[Rachelsdad]

Sorry; been traveling for a convention which wore me out, and then the fun which so many of us experienced at the beginning of last week with airline schedules... Ugh. Finally back to feeling more like myself, and getting out and under the hood of my own '56 project...

So:

Originally Posted by Parkman51

Rachelsdad is a genius again, I don't know why I didn't think of using fuel line to connect the fuel line.

Wow... I'm humbled. Please pass that comment along to my wife... Seriously, you're too kind, and very welcome for the tip. Indeed, sometimes, all that's required is for someone else to state the obvious in order to get us back on track (and I'm hoping for a bit of that myself in a separate thread to be started shortly).

<skipping ahead as much ground has been covered in the past few days>

Then I also removed the old weatherstripping from the two driver's side doors, which was a colossal mess.

LOL! When I recently replaced my original weatherstripping on my '63, it was unbelievably messy. First, I made sure to have the proper 3M weatherstrip adhesive solvent on hand, sprayed around the perimeter, and then of course, discovered that the original sealant had long since lost its grip on anything other than the rubber or the door (never both at the same time in the same place). Once I got the millions of pieces and the dust off of the door (by simply pulling) and I got whatever was left cleaned off, I installed the new weatherstripping. At that point, I found that at about 6" from closing, the doors sprung open. LOL It took about a week for them to squish down to form. The A pillar weatherstrips on the convertible were just as much fun.

I found some rust at the bottom of the doors. What's the best way to deal with this?

Well, as a practical matter, Brad's approach is surely sound. Some years ago, I also had some success with one of the "rust converter" products (can't recall which offhand), followed by the use of All Metal filler (which was really aluminized epoxy filler; add catalyst, apply with a hard rubber squeegee, allow to cure, sand, primer-surfacer, paint). You still have the inside of the door to address, and this cannot be understated. You are going to have to get in there and apply something to stop the rust before sealing the outside.

The proper way to repair this is to grind/cut out the rotted steel and weld new metal. This is a longer process, of course, but will produce lasting, quality results.So, for now, scrape/sand, phosphoric acid, prime, and top coat will do, but just know that you'll have to address the inside of the panel and make a proper repair down the road.

Starter woes: A couple interesting bits for you:

The engine in my '68 Deville refused to crank one day. I didn't have it; I'd dropped it with the local repair shop near my Virginia house for some minor stuff. They told me that after puzzling over it for a few days, they finally decided to put a breaker bar on the harmonic balancer bolt and turn the engine just a bit. According to them, after this, the starter worked just as it had before. None of this made any sense to me, so I'm just relating it as it was passed along to me.

When my '63 was in the shop, we went through the usual stuff (battery voltage, cable clamps at the battery - I have original style spring rings - , the lug at the starter, ground straps). Finally, we determined that my heavy duty starter was simply no longer so "heavy duty," so we pulled it and took it to a reputable local rebuilder. It now sings. The moral of the story? Never underestimate the effects of time on electrical components. I'll bet that if your voltage is good and your solenoid is giving a real "click!" (as opposed to an anemic "tick!"), your starter just needs a rebuild. You probably got the last you were going to get out of it on your first attempts to start the car.

No additional comments on wiring or fuel filters; I think that ground has been pretty well covered.

Originally Posted by Parkman51

1. Why didn't the pump pull from the tank, but seems to pull from the jar? I put about 2 gallons of gas in the tank, maybe that isn't enough to completely immerse the sending unit's pickup, and we were sucking air? Does the difference in the jar above give you enough information to estimate whether the pump is functioning to its proper capacity, or is weak?

Two gallons should be more than enough unless the pickup tube is way out of whack. The jar test should give you some indication as to whether the pump is really weak. That said, that's a rebuildable pump. If the car has been sitting for years with ethanol gas (and no additive in it) in it up to the pump, there is no telling the condition of the diaphragm.

2. Wheels and tires: I found some inexpensive (thin whitewall) tires at walmart, but will I need new wheels/rims? There's some rust on the outside of the wheels - the worst section is shown below, all the other wheels are better than this one.

This surface rust is probably not an issue. The wire wheel, phosphoric acid, primer, and paint should be fine. You'll know more when you dismount the tire.

I have a set of 8-lugs on my '63. When I got my wheels, rims, and center caps, the guy from whom I purchased them told me that he'd pulled them off of a Grand Prix sitting up to its beltline in mud. The glass beader did a phenomenal job on the aluminum wheels (though many years later, of course, the corrosion between the cast iron drums and the aluminum wheels got the better of them, so they've been re-done). I wire wheeled the rims, primed, and painted them the proper color, which has held up well for several decades, now.

The point of all of this is that rims are fairly solid, and moisture generally doesn't get between inflated tires and the steel, so what you see on the outside is generally not indicative of the overall condition of the rim, and usually more cosmetic than anything else. As I say, you'll know more when you get the tire dismounted.

You're putting a lot into keeping this car not only period-correct but correct-correct. Are you sure you want to put thin whitewalls on it vs ordering a set of (more) correct tires from Coker or Lucas or some such? (I just got a set of Coker Classic Star Series bias-look radials for my '63, and they look and drive quite well.)