[Second Series]

It’s been awhile since I posted an update. I did get the passenger window to roll down and up. Several screws snapped while removing the door panel, so I have that mess to clean up. Since then I have used heat to loosen rusted bolts, and will do so moving forward. I start the engine about once a month until this spring. It would not start. I decided to take the carburator from the ’47 and put it to use here. The carb on the ’55 has a throttle, but that’s all seized up. The carb from the ’47 has a choke. I put it on there and it fired right up. The next time I tried to start, no-go. I looked at the electrical system for days, weeks. I finally put a jumper across the ballast resistor, and it started right up. I was messing around and discovered the screw was seized on the ballast resistor, and would not tighten up. The wire to the coil was making intermittent contact to the ballast resistor screw terminal. After spraying penetrating oil for a week, I finally got the screw off, and then back on. Now it starts right up. Now the brake pedal has gone soft. I have not been able to get the filler cap off the master cylinder. I decided to remove the master cylinder. I thought I could use the master from the ’47. I removed the ’47 master, pulled back the boot and discovered fluid so that is not an option. I then proceeded to remove the master from the ’55. Something was making it difficult so I gave up for that evening. The next day I searched here and found the solution. I also learned the ’47 brake master is different than the ’55. The ’55 has a pivot on the front. It was easy enough to remove the pin and the cylinder was out. I put in in a bench vise and got the filler cap off with a 22mm socket. I found a replacement master cylinder from Napa for $50, or $120 from the parts websites. When I got to the store, they informed me that it’s no longer available, located one for $200. The dual reservoir are a little bit more than that, and dual reservoir with booster for not much more. The one I have looks o.k. The plunger inside looks like anodised aluminum, so I’ll guess it’s more modern? I wiped it down and put it back in. I found the screw that holds the pin keeper would not tighten, so guess the threads stripped. Now in the process of bleeding the system, solo. I use a hose into a jar of fluid, seems to work o.k. Now that I’m getting older I get to use a droplight, maybe someday I can get a floor to work on. I started on the rears, and ran out of fluid. It also got dark. I was hoping the mosquitoes would get caught in the spiderwebs, it’s not so bad crawling under there, I’m having fun.