Yup, I think that'll look just right directly over the fuel block, w/the horizontal center-line of the Chrys decal & the AMA lined up - like it was planned for. . Marcus...
Here is the rebuilt steering unit that I bought off ebay. Looking under the front fender, you can see it mounted in the car. That shiny piece of of metal hanging down under it is the stainless heat shield that is fastened to the exhaust down pipe. Laying under the car and looking up at the heat shield. The two 3/8-inch tubes look like they are close to the heat shield but they are 2-inches or more from it. The upper part of the steering unit that connects to the universal joint at the end of steering column. The shiny steel tube is the return line. That return line runs up alongside the inside of the frame and is connected to this four tube oil cooler that is mounted behind the front axle. From here the return line goes back to the power steering pump. This area in front of the radiator gets covered by the aluminum shield that fits over the front frame horns.
I got the engine running for awhile today. It sounded really good right up until one of the power steering lines sprung a leak. You can see the big patch of oil dry under the car. I have decided to mount the Florida car club emblem on the center of the headlight bar. This engine has a Mallory chrossfire distributor cap from back in the 1980's The cap and rotor are both new old stock and has never been used before. These caps are made so that all the wires for the left bank cylinders are on one side and all the wires for the right bank cylinders are on the other side. They are no longer manufactured and I heard that there was some problems with them. It looks really slick on the engine and I would like to run it if I can. Has anyone had any experience with them ?
Hey, retired; Nothing like live-leak-checking... . I do believe I'd re-mount the AMA emblem onto the grill shell, in place of the ford emblem. 1st, because it be harder to remove(read: steal), & 2nd, because you'd be sure to get all kinds of Whuf-Ohs asking "Whaza AMA?". ;D . (need a fast smart-***ed return comment, like Norm used for the Henway...). It'd be dbl-worth the effort to make it look factory-placed. But that'd take extra work... On the crossfire cap, iffen I remember, Madsen reprogramed the oem cap terminal to fire that way, using br*** terminal strips. So arcing could occur. There were two caps versions, each done differently, I could be thinking of the other guys'. Either way, it *was* a neat idea, & effect. . Marcus...
The fenders that I have on this car were custom made by Rootlieb Manufacturing in California. They are 3-inches wider than stock so they fit over the newer wider wheels. This puts the outer edge of the fenders about two foot out from the edge of the firewall. From the edge of the firewall to the distributor is another foot. Back in the 70's and 80's, when I was in my 30's and 40's, it wasn't any problem bending over and leaning in that far to work on the engine. Now that I'm almost 80 years old, trying to do that makes my back hurt for several days. So, I'm bending over to work on the distributor the other day and my back is starting to tense up and ( without thinking ) I move in closer and rest my right knee up on the top of the running board apron, right up by the frame and the edge of the firewall. That was a mistake because my weight dented the apron in a little. I immediately got off the apron. I got on my creeper and slid under the car and reached up to push on the underside of the metal and it popped back out so it is hardly noticeable. There was already a small spot in that area where a stone had flew up and smacked the inside of the apron and cracked the paint in a couple of places. Just above where the paint is cracked, you can see the light reflecting on a small area that is still indented just a little from me kneeling on it. Obviously I'm not going to be able to bend over that far all the time anymore to work on the engine so I need to reinforce that area under the apron so I can kneel on it without causing any damage. Here is what I came up with. This is a piece of 1/8-inch thick stainless steel. It is bolted to the side of the frame and a 3/8-inch diameter " Y " shaped bracket supports the outer part of the stainless steel plate. This bracket is adjusted to push the stainless steel plate up tight against the underside of the apron. This is the one that I'm making up for the other side. With the apron supported from underneath, I can now kneel on it and take the pressure off my back while I work on the engine.
The leak in the power steering was about a half inch long split in the return hose. I got that fixed, set the distributor in place and got it timed and started the engine up again. Again .. sounds really good right up until it quit running. The electric fuel pump gave out. I have a new one ordered and I went ahead and put the plug wire covers on. You can see the fender cover here on the running board aprion where I can now kneel right beside the engine to work on it without damaging the aprion.
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