11 Time Travel

The second time I drove the coupe to work, the shifter hung up in second gear. Suddenly, it was 1960. After several bouts with the shifter, I pulled out my 40 year old Hurst instruction sheet and determined that the 1-2 arm and the 3-4 arm were interchanged. The two arms look identical, but they aren't. I swapped the two shifter arms and lined up the neutral gate using an Allen wrench. The shifter has not hung up since.

'39 Deluxe grilles consist of twenty-five separate chrome pieces mounted on a formed and welded sheet metal backing. I banged up the sheet metal piece when I hit a wheel stop in a parking lot. I removed all of the chrome pieces and took the sheet metal part to Masterpiece Rodding and Restoration in Denver. They called me two days later and said the grille was repaired. The bill was $135.00 for three hours work. When I pulled out my debit card, the owner said "I don't take credit cards." I had only $80 with me. He said "Take the grille with you and mail me a check." Another time warp.

When Rustic built the car, they insisted on installing both a puller fan and a pusher fan to make sure the car wouldn't overheat. In practice, I never used the pusher fan. The car never boiled over. Since all the pusher fan was doing was blocking air, I removed it and put it in the spare parts pile. I installed an overflow tank and filled the system with Evans NPG+ coolant. This stuff boils at 369°F without a pressure cap. 50/50 ethylene glycol and water boils at 224° F without a pressure cap. Evans NPG+ does not freeze. At -70° F it contracts slightly and becomes a viscous slurry. It is used full strength, not mixed with water.

With the cooling system changes, I had no overheating problems. However, the temp gauge often indicated 260°. I called United Speedometer who had built the LED stack temperature gauge and determined that the temperature sender on the engine was not the Stewart Warner unit that had been supplied with the gauges. A little more research located a Stewart Warner dealer where I was able to order a sender with the proper thread for the Buick head. When I installed it, the indicated temperature was nearly 30° lower than before. When all else fails read the instructions, even if you're a guy.

One other cooling related issue. At my insistence, the puller fan was wired to a battery feed so that the cooling would continue after the engine was shut off. After several dead battery incidents, I changed the fan power to an accessory lead.

I bought four 15" wheels from Wheel Vintiques and had them powder coated orange. I mounted the tires and put them on the car. The rims hit the Corvette calipers on both the front and rear wheels. The stock Chevrolet wheels I had been using didn't hit. I tried 5/16" thick wheel spacers from JC Whitney to space the wheels out enough to clear the calipers. This caused the tires to rub the fenders on turns. I spoke to Pete Van Iderstine at Early Wheel to find out if their wheels would clear. Pete told me that all of the aftermarket wheel suppliers used the same centers and rims. He suggested grinding the Corvette calipers to clear the wheels. I ground and refit the wheels again and again until they seemed to clear, then went for a test ride. They still hit. So I ground and test drove several times until I didn't hear them squeaking. It was necessary to grind the bleeder on the back calipers so much that it was not possible to bleed the rear brakes. The rear tires still rubbed until I had the Corvette rear adjustment corrected. One of the rear wheels I had been using was an AG code 7" wide rally wheel. These were only used on Corvettes, and only in 1968. I finally found another one, had the two of them powder coated and installed them. I replaced the rear calipers at the same time. I used aftermarket rally wheels on the front. These have the same clearance problem as the solid wheels, so I am still looking for a pair of 15" x 6" GM rally wheels for the front.