Lucille moved to new digs this weekend. She's still here at the house, but for the time that the '49er is getting painted and needing the garage, I set up temporary space for Lucille behind the garage where she is protected and covered. She seems happy there and has her Battery Tender hooked up as well.
 

DIODE

Installed the diode in the alternator's exciter/warning lamp circuit today. I did not have a problem with the engine running after the ignition was turned off, but I did notice the battery running down over a week's time, so as cheap as the diode was, I figured I might as well.

Drive!

The new Battery Tender chargers I got sure do make it so I don't have to worry about the charge running down anymore. Very nice. Gave Lucille a nice hand wash yesterday and took her for a spin today. The turn signals cancelled themselves nicely and the horn ring didn't rattle one bit! Stopped at the Shell station for petrol and cruised over to see Mr. Cooper. No springs, but I had a nice visit.

I took the horn ring off the steering wheel today to figure out how to keep it from vibrating when driving over bumps and I found the reson for the funky way the turn signals cancel... or not. The cam that bumps the springs to release the signal was 180° backwards. I had to pull the steering wheel to reverse the cam, but that was easy. With the cam fixed, I put little strips of rubber from the stash of stuff I'm using for the '49er's door panels under the part of the wheel that the hold part rides over, and over that I used some of the self-adhesive fabric Cooper sold me for the window weatherstrips.

Parts

I went to Coopers and picked up the parts, all $1400 worth! Cooper ordered the springs, which should be around $170 more. Tyerman's estimates about $800 in labor so it's a pretty typical front end rebuild in my view. I don't think it's worth it to do the labor myself and save the $800, especially. Part of me wants to, but part realizes that it will take me weeks and I will wear myself out. Tyerman's will do it in a day or two and all I have to do is enjoy the results.

Bad News

I took Lucille over to Tyerman's in Burbank for a front end alignment. What they found wasn't pretty. The upper control arm shafts are particularly worn, to the point of being unsafe. I got a quote from them on the labor and called Cooper for the parts. Cooper had everything but springs, and those he will order for me. I had Tyerman's adjust the toe-in anyway and even that little bit made a huge improvement in the steering.

Drive!

Drove Lucille for the first time today with the refreshed carb. Only one issue, and that is the TV adjustment for the trans shift points. It shifts a little late so I need to loosen it a bit. Otherwise, starts, drives and accelerates fine, with better power than she had before. It might need to be leaned out a tiny bit too.