[Today’s run: 3.24 miles]
I finished work before the sun went down today, so I had a bit of time to work on the Aerostar. I took the modulator back out and reseated it. I don’t think that made a difference.
I also flushed out the vacuum tube from the engine to the modulator at the transmission.
Then I took it for a test drive. Going in circle-D drive I could get it to upshift around 35 mph. But I then continued on to 55 and I could not get it to shift again. So I don’t know if my transmission is workable or not.
I spent a bit of time on the intake air plumbing. I was able to use some rubber sealing tape to cover two of the holes. There is a larger problem at the end of the pipe where the collar that goes on the intake has broken down almost completely. I think I am going to keep my eye out for some kind of plastic or rubber tubing that will fit inside the corrugated tube. Then I could seal them together with some of this rubber tape or use some silicone sealer. I think I should go to Lowes and check out the plumbing adapters.
My next decision point is whether or not I think it is worth doing the exhaust work. I called a local guy and he estimated cat replacement would be about $400. If I get the intake sorted out, the transmission is the next big hurdle. I have to research whether the missing exhaust could keep the transmission from shifting.
We don’t have car inspections in my state. So it is just a matter of putting it together in a way that meets the federal specifications. Nobody is going to do an exhaust test on it.
I had an interesting conference call today with “external counsel” on a patent application. Something I wrote up in late 2020 has somehow been resurrected by the corporate patent approval committee. What that means is they are willing to spend the money for a lawyer to write up a patent application on our idea. This will be my 4th patent application on which I have been listed as an inventor. Of my three others, one was shot down for prior art (someone else had something similar already) and two have been published.
That’s kind of a fun fringe benefit to get my name on such things.