Today, got the hazard flasher put back together and reconnected. Got it back in place, and noticed that the driver's side courtesy light was out again. Darn thing has been driving me up the wall as it comes and goes. Found out the bullet connector that goes over the hazard switch was being flaky. Got it replaced, put it back together, and that's when I found the frayed spot on the wire the hard way. It bumped the body of the hazard switch and SPARK! Yikes! No damage, thankfully. Got some heat shrink tubing on that section of wire, and got it lashed out of the way. Now the courtesy light is working reliably, the hazard flasher is working, and I got the aftermarket reverse lights working again.
Dad's 1947 Lincoln coupe
- Thread starter Dave Sherman
- Start date
I've got the new wires bundled into the loom material, and almost got them routed into place. One of the screws for the clips that holds the harness in place was also the screw that held the coolant recovery tank in place. That's another one of dad's modifications, it didn't have one originally, the coolant overflow just discharged onto the road. The inside of this tank was pretty messy, and I couldn't see the coolant level. Surprisingly, toilet bowl cleaner and a bottle brush works quite well for cleaning these things. Seems wire handled bottle brushes are a thing of the past, because I needed to bend it to reach it all. That's OK, the plastic handled ones bend pretty easily if you heat them over a heat gun.
Do you know how many. miles were on it when your dad picked it up? Original block and engine? A guy that used to ferry passengers from my local Nissan dealership was a hoot. Walt said his dad had a Hudson that the engine was shot at 40k miles and he helped his dad rebuild it on the shop workbench.
The wiring harness came out nicely, and it looks nice. Got it all routed and tucked away, and it's all working.
Just when I thought things were progressing along, Murphy had to throw a wrench into things. The right side water pump (there are two) decided to let go. It's dripping coolant at a pretty good rate. The left side probably isn't far behind, it's very wet.
Fortunately, there's a guy who specializes in rebuilding them. I could buy a kit and do it myself, but I'm not confident in my ability. I reached out to him, and his price is pretty reasonable. Took me 3 hours, and the service manual doesn't mention that you pretty much have to take the distributor off first. The water pumps are off, they are reasonably degreased, and the rebuilder is ready for them. Guess while he's rebuilding them, it's a good time to revisit the window pump.
Just when I thought things were progressing along, Murphy had to throw a wrench into things. The right side water pump (there are two) decided to let go. It's dripping coolant at a pretty good rate. The left side probably isn't far behind, it's very wet.
Fortunately, there's a guy who specializes in rebuilding them. I could buy a kit and do it myself, but I'm not confident in my ability. I reached out to him, and his price is pretty reasonable. Took me 3 hours, and the service manual doesn't mention that you pretty much have to take the distributor off first. The water pumps are off, they are reasonably degreased, and the rebuilder is ready for them. Guess while he's rebuilding them, it's a good time to revisit the window pump.
Not sure how many miles when dad got it, but he thinks it may have rolled over once before got it. It has rolled over once he's owned it. It's either got 130,000 or 230,000 miles on it now. Not the original block though, he had a parts car and rebuilt the engine from that one. The original engine is in pieces in the back of my garage.
No news on the water pumps yet, but it's only been a little over a week, and the guy was projecting 3 weeks to rebuild them. I got back to the window pump, and the first surprise was while it was sitting in the trunk, it didn't take long for the relief valve to get stuck again, necessitating some penetrating oil and getting it to move freely again. I bought a new solenoid, and now it runs without the terminals getting hot. However, still no fluid coming out of the outlet. Called up Hydro-e-lectric, and looks like I'll be shipping it off to their experts to give it a clean bill of health.
Really eager to drive it for the first time, especially now that it has working lights again. Oh well, Hydro-e-lectric says it's only about a 1 week turnaround on the window pump, so if I get it off to them this week, maybe I'll have rebuilt water pumps arriving about the same time.
Really eager to drive it for the first time, especially now that it has working lights again. Oh well, Hydro-e-lectric says it's only about a 1 week turnaround on the window pump, so if I get it off to them this week, maybe I'll have rebuilt water pumps arriving about the same time.
