Today is nothing but good news.
Decided to look into the pesky non-operational speedometer. Turns out the shaft was just gummed up, a bit of carb cleaner and lube run through it took care of that little problem. Speedo works like a charm now.
Finally got around to replacing all of the burnt out lamps in the instrument cluster so now everything works inside.
Decided to look into the clutch slippage problem, found the linkage adjusted too tight. There wasnt any free play at all. Adjusted it properly, put a return spring on and voila, clutch works great. It will now roach the tires going around a corner if I feel like it. Pretty scary, but it will do it.
While I was under there I decided to see what I could do about my slight sticking in first problem. Found several culprits.
Both shift arms on the tranny were loose. The 1st/Rev bushing is pretty worn. I think I may just fill the bushing holes with weld and drill them to the size of the shift rod like the setup on my boss' '51 Ford Custom that I am working on. Basically do away with the bushings and just have metal to metal. With as many miles as I plan on putting on the thing I think I will get plenty of service life out of that setup.
I also found the clutch release rod (the one that connects to the fork) worn heavily. Not sure what to do about that yet. I dont think it is the right one for the truck (looks modified heavily) so I may end up making something a lot more tight in tolerance here soon.
All in all I am quite pleased with today's progress. The little A is running well, is pretty peppy and now I can tell how fast I am going.
Decided to look into the pesky non-operational speedometer. Turns out the shaft was just gummed up, a bit of carb cleaner and lube run through it took care of that little problem. Speedo works like a charm now.
Finally got around to replacing all of the burnt out lamps in the instrument cluster so now everything works inside.
Decided to look into the clutch slippage problem, found the linkage adjusted too tight. There wasnt any free play at all. Adjusted it properly, put a return spring on and voila, clutch works great. It will now roach the tires going around a corner if I feel like it. Pretty scary, but it will do it.
While I was under there I decided to see what I could do about my slight sticking in first problem. Found several culprits.
Both shift arms on the tranny were loose. The 1st/Rev bushing is pretty worn. I think I may just fill the bushing holes with weld and drill them to the size of the shift rod like the setup on my boss' '51 Ford Custom that I am working on. Basically do away with the bushings and just have metal to metal. With as many miles as I plan on putting on the thing I think I will get plenty of service life out of that setup.
I also found the clutch release rod (the one that connects to the fork) worn heavily. Not sure what to do about that yet. I dont think it is the right one for the truck (looks modified heavily) so I may end up making something a lot more tight in tolerance here soon.
All in all I am quite pleased with today's progress. The little A is running well, is pretty peppy and now I can tell how fast I am going.