Re: The Duchess Project: 1940 Super 8 Convertible Sedan

Posted by Joe Santana On 2019/7/17 19:24:53

LEAKS: We set 5-3'x3' sheets of paper under the car to ID drips. We ran the car for an hour to work ing the Blue Devil Rear Main Sealer. The only serious drip after that was from the transmission. 3 plugs were not tight all the way. The gear oil must be able to work its way forward into the bell housing. We think it's under control now. There is a minor leak from the oil pump. And a drop from the pumpkin.

FUEL PUMP: We had a major fuel leak that looked like it was coming from the diaphragm. It was from the threads of the little air dome that needed tightening to stop it. In the meantime, I learned that the fuel pump that fell apart had a lifetime guarantee, so I will be returning it to Kanter.

DISTRIBUTOR: Ken at Auto Battery & Electric installed new bushings and a NOS breaker plate. The distributor had been rebuilt by another local place 3 years ago, but instead of drilling the hole for the grease in correct size bushings, they had installed 2 bushings half the height of the proper ones, to save time I guess. These apparently did not support the shaft sufficiently, so it was wobbly at the tune-up just before the trip to CA last month. Now it's not wobbly.

KICK-DOWN: I took bracket off the firewall, cleaned up the switch and repositioned it according to the manual. It took several tries to get everything right. My daughter Molly is now an expert at removing and replacing the bracket. I now have full throttle And kick-down into passing gear.

CLUTCH: Covered in oil. Once the distributor was in, I propped the clutch open,I marked each section of the clutch and sprayed it, rotated it and sprayed again. I went through 4 cans of brake cleaner before dirty fluid stopped coming out , then replaced the bell housing.

SHOW PREP: So now we just need to wash and vacuum, Lexol the seats, Meguiars show glaze on the body and chrome, and clean the engine for the pre-concours tour through some of Oregon's wine country on Saturday.

So we're in pretty good shape, special thanks to Howard, Dave, David, Feltz.