Technical What are you working on?

the skirts are coming along. I rough cut and trimmed. Then rolled the edge in. Both sides fit good , but still need a little more work to fit just right. And figure out fasteners. Cheers.

 

Dibs on the couch!

 

Went and picked up the el camino today, this was also on the property

 

a horrendous mess,

 

One of the garage door cables broke, so today was garage door fix it day.
The door is only 2 years old, I was up to my neck in an off site project, so hired out the new garage door installation. I thought that sounded like a pretty short cable life.
When I was ready to install the cables (I watched 3 different U tube how to videos so I'm nearly an expert...) things didn't look right. I discovered the guy that installed the door had the cable drums swapped to the wrong side! He had the cable coming over top of the drum, and the top roller forced it back where it belonged. fortunately, the cable was weaker then the rollers. I believe I'm pretty lucky we got a couple years out of the cables!
Anyway, the door functions again, correctly this time.

The next project is a couple days with the 49. Pretty much just a bit of extended summer ready maintenance. We have passed the 25,000 mile mark on the truck that was plated in 5/22. Solving a few minor leaks, chasing down a few rattles and squeaks, a set of plugs, trans filter change, oil change. You know, the boring stuff that keeps them rolling down the road. I don't have a hoist, so I tend to let the minor stuff that should be done under the truck slide, until nicer weather, and do a bunch of it at one time.
In my younger days, I would have called that being lazy. These days I call it being smarter. Lazy may be more accurate...

 

Started on the dashboard for my coupe. I’ll have to go update my build thread,

 

Anthony, that’s my favorite part!!

 

Restored an old Black and Decker valve grinder.

 

Nice
Dan

 

Tryn to get this old thing roadworthy. Really needing the warm weather to actually roll in lol. Maybe I'll start a build thread on it. I don't know yet.

 

Installed finally snaps and top boot with snaps and new proper sized tires. And went for a much need liquor run.
Intake and header next!!!!

 

My 48 Plymouth coupe has "Extended Antique" license plates on it. The State of IL allows vehicles over 25 years old to get Extended Antique plates. Those plates cover the car for normal driving between March 1st and the end of November for about 1/2 the rate of regular plates. During the Dec1 until end of Feb time frame, there are huge restrictions. Those plates work great for the coupe, it is a cold ride in the winter (been there, done that). The heat and defroster doesn't over come the cold air drafts when the temps drop much below about 40 degrees.

I parked the coupe in its winter storage position on the side yard, towards the end of November last year, and just went out to start it today. It fired right up! I will have to put some gas in it, it has a plastic tank and I usually park it with a 1/4 tank or less gas over the winter. I figure filling up the tank on its first drive with fresh gas is a good plan, its been working pretty well for the last 13 years anyway.

The reason for starting it today is because my 49 pickup is going onto jack stands tomorrow morning to begin a couple days worth of maintenance and I don't especially want to have to walk across town if I need a part I don't have. I could use my wife's fairly modern (04 model year) appliance if I needed to, but what fun would that be?

 

I broke out the breaker bar and rolled motors over yesterday, to swap valve spring pressures around.
The cars have been sitting since November, about half way through winter hibernation, nothing really leaking out of the 41 pickup or Henry J except for that pesky line lock on the J.
When it warms up I'll address that, the tunnel ram gasket and rejet the carbs.

 

Gotta ways to go.

Learning as we go

What aluminum compound and polish you guys using?

 

After all the hand sanding I finish up with Wenol followed by Flitz on their buffing ball thing, you're likely to get a different answer by everyone that answers.
I've did plenty of wheels, valve covers, breathers, scoops, brackets, etc but never an intake yet, my fingers hurt just looking at that.

 

Thanks.
I’m ordering some finer cone sanding thingys and the scuff pad style.
80 grit was the finest cone they had at my store.
Watched a video where I guy used scotch brite pads on a drill for final sanding before polish.

 

I didn't work to hard, just made a phone call, but had a friend pinstripe my son's first big boy tool box.
I think it turned out pretty good



Paul Strauss the brush handler



One of Paul's cars

 

Made a mess.

the one with the choke is super clean. That will be the center carb
The other 2 ain’t bad. Got the jets soaking.
Gotta figure out if I convert these bases or buy 2 new ones.

