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Kevin
In the years just before ’54 the door latches were electroplated with cad, or such. I would expect a cad plating on all pieces except the wave washer. To aid the production process, the spring was likely completely covered with a specific color paint . . . only to identify one spring design from another. I had quite a few 22nd / 23rd series latches and the amount of rust was manageable. If you use a paint stripper stay away from really caustic stuff that might strip-off the plating. Your blue paint is quite new isn’t it? Perhaps a soak in lacquer thinner is all you need. If you find a rubber bumper limiting the bell crank travel I would remove before soaking.
I believe the door hardware, such as latch & screws, window regulator, and striker were installed after the body/door left the paint shop, that is, the hardware was not painted.
There is a tight radius bend at the end of the button actuated bell crank. It’s the feature that rotates the latching cam away from the pawl wheel. Look for cracks there. Earlier latches tended to crack in the tight radius bends. It appears in the photo that HH56 supplied that the later latch design does not have the single point failure feature that defeats the entire latch operation . . . that’s a good thing. The springs do have a finite life.
If you find any patent numbers please send along so I might do a search for details.
dp

Well, turns out the door latch issue wasn't nearly as involved as I thought it would be. I disassembled everything and was about to pull the outer door handle off. I was able to see that the screw for the weatherstripping was slightly rubbing against the top lever of the latch mechanism. It was keeping the latch open. Swapping to a screw with a narrower tip solved the problem.

What's interesting is that I've had the same screw in there for a while and it wasn't causing a problem until now. Either way, all seems to be well now.

I noticed on a drive last week that my brake pedal has a ton of travel and felt soft. Didn't have time to dig into it because we were heading out of town. Just got back and took a quick look. The reservoir for the rear circuit was nearly completely empty. No visible leaks that I can see.

I filled that reservoir back up and had my wife press the brakes while I checked with the car on the ground. Nothing showed up. So I'll have to get the car on the lift tomorrow night and dig into it. My guess is one of the wheel cylinders is leaking. They aren't that old, but they were probably made in China.

I'll have to rebleed everything too. The pedal is still very soft, so there is probably air in the rear circuit.

Not sure where my brake fluid is going. All the connections in the rear are tight and dry. There is a little moisture around the junction block/diff breather, but I'm pretty sure it's gear oil.










The wheel cylinders look dry also. So I'm going to refill, bleed the system and keep an eye on it. I'm wondering if it's leaking somewhere from the master. Can't see any wet spots or fluid though.

If gear oil is coming out a lot of pressure must be building up inside the diff or it is very full. Is the vent hole thru the bolt open and are the threads on the bolt sealing to the port in the housing so lube isn't sloshing up beneath the junction block?

Kevin

It’s a bit off topic but I know you’ve recently had the rear drums off. Two questions: 1.) Were the axle nuts found to have about the same torque as when you installed them? 2.) Did the hub/drums release with little effort?
I’m just trying to get another data point on whether the axle nut torque initially relaxes with use.

dp

I cleaned the vent and block back when I did the axles and brakes. It should be free and open. It's possible the threads of the bolt aren't fully sealing against the axle housing. I didn't use any sort of thread sealant when I installed it. The gear oil on the housing is very minor and is not new. It's kind of like the minor weeping I have around the diff drain and fill bolts....I didn't use new crush washers when I replaced my fluid a few years ago.

Quote:

David - The axle nuts came off pretty easily with the impact gun. I would say it wasn't the same torque as when I put them on....but I didn't measure removal with a torque wrench. The drum itself put up some fight, but much easier than initially getting them off the first time. The parking brake wasn't fully disengaged when I popped the drums, so take that with a grain of salt.

I threw together a quick video of the drum removal. You can see how quick the axle nut came off with the impact, starting at 1:37

Thanks Kevin

I would say both the nut and the drum came off as we all would hope for . . . or that’s the most powerful impact gun imaginable. Nice video!

dp

The master cylinder can leak inside the firewall. If you have drum brakes on the rear, normal wear of the linings can account for the fluid "loss", especially if the dual circuit master cylinder has a smaller reservoir connected to the rear brakes.