Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Power steering line/hose

I noticed that the power steering line/hose between the steering box and wiper assembly had begun to weep at the steering box fitting. It's likely 50 years old so I had a new one made. When a hydraulic hose goes bad you get very little or no warning. When it blows you lose power steering and the crank driven (!) power steering pump runs dry... that's both very dangerous and costly.

The hydraulic shop wasn't able to reuse the chromed line due to metric vs. imperial issues. Instead they made a metric hose with an imperial fitting at each end. It fit well. Before running the engine I put the car on jacks stands and bled the system of air by turning the front wheels full-lock a few times. After that I started the engine - no leaks. Test drove it for a leisurely hour - no leaks. I tightened the fittings one more time now that everything had gotten nice and hot and called it a day.

The new hose is not OEM correct but I really don't care. My car is a nice driver, not a show car.



Friday, July 18, 2014

Tales from the body shop #4

I picked the car up from the body shop yesterday. It looks great, no colour variation I could see. It took a long time for the chrome trim to arrive because the US seller had them straightened and polished before shipping them. 



Monday, July 14, 2014

Chopped 1961 Lincoln Continental two-door coup


It's not real but it should be built.


1961 Lincoln Continental Coupe, reproportioned for a long hood/short deck style, as if it was a Mark Coupe instead of just a sedan-based 2 door. Elegance and then some! Every body panel was altered to give it a close-coupled, tailored look. This was one of my first chops Peter De Lorenzo, Autoextremist.com, ran on his weekly website, establishing my bona fides as they say, and I'm forever indebted to him!
Source: artandcolour.blogspot.nl

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Lincolns & Continentals at the salvage yard - part 1


Here is a selection of photos I saved from eBay and other web pages. These Continentals are past restoring (unless you unlimited time, money and talent) and will serve luckier Continentals as parts donors. 
 
Hurricane Katrina victim.


A '62 sedan and '61 convertible. A project that was never started.

This '61 has sunk into the ground, like a dinosaur in a tar pit.



a '62 or '63 convertible



Busted up and rusted through '65