Two down, one to go

Today, I tackled the power steering leaks. And by tackled, I mean I removed the leaking parts and called Studebaker John to see if he had any known good ones in stock. Then I headed over his way.

He said that it was rare for the control valves to leak, and since there are very few seals to replace, we decided to tear it down and take a look. I was almost sure there had to be something that I had done wrong, but that wasn't the case. The only thing we could detect was a bit of abnormal wear inside the valve which was likely allowing fluid under pressure to go where it shouldn't be. So it was off to storage to get another one.

For the pump, John grabbed another one and decided he'd tear into my old one in his spare time. And I found a chrome cover for the new one, so decided to get a little bling.

Then it was back home to install everything. I learned from last time that it would probably be easier to install the hoses before attaching the pitman arm to the steering gear. That cut down install time dramatically.

I was going to paint it up, but it'll never show.

So next up are those three small leaks in the brake lines.

The three problems

I have three problems that I'm struggling with on the car: Several power steering leaks:

This is from the control valve--there's also a leak from the pump.

Then there's the few odd, troublesome leaks in the brake lines, combined with a brake pedal that is a little lower than I'd like:

Apparently, it is difficult to get the combination of stainless steel brake lines and silicone (synthetic) brake fluid to form a good seal.

And finally there's the clutch; the clutch point is on the floor.

I've decided that I pick one of these at a time and resolve it.  The easiest of these seemed like the clutch. Since the adjustment rod was tightened as far as it would go, I removed it, clamped it in my vise and took a die to it, adding a few extra threads.

A bit more adjustment--just what I needed.

The clutch release point was now decently high off the floor where it belonged, but when pressed to the floor, the release levers on the pressure plate were making contact with the spring. There was now too much throw. No matter how much I tweaked the adjustment, I couldn't seem to get it quite right. I left it alone for the evening to ponder.

Originally, the car was equipped with a floor mounted starter switch. It was sort of a safety feature--you had to depress the clutch to start the car. It dawned on me that the clutch was never designed to go all the way to the floor.  So tonight I went to my collection of labeled baggies, pulled out the old starter switch, found the little tang that fit under the cltuch pedal to activate it, and installed them.

The clutch range is now limited.

I'm now able to adjust the clutch to be at a normal release point, and the levers don't come into contact with the disc springs when fully depressed.  Problem #1 solved.

I'm thinking the other two won't be so easy to fix--but at least there are only two remaining.

Rumble

Exhaust-ing

Dropped my car off this morning at Jerry's Precision Muffler for new dual exhaust. Jeff hooked me up.

2-inch exhaust into Magnaflow Mufflers

X-Pipe--more for smoothing out the sound than performance since a Stude V8 isn't really a high-rpm engine.

Modern hangers--exhaust tips will be added once the bumper is mounted

I also was able to discover where the source of my power steering fluid leak was coming from: a c-clip holding in the seals on the steering ram apparently hadn't been seated properly, and had blown out along with a couple of seals. All still there, so I should be able to push them back into position and, hopefully, fix that leak.

After that, I'll fire this thing back up and let you listen to it.

Clutch working normally, ready for exhaust

Nothing major to report other than my new pressure plate arrived this week, and I installed it. Everything worked as it should (other than the pedal being a bit low, but that's adjustable.)

The car now moves normally under its own power and is ready to be put on a trailer and hauled to the local exhaust shop for a bit of pipe bending and fitting.