Dan Hiebert

Your wiper switch is in the wrong location, it's where the tube for the windshield washer should be. If there are two holes in the top center of the dash, the one closest to the windshield should be the washer tube, the other one is for the switch. As Frank notes, that tube goes to windshield division bar. I know someone on the Forum has a photo of the setup, I've seen it posted before. But, if nothing comes up today, I've a friend with a D24 parts car that has it. I'm going to his place tomorrow to help put a roof on his woodshed, I'll get a photo of it for you.

Thankfully, I don't have to battle any elements since I retired a couple years ago. When I was still working, I prided myself on getting to work each and every day, especially the ones when "locals" thought it was too bad out to leave the house. I was never reluctant to designate administrative days (excused absences due to weather that didn't count against employees' leave) when appropriate, or send employees home an hour or two early due to weather. But, that was only our support folks, the LEOs still had to work. In Buffalo, it was a tad humorous to me because I thought it was a matter of principle that bad winter weather couldn't impact work, after all, Buffalo had a reputation to uphold, but safety always won out. And I certainly don't brave any elements with the old cars, all my northern experience is in places that use really nasty stuff to keep ice off the roads even before the first snowflake falls. So, no photos of our D24 in the elements, but of my '01 Dodge. Photos are from the winter before I retired, in the parking lot halfway through a bad/good (depending on your point of view) snow day, then safely at the house after taking almost an hour to make what was usually a 15 minute commute. Snow was over the bumper most of the way, over the hood in a few places.

That shop needs a return visit. There is obviously something wrong with their installation of the new exhaust system. Something in the system is too restrictive, but that is still the shop's doing. While it would be nice to figure it out on your own so you can tell them what the deal is, the onus is still on the shop. Any reputable shop should have made sure what they fixed is indeed fixed, and better than when it went in. They should also be able to ascertain if they broke something else while in the process.

Weight limits on equipment like an engine stand are nominal. They will hold more weight, but are engineered to safely support a specified weight. I had a Northern Tool engine stand similar to yours that I hung a Ford 300 I6 on, then a Ford 350M. I could tell they were taxing the engine stand's performance, wouldn't roll well, engines wouldn't spin well, but what concerned me was that the whole shebang was "bouncy", as in the stand was flexing under the weight. Good steel is designed to flex some, but cheap steel will fatigue. Unknown where the HF stand is made, but Chinese steel is often of poor quality. If your stand flexes with an engine on it, I'd beef it up. And yeah, better casters if you'll be moving it around much.

Original or new? Most tire/wheel shops that sell new original style wheels should have them if you're looking for new. Coker Tire dose, but unknown if in the size you're looking for.

Coming along nicely. Is that the part number for the cross-bar clips in that photo? Something else I need to find for our D24.

Already 0800 where the sun first shines on the US of A and no Veterans' Day messages yet? OK, I'll get it started - here's hoping all my brother and sister Veterans on the Forum (and all others for that matter) have a great day. Some Vets get annoyed from getting thanked for something they willingly did, and would do again, to that I say "too bad", it's admiration earned from service above self. What are you doing this Veterans' Day? I imagine most of the parades and usual recognitions are cancelled due to COVID this year, they are here, anyway. Here in lil' ol' Houlton Maine, we're down to just the Elks Lodge putting on a drive-thru Veterans' dinner, it's usually a dine-in event. ("As long as there are Elks, Veterans will never be forgotten.") So I'm off to the Lodge in a little while to help with the cooking, preparation...and serving later this afternoon. Ought to be fun!

I think the caster and camber angles of the front suspension have more to do with a car's return to center than the steering mechanism. Our D24's steering wheel has some play when it's pegged out either left or right, too, but I've never worried about it to measure it because the other two checks are where they're supposed to be. I don't know if it's so much free play, or just so easy to move that it seems like free play. The "end play" checks for both D24s and P15s are with everything on the car and the steering between center and lock, where there should be "none". Meaning there's probably an engineering reason for the play at the extremes, but that's above my pay grade. As you note, its a function of the design. I'll shorten the story and offer an answer to your question - nothing to be concerned about, I don't think there is anything amiss with your "new" steering box.

...as long as that doesn't include digging up those final resting places, too. That's be a bit creepy. Just sayin'.

Extreme left to right with the steering box on the bench will be different than on the car with everything attached. On the bench, the roller tooth gear can be rotated past where it is intended to stop on the worm gear, creating that free play you mention. There is no free play measurement at the extremes, either on the car or off. The only free play measurement is as you noted, with the steering wheel centered, but that is with the box on the car, and that is in-out free play of the steering wheel shaft. Supposed to be "0", but no more than 1/32nd of an inch. The bench test only specifies the effort needed to turn the wheel, no more than 3/4 pound without the roller tooth shaft installed, no more than 2 1/4 lbs. with it installed. I was wondering where' you'd been, I really enjoyed your adventures with "the Heap" and hadn't seen a post for quite some time.

