A short delay after sitting overnight is usually caused by the convertor draining back into the tranny. It takes 10-15 seconds to fill it before you "get a gear". There is nothing tragic in this--but a freshly built trans should not do it.

The other cause for delay in a 49-54 is leaky seals in the low and reverse servos. They can look perfect, but if they are a little hard they will leak enough to cause a pressure loss that will delay the high clutch engagement--even though they are not being specifically used in "H". The high clutch itself has a cast iron piston ring, so is not usually a problem unless broken during reassembly.

It is very easy to change the servo seals with the pan off, and without having to remove the valve body.

22 series gold, 23 series grey.

Did you notice that the 200 in the funeral home picture has been heavily senior-ized? 4 bottle openers, continental kit, and also a chrome shield on the rear door. Yet the roofline testifies it is a 200. A lovely find for us 200 fans. Thanks for the pics.

Any 51-54 non power steering box will fit your car, and I would recommend any of them except the one that you have as it is smaller and more lightly built than the others.

Still, that is a strange set of symptoms you describe--at least if I am understanding you. It is of course normal for the spiel to increase quite a bit you turn away from the center position, but the cross shaft should never disengage, that is, turn freely.

When adjusted properly there should be no noticable play (rotation) in the cross shaft. How does it fit its bushings?

In any event, I have about a half dozen suitable gears to choose from, but will not be home til March.

Don't switch those two lines; the fitting at the base of the carb is for the vac advance on the distrib. only, as it is ported to shut the vacumn off at idle. You will get weird and unpleasnt symptoms with your wipers and timing if you switch them.

The only problem you could have with the 5/16 adjustment is if the car has a very early trans with a sand cast rather than die cast valvebody. But I am 7000 miles away from my manuals just now and daren't ttry to look up anything online with the connection I have. Anyway, go with 5/16.

Your reasoning is correct concerning the throttle linkage: at slow idle, that shaft should be all but fully CCW. (The throttle valve itself is slid toward the front of the car.) As you give gas, the shaft rotates CW, and the throttle valve slides rearward.

Its been a while since I've done a bathtub but I am still thinking that the throttle lever points up. The pull rod makes a weird snake around that trans mount and goes onto the bellcrank. I've gotten into trouble there by having the bellcrank on wrong way round and trying to put the pullrod on the wrong arm. There must be a good photo somewhere?

Late 51- 54 the outside fitting goes to the manifold. Inner port is hooked to the wipers. On your 50 the vac was taken off the manifold at the front. Later they changed it to just under the carb to minimize idle disturbance cause by introduction of air while the wipers were on.

Would point out that a 53 has a "follow-thru" starter drive--that is the drive gear will not retract until the engine starts and flings it back. If the last attempt to start the 53 failed, then the gear will not be in the home position and you will hear it as you turn the engine by hand. But once that puppy starts you better not hear it. I cant think of any conceivable way to install the starter incorrectly so would rest easy on that front.

If your vacuum pump is making so much noise, it may be the cause of the smoking: if broken inside it can allow the engine to suck a lot of oil into the intake manifold and hence the smoke. Just disconnect and plug the vacuum line that goes up to the manifold and try again. Oil rings seldom suffer rapid failure; top rings yes, but they won't cause smoking.

Sorry, I am away and have not been paying attention. OK, I remember now: late convertors will bolt to all flywheels. Early style convertors will only bolt to early flywheels. The only real difference is that the drain plugs face forward on earlies, and to put an early convertor onto a late flywheel you have to drill the two drain plug access holes. I'd go for a late convertor--they finessed those things every year and the reported torque multiplication of the late ones was much greater than the early ones.