[AT] Yellow Farmall now cold starting

Mon Jan 3 13:18:40 PST 2011

Hmmm,  I guess I really did get the best one ever built!  Mine was 
completely trouble free.  I've got one more story about it when the water 
pump went out.  I had driven it to Buffalo NY from NC to pick up a friend. 
I laid down and slept 4 hours and drove back home.  Just before daylight, on 
the eastern Shore somewhere in Southern Delaware or MD I got sleepy.  The 
other occupants of the car, my friend and two small children were asleep.  I 
stopped in the middle of the road.  It was just coming daylight and there 
was not another soul moving in that small town on Sunday morning.  I heard 
something rattling in the motor.  I cut it off, reached down and grabbed the 
radiator fan and I could wiggle it half an inch or more.  I knew immediately 
that the bearings in the water pump were shot.  I checked the water and it 
was still full.  There was no sign of a leak.  I got back in and started 
limping along for about 40 miles or so then stopped and checked it again. 
It was still full of water and the play was no worse or better.
I kept going.  Of course those of you familiar with that area know that I 
had to go over the Chesapeake Bay Br idge/Tunnel that is 13 (I think) miles 
long.  When I got out the other end I was in Virginia Beach and it was early 
morning.   We stopped at a McDonalds for breakfast and coffee.  I figured 
I'd have to find someone there to fix it.  I checked it again,  still no 
worse, still full of water.   I decided to keep going because I knew if I 
could get over into NC that I knew folks along the way.  Well to make a long 
story a little shorter I drove that thing all the way home,  more than 200 
miles after I found the problem.  It was still full of water when I got home 
and the car never overheated.  The next morning I dropped it off at a 
radiator shop near where I worked.   I told the guy how lucky I was to get 
it home.  When I went back to pick it up that afternoon the guy said "you 
don't know HOW lucky you were".  I asked what he meant.  He said that when 
he removed the water pump it fell apart in his hands!

I guess the good Lord was looking out for me.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Guy Fay
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 3:26 PM
To: 'Antique tractor email discussion group'
Subject: Re: [AT] Yellow Farmall now cold starting

The parents bought a '79 new. We were in a shopping mall and had just run
into my grandparents when the call over the intercom came in to report to
the mall office. The '79 had a dash fire. The insurance company later told
us the car was basically an incendiary device.

In the largest things hauled department, there were some nutty locals back
in the early 80s who decided to go cattle rustling in a Chevette. They were
somehow managing to stuff live 1,000 pound steers into the hatchback. The
police department kept the method quiet to prevent imitators. I imagine it
involved sedatives somehow.

The parents brought a St. Benard home from a humane society some distance
away. He went nuts at the sight of cattle. You can imagine how long that
ride was in America's Dairyland.

-----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 10:20 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Yellow Farmall now cold starting

Guy, by contrast, my mom liked my 80 so much that she bought an 81.  It was
a piece of crap.  They made some changes.  I don't remember exactly but
something that was mechanical on mine became electric on hers.  She had
nothing but trouble with it even with it being serviced by the dealer.  One
day she was driving it down the road and it caught fire.  She pulled over
and it burned up on the side of the road.  Caught somewhere under the dash.
Good riddance!

The biggest thing I ever hauled in mine was not the heaviest.  It was the
main sail boom for a J-30 sail boat.  I put the back seat down, put one end
of the boom on the front seat against the dash.  It ran between the seats
and out the rear with several feet hanging out with a flag on it.  Back in
those days I crewed on that J-30 in a couple of different racing series.  I
often wound up at some marina with no where to sleep for the night.  The
back of the Chevette, with the rear seat folded down, the side windows swung

open and the rear hatch tied part of the way down made a fine bunk!  Of
course I was about 30 then.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Guy Fay
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 10:05 AM
To: 'Antique tractor email discussion group'
Subject: Re: [AT] Yellow Farmall now cold starting

'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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