In reply to a message from George Cohn sent Sat 28 Oct 2006:
As George and Larry have said, the first trip is always
interesting. Actually, this wan’t the maiden voyage, that
was on July 4th when I drove it out of the garage, down my
driveway and back again. Perhaps 400 feet. ‘‘One small step
for man, one giant leap for mankind’’, was how I thought of
it. I’ve driven it around for a while, as Larry said, always
listening for noises of things about to fall off, etc. (Did
I remember to put locking wire on the bolts on the rear
calipers, did I remember to tighten the nuts on the
suspension bushings, did I …)I now have about 107 miles on
it, including the 35 mile round trip to work.
Yesterday morning was pretty cold here in Massachusetts when
I drove it, and I don’t have top ready to put up, so it was
a bit nippy on the drive in. However, if I didn’t bring it
in now, who knows when I might get another weather
cooperating time (rain today, but tomorrow promises better
weather), and as I have been talking about the restoration
so long at work, I figured I’d better do it now.
There are still a bunch of noises I will have to track down,
mainly an annoying rattle at about 40-50 mph that is
probably coming from one of the sheetmetal shields on the
underside, and a few others, but time will tell. The one
major upgrade, to a five speed, seems to be working well and
I can’t wait to get the engine broken in and take the car at
some reasonable speed on a long distance trip. The fifth
gear is a real help with the 3.54 rear end. The only problem
with the 5 speed is that we had to slightly widen the
transmission tunnel at the front to fit it and now the radio
console, etc. will not fit back in. Another Winter time
project. If anyone has run into this problem, I would
appreciate hearing of a solution.
All you guys living in warm, perfect climates don’t have the
benefit of Winter to fix problems since you’re too busy
driving your car. One of the pluses of living in New England.
Mike–
The original message included these comments:
The maiden voyage is always interesting. Here’s some pictures of mine
in 2000 when it first rolled under it’s own power after being
disassembled since 1989. (I got it in 1995.)
–
Mike Form
Southborough, Massachusetts, United States
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