Graham’s Corvette Blog and Studebaker bits ‘n’ bobs

After checking the horn relay I attached a working horn. As soon as I turned on the power the horn started to blare. Some where the horn is getting grounded. Time to check the horn mechanisms in the steering column.

The steering wheel and upper horn parts (grounding mechanism) came off easily.

This is what is underneath. The gold contacts are for the horn. The big spring under the steering wheel is grounding the horn. According to the parts book there should be a horn contact retainer covering the contacts.

This is the retainer. I”m not sure how it all works, but I’ve got one on order.

In the meantime I made up a tool (U shaped item) to remove the clip holding the telescoping section of the steering column and the horn contact plate and retainer. I did this so I could clean up the backside of the horn contact plate and in the future to add cruise and a new ignition switch. The narrow locking rod is used to jam the shaped key against the key slot. This same mechanism allows the telescoping column to hold its position. The screw at the top right pushes the rod against the key which allows steering nut to push the U tool down compressing the lower spring in the steering column allowing the C shaped key to be removed.

The large C clip in place

The tool in place. The star nut has to be run in to lock the telescope section of the steering shaft before the U tool can be used to press down on the plate to release the C clip. The regular steering column nut is used to push the U tool down on the plate.

Next – redoing the valve lifter adjustment and work on the heater/AC controls.

Time to replace the coil to see if it is the cause of the miss.

The signal lights weren’t working properly. I took the opportunity to swap the old 1157 bulbs for LED units. Very bright indeed. I pulled and bench tested the flasher and it turned out to be the problem. A simple fix. It doesn’t ‘click’ very loud and it flashes quickly – likely because of the LED units. I’ll try to find a flasher that is louder.

In the meantime the horn needs attention. Starting with the horns themselves I tested them to make sure they were still working. They aren’t. Dead as a nit!

New coil from Carquest for about $45. Installed it and started the engine. I’m hearing valve lifter clicking – that should not be with hydraulic lifters. So I introduced a problem when I adjusted the valves. Engine still rough and maybe now because of an improperly adjusted valve lifters. I did manage to set the timing to its correct 6 degrees BTC. It is showing about 26 with the vacuum advance connected and 35 at about 1000 rpm which is a bit high. More checking on this later. Time to do the valves again – very carefully.

Before going for a test run I started the engine to make sure there were no major leaks. I also checked the timing. It’s running about 8 degrees of advance. Should be 6 degrees. When I went to loosen the distributor hold-down tab I found the 9/16″ bolt to be rusted.

I tried to loosen it with a 12 point wrench, but it tried to slip. So I borrowed a 6 point wrench from a friend and is came off fine with that.

I cleaned everything off using a wire wheel and I’m using the same bolt with a shake proof washer and anti-seize on the threads. Should come off easily even with a 12 point wrench.

On the test drive. Two bugs and a couple of pluses showed up. A bad leak at the right valve cover. That was simple enough as I didn’t tighten the bolts enough.

The second was a miss in the engine firing.

On the plus side the oil pressure was up to at least 35 lbs when hot at speed. Also, the new tires ran smooth – good balancing job.

I suspected that one plug would show oily deposits from not firing. But that wasn’t the case. All plugs seemed to be firing OK. So the misfire is random. That should mean that the new wires, cap and rotor should also be OK. Next item up the line is the coil.

The coil doesn’t look to be new and may be the original. That’s an easy item to replace and eliminate from the possible causes.

Just to be sure that one lifter and valve aren’t the problem I decided to re-set valves. A job that needed to be done anyhow. Using the service manual I located top dead centre for #1 cylinder and adjusted the eight valves noted then turned the engine one full turn and adjusted the other 8.

I replaced the valve covers with stainless bolts, shake-proof washers and reinforcing arms.

I don’t use a ratchet to tighten the valve cover screws. This driver does the job. Tight as I can get is likely less than the spec for those bolts. I”m hoping the reinforcing bars will help to keep oil from weeping past the gaskets.

Oil and antifreeze added, brakes bled and tires back on.

I have a leaking PS control valve. About 3/4 of a cup of oil leaked out over a couple of months in the garage. I kept a pan in place to see how bad it was. Not good. Also, the fluid is not clear but red. Someone likely filled it with automatic trans fluid.

This will be the first system to get at after the driving season is over in November when the first salt appears on our roads.

I put the same amount of PS fluid back into the pump and when I checked the level it was up to the cold level mark.

Now for its first test drive since replacing the starter, wires, heater hoses, pcv valve, breather and valve covers.

I pulled and cleaned the valve covers when I replaced the leaking gaskets. But they really need a lot of work.

Instead of going to all the trouble of cleaning and painting I went with an inexpensive set of chrome covers plus a new PVC valve, chrome breather and a chrome oil cap. The start of the process of cleaning up the engine.

I needed to replace the heater hoses and I’m glad I bought a correct set with formed 90 degree bends. Made for a nice tight fit at the top and bottom.

