new life

[GModelle@domain.elided]

Gentle alfisti,
The 1750 mill has been restored to it's proper place between the front wheels 
of the spider. Rejoice!  There was a good amount of work to reattach 
everything. Here are a few random observations respective to recent posts on 
the Digest.

Plex ignitions may be static timed by sight, if like mine, refuse to fire 
with the rotating of the distributor body. A small mechanics mirror can be 
placed to visually line-up the trigger. It's a trial and error sort of thing, 
because you can't look at it while your twisting it...but it seemed to work 
okay. 

Front wheel alignment has alot to do with steering effort. My spider was 
cured, or at least remedied of difficult steering by accident. The steering 
link was removed to withdraw the engine, but when the same number of threads 
were counted on reassembly, it didn't look right. So, contrary to all advice, 
I visually aligned the front end with little expectation of correctness. 
Turns-out that a little toe-in has made the steering alot lighter, with no 
noticeable understeer. My intent is to take the car to have it aligned 
properly, but it was a delight to have the change.

I used the bellhousing from a 2 liter to bolt-up to the front of a 1750 
tranny that was in very good condition. The shifter rods were shortened at a 
local machine shop. The tranny lube from Ereminas is the panacea of tranny 
lubes. The only problem is that the stuff is very viscous at cool 
temperatures. The little plastic hand-pump that I bought to transfer lube did 
not work worth a darn with the thick purple fluid, so the trick to get the 
stuff within the gearbox was the use of a plastic water bottle. The Poland 
Spring water bottles are really thin and very strong. The half-liter size 
worked well as a kind of toothpaste tube, with the modification of the lid to 
receive a nozzle. The box was easily filled as the bottle was squeezed and 
then rolled-up. 

The car has blown a few fuses since it's been restored to life, but all is 
well so far.

If anyone needs a 1750 bellhousing, let me know.

Modelle in Somers Point
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