Our ‘66 Convertible Project

[blaroche]

Engine is in! Went in surprisingly easy. We were able to start it today and have a few things we need to address. Of course, the high pressure power steering line out of the pump has a drip. We will try flaring a copper washer and see if that does the trick. Next, I need to readjust the float level in the carb, as it seemed to be flooding and causing a drip at the throttle plate shaft. Also, our distributor might be off a tooth, as we had to adjust it to the maximum travel in one direction to get a smooth idle, but this may also be the float issue causing it. We are getting there!

[linc64]

Looking good!

[Lee]

Seems I’m not the only one who’s kept every bathroom towel the wife has ever cast-off to use as fender protectors!

[blaroche]

Seems I’m not the only one who’s kept every bathroom towel the wife has ever cast-off to use as fender protectors!

Ha!! These actually came from our local Target, they had towels for $4 a piece so we stocked up for car projects lol!

[blaroche]

I rebuilt the front calipers over the weekend, they still had Kelsey Hayes dust boots over the pistons. There was some slight pitting at the bottoms of the bores and lots of sludge. We will see if rebuilding them helps, and if not we will just get new ones. Both calipers had two stuck pistons. Aside from that, we discovered why the fuel gauge didn’t work. The float had seen better days! Beyond that just slowly putting the engine bay back together. We resolved the power steering pump leak and carb adjustments, the 462 is running smooth as silk now! Once the brakes are all finished up and new tires arrive, we should be set to take a first drive. Ordered tires from Diamond Back, which are supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Looking forward to getting the car back on the road!

[Lee]

Wow! I have seen the solder joints fail on brass floats, but I’ve never seen one eaten through like that.

Did it fire right up for you?

[papawayne]

I've never seen a float that bad. One would think that all of those years it would stay whole. Brass doesn't rust does it? Wayne

[blaroche]

Thanks Lee, it fires up first crank and runs very smooth!

Not sure on the float, it almost feels like it may have been replaced with a plastic one at some point, as it’s extremely brittle and crumbles if you touch it, but visually looks like brass. Maybe someone put something in the tank to clean it at one point that ate the float. Who knows, ultimately, it needed to be replaced lol!

[frasern]

If corn oil is doing that to floats, imagine what it's doing to everything else.
On the tire front, Lincoln used special wheel weights, no longer available. If you have any, save them for re-use on the outer rim, your hubcaps will not go over normal weights. They can use stick ons, but they may not last.
I used counteract internal beads on my '67, no interference, and they never need to be rebalanced.

[blaroche]

Thanks Fraser! Yes, we will be sure to save the special weights, fortunately our wheel shop knows classic cars and have always done a good job. We had a 76 Fleetwood and DeVille that they put tires on for us and they were sure to use the correct drop weights (I think that’s what Cadillac called them). Good to know on the internal balancing beads, we’ve never used them but may need to give them a try. Thanks again!

[papawayne]

If everything's clean and dry when you put on the sticky ones, they'll last a couple three years. No information beyond that just my own experience. Wayne

[papawayne]

Dummy me, I just got the reference to corn oil. Wayne

[Lee]

I used counteract internal beads on my '67, no interference, and they never need to be rebalanced.

I did the same thing with mine. I was not completely happy with the balance on the last set of Coker radials, took them back to be rebalanced, and it might have come back a little better, but still not perfect. The beads make it pretty close to perfect.

[blaroche]

First drive today! What a dream this car is to drive. Only problem we have noted is a slight fuel drip momentarily from the throttle plate shaft when the engine is shut off. We’ve adjusted the float level to factory specifications but it still has a slight drip. Thinking it may be the throttle plate shaft bushings, which we can have our carb shop address, but wanted to see if anyone has any other ideas. Thanks all!

[Dan Szwarc]

Worn throttle shaft bushings.