Paint Chips

Teletouch

Winterizing

There's nothing quite like that feeling you get the day when you start the old Edsel for the first time for the year.  The slow cranking, the firsts few coughs and sputters, it sort of brings an overwhelming feeling of anticipation, and that's just getting out of bed in the morning. Then after breakfast it's off to the garage for the real work. Starting a long stationary car is very similar to firing up a rebuilt engine for the first time. Most of the parts in the upper environs of that motor have long since given up to the pan any substantial oil protection.  Before we get real serious about starting we have to do what we can about replacing some of that missing lubricant. 

First, we start with a fully charged battery, you know, the one we removed to a warm dry place in the fall and topped off the water and put a slow strong charge in the last couple of days, yeah, that's the one.  Clean off the top of the battery with some baking soda dissolved in water and hose off completely when done.  Sand or wire-brush the terminals on both the battery and the terminal ends.  There should be no corrosion down in the batt. tray either.  Use some of the previously mentioned soda water to clean and then rinse out the tray. After connecting the cable ends and the hold-downs securely give the terminals a light coat of light grease or commercial battery spray.

Secondly, I always like to push my car out if I can (this requires some assistance) because things can get pretty smoky and there's no sense in breathing in all that junk if it's not necessary. You can see where the car was parked and check to see if it left any presents for you.  Check the antifreeze, trans., p/s and engine.  Next disconnect one of the primary ignition wires.  Those are the small wires that lead to and from the coil.  On my 58 it's real easy to just pull one of the wires off of the ignition resistor on the firewall.  If you pull off the coil wire and crank for a while you'll find out why they call it a firewall. All the while you're rolling that engine over the gas and fumes are coming up from the  tank and that little snap/ snap / snap you here is that pyromaniac of a coil just waiting to start something on fire. Roll the engine over in ten second intervals about thirty seconds apart.  This prevents any damage to the starter and we all know how much fun changing starters can be.  Don't touch the gas during this stage, once the fuel pump starts to pull it should refill the carburetor bowl on it's own.  After about five or six cycles we're ready to proceed.