What OT crap are you working on

Speaking of trailers, I was just able to get one custom built by Performax Trailers (or Blue Max Racing) in Texas for something at work. Currently working on what the wrap will look like and getting it set up inside with tools, etc.

 

Slowly getting the chopped 56 F100 with the 5.3/4l60e/8.8 put back together enough so someone will want to buy it.
I need to get that one sold so I will have room in the garage for the full custom 53 F100 that is inside the squarebody ramptruck I just got running after it took a 15 year nap in the woods. I also need to make room to bring the ramptruck home as well so it can get cleaned up so it can haul my Dragmaster project. I am debating repainting the ramptruck (wife calls it the "Turdtrucken") red & gold to match the Dragmaster color scheme.
This was an "all or none" kinda deal so I had to buy four vehicles (F100, ramptruck, 89 gmc, 97 honda) to get the 53 F100 I was after. The gmc and honda are gone and I am happy about the 53 but honestly, I am more excited about the ramptruck!

Unfortunately the MRI of my neck has slowed me down quite a bit as I wait to talk to the surgeon. Remember when you were a kid and your dad and his buddies warned you about picking up all that heavy shit? Yeah, turns out they might have been right.

 

Yes it seems like anybody can figure out how to put a B/RB engine together but there are tricks to these small blocks. Got it started, it didn't eat the cam, but the lifters bleed off badly and it takes a beat to get the oil pressure up. No idea why.

They were Doug's headers. Apparently my mistake was doing a body drop installation and not getting the k-frame back in the right place even though I've been told you can't go wrong. I must be that special kind of dumb because I ended up with everything hitting everything before I finally worked it out.

I got the car together with a couple of short drives before I started cancer treatment, and I need to get back after it now that is over.

 

Got the bike back on the road today.
New Battery
New Voltage Regulator
Oil Change
I rode it to the gym and it made it back home

 

tinkering with the Jeep while I wait for new parts to arrive.



playing with wiring...taking the stuff I don't need out of the engine harness.



and removed the AC from under the dash.



and I've been selling a few parts I took off, the transmission and transfer case are gone already.

 

Thanks... and I hope all goes well with that C stuff! Gene.

 

This reminds me of when I stored my ‘63 F100 in a shipping container. I had to keep the windows open so I could squeeze into the cab to drive it in and out. There were mere inches between the sides of the truck and the container walls. There was no way to open the doors when it was inside.​

 

I'm dissecting another efi harness for stand alone operation. Very boring for most.

 

Well, this first part of our house plumbing (the inside part) is fixed and operational as of yesterday afternoon. Replacing all the inside sewer from the (2) toilets, the (3) sink drains, and the washing machine water dump, to where it exits the house (pretty much a "T" with each leg 25' long) cost $3750. Two guys removed the old cast iron that had issues, installed the new (plastic), hauled away the old, and pretty much cleaned up the mess (the estimate was $3k - $5k). Took the two guys working together about 10 hours (day and a half) to get it done, plus parts. I didn't like writing that check much, but I don't feel that I got ripped off, so at least that part is done.

The outside part of the job, from the house to the curb (my responsibility ends at the curb, the cast sewer line is cracked/broken just outside of the basement wall, [seen through a camera] and has a dip in the line under the city required sidewalk, 20' away and 5' from the curb) will happen in a couple months, after the spring rains have ended. The sewer line outside has a 10G estimate from the plumber. That includes breaking up the 10' X 20' cement patio, and the first 6' of sidewalk leading to the street (this sidewalk section is badly cracked and not part of the plumbing job), and removal of two sections of the city required sidewalk (this is part of the plumbing job), digging everything up, and hauling it away. Then put in new gravel, compacted, running the new sewer line from the house to the curb and replacing the dirt (but no grass). The plumber doesn't do replacement cement work. We have not talked to the cement contractor that the plumber works with often (one of few that still do "small jobs like this one") about the cement replacement yet. My wife has a flower bed on both sides of the patio & sidewalk (to the street) that will have about 1/2 of it removed to do the sewer line and cement work. She has been planting that stuff for more then 20 years, there are a lot of flowers that will be blooming about the time the sewer needs to be done. She will have to dig everything planted there then replant it afterwards.

This is the front of my house (the picture should expand if you run your mouse across it). The house was built as a side by side duplex, but was converted to a single family 10 years before we bought it. This picture was taken a couple years ago, about this time of the year.

