As part of my test drive loop I made a stop at my favorite photo spot and took some updated pictures now that things are winding down.

Fantastic job Jake! Pops would be proud. I've said this before, but pics don't do the car justice.
The car turned out killer!:headbang::worship:

This is a great example that shows where the little details can make all the difference. What a stunner!

Beautiful!!!

Jake...Amazing, thanks for sharing.

Incredible job -- you nailed it.

Uh-oh, my "Mission Creep Sensors" are alerting....:shocked:

Most excellent! Thanks for sharing! Congrats!!!

The two steps forward one step back bug bit again last night........

I took the car to a local cruise night (see seperate post in the lounge). The last couple of times I drove the car there has been a disturbing clunk coming from underneath that has gotten louder. I thought I screwed something up when I put the front end back together but after I got home last night I took a look and everything under the front is as it should be. I know the center carrier bearing support for the driveshaft is a weak point in these cars. When I went to grab the rear driveshaft it was loose as a goose, so I think I found the culprit.........and my next project. Always something.

Other than that the car drives great, new carbs are very responsive and the new correct radiator keeps things noticeably cooler than the previous unit.

Car looks great !!
Sorry to hear about the next issue...

I bought a replacement for my '62 a number of years ago now and the pressed metal stand was so cheesy, it bent under hard acceleration and would rub inside the frame. I had to remove it again and weld supports on both sides.. :rolleyes2:

Thanks Mitch - supposedly the trick is to install the billet version that holds up better, which suppsedly Dad did back in 2010 based on receipts and forum postings I can see. There can't be that many miles on it since then guessing 5k? Some say the billet one isn't worth the 4x price as it fails just as easy. Will see once I get it apart.

I thought the billet support required a slip yoke on the rear half shaft ? Is there one with the rubber around the bearing for shaft movement ?

Yup, always has been. Those were a routine maintenance item back in the day.

The car looks great! With so much history (and family history, to boot!) behind it, putting it back to the correct non-SS configuration was absolutely the right thing to do :biggthumpup:

Picking up a center carrier bearing (not the billet one) from NAPA tomorrow morning, hoping I can get to replacing it this weekend.

Make sure you final tighten those two carrier bearing bolts with the rear axle loaded. Also, shine a light thru that driveshaft tunnel to inspect & clean the mating surface where the bearing resides.

I was able to easily remove the driveshaft this morning and sure enough the center support was smoked. The bearing was fine but all of the silicone bushing was gone. I don't have the tools to separate the driveshafts and remove the bearing so I will get it off to a driveshaft specialist on Monday. The new bearing I picked up seems to have a smaller ID than the one on the car now so I will have to deal with that too.

Good thing is it did not take long to remove so it should go back easily enough too.

Good advice and taken...........there was a broom pan full of the remnants of the old silicone bushing material that self destructed.

Happy to report that I got things put back together this morning and all is well. No more mystery noises from the chassis and it runs down the road very nicely.

I had a story board made up for the car that we can use at MCACN. We utilized some back in the day pics and tried to get the Cliff Notes version of the story on the board so people can get the gist of its history without reading a novel.....

Turned out great!!

Very well done,that's a story board I would stop & read.

Great idea, Jake - just did something similar for the family Pontiac. Since it's mostly a cars and coffee/errand runner, never had much in the way of presentation material unless Mr. Whittaker showed up w/all that cool Royal stuff! Some guests at MCACN didn't know it was the C and D car! (duh, on my part!). Will go crowd the goat thread w/what we did, if curious - meanwhile, you're maybe an extra batch of cookies or two away from MCACN-ready ...!

That is my hope!

Great board!!

Perhaps you could post a photo of the board that's readable for those of us who will not be at MCACN???

Happy to report I was able to log some trouble free confidence building miles yesterday and today in the 409. Did about a 20 mile loop out in the country yesterday and then about a 45 mile round trip down to my brother in-laws place today. Mom met us there and it was the first time she saw the car all done and she really liked the transformation.

The new radiator really works well - 80 degrees ambient outside today and rolling along around 55 miles an hour the temp held around 170-180. When coming through town it bumps up a bit but comes right down when we're back rolling along. When it gets up around 185 I can hear the clutch fan starting to pull air so that is working as it should too.

Good stuff........finally.

Hopefully this is readable-

The correct dated hens tooth 235 voltage regulator was delivered yesterday after being restored - swapped that out last night.