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I think I figured out what the squeaking/chirping was. I'm pretty sure it's the rear brake shoes rubbing lightly against the drums. I hadn't done anything to break in the new brakes yet, so I did that today. Several times up to 50, then hard braking down to a near stop until they got nice and hot. I could smell them. I didn't hear the squeaking after that.

Did some other things to the car today. Finally got the exterior rear window trim back on. It had been off since I got the car. All the wire trim clips but one were broken or missing, so I contacted Restoration Specialties with dimensions and that found one that will work. They are much longer than the original, and I had to cut them down. After that they worked fine.

Tried to figure out why my blinkers still do not work. Pulled off both rear lights and found a boat load of sand under each. I cleaned everything up and cleaned up the grounds as well. The passenger side works fine now, but the driver's still does not. Will need to do more work. For now hand signals are doing the trick.

Also finally got the correct #82 bulbs for the interior courtesy lighting. The passenger side door switch does not work. I'll need to mess with it and see what I can do. Contact on the rear pillar lights is spotty at best. I had cleaned up the sockets previously, but will need to figure out why they are still so finicky.

Drove the Panama to a local muffler shop and the guy threw it on the lift. Lots of smiles and comments from everyone there. The whole back half of my exhaust is missing, and I'm either looking at replacing the whole thing or just having him throw some pipe on the back for now. Are the mufflers available from somewhere? He can do all the pipe with no problem. It'd be cheaper to do that than have an entire system ordered and shipped. I checked Waldron exhaust and they are like 12 weeks out. That's not going to work.

The car still smokes a ton. It doesn't really smell like burning oil (at least that I can tell). I'm pretty sure it is still very rich. I'm still trying to figure out where this is coming from. High fuel pressure maybe? I checked inside the carb about 10 minutes after I got back and it's wet in there, though I didn't see any active signs of a leak. Normal for it to still be wet?

Lastly, I think my cooling system is functioning halfway decent. The gauge climbs to where it is in the picture and stays there the whole time. I've checked the temps of various parts of the engine several times with an infrared thermometer. After a long run today, most everything was about 182, with the rear of the head being a little higher around 190. Normal? Too hot?

-Kevin

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Like "the beach" photo.

It's looking great! On the lights, be sure that all the housings are getting their ground and on the temperature, it seems a bit warm to me. As I recall, mine were always around the E on the gauge. As long as it's holding the coolant and not spewing it out, it should be fine although keep an eye on it on a hot day.

This probably too obvious, but if the front AND rear blinkers don't work on the driver's side, the common wire on the flasher unit may be loose or need to be reconnected. As Don advises, be sure both ends, front and rear, are well grounded. If just the rear or the front is working, it could be the other end needs a new bulb or the socket needs a good cleaning to make contact with the bulb.

I would just add the pipe extension.

Yesterday I watched a Chasing Classic Cars. Wayne brought a '54 Studebaker Commander Starliner to Pebble Beach as an all original car preservation class car. Before the show they gave it some prep and when they ran the engine it smoked. It had been sitting for years. It only had a few thousand miles on it. They drove it, the smoke got worse, then subsided completely. They concluded it was carbon that needed to burn out.

On the non op turn signal, in spite of best attempts sometimes a satisfactory ground is just not doable thru any oxidized pot metal pieces in the grill. You may need to fasten a ground wire directly to the lamp housing or directly to the socket and then run the other end out and fasten it to a good clean spot on sheetmetal.

On a front socket the turn signal filaments are by themselves and if the fiber plate at the back of the socket holding the contacts got wet and deformed one of the bulb contacts could also be at fault. Can also happen at the rear but on the rear sockets that issue is easier to spot because the brake lights would also be affected.

There is also a possibility it is not a ground or bad socket. Sometimes it is a problem in the switch. Oxidation on a single contact can happen or the phenolic supports the fixed contacts are embedded in can warp and allow one or more contacts to drop down and not make a connection with the triangular contact bridges in the sliding portion. If a new ground does not help you may need to take the switch apart...

Here are views of the switch. The extracted circuit has been posted before but if you missed it, posted again for reference..

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I took some GoPro footage to share with family, and that shot is a screen grab from it. The car is so relaxing to drive. But I think I'm a bit tall for it because I have to lean down to see traffic lights through the low windshield.

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That brings up a good question on the coolant. What is the level supposed to be in the radiator? Mine is sitting about 1" down from the top. I filled it up, but all the coolant I added spewed out the overflow pipe the first time I drove it.

Also, what temp thermostat should I be running in the car? I have no idea what's in it now. I believe original is 180 degree thermostat, but are most guys running 160? I'm going to do some work to the cooling system before our local cruise-in Saturday evening.

I'm pretty sure the timing and other tuning isn't helping. More on that later.

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The driver's side blinker flashes very quickly and randomly on the rear, the front isn't working. I'm going to have to do more work to both front and back to get it right.

That's good to know that carbon can smoke. When I got back from my test drive yesterday it was smoking a lot. More than it has before. I had been driving aggressively (up to 50, hard braking, back to 50, hard braking), so maybe it's burning it off? The smoke didn't smell like oil or fuel....just "old car" smell if that makes sense.

-Kevin

Kevin, make sure you have the correct depth radiator cap. Too short a cap will not seal and allow coolant to escape. Congratulations on your progress. You have made great progress and the Panama looks great.

Howard - thanks, those diagrams are helpful. I've cleaned the board several times in the past (the best I could). It's likely poor ground front and back at this point. I'll keep working with it.

JWL - Coolant isn't escaping from around the cap, just the overflow tube. Is the cap supposed to cover the tube somewhat? What does the correct cap look like? I have no idea if mine is original or not (probably not) and all the markings are worn off so I have no idea what the specs are.

-Kevin

Kevin, when the coolant is warmed it expands. Once the radiator pressure reaches the cracking point of the cap air is expelled. If there is excess coolant during this pressure release cycle coolant will also be expelled . . . the radiator does not have a ‘catch can’, therefore expelling liquid is quite normal. Upon cool down the vacuum release feature of the radiator cap will allow air back in. If you over fill the radiator it will expel coolant on the next heat cycle. It finds its own correct level. An inch sounds about right, but that is a bit of a function of how hot the coolant got the last time you drove the car.

Now on to the electrical gremlins. There are a lot of ways to have non-functional directional signal lights. What I would do is disconnect the six wire plug connection where the turn signal switch connects to the body wiring. It’s a keyed plug so you can’t put it together incorrectly. I would start the diagnostic testing with the negative battery cable disconnected (the ground needs to be connected), and then with the use of a jumper wire connected to the negative battery post feed power into each body side wire. With the help of a few helpers (bribed with the promise of ice cream) verify you’ve got light at each corner. If you have a switch, and fuse in this temporary jumper you can then leave it connected as you probe around with the bulbs and sockets that don’t work.

Assuming you’re successful getting all of the bulbs to work, then reconnect the six pin plug. At this point you know the body wiring and bulbs are OK. Once the negative battery cable is reconnected any problems with the directional signals are likely a result of something amiss in the steering column switch. As HH56 said oxidation is the most likely cause. By the way if the stop lights work, and the flasher work on one side of the car that’s good information . . . we now know some of the contacts are good, and the flasher is OK.

dp

Brake lights work, as do the headlights, parking lights, and backup lights (one is intermittent). I have the original flasher as well as a modern replacement. Both have similar issues with the driver's side. I cleaned the contacts on the switch a while ago but some of the contacts are very difficult to access.

-Kevin