Frankenstein slowly taking shape...
May 27th, 2010, 08:57 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 333
Frankenstein slowly taking shape...
I've gotten help from various community members here, and have made enough progress I thought it was time to share 
Background: My wife told me I needed a hobby. I quit being a mechanic 20 or so years ago, and took up teaching instead. Never got rid of my tools, although I rarely used them.
So, I saw a 1953 88 on craigslist, only a hundred miles away, and we all went to look at it. It looked very nice on the outside,
Front.jpg
barring one tiny rust spot on a fender and a crunched quarter panel
Crunched.jpg
(there was a replacement quarter panel and trunk lid included, although I can't see that the lid needs to be replaced), except for the desperate need for paint. Couldn't find any rust in the trunk, floorpan, frame... all the glass was there (newish rubber seals, no less), interior was complete
Dash.jpg
but rotted,
Rotted.jpg
trim all there. So far, so good.
On the other hand, someone had subframed it with a 1965 Delta 88 front end, 425
Engine.jpg
and TH400. The electrical system was basically non-existent, just enough to make it run. Brakes were spongy, and it wouldn't run over about 30 mph.
We loved it. And, since it had already been chopped up, there was no way I could make it worth any less, no matter how badly I screwed something up. Unless I total it somehow, of course...
Paid the man $1200, drove it away. Made it 20 miles before it quit, so we had it towed to a little town where I have some family. Turned out to have a rusty gas tank and a bad fuel pump. Took the tank in for cleaning and sealing, replaced the pump, drove it away.
Made it half a mile, came back. Gonna have to rebuild the carb, too.
Rebuilt the carb, drove it away. Made it home, but limping. The float in the carb was sticking. Finally decided it was just the wrong float and there was no way to keep the needle from jamming, but couldn't track down the right one. Found a fresh replacement on eBay for $90, swapped it out. 150-160 psi on all cylinders, tuned it a bit... Ran like a top.
Decided to hit the brakes first. I like to be able to come to a full and complete stop, every time. Turned the drums, replaced all the wheel cylinders, swapped the single reservoir master
Brakes.jpg
for a dual, replaced all the springs, hoses, etc. Stops nicely now. Got a speedometer cable from someone here; it turned out the inner cable was just a hair short, so I replaced that and it works fine now.
Next up, electrical system. Got a harness from Hot Rod Wires. I was somewhat apprehensive because I never really got along with wiring. Figured since there was effectively nothing there, I couldn't really screw things up.
It wasn't as easy as I had hoped. I had to reuse the original ignition switch and headlight switch, and the harness wasn't designed with that in mind. I even tried using a headlight switch from HRW, but it wouldn't mount well in the dash. I finally found a full shop manual, with wiring diagrams, and set about modifying the harness to the original hardware, where necessary.
So far, I've got the headlights, engine compartment, headlight switch, instrument panel, ignition switch, and dimmer switch done. Melding the headlight switch with the harness was a nightmare; the mechanical oil pressure gauge was even a problem, since the gauge used an SAE thread (5/16 fine) and all the current fittings seem to have changed. Finally cut the original line and used a compression fitting.
Tomorrow, I get to put the steering column back together (turn signal wiring, going to be fun), replace the brake pedal assembly (previous owner had converted from the old under the floor master cylinder to firewall position, and in the process welded some pieces together to make a working brake pedal), hook up the transmission linkage (and the neutral safety switch wiring, more fun), and fire it up.
Hope everything works. If it does, then I'll add in all the extra wiring - courtesy lights, clock, hood light, etc. One really nice thing I noticed - the shift indicator is electrical, so even though the dash indicators read N-Dr-S-Lo-R, I can hook up the wires to make the indicator show the actual gear I'm in even with a P-R-N-Dr-2-1 shift pattern!
THEN - I drive it to a body shop for the quarter panel repair!
