In my youngster days, we had a strange neighbor. One of those guys that could do anything. Machine shop, wood shop, welding room, garages up the giddy. We children were all afraid of Sal. My father operated a Automotive Repair and as a result I was sent with our garage projects and parts need into that warren.
Sal had an old Ford, one of those 4 cylinder engines. Whenever I came to his works he would quickly cover the engine area with an old tarp. I heard the same story from others that had visited Sal's shop works. The few times I was alone at his works, Sal would sometimes want to brag about what he had. That is how I pieced together his latest project. Being a child, I didn't understand all that he tried to explain, but I did have auto experience at my father's arm.
Sal had some kind of evaporator on the fuel line very close to the carburetor. There was some kind of filter, made with a mason jar, that was filled with some silver colored flakes. This was right after the fuel pump. Up above the air cleaner was a paint can with a small pipe threaded into a hole drilled into the air filter. This can was filled with water and had a drip adjustment valve from an old kerosene stove. On the front fender was a square metal box with a glass liner. Sal called it a Edison battery box. The lid had screw down clamps. There were two wires into the top of this box. One at each end. Near the wires were copper tubing that also went into the box, next to the wires. The copper tubing went from the box into the intake manifold, like vacuum lines. The wires were hooked to the largest generator I ever saw on a automobile. I once seen Sal fill this box with water.
I will always remember the day I visited while Sal was putting a drain valve into the bottom of the Ford's gasoline tank. I was amazed that he could do this even while gasoline was running out of the tank. I ran back to my father's place worried that Sal would blow up. Dad just laughed it off and said something about angels fear to tread.
In the following weeks, I often seen Sal draining a jug of gasoline from his drain valve. He said his engine modifications improved the gas millage to the extent he had to drain the excess gasoline every 15 or 20 miles or the tank would over flow.
This is a true story. Sal is long dead, but I can show you the exact shop-works building were it happened and introduce two of his apprentices that are still on this side of the green.
