Yesterday, I went to the Driver and Licence office and got turned away,
because:

1) I had no appraisal of the car, and
2) I had no ownership slip.
I didn't even get a chance to bring up (3), the province had the VIN recorded incorrectly in their system (there is no such a thing as an L41CL8208232).

Cripes, I thought, an appraisal was gonna be an enormous hassle. Foresight (for once) prompted me to ask the clerk for an appraisal form. "Oh, the appraiser will have them," she said. "Yeah, I'm sure he will," I said, "but it'd be an awful shame if he was out of them. May I have one, just in case?". She gave me one. I swung by the garage that played slow-and-expensive with my bill for installing A/C in the truck a few summers ago; guy was happy to "appraise" the car for $475 without seeing it (I was in the truck) and said "Stop by and give me $50 sometime". No hassle at all; sometimes it's helpful to know people whose ethics are flexible.

This afternoon I called the Licence Assistance Office and was informed that the VIN correction would require one of the following documents:

•The vehicle's original invoice

•The vehicle's original Manufacturer's Statement of Origin

•The bill of sale from the vehicle's original delivery to the first purchaser

•A letter from the selling dealer confirming the VIN
(none of those was going to happen).

•A letter from a police officer stating the correct VIN.
(AHA! That we can do!)

So I went down the garage, opened the trunk and popped the hood. I was not about to put six more FEET on this car without changing the carburetor. The original(!) Holley 1920 had 142k miles (~227,000km) on it, and had the mother of all hot-start problems. I'm sure the float was heavy. I'm sure the metering block was dead in several ways. I'm sure the throttle shaft was loose in its bore. I grabbed a brand new, not rebuilt, Holley 1920 (special "Economaster" model w/radial-discharge venturi, double-width idle transfer slot, gradient power valve and other such features) out of the trunk and spent the next 20 minutes on the swap.

I wanted to remove and discard the metal pump-to-carb fuel line, but it is seized in the fuel pump, so it's staying put for now. Some previous goon had used the wrong carb base gasket (the 1/16" thin one instead of the heat-insulating 3/8" thick one), which would've certainly exacerbated the hot start issue. And the thermostatic air cleaner makes a nice "Hoooooooot!" when vacuum's hooked up to it. Haven't checked whether it's the damper door actuator or the temp sensor making the noise.

Carb all hooked up and bolted down, choke pushrod bent back into some semblance of what it's supposed to look like, hop in the car, kick the gas once and start cranking. No vroom, no pop, not even a kick, but the cranking speed is slowing down alarmingly and quickly. Hooboy.

Go back out front and take a look: Yep, gasoline's reached the carb. Maybe too much? Back in the car, floor the gas to unload the choke, real slow cranking now. Yetch, I know the sound of a battery scraping the bottom of the barrel when I hear it.

All of a sudden the light goes on above my head (the idiot light, the one that flashes and has a chime that goes "Dumb!...Dumb!...Dumb!..."): While trying to remove the metal line from the fuel pump, I removed the coil wire and #2 plug wire for easier access. And never put 'em back. Duh. I put them back (pausing on my way around the front of the car to notice that the Delco Eye on the battery was black, rather than green), got back in the car, and despite the slow crank, the engine fired up immediately. Progress! Spent a few minutes needling around with the idle speed and mixture screws, pronounced it acceptable, went in and washed my hands.

Came back out, hit the key, "Eee-deeVROOM!" Much better, still a slow crank.

Went to the cop shop around the corner, got Office Friendly to take a look at the VIN on the dash and on the door label and write up a nice little signed note on police letterhead stating that the VIN is in fact LL41C1208232.

Drove out to Mississauga, to a different office (I find that unless you get the odd helpful/friendly clerk, the more times you come back to the same office/clerk, the harder they try to send you away without what you came for). Presented the appraisal, safety certificate, signed Bill of Sale portion of the UVIP, and police letter. The province's VIN record was promptly changed to the correct VIN, and I walked out of the office 10 minutes after entering, with a set of plates good through 1/08. Total cost for "replacement for lost ownership slip" ($10), sales tax on the car ($22) plates and rego through 1/08 ($143) was $175.

Back along the Queensway, I stopped in at PartSource (owned by Crappy Tire) and scoped out batteries. Orbital spiral-wrap cell Group Size 24 for $170? Mmm...no. Dual-purpose marine deep-cycle Group Size 24M for $59.

Swapped it out in the parking lot and spent my $5 core refund on a battery
terminal brush and roll of shop towels.

So...now we've got a new carb that works pretty well and a new battery. Still got kind of a rough idle and driveability isn't perfect, but who knows how long ago the points and condenser were last done, and the plugs have got to be royally fouled by having run so rich for so long due to that drippy old carburetor. (I did have fun on the QEW en route to Mississauga, dropping it into 2nd gear and flooring it...HUGE clouds of brown dust came flyin' out of the tailpipe, to the annoyance of the soccer-honking moron in the minivan behind me. Aw, poor diddums got exhaust all over his Portuguese-or-whatever flag.)

So, now I'm legal and can carry on pouring money into the car. Further events as bulletins warrant.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Cool beans! You need an electronic distributor before you can throw HEI at it don't you? I wish I could help.

There is a D100 short bed with a 225 around the corner from me. It's pretty straight except it's got the creeping rust in the bed above the rear tires. The guy at the house said it wasn't his, but he had done some work to it and knew about the truck. He said the truck automatic was replaced by a car trans and needs a smaller diameter yoke. Of course I have one in a box and others on driveshafts. Of course the 904 is ~4" shorter than the 727. I don't know if a longer driveshaft comes with the pickup, but I do have an extra B300 driveshaft. This is a huge, long 1 piece driveshaft spare for my 127" wheelbase van.

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Joshua

Yeah, I've got one en route to me. HEI will happen eventually. For now I think I'm going to toss points into a spare distributor I have and chuck it in, just to bring things up to some semblance of rectitude. And definitely a new set of plugs.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

The other CHP officer when I got my VIN inspection today had a mil surplus dodge pickup with a slant. He was telling me that he had put on a Weber two barrel carb on the one barrel slant manifold.

Between the two car guys that I dealt with at the CHP, it was downright enjoyable.

Whodathunk that California's process would be easier than Ontario's? I am used to everything being harder here.

Greg

Congrats Dan! I want to see some more pictures though, including the chicken!

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

I've locked the chicken in the trunk until it can behave itself.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Just don't choke it!

Naw, I'm going to use one of the electric-powered chokes, not the chicken-powered kind.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.