Radiator and fan are in. New version of the radiator hoses and heater hoses are in, but waiting on 3 clamps from ebay my local source was out of stock on. I did find some pin holes in the original lower radiator hose I was trying to reinstall, so had to order a new flex kit, Ebay, but it's now done. 7/8 silicon heater hose to make connections for my heater hose couldn't be found locally, so ebay again. New hood pins to replace the old damaged/worn ones are in. Lokar dipstick is in and looks great. rack is installed as are the tie rods and steering shaft/u-joints are all connected. Emergency brake is reinstalled. I need to replace the transmission cooler lines with something different, and found the hose locally yesterday. If there's no issues with the old fittings working with the new hose, I hope to get that done today. The cooler lines I took off were made with hose and push-on fittings that require hand strength to ***emble I no longer have, so had to find a suitablr replacement. Down to 1/2 dozen things on my original checklist.
Still got lots of $ to go. I've already spent close to twice what I paid for the engine on "while I'm at it" stuff. Not going to have much money for cruising left. Still have an alignment needed, A/C charge, coolant, oil, ps fluid, brake fluid, a ****** servicing, a leaky differential seal, etc etc. I mentioned oil because I bought a middle grade oil for the test fire, and I want to do a seafoam treatment early on, so an oil change with the good stuff at less than 100 miles probably.....whatever they suggest for driving with the seafoam in. I really miss driving this thing, but more importantly, if something happened to me, I didn't want my wife to have to deal with a "non-driver".
HaHa...kinda what I'm afraid of. My wife never has been one to sell something when she can find a "needy" home for the item.
The nickel and dime stuff is a killer. And local parts stores ain't what they used to be. I buy a ton of parts on eBay.
Got it fired up Friday. Sounds good, idles nice. Smokes a bit, but I was expecting that with all the mystery oil I used on it. My hydroboost has a new leak, so I can't run it much until I get that fixed. No oil, fuel, or water leaks. Still have work to do other than hydroboost.........another week or two and I should be able to take it for an alignment, then some local cruising.
update.......As mentioned, I need to get an alignment before I can drive it too much, but I not only was worried about the smoking, I realized it was smoking too much to bring it into an alignment shop, so I took it out for a short drive. At first, it was smoking so bad I could hardly see the cars behind me, but after about 5 miles it completly stopped smoking. The computer is relearning, but every time I restart it, it sounds and runs better. My idling issue I always had with the original engine is gone. I fixed some idling related stuff when I transferred all the externals from my old engine, and the "new" engine idles perfectly smooth so far. My steering that I had modified when the engine was out no longer has a lumpy spot...really happy with that improvement. After the short drive, I found some small leaks that I need to address. My wife has been wonderful the past 3 months letting me set the '57 as priority, that's gonna change real quick now, lol. That's ok though. I'm actually kinda tired of working on it to tell the truth. Getting the rest of the final details done will come when the "itch" comes back.
Great news Texas =) Easy, just balance things. Ya made me smile, i've been havin a $%)itty day. All the best.
One of the things I noticed when the engine was out and I was cleaning up the engine compartment, was the back bolt/shaft on the lower left control arm was not pulled in all the way. I think it has been that way since before I got my second, maybe first, alignment. Anyway, I know the control arm moved quite a bit when I tightened it up, because that left wheel was wanting to make a right hand turn after I reinstalled the tie-rods/rack. Using the right wheel as a reference, I adjusted the left tie rod in to get it somewhat close. I'm sure it probably thru all 3 measurements off. I'm not sure if it's a bolt I just missed tightening. When I built the car, I left all the control arms with all new bushings loose until after I installed the engine and front end. That keeps the rubber bushings from having a pre-load stress put on them. I may have just missed tightening one. OR.....when I was fiddlin' with my ride height, I had a shop do the front coils change. Possibly because of the tight suspension, they loosened the control arm bolts and missed one upon re-tightening. Next Wednesday before the shop I use can do the alignment.
The trick to the lower a-arm bolts not coming loose, is they have to be torqued with the car at ride-height. One side of mine was loose and the car had a bad pull problem. I only spotted it by accident when I was lowering the car off jack stands. I finally torqued it when I had it on the alignment rack. You can probably do it on ramps easily.
Got it aligned today and took it out for a 70 mile test run on the highways. Just what it needed, accelerator response after the run is much better than before. I'm really happy with the steering changes as well. Temperature ran at 195...just where my old engine ran. Oil pressure is about 5# lighter at 45 lbs when warmed up??. Got a few small things to fix/adjust, but other than that . Ready for a road trip, may have to start a go-fund-me page, lol.
Glad to hear you have it up and running and things are good. Sounds like a lot of hard work put in and I'm sure your glad to have it back out and about...