Nice. New England gets raves for fall foliage, but I think it's quite pretty up here all four seasons - even after the leaves have fallen and into the dead of winter. Dirty snow is a bit ugly, but that gets recovered up here regularly...

The "last third" or so is right for these cars. As long as your free play is adjusted to specifications you'll be OK. And that's a regular check to ensure things are copacetic as the clutch wears, not a once and done thing. The clutch will start slipping and/or chattering when it's too worn to do its job. There are other considerations, but it sounds like you're just concerned about where it engages, which seems a bit sloppy compared to modern cars, but is good for our era.

Coker Classic wide whitewall radials. P215/75R 15s on the original rims.

Yep, '57 Ford Custom 2dr sedan. In "ok" condition but has been subject to many Mickey Mouse repairs and upgrades since the late '80s. BIL knows nothing about cars, doesn't even know how to drive it, doesn't even know enough about it to know who to have work on it...other than me. Couldn't even tell you why he bought it, but I felt sorry for it and volunteered to tidy it up this winter. I'll have to learn a couple new things working on it, and it came with a credit card, so all I have to lose is some shop space this winter.

Last drive of the season up here was "car Tetris". Took the ol' D24 out for a spin after adding fuel stabilizer to get it throughout the system, then eased it into its winter spot. A little tighter than usual this winter because I have my brother in law's car, there's usually two across the back, but I wanted the Ford where I could work on it over the winter and get it out of here in the spring. Good thing one of them is the Bug, but I think I could have gotten another full size car in that spot.

I'll venture out on a limb here...it depends. If you mean the whole car, then no. All the systems that make a "modern" engine run are engineered to work on a 12v system. You can conceivably rework some things to work on 6v, but I don't think it would ever run very well if you did that, because it is supposed to start and run on 12v. As noted, you can have the engine itself working on 12v, and reduce the voltage for everything else. If you convert the whole car to 12v, there may still be a component or two that may need a reducer because there isn't a direct conversion to 12v available. Personally, if I were to convert a 6v car to a modern engine/transmission, I would convert the whole car to 12v. I don't think it's impossible, just very impractical.

If it aint broke, don't fix it. Modify as needed for safety (i.e., seatbelts, obvious wiring issues). If the car is in as good a shape as you describe, no need to monkey with it...yet. BUT, things will fade/break/fail or otherwise wear out, then fix what's broke. Nothing on these cars is prone to failure, keeping in mind they were engineered for conditions 72 years ago, but keep an eye on how it's performing and/or holding up. You'll see things that will need to be fixed in the future and can decide when and how to address it. AND, as you go about enjoying it you'll decide what/if you want to upgrade to make a better driver or maybe a more enjoyable experience.

...and it's a winterized one, too...

Thanks! I went back and edited my post to "deleted" to get rid of that auto-link, certainly doesn't belong here. Not my doing, I swear. You may want to delete my quote from your post to clean it up the rest of the way. You've got the address covered.

Deleted

Windsor is across the Detroit River from Detroit proper. The Detroit River runs east-west, so Windsor is south of Detroit. I didn't think Detroit winters were too awful bad, lived in Port Huron, but worked just a tad north of Detroit in Harrison Township. Buffalo gets a bad rap because of a winter storm or two. Lived there a few years, too. Those occasional lake effect storms just happen to get the weather channels' attention, hence the bad publicity. Not exactly pleasant, but not too bad. I didn't like Buffalo weather because it was gray all winter, rarely saw the sun. Point Pelee is the furthest point south in "mainland" Canada, Pelee Island is a bit further south in Lake Erie. About the same latitude as southern Michigan. Pelee Island is only about 30 miles south of Windsor, so same difference I guess. Really pretty island with vinyards and a couple of nice wineries that are awesome to visit. There's a little now uninhabited islet called Middle Island between Pelee Island and Kelly's Island (US) that's the southernmost point of land in Canada. It's barely inside Canadian waters and had a club and casino on it during Prohibition.

Spread the front and back panels out, and you could protect a whole SWAT team with Louie's body armor...

I hadn't thought about the Snowbird thing with this pandemic and all. Now we live where the Snowbirds migrate from, we used to live where the Snowbirds migrate to every winter. Can't say we looked forward to it, but I'm sure the service industries will be feeling some pain this year. At least the U.S. Snowbirds can still fly south, and maybe things will ease up for Canadians. One of those "hmmm" things - the furthest point south in Canada (think commensurate weather) is southern Michigan. Canada doesn't have a "Florida", or "Rio Grande Valley", if you don't get out of Canada in the winter, you're gonna be cold...

...and easier the younger you are when you do it.

Phooey, all the ice cream shops ("dairy bars"...no DQs, I miss those) around here have already closed for the winter.