Background: My wife told me I needed a hobby. I quit being a mechanic 20 or so years ago, and took up teaching instead. Never got rid of my tools, although I rarely used them.
So, I saw a 1953 88 on craigslist, only a hundred miles away, and we all went to look at it. It looked very nice on the outside,
Front.jpg
barring one tiny rust spot on a fender and a crunched quarter panel
Crunched.jpg
(there was a replacement quarter panel and trunk lid included, although I can't see that the lid needs to be replaced), except for the desperate need for paint. Couldn't find any rust in the trunk, floorpan, frame... all the glass was there (newish rubber seals, no less), interior was complete
Dash.jpg
but rotted,
Rotted.jpg
trim all there. So far, so good.
On the other hand, someone had subframed it with a 1965 Delta 88 front end, 425
Engine.jpg
and TH400. The electrical system was basically non-existent, just enough to make it run. Brakes were spongy, and it wouldn't run over about 30 mph.
We loved it. And, since it had already been chopped up, there was no way I could make it worth any less, no matter how badly I screwed something up. Unless I total it somehow, of course...
Paid the man $1200, drove it away. Made it 20 miles before it quit, so we had it towed to a little town where I have some family. Turned out to have a rusty gas tank and a bad fuel pump. Took the tank in for cleaning and sealing, replaced the pump, drove it away.
Made it half a mile, came back. Gonna have to rebuild the carb, too.
Rebuilt the carb, drove it away. Made it home, but limping. The float in the carb was sticking. Finally decided it was just the wrong float and there was no way to keep the needle from jamming, but couldn't track down the right one. Found a fresh replacement on eBay for $90, swapped it out. 150-160 psi on all cylinders, tuned it a bit... Ran like a top.
Decided to hit the brakes first. I like to be able to come to a full and complete stop, every time. Turned the drums, replaced all the wheel cylinders, swapped the single reservoir master
Brakes.jpg
for a dual, replaced all the springs, hoses, etc. Stops nicely now. Got a speedometer cable from someone here; it turned out the inner cable was just a hair short, so I replaced that and it works fine now.
Next up, electrical system. Got a harness from Hot Rod Wires. I was somewhat apprehensive because I never really got along with wiring. Figured since there was effectively nothing there, I couldn't really screw things up.
It wasn't as easy as I had hoped. I had to reuse the original ignition switch and headlight switch, and the harness wasn't designed with that in mind. I even tried using a headlight switch from HRW, but it wouldn't mount well in the dash. I finally found a full shop manual, with wiring diagrams, and set about modifying the harness to the original hardware, where necessary.
So far, I've got the headlights, engine compartment, headlight switch, instrument panel, ignition switch, and dimmer switch done. Melding the headlight switch with the harness was a nightmare; the mechanical oil pressure gauge was even a problem, since the gauge used an SAE thread (5/16 fine) and all the current fittings seem to have changed. Finally cut the original line and used a compression fitting.
Tomorrow, I get to put the steering column back together (turn signal wiring, going to be fun), replace the brake pedal assembly (previous owner had converted from the old under the floor master cylinder to firewall position, and in the process welded some pieces together to make a working brake pedal), hook up the transmission linkage (and the neutral safety switch wiring, more fun), and fire it up.
Hope everything works. If it does, then I'll add in all the extra wiring - courtesy lights, clock, hood light, etc. One really nice thing I noticed - the shift indicator is electrical, so even though the dash indicators read N-Dr-S-Lo-R, I can hook up the wires to make the indicator show the actual gear I'm in even with a P-R-N-Dr-2-1 shift pattern!
THEN - I drive it to a body shop for the quarter panel repair!
May 28th, 2010, 04:25 AM
#4
Past Administrator
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Rural Waxahachie Texas
Posts: 10,068
Nice job and sounds like you are doing things in the right order (brakes first). Wiring can be a hassle. The headlight switch on my '46 used wires with terminal lugs and screws so it was pretty easy after acquiring a good wiring diagram to replace the harness. I started from scratch too but didn't buy a harness, just made all the wires myself. I think it would have been better to use a pre-made harness, less work.
