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Yes, the front fenders, hood, and fender skirts were dipped in black enamel. That exterior paint had plenty of pigment in it so covering was no problem. I don't know about the big three, but Stude and Nash did the same and I could show you some drainage runs on some NOS fenders.

If you check out photos of highly weathered original cars you will often see that the front end sheet metal has weathered differently than the rest of the car.

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Interesting. Now I want to find pictures of weathered cars to see the difference. I've never thought to look before.

If (when) I get the point of repainting Tanner I'll have to talk to some of my paint friends and see what they recommend. My understanding is if a car is being repainted a different color then a seal coat is necessary at the least, so there is a consistent base color under the paint. Or strip the car and start fresh. I'll see what they think about this particular car and what they recommend. I'm pretty sure there is going to be body work to do, so maybe it'll be a strip and repaint.

I finally had some time today to do some work. Finished rebuilding and resealing the other taillight, installed both, installed the Reynolds wrap and stainless trim, and installed the freshly painted gravel guard. Originally there was a layer of tar paper between the gravel guard and everything else. I used a strip of 1" X 1/4" foam tape to do that job.



Installed the bumper with the help of my daughters. Getting the holes lined up was a real chore. Not sure I'm excited to remove the bumper again in the future. Messed with the gaps a bit, and reconnected the exhaust hangers. At this point I'm calling the rear bumper project finished for now. A good improvement from what it was.



You can just barely see the color from the gravel guard at the right angle. Easy to see how off the existing brown color is. I think the car will be stunning in the correct paint.

Today I replaced the water pump. The old one was making a lot of rattling noises and had me nervous. I know it was replaced in the past, but I was concerned about a failure given all the noise. So replacement for peace of mind.

Rebuilt pump from Patrician Industries, new gasket, new copper crush washers. Getting the fan bolts out and in was annoying.



Old pump



Much quieter now, no leaks. There is still a somewhat random rattling from the front of the engine bay, but I have no idea what's causing it. Stethoscope have no problematic noise on new water pump, fuel pump, power steering pump housing, and generator. No idea what else could be making noise.

Took out on a solid 10 mile drive at 55+ with no problems.



Also found the source of the power steering leak. It was dripping out of the low speed hose. It looks old and needs to be replaced. The house doesn't look like anything special, so I can probably pick up generic hose at Napa, right?

Random noises are a pain but do check the vibration damper carefully for any signs of developing problems with the rubber vulcanizing which holds the two basic pieces together. The rubber can fail on the V8 dampers and allow the pieces to separate which is an issue sometimes accompanied by intermittent rattles. It might pay to remove the belts and see if there is any movement possible between the pieces

Kevin

Looks like your in farm country, should be a hydraulic shop that can make you up one

possible source of random rattle could be air cleaner not tight on carb.
Happy

I’m not sure what to make of those clamps on the hoses. They are not supposed to have clamps they are supposed to be crimped on. Yeah, you can probably just have some shop make them using the old hose as a pattern. Don’t forget there are four hoses, as there are a pair of short ones going from the control valve assembly to the cylinder assembly.

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The hose with clamps is the return side hose and is very low pressure. Unlike the pressure side hose, the return side does not need special crimped fittings. The hose just fits over barb fittings and ordinary clamps on each end of that hose are stock.

Howard - good information on the vibration damper. I will definitely check that. The car has over 90K miles on it, so I guess I wouldn't be surprised if the rubber was having problems. Is Steele the only place that repairs those?

Also good to know that my power steering return hose is correct. I wondered about that when I got the car, but I had nothing to compare it to so I wasn't sure. The hose itself looks original and seems to be cracking/rotting. Since it's a low pressure line, can I something like fuel line?


Happy - I'll double check the air cleaner. But it sounds closer to the front of the car, and it sounds "rotational" if that makes sense.

Riki - My local NAPA makes hydraulic hoses, as do several other places in town. Definitely in the middle of farm country so having hydraulics made is no big deal. I do need to replace one of the shorter power steering hoses because it looks like the hose was damaged and then repaired sometime in the past.