Tina Marie

Hello from Dallas everyone!

I'm back!

Just to let everyone know I have been successful in getting my 54 not only running but driving to the gas station and around the block a few times just yesterday!

So, this is everything that I had to do, pictures will be coming from another interested party as he has them all! THANK YOU JEFF!

so……

we all remember way back when i couldn't start the car…..well after i took all the carbs off and cleaned them up put them back on, still no go.

so probably best to crank her over to find out that it's the fuel pump! duh

but actually now that i had taken off the carbs, i really feel like i am an expert on the YH carters now. i actually really like that the most.

anyway, fuel pump had the outlet valve just free floating not seated in the body. wow what a weird thing, so anyway by the help of Jeff who removed it and opened her up and found that, he just seated back in, and presto gas she was a flowing!

well, let me tell you something about the Carter YH carbs, leave them as is, don't remove anything that was put their by Carter, these carbs are really easy to rebuild, yes if you have to replace parts with new ones, yes do that, but always put the parts back on, it is a must. anyway i got extremely lucky and found new needle and seats that were the 4 piece setup as which came on the YH's. so great find last month at my Dad's shop, i found 5 carb rebuild kits from 1973 never opened and untouched! woot woot!

anyway, after i got them all back on, THE CAR WAS BUILT BY ELVES, have i said this before or what!

so, fuel line wasn't being nice to me at all, wasn't so bad, out of the zillion leak points i only had one, but really! can't complete with a leak!

ordered a new fuel line from corvette central, and wow, perfection!

so lots of pics will be coming, a video i believe of the car on the move and all.

love my BettyBoop! my Mom is smiling down on me now!

But couldn't have done it without a couple of shout outs.

Steve - sent him my side curtains, to put them back together, replaced the plexiglass and rubber, no re-chroming necessary as they were as nice as the chrome on the car (which is pretty darn nice) thank you Steve, loved your house, shop and fantastic cars, by the way your also a sweet kind person!

Jeff - wow can't say enough about Jeff! BettyBoop wouldn't be running without him, i happened to tell him that i was going to jack up the car to get to the fuel pump, and he offered to come and help me, as i couldn't get to it from up top, couple years ago i had back surgery and discs have been fused together so i can't bend the same, so he drove to my place to replace the pump, however we couldn't' get the car started at that time, as we were having weeping out the carbs at the time, didn't realize what it was until it was time for him to drive home. (oh yeah it wasn't down the street)!!!!

What a guy! BRAINS ARE JEFF!!!

anyway, he came down again this past weekend and within an hour she was running couple cranks and it was awesome!

oh, check out my plate! too awesome!!

now i don't have to be asked if it's a t-bird anymore! lol

Hey thanks to everyone on the forum, you all are the best!

Tina Marie

62Jeff

First, YAY Tina, she R-O-C-K-S!

She had removed her carburetors to rebuild them as many of us figured they were likely gummed up from the car sitting in the museum so long.

Here's what she started with
#1


#2


#3


And here's what she found when she opened them up - very clean. This is #2 but is typical of each carb


The YH carburetor had a 4 piece needle/seat assembly that includes a Needle, Spring, Pin assembly instead of the 1 piece needle used in other typical carbs. She found that 1 of the 3 carbs was missing the spring, so that's a drag


She ordered new rebuild kits which came with one-piece needles.

During this time she ran some tests for me and found her fuel pump wasn't pumping. After finding a NORS pump in a mom-and-pop parts store outside of Dallas, we thought we had it made, until we found an issue with the position of the vacuum fittings. We knew the orientation of the top of the pump with the fuel fittings was off by 30 degrees and she re-drilled the pump body to reorient so that wasn't a concern, but once we saw the vacuum fitting issue on the bottom side we had to regroup. Guess the mom-and-pop store was mistaken with regard to correct application of that pump. I figured we could use the new pump as a "parts store" to allow us to rebuild the pump on her car. Knowing the challenges of bending over an old Corvette for a fuel pump change out, when contrasted to her back surgery, I knew what I had to do.

On New Years' Eve I offered to head to Dallas to help with the transfusion of pump parts.

With zero prodding I got a "HELL YEAH!" and so suddenly I'm on a mission.

I headed up to Dallas early on New Years Day, making use of the light traffic to get there fairly quickly.

When I arrived I began to remove the fuel pump while she replaced the gaskets and needle/seats in the carbs, and adjusted the float levels. At this time, Jan 1, she used the one-piece needles that came with the new rebuild kits.

Once I got the pump off I pulled the top off thinking I'd find a torn diaphragm, but instead.....