May 30th, 2010, 08:13 PM
#7
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 333
Quick update...
Got most of the harness together, although I'm leaving the rear end undone so that the body guy doesn't wreck stuff while doing the quarter panel. Haven't done the courtesy lights yet, or the heater controls. Need a gauge type temp sending unit, fuel sending unit is rusted solid, the radiator leaks a bit somewhere... little things like that.
Otherwise, I'm amazed at how much stuff still works. Every bulb I've checked so far is fine. The original neutral safety switch works fine. Oil pressure gauge reads 30 psi at idle, 40-45 at 30 mph (as fast as I've taken it so far!).
Ammeter is a little funky - gauge runs from -30 to +30, and it's always nearly pegged in one direction or the other. Is this just a function of a 70 amp alternator, rather than the original generator? If so, is there a way to step the current down a bit at the gauge so the current flow is within the gauge parameters?
High beams work properly, but low beams are non-existent - no current at the bulb - but I haven't fiddled with that problem yet.
Brakes feel spongey, need to bleed them again.
Pictures tomorrow, after I clear all the debris out of the beast!
Got most of the harness together, although I'm leaving the rear end undone so that the body guy doesn't wreck stuff while doing the quarter panel. Haven't done the courtesy lights yet, or the heater controls. Need a gauge type temp sending unit, fuel sending unit is rusted solid, the radiator leaks a bit somewhere... little things like that.
Otherwise, I'm amazed at how much stuff still works. Every bulb I've checked so far is fine. The original neutral safety switch works fine. Oil pressure gauge reads 30 psi at idle, 40-45 at 30 mph (as fast as I've taken it so far!).
Ammeter is a little funky - gauge runs from -30 to +30, and it's always nearly pegged in one direction or the other. Is this just a function of a 70 amp alternator, rather than the original generator? If so, is there a way to step the current down a bit at the gauge so the current flow is within the gauge parameters?
High beams work properly, but low beams are non-existent - no current at the bulb - but I haven't fiddled with that problem yet.
Brakes feel spongey, need to bleed them again.
Pictures tomorrow, after I clear all the debris out of the beast!
June 6th, 2010, 10:36 PM
#8
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 333
More tidbits - no solid goodies.
I fixed the low beams; I just had miswired the high beam switch. Duh. It does appear that the headlight switch is faulty. The rheostat causes the headlights to cut out at various points. New switch is on the way from Fusick.
After a NAPA counter guy had trouble finding a gauge type sending unit with only one terminal, he actually said he'd never heard of a gauge sending unit only having a single terminal, that they needed two to work properly.
Yeesh.
Since I had the heads off my GMC, and it has a gauge, and a single terminal sender with the same threads, I popped that into Frankenstein to test the gauge. Gauge works fine.
Coolant leak turned out to be the fact that the lower radiator hose didn't have the clamp actually around the hose. Very lucky that didn't pop off back when I drove it home. Of course, since the radiator cap was toast, there was no cooling system pressure to blow the hose off...
I understand more about the ammeter now, after doing some research. And yes, basically it's due to having a higher output alternator instead of the old low amperage generator. I've found one possible solution that I'll fiddle with eventually. If it works, I'll go into detail.
I've been fiddling with the shift indicator - The original trans was automatic, with a N-Dr-2-1-R pattern. Current trans (TH400) of course has PRND21 pattern. The indicator operates via three wires traveling from the neutral safety switch to relays at the instrument panel. I had hopes that I could simply rewire the pattern of wires from the switch to the indicator and come up with a way to have the actual gear be indicated. No such luck, since there are three circuits to control five settings, and the current is based on the physical position of a conductor inside the circular neutral safety switch - BUT I came up with an interesting idea.
