Technical What did you do with your car today? * NEW*

Fitted and recessed an extra 50 Desoto grille i had into the openening of the 1949 Dodge 3 Window… Fit like a glove.. Fab some brackets and good to go.. View attachment 6016823 View attachment 6016824 View attachment 6016825 View attachment 6016826

 

show the tail (gate)--cute job!

 

You REALLY want to see the back door opened!

Ben

 

Friend helped with some rust on my 65 F100, gave it a lick of paint and should be back on the chassis this weekend I hope

 

I removed the front section of new lines I made on the 41, cleaned them up and painted them.



Just need to paint the master cylinder, make a tab for the rear junction block and make the lines out to the wheel cylinders, then the brakes should be done.

 

Got it done

 

Took the 327 parts to the engine shop. And they also have a 327 I probably will buy.
It's a sickness I tell you.

 

Front suspension overhaul on my son's 68 dart yesterday. Great father/son day

 

I’m still planning some changes (frame and shackles) but it’s come a long ways from last November.

 

looking at a 1950 Chrysler grille opening and seems to resemble a 50 Merc somewhat........visiting family and surfing the net...........................

 

Those look nice! Here’s a 49 Wayfarer Roadster that we drove for a few years.

 

Dug out the super coil that Dad used to run on the car in the 70s.... needed a refresh.... got some gas today as well.

 

I put all my brake components on, just need to dial in the pushrod and bleed the system



Found a super secret bolt in the stash, the ol super "C" on a pyramid looking like a key hole wanker



Then looked at ol' Blue soaking up some afternoon sunshine through the glass block window

 

King pin and bushing replace tear down
Parts ordered....
Now my wallet floats in air....

 

As I passed by it I said aloud, "I love you too honey..."

 

Time to get out of winter storing. Drove 3 of my HAMB cars today, and 2 OT cars. Felt good removing the battery maintainers, and getting them started up and taking each for short drive.

A little gas shot down the carb vent, plus a bit down the venturis, and they fire up and stay running a lot easier. Until the fuel pump can take over fuel supply duties.

 

Well, my late model daily is on its last leg and I don’t even plan to fix it. So, I checked the fluids in the 56 tonight and will plan to drive it to work this week. Some of that choice is motivation from @firstinsteele who drove his 50 Buick up from Texas today to visit some relatives and stopped by to visit with me as well.

 

Picked a nice rainy morning to drive to work.

 

Just something about knowing I get to drive an old car home at the end of the day makes the whole day better…

 

Needed gas today so couldn’t pass up the photo opportunity at Oklahoma’s Longest Continuous Operating Gas Station.

 

How exactly did you refresh the super coil?

 

sticker was worn yellow faded so refresh

 

That makes sense. I was thinking you might have a secret method to restore stronger spark. I have one I pulled off a car in the mid 90s. It was working fine, but makes me nervous whenever I think of using it.

 

Gave an old car it's spring bath.

 

Figure it works till it don't.. lol

 

Drove a for 2 hours last night with our labrador!

 

Success! Feels good to have it mostly sorted

 

From the BillyBob Shop log

September 25th 2023 Trying to pick up where I left off two years ago with the nailhead. I had left the valves unattended and they picked up some surface rust in the meantime. First thing is to do some remedial work. I sat in the Deep Ponder Mode chair, in front of the fan, with a Sugar Plum Fairy Complex Dark Ale from the Alphabet City Brewing Company, listening Gram Parsons Grevious Angel, planning the fastest way to derust the valve heads (there was no rust on any of the valve stems).

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I determined the fastest approach would be to place one of my drill motors in the bench vice with a brass wire wheel. Each valve that showed rust had it removed and then all valves were given a thin coat of Marvel Mystery oil to keep the rust away until I was ready to do a better job on them down the road.

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September 26th 2023 Cleared the Hank Langsenkamp workbench and started cleaning one of the Buick heads. Went at the combustion chambers with wire wheel cups in the electric die grinder. Problem is, due to the speed, the wire cup turns into a wire wheel in short order.

Put a wire cup in the 1/4" drill and tried that. It worked better with the lower speed. Got out the Oil Eater solvent and went looking for the Dremal tool, along with wire wheels and ScotchBrite buffs for it. Took some thrashing around in the dark since I had misplaced them.

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September 28th 2023 Ports are tight. Dremal tool with wire cups in combination with Oil Eater and Extreme Simple Green passes were made. It was good enuf fer govern't work after a couple of hours but I'll probably do a few more passes later. Beer of the day was Atlanta Brewing Co's Soul of the City American Pale Ale. Background music was Neal Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.

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September 29th 2023 Next task is to hit the manifold mating surface with gasket scraper and wire wheel in the electric die grinder and to apply the Dremal tool wire cups and Oil Eater / Extreme Simple Green routine to the intake runners. Also got the engine bottle brushes out for this work as well.

