Introduction

Hi all, I'm new to the H.A.M.B. and just bought my first Flathead. It's a 1940 deluxe with the original V8, 3 on the tree, and the banjo rear end. We just spent a fun week trying to make it run reliably... the PO had plumbed the fuel lines backwards, so there was a copper hardline between the firewall and the pump (yikes...) and a weird (leaking) combo of hard and rubber from the pump to the carb that went out about a yard around the linkage. Bizarre. Oh and the brakes were "adjusted" to the point of not needing the handbrake for a hill start. Good times. Sorted that and drove it from San Jose down to Ventura, replacing in-line filter and swapping fuel pump diaphragm on the way. Ran like a train except for some juddering that felt like it was leaning out - particularly bad after a fill up (which I now think was the coil getting hot), then down to La Crescenta and back up to Santa Barbara the next day, where it promptly died right out front of the SB cemetery. Dead coil. Back on the road the next morning after a parts stop at Early Ford in San Dimas in a rental car. We will be running it in next year's Peking to Paris. Fun tasks for this year include getting the dampers rebuilt [Five Points Classic Shocks was recommended - any advice?], freshening engine bearings and pumps [who makes the best pumps?], and getting some sump guards made up. It's got one of the Dennis Carpenter repro 94's on it at the moment and I think there's something up with the accelerator pump but not sure. Are they any good? The original was in the trunk... maybe rebuilding that is a better idea. It's an early one with Ford script.