why do small projects become BIG projects??

What started out as a simple carb swap on my '57 Ranchero has turned into a three week ordeal!!!

I bought a new Holley 600 for my Ranchero at the Moultrie Swap meet before Thanksgiving and decided to finally install it after turkey day and things have gone down from there. After I installed the carb and got all of the plumbing and chock wires situated I cranked the motor to glory in its beautiful Y-block sound. The idle was crazy fast so I adjust the fast idle cam down. Once warmed up the curb idle speed was a bit fast I brought it down and then it was time to test it out. WooHOO!

Boy that was short lived, the motor stumbled and all but died when tipping into the throttle. Ok, so the booster pump isn't working right....took the carb off and check it out. Everything seems to be in order for a new carb and the pump is "pushing" gas into the carb. So maybe the air/fuel is off but I didn't have a vacuum gauge to adjust it so I decided to do some beautification on the motor. (I have a vacuum gauge now for when I get the motor pieces put back on.)

The valve covers were looking nasty so I took them off to paint them. Got all the paint stripped off, etch primed, primed, sanded, painted and the paint screwed up. Sanded it back down, repainted (which looked good) and decided clear coat it. The clear bubbled up. GRRRR Resanded and just put another coat of paint on them. So far so good.

While the valve covers were off I decided to check the valve lash. I read tons of tech articles on how to adjust them cold on a Y-block since this was my first time to do it. Got them all adjusted and had a friend come by to check out my work...got'em a bit too tight so I need to loosen them up a bit.

While trying to get space to turn the motor over while I adjusted the lash I took the water pump pulley off to clean and paint it. The "face" of it where the bolt holes are was bit warped (I could see it wobbling before) so I fixed that, stripped the paint, etched, primed and painted. So far so good on it.

So I decided to take the balancer off to clean and paint it. Discovered I couldn't remove it because the radiator was in the way. So I removed the radiator and got the balancer off. Once off, I decided to installed the balancer bolt so I could readjust the valve lash but was having problems getting the bolt back into the crank. Upon looking at the threads for the balancer bolt inside the crank, the threads are all messed up. The bolt came out nicely and the bolt threads look good, but I can't get the bolt started without it wanting to cross thread. Of course I don't have a tap big enough to clean up the threads.

Once of these days I'll have the motor bits back on and get back to adjusting the carb which is where I started out on this whole ordeal.

such is life I suppose...

 

another day in the life. happens to all of us. of course, it is not always a bad thing because you will know your ride inside and out. then again, it is not always a good thing because it would be nice to be out on the road before Mother Nature limits our travels

 

There's no such thing as a small project. Unless you're doing simple maintenance stuff. Everything's tied together in these damn cars !!!

 

Well I thought that was why we loved these old cars, because we liked working on them ALL the time, that every project has to be done twice, and the replacement parts are generally so substandard you have to try two or three to get a good one.
Other than that, who else in your neighborhood has one of the coolest cars ever built....a 57 Ranchero.
Glad to see some HAMBers from FWB. My wifes family is from there and we go down for holidays all the time, but I never seem to see any hot rods or cl***ics in the area.
PM sent...
BOutlaw

 

If these things were easy to own and maintain, every yahoo would have one.

 

Old cars are like working on old houses.

A simple drywall patch reveals some ****py wiring.
Wait; What; no insulation in the walls?
Next thing you know you're down to bare studs and sure as hell, you'll find that while you're that far you might as well update/replace replace the plumbing.
15 minte job turns into a 15 day job.

 

There are no such thing as 'small projects'. Each project has their own sets of issues.

Right now our issue up here is with our house...

 

Its like a woman painting a room. Once you change one thing, you see so many other things that need to be changed also to make it "yours" or "right".

 

It's just the nature of the beast.

Havin' ****ty luck doesn't help either.

 

For me there can't be a simple/ easy project because:

1) I can't leave anything alone
2) I typically operate on the idea of "well I'm already this far, I might as well just do that too"
3) I tend to think, do it right or not at all, and because of #1, I have to take the the time to do it nice.

 

I had a quick rear brake job turn into a complete rear end overhaul. I know what you are talking about. However at least its done and you wont have to do it again.

 

Best of Luck... if you decide to paint the block too... just clean it good & brush on One Shot enamel - looks great - lasts - easy to touch-up

 

HA, Its a chain reaction my friend, If your a car guy its in your blood TO NOT LEAVE STUFF WELL ENOUGH ALONE, Have fun

 

Sums it up nicely I think! Had a simple gear stick (Shifter) boot change turn into a new clutch, bell housing, gear box and tail shaft and about 500 little ***ociated changes.
Such a simple 5 minute job............

Doc.

 

Sounds normal to me. peace

 

I had to move a light switch, the door swing opened to block it. This led to
removing the ceiling to get to the wiring, finding the last owner put a ceiling over the old plaster ceiling, then the wiring in the ceiling was still knob and tube so that had to be done, might as well put in decent lighting while the
ceiling is open, new ceiling and lights, now the cabinets and counter look
tired. Refaced the cabinet, put in new counters, now it needs a new floor Should of just bought a lamp. Jim

 

Funny thing about the carb story that started this whole thread, I had a friend who used to drive me to school in his 64 mus****, and he decided to tune his carb so he wasn't running so rich. Well he starts tunning and then drives, tunes and drives, and this goes on for about a week, trying to get it dialed in. Well he goes to a swap meet or the jockey lot, can't remember which, and he saw a rig for tri power carb setup for his engine... well then he set those on his and he has been trying to dial those in so he can street drive the thing again.

