where is there leaded gas? I just finally switched my 68 over to 68 plates and special interest tags. or just tag. I found out I don't have to run a front plate now with the new tag.

 

One agricultural place on top the hill at Oregon City, and another farm coop station on McLoughlin not far from the Bomber.

 

Yes, no front plate required with SP or AQ plate registration. I have a front plate on my '69 Suburban, but the sticker is a '69 sticker. Both my Austin and the Falcon only have the rear plate.

 

Got the Falcon back together today, and still no squirt from the accelerator pumps on BOTH carbs. The old diaphragms were actually fine, and soft. I realized I had a problem elsewhere in the circuit, so took one carb apart and blew out all the passages.
When I got to the main body, I found the passage blocked, so I pulled the nozzle and tried blowing again, and no air. The check ball and weight were stuck, and then it hit me! When I was troubleshooting I had put the nozzle screws back in, and slightly snugged them both, which most likely put them against the ball and stuck it. Since you can't compress liquid, it felt like the diaphragms were hard and gone bad.
I bent up a piece of tie wire and made a hood to catch the edge of the ball and weight, and snagged them loose. Once loose, I reinstalled the nozzles, and tested the throttle. The pumps squirted fuel, and worked great! Took it out for a test drive with my buddy, and it ran better than ever. Got a little sideways on the 1-2 shift, and I think he was a little nervous, but like a good hotrodder he never said a word!
I sure am happy to have it running well again, and ready for more summer runs!

 

After the test drive I rolled the driver's window down to discover it wont go past 5" down. Pulled the door interior panel and found the channel for the glass had some old rubber loose that had lodged in the channel. Just pulled it out and it's working again, so easy fix.

 

Yet another setback, and another issue with the gilmer cogbelt system! The lower pulley came off exiting the freeway yesterday on the way home from the hotrod breakfast! And if that wasn't enough, it wnet under the left slick, which bent it badly!
Fortunately I had a friend following behind, and he gave me a ride home where I beat and bent the pulley close enough to round that I could take it back and reinstall it to limp home.
It seems the thickness of the lower pulley puts a lot of stress on the bolts because they have to be so long. This caused the bolts to work them selves loose, and then the pulley began shifting around until it pulled the threads from the balancer. When the new pulley arrives I'm going to try and tap the holes in the balancer out to 7/16", but only if the pulley has enogh clearance to allow allen head bolts to clear the pulley. If not, I'll have to heli'coil the balancer and stay with 3/8" bolts. Either way I'm going to clean things well, and Loctite not only the threads, but the mating surfaces between the balancer and the pulley, to try and eliminate any chance of any shifting.
If this fix doesn't do it, I'm dumping the gilmer system and going back to V belts.

 

Hmmm, hate when that happens! What if you were to "stud" the pulley mounts, by running bolts through the dampener from the back side?

 

Good idea, but not sure if there's enough meat/thread left to do it. I am a bit concerned that if I put my puller on to pull the balancer that it might pull the threads that are left out. It might work if I heli-coil the balancer first, and then stud it.
Studs would definitely hold better than bolts, and I might use your idea if I end up doing heli-coil instead of tapping it out to 7/16" bolts. Gotta look it all over closely to decide what may or may not fit.

 

Be sure to do a show & tell if you stud it. I wanted to go with those pulleys, but not if they're going to cause problems.

 

I got some good news while we at Autozone getting my friend's fuel pump for the '91 this morning. I mentioned to the manager how the threads had pulled out on the balancer, and he said if I didn't mind pulling it, he'd warranty the balancer! I told him I might end up having to pull it with a 3 way puller on the outer edge of the balancer, if the threads wont hold long enough to get it pulled correctly, and he said it wasn't a problem.
So tomorrow I'll get out before it's too hot (90 today and tomorrow!) and try to get it off, one way or another. I may still stud the balancer bolts to the pulley to ensure I get a better connection, but I need to also ensure that I can get the right 3/8" studs that are high grade and wont stretch or strip. I'm guessing grade 5 or above should be fine.
If I stud it, I'll take some pics, so I can post them on this thread.