She's a Driver!

The first bit of good news is that I solved the brake problem.  Thanks to the internet, I got in touch with some people who told me what the problem might be and then got me connected with a shop that sold me the part I needed.  The problem was that, when I went to the dual bowl master cylinder, the stock push rod from the brake pedal to the master cylinder was too short.  Here is a picture of the stock part.  The eye fits over a pin on the brake pedal lever.  When you push on the pedal the rod pushes on the piston in the master cylinder on the other side of the firewall:

And here is a picture of the new part:




It has a turnbuckle-type arrangement that allows the length of the push rod to be adjustable.  Once I replaced the push rod with this one, I lengthened it until the brakes were just starting to drag and then backed it off a little.  Sounds easy enough, but working under the dash to get the old push rod out and the new one in and adjusted was an absolute pain, but the brake pedal was now high and firm.  The brake performance is still not quite what I would like to see, but I think that is because the pads need to conform to the rotors better.  I can see by the wear pattern in the rust on the rotors that they are not making 100% contact.  A few miles should do the trick. 

Now that I had that problem solved it was time to get the wheel alignment done and the exhaust system installed.  But first Brian came down and we added some more bling......... stainless steel fender bolts and billet aluminum upper shock brackets.

On Monday after Brian left I rented a U-haul car dolly, and using Brian's truck to pull it, I loaded up the car and hauled it to the engine builder to get the final adjustment on the distributor.  I guess I had it close, but it still needed some changes:

Unloaded at the machine shop.

I was glad to know the odometer showed the mileage I had towed the car, proving the speedo cable was operating properly:

I loaded the car back on the dolly and hauled it over to the alignment shop.  They were not open on Monday, but were kind enough to meet me at the shop and store the car inside so it could be safe:

 
I then turned the trailer back in to the U-haul dealer. 

Tuesday I drove down to the shop after they had completed the alignment, and since the alignment shop and the muffler shop were only a mile are so apart, I drove the car over there.  I tried to take it easy, but I still set off a car alarm when I passed by.  But no ticket.  The good news is the car steered MUCH better.  I had eyeballed the alignment and ended up with 5 degrees of tow-OUT rather than the correct degree or so of tow-in. 

I left the car at the muffler shop:

Wednesday afternoon I got the call that the exhaust system was done and drove down to get the car.  They did a real nice job on the exhaust:

Then came the final test; I drove the car the 25 miles to my house.  It sounded great and ran fine........and IT WAS A DRIVER.  Definitely not like our new 2014 Honda Accord, but very acceptable.  It's going to take a little time to get used to it, just like any new vehicle.  Finding just where the gears are in the pattern is one of the first habits to learn, but all four gears are there.  Another nice thing to learn is that the car is pretty darn powerful.....lots of strong acceleration and a real torque master. 

Tonight I am a very relieved and happy man.  This was a huge three-year project and I was never confident I could pull it off.  I have heard lots of horror stories of half finished projects sold at a great loss, but this is not going to be one of them.  Without the internet and the help from my local parts guy, Del Pro Specialties, I wouldn't have had a chance. 

There are still a bunch of small things to do......install rear seat belts, get the radio sorted out, change the lube in the differential, get the brake pads seated, fix the minor oil leak in the drain plug gasket, etc.  I think an old car like this can be something you are always messing with for one reason or another.