Faulkner gets a Redo

[Faulkner]

My fuel system woes continued today. The new fuel pump arrived - that bolted on easy enough - and I used yellow teflon tape on all pipe threads (i.e., not flare fittings), on the pump and on the glass bowl filter. I put the new fitting on the output side of the filter, snugged down the fuel line, and gave it a crank. Doncha know Faulkner fired right up! And gasoline was everywhere…

I wiped everything down, and removed the steel line between the filter and the carb. You know, those steel flares look clean as a whistle, I don’t get it. So I backed out the brass fitting I just bought at NAPA, and gave it a closer inspection…

Damn! It’s for an SAE 45 fitting, there’s no seat for the flare!

I’m hoping it’s just this fitting that’s giving me grief now. I want to keep the glass bowl filter, but I don’t know if that rubber grommet is still good and contributing to the leak. (Hard to tell with gas spraying everywhere.) I got new parts for it 14 years ago, from Claude at Fuel Pumps A2Z. They used to have a website back then, but it’s now defunct. There’s this Facebook page with a phone number, maybe I’ll call them tomorrow and see if they’re still in business. I can make out the P/N for the Carter filter - 2146397 - and there are plenty of used ones on eBay, I would just like to buy new parts for it.

So, I’m on the hunt for the right fitting. The flared tubing is 5/16" OD, the fitting for the flare is 1/2", and the NPT to the filter is 1/4". I doubt Lowes has it, but I’ll check in the morning.

In other news, I slapped the brakes back together on the passenger rear (where I had replaced the seals), I used a little emory cloth to break the glaze on the old shoes like my old man showed me. They just have to work well enough to get to the shop, where all new parts will be installed. I didn’t bleed the cylinder yet, I just didn’t have the heart to take that on at the end of the day.

Family is coming this weekend! It remains to be seen, if I get the U-joint in the driveshaft and put that back in with whatever time is left. And the days are growing short…

[Dick_Koch]

Dan for info only. The yellow Teflon tape you are using is for gas, as in household, not for gasoline! Ace has a compound for threads on gasoline fittings, our ace has reverse flare fittings, but a small selection. My source is NAPA.
Dick

[Faulkner]

Dick, yeah - the use of yellow teflon tape is hotly debated on the H.A.M.B. boards, where some guys say they use it with great success, and others say avoid like the plague. I’ve never had a problem, but there’s always a first time.

The interesting thing I’ve just read is that the tape isn’t intended to seal - it’s intended to lubricate the threads so that they turn deeper. Teflon paste actually does seal (and this is what I used on the transmission kick-down adjustment, you may recall), so I guess I’ll take things apart and use the paste instead.

[Faulkner]

I spent the morning running around - NAPA, Ace, Lowe’s, and a specialty plumbing store. No one could match up the fitting I need.

But Google to the rescue, and - I guess - Amazon. It comes in a package of ten, but I’ve already spent 20 bucks on gas, what the hell.

From the Eaton (Weatherhead) catalog

Kiddies are coming, life is short, and I’m wasting time. I’m gonna pull the trigger on this.

[RICKYMOPAR]

Just an old mechanic trick… I found that sealing the pipe thread into the pot-metal fuel filter top, I paint the brass threaded part with old fashion nail polish and assemble immediately do not over tighten, some strange reason this has worked for me every time. even with todays corn-gas.

[Faulkner]

I couldn’t find Mary Kay’s nail polish, and I’m fresh out of my own , so I went with Permatex hi-temp thread sealant instead for the fuel line. I redid the fittings between the filter and the pump, and the filter to the carb - maybe tomorrow, I’ll crawl under the car and redo the input to the pump.

Also got the driveshaft back in, and bled the brakes. For a couple bucks I picked up a syringe on Amazon, it made short work of filling the master brake cylinder so @#$@&#!! close to the bellows. Thank goodness the bend in the brake tubing on the axle housing kept air from propagating elsewhere - it didn’t take many pumps of the pedal to clear all bubbles from the fluid coming out. For sure, the brakes will be good enough to back it out of the driveway.

