What did you do to your C-body today....

$100 for shipping is a kick in the biscuits, wish I could find a supplier in Texas.

Great excuse for road trip.
I drove around to Wisconsin to pick up my dash pad. You don’t find a like new pristine pad, the right color, for a 55 yr old car ever. Didn’t want to risk shipping damage and enjoyed the drive around Lake Michigan.
 
Great excuse for road trip.
I drove around to Wisconsin to pick up my dash pad. You don’t find a like new pristine pad, the right color, for a 55 yr old car ever. Didn’t want to risk shipping damage and enjoyed the drive around Lake Michigan.
I agree, any reason to travel across this country to get cars, and/or parts. Gets me excited every time, and I get to meet nice people who live cars like I do. Always better than visiting the in-laws.
 
Had to get the Imperial out this weekend. High '70s and sunshine. Put $20.00 in the tank and just drove. Premium is $2.56/gal for normal gas; eight gallons or so wasn't gonna leak out the tiny hole on top of the tank. I'll need to give it a good wash this week and put my new car cover on it, and turn some attention towards the Coronet. The Imperial got all the road time this Summer.
 
I finally started taking care of a few old pesky leaks and problems.
First I decided to replace the alternator, it had finally let me down one too many times. Next, while I have some accessories removed, maybe I should finally do something about the power steering system which slowly leaks... removed the pump. Got those new parts on the way.
Finally replaced the heater bypass. Instead of buying a NOS Bakelite one for the 4th time only to watch it leak, I bought the metal one. Well, actually I bought it a long time ago but had been procrastinating...
 
Did some heat shielding on my fuel lines to protect them from the headers. Also added a more typical post pump filter. My pre-pump filter was changed to a bigger 70 micron one to protect the pump. I should have taking pics before installing but I'm not that bright.
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Did some heat shielding on my fuel lines to protect them from the headers. Also added a more typical post pump filter. My pre-pump filter was changed to a bigger 70 micron one to protect the pump. I should have taking pics before installing but I'm not that bright.View attachment 415321 View attachment 415322

Is it me, or is that one helluva kink in your fuel line?
 
Yes it does look like that. The pic is a little misleading. The hard lines are put together with standard rubber hoses and then covered with an expandable fiberglass sleeve. That sleeve is sized for the rubber line not the hard line so the edges/bends in the sleeve are where the hose stops and the hard line begins. If that makes sense. To avoid hard line kinks and still keep the filter low enough to get to the hose clamps I had to create some unconventional twists. Next is the upper lines on top of the engine to the carbs.
 
Having passed the 100k miles on the engine and not having any service history, I decided to pull the oil pan in anticipation of replacing the timing set. It was quite a hassle; man that oil pan lies deep!
However, I was in for a nice surprise:

carterpan 1.jpg


It was clean, and no chipped off pieces of vinyl teeth from the timing sprocket!

Oil pickup looked fresh and clean as well:

oil pickup 1.jpg


Looking inside the engine from the underside, everything looks quite well as far as I can tell:
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So I tend to assume that the distribution of this car has already been taken care of at some time in the past.
This is the best picture I could make of the timing sprocket:

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Is there anyone who can confirm this is indeed not the originial timing sprocket by just seeing this?

And if there are any extra chores I could be doing now that the oil pan is off, I am open to suggestions!
 
Replacing the timing chain now would be well worth the effort. With the oil pan off the replacement of the timing chain will give you reliability for years to come. Use a American made replacement as the China made equivalent tend to prematurely stretch. Replace the top and bottom gears w/ metal replacements. The replacement of the gaskets and front timing cover seal will give you a leak free repair for years of trouble free driving. That's the big pay off in the long run. As a retired certified engine builder this is what I would do.
 
Had to go to town for groceries. Stopped by the pasture and cut a hole in the ice for the cows to drink.
The cows are definite C body fans.

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Discovered a leak or small seep in my recently re- cored radiator.
As I was playing around under my lift with my new roller jack, I saw some green stuff on my radiator. Not enough to drip, but enough to escape and slowly run down the radiator. I will have to pull it and take it back to the radiator shop to re-work it.
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Installed a roller/slider jack on my lift. Merry Christmas to me.
I used my handy-dandy jack table to unload it from my pickup. It raises to be even with my tailgate. Since my car was on the lift I used the jack table to lift it into position from the bottom side. I had to try it out so I rotated my tires. Very handy. I did have to order another 1-1/2 lift spacer. The 1-1/2 are just a little too short to lift on the frame and get the tires off the platform. The 5” ones are too long. 3” will be about right.
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Discovered a leak or small seep in my recently re- cored radiator.
As I was playing around under my lift with my new roller jack, I saw some green stuff on my radiator. Not enough to drip, but enough to escape and slowly run down the radiator. I will have to pull it and take it back to the radiator shop to re-work it.
View attachment 418336
I had to do the same thing, just when you think one more thing is off the list. After installing the second time I found four freeze plugs needed to be replaced. Uhggg
 
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