What OT crap are you working on

Remington 700 ADL, .308, Timney trigger, Leupold 3-9x40. Nothing exotic, just a deer rifle. Needs a stock that fits me (I'm 6'4"), needs 2" cut off the barrel (currently 24"), and I want to get the barrel threaded so I can add a can.

 

Toss that OEM stock , lots of nice ones on the market . Look for one with aluminum frame in the casting of it . Bed your action to the sock . I have 3 , 700s mine are USMC M40s . The wooden stocked forgotten warriors . If you lived near , we could cut , recrown and thread the barrel on the lathe . The .308 is a nice round . Research the twist rate of the barrel to determine best weight bullets to send down the pipe . Start reloading your own and you will enjoy the results of your labor .

 

Probably going with a McMillan stock. Reloading is something I want to tackle at some point, but I have too many damn hobbies right now. Thanks

 

Getting better

 

I had intended on moving round bales today with our 09 Dodge 3500 HD . But when I went to downshift the stick just flopped around like a wet noodle. I thought that the plastic piece in selector in the top of the transmission had broken . But as I took things apart I found that the lower stub shaft broke in the rubber bushing . So I cut open the tube and removed all the rubber . Dad found a steel spacer that fit inside the tube . I drilled a hole in it to slide the short stub shaft into . Then I welded everything together good as new and back to shifting gears

 

No more Flintstones with the Checker.

 

Camaro bird Kid is still at it

 

Never could figure out a rubber shifter ! I have fixed a few of these on Cummins powered stuff

 

So this has been the project for the last couple of weeks.
It is a Ford E350 1979 with a 460, a C6 and I believe a Dana 60 rear axle. It had been sitting for about 15 years Even though the tags show 2016, It came back to life relatively easy had to replace the fuel pump clean the fuel system completely and it's technically running although it really could use the car rebuilt because it's got a flat spot in the accelerator pump. It was bought to turn around and sell to help fund my on topic cars. Here is the pictures when I first started buffing it I should have it all buttoned up tomorrow and I will get some more pictures of it shiny. If I didn't live in California I would probably replace my Dodge truck with this as my tow/swap meet vehicle. You can't go wrong with a big block and I happen to be really familiar with a 460 since I've driven one off and on in a 1973 Lincoln since I was a teenager that I still own.

 

putting this together, to help finance my 49 dodge pick up project.

 

I’m constantly working on these two turd. They share daily driver duties but the el Camino is usually broken.

1967 cutlass 4 door hardtop, 403, Doug nash and 72 el Camino, 403, st10

 

Does it have an interior? The one tons were frequently converted to 4X4 back when this was new. I’d love to find one and redo it.

 

Not as much working on, as wondering about. My crap around DD is the old family suv with 180,000 miles. This morning, what looked like a pice of hose was laying under it. Well, the end of a rear coil spring snapped off! What the heck?! Crawled under it, the end from the upper pocket broke off.

 

finishing up the Checker for it's trip up northeast Tuesday. And helping the robot team get ready to put the new robot together while I'm gone. I'm the only one that has a place to paint stuff, so they told me about color stain (who knew?) and I'm making the plywood look like it's from our school, who's colors are blue and white.



The windshield washers work, it looks like we may run into sogginess and cold the last couple days.



Seats are done, door panels are in process, measuring how much room there is to put stuff in. The door opening, with the seat in the way, is over 40" high, and 24" wide between door and seat.

 

Back in the late '90s I was driving a 1973 Continental My buddy had a 67 Cutlass four-door him and I used to terrorize my home area of Jurupa Valley here in Southern California there probably wasn't a street around we weren't drag racing on. Seeing your car immediately brought back those memories I hadn't thought about that in a long time.

 

Well I finished waxing/buffing the boogie van and to the 4 of you that may have wanted to see the results here it is, I actually finished it Saturday morning and got it listed for sell locally.
Hopefully Even though it is a smog era van being a '79 hopefully it sells quickly.
Today (meaning Sunday) I did a ton of brake work on the 53 Kaiser Manhattan that I can't really show because it's just rebuilding hydraulics and replacing brake hardware. Tomorrow will hopefully be the master cylinder and make sure the lines are clear...
When I get progress you can see I will post it.
Anyways here is the van

 

Other than some carpeting and factory paneling there is no interior.
I would love to turn it into a modest boogie van exterior and full-on 1970s camper interior something that I could actually use to tow the car trailer, (I would totally be okay with a four-wheel drive conversion also). So I could camp out at the car swap meets in comfort but unfortunately I'm partners with a buddy so it's getting sold.

