We've all been there. We're tooling down the road in our vintage car, fat, dumb, and happy, when all of a sudden whatever thoughts or daydreams we were lost in are replaced with an unnerving sound. Whether it's the engine chugging as the car slows, a loud rhythmic rattle coming from the engine, or the engine is suddenly not making any noise at all, one thing's certain-you're not going anywhere unless it's on foot.
Roadside repairs are a fact of life for those of us in the collector car hobby. Whether your car has recently undergone a ground-up restoration or you just bought it from the original owner, the chances of it leaving you on the side of the road with the hood up aren't that remote. It's just the nature of the beasts. However, with a little advanced planning, it's really not much more than an annoyance. The fact is, most of the common failures that are going to put you on the shoulder can usually be repaired in an hour or so, provided you have the right tools and replacement parts. So, then the question becomes “fix it now, or fix it at home?” We prefer to work on our cars at home, in the comfort of our own garage with our roll-away tool box and all the other conveniences close at hand, but is that worth the tow bill to get it there? Not to mention blowing what had been a perfectly enjoyable cruise up until this point.
There are mechanical failures you won't be able to repair road-side, such as a blown motor, trans, or rearend. Otherwise, roadside failures are generally going to fall into a limited number of categories: fuel delivery, electrical, and cooling. Once you break down those categories, it's even less intimidating.
Electrical
Electrical system components that will leave you on the side of the road are relatively few: alternator (or generator, for you pre-'61 guys), voltage regulator, ballast resistor, ECU for electronic ignitions, and the coil. If any one of these goes south, you're not going anywhere. However, each of these can be replaced in less than an hour. Other component failures could be the points, fouled plugs, or burned through and arcing plug wires, all also easily replaced. Fuses are obvious. The starter could also go bad, but these generally give you some warning before checking out. If you have a stick shift, push-starting will get you out of the parking lot and back toward home.
Fuel Delivery
There's really only three things here that could go bad: fuel pump, fuel filter, and trash in the carb. This is why we like the non-resto-correct glass inline fuel filters-it takes the guess work out of plugged fuel filters, and it's easily cleaned and reinstalled. It will also help diagnose whether the fuel pump is bad or if the problem lies at the carb. Again, if you've got the parts and the hand tools to service them, any of these will take you less than an hour.
Cooling
This one's also fairly straight forward, and it's one of three culprits: either the radiator is bad, a hose blew, or the water pump died. if it's the radiator, call the auto club. Radiator leak stoppers will work, but we don't feel comfortable dropping that stuff in there: If it'll plug a hole in the radiator, then it'll also probably gum up other areas, too. We'd rather fix this one the right way by taking the radiator out and going to a shop.
A radiator hose is an easy fix, with the only obstacle being filling the radiator back up. A few bucks worth of bottled water at the gas station up the road will take care of that, if you don't have any in the trunk (we don't).
The final item here is the water pump. Mopars have it easy compared to the other brands-all we've got to do is change the impeller, with the housing still on the motor. It's easy, requires one gasket, and carrying a spare doesn't take up much room. Again, even with removing all the stuff from the front of the motor to gain access, it's not much more than an hour's worth of work. A blown heater core or dead thermostat could also come into play, but both are easily removed or bypassed.
Anything Else?
It's not exactly rare for a Mopar to have a push rod punch its way through the cup of a rocker arm. If this happens, you're not going to be driving far. However, Mopar enthusiasts are lucky here, as well. A couple of spare rocker arms and a valve cover gasket will get you back on your way. While we were putting this story together, we realized that we don't have any duct tape in our kit, which is particularly amazing. We know several people who believe that if it can't be fixed with duct tape, then it can't be fixed! A spare fan belt is a no-brainer.
How about if your brakes go out or lock up? Call the auto club, because generally any quick fix for the brakes isn't going to be safe. Which brings us to the most important item to have: an auto club membership. Because, even though most repairs will be quick and simple, there are going to be some that you just can't handle with a couple of tools and a flashlight.
Tools for the Road
The right tool for the job always makes things easier. Having a well thought out tool kit in your trunk is going to make any roadside repair a lot less traumatic. We've put together an assortment of basic tools that will get us back home, and we've had opportunities to use this kit more times than we care to admit.
While the kit is very complete, we have a lot less money invested than you would think-under $250. Now, that may at first sound like a lot for tools we may or may not use, but consider what we've got, and that sum isn't too much. Plus, it's cheap insurance.
Our kit consists of a 3-drawer box containing a full set of screwdrivers, a full set of pliers, two of every size wrench from 1/4-inch to ¾-inch, a multi-meter, utility knife, hammer, chisel, punch, small pry bar, mini hack saw, a single set of metric wrenches, a couple of adjustable wrenches, a mini Mag Light, and a bendable mini-light and socket light from Steelman. This may be overkill, but we'd rather have too many tools than not have the one we need. This set was put together over a couple of years, and cost about $150, including the 3-drawer box, by shopping Sears sales and swap meets. The screwdrivers, for instance, are Craftsman's cheapest, with the bright orange handles, that are often sold in the bargain boxes. We paid $.99 for each of the smaller ones, and $1.99 each for the bigger ones. We like brightly colored tools, as they're easier to see in the dark, and they won't get left behind when we're done.
We also have a full set of Craftsman sockets, standard and metric, in 1/4-, 3/8- and 1/2-inch drives. Their 100-pc Mechanics set is listed in the catalog for $79.99. The multi-meter is also a Craftsman unit, and besides being one of the least expensive meters in their line (about $39), it has a hard plastic case, making it ideal for a road box.
Other items include a portable floor jack we bought for $19.99, a fender cover, work jacket (to save our clothes and lay on the ground), WD40, clean rag, gloves, and a small container of orange hand soap with pumice. The soap even comes with a scrub brush! It's the only thing we've found that will get the smell of gas off our hands. Bug spray would be a good addition, too. Not shown but since added is duct tape and electrical tape. Finally, always have a fire extinguisher on hand.
The other nice thing about this kit is that with the possible exception of a good set of cable cutters, it's about the perfect junkyarding box. And you never know when that will come in handy!
