Flintstone styling

Sometimes when engineers are trying to make a car go faster they will shed weight. They trim unneccesary items. You would be surprised at how much acceleration you can get when you rip out extra stuff like carpet. Since I plan for this to be high performance 6-person sedan that weighs 2 tons, I set out to eliminate that unneccesary carpet. Besides, my garbage can was only half full this week.

I put on my respirator and started to razor knife around the edges. After about 3 minutes I realized that the carpet was rotted enough that using a knife was too good for it. I just ripped it out and balled it up. I found a PCV valve under the front seat. I do not know what car that valve was for, but certainly not this one. This car's idea of positive crankcase ventilation is to suck air in via the oil fill tube and vent out from a habit-trail-like pipe that goes out the top of the valley, hooks a hard left and down under the firewall near the passenger's feet. It is called "road draft" - meaning the wind whipping under the car is what pulls excess engine vapors away. I suspect if the states of California, Oregon, and Washington could organize a government response they would outlaw this design.

I left the carpet "pad" / insulation in place and vacuumed as much of the crud as I could. It took me a couple of minutes to wrestle away the piece that goes under the drivers feet because it surrounds the gas pedal. It took a little coaxing to get it fee without destroying the pedal. Really - I would have pulled the insulating pad too, but I was running out of garbage can space. Maybe next week.

As I was pulling around the drivers seat I discovered that I could see the garage floor. I pushed away as much of it as I could break easily with my fingers. I think that is a mount for one of the floor support brackets that go across the bottom of the floor pan. I guess it is nice to be able to see under the car without having to let go of the steering wheel. And plus the back of your left knee should always remain cool.

After I cleaned up the carpet fiber flotsam and broken glass bits I decided to put an effort into degreasing the cross member and the transmission. The cross member shape is very conducive to using my scrapers. I gave it a little bit of wire brush. It is cleaner but not a really remarkable improvement.

For the transmission I used the wire wheel. I have owned a single speed corded 3/8 inch Black & Decker "basic" drill for several decades. It is not my only drill, but is the one I was using to scrub rust. Using it non-stop for 2+ hours on this car's rusty parts was the last straw. I noticed last week when I let go of the trigger it sounded like I was stomping on a package of saltines. Today, after about 2 minutes it would stop turning even though the chuck was tightened down. Brushes were shot. Fortunately on Sunday I recognized the death sounds of a drill, went to Goodwill and found a fine fine fine variable speed reversible drill for nine bucks. It works like a champ. Goodbye old Black & Decker - hello even older Craftsman.

The transmission looks pretty good after a little bit of scraping and a decent amount of wire wheeling. - I found lots of casting marks on it. I think if I decode them what they say is - "three-speed transmission manufactured around 1962 : about as heavy as 3 Australian Shepherds or 1 Neapolitan Mastiffs".

Last thing ... in removing the carpet I freed the plaid fabric that I thought was evidence in a crime. With the carpet out, it unfolded from where it was stuffed. Based on the stains, I think it was either being used to keep the heater core from leaking onto the passenger floor or to silence a vibration from the cabin blower. Who knows really, but I am happy I got another shop rag.