The buttoning-up process accelerated this weekend. The water hoses went on easily, as did the peripherals I removed like the carburetor and the vacuum canister. Getting the
surge tank on was a bit of a struggle. The thermostat is sandwiched in between the tank and the fitting on the manifold, but there’s nothing really to hold it in place. Even with a little sealant on the ‘stat, it slipped while we put the assembly together.
Out of place like that, it looked like everything was ok, but we poured water in the top, only to see it leak out the bottom.
1. Swear.
2. Remove
3. Try again.
The second time we moved faster and things seemed to go together ok. (This is something I notice more and more about this car. It’s hardly the precision engineering we see today, so you have to take it on faith that inside the parts you just put together, everything really did go together right.)
With everything in place, I started up the car and let it heat up to normal operating temperature. (Starting the car, thank God, is no longer the drama it once was!) It took a little extra coolant, as expected.
I noticed a steady drip on the driver’s side, crawled under the car to catch some of it. Coolant it was, but all the normal suspects were dry.
When the coolant was drained, it pooled under the radiator, so I finally concluded that the fan was blowing it around, causing the drip. In any case, it stopped after a while, so I’m going with the theory that everything is ok.
After that test, I bolted in the power steering pump, which went together smoothly, sort of.
The pulley on the front of the pump is held on with a single bolt and keyed with a woodruff key. I pulled the old key, just a sliver of metal really, off the old pump and put it in a safe place. It’s probably still there, wherever that might be.
Woodruff keys can be fabricated, but I’m going to try the hardware store first.
With a little luck a test drive with the new parts will take place tomorrow.
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