Using my handy Princess Auto punch set and a curved carving awl I cut out a new gasket from some thin fuel and oil resistant sheeting I got in a package of assorted gasket material from Fel Pro.
New pump rod in place with lots of vasoline to help hold it in place. Even so it kept slipping down after a short while – bloody gravity 😉
A thin bead of red high temperature gasket maker on both the gasket facing the engine and the cover plate. A little extra at the bottom where the oil accumulates before flowing back into the block.
All in place. Still a bother to get in place even using studs which had to be removed to get the proper bolts in place from outside in the wheel well via a gap in the fibreglass apron. I’ll be seriously considering a full time electric fuel pump when I do the engine rebuild.
My brass plumbing to eliminate the double curve in the fuel line to the carb. Just enough room to get the feed and return lines attached. I used aviation thread sealer by Pematex on all the threads.
I expected to have to pour gas down the carb a couple of times to spin the engine enough fill the carb and keep the running, but to my surprise it caught on the first try. Fast idle kicked in and I only had to up the idle speed once the engine warmed. The idle mix screws were initially set at 4 turns out. I increased that to 5 turns out which brought the engine speed up and smoothed the idle somewhat. I’ll wait until spring when I can take it out and really warm up the engine before adjusting the idle mix to get the highest steady vacuum.
I picked up a used single snout air cleaner from Moland’s Corvettes. I’m removing the cold weather stove heater setup for a cleaner look. Here it is sandblasted. I’ll do some sanding and hole filling before painting. The cover is already ready for painting.
Next: a bit more work on the air cleaner and then it’s time to get the power steering parts back on the car.