I’ll be adding STP to the oil to hopefully improve oil pressure. It was running about 20 lbs when hot. I’d like it to be around 40 when hot and at speed. The High Mileage oil likely contains ZDDP as does the STP. So that should help against the lifter/cam contact wear.

I’ll also be adding this to the gas for a couple of tanks at least. I’m hoping my low compression in #1 and #8 is due to sticking compression rings. This product is supposed to lubricate the compression rings and that might loosen them up if they are indeed stuck.

New parking brake cover in place and shift knob and button kit installed.

Time to remove the carpet from the old wallboard backing and install it on new correct backing boards.

New backing board test fitted. The boards are made from pressed wood (?) fibre and fairly rugged.

In my case the backing board mounting holes were a bit off on the passenger side. I needed to punch new holes in all three locations. I had earlier replaced the plastic inserts that receive the board screws.

I used this heavy duty Lepage contact cement to attach the old carpet to the new panels. Once stuck onto the backing I put weights on the backing to keep on some pressure to help the glue to stick.

The backing boards are a little below the groves in the console and parking brake cover. The carpet is mounted a little above the backing boards and the extra carpet is tucked in the groves. The gaps in the carpet are hidden by the seat. A new carpet set would fit nicer I would hope, but that’s down the road a bit.

Time to get the seats back in. I prefer to be a little less reclined when driving so I fashioned blocks from square steel tubing. They are 1″ square with holes to take longer mounting bolts. I may increase them to 2″. If I do I’ll need to fashion wedges for the front mounting points so as not to bend the seat tracks.

Drivers seat back in place. Seems OK, but driving will be the final test for the lift blocks.

I won’t be putting the right side carpet panel and seat in place until I get an antenna extension cable that’s on order. I can only access the radio antenna connection with the seat and panel removed.

Next I’ll be bleeding the front brakes and getting the engine ready for starting.

I pulled the radio in hopes of finding a schematic diagram and happily one was still attached and readable. I attached an old speaker and an antenna to test it out. If it didn’t test out I would replace it. It is a Craig cassette which really fits the period. Fortunately it works fine. I powered the radio for the test using and old radio tube and power supply unit. It can supply 6 or 12 volts which is very handy for bench work. You can probably find them on local buy and sell sites.

The existing connections were all twisted wires with solder and wrapped in electrical tape. Works fine, but I’d rather a cleaner look.

Using the radio schematic I re-did all the connections and added labels for future reference.

One hitch in the works was power for the radio memory. Not something necessary with the period push button radios. I don’t like to leave the battery connected when the car isn’t in use, which is a lot of the time, so I installed a battery disconnect switch. The problem is that once the battery is disconnected the radio looses its memory. To overcome this I have added a battery disconnect bypass with a 7.5 amp fuse. With the ignition off the power point(lighter) is alive. So I attached the memory lead to the power point lead. Now it will get power when the battery is disconnected and if a short happens the bypass fuse will blow quickly

Radio back in place. Now I can move along with the replacement of the console. I’m heading out today to see if I can find some good music cassettes from the local thrift shop. 70’s music is OK by me 🙂

Using Permatex or 3M contact adhesive is a bit of a pain. The way I get a smooth thin coat on both surfaces is to use a small paint brush. It still dries quickly. I do a small bit at a time so I can get it smooth before it starts to tack up. When done I use reducer to clean up the brush.

Perfect use of the adhesive is to re-glue the trim to the backing that runs down the inside of the back door opening.

I also used it to glue down the t bar panel. There are tiny holes behind each tab where I used a pointed probe to push the tabs in place. Maybe there is a better way, but I tried others and this was the only one that worked well.

The inside of this panel’s cover had broken away from the attaching points in a couple of places. So rather than remove the panel and try to repair the old velcro type attaching points I decided to use a couple of trim screws to cure the problem. This is after all an amateur restoration.

The fix-up-for-sale included new mufflers and these quad style dual exhaust extensions. Not an improving feature in my books. Rather they cheapen the car.

I picked up a couple of 2.5″ chrome extensions and after some frigging and jigging got them in place. Unfortunately the mufflers were not lined up properly when they were welded in place. I’ll likely replace them when I re-do the exhaust system, but all is good enough for the time being while I work on the car’s other needs.

I bought a seal kit from Corvette Depot. It includes new T bar seals. The old one was difficult to get off and took some work. I didn’t take any photos. I will for the opposite side. It fit fairly well, but I had to use a sharp pointed tool to get the tabs seated properly. That resulted in a tiny holes in the seal side. Shouldn’t affect the sealing. Again more details when I do the other side.

The steel backing was rusted badly at the bottom end. The seal is held on with aluminum rivets so it wasn’t too hard to drill them out and get the old seal off.

It took a lot of scraping to get all the old glue/sealant stripped off. I painted a coat of black butyl sealant before installing the new seal. I test fitted the seal with rivets before applying the butyl.

I bought an air rivet tool when I replaced the rear fenders on my ’66 Studebaker. I used it here and it was a great help. I only needed one hand to hold the gun and I was able to keep the seal in proper position with the other. A photo later.