John S's Journal

Got it out of the garage this morning and decided to run some cooling system cleaner through the engine. The old coolant had already been drained and it was running on straight water. Between the SeaFoam in the gas tank and some in the crankcase, the last bit of flushing was the cooling system so it ran for the better part of a half hour, drained and refilled with water, drained again and then filled with coolant.

Nice day today so after the cooling system was squared away, I decided to see about a drive down the driveway and street and into the church parking lot to see if I could free the stuck clutch. I managed to rip around the lot mostly in 1st and 2nd gear and crammed on the brakes several times but the clutch is still not disengaging. At this point, the car has been driven for the first time in 34 years. But the clutch is still stuck. I don’t know whether it’s a hydraulic issue or the clutch itself is messed up. I’m going to switch emphasis to the removal of parts from the wreck and get it gone. I need the space before I take the engine and gearbox out of the GT to mate an OD gearbox up, clean up the engine bay a bit and the underside of the car, and rebuild the suspension. So, after a quick drive and a photoshoot, it’s back in the garage. Going to do another compression check now that it’s been run quite a bit to see whether the #1 cylinder has improved from the initial test.

Well, after taking a quick break, I did the compression test and things are looking good. 160-160-165-165 so this engine looks like a good one. Now I just need to service the OD and hopefully get it lined out and the running gear will be ready for next season.