Yeah, that’s the space heater running in the corner. Takes the chill off nicely!

Soon I’ll be mounting the old tires (new ones, after the repaint) and putting Faulkner back on Terra Firma, the first time in three years. I reinstated my classic car insurance - on hold during this period - and tomorrow, I’ll run by John Hauser’s Drexel Automotive and discuss plans for redoing the brakes and exhaust. This is getting so real!

[Faulkner]

Oh yeah - topped off the pumpkin with 90W gear oil

[Faulkner]

I redid the inlet to the fuel pump with Permatex thread sealant, but I’m not too happy with the rubber fuel line I installed - or, the clamps. So I drove over to Ace hardware with the fitting from the old pump, and the older gentleman that runs the shop took me directly to rubber fuel line for mowers and lawn tractors. Doncha know it was the perfect size! The Gates stuff I bought was 1/16" too big - and Ace had the perfect screw clamps too. It took some effort to get the rubber over the bead on the fittings, but tight is just fine with me. Faulkner fired right up, I let it run for a few seconds to build pressure in the line, and ran back to the engine compartment, fearing the worst…


No leaks!! What is it about Ace, and the older guys you find working there?

Drexel Automotive thinks they can do the brakes and the exhaust in a day, since I have all the parts (except for the aluminized lead pipes, which they will make up). Thursday evening, the flatbed comes - I’ll have Faulkner in the street, he’ll spend the evening inside the shop for work on Friday. I’ll try to get pix, if they let me in the garage. I only got two tires on before I called it a day, after work this week I’ll get it back on the ground and back it out of the garage to test the brakes.

40 F in Upper Darby - but the perfect temperature inside the Faulkner garage! That little space heater really takes the edge off. I plan to keep it '59 in here, all the time…

Wouldn’t those wheels look good in bronze?!

loaded up with parts

[Faulkner]

I raced home after work, and got out to the garage. I got the other two tires on, and then began the parade around the car to lower it off the jackstands. What a pain in the butt! I forgot what a challenge it was to get it up in the air like that. I didn’t remember that in addition to my full size floor jack, I must have used my mini-hydraulic to hold one side of the front in the air, and then incrementally lower it first on one side, then the other, to get the front on the ground.

Finally back on the ground! Faulkner seems so much lower now But with all that running around, I didn’t want to deal with the stress of something going wrong - so I’ll back the car out tomorrow night to test the brakes. The driveshaft turns freely with the emergency off, and not when it’s on - so I’ve got that as backup.

Bearing a remarkable semblance to Christine at this point!

I’ll want to change clothes for the driving test anyway - wouldn’t want to get any grime on the upholstery

And yes, Ron - I cut the neighbor’s tree back!

[Faulkner]

Oh Noes! I guess I’ll be postponing Faulkner’s trip to the shop Thursday night.

I’ll call tomorrow, to see if they can accommodate on Tuesday (for a Monday night flatbed)…

[Faulkner]

Faulkner was out of the garage for the first time in three years today! Under his own power, brakes working fine, transmission shifting fine…

Yeah, I’m going to let the body shop sort out the hood corners. You still have to wiggle the hood from side to side to get it up, and I don’t want to bend the corners

But oh man, he STEERED… LIKE… A… YACHT!! I popped the hood when I got back in, and the pump reservoir was bone dry. It pumped all of the fluid into new empty hoses, and to replace whatever sprayed out when I turned the wheels while undercoating. I filled it back up, hopefully I’ll have some power assist on Monday evening when the flatbed comes.

But I feel comfortable backing down the drive now, without taking out the hydrant across the street.

[Mark_Merritt]

Dan; It is getting there !!! It is nice to have them back to running. Motor sounds nice. You guy’s get some snow? We got 13" last Saturday and A little ice and snow Thursday night. Mark

[Faulkner]

Thanks Mark! Yeah, this was the scene yesterday morning…

But it warmed up a bit, and now it’s largely gone. 13 inches?!? Bloody heck, and it ain’t even winter yet - not for another month.

