Dad's 1947 Lincoln coupe

[Dave Sherman]

On to a couple other projects while waiting for the tank to cure. On a whim, I thought I'd revisit the power(less) windows. When I had tried to roll them up to ship it here, all I got was a click. I assumed the window valve solenoids were working but the pump solenoid was not. Turns out the valves at the door cylinders are clicking, but there's also a healthy click from the pump solenoid. This evening's troubleshooting led to a bad find though. I was really hoping it would be something simple, but unfortunately, it appears the pump is seized. It's got a healthy Optima battery that has plenty of juice to crank the engine, but the battery voltage is drooping to about 4 volts when the solenoid clicks on. No smoke, thankfully, but clearly converting power to heat instead of motion. I did find a spare window pump in dad's supply of spare parts, so fingers crossed that it's still working after living in a box for the last 50 years or so.

Maybe I'll have better luck with the carburetor, got a rebuild kit since it's running lean. Could be a vacuum leak, but figured that carb probably hasn't been serviced in a very long time, and it's probably got lots of gunk in it.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Finally reaching the end of the tunnel with the gas tank. The POR15 kit did wonders and the inside is looking nice inside. Now on to the outside. Scraped off some road grime, wire brushed the loose rust, gave it a wash, primed it, and sprayed it with undercoating. Pardon my fat fingers in the first photo.

 

[Dave Sherman]

On to the power windows. Got the hydraulic pump out, and found the spare pump in the parts boxes. Taking the brush cover off, I was able to stick my fingers in the motor end of the existing pump, and it actually turns through about 45 degrees. Good, maybe it's not rusted solid, feels more like there's just some crud lodged in the pump gears. Tried the same on the spare pump, and that's a nope, it won't turn. Took a chance and took the impeller cover off on the spare, and there's not much to it inside. The spare appears to have some rust in the gears, but maybe since the other one does turn a little, I can clean the crud out of the gears and bring it back to life. Surprisingly, I expected to find lots of rust in the one I took out, but it was pretty clean inside. Need a new hose for the pump outlet, some new gaskets for the reservoir bowl and the filler cap, and some new rubber mounts, but thankfully those are all available.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Today's adventure, changing the differential and transmission oil. Good thing, it turns out the differential was low and it had some pretty nasty oil in it with some jelly-like goop in it. Fresh Mobil 1 75W-90 GL-5 for that, I haven't found anything indicating it has brass in the rear end. Found Penngrade 80W-90 GL-4 at Summit Racing that's nearby, and says it's intended for classic manual transmissions. Much to my surprise, the overdrive unit has a separate drain and fill - and it was nearly empty! Well, glad I checked. Turns out 2 quarts just wasn't quite enough to fill both, so tomorrow I'll return and pick up another quart. Trans oil had some small sparklies in it, so I'm glad I changed it. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the gas tank reinstalled, get the overdrive oil topped off, and maybe start on rebuilding the carburetor.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Done with the gas tank at last! Glad I thought to check out the sender before I put it all back together, because it turned out the sender needed some re-calibration first. I had to bend the float arm a bit because it was registering about half a tank even though the tank was empty. So, some experimenting with a resistor box and some tweaking of the float arm and it seems to be working more like it should. So, I covered the neck with tape so any loose dirt and rust doesn't fall in as I'm installing it, and between my wife guiding the neck up, my floor jack supporting it, and lots of eyeballing, the tank is back in! Got the filler hose connected, sender wires connected, and the fuel line went on without a hitch. Put a few gallons of gas with stabilizer in, and it's running off its own tank again! Now on to lean-running carburetor that needs some help from a couple puffs of carb cleaner to get it started.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Today's project, the carburetor. No idea when (or if) it was rebuilt. Well, it was pretty grimy on the outside, but my supplier helpfully sent a parts diagram of the carburetor with the rebuild kit, and they had a scan from a Ford service manual on how to rebuild it. Carb came out pretty easily, and as I started getting into it, I'm amazed I got it started. There was so much crud in it.