I took an old, non-working voltage regulator housing and gutted it. I reworked it so that it now has three input leads and three output leads. A friend of mine is building some circuitry to put into the case that will do the job of switching for me. Bottom line, I'll have a black box that doesn't appear out of place that will enable my shift indicator to point to the correct gear. I should get that back sometime in the next month or two; it's just a favor with no time urgency, so he'll fiddle with it as time allows.
I suspect the reason the brakes feel spongey is because I used large diameter brake tube from the master cylinder; I'll change that out for 3/16 tubing when I get the gumption together for it, and see how that affects the pedal travel.
Not much else going on, due to having to pull the heads off my truck. Driveway is full for the next week :-)
I just bought an entire vacuum pump windshield wiper system, functional, which brought back memories of my old Pontiac, and how horrible those were in heavy rain. I'm contemplating prowling the junkyards for an old 12v vacuum pump to boost the system with. They were used in some Very Anemic GM cars from the early eighties; people often use them to add vacuum for their brake booster.
I've also been chomping at the bit for a way to hook up the kickdown and the switch pitch. I'm thinking of going with Lokar's electric kickdown setup, with the control box mounted to the trans, and then using B&M's kickdown switch setup to control the switch pitch, in conjunction with brake pedal wiring to get the high stall at idle. I'm not good at manufacturing brackets, so have been looking for a bolt-together solution... someday I'll learn to weld.
I fixed the low beams; I just had miswired the high beam switch. Duh. It does appear that the headlight switch is faulty. The rheostat causes the headlights to cut out at various points. New switch is on the way from Fusick.
After a NAPA counter guy had trouble finding a gauge type sending unit with only one terminal, he actually said he'd never heard of a gauge sending unit only having a single terminal, that they needed two to work properly.
Yeesh.
Since I had the heads off my GMC, and it has a gauge, and a single terminal sender with the same threads, I popped that into Frankenstein to test the gauge. Gauge works fine.
Coolant leak turned out to be the fact that the lower radiator hose didn't have the clamp actually around the hose. Very lucky that didn't pop off back when I drove it home. Of course, since the radiator cap was toast, there was no cooling system pressure to blow the hose off...
I understand more about the ammeter now, after doing some research. And yes, basically it's due to having a higher output alternator instead of the old low amperage generator. I've found one possible solution that I'll fiddle with eventually. If it works, I'll go into detail.
I've been fiddling with the shift indicator - The original trans was automatic, with a N-Dr-2-1-R pattern. Current trans (TH400) of course has PRND21 pattern. The indicator operates via three wires traveling from the neutral safety switch to relays at the instrument panel. I had hopes that I could simply rewire the pattern of wires from the switch to the indicator and come up with a way to have the actual gear be indicated. No such luck, since there are three circuits to control five settings, and the current is based on the physical position of a conductor inside the circular neutral safety switch - BUT I came up with an interesting idea.
I took an old, non-working voltage regulator housing and gutted it. I reworked it so that it now has three input leads and three output leads. A friend of mine is building some circuitry to put into the case that will do the job of switching for me. Bottom line, I'll have a black box that doesn't appear out of place that will enable my shift indicator to point to the correct gear. I should get that back sometime in the next month or two; it's just a favor with no time urgency, so he'll fiddle with it as time allows.
I suspect the reason the brakes feel spongey is because I used large diameter brake tube from the master cylinder; I'll change that out for 3/16 tubing when I get the gumption together for it, and see how that affects the pedal travel.
Not much else going on, due to having to pull the heads off my truck. Driveway is full for the next week :-)
I just bought an entire vacuum pump windshield wiper system, functional, which brought back memories of my old Pontiac, and how horrible those were in heavy rain. I'm contemplating prowling the junkyards for an old 12v vacuum pump to boost the system with. They were used in some Very Anemic GM cars from the early eighties; people often use them to add vacuum for their brake booster.
