I have had the Silver Hawk for nearly 2 months now and I must say that it runs and drives quite well for a seventy year old car. Sometimes I wonder why I would even want to do the upgrades I have planned. Even the overdrive on the transmission works, though it has a separate cable switch that you have to monkey with a little bit to get it to engage. Once it is engaged the Borg Warner overdrive system uses a 4 terminal kick down switch operated by the throttle linkage at essentially wide-open throttle. When you floor the accelerator while cruising in overdrive, the switch does two things almost simultaneously: it interrupts the overdrive solenoid circuit and momentarily interrupts ignition torque so the overdrive pawl can release. The ignition interruption is extremely brief; then the engine resumes running with the transmission out of overdrive, giving you the equivalent of a passing gear downshift. Man, I gotta hand it to those engineers back in the 50’s. That is pretty slick.
Kick Down switch sitting on top of accelerator linkage.
Here is another mystery switch sitting on top of the steering column. Only one terminal connected at present. Does anyone know what that is?
The old Hawk has taken me on numerous cruises through the countryside and up through the National Forest. Man does it ever get a lot of looks and Honks and waves even from Motorcycle riders. One guy even gave me a Wolf whistle while driving through the parking lot at Costco. Younger people even seem to appreciate the vintage styling. So it seems that I am at a critical crossroad with the Silver Hawk. I used to think I was indecisive , but now I am not so sure. My intent is not to change the outer appearance any more than I already have by changing the wheels and tires. And there is the safety issues to consider with the old braking system. In fact I have already bought some of the replacement components.
Replacement Disc brake assembly and Rotor
Replacement Pedal Assembly and brake master cylinder
And man it would be nice to pair a performance Hurst Shifter with a Tremec 5 Speed Tranny. And then what about bucket seats? Not sure if Brenda would go for that. She has not even been for a ride with me yet. Just been too hot! But then air conditioning, Yeah Buddy! I asked Chat if it is even possible for someone with only average intelligence and average mechanical ability to even achieve these kinds of upgrades, because “I don’t know nothin bout birthing no babies Miss Scarlett!” Of course he said YES, provided you approach them as a sequence of small jobs rather than one enormous restoration. That sounds like a logical approach to me.
So here’s the deal. Most all of the remaining things I want to do with the Silver Hawk will require putting her down for a long winters nap. And I am not ready to do that. It is just now getting cool enough to drive around without air conditioning and I am just having too much fun. So I plan to put her on the road and figure out where all that oil is going so that I will know what needs to be done when I finally pull the engine. I suspect the rear main is leaking. It loses a quart about every several hundred miles. I don’t believe it is burning any oil because I have done a compression test and the spark plugs look good.
Compression Test Looks Good and Balanced
Spark Plugs Look OK
So I will spend the next few weeks taking pictures and documenting all of the wiring and brake and fuel line routing as well as determining which components will either remain or be replaced. Then I will be ready to start taking this old girl apart and getting her ready for the 21st century. Until then I want to introduce some special friends from my past and relay some hopefully interesting stories from our little neighborhood on Cutten Road where I grew up.
