First Drive (in the yard)

After getting the brakes put together in December I totally slacked off for four months. I was busy with other things. Now I am back at it. There were still a few little things to do on the car before taking the first test drive. The carburetors were still leaking gas out of the throats so I switched from the electric fuel pump back to the original diaphragm fuel pump. After looking at it closely I realized that it had probably been rebuilt so I thought it might work.

Diaphragm fuel pump

I did this because it is possible that the electric fuel pump was overwhelming the float needle valves. An electric fuel pump puts the same amount of pressure out no matter what the engine speed is. The diaphragm fuel pump increases the fuel delivered as the engine revs up so, at low RPM, the fuel pressure should be much lower. That was the theory, anyway.

I also had to figure out why the battery was not being charged when the engine was on. I traced the wiring and discovered that the fat wire going from the voltage regulator to the starter was just green dust for several inches. I replaced the bad section of the wire and re-mounted the voltage regulator on new rubber grommets.

The two carburetors with the air log removed.

Now it was time to start the car and see whether my repairs worked. It was hard starting since the car had sat for four months. The diaphragm fuel pump is a lot slower to suck gas from the tank than the electric pump was. Eventually it started and, lucky me, the charging light was off and the battery was charging.

I did not have the air log attached to the carburetors because I wanted to see if gas was still leaking out of the throats. The throttle return spring attaches to the air log so I had to improvise one from a bungie cord. It looked funny but it worked. After the car had warmed up a bit I stuck my finger in each of the carb throats to feel if there was gasoline. Only one of the four throats was damp - a significant improvement.

So the car is running and I have brakes. Why not take it for a drive around the yard? I grabbed the video camera, handed it to my wife, Nita, and prepared for its first, very short, drive in over 30 years. Here is the video.

You will notice white smoke coming out of the exhaust at the end of the video. This is because the one carburetor is still running too rich. I figure that I need to remove the float and needle valve on the offending carb and soak it in carburetor cleaner. That might do the trick.

I only drove it in the yard for two reasons. None of the lights work. No brake lights or turn signals or anything. And I haven't insured the car yet. It is not yet legal. My next step is to work on the electrical system and try to get all the lights and instruments working.

I started with the horn. It was pretty easy. I cleaned all the fuse connections and, when I was done, the horn worked. Next I worked on the brake lights. Once again, sanding the connections with 220 grit emery paper did the trick. I didn't have to do any re-wiring. The brake light bulbs work but I don't have a working switch.

This is a bit of a story. The early master cylinders had a port in the end where a pressure-actuated switch controlled the brake lights. The later master cylinders did not have this port. Instead there was a Y-connector attached to the brake booster where the pressure switch would mount. I needed to replace the master cylinder but the early style was not available. I could only get the later style. My brake booster does not have the Y-connector so there is no place to attach the switch. I am considering going with a generic mechanical switch instead of messing with the brake lines.

On to the next bit of electrical fun. The gas gauge was not working. I tried wiring the sending unit a couple of different ways but the gauge either was pinned at full or pinned at empty. I re-checked the wiring at the sending unit and was temporarily confused because there were three wires connected to it and the wiring diagram said there was only supposed to be two. I traced the wires and discovered that one of them was an extra ground wire. Instead of fixing the stock ground wire, someone just added another wire and attached it to the chassis in a different place. I tested the gauge after I restored the wiring to what it was supposed to be but the gauge was still pinned at full.

I took the sending unit out of the tank and connected an ohm meter to it to see if different positions of the float had different resistances. It seemed to be working fine. The problem must be either in the wiring from the tank to the gauge or at the gauge itself.

The wiring was fine so I removed the gauge from the dashboard and checked the connections. The little rings on the ends of the two wires had red paint on them from when the car was repainted. I sanded the connectors and re-connected them. Still not working. On a whim I reversed the wires at the gauge and tested again. This time it worked! It was wired backwards!

There is very little room behind the dashboard to work on stuff. There are way too many wires and cables back there! While I was trying to get the fuel gauge out, the speedometer fell out. It was just pressed in its hole but not attached. Trying to get it back in and attached properly is a bear. I still haven't gotten it in correctly. I just found out that, instead of the nuts I used to attach the mounting bracket, I am supposed to be using these little brass knurled knobs. I wonder if I even have those?

I am happy to be making progress again with the car. Tracing each electrical problem is slow work but I am getting there. The next electrical project is to get the turn signals working. Stay tuned!