I've also been chomping at the bit for a way to hook up the kickdown and the switch pitch. I'm thinking of going with Lokar's electric kickdown setup, with the control box mounted to the trans, and then using B&M's kickdown switch setup to control the switch pitch, in conjunction with brake pedal wiring to get the high stall at idle. I'm not good at manufacturing brackets, so have been looking for a bolt-together solution... someday I'll learn to weld.
Last edited by Erinyes; June 6th, 2010 at 10:42 PM.
June 6th, 2010, 11:44 PM
#9
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Palm Bay, FL
Posts: 4,249
You can try these for your switches.
They are used a lot for nitrous kits, but will work well in a low amp switched circuit.
Switch, Backup Light, Quarter Stick, Quarter Stick 2, Magnum Grip, Shifters, Each. These backup light switch kits are designed to illuminate your OEM reverse lights when backing up.
July 15th, 2010, 07:57 PM
#10
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 333
More fiddling -
Pretty much all the wiring is done. Much cleaner under the hood, having stripped out a bunch of garbage. I'd post some pictures, except I can't find the camera. I think we mailed to one of our sons, who is out digging dinosaurs till the end of the month...
Got a kickdown/switch pitch switch and bracket from 2blu442 - thanks again, John! Spent the last couple evenings rigging up the linkage just so, which involved a lot of finicky adjusting. The stock configuration of the switch prevented the throttle from opening fully, and it took quite a bit of maneuvering to set it up so that when I finally managed full throttle, the switch wouldn't move past open and on into closed again! Both the kickdown and the switch pitch solenoids work perfectly, finally. Took it out on the highway tonight and got some pushback in the seat when I stomped on it. Not too shabby for a Tired Old Motor in a Real Heavy Car!
The temp sensor is being a pain. Using a new sensor, the gauge read very high all the time (after warming up, anyway). I swapped in the sending unit from my 71 GMC, and the gauge registered perfectly. I found an article that talked about a change in resistance values in newer stock sending units, which seemed to fit. A brand new sending unit for my truck not only caused the Olds gauge to read high, it caused the truck gauge to read high! I considered just wiring in a resistor, if I could figure out what value to use, but decided that would be treating a symptom rather than the problem.
So, I checked the original sending unit from the engine using a pan of cold water, a multimeter, and a stove. It was a two-pronged unit, one of which registered resistance which varied with the temp (no continuity when cold ranging up to no resistance between the terminal and the screw threads when hot), and the other which opened all at once at high temp. Seemed to work fine, for a sender that would work with both a gauge and a light. Put it in the car; when cold the gauge pegged, when warm it registered nothing. Decided it was shorted, not unreasonable for what could easily be a used 45 year old sending unit, and found an NOS sending unit on eBay. It arrived today, I popped it in, and it does exactly the same thing.
Went back to wiring diagrams. For a 65, the diagram shows voltage to the light that grounds at the sending unit, just what I expected. For a 53, the same - voltage to the gauge, grounding at the sender.
What's going on? Am I missing some fundamental principle here, or am I having a monumental run of bad luck with sending units?
Saturday I'm taking it to town to have a guy give me an estimate to weld in the quarter panel. Hopefully it will be in a range I can handle!
Pretty much all the wiring is done. Much cleaner under the hood, having stripped out a bunch of garbage. I'd post some pictures, except I can't find the camera. I think we mailed to one of our sons, who is out digging dinosaurs till the end of the month...
Got a kickdown/switch pitch switch and bracket from 2blu442 - thanks again, John! Spent the last couple evenings rigging up the linkage just so, which involved a lot of finicky adjusting. The stock configuration of the switch prevented the throttle from opening fully, and it took quite a bit of maneuvering to set it up so that when I finally managed full throttle, the switch wouldn't move past open and on into closed again! Both the kickdown and the switch pitch solenoids work perfectly, finally. Took it out on the highway tonight and got some pushback in the seat when I stomped on it. Not too shabby for a Tired Old Motor in a Real Heavy Car!
