Drive!!

Took Lucille out for a spin this afternoon. Went to the Burbank post office, then on up Hollywood Way to Glenoaks. Took that west to Sunland and on out north to the hill area The road winds through some hills and eventually you come across an onramp to the 210. I got on that and went west, but decided I didn't want to go all the way up the pass to Magic Mountain. ;-) Got off and turned around, only to come back to the same ramp I got on at in Sun Valley. So I just headed home. Ended up being around a 20 mile run. Would have stayed out longer but realized I was hungry. I couldn't have stopped for a bite either because stupid me had forgotten my wallet. Oops! Next time I may go out Sunland farther and not get on the 210 onramp, just to see where it goes. Guess I better take my GPS along with me though, since I forgot to take it with me this time.

The left tail/stop/turn light is now converted to LED. I was not able to leave the original bulb socket in place on this side, but it could be put back (as long as I don't loose the part). I had to cut a larger rectangle in the tail lamp housing to set the LED card in place. The cone shape is quite different from the right side. Replaced all the Satellite radio hardware with a LiquidAUX and iPod Nano 4th gen.

The right tail/stop/turn light is now converted to LED. I left the original bulb socket in place so I can revert if I want. I had to cut a small rectangle in the back of the tail lamp housing to slide the LED card in place, but that can be covered over if a reversion is done. Brighter than the 1157 bulbs were.

D'oh!

Backed into the neighbors new fence today when I went to drive over to Cooper's. Didn't damage much except for the right tail light lens, which busted out. I found a lens for a '57 at Cooper's. It's close, but not exactly the same. Will keep me legal for now though.
UPDATE: Got a nice pair of repro lenses from All Cads of the 40's and 50's. Now converting the lamps to LED.

Plug Wires

Replaced the wires with a set by Pertronix. Plain black 7mm. Looks nice and runs smoother. Silicone wire separaters cleaned up the routing.

Exhaust Manifold, Right hand (passenger)

I replaced the right exhaust manifold today. The gaskets were leaking at the head and I needed to remove it to replace those anyway. I already knew the one bolt at the outlet was stripped from when I redid the mufflers, so I figured it was a good time to get a replacement. I plan to get this one repaired and keep it as a spare.
I had backed the car into the garage last night so I just needed to jack it up this morning. Found that the alternator needed to come off, but didn't need to unhook any wires. The manifold to head bolts were not too bad to get loose. The very front bolt was not even finger tight... it was flat loose! Its pair was barely tight. I think that was where the leak was. The rear two were tight, but not very. The center two were scary tight and did not want to come loose. I used a breaker bar on them *gently*, working them back and forth until they came easily. Hooray! No broken bolts in the head. The outlet bolts were no problem.

The "new" manifold had a snapped off bolt where the choke stove plate has a locking tab on my old manifold. I tried to drill and Easy Out, but broke a drill bit off in the bolt... Oh well, we don't need that feature anyway. Scraped and filed the mating surfaces to prep for the gaskets. Discovered the exhaust gasket set I bought from Cooper does not come with the outlet gasket. I needed anti-sieze compound for the bolts and high temp RTV to glue the gaskets on anyway, so took Betty on a run, first to Cooper's for the outlet gaskets, then to Kragen/o'Reiley for the other two items. Betty always starts and goes no matter how long I leave her sitting neglected at the curb, poor girl. Her A/C control panel reported the outside temp as being 97°F. Yikes!

No problem getting any of the goods. Back home I RTV'd the mating surfaces and plopped the gaskets on. While that was setting up I first applied anti-sieze to each of the bolts and ran them in and out of their holes, then I scraped and cleaned the head mating surfaces as best I could. Fooled around inside for a bit and then checked... it was set up enough to go ahead. So on she goes. The exhaust pipe was a bit in the way, but got the bolts all in and semi-tight. Then I climbed under and found that the pipe didn't line up with the outlet anymore. Odd! The pipe is segmented about a foot from the connection to the outlet and I found out that this is the reason: to adjust the sucker easily. So I loosened the clamp and twisted a little and presto! All is now lined up. Bolted that all back together quickly and them back out from under to tighten up the bolts to the head.

Started her up and the leak is now fixed! I will probably do a quick re-torque tomorrow and then taker her for a spin... hopefully to the car wash as she is pretty dirty. ;-)

Hood Blanket

Put in a set of hood blanket pads, purchased from Cooper's. Three individual pads that you glue in with spray adhesive. I had my doubts but they seem fine. Helps deaden the sound when opening and closing the hood too. Nice!