Ivan_B

In BC? Isn't that expected to get a bit cold, icy, and salty by now?

Well, it is up to you. I just prefer to take vintage things of value out of daily use to preserve them in enjoyable authentic condition for as long as possible and, maybe, even pass along to someone else. That's all. Not exactly a museum-type person (although I'd certainly had one if I was rich) but a useful preservationist for sure

That is true, although, I would suggest not using your classic in adverse weather I've also heard of individuals using plastic panels, but would probably not do that myself since plastic in a classic is kind of wrong for my taste ? A waterproof plywood is probably a better alternative.

The cards look like thick construction cardboard. I figured they were not DIY by the look of those clean cuts Why didn't you just do a normal (cheap/simple) upholstery? I don't think it would be more expensive... Most of it is your time and labor. All you really need is a card (could've DIY that) a piece of soft underlayer and some fabric from a store. Assuming your card is thick enough, you fold the fabric over the edge and clip it to the card with upholstery stapler. Done. Even simpler solution - buy a good weight rug by yard, cut it, sew some trim over the edges (or have it overlocked by the carpet store) and use it as your door card. For reference - the fabric for my whole car cost like $137; but I did have the old cards and everything else in place.

The engine (pistons/valves) is not shuck anymore, since you've fixed it, correct? You do not drain the oil from the block when adding a little into the cylinders for conservation purposes.

Small update: I did some more tests with the ignition noise in the radio. Adding a filter condenser to the ignition coil power did not help. Neither did shielding the coil inside the car with some metal. Engine/body/exhaust grounds appear to be good. It seems I am getting the interference from the ignition wires, since my little digital AM radio goes dead if I bring it too close to the wires. I have to power-cycle it completely to get it to work again.

Okay, it must be that coronal discharge, mentioned earlier. I pulled the boots off the plugs, checked the connectors, the glow is coming from where the porcelain goes into the plug's body down the engine. It is not coming from the plug/wire junction. Looks like a false alarm ? Tried to film it, but the camera would not pick it up. Probably similar to what's going on at the Kamioka Observatory ?

I don;t believe it's sticking anymore, they fixed it. As for winter conservation, I suspect that fogging oil in a spray can works better because it gets everywhere, especially if you crank the engine (carb and coil disconnected) while spraying it into the plug hole, as instructed.

Sounds like a plan. Or, you can just take a look at your current radio to see whether or not it works... Basically, you need a working stock radio to go with the DIY AM transmitter route. And this is exactly what's going on. Wires are copper core, plugs - non-resistor. I was sniffing around the car with another AM radio, I am getting the ticking/tapping noise from around the generator, voltage regulator, and the coil (sitting right next to my radio inside the cabin). I am still thinking about whether I should install shielded ignition wires, or try to put some filter caps on the coil, etc. Using a modern stereo setup is a good solution, especially if you do not have the radio in there. My car came equipped with the OEM radio (with a paper warranty tag), so the whole point was to get it working and then use it with my own music to enjoy the good-old warm tube sound

For sure... If you need some sound insulation, you'll have to rely on laying down some loose sheet material. Disadvantage? Maybe, but it can always be easily removed for inspection/service later on

I was doing an "engine running in the dark" test, and noticed that all of the plugs are sort of glowing blue in the dark. The glow appears to be "ticking" together with the engine RPM... There is no arching, or anything like that. It looks like the glow is coming from inside the wire boots. The sparks are new, the wires are not new but seems to be performing according to specs. ? Is this normal? Can someone please take a look at your engine in the dark?

That's a good tip, I'll try that once I get to it. I also need to check my drums with a dial, and probably grind down the shoes for proper contact ? Have you attempted to look for a used steering box to see how it works? I cannot image it being worn so much that rebuilding does not work... Also, is yours adjustable? I once had a more modern car with an extremely bad steering wheel play (worm gear type). The adjustment took about 2 minutes, and worked great (no play)

Well, you can probably run it for a minute, but I would not recommend doing that. Chances are, you'll toss this engine anyway, sooner or later. Did you ever drive an air-cooled motorcycle? You would usually feel the cylinder head by hand; once it is too hot to touch, it is ready to roll. During hot weather, it takes less than a minute to warmup. Well, the air-cooled engines are fine because they have larger gaps, but if you heat-up a normal engine like that, you can get it heat-seized. In general, I would not be testing the engine with the radiator disconnected, etc., period. If you are planning to fix it, you need to fix everything, anyway I know you did not ask, but I still think you guys should get a different car, which you can readily-enjoy. This one sounds like it will be off the rod for a long time. Think about it - you could've been driving around, right now, and asking how to do the regular maintenance, instead of messing with all this ?

I know, I am just joking. Florida winter - is the classic car driving season... Things are obviously quite different up north. How are your brakes doing? Did you have those properly installed and adjusted? Fluid flushed, hoses, lines, cylinder seals brand new?