The temp sensor is being a pain. Using a new sensor, the gauge read very high all the time (after warming up, anyway). I swapped in the sending unit from my 71 GMC, and the gauge registered perfectly. I found an article that talked about a change in resistance values in newer stock sending units, which seemed to fit. A brand new sending unit for my truck not only caused the Olds gauge to read high, it caused the truck gauge to read high! I considered just wiring in a resistor, if I could figure out what value to use, but decided that would be treating a symptom rather than the problem.
So, I checked the original sending unit from the engine using a pan of cold water, a multimeter, and a stove. It was a two-pronged unit, one of which registered resistance which varied with the temp (no continuity when cold ranging up to no resistance between the terminal and the screw threads when hot), and the other which opened all at once at high temp. Seemed to work fine, for a sender that would work with both a gauge and a light. Put it in the car; when cold the gauge pegged, when warm it registered nothing. Decided it was shorted, not unreasonable for what could easily be a used 45 year old sending unit, and found an NOS sending unit on eBay. It arrived today, I popped it in, and it does exactly the same thing.
Went back to wiring diagrams. For a 65, the diagram shows voltage to the light that grounds at the sending unit, just what I expected. For a 53, the same - voltage to the gauge, grounding at the sender.
What's going on? Am I missing some fundamental principle here, or am I having a monumental run of bad luck with sending units?
Saturday I'm taking it to town to have a guy give me an estimate to weld in the quarter panel. Hopefully it will be in a range I can handle!
May 2nd, 2012, 04:17 PM
#12
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 333
Time for an update, after two years!
I'm finally taking it to a bodyshop this weekend for the quarter panel. Afterward, I'm going to go hogwild and give it the full-on Roll-On Rustoleum Paint Job treatment.
I figure it may be the only way this car ever sees paint again, at the rate I've been moving, and frankly I don't have either the money to pay someone to do it right, or the location (paint booth) or the experience to spray it properly myself.
The roll-on jobs I've looked at are incredibly cheap (hey, I've got that kind of money!), look good, and seem to last well - particularly with a coat of Valspar clear over it. The main drawback is that it is very, very labor intensive. But, as my wife pointed out, that's why I got this car in the first place!
I thought I was going to have to rechrome the rear bumper, but I was able to make it shiny (if somewhat pitted) with superfine steel wool and chrome polish. Looks good enough from six feet away, anyway.
In other news, it's running well enough now to be a daily driver. I just installed a Pertronix Ignitor III and Flamethrower III ignition setup. Fired right up, reset the timing, runs great.
Both the TH400 kickdown and the switchpitch are working and adjusted properly. I finally broke down and went the Lokar route for the kickdown, mostly because I couldn't ever get a good compromise between the kickdown point and the idle/full-throttle switchpitch point using the same switch. With a different switch for each function, I can adjust them independently. Much better.
All the issues that cropped up with the installation of the new (old) Offenhauser 360 intake manifold have been ironed out - no more oil spurting out the fill tube. The late-model QJet is working fine, after drilling out the idle ports to allow for a richer idle. Still haven't dialed in the jets, rods, and spring, though. I'll wait till I've got the dual exhaust on it. I have a nice original pair of B-body dual manifolds waiting, and tailpipes from Thornton arriving Friday - as soon as the rear quarter is done, the exhaust is going on. Then I can do some fine tuning!
I also hooked up a 12-volt vacuum pump solely for the windshield wipers and cleaner. Silly, but what the hey - I kind of like the old analog speed adjustment you could get with those, and since it now doesn't depend on engine vacuum, it won't slow down when I step on the gas.
Latest issue that cropped up is the heater blower motor - it doesn't exist. Last year I checked the heater core for leaking, no problem. Hooked up the hoses, drove to work - and halfway there it started puking coolant on my feet. Not good.
Clamped the hoses till I got it home, then rerouted the hoses to bypass the entire heater system till this year.
