martybose

I have an Edmunds head on my motor with ARP studs that have fine thread nuts, so i used the 60 lb. spec for torquing. But it is worth noting that I would take the car out for a drive and then retorque the head while still warm. It took me 3 times before none of the nuts would move when torqued. Marty

If you read the thread you saw that both Don and I thought that there were improvements that could be made to the ECI brake master kit. That said, there are probably dozens of people who have used them as is with no problems; you will have to draw your own conclusions about whether any of the changes we made were truly necessary. Marty

If you spend some time searching you will find a rather extensive thread that dealt with this issue. Briefly, Don Coatney had the same setup you are talking about, and ECI recommended a smaller master cylinder than the one that I used with my ECI front brakes. There is also a lot of details of what it takes to make an ECI master cylinder mount work right. Marty

My steering box is on its way to Midwest Remanufacturing to be rebuilt. They are the only people I've found that have all of the internal parts, as they have the gears made for them in India. I'll be reporting the results when I get it back towrds the end of June. Marty

I bought mine from Totally Stainless (totallystainless.com); page 140 in their PDF catalog. Marty

It looks to me that those same U-bolts are used on the bottom of the crossmember for the lower A-arm shaft mounts. Marty

Well, I pulled the steering box out this morning. It turned out that the one thing nobody mentioned was that it will come out without even touching the tube ONCE YOU HAVE GOTTEN THE LOWER A-ARM OUT OF THE WAY. Which wasn't really that big a deal after I thought about it a little; I just put my jack under the inner lower A-arm shaft, buzzed the nuts off of the U-bolts with an impact gun, then lowered the shaft down until the spring was released. I didn't even have to jack the car up that much to get the shaft out. So I've cleaned off many decades of crud, I have it leaning against a wall to drain out the oil, then Friday I will wrap the box in rags and put it in a plastic bag that is tiewrapped closed, then have to figure out how to package it to ship it to Illinois. More to come. Marty

Well, I just bought a high lift jack, sounds like I may need it! Marty

The manual I have actually lists how to remove the box without removing the tube, so I might give it a try. I just ordered a pitman arm puller kit so that I can keep the frustration level down, should be here next week. Marty

I've reached the point where it is time for me to get the steering box in my 47 Business Coupe rebuilt. I've got a lot of freeplay that won't adjust out, and it is getting to be a little nerve-racking to drive down the narrow roads and bridges. Midwest Remanufacturing can remanufacture the gearbox, so I need to get it out of the car. I was looking at everything today, and noticed the pinchbolt that clamps the steering column outer tube to the steering box. It got me to wondering; would it be possible to remove the steering wheel and upper bearing, disconnect the pitman arm and the three mounting bolts from the frame, then separate the outer tube from the steering box and remove the steering box and steering shaft without having to disconnect the shift linkage and all of the other stuff connected to the steering column tube? I realize that if it works I would need a lot of room to get it out from under the car, but that won't be any different than if I pulled it out with the tube still attached. Has anyone ever tried this? Marty

Exactly the reason I'm concerned. Although granted the rear springs don't affect it much, i can hit the oil pan on the "road" into the ranch if I'm not careful, so going lower isn't an option. Don, were your new springs supposed to be "stock" or dropped? My car with dead stock rear springs and 1-1/2" lowering blocks is more than an inch lower than yours, although of course the tire height hasn't been factored in. Marty

I've been thinking about putting a set of Posie's rear springs on, but have a concern. I currently have 1-1/2" lowering blocks on a set of dying OEM springs (one side lower than the other), and the Poisie's springs are listed as being a 3" drop from stock. While I'm sure that my current setup is more than just the 1-1/2" drop that the blocks represent, I'm not sure that it would be as much as 3", and I don't want to drop lower than where I'm at now. Does anyone have an on-the-ground dimension for a loaded stock spring so that I could figure out where I'm actually at? Marty

The thing most people overlook is that by adding a second carb you are reducing the amount of air going through the carb at any given RPM by half. That alone will reduce the amount of fuel being pulled into the air flow. Marty

I was more impressed that a little old lady would know what a 6 inch flat bastard file was! Marty

Grundy also specified no one under 25. Marty

All of the stock heads do, but not all heads. I found out after a while that my Edmunds head was designed for a 1/2" reach plug, and had messed up threads because of running 3/8" plugs. That said, I have no idea whether any of the other aluminum heads use 3/8" or 1/2". Marty

I'm with Andy on this. Most of our cars have less than perfect ignition systems and carbs, and consequently sometime hiccup a bit, and the stronger ignition is much more likely to fire the fuel mix than a 60 year old setup. If you've got your carb and distributor perfectly dialed in you may not notice the difference, but for the rest of us ..... Marty

When I tried an extended reach plug it closed the gap on three plugs the first time I turned it over. Went back to a standard reach plug, no problems since then. Marty

I've had one for years, and quite like it. Unlike many here, I ran my vacuum advance off of manifold vacuum rather than ported vacuum from the carb, and feel it runs better that way. I don't think there is any horsepower gain, but do think it starts better, but my engine is so far from stock that it's probably an unfair comparison to a stock setup. Marty

I had talked to Hagerty about insuring my car, but as soon as I mentioned that I had 1-1/2" lowering blocks on the rear springs they said that they wouldn't cover the car. Grundy didn't care about the lowering blocks ...... Marty

I once ordered a steering wheel from Moore's. I specified that I wanted an unbroken original that only needed painting. He said no problem. What I received had both the rim and the arm broken with a piece missing, and the hub was cracked. He got very indignant when I told him I was returning the wheel for credit. I've never purchased anything from him since. Marty

Since it runs bad with both carbs, that makes me think that that you have a vacuum leak in the manifold. Any chance that the fitting for the wiper connection on the bottom of the manifold is wide open? Marty

I made a small manifold to attach my PCV system into the vacuum wiper hose location. My engine is nowhere near stock, but I didn't have to do anything to it when I hooked up the PCV system. Marty

I won't be making it this year; already had family plans for that weekend. Probably see you next year! Marty

Yes, we did it in the block, then put in new valve seats, then did a valve job on the whole thing. Marty