Hornet status

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Drove to work today in the ex-project Hornet. 45 miles each way,
LA freeways. I stuck to a moderate 60 - 70 mph (or thereabouts,
speedo gear seems off a tooth or two), ran perfectly. Smooth, no
vibrations (even with the short driveshaft).

The carb sucks. Flat spot where the other bbl opens. Choke setup
is AFU.  The Usual, tunable.

So I do think the cam is non-stock. It idles funny; rough but not
misfiring.  Never owned a car with a lumpy cam (since my
SC/Rambler but that was in 1974 or so). Smooths out around 1000
rpm. On the way home, I pushed it faintly harder. Performance
above 65 mph surprised me; I got to 80 pretty damn quick, and it
showed no sign of letting off. With the 2.73 axle 70mph=2500rpm,
80mph=2900rpm.

I'm still running the cheap oil I used at startup. I never found
any water signs (eg. no white foamy) so I guess it all drained and
evap'ed OK. I'll change it Thursday anyways, it'll have 250 miles
on it. It was some no-name stuff from NAPA (rated 10W-30, not
"virgin" or whatever).

Throttle cable and/or is way too stiff, gotta fix that, plus the
brake pedal seems to bind at the top of travel (foot off), it's
linkage or pedal backstop, once it's off the stop (but no braking)
it's perfectly fine.

I've got skinny good-quality Nitto traction A/temperature A tires
(195/70-R14) on 6" wide wheels; factory geometry (0 camber, 1
caster, 1/8" toe) all new parts. Front tires squeal rounding
corners. Odd. Usual Rambler understeer but nothing serious, and
it's smooth and consistent, no funny noises or nonlinearities.
Tires should have all the mold release worn off by now I'd think,
but maybe not (< 100 miles).

The springs came from ESPO. They ride fine; the car is as tight as
a brand new car, but ride height is too tall, even for me, and I
like tall cars. The rate seems correct (compression on chuckholes
and steps in the road) so I hope they collapse a bit.

I'm gonna get a rear sway bar, and make a panhard, "soon", but I
want to save my pennies and get rid of this carburetor. Chokes,
fast-idles, all that crap, I'm over it.