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Steve the car is looking great. I would have been lost trying to do that headliner. Great job!!

Well, the car is basically done.
About the only thing I have left to do is adjust the headlights.
I think I'll forego the fog lights for now, so it's finally finished.
I got the engine in and running and took my first short trip today. I went eight miles and had a ball. The steering has some play,...more than I'm used to in the Honda, haha. But overall, I'd say it was a successful shakedown cruise. Everything is working right out of the gate,...the instruments, the brakes, the trans has no odd whines. There's a little bit of ticking when I push the clutch pedal at idle, but nothing too weird. Overall, it runs and drives like a pre A should,...which means,...strangely.
But those were the sweetest 8 miles I've driven in a long time. (Truth be told the first 3 or 4 miles weren't all that fun,...too worried, haha, but after that, it was a good time.) Hope to get a few hundred in before the run to Fontana. Wish I could have gone with one of those cross country caravans to the WCH this year, but oh well. ECH here I come!

Here is a video of the first start up of the engine in the car. I had started it a few times on the stand to get in the ball park on tuning, but don't have more than maybe a half hr total time on it at this point. This is a video of the actual first start up of the motor in the car.

I had primed the carbs but didn't expect it to start on the button like it did. Something in the fan shroud was hitting on start up, and I just 'tweaked' the shroud and it stopped. I think it was from when I was trying to get the engine in,...it was a bear, and I had to do a lot of pushing and pulling. Must've twisted the shroud ever so slightly, but enought to have it hit the fan. No prob,...I fixed it in short order. There was a little bit of oil seepage at a fitting on the filter, but that's it.
The idle is high, and a little rough, I wanted it high and rich, at least for a while.
The exhaust is the one I made myself and I had originally intended to cut off those pea shooter pipes to length once I got it all in the car, but I took a look at them sticking out there, kinda obnoxious looking,..I thought, what the hell, let em ride. Ya gotta watch your shins around this one, haha. It makes a racket too. It was a happy day.

P.S. Besides Finch making a cameo or two, there is another cameo in there, see if you can catch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuqcKKii9D8

Great job on the headliner, Steve--I'm putting one in a '53 Studebaker now, and it's just a bear, nothing resembling instructions anywhere I look, and it appears to be missing some bits. Not something I'll do again.

Congratulations Steve! Well earned and deserved. You were this car's hero!

BTW - The other cameo... I saw some painted toenails, your wife?

Ha Ha Trevor, you got it!
Since it was "shot in one take", that's her inadvertent contribution to the video....it's almost my favorite part now.

Whoa Steve! Sounds great! Congratulations. Very happy for you. Get some miles on that baby now.

I had a rare afternoon all to myself today and I decided to check the alignments of the car. I set up a string line parallel to both sides of the car and got it straight and exactly parallel to the rear wheels. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the toe in on the rear wheels was exactly zero,...unexpected, as I had taken the entire system apart and restored it. I did not disturb the previous setting of the limit bolt though, so in a way all I was confirming is the last guy who aligned the rear got it right. Now, for the front, I had another surprise,..about 5/16 of toe OUT! I was actually happy about that because the car definitely handled squirly and now I had a probable cause. It took some fiddling and a lot of patience, but I was able to get the front wheels set with the correct 1/8" toe in. I took the car out for a spin and, while still having that special Pre A ride (haha) it was loads better. That "here we go" feeling when I turned into corners is gone, and a lot of instability and quivering is gone. Toe out makes the front end "hunt" and not track well. Now that's fixed.

Great news Steve. Can't wait to see you car at ECH.

Phil

What do you run for tire press.

Hmmm(?)....ya know Steven....I hadn't really messed with that yet. The guys at Coker who mounted them aired them up to 32 and that's about normal for a radial these days. But,...these old 16 inch rims never had to deal with radials in the recommended pressure chart. I might start messing around with the pressures a bit and see if I can dial out some of this squirleyness. I've driven race cars, and am not afraid of sliding,..it's the unpredictability that's unnerving. It's twitchy,...especially when over 50 mph. Getting the toe in right helped, but it definitely doesn't feel 'solid' by any means. I might drop the pressure a bit and see how it affects the feel.

