Two steps / one step [John]

Some progress since the last report! And some setbacks.

• Brakes, early July

We bled the brakes and completed the overhaul, for now. First drive was a bit scary; moderate pedal pressure locked up one wheel, screeching the tire dramatically enough to attract attention from the neighbors. After a little deliberate heating of the brakes, braking was near normal (guessing at what normal is), and I think we are done with the brakes for now. Satisfied that the car will stop, we are turning to making it go.

• Ignition tune-up, middle July

It took several trips to the parts stores and a bunch of time on the web doing research, but we finally identified the points, condenser, and distributor rotor this 330 ci hemi requires. Found them in stock at NAPA. I removed the distributor to install the new points and condenser, carefully setting the gap before reinstalling. Engine now starts fine and, maybe, runs a little better. Driving it around the block disclosed alarming backfire through the carburetor, a known cause of engine fires. It needs at least ignition timing adjustment. Let's see: if an intake valve doesn't close, could that lead to ignition of the fuel/air charge in the intake manifold? Let's get the timing right first.

• Ignition timing, August 17. 

Easily located a timing pointer, drivers' side, but there were no timing marks visible on the vibration damper. After idling the engine while holding a wire brush against the damper, enough rust was knocked of that we could see some marks. Maybe a whole scale. But we could not read it, and it was too faint to use. With a dot of Wite-Out on the first and clearest mark, we adjusted the timing to match the pointer, hoping the mark is at the specified 8 degrees BTDC. The idle came way up with this adjustment, and the car ran well enough to drive to a gas station and Target (see next topic). But is it correct?

Template for a replacement floor pad

After a few blocks, it was clear that there are issues with the throttle linkage however. Takes too much force to operate, sticks in open position. A little more driving and the engine lost most of its power. Time to quit for the day though, so this will have to wait. Probably that lost power is caused by linkage defects, but could my forgetting to dab the grease (included with the new points) onto the cam-following block cause really rapid wear and ruin the gap?

• Other improvements

The steering column pad that keeps out engine noise, heat, and dirt did not survive removal and replacement as we worked on the steering box and brake master cylinder. We made a cardboard template from the old one, extending its length to cover brake and clutch pedal openings that were (not) closed by the perished draft seals. As might have been expected, the pattern wasn't quite right the first time. 

We found a doormat at Target that seemed about right for material. I drew the template in iDraw and passed it to Dr. Mark, who converted it to a vector file and cut it out on his garage laser cutter. The pedal holes weren't spaced correctly, so grandson David use his digital caliper to remeasure them. The second one we cut fits well; just need to screw or glue it down. 

Laser cutter at work on the Target doormat

Completed floor pad, version 1

'56 Desoto engine showing the proper air cleaner

Found an old MOPAR air cleaner on eBay, bought it, and cleaned it up. We made an air filter gasket for it, but the air cleaner won't fit over the power steering pump. We really need one with a big notch on the bottom to clear the pump. A filter from a 56 ought to fit I would think. 

While test driving, the ignition switch fell out the back of the dash board. Found a screw and washer on the floor while working on the pad. Could be related.