The float bowl was loaded with sediment, and no doubt it had migrated to the main and idle jets. Gaskets and o-rings had pretty much solidified. Some soaking in mineral spirits and some brushing with a paint brush did wonders for cleaning it up, and things came apart relatively easily. Jets are clear, the insides and outsides are cleaned, and it's ready to go back together.

 

[paulo57509]

I was expecting to see on old "tea-pot" Holley carburetor. I think those were used in the 1950's. I've never worked on one or seen one in operation. The parts store I worked at in the 1990's had a new one in the box.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Carb is cleaned, rebuilt, and it's reinstalled. What a difference! It started much more easily, and I heard a hissing under the dash. Turns out the vacuum line that goes to the power radio antenna and the former vacuum-powered wiper motor had come loose from the tubing where it goes through the firewall. Glad I found it, I was suspecting it might have a vacuum leak since it wouldn't run without some choke. Plugged it back in, and now it idles without the choke. Man, feels good to be getting it back to running condition. On to fixing the lighting and the power windows!

 

[Dave Sherman]

Today's progress, the power window pump. I managed to get the pump housing open, and with a few drops of oil I got the gears to free up. They cleaned up, but there's some pitting on the rotor lobes. There's a repair kit available, big shout out to Hydro-e-lectric who specializes in these old parts. There was some rusty sludge in the pressure relief valve, and the reservoir was rusty on the outside. Some Rust 911 took care of the reservoir, and after opening up the relief valve I've got the sludge out. Looks like this pump will clean up and work again. I've got new rubber mounts for it, and the motor turns freely.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Today, fixing exhaust leaks. It had a noticeable leak on the left side, right around something I though was a spacer. Once I got it apart, it turns out it's a heat riser valve, and there were some remnants of an old gasket. Polished it up with the Dremel, and added some Permatex Ultra Copper around the gaskets to help close it up. Guess we'll see if I was successful in 24 hours. Going back together, it seems it's easy to get the valve cockeyed on the studs, so I wonder if dad had it cockeyed and it wasn't seated. Looks even all around now.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Today's adventure, changing the differential and transmission oil. Good thing, it turns out the differential was low and it had some pretty nasty oil in it with some jelly-like goop in it. Fresh Mobil 1 75W-90 GL-5 for that, I haven't found anything indicating it has brass in the rear end.

I would recommend changing the diff and drivetrain fluids after a few hours of driving or maybe less. The new oil in there will get contaminated with residual sludge. So the new oil is basically a flush.

 

[Dave Sherman]

The exhaust leak is fixed, thankfully. Slightly embarrassing moment when I started it to check that the exhaust leak was fixed, and wanted to check the idle RPM. It has been running beautifully since the carb was fixed. After running for a few minutes It suddenly started running poorly, surging, and couldn't idle steadily. What the heck? Well, I had only put a couple gallons of gas in it when I put the gas tank back in, apparently just enough to cover the pickup. Sure enough, the sediment bowl on the fuel pump is bubbling because it's starting to get air bubbles instead of gas. Whoops! Dumped in 4 gallons from the jerry can, and it's running normally again. Despite my attempts to re-calibrate the aftermarket fuel sender, I guess 1/4 tank on the gauge is now "fumes". Next immediate project, refill gas can, dump in tank, repeat as necessary. Maybe even go fill the can at the Sheetz nearby, as rumor has it that all Sheetz have at least one pump with ethanol-free gas.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Picked up a photo tachometer to check the idle speed, and it's right in the ballpark, 375 RPM. Yep, that V-12 idles slooooow. Was checking out the generator under load, and after turning on the light switch, I was surprised that whatever ailed the running lights and taillights has mysteriously fixed itself. Still might need to give the headlight switch a looking over, but the rest of the lights are working now:

 

[Ronn]

