Seat is bolted down tightly now with #8 fine thread 5/16" bolts. The extra room makes a whole new experience. Much easier to get in and out, and much more comfortable behind the wheel. I'm happy!

Decided to try something with the power brakes just to see that the booster is working at all. I unhooked the vacuum hose from the manifold and two things happened. The engine chugged and stumbled badly and the the brake pedal became *much* harder to press. So, there doesn't seem to be a vacuum leak through that circuit or there wouldn't be much change in the way the engine runs when it was disconnected. And clearly the power assist is assisting, at least some. 

After all that fun, I took the Chief out for a spin with Forrest this afternoon. There is something loose underneath that really bangs when you hit certain spots in the road. I'll have to figure it out when I get under there to do the springs.

Meanwhile, I found that the seat was not secured on the passenger side at all! I pulled that apart to see what was involved and saw it would be reasonably easy to move the seat track back a couple of inches. Went ahead and started on it and now I just need to get some hardened bolts and nuts at OSH tomorrow. With a set of temporary bolts in place, I can see this is going to be much nicer.

Radio!!!

Yesterday I finished wiring in the radio and power antenna, concocting a replacement dash speaker for the front, and mounting a rear speaker in the parcel shelf. I had decided to go with a pair of Pioneer 6x8 two way speakers. The original front was an 8" and I made an adapter from sheet metal to size the hole down. The rear shelf had a sort of provision for a speaker, perhaps even a pair. I did not have a 6x9 to try, but it looked like one would have fit right in. What I had was the other 6x8 and some matt board to use to size down the opening for the rear. It went together well and now all I need is a rear grille. I'd like a plain metal mesh one from Radio Shack or something.

The iPod works great with the system. Sound quality is quite good... certainly a lot better than the original electronics would have been able to produce. I'm happy.

Radio!!

Back from the shop and ready to go in. Hmmm... now the front speaker is an 8" roundie, but all that are available are 6.5" roundies and 6" x 8" ovals. I'll try the 6" x 8" oval first. Should work for the rear as well.

Spin

Did a little adjusting on the Hydra-Matic TV rod, then went for a test drive. I have it adjusted a bit too much now, but it's not bad. The shift points just run a bit late. Drove over to Coopers and showed it off to Bob, then got on the freeway. I found that the speedometer is all gummed up and not reading anything close to accurate above about 45 MPH. I'll be pulling that and looking for a good instrument service shop. But he drove pretty nicely on the freeway. According to the GPS in my iPhone, I was doing around 60 MPH on average. All the while the speedo had stopped at about 45 and then slowly crept up to about 53. When I got off the freeway, it stayed at 53 for awhile, then slowly fell. By the time I parked back home, the speedo was at zero again.

After the ride, the day seemed early and the weather was still nice so I decided to pop the distributor cap off and swap out the points and old coil for a new Pertronix setup. It's just the Ignitor and a FlameThrower coil. Nothing too fancy. With that done in about a half hour, I buttoned him up and put him to bed in the garage.

New Leafs

The new rear leaf springs I ordered awhile back arrived today. The U-bolts came too but I still need the isolator pads which were back ordered.