Martha's brakes are just about complete! They replaced the axle seals while they were are it - I seem to recall something about that I also asked them to drop the pan, clean out any gunk, and remove the lifter inspection plates and clean out there. All new gaskets, of course! There's a little gunk in the pan, but the engine is very, very clean. Some pix...
Martha came home today! Well, a piece of her did...
They dropped the gas tank so I could refinish it. Wow! It's in spectacular condition - not even dented. Those California days have been good to her:
I'll use the chemicals to soften and remove the varnish - even though it probably needs little more than that, I'll go ahead and coat it with the coating in the Eastwood kit. It looks like the retainer for the sending unit is the same size as Faulkner's, but it's too cold in the garage to go searching for the removal tool.
The carb rebuild kit had the incorrect accelerator pump - it turns out the tag on the carb is incorrect! A couple of photos, and the right carb kit is on its way. As is a choke cable; the old one is broken. At some point in Martha's history, the automatic choke broke and a manual one was installed. I'm sticking with manual! I hear those old Sisson chokes were tempermental.
Also, on closer inspection I can see that the lower hinge on the car door is cracked in two places. This pic is from a friend's Suburban, you can see where it's spot-welded to the A-pillar; I've circled where Martha's is cracked at the top.
I'll take it to a body guy and ask his thoughts, but it looks to me that it can be spot welded in place. But if not, John Fowlie, I will come a-calling...
A fun video snippet from a DVD I recently bought... Yeah, it's a '53 Suburban, but the '54 is virtually unchanged except for the badging (Cambridge and Cranbrook Savoy Suburban for '53, vs. Belvedere and Plaza Suburban for '54). Martha is a Plaza Suburban:
I also asked them to drop the pan, clean out any gunk, and remove the lifter inspection plates and clean out there. All new gaskets, of course! There's a little gunk in the pan, but the engine is very, very clean. Some pix...
