Gus Updates
Since I'm sure many of you are sick to death of "house stuff", here's a automotive related post detailing some additional repairs/improvements Lou and I performed on Gus...
...the 1948 Shop Jeep pickup truck, a few months back.
The first order of business was to thoroughly go through the distributor...
... to correct/repair and tuneup items related to it.
NAPA supplied all the necessary components for the distributor - cap, rotor, points, condenser and pigtails. The vacuum advance was removed and found to be frozen. After soaking it in AeroKoil it was freed up and performing correctly. The housing which was badly rusted was also cleaned up and painted.
A new vacuum advance line was fabricated to replace the old, badly bent line. That is some of Lou's handy work on the line fabrication.
Gus had always run very rich, so the Carter carburetor was removed, disassembled, cleaned and rebuilt with a NAPA rebuild kit. The main metering rod was found to be stuck which was the main reason for a rich running condition. A new throttle return spring replaced a not-so-good, old spring.
A new, higher capacity air cleaner element was installed, allowing Gus to breath better, always a good thing.
With the installation of the correct air cleaner assembly 2 years ago, a better looking, pre-formed oil breather line was finally found and installed.
Lastly when a new coil was installed, the coil hold-down bracket was found to be missing a bolt and was only supporting the coil with a single bolt. That was corrected.
Under the hood, Gus is much happier now...
...starting easily, idling smoothly and accelerating with zest, or at least as much zest as he muster forth. He is 70 years old after all!
After all that, Lou and I turned our attention to rewiring the body...
...in order to replace all of the original, 70 year old cloth covered wiring.
2 electrical buses were installed so from the firewall rearward or forward, all the old body wiring has now been replaced. I still need to rewire the dash instruments so they will be compatible with a 12 volt electrical system.
The rear turn signal housings...
... were rewired and tidied up, the inside of the housing painted with chrome paint for better reflectivity of the bulbs and a cracked lens replaced.
Every year Gus gets more improvements. I'm not restoring Gus, merely preforming necessary service and maintenance work. After all, he's earned his 70 year old patina.
Stand by for more on Gus in future posts.
Thomas