I guess the question is what did you plug the hole with? With a normal 1/8 npt pipe plug there is no chance for a problem--I did the exact same job on Wednesday morning (and then found the pressure dome in the trunk 2 hours later)

If however you used a bolt or some weird fitting to plug the hole then you might have blocked the outlet as well.

Sounds good to me--hard to tell with no exhaust, but don't hear any funny mechanical noises.

Whoa Kev, those clips with the 1 1/8 head. Lets see a picture. Do they have a little spring leg on them? They go in on an angle and the leg is sprung out to hold them taut.

The pull rod to the carb is adjustable for length. In addition, that fat part there in the middle is a spring loaded joint that is supposed to give when you tromp it for kickdown. That way you don't yank the arm off the side of the carb before the linkage hits the kickdown switch.

These joints are often frozen from disuse. Take the rod off and clamp it up in a vise. A little yanking, twisting and loose juice will get it going.

You have to pull the wheel from the steering shaft. Then the rest of the column will slide up over the shaft.

Smoking out the breather is normal.

All the way to the rear with the shifter is park. The drag of the high clutches will want to make the wheels rock forward. One notch forward is neutral and the drag in the high clutch will get the wheels rolling. If you put it back in park then you will get the ratchet noise.

Best bet is to leave it neutral and let the wheels roll so all your new bushings in the tranny can burnish nicely in.

Really don't recommend long periods of idling at this point. Better to let the engine doodle along at 1000 or more rpm so there is lots of oil being thrown around at the pistons, camshaft, etc.

Finally found some moving footage of the original. Hear it (briefly) roar at 3:31---http://youtu.be/vIc0KhjGKW0.


Here at home have been doing unexciting but necessary wiring and fiddling with door handles and such.

They do, and it is a nice look. If you are going with blackwalls you could consider painting the wheels ivory also as it draws the eye downward to the car's advantage.

In convertors the reactor turbine should start to spin along with the pump and driven turbines as driving speed is reached. Torque multiplication has ceased and the unit has become a fluid coupling. You are right, Tim, because Ultramatics had such high multiplication (I think up to 2.7:1 in the 56s), when they had reached coupling speed they slipped rather much, thus the direct drive was a good idea. Dynaflows also had high multiplication, slipped a lot at coupling speeds but didn't have the direct clutch. I have heard that Buicks with early Dynaflow were not allowed to drive up Mt Washington.

Anyway, if the freewheel clutch for the reactor turbine jams, and they often do, that turbine will be sitting still in the middle of all that rotating fluid. You can imagine the turbulence and heat. All the driver will notice is that the car feels a bit sluggish and just presses the gas down harder. The direct drive clutch will engage just like normal until the fluid gets really hot.

Once that reactor clutch has jammed--one or more spags flip over--it never unjams.

It is indeed a voltage threshold problem--I believe the minimum trigger is 5.3 volts. Some may be higher.

This is why the Pertonix I had in my 51 is sitting in a box. I got tired of drift starting the car when it was cold or hoping the engine would catch as I let off the starter. It did seem to run very nicely underway--but with fresh points it both runs and starts nicely.