 

My Post # 4728,I noted how I over heated my 292 Y-block Ford V8,an that I'd make update's as I find them.
Cly PSI check shows only 12% def from high to low clys=Seem like rings head gasket,made it past first test.
I'm going to flush block n old rad, too see what comes out?...Sparkplug are looking close to same=none goofy looking,but I did brake one taking them out { I'll sand blast a hole set,n set gap,before replace.}an retorqe heads.
I have a new alum rad,not exsact copy,but best I could get,so far. Need to do all the refit work,as I had done to old one. Maybe can find a place who can also fix old rad{ has two leaks I know of,but can't pin point them,with out making some kind of block offs for hose hook ups,to put some PSI in to old rad=spray with soapy water an see were bubbles are coming out/mark;and take to shop that can reweld it [Alum is tricky to weld. ???< I like it fixed as a back up though. Still need to check points { dual points}n timing also. So far,found nothing that screams" Here's why it got so hot"?? I want to know why ??? Updates later.

 

@swade41 nice detail on that tool box. Here is one my son just did

 

Curious to see the result! I’m not doing much with my own hands after surgery either, but I’ve been planning a few projects. I contacted harbor breeze customer service last week for some advice and I’m thinking of trying to make some furniture when I’m fully healed. It feels like a good way to keep my mind busy and maybe even add a personal touch to my space. Have you ever tried building anything yourself? Would love to hear any tips or ideas you have

 

Working on my Orygun tan at the beach!

 

The roof on the '48 looked pretty weird when I got it. That's in the very thin clear coat. Not quite orange peel, more like several thousand little popped zits. I hit it with wet 600 grit, then spent 6 hours trying to compound it out.

Roof when I started.


6 hours later:

 

Can't wait to see this thing in person

 

After spending the last 2 days under the 49 on a creeper on my back, I took today off. That stuff is bothering me a lot more every time I have to do it. No possible way to put a hoist in my garage, so jack stands and a creeper is the only way. Time and my lifestyle are catching up with me.

I finished up the auto trans work on Tuesday. While installing the pan, the 5 bolts in the front are between the exhaust crossover pipe and the pan. The only access is from the front, between the torque converter housing and the exhaust. I can just get my hand in there far enough to reach the bolt head with the tips on my fingers. To install those 5 bolts, I need to stick them into the holes, push them up with a screwdriver, and tighten them one flat on the hex head at a time with an open end wrench. Lots of fun... So there is one bolt that has limited swing with the end wrench. I couldn't get it to start, so I loosened all the other bolts thinking maybe I needed to shift the pan. That didn't work, so I decided to leave that one bolt out. In his frustration, someone forgot to tighten the bolts back up before he quit for the day.
Wed morning I proceeded with changing the oil and the filter, I greased the truck, and rotated the tires. I got a back up camera for the truck at Christmas, so while the truck was up in the air, I installed the camera and ran the wires up into the cab for the viewing screen and secured the wires. With all that done, I decided to put the oil and trans fluid in while the truck was in the air so it would be easier to make sure there were no leaks. Fixing a leak would require putting the truck back up on the jack stands.
I installed the 5 quarts of oil, and 4 quarts of ATF, and started the truck. After I got oil pressure (about 3 seconds) I went around and checked the trans fluid. I needed another quart. I opened the shop door and walked across the shop to get another quart of ATF and noticed a growing, already rather large puddle of ATF under the truck. I quickly shut the truck off and got the wrenches for the trans pan bolts. That was when I discovered all the bolts were loose. When I got the bolts all tight, it appears the leaks had stopped. I threw a bunch of oil dry under the truck, and cleaned off all the trans fluid from the pan, the edges, and every place that had any sign of leaking, then called it a day.

So the weather today was mid 60s with sunshine. Tomorrow we are suppose to get winds with 50 mph gusts, and the temps are suppose to drop all day. Tomorrow will be a better day to be working in the garage then today was. I filled the gas tank on the 48 Plymouth coupe and the wife and I took a 100 mile ride. It was nice to have the old car to cruise in. Didn't take any pictures though. My wife and I both needed to take the day off today.

Tomorrow I will inspect the pan to see if anything is still leaking to determine if I need to drop the pan and replace the pan gasket or not (I'm hoping not). I still have the thermostat to change (that too should be a mess, the radiator drain petcock is now open and isn't draining the cooling system at all), and I want to tune the truck up before its ready to cruise again.

Its a lot of work to have this much fun with cars.

 

And I got distracted again

 

That’s interesting!?

 

Was told this was an adapter to fit car exhaust

but I’m no expert

 

Making noise and maybe some progress...



I've been coming out and knocking out little areas like this throughout the winter.

Before:



After:



Before:



After:



This Fostoria 240V heater has been the MVP of the shop. My mini-split couldn't keep up whereas this thing needs 15 minutes and the shop is comfortable.