Cheyenne Martindale took off like a rocket out of Bradford last year! Her destination was Lincoln Technical Institute. She graduates this September and her grade point average is in the 90s; in other words, she is loving it. She is difficult to catch up to, so her dad gave me a few details. The transition from Bradford, VT, to E. Windsor, Conn., was huge and now it’s routine where Cheyenne makes the trip home weekly to her “weekend” job.
Her focus is auto collision repair & refinishing where welding, structural, electrical, mechanical, and the art of painting is part of the program. Cheyenne is toying with the idea on taking some business classes through CCV to round out her new skills once she is finished in Connecticut. We wish you our best, Cheyenne. Your dreams and the courage to go after them is wonderful.
Backing up a bit to two Decembers ago when I found a 1930 Franklin Club Sedan in Toronto, Canada, and dragged it home, I had been looking for a club sedan for years, so my rambunctious tendencies might have made me jump into the deal a little too fast, along with giving the seller more of my trust than I should have. There were many surprises when I got home!
The seller did tell me the front main seal needed changing, as he was losing a lot of oil from that area during his tours. I spent some time slowly getting into the front seal area nothing.
Next, I made the trip to my retired mechanic neighbor for a sit-down. Even though there are many times no solutions are found, our conversations are always fun. It looked like it was going to be a no-solution day when John mentioned an out-of-town tractor trailer driver stopping by his garage one day. The driver said he was losing gallons of oil and asked John if he could help. Guess what John found? Yes, the front oil-slinger was not there. In my case, while my attention was on the oil seal, I had not noticed that my oil-slinger was also missing. It turns out mechanics forgetting to install the oil-slinger is not normal. It is also not unheard of. I wish I had more room here to relate some of his stories. John Reighley has been in the mechanics business for a long time with a skill level of only a few and many detailed stories to go with it.
So what does the oil-slinger do anyway? Well, it keeps the majority of the oil away from certain areas. When oil hits the rotating slinger, in my case attached to the drive shaft, the oil is slung away before it can hit directly into the oil seal area.
Also in my case, where the main seal is located in the center of the cooling fan, the negative pressure caused by the massive air movement could have helped even more oil to seep through.
Following John’s advice, I will add aviation form-a-seal when I install the main gasket and also on the “scratched” area of the keyed drive shaft when I slide the fan in place. He likes the Permatex brand. I will find if all this “theorizing” is correct when I am driving around Franklin County this summer. Ain’t life in the shop exciting!!
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