 

1974 (could be a 75 to 9 I will be damned If I know how to tell the difference) Super bettle?

 

The factory side panels are a plus if you wanted a traditional 70s conversion. But you do realize the walls, floors and sometimes the roof was done in shag. Most of the roofs were wood paneling with carpeted edge pieces filling the gaps between the paneling and the walls. Plywood framing with firing strips to build the furniture, usually a bed in the back and a front dividing wall with a curtain and cabinet with a sink and RV refrigerator. A couple swivel captains chairs and a table or a dinette with two double bench seats and a table that drops down to make a bed. Lots of options. And with modern materials it could be really sharp.

 

I used to restore travel trailers from the '50s to the early '70s This would most definitely have an authentic interior I actually like woodworking. I don't know if I would go full-on shaggin wagon or if I would go with a traditional '70s camper build but the outside would most definitely look boogie van. You are correct It's a big blank canvas I just can't bring myself to own it solely because it's a smog van here in California, which means it's got to go for a inspection every two years which on a 1 ton van I'm not sure how hard it would be I just don't want to deal with it.

 

Isn’t it exempt being a one ton?

 

Here in Iowa I keep forgetting how some have to deal with smog checks and things like that. I also have problems with project restraint. I see a nice builder and my mind goes wild with build plans. I could definitely see that van build as a camper or a full on shaggin wagon. 4wd wouldn't be a hesitation for me. I have a pair of 1 ton axles I'm waiting to use once I find the right project. If it is emission exempt though, you should totally go for it.

 

Guy dropped off this shoebox ford chassis.


Seems well built. Set up for an FE
Current owner bought it from a guy that bought it from the builder. So we’re figuring out what it’s made from. 9 inch ford with the small bolt pattern and stock control arms from whatever the donor was.
M2 up front with a fox body rack.
The tie rod ends were incorrect so that will get sorted out and a simple caster, camber and toe adjustment so the guy can carry on with the build.

 

Not here in California, but it's usually a little simpler, most vehicles 1999 and older go on the dyno and have to do a 15 and 25 mph rolling smog test but I think 3/4 ton and 1 ton vehicles (and all-wheel drive vehicles like a range Rover or Subaru) are exempt. 3/4 and 1 ton vehicles I believe just get the sniffer up the tailpipe and a visual check of all the emission systems,They don't do anything rolling.
Pre OBD2 vehicles (meaning 1995 and older) are a bit of a headache because the fuel system gets pressurized to look for microscopic fuel leaks, The fuel cap(s) also get checked to make sure there is no gasket failure, The ignition timing also gets checked and compared to the emissions sticker underneath the hood, If the emissions sticker is missing under the hood technically speaking it could fail the smog check although most guys just check the book and let it pass because they understand old cars are old and decals disappear. If the smog guy is actually doing his job correctly he's also supposed to check the routing of the vacuum lines that go to the little vacuum trees that are all over the intake manifold on 1970s and '80s cars, They are also supposed to verify that the catalytic converter is there and it is a California compliant model not a 49 state cat unless the vehicle was originally sold in a different state (California got sued for that about 20 years ago and they lost They used to charge an environmental impact fee for out-of-state vehicles to get registered here).
It's a whole rigmarole not to mention because it takes the guy longer to smog the car They usually charge more to smog the car around 75 bucks or so on the last vehicle I had.
What bothers me about California's emission laws is how stupid they are an actual practice.
What I mean is if you were to take out that 460 in that van and replace it with say a 2005 Chevrolet LS just the way it would come out of a stock pickup the reality is every which way you look at it it would be cleaner emissions wise but in California it will not pass the visual part of the smog test so it is an automatic fail even though it would technically run a thousand times cleaner than the old big block.

