I drove the 56 over the weekend. What a delight. The car is perfect. =
We ran into a small problem right as we were finishing it up, well, =
actually two problems. The bearing in the generator decided that it was =
going to start making a lot of strange sounding noise (reminiscent of a =
handful of ball bearings in a kitchen blender) and four of the six brake =
cylinder's decided to start leaking at just that moment. So, we =
replaced the generator and all six cylinders. Charged it with silicone =
brake fluid, filed it with synthetic oil (can't wait for the reaction =
from everyone on that!) and putted out of the restoration shop. 26 =
miles later, with this big ****-****** grin on my face, I returned. =
Took it up to about 75 mph, and nary a rattle to be heard, except for =
the expected and ever present noise from the oil filler cap.
Car is tight, nimble and stops on a dime. Ed (the restorer with the =
magic hands) is genuinely pleased with the result. He wants to put =
another couple of hundred miles on it before we present it to my wife.
Only thing I didn't do that I should have done: Windshield is not =
perfect. Should have re-chromed it and replaced the glass. I can beg =
ignorance because I didn't see it until the car was almost finished, and =
with this time of year and the time necessary to do a really good job, I =
didn't have time. But, as soon as it goes in for winter storage, it =
gets done.
I couldn't resist... I went out and bought a garage for it on Sunday... =
being constructed on June 15th, the day I give the car to my wife....
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