The sewer line exits the basement wall at the center of the house (under the cross) where the cast iron is broken, just after the break, it makes a turn to the right (as you look at the picture) straight to about the center of the grass between the sidewalk and the curb, where it makes a left 45 degree bend and enters the street at 90 degrees to the street, towards left side the picture. If you look at the sidewalk that runs along the street, you can see the broken section of that sidewalk, almost at the center of the picture. If you draw a line from the cross on the wall to the left side of the broken sidewalk, you understand how the sewer line runs. The sewer line has a dip in it, under that broken sidewalk. The cement patio between the two porch stoops (below the cross on the wall) is what will need to be removed (and replaced) to gain access to the broken sewer line. If you look at the front edge of the patio, you can see the sidewalk leading to the street has a ledge (its about 3" high), and then a few feet farther out towards the street, there is another ledge (almost 2" high). This is the section that will be replaced when the new patio is done (not a needed part of the sewer project). Neither of those two ledges are suppose to be there. That sidewalk is dipping down towards the house and has several cracks in it. There is another small ledge (1" high) on that sidewalk to the street on both sides of the crosswalk. If I can afford it, that crosswalk there needs to have a couple squares replaced there too. The cross walk is leaning down towards the house and is also cracked and broken.
My wife has 5' wide flower beds on both sides of the sidewalk leading to the street (flower bed width is between the first ledge at the second ledge and extends across the entire front of the house, on both sides). About 1/4 of the flower bed on the right side of the picture, and enough flower bed to put in the cement forms on the left side will need to be dug up, removed, and replanted once the work is done.

Not cars, off topic for sure, but it probably have a huge effect on available car funds this year.

 

I can't push the "LIKE" button

 

Wow! That is a classy setup!

 

Today was another day of the help not showing up. So I decided to freshen up a 454 I had picked up for one of the boats. Pulled the heads right after I got it home everything looked decent. It had been sitting so I was letting a couple cylinders soak to free them up. It still wouldn't turn with a braker-bar so I put it on the stand and started to tear it down. Timing chain looked decent and the cam and lifters didn't show any signs of use to speak of. Off to a good start. The engine had been rebuilt by Sequel som time ago and it had .040 over stockish pistons. The bores looked decent from the top. But, It isn't a good day when you spin it over to take the oil pan off and hear metal rattling around. Let's just say the help not showing up was not the only disappointing part of the day. As soon as the pan came off, the damage was apparent. It had one of those fancy air gap crankshafts in it with the optional No. 3 main cap stress relief gap. I don't see any gouging on the cylinder walls, and the bearings looked good, with the exception of the no. 3 main bearing. The rods were ripped from the bottom of the 3 and 4 pistons. This came out of a motorhome. I've seen the pistons stick in boats before when the bores were too tight and it came up to temp. The block stays cool from lake water and the pistons get hot. This can cause pistons to stick in the bores. Usually that results in bent rods, but these looked straight. So the slope has been oiled and now I have to decide what to do with it. I'll post pictures in just a minute as they are on the phone.

 

My 3 OT cars are mint survivor cars, I enjoy them, very little maintenance needed, I still enjoy the shows/cruises and the people. I'm finding at 77 just keeping up with the home, yard etc, we had 2 ice storms recently, yard is a mess, late spring this year in NorthWoods Wi. my Paradise found. Another observation at 77, Everything is a project and all my friends agree, Aging Sucks ! But Happy and Thankful to be here.

 

The worst part of aging is that most of your car buddies are so fucking old that their only contributions to your project are opinions!

 

“bolt in”
Both ends split and re-welded.

 

got the front wiring mostly figured out, took out the stuff that isn't needed, found the wires that have to tie into the new FI harness, and taped up the remainder. I'll use a couple barrier screw terminal strips to connect new to old.

And continue to fiddle with mounts. I think this is where the engine will go.

 

These Camrys make excellent demolition derby cars!

 

I built a barrel wagon train several years ago . I used wheelbarrow wheels from HF . They might last a couple years then the tubes would go bad . So I switched to a smaller hard rubber tire but the bearings only last a couple years. So yesterday I cut off the 7/8 ‘s bolts I had welded on for axles . Then I welded 5/8 “ bolts on so I can use the wheels that we replace on our grain drill . They should last several years .

 

turned the 4x4 into a 2x4. Still need to get all the bolts in and tight, and the brake lines done (different front brakes since it's a different year axle). Scale says it's about 60 lbs lighter.



now for the rear end....

 

nothing as fun as cutting spring perches off a rearend housing

 

Famous line from The Big Lebowski,

"I'm sorry I wasn't listening"
​

 

Mark, once it warms up, we lose our excuses to do the unpleasant stuff. Just imagine how the people that have to pay to have it done feel.