On to a couple other projects while waiting for the tank to cure. On a whim, I thought I'd revisit the power(less) windows. When I had tried to roll them up to ship it here, all I got was a click. I assumed the window valve solenoids were working but the pump solenoid was not. Turns out the valves at the door cylinders are clicking, but there's also a healthy click from the pump solenoid. This evening's troubleshooting led to a bad find though. I was really hoping it would be something simple, but unfortunately, it appears the pump is seized. It's got a healthy Optima battery that has plenty of juice to crank the engine, but the battery voltage is drooping to about 4 volts when the solenoid clicks on. No smoke, thankfully, but clearly converting power to heat instead of motion. I did find a spare window pump in dad's supply of spare parts, so fingers crossed that it's still working after living in a box for the last 50 years or so.

Maybe I'll have better luck with the carburetor, got a rebuild kit since it's running lean. Could be a vacuum leak, but figured that carb probably hasn't been serviced in a very long time, and it's probably got lots of gunk in it.

Gorgeous car

 

[TheLastWord]

Gorgeous car


View attachment 241433

Do you have a link for that sale?

 

[Dave Sherman]

Gorgeous car


View attachment 241433

Thank you for the photo! Now that's interesting, on another forum somebody thought I have the hood logo and hood ornament from a '46. I see what they mean. Dad doesn't know whether somebody changed those items before he had it, but I wonder if it was a case of it was an early '47 and maybe they had some '46 pieces to use up. The VIN on the frame makes it a '47.

 

[Ronn]

Do you have a link for that sale?

No, but it indicates that it sold in the corner.

 

[Dave Sherman]

New repair kit for the pump arrived. Only problem, one of the rotor seals is supposed to have a locating tab to keep it from rotating. It has a tab, but whoever made it didn't bend it. Grrr.... Stout steel too, I think the old one was copper. Took some persuasion with the pliers to bend the little tab without bending the rest of it.

It was strangely satisfying when you have to use the ginormous pry bar that sometimes functions as a screwdriver to get the shaft seal out. Yep, that rubber was crispy, so I'm glad I decided to change it since the kit came with a new one. Although that side looks pretty dirty, that is the motor side of the pump. That's all for today though. New parts are ready, but I should probably pick up some fresh brake fluid to lubricate the parts as I put it back together.

 

[Dave Sherman]

It's been far too long since I've been wrenching on the Lincoln. Today's progress: Getting the window pump reinstalled. New rubber mounts, new hydraulic hose, new elbow fitting, and refilled with fresh brake fluid. Almost made a colossal snafu when I put the pump in, completely forgetting that the battery was connected, so the fat wires that connect to the pump solenoid were live . Well, that would not be good! Disconnected the battery, bolted up the pump mounts, reconnected the wires, and success! Had the wife hit the window switch while pointing the hose in the used oil bottle, and it's pumping! Now to get the door panels off so I can get to the window cylinders and make sure they aren't frozen. Seems I need some more tools, looks like I need a punch to drive out the dowel pins to get the vent cranks off the door interior.

 

[TheLastWord]

It's been far too long since I've been wrenching on the Lincoln. Today's progress: Getting the window pump reinstalled. New rubber mounts, new hydraulic hose, new elbow fitting, and refilled with fresh brake fluid. Almost made a colossal snafu when I put the pump in, completely forgetting that the battery was connected, so the fat wires that connect to the pump solenoid were live . Well, that would not be good! Disconnected the battery, bolted up the pump mounts, reconnected the wires, and success! Had the wife hit the window switch while pointing the hose in the used oil bottle, and it's pumping! Now to get the door panels off so I can get to the window cylinders and make sure they aren't frozen. Seems I need some more tools, looks like I need a punch to drive out the dowel pins to get the vent cranks off the door interior.

View attachment 247246

Nice to see you back in action. I get a little stir crazy when I don't see a new post on this worthwhile project.

As for a punch in an emergency................. use an old drill bit of appropriate size. Broken, shank end , etc.

I do that often in tight spots, limited access, punch too long, etc.