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October 5th 2023 After the intake runners, the rocker arm area was cleaned with wire cups in the electric die grinder, drill motor and Dremal tool. Finished with Scotchbrite buffs in the Dremal tool. Turned out to be less tejus than I thought it was going to be, for a change.

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October 6th 2023 Okay, time to remove a couple of freeze plugs and clean up loose paint as well as the exhaust manifold surfaces and ports. Then I'll be almost ready for this head to go back out to John Carey's carport machine shop.


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November 16th 2023 Finally got the first head clean enuf for the first pass. More nooks and crannies in this area to clean and wire cups in the electric die grinder and hand drill along with Scotchbrite buffs in the Dremal tool were used to get all the loose dirt and paint off. The two freeze plugs were slightly easier to remove than the battle I fought with the other head. They were heated up with the MAP torch to break the sealant grip and after they cooled down to room temp again, they were hit with the CRC Freeze-off spray. After that, they were chiseled out with punch and hammer. I did screw the pooch by knocking one of them down into the water jacket and that required extra combat with needle-nose vice-grips as well but eventually got it out.

Got the loose rust out of the water jacket with a telescoping pocket magnet. Finished up by relieving the approaches to the pushrod channels with die grinder burr in the Dremal tool. This area is a little tight, even with the original 1/4" pushrods. The replacements most likely will be 5/16" and need the extra clearance. Beer of the day was Alphabet City Brewing Company's Village India Pale Ale. Background music was Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins Neck and Neck.

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April 8th 2024 A couple of weeks back, Jon Carey dropped off a pair of ramps at the BillyBob Shop for me to use with Elvira's maintenance chores. While he was there, he examined the Buick heads and, while I wasn't quite finished with rough cleaning operations, he determined they were good enuf for me to bring them out to his place for machine work. Last Wednesday, I arrived at his place with the heads and valve guide cutter and a twelve pack of craft beer. Jon spent a couple of hours lining one of the heads up and making a guide for the cutter. When he cut the first intake guide to accept a valve seal, it was too much and he had to make a shim for the seal. The cutter which cost me $75 from Summit, wasn't true! We broke out the beer as the sun was over the yardarm by that time and planned our next moves.

Jon said he could fix the cutter and I could bring the valves with me to the Senile and Surly Car Club Sunday morning coffee at Dave Sexton's shop. He asked me to check the valve spring pressures as well. I pulled out my Dad's '59 Chilton manual and checked the Buick valve specs. Installed ht for the '54 322 engine is 1.5" and the outer valve spring pressure at that height is 46 lbs while the inner spring pressure is 23 lbs I set a telescoping gauge to 1.5" and commenced to measuring the springs. I wasn't getting consistent readings with the telescoping gauge until I had a "Eureka" moment. For me, that's a palm slap to the forehesd moment. I set the telescoping gauge aside and found a hex bolt slightly shorter than 1.5". Put a hex nut on the tip to make it exactly 1.5" and now I had a "stop" for the spring testing tool. Made short work of testing the valve springs after that and they were all consistent and close to the Chilton specs.

Gave the valves, springs, retainers and keepers to Jon Sunday along with the Chilton manual and some notes I found on the Intarweb and he will now finish up by putting two angles on the valves and seats for me.

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April 18th 2024 Jon Carey showed up at the BillyBob Shop yesterday with the Buick heads. He had installed the seals on the intake valves and put the two-angled cut on the valves and seats. Jon said the valve seats had been cut before and he was not aggressive in his cuts leaving room for the future. He also added thirty thousandths shim washers below the valve springs to maintain stock pressures.

Jon installed the valves with assembly lube and also fixed a spark plug cover mounting screw I had broken off during disassembly and pressure washed the heads before bagging them to bring them to the BillYBob Shop.

I was fixing yet another tire puncture on one of Elvira's tires when Jon arrived and I ceased operations as he also brought beer with him. This illustrates again why I don't ask Jon for help unless he volunteers. He's one of those people who won't allow you to pay them back for their efforts. Glad to have him as a friend. Beer of the day was Atlanta Brewing Company's Homestand Pilsner. Background music was Songs of the Civil War (Waylon Jennings, Richie Havens, Judy Collins, Hoyt Axton, John Hartford and others).

Well, this log entry is as long in the tooth as any I've ever published and it's time to let the BillyBob Shop followers know that the lights are still on in the shop, even if it's only one fixture at this time. Next log entry up will be about more bottom end assembly on the nailhead.

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So Gary, what did it run?

 

It has a 3.00 rear gear so it is not a drag car but it turns 13.3 at 100 miles per hour. I am shifting 3 gear at the end of the 1/4 mile! Gary