 

Holy smokes, that is the longest timing chain I have seen! I agree with what your father taught you, but as I age and technology takes over it is getting more difficult to do it myself.

 

Yep, my dad taught me the same but I can’t hardly keep up with all the stuff that needs work between the vehicles and house. Oh, and I hate doing timing chains on late models. I also need to finish replacing the tensioners for the timing chains in my Harley which I’m also not excited about.

 

Future project, this instrument cluster is going away!
When I built my 49, the goal was to get it on the road. This instrument cluster came out of the donor 96 Dakota with only 44,000 miles on it. Though it may not have been the prettiest set up, it functioned and I fully expected it to last as long as the truck did.
It currently has 69,000 miles showing. About a year after it hit the road, the tach quit working. Its an auto trans, and I'm not racing it, so that wasn't a big deal, I can live without a tach. Last summer, the trip odometer froze up showing 549 miles on it, it wouldn't reset, and no longer adds miles. That one bugged me a bit, I used it to see how many miles were on the tank of fuel. The gas gauge still worked, and the actual odometer still worked. I guess I could live without the trip odometer. Then, the transmission indicator quit working, another irritation I can live with, I know the shift pattern, so I can figure out if the truck is in park, drive, or reverse. But the hits just kept on coming.

The final straw was when the speedometer would randomly quit working! When it quit, the speedometer read 0 mph, and the odometer also quit adding miles. It could lay dead for a mile or two, or lay dead for 10 miles, then not have any issues for a month. This is not good. No speedometer will get me in trouble really fast in this truck. This is, by the way an electrical speedometer, there is no speedometer cable or mechanical drive.

So the 96 Dodge troubleshooting book says that a bad trans sensor could cause this. A new sensor was installed. That worked for a month or so before it laid dead again, for at least 5 miles. The book says if the sensor doesn't fix it, then its likely the speedometer head that is bad. At that point, I was faced with a decision, do I find, and install another one of these instrument clusters, or do I put a set of real (OK electrical) gauges into the truck? There is no way I'm even going to attempt to run a speedometer cable through this truck.

I've been looking a gauge sets (full matching sets). Electrical gauges with the needed senders are not cheap. A GPS speedometer (over just an electrical speedometer) adds another $100! Then the full set has to fit into the same space this cluster occupied. I kind of wanted to get away from this rectangular pod mounted into and on top of my dash.

I chose a new set of Speedhut gauges. Speedhut gauges are built in Utah, USA, to the customers order. The shipping date was 15-20 working days after the order was confirmed, and come with the necessary senders (the fuel gauge is programmable, as is the speedometer). The new gauges should be here mid May. As soon as the new gauges are in my hand, I can start building the gauge holder and the new cover. The actual installation probably won't happen until June.

I got the 4" round 140 mph electrical speedometer with the turn and high beam indicators, and the 4" round quad gauge set (fuel, water temp, volt, and oil pressure) set, with a beige gauge face and black numbers. I can't post a picture of them, but if you want to go to the Speedhut web site, the gauges I ordered are: Speedometer # R4-S10 and quad gauge # R4-QGZ with beige face and black lettering. I had a set of these same gauges in a truck I built several years ago, and I really liked them.

The dash coverings are all screwed in place and can be easily removed. The instrument cluster is in its own separate pod, with its own separate cover. I should be able to remove the cluster from the pod, and build a new face plate to mount the new gauges in. I can pull the required wiring through access holes in that pod. I have a choice of a piece of 5/16" thick aluminum plate, or a piece of 18 gauge brushed stainless steel I can mount the gauges in, or I can always use 18G sheet metal and paint it. The current round speedometer and tach in the instrument cluster are 3 1/2" in diameter, the space below the current cluster are warning lights connected to the 96 truck that have not been in use in this truck. The plan is to center the two new round gauges with the steering wheel, and have blank space around them. Then I can build a new curved cover more fitting with the truck cab. I may also modify the glove compartment door on the other side of the dash (I don't especially like how that looks either). The current dash is darker then it appears in the picture, its called "slate". There wasn't a lot of color choices back in 2021 when the inside of the truck was being painted. The new dash cover above the gauges (and glove box door) will require repainting the entire inside of the cab, "slate" is no longer available (that doesn't exactly break my heart either). Semi gloss black will look much better anyway.

All I have to do is hope the current speedometer hangs in there another month or so. I did have a guy give me another instrument cluster this morning, so I can shove that in place if I need to.

 

My Dad said this also , damn did he get me involved in some real terrible stuff . Then he tagged me with he can fix anything from a pregnant whore to a basketball game .