Becoming Drivable

Got the manifolds reinstalled but still have a slight exhaust leak at the exhaust pipe/manifold connection (we can get this resolved).  With engine operable again we confirmed the charging system was not working.  Took alternator and external voltage regulator to local Woods Battery - turns out it's a Delco alternator and regulator, and the regulator was bad but alternator was fine, putting out 60 amps.  Was really cheap to replace the regulator.  Charging system works fine now, over 13 volts on the dash gauge.  Also removed the oil pressure light from the wiring and installed it as the ignition light, much more important since we also have an oil pressure gauge.

Here's some video of Ray driving the car:

It's got a significant hesitation on acceleration, probably carb related.  We've checked dwell and ignition timing, both on spec.  Will order new diaphragms for carbs, typical failure for Stromberg carburetors.  Cooling system works fine, stays cool, had a few small leaks on heater hoses that were resolved by adjusting hose clamps.  Oil pressure continues to look good.

Took time to clean up remaining wiring in engine compartment now that we've got the charging system working.  Also completed installation of demister/heater hoses.  Ray did a nice job of cleaning up and painting the valve cover and air cleaner:

Good Work Day

Resolved some more electrical issues.  Prior owner had separate wiring direct from battery to fusebox, then supplying all exterior and dash lights.  We found reason for this (bad internal connection in fuse box for dash lights), and were able to go back to original wiring.  Really cleaned up the engine area:

Also cleaned up some wiring associated with alternator.  We are now sure the original alternator (internal regulator) was swapped out for one with an external regulator.  We also see evidence the signal going to the alternator light on the dash (ie. ignition light) has been damaged from excessive current.  In british terms this is also called letting the smoke out of the wires.  :)

The bulb and it's socket for the ignition light are gone.  The car can function just fine without it, esp since it's got a voltage gauge, if alternator quits then voltage drops.  But we may be able to get an ignition light to work once we better understand the current alternator setup.

Completed more radiator hose installs:

Also installed small heater hoses and air flow hoses under passenger side of dash:

Leaving glove box out for now until we refinish air ducts on top of dash, much easier to reinstall without glove box in the way.

Ray has valve cover and air cleaner housing off and in process of being painted a nice aluminum finish, like from the factory.  We'll check valve clearances before putting valve cover back on.

Two steps forward, one step back

As is typical, fixing one thing leads to more dismantling then we had planned.  Knew we had an exhaust leak on manifold/pipe junction - puckity noise plus could feel the exhaust coming out by the top of the pipe.  Got gasket, tried to install.  Broke 2 out of 4 studs on manifold today trying to install new gasket.  Could not remove broken studs in place, so ended up removing both manifolds.

Over half of the studs holding the manifolds in place unthreaded from the head, and three of them I could not get the nut off the stud at all due to corrosion.  So now we need a new manifold gasket and three new studs in order to put this back together.  Also could not get the two broken studs out of the exhaust manifold, so now the exhaust manifold is at a local machine shop having the two broken studs removed and replaced.

Meantime we have made lots of other progress.  The radiator was flushed out and pressure checked by Dave at Brown's radiator.  There was some damage from a prior incident with the fan blade, but these prior repairs appear to be working just fine.

Got the heater valve installed (prior owner had the valve removed and blocked off)

The metal fuel line had been bypassed by prior owner, we found some mysterious material blocking it that fell out, so cleaned up the line and reconnected it, looks much better than a long piece of rubber spanning across the front of the engine.

The hood latch was broken with the safety catch missing.  Got replacement part installed and adjusted, now the hood latches nicely and releases with the cable.

Starting to run out of things to do again until we get more parts.  Too bad every part order takes about a week or so to get here!