I spent most of the day dialing in my breaks, cooling system and temp. sender. Finally, at 10:30pm I started her up. It's been sitting in my parents garage for 7 years now since the engine blew. My dad, who died last month took everything apart when I was off at college. It sat that way until 2 months ago when I finally felt like I had money and time to get the engine rebuilt. I knew very little about automotive mechanics, but I had my dad to help me out. I had the engine long blocked, you may remember the thread about the poor quality control from Waterhouse Motors, but I think it turned out ok. Then my Dad died suddenly (heart faliure) and I knew I had to finish this thing. So little by little, weekend by weekend, I put things back together like a jigsaw puzzle from hell. There were parts all over the garage and house. I purchased the service manual, and the "Auto Mechanic Fundamentals" book and they helped a bunch.

A few weeks ago, after encountering some serious timing issues (distributer on wrong tooth), I finally got it started and idling. It ran like crap, but it still ran. It felt great to drive it around the block and follow the break in procedures. It had no power though, and the brakes were in bad shape.

Tonight I finally took care of the little leaks, the missing sending units, the bad brakes, and tuned the carb as best I could. It started right up and ran great! I was determined to get this thing out of my parents garage and back to my home 20 miles away. So against everybody's better judgement (my wife's and mother's), I took off toward home. The dash lights didn't work, but I brought a flashlight to keep an eye on things. It was running pretty well and I was feeling invinceble when I noticed that both my gas and temp gauge stopped working. Then I had very little power. Then the car died and wouldn't restart. A couple of nice young ladies gave me a jump start and it ran for a while, but I knew it would die again so I parked it. It is now sitting in a parking lot about 5 miles from my parents' garage, and 15 miles from it's knew home.

My first instinct was that it has a bad alternator. The amp gauge read discharge the entire time, but I was hoping the gauge was faulty because this was a relatively new part. Now I'm reading the manual and it suggests a bad voltage limiter. I have no automotive electrical experience, but I do have a voltmeter. I'm charging the battery tonight and I figure I can get it home tomorrow if I leave my headlights off.

Sorry for the long post. I truly appreciate all the help so far, and I am trying my best to learn independantly by reading the forum's archive.

Dave

I got another battery, alternator, and regulator for less than $150.

good peace of mind, good for spares.

I also had a bad connection between the alt. and harness that needed attention.

Before you throw $ at the problem though, take the battery home and charge it, then drive home in daylight- without the lites on, a fresh charge should make it. Once home you can inspect or rewire or purchase replacements for defective parts.

Good luck

Kevin

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madam im adam

the voltage limiter wont cause a no (or dis-) charge problem.

A bad votage regulator will cause a no charge condition.
(A voltage limiter and a voltage regulator are two different parts)
DD

Thank goodness for the Stockel book. I read the chapter on electronics and specifically alternators and figured out what was wrong. I had broken the insulated field brush holder trying to install it a few weeks back. I got a new holder from a local alternator repair shop, but in the mean time, I lost the correct mounting screw and washers. I just found another screw and installed it. I can't believe it now, but I didn't use an insulating washer so it was grounding out.

Once I fixed this, everything was golden. I now have a viable form of transportation. Of course there is a long list of things to fix, but at least I can drive it and take my time. Here is my list of priorities:

mark top dead center on balancer
adjust timing
change tranny and rear end fluids
rebuild carb (maybe switch to super six set up)
australian gasket set (felpro is leaking already)
fix dash light
add tach

Thanks for the help so far.

DC

Putting your own engine together, firing it up for the first time, driving it down the raod, working out the kinks - it's automotive nirvana.

Soon you will laugh at the new cuss words you invented and the Slant will just keep on running and running. Soon you will be thinking - I wish I had a Holley 390 on an Offy manifold. It's all good. Congrats on your project.

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'63 Valiant V200 Convertible
225 Aluminum Block

My heart goes out to you buddy. Congratulations on every aspect of things: dealing with the loss of your dad; getting all the parts together; figuring out the things that went wrong, etc, etc. Your dad obviously left you with some pretty good skills for dealing with life. He may be gone in body, but he is still with you in a very real way. Every time you solve a problem, it is in part because of something he either gave to you through the genes, or through his influence, or teaching. Your can-do attitude had to be in part because of his influence, which is still very real.

I sometimes wonder what in the heck my family would do with all my hobby stuff if I passed away suddenly, leaving them to deal with all the hundreds of little do-dads, and mid project clutter. So, I can well imagine what you were dealing with. My dad passed away 2 plus years ago right before Christmas, and I still miss him.

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