Alright, June is over. I’ve got another year…. I’m actually pretty close to starting it. Valves are set. The motor is full of oil. Spark plugs are in. I can put the distributor in after I prime the oil system. I can do that after I plumb the oil pump. I can do that after I get the right firewall grommet. That hasn’t shipped yet…. I need a cooling system, so I need a radiator and core support. Out of 5 core supports, only the rusty one wasn’t bent. I made a crude hammer form and made a couple patches. Good enough for under the battery on this car. I’ve never pressure tested the ‘59 radiator, but it holds water. I fished some mouse nests out of it last fall and ran a bunch of vinegar through it. Apparently that doesn’t kill the grass. It’s kinda rough looking, but it’s paid for. All better. If it leaks, I’ll replace it. My 62 and my 63 both have original Harrison radiators in them, so I’m trying to have faith. The electropolish guy at work was kind enough to run my exhaust through at lunch. nasty green acid and lots of amperage followed by citric acid passivation. Now it’s shiny and should resist corrosion since there’s less iron in the surface. I didn’t do the glasspacks because I don’t know what’s inside of them. Exhaust hits the oil filter. I’m waiting on a shorter filter. I’m messing around trying to find the right combination of factory heat shields to go with these manifolds, heads, and this block so I don’t cook my wires. I also wanted to run the temp sender off the head hole but it’s a different size on these late heads. I’m probably just going to use the manifold spots. I’ve got a pile of new parts to feed the project in the next week. Next up, plumbing, wiring, probably inner fenders too.
I went a little overkill and got this cool firewall connector. That left the other factory harness hole for gauge plumbing. It was a weird size but I found a 50’s Chevy truck grommet and shoved it in another grommet and it seems fine…. Yo, dawg, I heard you like grommets so I put a grommet in your grommet I got a shorter oil filter. When I assembled the motor, I decided that I’d put the oil pump drive shaft in later from above so that it didn’t fall out if I flipped the motor over on the stand. Anyone see the problem? Anyway, I tried dropping my pinned steel sleeve oil pump drive shaft in through the distributor hole and it wouldn’t fit. That made my day. I had to do this: I put a new HV oil pump in while I was in there. I had previously put a used one that looked good in and it had been bugging me. My buddy has been putting together a 307 powered S10 and he was reusing various internals and couldn’t get any oil pressure so I was second guessing my choices. I finally installed my gauge panel. And put a drill on my oil pump. 60 PSI on high. I had to make the longer than a minute so it wasn’t a YouTube short. Shorts won’t embed for some reason. Everything good happens in the first 25 seconds. I’m fighting my clutch linkage. They had two lengths, and I bought the one that’s too short. I ordered the long one, but it has a different thread pitch so I need a different stud nut thing.
It’s a Deutsch HD30 series connector. They make very similar ones that are milspec, but I think they have a different series number. We used this series of connectors on a project at work and they never failed even in pretty nasty wet environments. They’re IP67 rated and really lock together well.
I’m trying to do a little everyday, but things get in the way. I put the medium advance springs in my distributor. And I stuffed it in. Cap and wires. I still need to make em tidy with loom parts. The clutch bar that was the right length had a different thread pitch than any swivel I could find, but a Hurst one fit. Unfortunately, the stud was larger. The z-bar is hardened so I trashed out a couple bits and got it drilled out. I’ve got everything basically working, but the rod through the firewall rubs on the reproduction seal bracket. I’m going to try to find the OG one and see if the fit is better. Getting this linkage together and happy has been a pain plus expensive and I started with a manual car that still had 3 pedals. Next up, plumbing, final exhaust hang, throttle linkage and core support.
That’s super cool. Is it the old SMP kit or something else? I’ve got a reissue of the AMT 59, but not that.
...I built this over 60 years ago and right now I can't seem to locate the box. I believe it was an AMT issue, but I could be wrong. Now I need to search around here and try to locate the box to see if it was a SMP kit.
I haven’t posted for a while, but I’ve done a lot of little stuff. The garage had also turned into a disaster from car crap and summer house projects. I was trying to find my proportioning valve, but everywhere I looked had loose ‘35 Ford parts. I hung a bunch of sheet metal on it and put the front brakes together (mostly, but that’s for another thread) just so I wasn’t tripping over parts.The running boards are already trying to turn into shelves. I got the clutch linkage together. I had to enlarge the opening in the seal retainer. The bottom edge was rubbing on the bottom of the linkage. It’s much better now. I’ve got the brake lines roughly in place but I need my front flexible lines before I lock everything down. I’ve got the Scarebird front setup, but I’ve misplaced my instructions and they haven’t gotten back to via email on which front lines to use. I’m wiring the motor. The cheesy starter heat shield I put on wanted the wires fed out directly into the exhaust. I slotted it in place and now everything fits. My old English boss used to call stuff like this “pig surgery”; that wasn’t a compliment. It could be prettier, but it’s good enough at this point. I have 7 fenders. I’ve trimmed, cleaned up, and painted my two best inner fenders. The fenders that came with the car look decent on the outside but they been patched and are full of bondo. The pair from the Impala front clip are probably the best but had some strap crush damage. I’m improving that and learning a little too. I don’t have an after pic of the passenger side. I put some stretch in it that I’m still fighting. Rams horns are on for the final time. Exhaust is on but not final tightened. The rear passenger hanger needs a tweak. Fuel pump to carb is plumbed. Heater motor is in. Once the brake lines are tamed, I’ll mount the core support and finalize the wiring.
I got a little more done this week. I tamed the front brake line snarl. It doesn’t photograph well. They were interfering with the clutch linkage, steering, and exhaust. I got front flexible hoses from Tom's/Auto City Classics. They seem to fit ok. I test fit half of my splash pan. I don’t have a front half yet. I should saved the one off the ‘59 but I didn’t realize it for both years. I tried fitting the core support and the fan dia. is too large for my corrugated shroud. Now I’m fan shopping again. Here’s how it stands. Next up, figure out the fan, deal with the right rear exhaust hanger, start plumbing for coolant. Wire. Throttle linkage. Hope the ‘59 radiator holds water.
I’m going to see what I have around and a buddy is going to check his pile too. I should at least have a fixed four blade around. I was more just bummed that the fan didn’t fit. I’ve been excited to put the core support on and I kinda heard the sad trombone when stuff didn’t fit.
My fan stash is limited. Gotta see what my buddy turns up. I may also try to check a yard this weekend if I can get away for the morning. My 7 blade is 19 1/2”. The 4 blades are 18”.
Two steps forward, one step back. That's how it goes. You're getting there. You have a clutch fan in the first pic, much better than the solid mounted ones. I've bought them from Ebay and Summit for not much money for just the fan itself. Used to be able to get them in junkyards, but everything in the "auto recycling yards" near me is too new. Devin
I probably have a couple of early 60s Impala clutch fan units . I believe they came on factory AC cars. PM me.
When I was hunting a 55-64 fan for my 53 it was oddly the hardest part for me to obtain despite being so common. Took me about two years to finally get one. Basically every person I messaged that advertised having parts for sale wouldn't take me seriously and would tell me just to run an electric or clutch fan lol
The Jalopy Journal
