Parts and Things - Team 37 Race Team
Team 37 is a group of Friends that have traveled together through out the years. While we just like to have fun because of the hard economic times we have decided to make a trip with a purpose. We are doing the HILL CLIMB FOR HUNGER. at the Newport Hill Climb Oct. 2nd - 4th, 2009 in Newport, Indiana
Countdown til the 2009 Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb
Coming Out Party April 3rd, 2009
Ol' Betsy dusted herself off, put her new Team 37 decals on the front doors & sat waiting patiently for Mr. T to escort her to the Memories Car Club Cruise, her 1st public appearance since 1955.
Mr. T got home a little early and rolled the Ol' Gal up on the tow dolly in preparation for the trip to Life Christian Center in Sunset Hills. Mr. T dropped her off about 3:30 & Denny sat with her while Mr. T went back & got his Team 37 support car a '37 Chevy coupe, Ol' Betsy's big brother. It wasn't long until the other cruisers started showing up.
To start off the "Hill Climb for Hunger" the 1st person to sign her was Bob Ingram with many others following, this went on all evening.
Around 9:30 Mr T drove her back on the dolly with a little push from Denny & Big Al. "T" took her to dinner & then dropped her off at the Murphy Flats garage.
Monday April 6, 2009
Mr. T gathered up some of the posse to do a little maintenance on the car after it's trip to the cruise Friday evening. While driving around the lot to Betsy's assigned parking spot it was discovered that the right front brake was not working properly & the tempature was a little on the high side.
Now I can't say for sure who was doing what because I (Big Al) needed to go and meet a young inspiring artist. So the 2 worker bees Denny & Kirk under the direction of Mr T began working on the problems. The radiator and grill shell were removed to discover that the radiator was full of something that looked like critters were living in the engine and when it was filled with water the nest migrated to the radiator. This was all cleaned out and awaiting testing to see if the heating problem still exists. As far as the brakes go it seems that replacing the return spring fixed this problem.
My guess is that they putzed around til 9:00 - 9:30 as they were still there when I passed by at 8:45 on my way home.
Friday April 17th - Work Evening & BBQ
Actually the work day started on Tuesday when Denny & Kirk took at trip to Lee's house to do some horse tradin'. Between the 2 of them they managed to scrounge some tires, a bumper, & oil filter. Oh yea I guess I should mention that Lee is Kirk's brother. They did manage to get 4 tires of which 2 held air, such a deal.
Friday afternoon the crew started showing up at the Murphy Flats race shop. After a test drive on a previous day it was decided that it might be a good idea to go over the brakes again making sure they were bled and adjusted correctly so that the Ol' Gal didn't end up on the 10 o'clock news with her nose stuck in the front door of a 7-11.
Now it's time to stop work and eat some BBQ. Chris & Karen grilled up some brats along with slaw & roasted potatoes. Karen made some home made apple pie that was out of this world. When Dale & Sue arrived they had a big bowl of fresh watermelon
After we all got finished stuffing our faces the boys went back to work and the gals cleaned up. The carb that was on the engine had a little flat spot in it when it was accelerated so the W1 came off and a Y model went on. Fired her up and she ran pretty good flat spot was gone but there was another small problem. The carb leaked from the bottom of the bowl. Denny & Dale tried but failed in several attempts to stop the leak, guess a rebuild kit will be needed. Now while all this carb work was going on Mr. T & Kirk started making patches for the fender bolt mounting holes. This took some precession work so the fender would fit properly. D & D decided to try the other W1 carb that came with the car. After getting it on & primed up the engine fired to life but still didn't run as well as it did with the leaky Y model. So after 3 carbs we're still at the same place with an engine that is not running at it's peak. What was Big Al doing other than taking pictures and documenting the evening? He was also the fill in helping whenever another hand or second opinion was needed. We all know that Big Al is full of opinions.
It's now almost 10 o'clock & we have one fender on and a carb that isn't quite right. Hopefully the brakes will be better, can't really test them when the Ol' Gal is up on jack stands. The evening ended and everyone went their separate ways.
Thursday April 30th
Been a couple of weeks since our last report. Yes work has been done but no real work days. The Ol' Gal has been out at the Murphy Flats Race Shop which is located next to Denny's house. Big Al helped out some but Denny was doing most of the work with the assistance of the new apprentice pit crew person Chris. Denny tried rebuilding the Y carb but the kit didn't help. It still leaked, maybe some stop leak will help. After sitting with some gas in it the W1 started working better, guess the carb fairy came and fixed it.
The doors had some small rust bumps on them so it was decided that we needed to sand the doors so there would be a smooth surface to affix the team decals so the doors were sanded and a light coat of paint was applied. After watching the paint dry for a couple of days the decals were applied. Denny even managed to get some rear fenders installed.
We can't verify this but we did hear it via the grapevine that one of the pit crew who will remain anonymous took the Ol' Gal out for a test drive and she laid down on them. It took whispering some sweet nothings in her ear to get her going again. Wonder if there is a problem with the fuel cell?
Now the Ol' Gal is sitting with baited breath waiting for the Memories Cruise so she can get out of the shop & see all the people
