What I Did on My Lunch Hour

[Vic Piano]

Originally Posted by oldford2

Vic,
How long are your "lunch hours"?
Just curious
John

John, they (the lunch hours) are as long, or as short, as I need them to be... LOL Vic

[Ken/Alabama]

Originally Posted by Vic Piano

Ken I do have the Columbia but, even though I know it was in working order when I got it, I decided to go through it and freshen it up before installing it.

You are a smart man for doing so. Let me know if I can be of any help ,Its not that far to Alabama.

[Vic Piano]

Thanks Ken, I appreciate that and may be contacting you once we open her up! Besides, I could use another road trip... Vic

[Vic Piano]

Wow, the Postman just delivered a package with spark plug wires and Rajah Caps for the Zephyr and just in time for lunch... Now for some more fun...

[Vic Piano]

I'm takin' a short cut... I have an original spark plug wire loom from a '39 LZ that was found in a Lincoln Dealership years ago by a friend of mine. Apparently Lincoln dealerships replaced the entire wiring harness (already installed in the looms along with the generator, voltage regulator and water temp wire harness). Well, as you can imagine, the wires are dry rotted however they are the correct length so, I pulled each one out and labeled it in order to measure and cut the new wires... I hope it works, we'll see.

[Vic Piano]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Ya know, it's true, you do learn something new just about every day. Today's revelation came while I was comparing the two sets of plug wire looms I've got for the LZ. I've cleaned up and painted the looms that came with the '39 and while looking at the set I referred to in a previous post I noticed that (what I'll call the "early set") had a shorter driver side loom with a much larger opening on the aft end. On the "early set" the voltage regulator harness and #12 plug wire exited through the large hole on the end of the loom. On the original '39 looms the drivers side is extended and the #12 plug wire exits from a hole in the side of the loom while the voltage regulator, etc. harness exits through the small hole at the rear of the loom... This will make it much easier to route the plug wires (I hope)... Now, here's a question; do any of you Zephyr guys know what year(s) the "early set" of looms fit and are correct for

[Woodie1]

I just caught the Zephyr saga. You sure had your share of gremlins in it. It was probably a good thing to put the Columbia on hold until you could go through it. Then you'll be confident that it is done right & ready to roll. I like you collection & the fact that you never seem to tire of the challenges.

[Vic Piano]

Originally Posted by Woodie1

I just caught the Zephyr saga. You sure had your share of gremlins in it. It was probably a good thing to put the Columbia on hold until you could go through it. Then you'll be confident that it is done right & ready to roll. I like you collection & the fact that you never seem to tire of the challenges.

Thanks Woodie, I appreciate that. I've had the Zephyr for almost 10 years so I really can't complain about having to do a little mechanical work on her... I enjoy our cars & trucks for the most part and understand that if you want to use old cars as drivers, which I do, you'll have to do some work on them over time, but I try to look at that as part of the fun, plus I’ve got a bunch of friends with flatheads and we enjoy messin’ with them. For example, I just spent the last two hours running plug wires through the looms for the '39 LZ. It was a pain in the butt but, now that it's done, I'm looking forward to installing the looms/wires/etc. on the Zephyr... Even though I know that’s going to be a challenge as well, it’s all part of the fun with Flatheads. Vic

[Ken/Alabama]

Originally Posted by Vic Piano

Ya know, it's true, you do learn something new just about every day. Today's revelation came while I was comparing the two sets of plug wire looms I've got for the LZ. I've cleaned up and painted the looms that came with the '39 and while looking at the set I referred to in a previous post I noticed that (what I'll call the "early set") had a shorter driver side loom with a much larger opening on the aft end. On the "early set" the voltage regulator harness and #12 plug wire exited through the large hole on the end of the loom. On the original '39 looms the drivers side is extended and the #12 plug wire exits from a hole in the side of the loom while the voltage regulator, etc. harness exits through the small hole at the rear of the loom... This will make it much easier to route the plug wires (I hope)... Now, here's a question; do any of you Zephyr guys know what year(s) the "early set" of looms fit and are correct for

I have never noticed the different lenths but I do know that some are larger in diameter than others . Its my understanding that the larger diameter looms are the later ones and the small diameter are early . The original ones for the 39 are the small ones and Im not sure when the large ones came out. I going to use the large ones on mine, they are much easier to get all those wires inside them.

[copperpenny]

Smaller diameter tubes used before 1941. Drivers side tubes are 29" in length and passenger side tubes are 26" in length.

