Volvo PV444 wins 1957 Petit Lemans at Lime Rock!

[blueosprey90]

Was ambitious this morning.

Got up and pulled the rear carb after looking through my MG spares and deciding that I could cobble together the necessary seals to repair the leak. While I thought it would be leaking float bowl grommets, it was the jet assembly that is leaking. Pulled it apart, and I don't think it was assembled correctly. I have cork seals soaking in oil, so I should be able to reassemble this evening.

[Derek UK]

Ah, the dreaded cork seals. Good luck with centralising the jet.

[blueosprey90]

Well, it was a long, long time since the carburetor was last refurbished - and not well done either. It only had one jet seal, rubber, not cork and the little brass washers were not where they belonged. I think I got it put together correctly and also changed the float bowl grommets and banjo bolt washers.

No problem centering the jet.

Reinstalled and air balanced the carbs, but did not check rich/lean synchronization. I think I should be OK since I measured the jet to bridge distance and set at .010", which is about where I always shoot and where it probably was to begin with.

It all took me a little bit longer than planned.

[arcturus]

I tried the .010" but it was to weak,it's nearer to 0.015 now.Going to do a run this weekend and then check plugs. BTW I use a synthetic seal now,viton not cork.

[blueosprey90]

This was sort of a rush, emergency repair with no time to order parts. I just used what I had available.

[blueosprey90]

In the end, I decided to trailer the car up to the Keene Hill Climb Reunion. A four hour haul and it wasn't without its problems. I hope to report later on the Reunion, and perhaps post a video not yet in production.


After the Reunion was over, however, we slipped into Vermont and went looking for a guy I had seen driving a vintage Saab last July. I could then see through the windshield that he had a huge smile on his face and might be a guy I'd like to meet. We drifted around for a while, a bit lost and about to give up, when we came upon his premises.

I stopped and got out of the car to take a picture; but he was working on one of his cars in the barn and came out. We had a nice chat and he showed me around. I think he had seven Saabs there, including this one on the front lawn with a 3 cylinder engine, a desk fan and the radiator behind the engine. He name was Eric C.

All in all, I put about 100 miles on the old four seater. Alas, the rear end seems to be grinding.

[Derek UK]

"Eric in Vermont" is well known on Saabnet. Panton VT?

[blueosprey90]

In other news, my wife and I drove the Catskill Conquest Rally on Saturday - really just a fun drive through the Catskill Mountains following, generally, one leg of the 1903 Automobile Endurance Run.




This was planned to be the ultimate shakedown run for the ’57 Volvo PV444 – especially since Hagerty was an event sponsor and offered free tow for the breakdowns. The rally started at the Catskill Visitor Center near Mt Tremper, N.Y. and ran to Unadilla, N.Y. and back, roughly 165 miles.





Of course, my navigator got us a bit turned around so not only did we run the rally in reverse direction, we also had some missed turns. We clocked about 195 miles for the rally versus the official mileage of about 165. For the day we did about 250 miles overall – including about 40 miles at night. Those 6 volt headlights don’t offer much visibility! But we survived.





The car performed flawlessly and had good legs even to about 65 mph. We had lots and lots of elevation changes with eight climbs over mountains above 1,900 feet. The car pulled strong when required and those drum brakes were more than sufficient. As the day progressed, the leaves seemed to change before our eyes. Not much color in the morning, but quite vivid colors by afternoon.





The event had about 60 entries ranging from a 1917 Ford Model T pickup truck to a 2019 C7 Chevy Corvette. There were very few duplicates in this group of interesting cars - One MGA.






We were one of the last cars to depart and we stopped a few times to help with breakdowns, including a long stop to help a ’66 Saab 96 Special that had lost its throttle linkage. Eventually I think we got it sorted. By then we were way behind the pack.






We had a grand time. Everybody just loved seeing the tattered classic at the Shandacken Inn where we stayed. Had we gotten home a bit earlier, I could have made a few bucks transporting a wedding couple to the chapel for their 5:00 p.m. wedding.

Drat! A missed opportunity!

[arcturus]

Absolutely no point in having the PV unless you drive it like you have done. Well done.Get some more miles on it.Be careful though,that smile on your face might be difficult to remove after such a run and could get you into troubleI'm taking my PV out for a drive today although the empty passenger seat might upset me after the recent loss of my wife

[Derek UK]

George, very sad to read your sad news. Please accept my condolences. Enjoy your drive if you can, it's a time when you can do lots of thinking about good times past.
Take care. Stay safe.