Technical A Kid's First Project: 1957 Fairlane 500 Town Victoria.

Shine a light down it, or a stiff wire (if you can’t see well enough) and you might feel the bumps of the threads, or it’ll be smooth.
If smooth, I don’t see why you couldn’t tap it

 

Nope...

Also, there is black stuff in the radiator, but it smells like glycol and isnt slick.

 

Is there a specific torque sequence for the water pump?

 

I might have bought a boat carb since the center isnt tapped... im going to tap it and definitely take @Budget36 up on his offer for the air cleaner.

 

In my PM, all no issue, heck, thug has been gathering dust for 20 years, nice to see it will go to use.

 

Oh, found the lid before I left for work.

 

Be careful, pretty soon if you are not careful you may be driving it! Sounds pretty good.
If I remember correctly you have not repaired the leaking radiator yet. So now would be a good time to do this. Go and drain all the coolant from the system. Go to the grocery store and vet a bottle of Cascade dishwasher detergent. Dump about 1/2 the bottle in and finish refilling cooling system with water and run until good and hot. Shut it off and let it cool off for overnight. Start it up and let it get good and hot again then flush out the cooling system real well.
That looks like it may have some Bars Leaks or something else to plug up a leaky radiator in the cooling system. Better start looking for a heater core and a radiator now.

 

Im taking it to a radiator shop near me to have it hot tanked, cleaned, and pressure tested. Awell as the top leak repaired, as i might as well have a shop do it all since even if i do patch it myself, i could still damage it.

 

The heater core seems to be working, in fact, working very well.

 

Hopefully tomorrow isnt rainy like today was... cant do intake gaskets and spark plugs in the rain!

 

Keep up the good work! Loved the videos and can't wait to see it move under its own power. I am a year off but will be plenty busy with mine. I have new glass in the works, body mounts, wiring and floor pans all left to do. Then the hard stuff-linkages.

 

Replaced the speedometer cable... but the cable still doesnt move

 

I put the old one back... it seems to skip in the nylon gear... maybe i can epoxy it?

 

Just remove the gear and go to a transmission shop and see if they can get you a new one. The older the shop the better.

 

I have to look and see if I have one. I'm not sure I saved it when I cleaned out the trunk. Can you take a picture of the transmission end?

 

Its offwhite and im decently sure its a 17 or 18 tooth. The color for a 3.56 rear end.

 

She moves. I also learned that i suck at driving a manual, figured this wouldnt be that hard, which it isnt, i just cant let off the clutch quite right.

 

Just goose her a little as you let off the clutch.

 

Its more hills that get me, when on the flat areas im good at it, just going up onto the concrete isnt my forte.

 

Practice in the grass and dirt, try not to slip the clutch. Reason I say grass and dirt is that if you let the clutch out too quickly with too much pedal, the rear tire(s) will spin and not bite in like on pavement. Lessens the chance of abuse to the drive train.

 

I can't imagine that the carb is not threaded. But if you say so. Very common carbs not to have threads.

It sounds like it is running smooth with good oil pressure. I would find myself a prestone or similar anti-freeze flush kit. They are cheap, and a great way to back flush the block and radiator then refill with the proper amount of anti-freeze. You will get much more sediment crud out of the block this way. than you ever will just draining it.

 

It just stalls when you let off on the clutch, ive only driven one stick, and it was an 83 gmc with a 3+L, 5.11s in the rear, couldnt stall it if i tried.

 

It has a little "lump" to it like many old v8s. Sounds good, i will solder the rad before i flush it, as it sat dry and the water pump had been locked up when i got it.

 

Threats why I told you to flush with cascade. To get the crap out of the block. And believe me when I say there is a ton of it in there.

 

I didnt want it to lose all the water before i could flush it

 

Woohoo she runs and moves! Practice, practice, practice, that is the name of the game with sticks.

 

So its 15 dollars for an electric choke and 16 for a hot air

 

Adjust the clutch so it engages about an inch off the floor and you should be okay. I have 15,000 miles on my car and have yet to adjust it from where I started.

 

I think until i find a proper shop to fix it, im going to run an aluminum radiator. And set it aside when i fix it, in case the brass one fails again, so i can send it off again.