Larger diameter tubes were used from 1941 on in response to added wireing for B-W overdrive transmission and new glass bowl fuel pump which required a shorter driver side tube to keep from interferring with new fuel pump. Both side tubes are 26" in length.

[Vic Piano]

Copperpenny,
Thanks for that information. Here are a few photos of the two different looms.

This is the “later” set with the large opening in the rear.


And this is the set of looms that were in the trunk of the ’39 Zephyr when I got her.


You can see my handy work with the plug wires, etc.

[Vic Piano]

A Big THANKS to Shelly & Mac VanPelt

The other day I got the plug wire that I ordered from the Hot Rod Company, along with the Rajah ends for the plugs, they didn't have the correct end caps for the distributor... So, I went up to the local auto parts store as well as NAPA and they told me that they only sell complete plug wire sets... I called Mac; Shelly told me they had the 7mm ends for the distributor. I need 12 to do the LZ but asked Shelly to send 16 because I know I'll most likely mess up one or two installing them...

Thanks again,

Vic

[Vic Piano]

This past Saturday I drove the LZ up to the "Hot Rod Breakfast Club", her first extended outing with everything back together, she ran cool with steady, albeit, low oil pressure and did not skip a beat. The round trip is just less than 130 miles mostly on open highway. When I got home I changed the oil & filter, cleaned the heads and applied a coat of Bill Hirsh Lincoln green paint to them. Next up, we'll pull the distributor to install the new gasket set and install the looms with the new plug wires.

[Vic Piano]

I backed the Zephyr out of the garage this morning and noticed an accumulation of liquid on the floor directly under where the passenger side water pump was parked. I got out of the car and did the smell test as the water had the essence of cooling system orange coloring but with a little oil added to it. I suspect that the passenger side water pump is leaking where it butts up to the block because the hoses and clamps are relatively new and tight. The Zephyr water pumps are the externally oiled type, and clean oil mixed with orange (rust colored) water dripping down the lower radiator hose (it is almost impossible to see anything leaking to determine the origin of the leak) is a strong indication that the water pump is leaking. I guess I'll pull both pumps off and send them to Skip but I really wanted to install the plug wire looms and drive the car a little first. What is the consensus with respect to adding some sort of stop leak to the cooling system (the car is running cool) as an alternative to removing the pumps right away...

[B-O-B]

Vic is it possible to find a couple of spare pumps to send to Skip? That way you could drive around & it wouldn't take long to change out the rebuilt ones. Less down time.

[Lawson Cox]

Originally Posted by Vic Piano

I backed the Zephyr out of the garage this morning and noticed an accumulation of liquid on the floor directly under where the passenger side water pump was parked. I got out of the car and did the smell test as the water had the essence of cooling system orange coloring but with a little oil added to it. I suspect that the passenger side water pump is leaking where it butts up to the block because the hoses and clamps are relatively new and tight. The Zephyr water pumps are the externally oiled type, and clean oil mixed with orange (rust colored) water dripping down the lower radiator hose (it is almost impossible to see anything leaking to determine the origin of the leak) is a strong indication that the water pump is leaking. I guess I'll pull both pumps off and send them to Skip but I really wanted to install the plug wire looms and drive the car a little first. What is the consensus with respect to adding some sort of stop leak to the cooling system (the car is running cool) as an alternative to removing the pumps right away...

Don't trust relatives. LOL Tighten them up as tight as you can get them. I'll bet it is only a relatively tight hose clamp.

[B-O-B]

Vic;
Don't know if these are what you but on evil bay for cheep.
Item number: 190676307915

[frenchy dehoux]

Sound like you have one of the original carbon seal failing on you and leaking out from the pourous bushing which are known to leak after a while. Skips rebuild water pumps are the best and using a seal bearing and you do not have to put oil in the upright oillers they will be there for look only. Vic when I did my spark plug wire loom I build a template with a piece of 3/4 plywood and bolted it down so that it would be more stable to feed all of the wires through then I removed the wire loom tube from the fixture and installed it back on the motor very easy to do.

Frenchy

[Vic Piano]

Originally Posted by Lawson Cox

Don't trust relatives. LOL Tighten them up as tight as you can get them. I'll bet it is only a relatively tight hose clamp.

Knowing that everything is relative, I checked and rechecked the hose and clamps. Unfortunately, it is the pump that is leaking... Oh well, another project...

[Vic Piano]

Originally Posted by B-O-B

Vic;
Don't know if these are what you but on evil bay for cheep.
Item number: 190676307915

Thanks B-O-B, I checked those out... I think I'll just have Skip rebuild the ones I've got.