What OT crap are you working on

Since I don’t go to the lake…got the bellhousing stitched back together by a good friend and fellow HAMBer today. Now, to start putting it all back together.



Also spent some time trying to get this thing figured out. It developed a knock in what sounded like the motor last October right before I went to Australia and I haven’t had time to try to figure it out until today. I checked to make sure all the valve train looked ok, checked compression on every cylinder, and put it all back together. It seems to be better, but still has a knock that comes and goes every once in a while that I haven’t found yet…

By the way, neither of these are mine. They belong to my oldest son. The Camaro on the lift is the one that the clutch blew up in. Well...to be totally transparent, the vette was mine and I was driving it to work daily right up until the knock developed. But, my son has since decided he needed it and would fix whatever is wrong. It isn't your typical late model vette since it has a roll bar, had a wing and parachute that we pulled off since that seemed silly to me, a pretty rowdy motor, no mufflers, etc. It was a fun daily driver to say the least.

 

I had a bellhousing stitched up like that, and in the immortal words of Johnny Cash, when I "tried to put in the bolts all the holes were gone". I guess I should have bolted it to a block before welding. Hopefully you had no problems.

 

Well...I haven't tried bolting it back on yet, so more to come.

 

I've mistaken a manifold crack for a rod knock. Sounds just like it. Seems those cars have factory tube headers, could be a loose or broken bolt.

 

Reporting back on the bellhousing repair. Fits like a champ after welding it back up.

 

Also, vette seems ok as best I can tell. We took it for a drive today. Seems it even multiplied this weekend. My younger son has one now too. Must be nice to be young when you can spend all your money on a car. I miss those days sometimes.

 

We also picked up a slightly used dual disk Lingerfelter clutch for the boys Camaro Friday evening. Should be going back together soon. He wanted to work on it today, but I have to go extract some honey bees out of a wall of a house this afternoon instead.

 

Just wrenching on the wife car .... or I was. Nothing exciting, it is a old 1993 Caravan that belonged to the wife mother .... it is in really nice condition paint, body, interior.
Transmission/axles has 15K miles on rebuild, tires, struts, rear shocks are less then 200 miles .... this time around have new rotors and pads. ..... Car is just too nice to not stick another engine in it, has sentimental history .... Very comfortable to drive .... we really like it and it is old enough I can still work on it.


Just saying, I was pissed off at this car for 2 years and just parked it ..... new tires will probably have flat spots on them.

I installed a crank sensor wrong and sent rods threw the block on original engine at 80mph
Wife was driving and literally was in shock .... I spent some time and installed a really nice low mile used engine. .... It ran perfect for days around town .... so I ventured out onto the freeway for a shake down and seems the oil pump had issues and the new/used engine spun a rod bearing.
That was the straw that sent the car to a corner for timeout for 2 years.

So now I'm excited about working on it, I have a used engine with 135K miles on it .... I'm gung ho on getting it installed ..... Jack on my engine crane took a dump and this is where I'm at waiting for the replacement to be delivered next Tuesday ..... My 90 day warranty on the used engine runs out on the following Tuesday .... no sense in getting in a hurry.

 

Got to get the top and hood finished. Put the spoiler and interior back together. But got the rear in tonight and adjusted. Brake lines redone and bled. Waiting on the front wheels to come in still.

 

Today’s off topic work…extracted a honey bee hive out of a garage wall that was brick on the outside wall.

 

Did you keep some honey?

 

I don't think I've ever seen them form 'tubes' like that, rather than one big mass. "High-rise hive"...who'da thunk?

 

I had a new beekeeper helping and he kept all the bees, comb, honey, etc.

That’s actually pretty typical if they build up in a wall. They had even put comb in the two areas next to those two studs as well.

 

How did you get them out? Shop vac?

 

Basically. I have a “bucket head” shop vac that snaps on a 5 gallon bucket. I just cut a hole in the side of the bucket to put some mesh in so I can control the suction. Just want enough suction to pull them in instead of slamming them in and killing them.

 

Glad they were carefully saved. We need honey bees in our world!

 

Kinda the ironic piece of this story is that the homeowner is a retired highway patrol. He didn’t know that a couple hoodlum hot rodders were right there in his garage.

 

I’ve been a VW guy from 14, so they always seem to show up. 2276cc, 5 speed and alloys are what I wanted when a kid, now it’s finally coming to fruition.

 

My OT crap is so OT I wouldn't dare posting it even here...

 

Currently finishing an SR20DE+T swap into a Suzuki MightyBoy.
I suggest you google both the engine and car.
It started with a 550cc motor (33cubic inch) grew to an 800cc and then to 2000cc.

The horsepower changed was from 19KW (around 32HP) to 156KW (around 205HP) in a 700 Kg (around 2000lb )Car.
Is it fast, is it fun? Fuck yeah!

 

Put a new fuel pump and tank in my Foxbody. Turns out the tank wasn't venting properly and it caused the pump to work too hard so it would get too hot and stop pumping correctly while creating a lot of vacuum in the tank. The best part is I had the tank out last year to put a new sending unit in it.

 

Bad gas cap?????.....
Those are vented on the fox body cars... I know mine is on the '91 LX...

 

I suspected that so I replaced it as well, along with the evap solenoid. Both were original 1989 parts and cheap enough.
But as it turned out, the rubber line from the tank to the hard vent line was pinched and not letting the system work. That one was on me from when I had the tank out last year and apparently didn't check to make sure it wasn't pinched.
But in doing the pump I discovered it had a stock replacement pump in it, which as you know is barely sufficient for a stock engine, much less a h/c/i 306. So all in all it's a net gain.

 

Brakes and exhaust on the race car, Ford vs Chevy at Brands Hatch this weekend need to get my arse in gear.

 

Added a parking brake to an Allison automatic

 

Though shop I'm at isn't a body shop I get stuck doing a lot of paint and body jobs as I'm good at paint in less than desirable conditions. And often it's boring like this 92 f350 cab//chassis with utility bed. Both genders were full of holes and dents Tuesday. Got all of my supplies to finish up after welding. Hood and fenders will be in paint tomorrow and cab and doors Monday

 

Ran into this at work. Some guy did his own water pump, was leaking after. Brought it in, no idea what he mixed in there but it turned to foam.

 

Designed and built this one off creation a few years back. Draws a lot of attention when I drive it to visit Family in Michigan. I call it the Nomaro. It is lots of fun and a nice addition to my other more traditional creations.

 

@raymay thats pretty cool .... Inquiring minds want to know .... It appears the rear hatch does not open.
Do you have any access to the rear from outside?