Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Valance and Carburetor Ramblings

Last night I attacked Lucy’s front valance with a vengeance. First, I taped off lines to guide my cuts. I wanted to keep the cuts straight removing just enough material to give me solid metal to weld the patches to. With the cutting wheel mounted in my grinder, I began the spark-filled endeavor of slicing off rotten rectangles of metal. I decided the lower cut would be flush with the pinch weld so the patches will have a flange that’s plug-welded along their bottom edge and butt-welded everywhere else. Will save me some time and make it easier to form the patches. With the opening complete and all the loose rust blown away, I opened my can of Rustoleum rusty metal primer and liberally coated all exposed surfaces inside and out. Lowered off the jackstands and the front license plate residing on the front dash, I can drive Lucy again. Which I did today.

That brings me to the carburetors. Last weekend I swapped just the right-side carb. Now she’s running great – good power in all gears up to 5000 rpm. For those keeping score, I’m working with three different pairs of carburetors. Lucy’s racing carbs are ones I appropriated from Old Betty and have had their jets relocated and vent tubes put in the cover. Lucy’s originals just have the vent tubes added. Finally, Ringo’s pair have no modifications. None of the cars have their full set of carbs currently mounted. My primary need is to get Lucy’s faulty carb fixed so she’s ready for the track. Then I’ll worry about getting Ringo’s right side refurbished and reinstalled.

No comments:

Post a Comment