Projects garagefind/ survivor 40 coupe build. FIRED IT UP!

V8 Bob was here today and brought his pressure bleeder so we could fill and bleed the system. There was a problem with the L.F. caliper bleeder screw; it had a manufacturing defect and I had to go get a new one. I have a good hard pedal now.
I had some trouble with the clutch not disengaging, but after adjusting to get max. travel, it worked ...sort of. I have to change the lever ratios in the equalizer ( Z bar). I'll probably have a stiffer pedal, but I need more travel. I should be going around the block in the next couple of days.

 

And so it goes Joel.... You will figure it all out and be driving soon! Uncle Mike came over today and we put 50 break in miles on the coupe.

 

What a nice build, don't know how I missed it, good to see you saved the fun part till last. What color do you plan on painting it? Bob

 

The color is '67 GM " Deepwater Blue" and thanks for the kind words. You can see it in posts 71 and 159. The camera flash on the dash makes it look lighter than it is.

I shaved 1/4" off the clutch pedal bumper and that was enough for complete disengagement. I've been on AutoCAD drawing lines and arcs for more optimum travel, but I'll still have to extend one of the arms on the Z bar about 3/4".

 

makes me want to tear my '39 deluxe coupe down to the bare frame and do it all over again!! keep up the good work, looks great.

 

I don't know if I'd recommend that, It's been a frustrating summer for me and it will be a while before I start another one. Thanks for your kind words.

 

I went around the block yesterday; that was good. I have to work on the Z bar ratio a little more and I'll have to make a offset rod to compensate for the changes. I have a few pix of my latest activity.

This the modified fender support after dropping the cross bar to compensate for lowering the front of the engine 1/4"

The new Custom Auto Radiator and after setting it in place.

 

I had to do EVERYTHING at least 3 times to get it satisfactory, not perfect. So I know what you mean by fustrating! at 70 years old, and 2 heart attaks, I think my brain is on it's last legs. but I keep on pluggin' away at it.

 

Hi Joel, I've been following along, cool build with 'lots of info. I jsu noticed your radiator and that you have the inlet and outlet on the same side, will the flow of water be good enough for cooling? I ask because ideally I need that setup on my 40, but was concerned about the flow, as i thought it would be better entering one side and leaving the other. Who made your radiator, looks like a 40 which is preferable for me. I've had mine re-cored, and love the brass tanks, but am a little concerned about the pressure.

 

http://www.customautoradiator.com/
This is a link to the guys that made my new radiator; I highly recommend them. They put a baffle in the top tank that directs the coolant to the drivers side before it can pass through the core. My stock re-core would only take about 5#. The new radiator will take 15#.

 

By the way, nice choice of engine. I may have a 348 coming my way in the future; a friend has 2 and only needs 1.

 

I think this a good time to finish out a portion of this build. The Club celebrated our 45th birthday and one of the members used a drone to take pictures of almost all of the clubs cars. So, I put the grill back in and dug out a seat from another project to use. I didn't drive it really ( on and off the trailer and through a parking lot) but I had a good time.
After unloading back at home, I realized I needed to finish some tuning and change the carb. I removed the 600 Holley with the backwards idle mixture screws and installed a 750 vac. sec. with manual choke.
After some plumbing issues and adjusting on the carb, I was able to check the timing ; 16* initial and 35* total all in at 2500 rpm. I had substituted a 5.5 power valve when I rebuilt the carb, but I need to go to a 4.5. It'll be here Wednesday.

 

Hey Joel driving across the parking lot counts as a drive! Thanks for the update.

 

Thanks Joel, i've just sent an email.
On the 348, get the latest one you can, they improved with development, heads particularly.

 

The block and heads are both '61 castings and come with a 409 crank.

 

I got the power valve (4.5) and will install it this afternoon. I've reworked the shifter handle to get more leg clearance

I also cleaned up an original fill tube for the gas tank and painted it. I have 1/4 tank of gas and I was smelling gas when I opened the building in the morning; it was faint , but it was there.

 

My 40 always has a faint smell of fuel even with the new locking gas cap. I am not sure if you can totally eliminate the odor......