 

sounds like Murphys law to me...if it can go bad it will! i also subscribe to the thought that if wasn't for bad luck ,i wouldn't have no luck at all...but once its all said and done, theres that feeling of satisfaction that the ***** didnt get the best of you

 

That's the way it works. A simple brake job transitions to a spindle swap, which of course leads to a suspension rebuild. Then there is the relatively simple engine swap that turns into a tear down to the frame with major body mods. Heck, sounds like you got off easy. Now, put it back together and have some fun.

 

Worse on newer cars!

The ignition switch in one of my off-topic drivers recently started "freewheeling" with no results. Took it to a repair shop. Found there was a plastic rod inside the sealed steering column that had broken (government mandated locking steering column)!

Used column and labor - $460.00.

Be thankful for the simplicity of the older vehicles, and the fact you CAN work on it yourself!

Jon.

 

In my home I now have a small recording studio. It is in a 12 foot by 19 foot room that used to be a bedroom...I thought that it would be an 'easy' scenario to set up my mixer and computer into this room and have at it.

Hooboy was I worgn..

1)-the monitors were a little too loud for this room, so I ended up getting, after going and rehearsing numerous speakers a pair of KRK's .
2)I do not have simply the computer and mixer..I have guitars, amps, mics, preamps, and stomp boxes all needing to be powered..so what do I have in there for sockets? ...uh...2 sets. Need rewiring...
3)-rewiring involved taking out the 'horsehair' plaster and the lathing that was attached to same...because..guess where the sockets were? In the middle o the room..along the wall..not baseboard...
4)-discover the wires were all cloth covered..all had to be ripped out..
5)-then comes the fun of amperage..need more amperage if one wants to properly run this crazy set up. Down to ba*****t I go...find out that the panel does not have enough current into that section of house...
6)- Got electrician to come in and see what needs done...
7)-He comes up with rats nest of issues for my perusal...

Do we see where this is going?

 

i think the only time small projects dont become big projects are when you're satisfied with ****py work. if you leave all the other stuff you really want fixed, it's still a small project, or if you just go ahead and cross thread the poop out of that balancer bolt, it's probably still a short project...but it's not done right. that's just the way she goes! it'll always pay off to put that extra time in...except when it doesn't haha

 

Having been down this road a quite a few times over the years, I now make a deliberate effort to try to keep my truck on the road and not get ****ed into the routine you describe...it doesn't work.

 

the projects own and control us, not the other way around.

 

We're their staff

 

Tommy's Rule of Three states that you take each and every conceived project and multiply the time you figure it will take to complete along with your estimated cost,.......and multiply by three.

You will be very close to those results 80% of the time.

 

The "might as well while I'm at it"syndrome has turned many hour long projects into long term projects.

But for Hot Rodders and custimizers that is called being normal.

And I hope I never buy another old house unless I all the sudden have the funds to pay someone else to work on it. Even following behind my grandfather in this house (he built it) I have come to figure out that he didn't own a square or level and all the original plumbing was done using what he had available rather than designing and fitting up a well organized plumbing system.

 

i have never just pulled a engine and swapped it out. i always end up cleaning then painting the engine bay but now thats clean i need to paint the car so off i go again. after body work, panel replacement, primer, sanding more primer, then paint more sanding and sanding then buffing, well now thats done the interior needs cleaning up while im there i should fix thatseat or recover it then the back seat oh hell now i need new carpet, now the gl*** is scratched should repace that while im gettin new rubber for all the car. well now the wheels dont look so good any more and so on and so on.and all i wanted to do was change out a worn out 307 to something alittle better.and drive it. that was in jan. of 2011 and i still havent drove this damn car.and it goes that way with every car ive ever owned.

 

I'm that way on an o/t car I have - a '76 Buick Skylark. Started out repainting the replacement RF fender I had, then decided to go body color on the stock steel wheels. OK. Now I need chrome lug nuts. Ahhh, looks good. I've got some tape striping left from when I did my old F350 pickup, bet that'll look good!...so I tape-striped it. Looked inside the car and thought: "Man, that headliner has to go!" So, I pull the headliner out, after pulling all of the trim out first. Spray-colored the plastic pieces. Geez, that carpeting looks like dog ***...pull the seats and then the carpet. Order carpet. Look at the seats and think "Geez, they look like dog ***, too!". Order the seat kit, waiting on that now. The entire interior, except for the dash, is laying around the car right now.

In summary, a fender replacement netted me a minor resto job on this car that is just a nice driver. Might finish by Christmas. Oh, and I started back around October first!

I don't want to start yanking the Hudson apart quite yet, because if I do, it'll be a bare frame in no time. It will then take twenty years to re***emble, if my head is not in the game. So, it sits. For now.