That drain cock design hasn’t changed in a hundred years., the handle is merely swagged onto the shaft so a heavy hand will cause it to slip.
I can remember soldering/brazing the shaft to the handle on them when I was a teenager .

I can remember when I was about 7or 8 riding in my dad’s Model “A” swiping my finger over the weepy gas gauge in the instrument cluster and sniffing it. I used to love that aroma, gasoline back then smelled a lot better than today’s  chemical concoction.

I wish I woulda went to doctors school!

The stuff we used was like a coarse green saw dust.

When I worked for a living in a tool and die shop we used a product called “Dustbane”.
At the end of the work day we scattered this stuff all over the floor to suppress the dust when everyone grabbed a broom and swept the shop floor.

Nos681 wrote:

Orange is the new black 😜

The faded green on the fastback reminds me of the metal primer used prior to the “nonskid” on aircraft carrier flight deck and hangar bay.

I dig that color green whatever it is.

 
IIRC that would be Olive Drab zinc chromate.

I don’t like sanding the paint off, that makes a rust magnet.
All I’ve done mostly is use a heavy duty star washer under the connection with a blob of bulb grease.

I’m constantly looking to fix problems that don’t exist🤪

Some Fox body convertible seats have a shoulder belt retainer outboard of the head restraint. Perhaps other car brands seats have the same set up.
Since you’re already looking for new seats it may be worth while looking into that option.
I removed those retainers from the 94 Fox seats that I put in my car . Instead I installed a Shelby “roll” bar and attached the upper belt loop on it.

A faulty bullet connector crimp on the ignition power feed once almost drove me to insanity.
The problem was intermittent and would rear it’s ugly head at the most inoportune time, like at 70 mph going down a through way in rush hour.
I was able to trace the bad cennector when out of sheer frustrtion I slammed the car door and the engine quit running.

I used a seal kit from NPD a few years back when I re-did my 68 top  mechanism. I had to manually help the top go up and down
The fluid reservoir had a lot of sludge in it, probably never serviced, the cylinders leaked internally and are not rebuildable other than the outer shaft seal.
I completely disassembled the pump and was meticulous in cleaning it putting new “O” rings and the provided parts in it and filled it with type “F” juice.
I ordered new oil lines and cylinders from NPD as well because I didn’t want to do a halfassed job and dig back under the seats when those inevitable snags happen.
I bench tested the rig before I installed it so I wouldn’t have to deal with “in car leaks” and refilling the reservoir and bleeding it in situ.
Hope this helps Ron.

Was the check valve a low crack type in the returnline?