1953 Coupe Unusual and Inconsistent Details – Part 2
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 10:46 pm
While working on preserving my 1953 “America” coupe (51015, Aug. 10, 1953), I’ve been keeping track of a few unusual and possibly inconsistent details between 1952, 1953 and 1954. Now that the project is done I thought I’d post them here in one place in the hope they might be of help of others. I'm posting in 2 parts so I don't exceed the photo attachment limit. Apologies in advance for the long posts.
Handbrake Front Cable Adjuster Location, 2 Styles
My car has the handbrake cable housing adjuster and zerk grease fitting in the steering box compartment attached to a fixed, threaded, male end of the adjuster welded to the unsupported end of the steel tunnel tube The upper end of the housing attaches with a simple male ferrule that slips into a short female tube welded to the driver bulkhead. My adjuster end had been re-welded (poorly) and fell off when I removed the cable: clearly a bad location since it’s very easy to twist the welded male end off the thin tube with a wrench on a likely gunked-up adjuster. I looked at a few other similar period cars – 1952 to 1954 - and they all have the cable adjuster end reversed: the adjuster/zerk at the upper end, attached to the passenger compartment bulkhead. It’s a stronger location welded to a flat, rigid surface. Given the repeated failure on my car and the location on the other cars, at first I suspected mine was improperly installed in reverse by the original owner. However, I’ve concluded that mine is proper based on i) the Service Manual (1954) brake diagram shows the adjuster at the lower end, ii) the PET parts diagram shows the same, and iii) my cable assembly has the cable attachment fork end at the plain, ferrule bulkhead end and can’t be reversed. However, the Catalog of Parts shows just the opposite configuration. The only replacement cable I came across had the adjuster, zerk and cable end fork at the upper end for use on what appears to be the more common installation. But this makes little sense since greasing the zerk would squirt much into the driver footwell and little into the housing and steel tunnel tube.
Throttle Pedal Link Tunnel Opening
The tunnel pedal link opening in my car is not enclosed but cars that might be both earlier and later have an enclosing rectangle. Note that the Service Manual has photos of both on the same page.
Handbrake Front Cable Adjuster Location, 2 Styles
My car has the handbrake cable housing adjuster and zerk grease fitting in the steering box compartment attached to a fixed, threaded, male end of the adjuster welded to the unsupported end of the steel tunnel tube The upper end of the housing attaches with a simple male ferrule that slips into a short female tube welded to the driver bulkhead. My adjuster end had been re-welded (poorly) and fell off when I removed the cable: clearly a bad location since it’s very easy to twist the welded male end off the thin tube with a wrench on a likely gunked-up adjuster. I looked at a few other similar period cars – 1952 to 1954 - and they all have the cable adjuster end reversed: the adjuster/zerk at the upper end, attached to the passenger compartment bulkhead. It’s a stronger location welded to a flat, rigid surface. Given the repeated failure on my car and the location on the other cars, at first I suspected mine was improperly installed in reverse by the original owner. However, I’ve concluded that mine is proper based on i) the Service Manual (1954) brake diagram shows the adjuster at the lower end, ii) the PET parts diagram shows the same, and iii) my cable assembly has the cable attachment fork end at the plain, ferrule bulkhead end and can’t be reversed. However, the Catalog of Parts shows just the opposite configuration. The only replacement cable I came across had the adjuster, zerk and cable end fork at the upper end for use on what appears to be the more common installation. But this makes little sense since greasing the zerk would squirt much into the driver footwell and little into the housing and steel tunnel tube.
Throttle Pedal Link Tunnel Opening
The tunnel pedal link opening in my car is not enclosed but cars that might be both earlier and later have an enclosing rectangle. Note that the Service Manual has photos of both on the same page.