DonaldSmith

Why would gas be under pressure at the sending unit? Gravity, if the tank is filled up into the filler pipe. (I had lots of fun getting the hoses and clamps right and tight.) Gas heating up and expanding, in a non-vented tank, although running the car should offset this. Just my guess.

I have auxiliary 12 volts, using a second 6-volt battery. I use it for my pusher fan, on those rare occasions like parades when I need it. I just have to remember to charge the auxiliary battery occasionally. Thanks. I'll be looking around and figuring this speed control thing. I'll keep the boys informed.

I've got Fluid Drive, so I don't need the clutch much, but my left foot gets tired from holding the gas pedal on any length outing. Years ago I put a speed control kit on a Datsin, and I see some components on line for vintage cars, but I wonder if anyone has had experience with speed control kits for these cars.

My photo didn't open. I'll try another one, something bigger than my avatar. That's better.

So, in the meantime, you can drive your new car to the end of the driveway, and practice backing it in. Or you could just sit in it and hear it idle (keeping the garage door open). If it has the original clock, you can just hear it tick away, with a periodic rewinding thunk. Such a soothing sound, it brings me back to my youth, sitting in my dad's car. Happy motoring, even if it's just to the end of the drive.

Here's my Pertronix stuff. (The photo rotated on me, but you can see the coil. Non-descript. Maybe it says something on the underside. It's the 40011 "Flamethrower", 40,000-volt, 1.5 ohm coil.) Put that on a spitfire engine and it sounds formidable.

These sound like good, modern safety features, but not mandated for these old cars. Yes, I was concerned about my rigid steering column. Such columns have resulted in severe injuries and deaths. But we drive our cars so carefully. When I installed a power steering box, I introduced universal joints and a change in shaft alignment, just to get to the box. The result is a safer steering column. The shaft should buckle in an accident. I also have retractable seat belts, with the inertial lock.

This Suburban does not count-

My timing may have been way off for the points ignition. I remember trying to get the piston at top dead center and seeing when the points would close and a test light would come on. But things got out of hand. At one point the timing was so far off that a backfire blew the muffler apart. So I don't really know where the timing is with TDC, but the engine is running nicely now. Lately, my mechanical abilities seem to be compromised by the ease at which I forget important steps. The news is that the car is running nicely now. Don't ask me how.

I don't have a magnetic sleeve. The trigger must read the lobes. The trigger dropped in where the point assembly was. Maybe I got the trigger too far counter-clockwise; I did have to trim the eccentric screw. But hey, it's working, runs sweet, no overheating, no pinging. The timing marks is (are?) another issue.

Update, May 30, etc. Pertronix working sweet(ly). Earlier, I had no-go with the Pertronix installed. I had read that the timing might have to be advanced, so I advanced the timing a good chunk, and began to get some engine running, but not good. Things stunk. Poor driveability. No fun. The other day, i fiddled with advancing the timing some more. I got 16 inches of vacuum instead of 5, but not yet good. Poor idling and acceleration. I discovered that the distributor was stopped from turning further by an interference between the oil filler tube and the vacuum tubing to the vacuum advance mechanism. A little prying on the tubing, and the distributor was free to turn more (counterclockwise, of course). I hit the sweet spot, 20 inches of vacuum, good idling, good acceleration, fun again. Never mind that the vibration damper shows extreme retarding. Damper rebuild for another day.

If the odometer rolls over but the needle doesn't move, perhaps something is binding the needle when you install the instrument cluster. The needle should be free to swing, being held back by a spring. The spinning magnet induces the needle to move; the more spinning, the more movement.

Any horror tales of the damper flying off? I suppose that it would have to be in pieces.

Speaking of dampeners - If the heavy damper is slipping on its flanged pulley, will it hurt anything, besides not giving an accurate timing indication? I recently advanced my timing (counter-clockwise to advance) but the timing marks on the damper are way past the retarded range. Here's a photo of my damper: (For my power steering, I flipped the fan-water pump pulley, and added a p.s. pump pulley.)

I was confused. The Shop Manual says "The distributor should be moved clockwise to retard and counter-clockwise to advance ignition." Same as greg g said. There was a long-winded guy at work, years ago, who could argue with me extensively, while basically agreeing with me. I hope I'm not turning into him.

Wait-a-minute! The rotor goes around clockwise, doesn't it? I think I remember seeing it move, and the plug wires are arranged clockwise. So, if I want the spark earlier (advanced) wouldn't I rotate the distributor counterclockwise, or anti-clockwise?

Thumb's up?

Just how steep is this driveway? And the car will be in neutral? Hire some neighborhood boys to push the car up the drive. (No, can't do that, liability and all that.) Maybe the pusher car, with the bumper tire duct-taped on, remains an option.

Are we in the realm of overkill here? We are not dead-lifting the car off the ground. We are duplicating the force of a few strong guys pushing the car up the drive. Try this. Put a lag bolt or eye hook in the back wall and connect the come-along there. Put blocks behind the car's wheels. Start ratcheting, and look for signs of stress. . As you pull the car up the driveway, periodically move the blocks against the tires, so that if something does break loose, the car won't roll all the way down the drive. If things break loose, put in two devices, into two different studs, to cut the load in half. Run a sling between the devices and to the come-along, and ratchet away.

Speaking of horses, my father told me about the man whose name was Bill Manerr. It sounded too much like Bull Manure, so he went to court to change his name - to Horace.

In think there is a compound word for this that begins with horse...

You would probably only need a lag bolt screwed into an anchor drilled into the floor. Back it out a bit to attach the come-along.

The second photo in my posts 11 and 19 shows the kickdown switch at the bottom of the photo, on the engine side of the carb. The photo shows the yellow wire (and the bullet connector that I had added, that allowed me to get the wires wrong). I'm sure the stock carb takes the bullet connector at the anti-stall and a tab with hole at the kickdown switch. Here's a photo of my newly rebuilt carb. The kickdown switch is at the bottom right. The connection is the brass cylinder at the kickdown switch (between the two brass screws). I forget how I connected to it, but I figured something out. BREAKING NEWS! I just took a picture of my carb. The cylinder at the kickdown switch receives a bullet connector. Hey! My wire is not connected! No wonder it wont kick down. Seeing this, I cut back the shrink tube and pushed the connector in hard, so it wouldn't come out again.

See Post No . 22. Do you have another wire going to the kickdown switch, or should the grounded wire go there? Trace where the wires go. A wiring diagram is invaluable. The 1949 and later transmissions have a different wiring setup, which has two wires connected to the anti-stall. My car, a 47, has two terminals at the anti-stall, but only one is used.

Is this thing connected to the hot side of the switch or the controlled side? Where do all those yellow wires go?