Praise The Lowered

Slammed. Scrapin'. Dropped. Draggin'. Dumped. Bumpin'. Bagged. There are many words that all describe the same thing... Lowered! Lowering the suspension is nothing new, gearheads  have been doing it for decades. From traditional low riders to NASCAR look-a-likes, nothing quite says cool like a slammed ride, as long as it is done right. While some cars are so low they almost seem to ooze by as if they are only floating on a thin layer of air, others navigate the road a little more freely due to their perfect stance. Stance can make or break a vehicle and achieving the perfect stance on your ride is not always easy. Stance not only includes the suspension but also the rim and tire combo. Getting those wheelwells filled just right is a crucial component of stance. For most it is trial and error but there are a few that nail it on the first try.

The stance was nailed perfectly on this Mercury.

Some folks live by the creed "low and slow is the way to go" while others equate lowness with speed. With the advent of Pro Touring came engineered lowered suspensions that were designed for speed. Pro Touring replaced Pro Street (where stance played a huge part) and took off like wild fire. Now you could look good, go fast and carve corners all at the same time. Unfortunately, I think we are starting to see the beginning of the end of Pro Touring due to the fact that the cars are just getting too serious and technical. What started out as a cutting edge trend has turned into a check book writing contest to see who can one-up who. The latest crop of Pro Touring cars are basically full blown track cars that have more in common with a race car then a street car and I see them going the same route as Pro Street cars went. Remember out outlandish they got?

Who can forget Rick Dobbertin's outragous Pro Street Pontiac J2000?

 Now-a-days you can't talk about a dropped ride without mentioning air bags. "Bagged" suspensions seemed to be all the rage for awhile, complete with on-board compressors and banks of switches that allowed for full suspension adjustment. While the versatility of these systems made them a popular choice for many, I have never viewed them as a permanent component of the suspension, mostly due to the fact that the only thing between the weight of your vehicle and the road is an air bag. I'll take a good ol' set of coil springs any day over bags, but that's just my preference.

The common thread here among all the vehicle trends is ride height, or more precisely, the lack thereof. I don't think low will ever go out of style as it is just too much of a game changer when it comes to looks. So weather you like low and slow or low and go, the big question here is, how low will you go?

God Made a Farmer

This was the official Ram Trucks Super Bowl commercial that I just saw for the first time. There was a lot of press on all the other "funny" commercials but I don't remember reading anything about this one. Do yourself a favor and watch this.

FranktoidTM No. 10 - AC Cobra Reincarnated!

This is a must see video of a relatively unknown car. Feast your eyes on this pure American muscle that is nothing short of awesome...

FranktoidTM No. 9 - A Wolf in Elephant's Clothing

In the automotive or racing fields, almost everyone has heard the mantra "there is no replacement for good old displacement". More cubic inches meant more power, plain and simple. Back in the day almost everyone wanted a Big Block Chevy, but big blocks commanded big bucks, even back then. You could score one for cheap if you were lucky enough to find a big block equipped passenger car at the wrecking yard, but big block trucks were far more plentiful and easier to locate, provided you looked at the one ton range and lower. The heavier trucks were supplied with a commercial vehicle tall deck version of the big block that shared almost no parts with the standard big block, and for which there were no performance parts made.

Fast forward to the present day. Tall deck big blocks have largely gone the way of the Dodo bird and the LS series small block is all the rage. GM has been stuffing the LS in all kinds of platforms for years now, from passenger cars to pickup trucks. I guess it should come as no suprise that the General also offers it in a commercial truck version, in the form of a 6.0 L (364 cubic inch) engine with a cast iron block. These are far more plentiful then their all aluminum brothers, and generally cost less also.

I never knew it, but you can find a 6 liter LS in a Chevy W4500 box truck. Certain Izuzu trucks also came equipped with the same motor. I spotted this one the other day and it was truly a wolf in elephant's clothing.

My first clue was the "6.0L" signs on the side of the cab

Look what I see lurking below the cab - 6 liters of LS power!

FranktoidTM No. 8 - Elcar, The Electric Passenger Car

Some of the least desirable American cars were made in the mid-70's. From eye sore designs to sluggish performance, there was not a lot of good coming out of Detroit. There was however, innovation. A good example of this was in the form of an all electric passenger car from the Elcar Corporation of Elkhart Indiana. The Elcar was completely street legal and featured an all fiberglass body, three-point seat belts, windshield wiper and washer, safety glass, side and rear view mirrors, horn and running lights, and a battery charger. Optional equipment included a radio, heater, courtesy lamp, wheel covers, spare tire with jack, and even a single car trailer! The motor was a 48 volt energized excited with a rear axle drive and featured a driving range of approximately 45 miles with a top speed of 25 MPH. A faster model was available that could reach 35 MPH but it had a reduced driving range of 30 miles. Given that these vehicles used eight 6 volt tar top batteries (like the Trojan T-105), that driving range would have been typical. Some reports state that the Elcar used 12 volt automotive type batteries but the model that I serviced many years ago had 6 volt batteries in it from the factory.

