Poking? You should see my legs. Fostering 8 kittens, most of whom claw their way up my legs rather than jumping in my lap. Good thing I am not a shorts fan! 11 vans, a couple Fords, a spare parts '40, 3 cars that aren't mine, and so much other stuff it makes the gray matter sore! Whenever I think of clearing it out, I consider being a burden to those who outlive me.
I called my uncle and asked him to turn the ****ing heater off. Do you think you might add AC to this one so you can enjoy it more?
As we grow older, that thought has been crossing my mind a bit more. When the temps go higher then 85, with high humidity, it bothers me more now then it did when I was younger. The last few years we have come to enjoy the central air in the house a lot more... The air conditioning pump came with the wagon (its not bolted on the motor, and if its any good or not is a different question), but there is nothing else present. I would have to buy everything. There isn't even a current heater or defroster unit in the car. When I built my truck, I was prepared for the possibility of adding AC to it. I added a new evaporater (it is still closed up at the firewall) into the HVAC box when I installed the new heater core, but it would need a remote condenser with a fan and custom made AC hoses ran. The truck would probably get the AC before the wagon. We have not had functioning AC in a vehicle since the AC in my wife's PT quit 20 years ago! It needed both the high pressure hose and the low pressure hose back then (which was expensive to us). My wife made the decision she didn't want the AC back then. In all reality, it would probably get its AC fixed before AC was considered for anything else.
Its a good thing for those kittens that you are fostering them. The s**** guys around here would give you $400 for each full size van, and they would probably come and pick them up. A few every now and again could buy a lot of T bucket parts! Just think of it as swapping the old parts you had, for the new parts you need. See, I didn't even start with the Fords, or the 3 cars that belonged to other people. I'm not having a problem s****ping all of that, none of it is my stuff!
That depends on if you happen to be lucky enough to catch a time of higher s**** prices when its time to unload... The s**** price of aluminum cans has been hoovering around 25 cents a pound here for a while. Then suddenly, for about 4 days, the price jumped to 75 cents a pound. We just happened to have a bunch of crushed aluminum cans in garbage bags sitting here. We did pretty good that time, because of being too lazy to take them in for s**** when the price was 25 cents a pound.
My wife had some things she needed to do this morning, so I spent a little time with the wagon. We managed to put around 90 miles on the wagon since the Seafoam was added to the oil. I started the car up and let it come up to operating temp, so I could change the oil and filter. A few months back, I put one of those 4" round "Peep" mirrors on the right side of the car. Its one of those cheap kind that clamp on the edge of the door, that never stay in position. Probably the biggest problem with those stupid mirrors is that they stick out away from the car body 6", and everyone that walks past them bumps the stupid things (me included). While I was waiting for the motor to warm up, I though I would take another shot and adjusting the Peep mirror. As one would expect, that was pretty much wasted time, that spilled well past the engine warm up time frame. I did pause the mirror project long enough to get the oil and filter replaced. The oil came out just a bit darker then what the new oil looked like going in (same oil brand, same weight), but the old oil filter was noticeably heavier then the new replacement was (again, same filter), so it was not hard to know the oil change made a difference. When I added the oil, I put in 16 oz of MMO for this go around. This oil change should carry us through the rest of this driving season. I did get the mirror back on the car, probably in exactly the same position it was in before, but I bent the little tab, so its a bit tighter for a while. One time during the past few months, the car was sitting in exactly the right position while out in the sun, both my wife and I noticed a spot near the mirror where we could see sunlight coming between the door and the window frame. Someone (not me) put new rubber weatherstripping around the door, but the area near the window was pulled loose and was not in the correct position. I took this time to fully investigate that issue. It appeared that at some point before my ownership there had already been a clamp on mirror in this position! The mirror and the weather stripping tried to occupy the same space on the door, but the glue didn't hold. The rubber got pinched between the door and the frame and was ineffective, once I held it back in its correct position, it also became apparent it was about 6" too short. I have a short piece of weatherstripping left over from the piece that goes around the tailgate and the back window. I cleaned up the door frame, cleaned up the original rubber, and the new rubber and glued them into position on the door. Now with the door closed, there is no sunlight peeking between the door and the door frame. Another wind whistle gone. Concerning wind whistles, and rattles, that tailgate and hatch window has been bugging me for a while. When you close the tailgate, there is a lever on both sides that lock the lower tail gate closed. The old weatherstripping was squished to nothing and was not doing anything. With the gate closed and both levers locked, you could move the top of the tailgate in and out almost a 1/4 inch! When we replaced the old rubber with new rubber, we reduced the amount of movement by more then 1/2, but there was still movement. I can't see the back side of the lock levers, but they feel smooth, and there is no apparent wear on the ears the they lock onto. Any shimming I tried simply made opening and closing the levers harder, but the gap remained. I was stumped, so the best bet at the time was to remove the shimming, and listen to the rattle. The window hatch has a center latch with a lever lock When you turned the keyed T handle, the lever has two cam locks that latch into the top of the tailgate. That top latch plate is held in place with 5 Phillips head screws. I've always ***umed that those screws allowed the latch to move inward or outward to center the locked hatch over the tailgate, but I just didn't take the time to investigate (other more important issues to deal