My personal opinion but it will never happen in this state because of the politicians that are running it and will be running it for the foreseeable future but I digress (It's so hard not to complain about politics when it affects my daily life) anyways in my opinion smog laws should only be for 1996 and newer vehicles I mean 1995 was 30 years ago and Even here in rust-free California there isn't a whole lot of cars that are older than 1996 on the road as daily drivers, the reality is the emission systems on most vehicles in that era were pretty rudimentary and there was no standardization and if you look at the carbureted era cars at this point there are none left on the road unless they are taking care of and well-loved by their owners. A 460 Ford van would be a good example, Throwing on a throttle body fuel injection and making the engine breathe correctly like an engine should (You know a free-flowing exhaust, maybe a good set of heads, ignition timing that isn't retarded from the factory) just the basic things that you would normally do to make an engine more user friendly in 2025, arguably all of those things would increase the volumetric efficiency and therefore the vehicle would use less fuel and by default create less emissions per mile but any aftermarket part that modifies the engine must have a California "CARB EO" number (California Air Resource Board Executive Order).

I am a product of the late 1970s and I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s there are a lot of vehicles from the smog era that I really like because they bring me back to my youth I generally don't mess around with any of it because I can't do what I really want to do with it. This van In my opinion has Ford's best drivetrain ever made, You can't go wrong with a 460 a C6 and a Dana 60 and the 460 has so much power locked away just waiting to be unleashed without the engine breaking a sweat or becoming an unreliable vehicle, just a head/intake swap a cam swap and a good exhaust away from being a realistic 500 horsepower with 5 to 600 ft lb of torque all at a usable on the street RPM.
Anyways I'm rambling but yeah smog laws suck, I am about ready to move out of California because of how hostile they have became to the classic car hobby.

 

The van is pretty nice honestly it's a really nice starting point and I emphasize the really. Ford trucks and vans of this era normally have rust along the rain gutters and this van has nothing other than the paint is definitely thin on the roof (I waxed it also Even though you can't see it). I kind of think the mileage might be correct in this van is under 100,000 miles. I also don't think anything has been modified or changed on it other than it has aftermarket wheels which are era correct (although a bit ugly for me).
Anyways yeah as I said in my comment directly above this one unfortunately it is a smog van.
That's okay If I do a van I'm going to do a 68 to 74 I really like the big chrome front end on those and a 302 would probably be good for California's $4 plus a gallon gas prices.

 

74 GMC Rally STX sitting for 20 something years.

 

While I'm not a fan of green, this is an amazing find. After clean up, it looks like it rolled off the showroom floor.

 

I finished up my portion of the '69 Chevelle SS revival i did for a friend of mine, who inherited from her late father, who owned it since the 70s but its been sitting with a blown engine for a few decades. Got it running, driving and stopping, so i was able to pull my c10 back into its spot in the home garage, though it did donate a distributor and battery to the chevelle. Since some of the parts on the truck are 15+yrs old, i dug into my parts shelves and treated it to a new starter, new carburetor (i need to rebuild the one that was on it, but i didnt want to keep it non-operational too long until i got around to rebuilding it) it's original high dollar msd distributor that i took off years ago when i was chasing an electrical issue. i did buy a new battery, plugs and i need to get new plug wires, and im planning on a new master cylinder. got it running the other day with its new bits after its sat dead since donating the distributor in october and spun it around in the garage to work on some other stuff a little easier. I didnt time it much or play with the carburetor, it was mid 20s out and i'll wait until its a little warmer to get it adjusted better.

chevelle after driving it an hour and half in 26degree weather back to its home




I originally built the truck with air suspension but swapped it over to coilovers all around a couple of years ago. Aftermarket tubular front crossmember and control arms, rack & pinion, rear is tri 4 linked.


When i was building it originally years ago, i had early 50's customs on the brain, (i still do) and built a sheet metal interior using '49-50 Ford gauges and clock and alot of metal flake. The sheet metal came from some big flat shelves that were being thrown out at work, and i'll always accept free sheets of sheet metal!

the ignition switch and a small tach are in the left flip down cubby and a charging port and torque converter lock up controller are in the right one

 

Since I do more than play with cars, there’s this…

It’s been over 4 years being able to travel anywhere. So I’m altering the travel trailer before spring arrives. It’ll nice to make a meal larger than a sandwich.

How it was built.

Staging new sink and stove then a cardboard mock up.
Also added an extra drawer and space below the drawers for a waste basket that will be out of the way now.
FYI- it’s car related because we go to car events with it.

 

Students removing spot welds

first timers