 

Do you have a vented cap? I'm using a "Tanks" tank with the vent on the top of the tank and I don't want to route that vent hose through the inside of the car, so I'm plugging the tanks vent and using a vented cap, like original. When I last had this car running, I didn't have a garage; I have no idea if smelling fumes is normal...

 

I have the same Tanks Poly tank and I ran the vent line outside the body and have the vent inside the drivers side rear fender with the line tight against the inner fender panel. I get very little gas smell in the garage. The cap is non-vented

 

I have talked to others who did about the same as you and I probably should look closer at that. Maybe it could run through the gap where the filler pipe passes through the body.

 

I installed the 4.5 power valve and adjusted on the carb a little. I think that did the trick. I found out the panel covering the shifter needs to be changed to allow the boot to fit on the stick right. Now I wish the body and paint was done so I could drive it.

 

I don't see any advantage to running a separate vent line to the inner fender area unless it is attached to a modern charcoal filter. I think the stock vent line that is integral with the filler tube does it's job while filling and then seals fairly well when the cap is installed. jmho.

From the research I did on the charcoal filters I found the after market ones to be pretty expensive so one would have to be sourced from a wrecking yard.

 

I just vented the tank as per the manufactureres instructions. the guy I bought the car from had a rubber hose coiled up but not at a high enough point, I ran it inside the fender so it would be higher than the stock filler in the fender. My '41 pickup had the stock steel tank and stock cap and there seemed to always be gas smell in the garage after running the car for any lenght of time.

 

Joel, I'm going to try one of the myriad of aftermarket motocross gas cap hose vents. I've been racing with these for years, like every one else. There just a filtered one way check valve that plug into the caps vent hose. Simple little gizmo that let air in but stops gas (and fumes I believe) from getting out. I've never had much problem with several bikes stinking up the house(yes I said house, hillbilly) unless using insanely expensive oxygenated racing fuels which I think just breath right through the plastic.

 

I have always just used the vented cap on my cars, but this tank has a "Federally Mandated" roll-over valve and tank vent. I haven't thought about the charcoal filter.. Well, I've got all winter now

I may just use the vented cap set up while doing the body this winter; if there are any fumes, they will show up soon in that room.

Interesting. My son raced for about 4 years but I don't remember exactly how his tank vents were. I'll have to look at that. Thanks for the idea.

Now it's back outside to pick up leaves... worse than body work

 

X2

 

X3...

 

I have a small project going after it's to dark to pick up leaves. I had to do something after I reworked the shifter handle because the boot was off the little box I had made previously. Anyway, this piece is 18 ga. cold roll made without benefit of all those wonderful machines that fab shops have. The only tools I used that some guys might not have are T dolleys
Top pic is with 3 sides bent. The top was done last with a dead blow hammer over a 1" dia. T dolly. The vertical sides were done clamped to the table with a piece of angle iron and the dead blow. The bottom pic is with the corners notched, the rolled over the dolly and trimmed and welded.

Next is the corner holes to make the hole for the shifter stick and above is the "box" after mucho trimming and fitting to the floor contours. I added feet to 2 corners for mounting. The edge in the foreground was bent up and scribed with a Sharpie many times. These pics cover about 6 hrs. actual work.
The top shows a piece I had to add back in because I couldn't figure it out ahead of time and the last one is almost all of the fitting done. I had to move one side of the shifter clearance hole about 1/8".
Some of you are thinking " don't give up your day job" ; fortunately I don't have one.

 

Hey that looks like a lot more fun than raking leaves or dealing with a day job! You forgot to show it installed....... I have to blow down my sprinkler system today before I can play in the shop...... bum shoulder may keep me from raking my own leaves this year..... (Yes that's too bad ).

It is amazing how much time a small piece like that can eat up. Nice job btw.

 

Thanks, but I didn't quite get finished. I just ate lunch, yard work is done for the day, so I'm heading to the hardware for stuff. Maybe by supper I'll have some more pix. Take it easy on that shoulder; healing takes longer now days.