I sold the 58

What can I tell you ladies and gentlemen? The 58 is gone.

I bought the 58 Biscayne some 5 years ago, when the car was 50 years old. I have always held the 58 Chevy to be the ultimate car since I became smitten with a local, hot-rodded 58 Impala when I was some 6-8 years old. It has left an defining mark on me. The original 'Devils Haven', circa 1968.

I bought the 58 as the realization of a dream, or so I thought. The truth is, I found something else. While perusing ebay, I came upon another car I have always wanted. This car was within reach, but I could not have it and the 58 too. The 58 would have required probably another 5 years and thousands more dollars to make it to completion. The other car is a 'done' car. Frankly, I ran out of gas.

I just dont have the income I used to, and as they say, Im not getting any younger. I put the 58 up on ebay and got what I could for it. Fine. Whatever.

Here is the 58 being loaded onto a car carrier, headed for Texas. A very weird event, for sure.

The nice driver, Vladimir (or something) a nice young Russian guy is cinching the car down nice and tight. Funny, that lowered stance is how I wanted the car to sit eventually, and here it is done now.

I took this photo from probably 100 yards away, the 58 turning the corner at the end of my road, and literally the last I saw of it. I will admit to getting a wee bit sad about it.

I feel like I abandoned a friend that was counting on me to help. I feel like this car was counting on me, and I saw a better, younger example, and I just  kicked the 58 to the curb.

But I do think I brought the 58 a long way. I put a lot of parts, money, and time into that car. It really just needed paint and an interior. My hope is that the new owner can bring it along even further, if not to completion. I did the hard work.

I wish it, and its new owner the very best. Perhaps I will own another 58, perhaps not.

OK so Im back

I rolled the car out and started it. Took a short test drive to test the brakes, but the motor would not accelerate smoothly. I bought a carb rebuild kit and got to work. If your old carby has sat for a few years (like mine), and the gas in it stinks to high heaven, I encourage you to give this a try. Basically you take it all apart and replace all the gaskets and seals, blow out all the passages with compressed air, and carefully reassemble it. Take great care to notice how it comes apart. This was a Holley aftermarket carb; fortunately I am very familiar with these so it went quickly. When youre done it should look like this:                                 
 Mr. Carby ran like a champ, but the motor still had a ticking noise I didnt like. I suspected a bad hydraulic lifter. I also didnt like how the intake manifold gasket was all wonky and falling out, as you can see here:

 The first thing to do is pull the carb off, then the distributor. To get the distributor back in properly, I put it in a memorable position before pulling it. I like to have it so the rotor is pointing straight forward.

Here I have my rotor tab facing forward, and I mark the distributor housing with a little ol dot so I know where that should be going back in. Nicey nice.

The way to get the rotor positioned is to turn the motor over with a suitable tool. Here you can see mine. Its a cheap 1/2" ratchet handle with some pipe welded over it. Works great.

After you pull the carb, the distributor, the valve covers, and the intake manifold, you will be looking at this: 



The lifters are down in the block, they push up on the long rods called (naturally) pushrods. Oh yeah, you have to take the pushrods out too.

Sure enough, the number 8 cylinder intake lifter was all dished out on the bottom, like so:



Theyre supposed to be like Mr. Flat-Face, above.

Might as well replace ALL of the lifters while I have it apart, so I got these:



I also replace all of the nasty gaskets with these freshy new ones upon reassembly.

So nice.

So back together it looks like this:

Started and ran great, no ticking noise, no leaks. Carb runs like new. Really a couple of hours well spent.

Finally, the car runs great. Starts, drives, steers, and stops fantastically. So great.

Hard to believe what I was going to do next.