MICK’S TIPS
PASS THE HEAT SHIELD
EVERY NOW and then, no matter how good you think you are at brea k fast time, you f luff one. We had one recently where we probably could have used a bit more time to think things t hrough. It was wit h t he magazine’s 1970 Chevrolet C10 which spat a starter motor at an inopportune moment. Now because it was being used, we needed to get it back up and running pronto – other wise we would have had Ed Guido hanging around making the place look untidy.
The C10 runs a small block 350 and, because t he old starter was simply worn out, we ordered a replacement. No problem, yes? No. The catch is t his one has extractors f itted, which unfortunately bring t he pipes closer t han idea l to t he starter and, more importantly, t he giant solenoid sitt ing on top of it. What happens then is, on a hot day, t he solenoid (or relay) overheats and won’t play. So you have to sit, read a newspaper (remember t hem?) or your iPad until ever y thing cools down and is ready to go again.
That’s probably good for catching up on your reading, but not idea l for t he Ed.
Now what we would have done, given a bit more time to t hink about it, is f it a later and smaller starter unit t hat sits t he relay f urt her from t he pipes.
No matter, you can get heat shields for t his ver y situation and t he Ed ordered one from the USA. It looked okay online, wasn’t expensive and it didn’t quite f it. So I t hink t hat’s one f luf f each on t his one. Damn. It’s a litt le annoying, but hardly t he end of t he world.
What we did was dig around in our spares, namely the ‘best not throw t hat out, it might be usef ul one day’ department, and found Toyota Austra lia’s solution to a ver y similar problem. It’s a heat shield off a V6 Camry. The starter motor in that case was direct ly underneath t he ex haust and used to cook t he solenoid.
As luck would have it, t he Toyota part was close to being a f it and just needed a few minor mods to get it in place. Easy.
(Maybe now I should apologise to t he longsuffering spouses and children of Austra lia’s classic car owners, because I’ve just prov ided a rea lly good example of why you should throw nothing away. Yep, I’ve just encouraged a ll you hoarders out there to keep right on going… Oops !)
Any way, while we were in t here, we did t he ot her t hing you should consider when you’ve gone to a ll t he trouble of getting your toy on a hoist: t hat is, t hink about what else needs to be done. In this case we tightened up a loose front wheel bearing (see last issue) and gave t he old Chev a fresh drink of oil and a new f ilter.
So now the truck’s happy, the Editor’s happy and we can a ll get some sleep ! Note: MickrunsGlenlyon MotorsinBrunswick,Vic. Tel(03)93805082.