With this discovery, and the determination that the pump was actually "new" with under 100 miles on it, I re-installed the poppet valve and staked the pump body to ensure it won't come out again. I reassembled the pump and re-installed it.

With the pump on, Tina re-assembled the refreshed carbs, and installed everything. I largely watched her work her magic at this point.

After the car was assembled she attempted to start but it wouldn't fire.

We checked a few things but called it a day, I headed back to Houston, and we began doing our due-diligence on some root causes.

Due to various circumstances, time passed which included her trip to her dad's garage to forage for gold. Some of the gold included several older unused carb rebuild kits with the correct spring-loaded needle valves.


Also found, this cool correct fuel pump


And one of the original carburetor tags


She's already mentioned the new fuel lines, so fast forward to yesterday, I'm back in Tina's garage in Dallas at 9 am. Since she had the correct multi-piece needle valves, she installed those in each carb and rechecked the float levels.

We assembled everything, cranked the engine with the plugs out to look for fuel leaks in the fuel lines, repaired 2 minor ones. Tina installed the spark plugs and wires and hopped in the driver's seat and.....after some cranking it fired right up and sounded great!



Tina had symbolically waited until the car was running again before installing the new license plates, so within an hour of arriving at her garage, here she is putting the new plates on:


Her car is BEAUTIFUL




With the car running, and new tags installed, off we went on a maiden voyage....to the gas station. The car looks great going down the road.

3 minutes of going to the gas station, but more importantly evidence of all Tina's hard work!

Fawndeuce

Hi,
I'm late to the game, but welcome and I'm glad you got the car running!
And yes our Jeff is great, and he is smart, and he loves old cars, and he lives close to you (relative term in TX), and he is single and has an Aston-Martin DB9 Volante!
As for the fuel tank, I would also change it, the one in my '62 was corroded but the corrosion was only visible when I removed it from the car, could only see the extent of it when I cut the tank open after having replaced it. New tank is cheap, I'd just change it.







Paul

Tina Marie

Well, i'm thinking that it's not an issue, or it's just not an issue for me at this time! but time will tell right!

Thank you Thank you! best present i could have had, would have been better actually on 1/1/2014, but 2/16/2014 was just as sweet!

Sounds like you have a crush!

Tina Marie

But really folks, Jeff was awesome.

It's fun to have someone with your same passion working side by side.

It's been a long time since i have had to turn a wrench, didn't realize how much i missed it, but would like to not do it for a while and enjoy the sweet ride.

Thank you Jeff!

Tina Marie

62Jeff

lol

62Jeff

You are very welcome, the pleasure was all mine, I'm glad to have helped return BettyBoop to a healthy state.

Tina Marie

yep but now i need to get the plug wire tags, the thumb screw for the top, new carpeted floor mats just to name a few.

probably getting the plug tags tomorrow morning have to take the kiddo to the dentist, so i can scoot out in the middle of that.

thumb screw for the top is going to be a hard find, and i need to talk to someone about the floor mats before i choke down that cost as well.

oh well

Tina Marie

Yep i know my Mom is smiling down for sure!

62Jeff

You might try posting a wanted add on the C1/C2 Parts Wanted section, with a photo of the one convertible top thumb screw that you do have.

Tina Marie

Yep yep, like i said the man with the brains!

but not tonight i have a headache!

Fawndeuce

I'm Canadian, we are far more liberal about these things, if Jeff's game to change teams, I might also be convinced for that DB9



Paul

PS. Don't tell my wife, she might be far less selective and be happy to trade me for a slightly used Honda or something...

Tina Marie

too funny Paul!

however, me thinks that your wife might kick you to the curb for the DB9 as well as Jeff, that way no one has to switch teams in the middle of the game! better watch out!

myred63

Great looking car, and nice that you and Jeff solved your problems.
I just saw a good movie on the weekend that feature a 54 Vette.
It was a 1955 Mike Hammer movie called " Kiss Me Deadly" ( I think?)
The vette was the star of the movie.
A must see for anyone that owns a 54
rgds

Bluestripe67

Tina Marie, thank you for sharing your efforts with us. I have really enjoyed the ride, so to speak. Look forward to seeing and hearing more. Drive the miles to get the smiles! Dennis

Tina Marie

thank you for that myred63! here is a pic of it in that movie, i don't recall seeing it so it will be on my movie list for sure!

wish i had Mike Hammer's black 54! wow!

Tina Marie

Tina Marie

Thank you Dennis!

csherman

...

csherman

Steve Newsome makes the conv top thumb screw

csherman

You have two options for the tank - you could have it flushed or replace the tank
They do make replacements 1956 1957 is what we use and the only thing available - they fit but the bottom seam has to be rolled a bit