Friday, July 22, 2022
The local car group’s Saturday cruise is tomorrow, but I’m not going to go. At last months’ cruise I nearly melted it was so hot and miserable. Hey, I love being with the cruisers, but it was just too hot that day. We’ve had a long stretch of blisteringly hot days, with heat indexes well over 100. I guess I’m getting soft in my older age, not being so used to being in this heat.
I need to wash the car, and perhaps Tammy and I can go cruising in it tomorrow. There’s good chance of scattered thunderstorms tomorrow, but I hope they don’t rain out the cruisers. The group has a Sunday cruise in early August, so maybe I’ll take part in that one.
I have a long list of things I’ve never done on the car. First, I want to have a mechanic check the brake lines, gas line, and look at why oil is burning off the exhaust manifolds after it runs a while. At Christmas, we thought the car was overheating, but what we thought at first was steam was actually oil smoke from under the hood. The only thing I can think of is that the valve covers are leaking. That’s what I HOPE the problem is.
Eventually, I want to drop the gas tank and install a new sending unit to see if I can get the gas gauge working correctly again. The short piece of rubber hose that connects the fuel filler tube to the tank is leaking, so I need to fix that as well. I might tackle that last job.
My garage electrical is still not completed. I have to get that done.
INTERIOR FINDINGS. From photos of original and restored 1956 Belvederes, I know now that the door panels in my car are the original fabric and materials. Not in too bad of shape given the age. I’ve wondered if there would be a way to reuse and remount the existing vinyl upholstery, but that’s not going to work. but at least I know its original to use as a pattern.
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