John S's Journal
Home Page: John S
Eugene, OR, USA
| Total Posts: 182 | Latest Post: 2026-03-25 |
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After a a short break for family events it was time to get a few things done now that the car is up on the newly raised dollies. I had to pull the distributor to provide access for the starter reinstall. That went well and the added clearance down below is going to make things so much better.
I had to repair a couple of brown wires that were in bad shape and then got all the starter wires hooked up and ready to go. While I was down there, I hooked up the wire to the OD solenoid and noticed some oil around the filter screen cover. Made a mess taking it off as there was some residual oil that poured out when I removed the cover. John Twist says to just use grease on the gasket and that’s what I had used so time for plan B. I’ll let it drain overnight and then clean it up and use a thin smear of sealant.
I was going to try my hand at soldering a brass nut on the bottom of the radiator for a drain petcock but decided to forego that for fear of screwing up a good radiator. Called a radiator shop and got a ballpark figure to braze a bung on. $100-150 was his guesstimate and I politely declined.
Half the cost of the radiator itself for a drain? I think not. Wishing I had kept the old radiator to practice on…
Mounted the radiator and plumbed it up with new silicone hoses and new clamps. The clamps are a solid stainless t-bolt band clamp that I got off Amazon and they seem so much better than the gear type and the spring type that look good but don’t seal worth a damn. We’ll see how these work but first impressions are good.
Lastly, I got the headlights and horn relays wired up. I had kept the one that I made when I had the ‘70 roadster and It just needed to be wired up. It’s attached to the passenger side radiator stay rod support so once the radiator was in, I could fit the relays. It took me a few minutes to sort out the wires but after I pulled the connector under the dash, I used a length of wire with a bullet connector and hooked a battery charger to feed some juice through the harness to sort which wires feed the relay inputs. Ran out of time this evening but I’ll feed some juice all the way through to the lights and horns before the fishmouth grille goes back in.
Hoping to get the gearbox crossmember and prop shaft bolted up tomorrow if I have time.
I had to repair a couple of brown wires that were in bad shape and then got all the starter wires hooked up and ready to go. While I was down there, I hooked up the wire to the OD solenoid and noticed some oil around the filter screen cover. Made a mess taking it off as there was some residual oil that poured out when I removed the cover. John Twist says to just use grease on the gasket and that’s what I had used so time for plan B. I’ll let it drain overnight and then clean it up and use a thin smear of sealant.
I was going to try my hand at soldering a brass nut on the bottom of the radiator for a drain petcock but decided to forego that for fear of screwing up a good radiator. Called a radiator shop and got a ballpark figure to braze a bung on. $100-150 was his guesstimate and I politely declined.
Half the cost of the radiator itself for a drain? I think not. Wishing I had kept the old radiator to practice on…
Mounted the radiator and plumbed it up with new silicone hoses and new clamps. The clamps are a solid stainless t-bolt band clamp that I got off Amazon and they seem so much better than the gear type and the spring type that look good but don’t seal worth a damn. We’ll see how these work but first impressions are good.
Lastly, I got the headlights and horn relays wired up. I had kept the one that I made when I had the ‘70 roadster and It just needed to be wired up. It’s attached to the passenger side radiator stay rod support so once the radiator was in, I could fit the relays. It took me a few minutes to sort out the wires but after I pulled the connector under the dash, I used a length of wire with a bullet connector and hooked a battery charger to feed some juice through the harness to sort which wires feed the relay inputs. Ran out of time this evening but I’ll feed some juice all the way through to the lights and horns before the fishmouth grille goes back in.
Hoping to get the gearbox crossmember and prop shaft bolted up tomorrow if I have time.
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