First Drive and Some Work

 

Yeah, I had the windshield on for a while already but...

One of the four mounting points stripped when I tightened it. Not over tightened mind you, just tight, or not quite tight enough, then it spun. So out it came, in went four heli-coils, no problem, all back together now.

The battery received a hold down bar, custom made.

I ordered a battery cover seal, a round piece of foam like a long fat string showed up, no way to attach it. I had some self adhesive weather stripping laying around, stuck it on.

Now that is done, of course I had to fix one of the anchors, because nothing is easy.

There were about a hundred steps to get to here, but this is the dash fully assembled on the bench and ready to go in.

Dash in with just two bolts holding it for now, just in case.

And just like that, there are 115 mile on the car. This took me three days with a few things to be tweaked after each outing, but nothing major, it runs perfect, it shifts perfect!

The latest change, a bumper! The pile of parts on the shelf is shrinking rapidly, awesome! Just need to put another 400 miles on the car and then I can change all the fluids.

Center console went in just to hold the wires, oh, and I needed the hazard switch for the blinkers to work.

I have a seat belt, it is not set up perfect, but considering the other, non-existent safety features of the car, that is the least of my worries.

I figured out in the first two miles driving that I needed the shifter gaiter in place, hot air was blowing straight at me from under the car, maybe in the winter that would be okay, but not my preference in June in Virginia.

Seat Installation

This seams like the simplest of jobs, four bolts, easy. Not so fast, putting in a seat can be "not too bad," but it is not easy. Even with no carpet in the car I was was considering burning the whole lot! So here are the steps that worked for me and hopefully the process will go "not too bad" when I do it again with carpet. First step was to clean the rails. The bottom rails slide right off and it is important to clean the top portion where the rails fit together. I used some brake cleaner to get the gunk off. Then I put a light coat of Teflon grease on the rails and fitted them together. Not so fast. If you have both seats out you may have mixed up the rails that fall off. The rail with the stop block bolted to it goes on the outboard side of both seats at the rear end so the block can hit the stop bolt on the bottom of the seat.

 

Next I got 1 1/2 inch long bolts and installed them from under the car in the rear seat mount holes. This will hold the seat in position and in alignment while you start the front bolts. Make sure to put the spacers on the studs so that the rails will be even with the floor. One more trick before dropping the seat in, the inboard rail will fall off when you lift it, and you don't want it falling on your new, or old, body work so zip tie it in place towards the front of the seat so you can easily cut it off once in position. Okay, now you can drop the seat in position. I don't know why there are three holes front and rear on the seat rails but it should only be one or two. If you are tall, definitely install the seat as far back as you can, the studs in the floor should go through the third hole from the back, this will line up the front seat anchor holes with the second rail hole from the front. Cut your zip tie, slide the seat all the way back to the stop on the rail. Now you should have okay'ish access to the front bolts as seen in the first picture. This still isn't easy to reach, but it can be done. Don't forget your 1/4 inch spacer. I used a racheting box end wrench which made it go much faster. Now you can proceed to the rear bolts, which are easier after you slide the seat forward and flip the seat back up as well. Don't use washers on any of the bolts, there is very little clearance between the mechanisms on the rails and the bolts and if they hit you won't be able to move the seat. Maybe just remember to tighten the bolts once a year.  I did this without carpet just because I am not at that point of my restoration, but as it turns out this would have been so much harder to do if the carpet was in the way and the seats were not setup properly first. Good luck if this job is in your future.

First Engine Start After Rebuild

First things first, we need oil pressure and RPM, water temp doesn't hurt either. I have this setup because the dash isn't ready to go in, also the windshield isn't ready. So we will make due.

On the first start attempt the aft carburetor was leaking fuel into the engine, so despite wanting to wait on carburetor rebuilding to ensure an easy start, I had to do it first. This turned out to be a non issue, the only setting to mess with as far as starting it adjusting the jet for richness. Easy, bring the jet flush with the carburetor throat, then back it off two turns, it is easier to count the flats of the bolt so they commonly say back it off 12 flats. The rebuild fixed the fuel problem.

Next I tried starting again and could not get the static timing right, it can be a pain to dial it in even though it seems simple to line up as the manual states. All I can really say is take your time and be patient and methotical.

After all the work, on June 7th it started, 357 days after I pulled the engine from the car. I got the first brake in run done, 2500 RPM for about 25 minutes. This is the suggested break in for the new cam shaft. The oil pressure was holding steady at 60 psi, so all is good. 

 

Here is the engine running for the first time. That whistle is an exhaust leak but nothing more serious happened during the run. After this run I returned the next day and checked the valve lash and ran it again to dial in the ignition timing, and set idle and adjust richness on the carburetors. I am excited to take it for a drive but there is bunch more to do. I kind of need a windshield and dash board, also a seat would be nice. More to follow.