Second Hand Rose

[GB SISSON]

Well, my 59ab from scavenged parts is now running smoothly. I wanted to do a youtube video of the startup but I was of course having a few 'issues' with it. I know I should have done more with the distributor and carb, but I had 4 or 5 of each and two of the carbs I bought last week at a swap meet looked really clean inside like rebuilt and put on a shelf for 20 years. I picked the cleanest one and mounted it. The crab distributor was rebuilt about 20 years ago by a guy some of you may know, Jere Jobe who ran (or runs) Vintage Carburetion. He was in Southern California back then but I heard he moved to Montana. I retired the distributor when the truck died on the road and I bolted on my fresh replacement also built by him. Well today I determined the fault was the condenser because after I replaced it with a greasy old used one, the engine came to life, ran, idled and revved up perfectly. I quickly bolted on the exhaust pipe and crossover from C and G ford parts, and took an old motorcycle inner tube and hose clamped it between the water pumps and stuck a couple lengths of 1 3/4 hose as standpipes up from the heads. My wife fetched a bucket of water from the house and we poured it into the top hoses. She got some video, but I think we need to do something better tomorrow. This is the engine that has a fresh turned .010/.010 ford crank and the homemade teflon button 'circlips'. As all of you well know, it doesn't matter if you have 15 grand into one of these engines, or just a lot of junk and a lot of sweat, there is no greater sound and smell and feel than bringing one of these engines back from the dead. Hoping that between my employee and my wife we can get a video of it tomorrow. I went way beyond what I have done in the past, but only could have done it with the help of so many of you guys. Just two days ago I thought the K&N stud remover/installer cam lock tool was the best tool in my kit, but now I'm thinking it's the internet. Thanks a million!