The main bummer at this point however, is the stupid flux bubble that's appeared in the rear paint. No denying what it is and no hiding it either,...something I'll have to address this winter. I could kick myself for using that flux core wire on that weld seam, but oh well, nothing I can do about it now.,...except drive the car.
I'm at 100 miles now and still working on small details. Little things like the high beam indicator light coming on with low beams,..easy fix,..just swap the wire. I also pulled plugs today after a 20 mile run. All good,..maybe a little teensie bit rich, but that's where I want to be right now. Synchro'd the carbs also. When I had the big wrestling match getting the engine to seat on the trans on install I tweaked the fan housing as evidenced on startup and all the whining. That's gone, but it also tweaked the idle synchro. I got that sorted out and it really idles pretty well now....at least for PBJ's, haha.

Let the Good Times Roll!!!!!

Well, I've gotten it dialed in more or less. The twitch is mostly gone, and changing the tire pressure a little did help. I lowered the fronts a few pounds from 32 down to 30 and the rears a little more down to 29. (going on the notion that the stiffest end breaks first and since these cars are more 'tail happy' than most, a little softer in the rear might be better)
It's loads more solid now with the right toe in, and I'm getting used to it also, which is some of the issue too I'm sure. Trying to get miles before the ECH and will definitely be driving on Sunday the Drive It day.

Looks like I'm "moving on up" to the big house too. A local guy decided to buddy up with a friend and I inherited his room reservation in the lodge. I thought about it and although camping was my first choice, my wife and son are coming for Saturday fun and dinner and it'll be easier with the room. I'm still camping one night though, going up early to help set up on Wed and will be in a tent that night at least. 8)

Wow, what an enjoyable read. Super nice work. I am using flux core wire on my project, how did the flux cause a pop in the paint? Do you have a picture of it?

My theory is that flux in the wire is corrosive. Must've been a little speck down in the weld that I didn't get out of there.
What it does is form a little 'bubble' that you first notice in a glancing view in low light. It looks like a rust bubble and I guess that's technically what it is. I finished off my welds with a coarse flap wheel sander, scrubbed everything with a wire brush, treated it with metal prep, and primed the seams with Eastwood encapsulator, but I guess some risidual remained and it showed up about six months later. I'd think at first that it was a 'fish eye' that hadn't popped initially and then chose to lift later, but it's suspiciously right where I used the flux core wire. It's my only theory and it's kinda eating at me a bit. The choice now is to either try and fix it by picking it open, treating, and dabbing a spot of paint on it,...or let it ride, and see if it grows. I don't know yet. Not big, but enough to irk me nonetheless. But as I found out the hard way this past winter, you can't spot repair this paint....it leaves a darker spot if you dab it on, and a 'halo' if you try to spot spray a repair. No perfect choice either way. The only option that will cure this issue well is a full repaint,...and I'm not up for that right now. In reality, if you're going to drive the car, any restoration is never really finished. There are always going to be things to fix. And after a total rehab I expected any number of gremlins to show up. I was just hoping they'd be more mechanical than cosmetic. What I'll probably do is wait till there is a clear direction one way or another about what to do,...like if someone door dings me, or backs into the car somewhere. Then it'll be clear. Till then I'm probably just going to live with it. I did notice there is a little rattle in the trans/clutch area at idle yesterday,...which disappears when I push in the clutch pedal. I'm going to drop the engine this winter anyway to put in the 'fun' motor which I am building (to preserve the original block that's in there now) and I'll check things out at that time. If it disappears after the motor swap, all good, it's the pressure plate. If it persists, then it's likely the input shaft bearing. Like I said, if you're going to drive the car, you have to accept that your 'restoration' is going to be an ongoing unending process.
And I'm ok with that.

hi steve hope your having great fun driving with your car. i just started to read your thread again and didn't want to go searching for it so a post brings back to the top. a year and a half sinse the paint bubble problem . how is everything else faring?