Because of the Elcar's size, it was often referred to as a "golf cart for the street". I am sure this scared off more then a few customers, given the majority of the other cars on the road at the time were nothing short of hulking behemoths. In reality, the Elcar was only slightly smaller then a new electric Smart Car. Elcar is 84 inches long, 53 inches wide, and 63 inches tall. A Smart For Two is 106 inches long (which includes the bumpers), 61 inches wide, and 61 inches tall. Dimensions is the only thing that is similiar in these two vehicles as the electric Smart Car is miles ahead in everything else, including the batteries which are lithium-ion.

So what happened to the Elcar? In a word, safety. Even though other passenger cars had to conform to Federal Safety Standards, the Government granted temporary exemptions of most of these standards to electric vehicle manufacturers to spur the development of zero emission vehicles. Unfortunately, most of the end results were disastrous. From suspensions that collasped during hard braking, to lead acid batteries located in the passenger compartment, not to mention no roll-over protection, the Elcar was an insurance company's nightmare. I wonder if you could even find one intact today?

A Summer in San Francisco

Here at the Amberlight Garage I receive all kinds of email, mostly spam, but all kinds. Every once in awhile a gem shows up in my inbox. I received the following video today in an email from Ian M. The car is the star and in this case it is a 1964 Ford Falcon Futura. Watching this brought back a flood of memories of my '64 Falcon Sprint that I use to own. Man, I wish I still had that car...
 
Summer in San Francisco from Pre-Future LLC on Vimeo.

Hidden Gremlins

One of GM's engineering marvels in the 60's were hidden headlights, or more specifically, hide away headlights. Starting in 1963, Chevrolet used them on their newly restyled Corvette and they more or less became a styling fixture on the car. Then, in 1966, GM designers decided to grace the front end of the Olds Toronado and Buick Riviera with hide away lights also. Next up to use these unique lights was the 1967 Camaro, which is the subject of our story here. The main difference between the '67 and '68 systems is that the '67 systems were equipped with electric headlight door motors, versus vacuum operated for '68 on up. A lot of work went into engineering these early systems, as anyone who has ever worked on them can attest. I can now put myself into that latter catagory, as I recently had the pleasure (?) of diagnosing and repairing a hidden headlight system on a '67 Camaro.

They look great all closed up which is the way these wanted to stay - permanently.

The first thing I had to do was track down a wiring diagram for the Camaro's headlight system. This is easier said then done. Wiring diagrams or schematics are essential in helping to diagnose problems and locate components. After some heavy duty searching I managed to locate a really nice schematic drawing of the 67's unique hide away headlight system. Pouring over the diagram I discovered that it contained no less then four relays and two breaker type fuses. These "fuses" are unique because instead of blowing out like a conventional fuse, they act more like a circuit breaker in a house electrical panel. When the load across them becomes too great it heats up a bi-metal spring contact which separates and breaks the connection. After some initial testing for voltage at the headlight motors, I decided I would start with these fuses, as it seemed to be a power problem (or lack of) that was keeping the Camaro's headlights from working.

As it turned out, one of the fuses was bad. These puppies were rated at 30 amps so they can usually handle a load pretty well. I took it apart and it looked like it got really hot on the inside, almost like it was shorted out. Because these are a stud type breaker you can't exactly find replacements at the local parts store, so I had to get creative. I used a heavy duty, weather tight, 30 amp spade type fuse holder and crimped an eyelet on each end to go over the studs on the breaker. The breaker might not be any good anymore but it would serve as a mount for the inline holder. I ruled out a short in the system so what could have drawn over 30 amps to cook the original breaker? The only component capable of doing that was the headlight motor, but the owner told me they were both brand new. Now what?

More testing was needed to determine what caused the breaker to fail. Plus, after installing the new fuse, only one headlight motor started working. Well, at least it was half way fixed! After I applied 12 volts directly to the non-working motor it still wouldn't work, so I had no choice but to remove it. The only problem is that in order to get to the electric motor you have to take out the entire headlight bucket assembly. Now I know why shops charge so much for electrical work! I also realized that I don't charge enough...

Once the motor was out and on my work bench, I took it apart to see if maybe one of the brushes broke or something. Everything looked good inside the motor but I knew it didn't work so something had to be wrong. I decided to test the armature and that's where I found the problem. The motor was either shorted out or got stuck while under power and it burned up the thin wires going from the commutator to the armature windings. With the breaker taking the brunt of this it's no wonder it failed. A new motor was ordered and on it's way, but would that solve all of this Camaro's headlight problems? In a word, no!

Once the new motor was hooked up I quickly discovered what burned up the other motor. You see, on the 67's headlight system there are limit switches, two per side. Their purpose is to kill the voltage to the motor (via the relay and aforementioned fuse) when the headlight door is in either the open or closed position. On this particular side the limit switch for the closed position was out of adjustment causing the motor to run continuously. The original motor probably overheated and the resulting amp draw damaged the breaker and fried the motor's armature. After the limit switch was properly adjusted, the Camaro's headlight system worked perfectly - well, almost. In my experience, electrical systems usually have more then one problem and this one was no exception.

 The last item the car suffered from was a dim headlight, one that I was told had plagued the Camaro for awhile. Changing out the headlight did not work, so I had to go back to the drawing board, literally. After pouring over the schematic and double checking all the connections, I discovered a ground lug that had been cut from the headlight harness. Apparently someone was in a hurry when they removed it at one time or another and never bothered to hook it back up. A word to the wise - grounds exist for a reason! Hook them up and don't feed the Gremlins!