Yes, today I finally got the Poncho out in the world running long enough, well enough, that I didn't need to have her follow me in the truck with the tow strap handy. Finished installation and testing of new fuel pickup/sending unit and boiled/coated/painted gas tank yesterday:
Gave the 56 a whore's bath (wipe dust off with damp towels) and drove for about 5 miles.
Good news:
1. It runs!
2. Oil pressure 60 psi, water temp 160 deg.F., generator charging well, new fuel sending unit works fine, all is well with vital signs
3. It runs!
4. Brakes work great, maybe need a little breaking in since they come on strong pretty quickly
5. It runs!
Bad news (actually not so bad, it is just a few more things that need straightening out):
1. Speedometer does not work (hey, I can drive fine without it, I can use the tachometer in the short run to determine speed, I don't know if it is the speedo head or the cable or the gear in the tranny but I can fix that when I swap transmissions)
2. A bit twitchy but I know it needs alignment and it will not surprise me if my eye-ball installation of shims and setting toe-in turns out to be way out of spec
3. Holy crap those high-rise leaf springs in the rear are stiff! You sure feel any little road roughness. I can live with that.
4. Steering feels a little loose - I'll tighten up the adjustment on the box
5. Speaking of steering, I had forgotten about how many turns it takes on those old cars, and my truck has a tighter turning radius! But I can live with all that.
6. One bad cylinder means I had to set the idle a little high (1000 rpm) and it runs a little rough, but I know what to do to fix that and will do it.
7. Synchros are shot but in the short run I can double-clutch on downshifts and wait for rpms to drop on upshifts to avoid crunches, and the new transmission will eliminate that problem.
So here are a few out-in-the-world, out-of-the-garage pictures:
And best of all, the wife says "This is pretty cool!"
Dave
__________________
1956 Pontiac Pathfinder 2dr sedan, 496 - dyno'd 545 hp, stick shift, 4.11 posi - Hot Rod
Nothing like the first drive and not having to walk back for help or having help waiting in the wings!!! Congrats!!! Oh, having the wife giving the two thumbs up and stating "cool" in the same breath, is not all bad either!!!
I never ever noticed the Paul SR thing till you guy pointed it out. That's one thing about the inter net you get to now people pretty well but you never see them then when you do its so that's what he looks like .
__________________
1957 Pathfinder deluxe 4 door wagon 1961 Pontiac Parisienne bubble top Traded for a Harley sorry guys.
Nice Work!!!! Remeber the first time I took my '60 wagon out....All the "thumbs up" I got made it worthwhile. Even though I was Cruisin about 10kms below the speed limit(had those 175/75R14 wires on the car) they don't work so well with the car being lowered as it is... CONGRATS!!!!
__________________
1960 Pontiac Strato Chief Safari 1960 Laurentian Safari 1960 Laurentian 4door(scrapped) 2001 Grand Am Traded on a '96 Suburban 2WD 2002 Hyundai Accent(SOLD) 1968 Grand Parisienne Scrapped and SOLD
Your 56 looks killer! That is how I remember cars from when I was a kid (late 70's-early 80's)
Now I don't like the term "old skool" (conjures up too many images of wanna be's with a flat blacked and red rimmed Honda Civic...) but you, my friend, have really hit the nail on the head.
always love the flat black and the ass end in the air.i remember driving a 55 4 door we had jacked up like that in the early 80s i remember the steering like yesterday,but it was fun.wow does the weather look nice there a great day for a cruse for sure.i like it! timbuk
Thanks guys, I'm glad you think I got 'the look' I was shooting for pretty good. Although I was shooting for 60's when I had cars of 50's vintage
Paul has longer mustache, way bigger biceps, and I have zero tattoos but do you think I could be a TV star too hahaha
Carl please PM me about that scoop, eh?
I look forward to telling folks this old car's heritage. I confess that I cheaped out on license plates and went with off-the-shelf Antique rather than personalized, I still like the TKOFFEH (Take Off, Eh) so maybe someday ... and now that I think of it, I need to order a Canadian Poncho sticker for the window! I'm off to do that if Todd still has any!
Dave
__________________
1956 Pontiac Pathfinder 2dr sedan, 496 - dyno'd 545 hp, stick shift, 4.11 posi - Hot Rod