Had a chance during the week to give the engine a going through (above pic is a before). Put in new points, condenser, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, radiator hoses, oil and filter, coolant and belt. Runs a lot nicer now. Can not remember the last time I had to do points on a car.
Kid at parts store didn't have a clue what points were.I then went over to get chrome cleaner,and was looking all over for the familiar steel can with the plastic pop up cap. Kid came over to see what I needed and handed me the plastic bottle it now comes in. I got to thinking later about it, and they stopped using points on cars about twenty years before the kid was born. I haven't had a car with non plastic bumpers in many years either, thus, I hadn't used the chrome cleaner since I was a teen. I then tried to get touch up paint for it. Duplicolor doesn't even list it anymore. Guess not to many people need paint for a forty three year old car anymore. Times like this make me realize how fast time goes, and how things change. Makes me feel ancient.
I forgot how easy some of the old cars were to tune up without all the emissions mess in the way. Plug change took all of ten minutes. Of course the straight six simplifies it as well. No power steering, so it was only one v-belt. You remember v-belts. The squealing predecessor to the serpentine.
Ordered some parts off the net. I swear if you had enough money, you could build a brand new car off the net. They make just about anything you can think of for it. Ordered a real air cleaner for it. Previous owner put cheap aftermarket one on it. Would have been nice if he would have checked for clearance before slamming hood on it. Have to hammer dent out of hood after installing proper cleaner.
I also had time to go to the gunshow at the armory today. Lots of nice toys there. Bumped into some friends there, and saw a M1A that is pretty close to what I want. Pretty nice day despite the rain.