Oil leak repairs getting ready for trip to Western Regional Meet.

Friday Apr 24th - Oil leaking at oil sender. Not the sender but oil pressure gauge line at sender leaking. Got that taken care of but still had bad leak from rear main seal.

Sat. 25th, - 5 more days to get 52 Hornet ready for regional meet. Below is a message of Saturdays events I sent to Paul Batson.

To
Sarah and Paul Batson

Apr 25 at 6:36 PM

Hi Paul

What a day. Everything was going smoothly. Putting the car on stands, unbolting the center point steering and removing oil pan. So by 11 we thought we might be done by 1 or sooner. When Jairo removed the main cap things stopped going as planned. It had the wrong kind of seal. I hadn't seen a seal like this one in a Hudson No way was my seal going to work. Getting a little unnerved. I started checking the engine block casting numbers and other things to identify what I had. Turns out I had forgotten I had installed a 55 engine when I sold the 54 engine and had ordered the wrong seal. The 55 - 56 rear main seals are nothing like the earlier 308's. I started calling around for the right seal, Perry Spring, Jason at Vintage Coach, Dale Cooper no answers left messages. Called Jon Cronk, he suggested Paul Schuster who new a lot about 55 engines. Left a message for Paul. By now it is after 12:30 so we went to get some lunch. Paul calls back and wants to make sure it is a 55 engine, I give him the information that verifies it's a 55. He suggest calling Randy Maas. By then it is 2:00 pm and the clouds opened up and it starts raining. (We are in 4th year drought in So. Calif) I called Randy, he has the right seal so I order new seal and valve cover gaskets and asked to have them sent fastest way possible. OK. Then Jairo remembers he has a complete 308 gasket set at home and maybe it might have the right seal. He goes home, 26 miles away, and emails me photos of 55 main seal from the kit. Horah! By now Jairo has other commitment and could not return, Bettie has the other car and will not be home till late so can not get the seal. It is now past 4:30 and I make the uncomfortable phone call to Randy canceling the main seal order and still send the valve cover order. He was very gracious about it.

Got a call that Betties brother, Marvin, is at hospital in emergency loosing blood so the Hornet is on hold for time being. Betties brother is more important right now. It has been a eventful day.

Lee

Sunday 26th - Betties brother is releaseed from the hospital and home recovering..

Monday 27th - 3 days to go. To hot working under the sun. That evening we finished replacing rear main seal with correct new one about 11pm. Left on stands until next day to add oil. Bettie fixed us hungry guys something to eat.

Tues. 28th - 2 days to go. Lowered front and rear end off stands. Fill with oil. Started engine and let run for 1/2 hr. No leak at rear main. But still need to fix leaking at oil pump cover. Also, I wanted to check the rear springs because the car is sagging more and more since I bought it 4-5 years ago. There is only 2 1/4 inch gap between rear axle toob and rubber bumper on the underside of frame. Both left and right rear springs are arch the wrong way 9 inches forward of shackle's. On closer examination the metal wrapping was cracked and I can see both main leaves are broken. It is amazing the metal wrapping around the spring leaves can hold broken main leaf together enough preventing the car dropping onto axle housing,

That has put a damper on the trip. There are still 2 day to go so I decided to start removing rear springs from 54 parts car to put on Hornet. It got late and still no springs off. I was over optimistic the springs would come off 54 and onto the hornet in time.

Wed 29th - No chance changing rear springs in time. Not taking the Hornet to the Western Regional Meet is disappointing. But it would have been much worse if I hadn't check the springs and they broke in the middle of nowhere (mostly deasert ) between Burbank, Ca. and Henderson, NV. near Las Vegas. We are healthy and still excited about going, but today I'm changing the oil and belts in family car for the trip.

Changing springs and oil pump gasket will resume after we get home next week, for future events, especially the trip to National Meet in Colorado Springs.

Stuff happens. Have a great day.
Lee O'Dell