Figured I'd update this..
Quarter panel medallions back from the chrome shop, painted the centers, and re-assembled them. Next was to swage the taillight sockets back in the redone housings, reassemble, install, and test all lighting.
Been installing weatherseals, very time consuming. Now on to the wing windows. They were both heavily pitted and cracked, so the entire assembly needed to be taken apart for repairs and re-chroming. They came out nice! Now time to reassemble, using non rusted pieces. A difficult job, as everything is held in place by tiny rivets. I am using a brake riveter from the thirties to assist with this chore.
I fitted the carpeting, and assembled the front swivel seat. Re-padded the steering wheel center and installed the recast steering wheel. Now that I have the car registered, I was able to go for a maiden voyage, just around town, though. There were several things that needed to be addressed, the upshifts were too late, and a brake line was seeping, among them. I fixed these issues, then went for the first longer ride, 50 miles to Marysville where I dropped the car off to have the convertible top installed.
Beautiful John - Hope you make it in time for Carlisle. It seems like the last 10 things that need to be done turn into 20 real fast, but with your extraordinary talent I'm betting you make it in time. Just sorry I can't be there myself.
Dick.
I've now put over ten thousand miles on the car since last June. I was having fuel percolation problems, especially driving through the Midwest where Ethanol is used more heavily, tried using a phenolic spacer under the carb that I put in while at Carlisle, it helped some, but on a real hot day, after shutting the car off, it would act as though flooded. I ended up removing the intake manifold and blocking off the exhaust crossover ports in it, and the trouble is cured. I developed a vibration on the last leg of the trip, and found the trunnion boot on the driveline had turned to dust [E-bay trunnion rebuild kit, avoid them!] and scored the housing. I just installed a driveline with a slip joint, so the problem should be gone for good.