Thanks.....wouldn't have been so bad really for a younger guy. Now that I know what I can and can't do while the front sheet metal is on the car, the next time will be alot quicker. Hopefully there won't be a next time though! Found out last night I need to do some more work , again, on the lower radiator hose. The new hose I've got on it pulls the oem "floating" thermostat housing into the power steering pulley. Almost had a freaking heart attack when that screaching started. I had gone out to run an engine code test and fill the A/C when it started.
Unfortunately not for long. Took care of the thermostat rubbing the power steering pulley. Checked all the fluids and charged the A/C. Did an engine code read, and as expected, they were the same as the previous engine, only alot fewer of them except for one about the fuel pump always running. Hmmm never had that one before. I'm ***uming it's with the key "on" but not started, as the computer will shut it down quick if the engine is not running. I'm almost deaf, I can't hear it run, but I'll have someone with ears listen while the key is just on to see if it shuts down after not too long. It did when I wired the car. Cleared all the codes and took it out for a 40 mile run. As with yesterday it ran really well until on my way home thru downtown. I had my eyes glued to the gages the whole time. At a traffic light I noticed some smoking ( my hood is still off), and the temp gauge was climbing. Sheeeet!! When I got moving again, the temp stopped climbing. I've never had an overheat issue until one time last fall. Unfortunately, that was only one problem. When I got home, I immediately checked for leaks expecting coolant, but what I saw instead were TWO fluid drips. One was making a puddle from the bottom of the rack, so I guess it blew a seal. The worst one to see however was a steady stream coming from the ****** bellhousing inspection cover. I had put a new front transmission seal in when the engine was out, I guess I must have screwed that up. That one's not getting fixed without the ****** comming out, and I can't do it. Aside from the engine having to have most undone so it can move forward to get to the bellhousing bolts, I don't have the equiptment to handle a ****** removal from under the car. I'm broke and I'm disgusted. My son lives in Florida and has never seen the car. We were planning on him flying into Amarillo in mid July and we were going to do our first father and son roadtrip up to the Thin Air Nationals in Colorado. Ain't happening. Don't think any of these 3 problems are related. overheat/rack leak/****** seal
I am sorry to hear this. I was happy for you when I thought you were going to be able to enjoy your car this summer. I do know that you will push through this too.
OK...took some deep breaths, and have a plan. I'm broke, but fortunately my wife isn't and she wants me to do everything I can to still do the planned road trip with my son......***uming everything is going planned on his end. 1.....I'm going to order a new rack for it, and plan on putting the old PS pump back on in case the new one is putting out too much pressure. 2. I cannot do the ****** removal with the limited equiptment I have, so my friend at the speed shop is going to do it. I can work with him at his shop to help things along. He's going to try and get it done the first week in July so it'll give me time to find other problems if they are there and hopefully still go to Colorado for the July20th show. 3. The unknown is the reason for the overheating. I'll work on that while I'm waiting for Kip's shop time to free up. Got lots of things I need to check, mostly when the car is running at temp, so going to have to keep my eye on all the fluid levels while I'm checking that.
I am glad to see you come up with a plan. I think you will make it. Do you cool with an electric fan?
Yes. I'm using the fan/shroud out of a Lincoln Mark VIII. Moves a ton of air, more than most aftermarket units. That's one of the things I need to check on........the fan works, but I'm not sure if I have developed an issue with a temperature sender or controller, so I'm not sure it's getting a signal to turn on. It's got a 70 amp relay and circuit breaker all to it's own. Thanks Joe. .................."I don't want a pickle, Just wanna ride my motor----cicle" (Flip side of Alice's Restaraunt)
I am using the same fan on my TurboCoupe. It does move a lot of air. Have you got it where the air conditioner turns it on when the compressor runs? If so is that working? I don't want to fly, I just want to ride my motor--.cycle
Yes, the fan runs at the A/C request. I've got to dig the wiring schematics out. Near as I can tell there are at least 4 water temp sensors/senders on the engine, maybe 5. I'm chasing grounds, checking all the (new 4 years ago) wires for continuity. Checked the fuses. Monday I'm going to call Ron Francis and see if they can tell me what or which sensor/sender could be bad that would let the fan run at A/C request, but not engine temp. I also had an air lock in the coolant system. Sure added to the overheat issue, but obviously had nothing to do with fan not coming on. I made 3 short runs yesterday with NO fluid coming out of the bellhousing. I'm hoping it was simply an overfill problem (wishful thinking), although I did have to add about a quart and a half to get it back to where it was. Possibly my new Lokar ****** dipstick gave a false reading. I did compare the Lokar to the oem as far as how far the dipstick protruded into the pan. From where the dipsticks seat in, they were about the same. Of course, if I did overfill, I just just did it again. What I was experiencing on yesterday's short runs was encouraging, but means a longer run today.
The Jalopy Journal
