I haven’t ordered anything yet, still trying to find everything I need before doing so. Got some more time in the garage tonight. I removed the distributor, valve cover and the camshaft drive gear. I’m no expert, but I think the drive gear is fine. There is zero play in the shaft. The teeth look ever so slightly worn, but I don’t think it warrants a replacement. However, upon removing the valve cover it was full of an oil/coolant mixture. Not sure if this is head gasket or??? Not sure if you guys can see or not..
So I’ve got the car back on the road.. I decided to roll the dice and hopefully nothing bad happens before the fall/winter. I didn’t want to pull the engine and disassemble this early into summer. I checked the distributor drive gear, looked fine. I’ve never noticed a change in the oil level, or noticed water before oil coming out the drain plug when I change the oil. So the coolant issue I think will be alright for another 2 months. I put a new aluminum gear on, changed all the gaskets and cleaned out behind the valve cover. Put the rad back on, timed the car and took it for a ride today. I didn’t put the headlights or bar back on yet. Since it’s off I’m planning on rigging up some sort of jig to heat and lower it. Then I’ll put it back on. It sort of looks a little more race car without them. In the meantime I plan on looking for a V8 to purchase, hopefully something that currently runs. Then winter time I’ll yank the 4 banger out and start on that project. If not I’ll still pull the engine out, disassemble it and check everything over. We’ll see.
Nothing too exciting lately. It’s been really hot here the past few weeks. The cars fine driving in hot temps, but if I hit a few red lights in a row I can see it starting to boil over. So I’ve been doing non hotrod related things. However I did get some rear shocks mounted on the car. They were a swap meet find, likely intended for a car much heavier than mine.. but it doesn’t bottom out anymore so that’s exciting. Iron Trap Garage did a video on mounting rear shocks on their roadster pickup, I pretty much followed that process to a T. Does the trick.
I built this jig to assist with dropping my headlight bar. Got some 4x4 square tubing, cut it up to the proper size/angle and welded together. Drilled holes for the headlight bar to mount. Got each side cherry red and applied force with the clamps. My clamps weren’t quite heavy duty enough, so I ended up cutting a slice in each side so it was easier to bend. Once I got the desired drop, and angle where the headlights mount I welded up my cuts and grinded smooth. Painted black and installed. Looks much better in my opinion and fit like a glove when I went to install it.
The Jalopy Journal
