'67 power steering pump

The squeaky belt turned out to be a failing power steering pump.  I very brilliantly figured it out when the squeak turned into a much louder, nastier, not-to-be-ignored screeching/grinding kind of noise.  So I got it out today with no problems and ordered a new one.  The car has to sit a few days til it gets here...
:-(

One thing leads to another

I jacked up the front of the 67 to look where my latest oil leak is coming from and noticed that the drivers wheel had some play.  So I tightened up the bearing and it seems fine now.
When I was adjusting the carb I also found a squeaky belt when I reved the engine so I replaced both belts.. These old cars always need something.  That's probably one of the reasons I enjoy them so much.  I like the tinkering...

Carbs

The '67 was a little hard to get started the last time I took it out, so I poked around a bit and found that the choke lever was a little sticky.  A little carb cleaner loosened it up.  The carb was rebuilt a long time ago and works fine.  But when I was messing with it a few weeks ago I noticed it is starting to leak just a bit around the accelerator pump and the gaskets so I decided to clean it up.  Not a full blown rebuild but new pump, new gaskets, general cleaning.   

Where is all happens>

1940's luxury doesn't come cheap

Drove the '40 for a week.  Two days to work and misc around town stuff.  The numbers are in:

Miles driven       - 170
Fuel used            - 19 gallons
MPG                   - tad less than 9
Oil used/leaked  - 1 quart

If I were to drive it to work every day for a year it would cost me about $6,000 in gas and oil.  :-)

'40 clutch linkage

I have been living with an annoying rattle/clicking/mild rumbling which seemed to be coming from under the dash.  Sort of like a speedometer or speedometer cable.  After driving the car to work for 2 days, 70miles round trip at highway speeds (well 55 mph with this car), it got noticably worse.  I also noticed that it mostly stopped when I had my foot on the brake and stopped completely if I pushing in the clutch.  Long story short, the clutch linkage has this part, don't know what it's called but its a pivot with a ball joint at one end and a heavy rubber bushing on the other.  Turns out the bushing mostly disintegrated and the ball joint was lubricated with dirt. 

 

Since I didn't have the bushing or seal for the ball joint I made some using a fuel hose wrapped in a piece of rubber from an inner tube for a bushing, and a piece of shower stall liner melted into shape for a seal for the ball joint.  Probably not a long lasting fix but it should be fine for a while.  It seems to work just fine right now...

 

A beautiful picture

because I took it after driving the '40 about 10 miles with my new seal.  no leaks.  not a drop.  :-)
I love it when a plan comes together. 

I got the wrong seal!

It took just a few minutes today to get the retainer and seal off with my new big ass channel locks.  There are 2 size seals for this car apparently and I got the wrong size.  You can't get them at Pep Boys so it will have to sit for a few days until I get the right one.  It's just as well, I could use the rest.

The godfathers taxes

A long time ago I used to do taxes on the side for play money.  Over the years I dropped everyone except one person...my godfather.  He has his own business, is Italian, could care less about keeping records, but is an all around good guy.  This time of year he sits down and gathers information and sort of paints a picture of what he is going to report.  Very creative.  After 20 odd years or so we are to the point where he knows what to not tell me.  Some things I just don't want to know.  After all I am a trained professional. ;-)
So this morning, with my morning coffee, I sat down and prepared his returns.  Another beautiful piece of financial engineering.

Pinion Seal on the '40, part 2

Frustration level = moderate.
Some serious swearing took place yesterday.  I tried a breaker bar on the nut, but that was worthless (I didn't expect it to work but was hoping).  I have a piece of shit impact wrench that is just shy of worthless so I ran to Sears and picked up a new one.  Nice...   710 ft/lbs of torque.  It twisted that nut off like butter. 
The flange was was easy enough with a small puller. 
Now I am dealing with a retainer holding the seal.  It's just pushed in like the seal but you can't get a  remover behind it.  I was able to loosen it with a 14 in pipe wrench I got for a homeowner type project a while ago.  I think I need to go get a big ass channel lock to take it all the way off.