Do it, do it now, you'll like it! ? The volume on the OEM Philco? Of course! You can blow the speaker out with that thing. I am only listening at around 25-30% of the volume, right now. No alterations were done to the radio itself, what so ever, I am just feeding the radio signal by wire into the stock antenna. Drove the car around town, today, the "radio" is working pretty cool. Although, I am picking some static from the running engine. Checked - appears to be unrelated to my setup because it is there even with the transmitter turned off, and it fluctuates with the engine RPM. This is probably the ignition system or the generator. I'll look into ways to get rid of it, over the week.

I am finally driving while it is not too hot... Planning to go through the whole winter ?

It depends. Corrosion can form just from the humid air, and you will not see anything under the undercoating, until the metal is completely gone and you poke it with a screw driver. Even old guns stored inside bags with cosmoline sometimes rust because there are air pockets in there... I do not believe that this is a proper way to do body work. Same as fiberglass, by the way. This is just an old-school DIY hobby molding material, back when 3D printers were not available

That's right, I am not using any controls, don't need to. The module seems to remember the volume settings, though, and the last track played. If you want controls and a display - there are slightly larger modules available with these, some have a touch-panel interface and a remote as well I am still in the process of figuring-out why putting on the metal cover on the box slightly decreases the sound quality... Maybe I am tapping into my transmitter for wired signal at the wrong place? ?

How do you get the signal into the radio, just connected it to the speaker? That is not what I wanted. Also, I don't like the necessity of playing around with the phone or other playback devices. My setup allows me to listen to the actual radio and, since I just uploaded 825 songs to the USB stick, it starts playing on its own as soon as I flip the switch

As long as you have coolant inside - yes.

I went with a completely different approach. The problem with most coatings is that you need to have a factory-clean metal, otherwise, it will not work well. Moreover, it is difficult to clean rusty metal seams, etc. As for the bead-liner spray, and other thick coatings - these are even worse (in some way) because they look perfect on the outside while you have rust going on underneath. Once I had the interior out, I used liquid/oil undercoating. There are a few options available, I went with the Canadian Rust Cure Formula 3000 because it has great reviews. Ordered a gallon jug and a couple of spray cans. Applied it mostly everywhere with a brush and sprayed inside the doors, etc., where I could not reach. I really like the way it works. You don't have to clean anything, it just soaks what ever you have and, supposedly, stops it from getting worse. A small drop, at high ambient temperature, is really spreading well into all kind of places. The only disadvantage is no protection from elements. So if the car is driven in adverse weather, this is supposed to be applied again once per season. In my case, however, this is not applicable. I placed some construction cardboard over it, so that it does not soak up into the upholstery. I am planning to do the outside of the car, rockers, and other hidden cavities, a bit later.

Since the OEM Philco tube radio was fixed, I was planning to install an AM transmitter, so that I can broadcast my own music into the radio. There are a few commercial solutions available for home and auto use but I don't like them. Inspired by this video, I've decided to make my own. The idea was very simple: make a small device which would work on 6 volt and broadcast MP3 from a USB stick. Since I am not very electronically inclined, like the person in the aforementioned video, I've decided to rely upon readily available components. Here is what I came up with: AMT-MW207 radio transmitter (these are available at various sources), bought my from E-Bay, from USA, for $27, shipped. A DIY assembly kit was ~$10 cheaper, but I figured that an already assembled version is better. You can order these even cheaper directly from China, but you'll have to wait for the delivery. Although, in my case, the postal service shipped it to Puerto Rico, by mistake, so I waited for an extra two weeks for it to return back to the mainland MP3 player module, I've got this one for $6.49. There are plenty of different options available. I just needed something to play MP3 from a USB stick. Chose with this one because it runs on 5 volts USB power supply. Power converter module. I chose this for $2.99. There are a lot of different options; I looked for two ports, high power output, and medium price. The plan was to power both MP3 player and the AM transmitter with the same power source (and preferably not directly to the car's battery), and it worked well! Here is everything connected on the bench for testing: And here is the final version, mounted inside a small metal box: The sound quality is good! I am injecting the RF into the aerial antenna adapter to eliminate the unnecessary air gap. The transmitter is extremely close-range, so it would not work well otherwise, anyway. It seems that when I install the cover on, the sound quality gets worse. Not sure why, since I am transmitting the signal by wire. I suppose I just have no idea what I am doing here. I've left the cover off, for now, and will probably just cover it with cloth to keep the dust away. This way, it is also easier to change the USB stick, if I want to. I considered mounting it outside, but decided against that, so that I have everything inside a single box. So, if you'd like to broadcast your own music into an old radio, this is very much doable.

I would normally use the manual throttle control for that.

Dry the plugs with an open flame, that should help.

Thank you for the information. I think rockauto sells them as well. Anyway, I've seen cheap Monroe shocks somewhere. Wanted to replace mine, but then concluded that the old ones were still good (the car does not seem to bounce). If I am not too lazy, I might take them off for additional testing some time in the future.