Go for a ride?

Maiden Voyage #2: The first was a quick trip to AAA to verify the VIN, but today was purely for seeing how everything works. I took the Chief over to the gas station and fueled him up. I kept looking under the car to see if there were any leaks as the tank was filling... shades of the first time I filled the tank on Lucille. But nothing like that happened.

Brakes seem stiffer than they should be for power assisted brakes, even if they are drums. After all, my '49 and '58 Cads both have drums. The '49er's brakes are manual and they don't feel this stiff to me. I think a full brake system go-through is in order. I may need to send the vacuum booster out for service. I do have a set of ScareBird brackets to convert to front discs... not sure if I want to use them yet.

Suspension seems stiff in back, as I noticed before. When I was changing the mufflers I found the rear springs look dicey and they had some kind of air bag booster nonsense bolted on, probably added when the springs started sagging. The combination is restricting movement and making the ride stiff. New springs are on their way already.

Steering is generally good for a manual setup. I don't mind it until I go to make a sharp turn at slow speed, of course. Then you quite suddenly get the news that this really is a manual gearbox. When the car is moving, it's quite effortless and reasonably responsive.

Noise... from the front of the engine, as noted earlier. It sounds like it could be a water pump or generator bearing, maybe a noisy timing chain, or perhaps a bolt for the water pump that sticks in too far and is hitting something moving internally... hard to say. It doesn't seem to affect performance, and it doesn't seem to be getting worse, but it's unsettling. You just know it can't be good. I hope it is something in the generator... that would be an easy fix.

Engine seems to have a little blue smoke from the exhaust, especially the left pipe. Seems like it was less after driving it a bit. I am betting the car just needs to be driven. If he really only has 27K on the clock, he hasn't been driven enough. Not that I want to add tons of miles, but cars don't stay in good mechanical condition when they sit.

Transmission seems like a typical pre-'56 Hydra-Matic. It has the clunky shift points you expect but the TV rod adjustment is off. I use the trial-and-error method of adjusting it. Eventually it will get there.