[Faulkner]

I need some advice guys - before Tuesday.

Here’s a diagram from the Shop Manual, along with a photo of someone’s undercarriage I saved along with my “To Do” list. See the difference?

When I bought the mufflers from Ed Eckerson, I asked him the question:

@Dan

Which end of the muffler is the engine side? The end with the center pipe, or the off center? And, is off center towards the center of the car, or the outside of the car?

Ed replied:

@Ed

The mufflers have the center outlet forward-- and the side opening to the outboard side for the rear.

The photo corroborates Ed’s assessment, but the Shop Manual does not! Not only are the side openings forward, they are inboard, not outboard.

What’s correct?!?

[Faulkner]

I had a convo with Ed this morning - this is what he said:

@Ed Eckerson

I was correct–your exhaust job is correct.
I checked the 57/58 IPB–totally backwards too.

I am going to do some further checking but I do know that in later years–things were reversed (offset inlet and middle outlet).
ALSO–The FACTORY tail pipes were 1 3/4" for the 57-59 318s with duals… But all replacements were 2".
Figure that!!!

It is therefore possible that original stuff was as the book shows, but later replacements were as we have them.
…
Here is an afterthought—I was able to get OEM tail pipe hangars for the 59 when I restored her.
I can honestly say there is NO WAY they would work if the tail pipe came from the inboard side of the muffler.

ED

Good enough for me - I’m going with the photo.

[Dick_Koch]

No. 1 - ACE /OLD GUY’S - Watch if Morton.

No. 2 - Wheels should match exhaust pipes and mufflers unless the Valance is Bronze then they should be Bronze too.
Dick

[Faulkner]

Dick! “Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man!” I’m just sayin’.

I backed Faulkner out of the garage and onto the street this afternoon - the first time he’s been past the swinging gates I put up for the dog I never got. But I digress.

Steering was a bear! I said:

@Dan

I popped the hood when I got back in, and the pump reservoir was bone dry. It pumped all of the fluid into new empty hoses, and to replace whatever sprayed out when I turned the wheels while undercoating. I filled it back up, hopefully I’ll have some power assist on Monday evening when the flatbed comes.

D’Oh! What about the reservoir itself?!? So yes, I’m down some serious quantity of fluid - when I checked it on the street, bone dry again, and no leaks. I guess it’s going to take a few iterations of steering to get the reservoir where it needs to be. But even at the shop, it was still manual steering. Maybe I’ve introduced a steering problem - I dunno.

that sign on the hood reads "LIFT BACK CORNERS UP BY WIGGLING FROM HERE – DONOT* JUST LIFT THE HOOD. AFTER CORNERS UP, THEN LIFT FROM FRONT"

battening down the hatches

Faulkner arrives at the shop

(sigh)… Here’s a pic that Chris Neapolitan just sent me from the Simeone Museum, when he worked there and Matthew and I visited with his friend Stefan a few years ago. Faulkner in his glory days. It will get better, right?

Faulkner at Simeone

[Dick_Koch]

No better feeling than getting closer and closer to desert! Lucas has an additive for power steering leaks.
Dick

[Faulkner]

I swear, sometimes I’m my own worst enemy. John asked me tonight if I had put standard power steering fluid in the reservoir, which I had. He said he thought it should be ATF - I checked the shop manual, and sure enough, it is - Type “A”, the modern equivalent is Dexron II or III from what I’ve read:

John’s going to drain it and put new fluid in. Ka-ching Ka-ching! Oh well, this is my Christmas gift to myself (wait: That’s the Suburban ), so let the chips fall where they may.

John’s shop is jammed with people out for the holiday, but I said no worries, as long as it’s inside overnight. They are still trying to sort out what to do with the exhaust.

[Faulkner]

On my way to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner at my brother’s, I stopped by Drexel Hill Automotive to check on Faulkner, and confirm that he was indeed in the garage. I took this shot through the garage door window. He looks so lonely in there!