Projects The Adventure of a Boy and His Edsel

I just got back from the big Hershey swap and car show so I am about road-tripped out right now. I would love to make it out your way again sometime, if I ever do Muskogee will be on my list for sure! Parties with stupid shit going on are the place to be

 

It was fun giving him crap about his pink Edsel, but I did take time to walk to his car so he could show it to me. He told me he hadn't ever listened to his exhaust, so I had him fire it up and I rapped the pipes for him. He told me he was going to move it around front of the hotel and he took off and made a pass behind the back parking lot so folks could hear his exhaust. He's definitely a lovable knucklehead.

 

I must agree...he is totally in on cars too. There are a lot worse habits!!
Where are those pics?

 

Well, no more issues so far this week and we are possibly planning on another road trip weekend Saturday this time with his brothers car as well that isn’t even running yet after an engine swap.

And, I will post the pics sometime soon Larry. I am on vacation this week and my internet sucks compared to the download speed I have access to when at work. I think he took 350+ pics.

 

Thanks Bret! It is sometimes hard for him to remember his car is cool in amongst some of the high quality stuff at a show like the Gathering. I told him we all have to start somewhere and it probably isn’t with a perfect 32 roadster or 3-window.

 

....I'm still starting and no where near a 32. LOL!!

 

That's kool!

 

You've done really well. I wish I could have gotten my boys interested in old cars when they were younger.

 

Still going strong so far. Going to have to fix the heater core and get the front end aligned soon as I noticed some uneven wear on the left front Saturday. I figure that is also an excuse to go ahead and get the front lowered. We have been busy working on his brothers car for the past couple weeks trying to get it running, so Silas has pretty much just been driving the Edsel. He said most of the kids at vo-tech have noticed the car by now. I doubt there are any other pink Edsels in the parking lot there or at his work where folks are starting to notice it as well. Oh, and he had to slap a sticker on it so why not a fellow HAMBers sticker.

 

Kool!

 

Yea, definitely proud of him for being willing to do the work it takes to drive this old stuff.

One other thing I failed to mention was that a good friend just gave him some new chrome valve covers, gaskets, etc. I figured that is a good excuse to adjust the valves and check things out inside the motor.

 

Nice!
The Father Son Daughter car story warms my heart.
Thank you for sharing.

 

There's a few different ways to adjust solid lifters, and they all work, but without benefit of something like a P&G Valve Gapper the new enthusiast may find it problematic.

The reason is because, the rocker arm faces become worn excessively and will not be set accurately with a flat feeler gauge. The late Walt Nuckels devised a method of setting Y-Block valve lash that works really slick, no special tools required.

http://www.potomacbird.com/pctc/Public_Documents/waltnuckels-valvelash.pdf

 

Thanks! That makes perfect sense and sure resolves the issue of a feeler gauge not giving a good reading after wear!

 

Yeah, it's been maybe 22 - 23 years since I started working on the Y-Block in my truck. Not on a constant basis, but.

I'm starting to sneak up on a pretty good Tune-Up!

 

That sounds pretty simple.

Thanks

 

That's a damn good trick.....

 

Yeah, as simple as it can get pretty much. The only thing is to make certain the lifter is on the base circle of the camshaft lobe.

If you can just spin the pushrod with oily fingers, that's pretty close to "Zero Lash". Give the adjuster 1/4 turn clockwise and Bob's Yer Uncle. I bought a P&G Valve gapper because I like to have the right tools, but this method will achieve good results. Probably closer than they are now. Because of valve recession, the tendency over time is for valve clearance or lash to decrease, not increase as commonly supposed. Too tight of valve lash can lead to burnt valves. The old saying was "A tappy valve is a happy valve". If everything is new or serviceable and in good condition they are actually reasonably quiet when adjusted correctly.

 

Went to rotate the tires tonight until we can get the front dropped and aligned and found a screw in a tire...about 10 minutes before the tire shops closed. So, figured out we could substitute a couple of the original tires and wheels off my 56 on one side so he could see what it looked like with painted wheels and full hubcaps. Tires are too short, but full hubcaps will look good. I have a few sets he can choose from.

 

MUCH classier....

 

Looks like a good bit of negative camber from the photos, Jeff. Is the right side the same?
Very clean machine, makes a neat cruiser. Perfect car for a young guy (or old guy) to restore. Just a little sprucing up and tinkering as he gets the money. Love the car!

Joe

 

Thanks Joe. The right side is not as bad as the left, but also wearing some and does appear to be a camber issue as best I can tell. I talked to a fellow HAMBer in Tulsa last night that offered to give Silas some springs to lower the front, so we will figure out how to go get those soon and get it dropped and aligned in the next few days.

On a side note, I am starting to question just how smart I am for getting two boys into this hobby when seems I am sure spending a lot of time trying to now teach both of them how to keep these vehicles maintained and going daily. My time in the shop has sure gone up lately, so I pray they are fast learners in taking care of their own cars.

 

So, quick question to anyone following along here.

Silas is struggling to decide on what color to paint the wheels and I am not envisioning something that looks great either. Any suggestions of what might go well with the light pink as a good accent color when considering it will have full hubcaps of some sort and whitewalls? Maybe a darker shade of pink or something? I figure the body color is too close to the whitewall color and wouldn't give enough contrast. The color of my wheels look kind of orange on the car as compared to the pink as well.

Maybe we need to ask for help on the photoshop thread, but figured I might throw the question out here as well.

 

^^^^^^
Black. let the hubcaps and white walls do the talking...

 

Just an opinion, but I would go with white to continue the two-tone look from top to bottom. On the kiddo topic, they'll catch on soon, hopefully. If they don't run with the ball.....you'll know what to do.

Joe

 

The good thing is you have to add shims to increase the camber. The manual recommends a 5/8" max stack of shims. Mine was sensitive to caster, it took a 1/32" shim to get it in spec. Over the years I used very few real thin shims on any alignment.

On old GM cars you had to take shims out to bring the camber up, no fun when a customer car comes in with NO shims.

 

I like the looks of it with your wheels on it, the red really set's it off. Just my 2 cents...

 

When I was a teen I drove (and rodded) the family, white '58 Biscayne four door.

It had whitewalls, so I painted the factory white wheels black.

 

Another vote for black, you only see an inch of the wheels anyway.

 

Thanks for the input guys. Black or red either one sounds good to me, but he also likes to argue any of my ideas...so, maybe I need to stick with pink so he will choose one of the others.

Oh, and these are the caps he is leaning toward. Glad I didn't have him snap them on yet, since he just called and said one of the Olds caps went sailing a couple miles from the house. I put a couple of my worst ones on last night for that very reason. We will work out the tabs on the caps we choose once this is more final.