So it's been awhile since I last posted... Diane is still about the same. I've been working on the timing still to see if she'll start, but of course I haven't had any luck yet. Since the engine is not cooperating with me I've been working on the trim, which for the most part has come off pretty easily except around the front window, and one of the bolts on the front grill. Another piece that's been giving me trouble is the passenger door handle and lock... my books make it look simple but after sitting for 59 years things are definitely a little bit more difficult.

I've come to the conclusion that I may just need to forget about getting her to start until I get everything else done. Which means I could go ahead and pull the engine and start on some of the body work. Since I don't have my fuel lines hooked up I decided to drain the gas tank again, only this time when I opened up the line nothing came out, so I had to dismantle it from the bottom of the tank in order to get it to flow.

New Coil

I went to Chevs of the 40's and purchased the new coil and installed it the other day.I was Finally able to get the spark I've been looking for! It's easily jumping 1/4" and its not intermittent like before. Margaret and I tried to start her, but nothing. I tried messing around with the choke thinking it might need to be adjusted but it didn't help. I'm thinking there might still be something wrong with the timing or my gaping. Next chance I get to work on her I'm going to continue adjusting her timing to see if it's still off a bit. Hopefully once I adjust it a bit she'll catch and all of my worries will be gone. If that doesn't work I'm at a loss... I've would have replaced everything within the ignition system. It that's the case then I'll pull the engine and let a professional look at it and try to fix her, so I can move onto other projects that need to be completed.

On a positive note though...I finally was able to cut the tacky turn signals off of the front fenders. After breaking one hacksaw, buying another, and lots of sweat...they both came off. She looks so much smoother already! Next to come off is her grill. Then I need to work on taking out the rest of her windows and continue to clean her up a bit so I can take her somewhere to get her power washed.

Compression

Rob came over yesterday afternoon to help me out. We tested the compression since Lydon, the original owners son, told us he thought the heads were going to need to be worked. Thankfully though, the compression was between 120 to 126 through all 6 cylinders. The normal is between 110 to 130psi. Since I'm within range I know that I'm not going to need to rebuild the engine to get her to start. But with the good comes the bad...we tried starting her again yesterday and nothing. Rob and I checked for spark again and it's there but not very strong... I asked Rob if he thought it might be the coil, since even checking the spark at the coil it isn't very strong. He said possibly, but he definitely thinks something is wrong within the ignition system. I guess my next step is to replace the coil, cross my fingers and hope she starts!

We pulled the valve cover off and looked at the timing again. While hand cranking the engine to check the valves for their timing we also looked at the flywheel to see if we could find the mark that would help to verify we were in the right spot. But with all of the rust on the wheel we couldn't make it out, so I'm going to have to figure out a way to clean the rust off so I can hopefully find the mark on the wheel to line it up with the pointer on the housing.

No More Trim

She's starting to look naked! I'm working on removing all of the trim and windows. So far so good, not too many hickups! As soon as I have the trim removed I'm going to work on removing the windows, and then maybe start on some body work. I've also been on the lookout for some cheap tires for my spare rims I picked up. I'm hoping to then start on the brakes so I can roll her out of the garage without having to worry about her rolling into the neighbors house across the street.

I figure once I can roll her out of the garage I can take her to the car wash to use the pressure wash to clean her up a bit. Once she's clean then I can look into getting her media/sand blasted to see how bad the rust really is.

There is a Heart Beat!!

After adjusting the timing for the past week or so, I think I've got it just about right. The black lines just below the distributor show how far I had to adjust the timing before I could get any reaction from the engine. Margaret and I have been trying it, and last night when we tried to turn over Diane and she backfired. Not necessarily from the exhaust but there was a big bang and a plume that came back from the carburetor. Needless to say it made me jump back a little bit since my hand was over the carb. When I jumped poor Margaret jumped too from inside the truck. Once we both had realized what happened, we tried to use gas instead of the starter fluid I had been using. We poured some gas into the funnel/hose that I had set up, which is hooked up to the fuel intake into the carb. We tried it again and nothing. I tried adjusting it again thinking that maybe it had moved with the backfire...but of course I was unsuccessful. I talked to Rob about the carb backfiring and he thinks there might not be any compression in the engine. He said it that was the case then I would most likely either need to get a new engine or have this one rebuilt.

Once again being frustrated I have moved on to other things while I try to calm down from realizing I may need to have the engine rebuilt. I was finally able to remove the driver side window and frame, as well as the door handle, latch plate, and trim around the window. Even with the trim removed I think my two girls are ready for a drive!

Almost Ready to Start

I haven't worked on Diane in a few days because I feel like I've been at a loss for what to do with the coil and engine not starting. Thankfully Rob came over on Sunday and was able to help me trouble shoot my problems. First off he explained that I should run a wire straight from the battery to the coil and bypass attaching it to the starter like it had originally been. He was saying that the starter was pulling a lot of the amperage from the battery and not letting it go to the coil. Then after looking inside the distributor cap he saw that I had incorrectly gaped my points....making it so they wouldn't close the circuit when I was trying to start the engine.

I disconnected the wire I had running from the starter to the coil and replaced it with a wire from the coil to a positive connection to the battery. I set it up so the end that connects to the battery is easily detachable. I did this by crimping a loop butt to the end, then sliding that onto a screw with a nut and lock washer. I tightened the nut and was able to slide it into the positive battery port. This way when I pull it out the coil won't be draining the battery and then when it's in the coil will have power.

Next we tackled the gap of the points. When I had originally gaped them I hadn't accounted for the peaks and flat spots so when I had gaped them at .022", it was at one of the flat spots which should be a closed circuit and then when the peak was reached the gap was much further. Rob and I fixed it after a few minutes and then tried the to start her. She wanted to but the timing was off. Rob suggested that I work on adjusting the distributor to fine tune the timing.

Since I like to be able to see some progress as I go, I have been working on removing some body parts that will eventually need to be removed anyways. I started by removing the driver side door handle as well as the window, and latch plate. After a lot of work, having to drill out several screws, and lots of WD-40 everything came out. I had to break the plate the glass would normally sit in so I could remove the window frame. Then I removed the chrome trim from around the outside of the window. I have also removed the trim around the headlights and the headlights from their locations in the fenders. Needless to say Diane is starting to look rather plain!

Once again I am stumped... I adjusted the points and have tried to get a spark but still don't have any. My only other thought is that the coil is bad. I did have it tested at Autozone, but I'm not sure the results they came up with were right. They tested it, then looked at a book to see if it was within range, but I'm not convinced, first because I think their results were for the original 6 volt coil, and I have a newer 12 volt coil. Since the coil is the only thing I haven't yet replaced that is needed to start the engine, I'm going to replace it. My hope is that once I have it replaced the engine will start right up.

On a side note, since we still don't have Diane titled in our names because of difficulties with the Oregon DMV, we have been on the lookout for the next of kin to the original owner. This past weekend we found him. Lydon, Paul's son lives down near Milwaukie and has agreed to help us out with some of the paperwork we need. He told Margaret a lot of information about the truck, including the fact the engine really wasn't doing all that well when they last used her. He said that he knew they should have done some work to the engine to help preserve it a bit before parking her for good.