You don't want to use distilled or deionized water in your system. Being in the Houston area where you don't need to worry about freezing, you could switch from antifreeze coolant to a product like No-Rosion and purified water (which has low calcium
and magnesium but some minerals). Water has about two times the heat removing ability versus a 50:50 glycol:water system.

Since your car starts fine and runs good when hot, two biggest areas of problem would be either fuel or spark.

1) Remove your air cleaner when it it how and see if it getting gas.
2) Check spark when it is hot and compare it when engine is cold.

If the spark is weak when hot, check all connections that are involved in the "Spark Plug" realm to ensure that they are clean and tight and that the coil wire is in great shape. Cleanup your points with a points file and regap if necessary. Clean the post inside the distributor cap and the rotor. Wipe the inside of the cap to ensure that there is no electrical conducting dust inside the cap (e.g. carbon). If you still have a problem replace the coil.

Note: you may just want to do all of the steps in the above paragraph (except replace coil) as a good maintenance on your car.

BDC & all you other Texans;

Speaking as a Conservative California I offer a word or warning - With all those Californians you speak of that are moving there - with them comes the Bloody Plague of Liberalism. Ask the good folks of Oregon and Colorado.

We were going to move years ago and have looked at property in Boerne TX and other parts west of there, but grandkids and great grandkids have us anchored. However, we do live in Simi Valley, which is the 18th most conservative city over 100,000 in the U.S.

Dave,

Thanks for the info and compliment. I got the 45 from a table, but I don't recall from where. I went back and torqued to 62.

I really have appreciated for various inputs over the past 5 years on this project. I must admit that it is taking longer than I thought it would, but I've enjoyed every bit of it.

I posted a question in order to get some ideas as to what I should do before attempting to start the engine (See post).
I see no need to re-post what was written there, but let it suffice to say that the radiator was filled with No-Rosion and the engine started. Let engine run for about 15 to 20 minutes at an idle. The initial oil pressure at idle was around 45 PSI and once it was warm the pressure fell to 25 to 30 PSI. The engine idled smoothly without any missing or roughness. There is a carburetor issue in that the accelerator pump sticks when returning back to the idle position preventing the engine from going back to the correct idle speed. I took the top off of the carburetor and the pump insides look new (the pump looks like it is made of leather) and I can't seem to see any reason it should hang up unless the leather is a shade to large

After the engine cooled the head nuts were re-torqued (45 ft/lbs). I noticed some soot around one of the studs around where cylinders 6 and 7 are located. The edges of the gasket lead me to believe that it is new. I'll restart the engine and hopefully it is gone. Otherwise I'll need to pull the head and take a look.

The chrome plating in the bumpers turned out great looking and the front one was installed. Not enough room in the garage to install the rear bumper until I can turn the car around and head it in instead of backing it into the garage (the stuff under the wife's cabinets at the back of the garage get in the way).

The rims for both side mount tires were prepared and painted, tires mounted and paint color sanded.. The covers for the side mounts are out for plating. I can't find the nuts that hold the covers on in any of the boxes of goodies that came with the car. I've tried several sources, but to no avail. If push comes to shove I'll make two. Not sure what they look like, but since they will be out of sight I'm not concerned about it as long as they are functional.

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Tbirdman - Thanks for the info about Waldron. I have a quote and estimate for fabrication time from them. It took three calls to them before I could get the quote.

I've been trying to get the same info from Borla East. I've talked to them 3 to 4 times in the last month requesting a quote and delivery time. When I talk to the lady in the office all I get is "They haven't talked to you yet I'll have to get on them". I've decided to tell them to go fly a kite.

Don Simmions was the most responsive.

Rrhorton I'm sorry to hear about your woes with your pump. You might want to consider using Muggy Weld Super Alloy 1 to repair your pot metal part. If there was a fairly clean break and the part is not subject to much stress.

I've used it to repair broken pot metal parts in the past and I'm pleased with the way it works. I've fixed tail lights and other such parts for friends of mine. I also used it to repair the left tail light on my '32 Packard, On the '32 I needed to make part of the tail light out of brass and attach it.

If you decide to give it a try, I would suggest a little practice on some scrape pieces of aluminum to see how their flux behaves before giving it a go. Also, make sure the part are good and clean & oil free. If you want to discuss, send me a PM with your phone #.

Why not use a black urethane adhesive? Cleanup the steel running boards - ensuring there is no rust or other issues with the steel. Fill the low spots on the running board with the urethane adhesive floating it off so there is a smooth surface. Let it cure for several days. You can then glue the rubber with either the urethane or contact cement. I would use the urethane.

The urethane is an extremely good adhesive, flexible and should last for a long time. Just take care of the rubber mat as the urethane will be a bear to remove when it is time to replace.

If you decide to go with BDS's suggestion, Steele Rubber has a great return policy.

You don't mention how much of your current system is currently exist and in place (e.g. tubing still there, most of the fittings there), which makes it a little hard to describe what might need to happen to put it in working order. The actual system is pretty simple and does not take a lot of mechanical expertise to get it in working order or even for that matter to completely remake. If you are missing a lot of the nuts, compression sleeves, and metering units that don't work it won't be cheap. You can get the above mentioned hardware that you are missing from Bruce while 3/16" copper refrigeration tubing is available. All the tubing joints are soldered with soft solder like you would use on copper house plumbing. You might try Classic & Exotics to see if they can rebuild your pump if it is not working.

When I rebuilt my system, I removed all of the metering units that I had and soaked them in carburetor cleaner overnight and then blew solvent through them in the opposite direction of the normal flow to clear out any junk. I then flowed solvent through them in the corrected direction. If I couldn't get flow through them at that point I trashed them.

Do a search on this site for Bijur and you'll find a lot of post including diagrams that should prove you with enough info to determine how the copper tubing should be routed on the frame.

Again, is not difficult to do and anyone that is reasonably mechanically included should be able to perform the task.

I would guess that one could get a dalmatian dog for the front seat, put some fire department logos on the front doors and be a volunteer fireman. Other than that it has got to be one of the worst colors I've seen on a Packard and is in dire need of a paint job.