1/8", almost touching in some places while the gap on
the passenger side was greater than 3/8".  It wasn't always that way so I'm
assuming the wreck "torqued" the whole body yet there were no wrinkles in
the sheet metal and everything continued to work just fine.  The only repair
I ever made to it was replacing the water pump at about 100,000 miles and
one other minor engine repair but I can't remember now exactly what it was
other than it was hard to get to and I found a guy that knew the "trick"
making it an easy job for him.   I traded it on an '85 Chevy pickup.  It had
145,000 miles on it and was still running like a top.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Rob Wilson
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 12:14 AM
To: 'Antique tractor email discussion group'
Subject: Re: [AT] Yellow Farmall now cold starting

In 1984 I bought a new diesel Chevette and paid $4500 out the door for it.
Before you laugh it was one of the best running little cars I've ever owned.
It only failed my twice in the 160,000 miles I drove it. Once while it was
sitting at work for week while traveling and it was -12 when I got there. I
jumped it and it took right off. My fault it had and old battery in it. The
other was when we had record cold here in Ohio, it hit -35 and the little
car sat out with a block heater. I went out and hopped in it and the shocks
didn't move. I cranked it up and she fired up. It rattled but it was
running. I went back in a told my wife I was off to work and headed out. I
made it into town and onto the freeway when the fuel started gelling. It
made it off the freeway and that was it until it got above zero a day later.
Around here the only thing with a block heater standard is a diesel and no
one ever orders a gas vehicle with one.
Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Ralph Goff
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2011 8:54 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Yellow Farmall now cold starting

On 1/2/2011 7:05 PM, Frank wrote:
> That's funny....every car in Montana has one...........or a soft plug
> heater....
>
> I even have one on my Deere 60
>
> Frank
>
>
> Back in the late 80's I owned a diesel VW Rabbit. Our home in Harford
> County, MD did not have a garage so the car was always parked in the
> elements.  During really cold times, starting was difficult. The regional
> rep for VW lived several houses away from us and suggested that we get a
> circulating tank heater.
Even more so up here in Canada. A vehicle or machine without a block
heater is generally not going to be used in winter time. I don't have
one on my swather or combine but really don't ever want to have to run a
combine in sub-zero temperatures anyway.
Most of the newer fuel injected gas engines start very well in extremely
cold weather but I think they are better off to have a few hours
pre-heating with the block heater.

Ralph in Sask.
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