with). When I closed the hatch and turned the T handle, it would push the hatch away from the gate, but then would lock. That seemed to make the already loose fitting tailgate even more loose fitting. Today was the day to address all of that. The tail gate set up is much like what the old pickup trucks had. Two hinges on the bottom allowed the gate to lay out flat with the floor level. There is a tailgate support on each side to hold the gate level and support any weight placed on the tailgate. Those support pieces are simply two 1/8" flat bars hinged in the center. One end is hinged at the top corner of the tail gate, the other end is hinged at the top of the side window supports (in a truck that would be at the inside top of the bed). At the floor level there are two rubber covered stops, on attached to the floor, the other attached to the tailgate. With the gate in the closed position, the support straps are pinched between those two rubber pieces. As soon as the tailgate begins to open, the rubber stop attached to the gate is moved away from the other stop so the two support bars can extend out. Both sides are set up the same. All 4 rubber pieces are present, and appears to be in decent shape. The right side pair pinch the arms wonderfully, and there is no movement when the gate is closed. The left side has a gap when the gate is closed, and the two bars move and rattle. I ***ume that at least one side of each rubber pairs has some adjustment, the rubbers turn, but nothing lengthens or contracts. I have found replacement rubber pieces, but there is nothing I've seen mentioning any thing adjustable. I will be welding in the area of those back corners this winter. I ***ure you, there will be something adjustable after that. between now and then, I have a folded up piece of carpet between the rubber stop and the bracket to keep the rattle quite. Then I moved my attention to the hatch latch area. Loosening the 5 screws did indeed provide for some adjustment.I shifted the plate towards the front of the car as far as I could go. I'm happy to report that the window lock no longer pushes the window away from the tailgate. I still feel a need to have some kind of weather stripping between the hatch and the top of the tailgate, but the "experts" say there never was. In a different matter, on the way home from Dubuque our right front hubcap escaped again. That time I heard it go, but never saw it. in the mirror. We went back to the scene of the escape but couldn't find the hubcap. We bought a set of 4 driver quality caps online. They arrived late last week. I put one of the caps on the right front wheel. It took a bit of effort to get it on there, so hopefully this one will stay. All in all, I got the oil changed, the side mirror back on, and got some wind whistles and rattles addressed, and got another hubcap on the right front. It was a pretty good day just messing around with our new toy. Maybe tomorrow I'll give the 49 a little attention.
If anyone is in the southwest and wants to follow in Gene's footsteps, here's a starter. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1016959441332701/ 1954 Plymouth belvedere $2,300 Listed 4 days ago in Surprise, AZ 1954 Plymouth Belvedere Suburban Fairly rare car not many around. Body straight but does have some minor rust mostly in tailgate. Engine runs with gas poured in carb. Wouldn't take much to get back on the road. Floors have some rust but for most part solid. Came from Tucson. Not in a big hurry to get rid of. Asking $2300 firm. Might be interested in a trade for 67-72 Ford truck or possibly other older car projects. Sold with bill of sale. Vin number is no longer in Arizona system so easy to get ***le.
Well, here we are, 1/2 way through the month of September. My wife and I have started discussing when we should start on the winter projects on the wagon. We have been cruising the wagon quite a bit since the lifter issue, but I'm ready to get started on the deeper part of the project. The weather went from 85-90 degree range highs and lows in the low 70s, directly into highs in the 70s and lows in the upper 40s (we skipped right over everything in between). The weather forecast is also giving us at least a 30% to 40% of rain, with many days higher then 50% to 60% chance every day the next 7- 10 days. Not exactly what I want to see for a car with no defroster, the cool weather combined with the rain makes for fogged up gl***. even though the wipers work, we generally won't take he wagon if the chance of rain is over 30%, fogged gl*** without a blower fan is a PITA. Generally, around here the weather turns towards the colder side of things once we get past the first of October. A ride without heat in cold weather isn't much fun either. Especially when you have a cool ride with working wipers, and an awesome heater and defroster parked right next to it. Then I take into account the use of our garage space over the last 5 years. My garage/shop is 24' x 24' building. The building is heated, and up until about 5 years ago, it was my welding shop. I retired and closed it in 2018, then began working on my stuff. during that time, I usually managed to get my wife's ride inside most nights through the winter months. Once I got done building my 49 truck, that heated garage has transformed into a heated winter parking space for both of the vehicles we drive through the winter months. It didn't take long before climbing into those nice warm dry vehicles (50 degrees inside, compared to 20 degrees outside) on those cold winter days when we had to go someplace, to spoil us. The rocker and quarter panel work I plan to do on both sides of the wagon will require it to occupy the entire shop during that process. Once through the the welding stage, inside over night parking for one of our winter drives can probably return. I can use the entire shop during the day, and park the other vehicle in the shop over night. That has worked well before. We generally get our first taste of brutal cold and snow by Thanksgiving. If I get the wagon into the shop around Oct first, I believe I can have the welding work that requires the entire shop mostly done before the weather turns nasty, if it follows the normal patterns. I have picked the approximate date we park the wagon for the season at Oct 1st. That doesn't exactly mean that if the weather turns wonderful, we won't take the wagon on a hundred mile cruise between now and then, and that date isn't written in concrete.
All supplies needed are in the garage including gas? Fire extinguishers up to date? Tet**** shot too?
The Jalopy Journal
