9/6/02
Hood Pad, Carbs and the First Bath

I picked up the completed hood pad from the upholsterers today. Frank did a great job following the old quilting pattern to save the old vinyl covering. Here it is laying on top of the hood to check for fit.

He even reinforced the stitching with another layer of material, but carefully cut away the excess. A very nice touch.

Before I glued the hood pad in place, I cut the bolts that hold the hood spear flush with the nuts so they wouldn’t poke through the pad, or bulge out.

I sprayed “Heavy Duty Trim Adhesive” on both surfaces, making sure not to get any on the edges of either piece. I needed these surfaces to stay dry so I could work them under the inner hood sheet metal. With the aluminum strips that hold the pad in place, and the prop rod installed, I could now mount the hood! It looks pretty good, finally mounted to the car. I still need to work on the latching mechanism, but at least it’s on the car!

We pushed my car outside to start her up. She hadn’t been started in almost three months, and I was seeing some antifreeze working its way past some gaskets. François said this was normal for a car that hasn’t been driven much, so starting her, and letting the engine warm up would do her good.

Unfortunately, the carb floats would not cooperate. At first, a couple of taps with a soft head hammer did the trick, and fuel would stop overflowing the bowls, but the center one kept sticking open. I finally gave up, and decided to pull the top off the carb to give it a cleaning. All the banjo fittings have to come off all three carbs to even work on one carburetor, but since I did this a couple of months ago, I’m getting fast at it!

Once the carburetor cap is off and flipped over, you press out this pin to remove the float. Be careful not to bend the lever of the float, unless you want to go back and reset the float setting! With the float out of the way, you’ll see the needle valve, and the seat. I’m determined to clean my valves off, and keep them, but if they keep giving me problems, I’ll buy a new set.

Eventually, I got the carbs to start working properly, and let the car warm up. Everything else seemed to be in good working order. Although with a lot less fanfare, the car was maneuvered in the driveway under her own power for the first time! I can attest that first and reverse gear work fantastically!

With the windshield partially in (still no progress on that front), it was a perfect opportunity to wash the car for the first time. It was so nice to wash off three years of dust and grime off the paint. There are certain times when washing a car is extremely enjoyable, and this was one of those times. I got to inspect every curve of the car, and watch it get clean with every swipe. What emerged was a beautiful car that I’ve poured almost every Friday into for the past three years. Even though I’m still not finished, it was a pretty satisfying day!

At the end of the day, François and I slid her back into her place in the garage. François wanted to  put her facing out because he was tired of looking at her trunk! Her neighbor is a 400 Superamerica.

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