A while back (maybe a month ago) I verified that the heater control valve was leaking. It is now on the way to Fusicks for rebuilding. I took the heater core into a radiator shop, where they pronounced it healthy. While putting it back together, I realized I didn't know where the blower was. Couldn't find it anywhere, but the wiring diagram clearly showed one in the system.
I'm pretty sure the PO left it out when he subframed it - but I've got no way to figure out where it goes or what it looks like. I've found one on-line, but it doesn't quite match anything I can see.
Can anyone with a 1953 88 shoot me a picture of what the heater fan setup looks like?
Once it's back from the body guy, I need to strip out the seats and clean up the floorboards. I'll use POR15, insulation, and follow up with some carpet, a headliner, and start working my way toward the middle.
Fun, fun, fun!
I'm finally taking it to a bodyshop this weekend for the quarter panel. Afterward, I'm going to go hogwild and give it the full-on Roll-On Rustoleum Paint Job treatment.
I figure it may be the only way this car ever sees paint again, at the rate I've been moving, and frankly I don't have either the money to pay someone to do it right, or the location (paint booth) or the experience to spray it properly myself.
The roll-on jobs I've looked at are incredibly cheap (hey, I've got that kind of money!), look good, and seem to last well - particularly with a coat of Valspar clear over it. The main drawback is that it is very, very labor intensive. But, as my wife pointed out, that's why I got this car in the first place!
I thought I was going to have to rechrome the rear bumper, but I was able to make it shiny (if somewhat pitted) with superfine steel wool and chrome polish. Looks good enough from six feet away, anyway.
In other news, it's running well enough now to be a daily driver. I just installed a Pertronix Ignitor III and Flamethrower III ignition setup. Fired right up, reset the timing, runs great.
Both the TH400 kickdown and the switchpitch are working and adjusted properly. I finally broke down and went the Lokar route for the kickdown, mostly because I couldn't ever get a good compromise between the kickdown point and the idle/full-throttle switchpitch point using the same switch. With a different switch for each function, I can adjust them independently. Much better.
All the issues that cropped up with the installation of the new (old) Offenhauser 360 intake manifold have been ironed out - no more oil spurting out the fill tube. The late-model QJet is working fine, after drilling out the idle ports to allow for a richer idle. Still haven't dialed in the jets, rods, and spring, though. I'll wait till I've got the dual exhaust on it. I have a nice original pair of B-body dual manifolds waiting, and tailpipes from Thornton arriving Friday - as soon as the rear quarter is done, the exhaust is going on. Then I can do some fine tuning!
I also hooked up a 12-volt vacuum pump solely for the windshield wipers and cleaner. Silly, but what the hey - I kind of like the old analog speed adjustment you could get with those, and since it now doesn't depend on engine vacuum, it won't slow down when I step on the gas.
Latest issue that cropped up is the heater blower motor - it doesn't exist. Last year I checked the heater core for leaking, no problem. Hooked up the hoses, drove to work - and halfway there it started puking coolant on my feet. Not good.
Clamped the hoses till I got it home, then rerouted the hoses to bypass the entire heater system till this year.
A while back (maybe a month ago) I verified that the heater control valve was leaking. It is now on the way to Fusicks for rebuilding. I took the heater core into a radiator shop, where they pronounced it healthy. While putting it back together, I realized I didn't know where the blower was. Couldn't find it anywhere, but the wiring diagram clearly showed one in the system.
I'm pretty sure the PO left it out when he subframed it - but I've got no way to figure out where it goes or what it looks like. I've found one on-line, but it doesn't quite match anything I can see.
Can anyone with a 1953 88 shoot me a picture of what the heater fan setup looks like?
Once it's back from the body guy, I need to strip out the seats and clean up the floorboards. I'll use POR15, insulation, and follow up with some carpet, a headliner, and start working my way toward the middle.
Fun, fun, fun!
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