Carburetor Progress

I decided to rebuild the carburetor. Something I've never done or even thought of doing before, but have a feeling it might be the answer to all of my issues with Diane starting. Here's a couple of before pictures. I'm hoping that my suspicions are correct.

So I have completely dismantled the carburetor and begun to clean it all up. What a pain! Luckily it's a fairly simple thus far. There is a ton of carbon build up inside. Most of it is cleaning up fairly well though. I'm hoping to have it rebuilt and reinstalled either tomorrow or on Monday so I can try to fire her, Diane, up.

Well I got the carb. rebuilt today. Not too many hiccups. Replaced most everything inside and resealed all of the new gaskets and put anti seize on the bolts. I get it reattached tomorrow and try to start Diane again. Unfortunately it started to rain tonight and got chilly outside too fast for me to get it done tonight.

Some progress

It's been a few weeks since I've posted again. Between the hot weather and just being busy I haven't worked on Diane too much lately. But since I have had her for just over 6 months now I thought I should do a progress report. In the last 6 months I really have done a lot, even though she doesn't look like I have. First I guess I was able to remove the wheels without breaking or slicing off any of the nuts, and have put her up on blocks in the garage. I have replaced basically everything electrical in the engine bay, from the battery, cables, plugs, points, starter, and coil. I have gotten most of the major dents out of her, and have removed most of the trim, except for the couple of stubborn pieces. I've emptied the gas tank twice trying to remove any built up debris. Both side windows have also been removed, along with the steering wheel to help me gain access to the underside of the dash.

I know there are still a couple of things I'm missing from the list but, so far that really looks like I've done a fair amount. I realize that I have a much, much longer road ahead but at least I have a decent start. Thankfully I have a wife that is very accepting of how long it's going to take to rebuild Diane.

My current projects are working on rebuilding the carburetor, and removing the remaining trim ( the front grill, front window trim, and passenger side door handle). Then I'm not sure of exactly what I'll do next. If rebuilding the carb gets it so I can start Diane, then I'll probably purchase a newly converted generator, and then maybe start on converting the breaks so I can drive her onto a trailer to take her to get washed. If rebuilding the carb doesn't work then I'm thinking I might need to break down and by a new one and go from there. Although I'm sure it's fairly obvious I have a lot of work ahead of me. I'm going to try to get back into writing everything as it's happening unlike I've done here for the past couple of months.

I haven't worked on Diane too much during the past month, execpt for the occasional 10-15 minute interval here or there, where I continue to work on removing the trim. We've just had some many other things pop up...such as building a new deck in the back yard, a couple of painting projects, and helping our neighbor out with his truck, or the fact that it's been in the upper 90's to low 100's for the past 2 weeks, etc., etc.. But without fail I want to have the rest of the trim off by the end of the weekend. I really only have a few pieces left...the emblems, the grill, windshield trim, and the passenger door handle assembly. I think it should be managable, as long as it's not too hot.

Still haven't gotten the grill or the front window trim all the way off yet...hopefully it'll come though. I have been able to get most of the major dents out of the front fenders with the tools I had to buy! It sure is nice to be able to see some progress. I'm going to continue working on the trim this weekend to see if I can make any more progress.

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.