[GreenKeys] WD-40

Tue Sep 15 00:52:49 EDT 2020

I spent a great deal of time when I was in middle school at my father's 
garage in the early-mid 60s.  The rear pump in automatic transmissions 
was for ensuring adequate hydraulic pressure and sometimes to help 
determine ground speed.  It also helped keep the engine spinning if it 
should falter for some reason while moving and give every possible 
chance to get a restart. Many vehicles in those times would get a vapor 
lock in the fuel system in hot weather, shifting to second gear, pulling 
the choke (if equipped) and vigorously pumping the throttle would often 
get it running again. That was impossible with the later transmissions 
that did not have the rear pump.  Push or roll starting did require 
moving at about 20+ MPH for most transmissions, a little faster for a 
single or two speed transmission such as a Dynaflow or PowerGlide.  The 
shop truck had an oversize well reinforced wooden front bumper covered 
with old tire tread.  We never had a complaint from a grateful driver we 
gave a push start  with the truck, and many of them came to the garage 
later for proper repairs. One of my first electronics projects for my 
father was to rig a push-to-talk PA speaker on the front of the truck 
using the AM radio for an amplifier.  Dad had a habit of overusing it, 
however,  not always for business, and received  lots of annoyed looks 
from the cops. For mechanisms that are badly stuck, KanoKroil is a very 
good penetrant to free them up before cleaning out the residue and 
re-lubricating properly. It was also great fun to use it to free up 
sticking valves in an old and poorly maintained engine. In those 
pre-EPA  times, we would pour a small can of it slowly through the 
carburetor  while keeping the engine at fast idle. The smoke production 
was spectacular,  sometimes making a great mushroom cloud. When the fun 
was over, an engine flush and oil change usually ended the problem.

       Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY

On 9/14/20 10:47 PM, Ralph Irish wrote:
> Dave and G/K
>
> About pushing auto-trans cars to start them:
>
> Prior to some date in maybe the 1960s, most cars with Hydramatic and 
> Dynaflow and FordOMatic, etc.
> transmissions  COULD  be pushed to start them.  The problem was that 
> the vehicle had to be accelerated
> to around 30-35 MPH before there would be enough 'oil-action' in the 
> transmission to send rotary energy to
> the engine, once the car was put in gear.
>
> At some point, transmission engineers realized that there was some 
> kind of pump in the transmissions that
> could be eliminated.  Whether this was due to other changes or just 
> that that pump was superfluous, I don't
> know.
>
> Now, without that pump, there was virtually zero fluid motion created 
> by the rear wheels driving the drive
> shaft-driving the transmission, etc. to cause the  INPUT SHAFT  of the 
> transmission to transfer rotary
> energy to the engine. So, as of that modification or change to 
> transmission design, it was not possible to
> push-start an auto with an automatic transmission.
>
> -   -   -   -
>
> There was an old joke about a guy finding his battery dead with his 
> auto-trans car, and finally finding
> someone willing to push him for a start.  He told the other driver 
> that since he had an automatic transmission
> the 'pusher' had to be going at least 35 miles per hour.  The other 
> driver said, "OK" and went back to his car.
>
> The guy waited and waited and waited and the other car did not move 
> into position to push him.
>
> Then, WHAM!   The other car slammed into him at 35 MPH !!!   Obviously 
> the other driver didn't
> understand what he was told, and he obviously didn't understand the 
> basic laws of physics!
>
> -   -   -   -
>
> I am 81 and have gone through that process of pushing another car with 
> an auto-trans to get it going.  It always
> beat the hell out of the bumpers, though. Few people were smart enough 
> to fasten some kind of multi-layers of
> a blanket to the two bumpers to absorb the friction.  (I wasn't!)
>
> But, it was possible in 'the good old days'!!  I got my first driver's 
> license in 1955 and my first car in 1956.  It
> was a 1953 Plymouth with a standard transmission.
>
> 73,
>
> Ralph - W8ROI
>
> -   -   -   -   -   - -   -
> *
> *
> *From: *"Dave Horsfall" <dave at horsfall.org>
> *To: *"Greenkeys" <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
> *Sent: *Monday, September 14, 2020 9:40:30 PM
> *Subject: *Re: [GreenKeys] WD-40
>
> On Mon, 14 Sep 2020, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>
> > The first cars my family had were equipped with hand throttles and
> > chokes. Had to know how to work those. Another feature of older manual
> > transmission cars is that one could use the starter to move the car.
> > Engine stops and your on the RR tracks put the car in low gear and work
> > the starter. Also can start cars by rolling down hill or pushing. Can't
> > be done on automatic transmission cars.
>
> I once got water-logged in a creek, and used the starter motor to crank
> myself out; I ended up blowing the side out of the battery...
>
> -- Dave VK2KFU, who sometimes forgot to push the choke back in
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