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

FINALLY, we are having decent weather for Bondo and paint work so I'm attacking my roadster frame again. Hoping to at least get it primered and blocked this week and the paint ordered.

 

Was going to get one out of hibernation today for a little cruise after it's winter nap. Checked fluids, tires, and other little things. About to fire her up when unexpected company showed up. Welp, so much for the cruise.

 

My buddy, Dar came over today to help me watch the NASCAR race and afterward we wandered out to the garage to visit my 50 Pontiac. I told him I'd run the engine last Thursday and drowned it with Marvel Mystery oil while it was running, 'till it died and prolly wouldn't start until I cleaned the plugs. Just for the helluvit I turned on the key and hit the starter,,,,,,Vroom! It fired up after the 2nd revolution! The engine was quieter than it'd been before but still missed on one cylinder.

 

Garage find ! Found this in my garage, where it has been for 25 years, going to a new owner on Tuesday. Would you believe it was painted, cut and rubbed a week later, back in '96, never been waxed !

 

With the help of fellow HAMB member Mike from Washington I installed the first and maybe only custom feature on our 56 Vic. I’ve kept the exterior all stock with the exception of wheels and a slight rake, but the chance of Lee tail light lenses changed that. I’d already gone to LED bulbs mostly for safety and they work great with the Lee’s. There’s a rubber trim gasket for now but may go to the original cork style later..
Would have liked a set of Dodge Polaras as Merc Wagons are no in the budget.

 

Special thanks to @Mac VP for taking the time to help this transmission noob get what I needed. Its nice when the owner of a company takes 30-40 min to help you understand what you need and get the right parts ordered.
Chappy

 

I managed to strip off the front clip without breaking any bolts and only one busted knuckle. But now I see how gone my core support is and how bad the nose is gonna be to fabricate.


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Front seal time in the Roadster.
I had to take the spring mounting bolts off... nope not enough clearance to get the pulley off. Jack up the front of the engine... nope header pipe hitting firewall. Take off header which also means take off intake... jack it up nope valve cover hits the firewall. Pull the valve cover which means pull the dizzy... success. Lost that ugly split loom plastic crap too

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Finally got in shop, removed box , rear fenders, running boards, etc to take to get sand blasted.

 

My guess would be limited clearance for the wrench.

 

That photo does not do that Olds justice Marty!
I saw it at Martys' place just like this many years ago and it is a stunner.

 

Valve cover gaskets showed up yesterday so I changed them out and fired up the ‘58 for the first time since late October. It took some cranking to fill the carb but it allowed the engine to build oil pressure before lighting. I let it run for a minute at high idle then let it idle until it reached operating temp. I still have a couple odd jobs to do but there’s plenty of time before spring rains wash the deicing chemicals off the roads...

 

Doug, It got a good home with Harold Wallace, the premier stainless steel repairman. He straightened the trim for that car in 1986, and has restored several concourse quality cars. The best part was, at 81 he was giddy as a kid, getting his first car.

 

Beautiful! FYI, I had repop lenses (Chevy truck) shatter and fall off several times before I realized the repops (from China) didn't come with the shouldered screws of the originals that would allow the expansion of the cork when it got wet. Something to check if you go with the cork.

 

From the BillyBob Shop log

March 6th 2021 Scraped gasket bits off the block with a razor scrapper. Sent for a specialized tool to remove the freeze plugs but that was a waste of money. The removal tool wasn't any easier than a common chisel. Some days are like that. Removed gobs of loose rust from the water jacket with a pocket telescoping magnet. Removed the drainage petcock from the driver side bank and cleaned the rust from the hole where the passenger side petcock once was, I presume.

 

Flipping through some junkyard pics from this past summer, and it got me thinking that I need to do some more pilfering.
Does anyone know what the steering shaft size for an AMC Rambler American would be?

 

Now that’s a ...”Y”...block

 

Yup, both Ford and Buick had deep crankcase designs.

 

Got the exhaust manifolds blasted and painted for the 62.

 

took the AA out of hibernation.
Went for a little blast over to my parents place.

 

Got her out for some exercise and test my "New " Steering column ,gonna take little getting use to the fact there is no delay when i turn the wheel ,..lol

 

More sanding..... trying to get my roadster frame painted so I can start reassembly. It was sandblasted and epoxy primed. Sandblasting exposed a lot of little ugly that they primed over. I still have one more round of filling and sanding then it gets the poly prime, and more sanding. Lots of nooks and crannies to get into.

 

And now the LS ....oh! the Horror..

 

Grandson and I got one of the old girls out of winter hybernation and went for a cruise. Glad he enjoys my company as much as I enjoy his!

 

And the Mopar.

 

From the BillyBob Shop log

March 7th 2021 The jagged, sharp casting flash at the bottom of the lifter bores had never been smoothed on this nailhead block so, I used my newly rediscovered burrs with the electric die grinder to take the edges off. Nothing fancy, just enough to eliminate small bits from breaking off. Background music was Rolling Stones Hot Rocks Volume II.

 

Rolling Stones! What's not to like .

 

From the BillyBob Shop log

March 11th 2021 Made the first pass at cleaning the flat machined block surfaces with scotchbrite "cookies" in the air-powered angle grinder. I know this method is controversial but I don't have the gumption to do this by hand and I'm a sucker for shiny metal.

After watching Matt on Iron Trap Garage clean sheet metal, I decided to take a pass with the Eastwood SCT Surface Conditioning Tool with the 120 grit drum (the finest grit I currently have) instead of the Scotchbrite cookies as an experiment.

The experiment was a success. Only took ten minutes for one bank, including a time out for a short gasket scraping. Advantages of the SCT drum is that it is five inches wide, runs at a slower speed and is electric. I also ordered a finer grit drum for future ops.

Meanwhile, I'm still struggling with the oil galley plugs. All I've managed, so far, is to drive two of the little buggers in deeper. Beer of the day was Nebraska Brewing Company's Cardinal Pale Ale.

 

With much difficulty, head scratching, two trips to the hardware store and the help of a friend here and there over the last 2 days, the running boards/splash aprons, front fenders and headlight bar are finally back on my '31 Coupe project. The 2 days doesn't include the days and days it took to get the fenders presentable. The fenders needed a lot of hammer and dolly work, patches, some filler and lots of priming and block sanding, but they turned out very nice considering how they started out. Big thank you to my long-time friend Stan! If I EVER mention anything on the HAMB about wanting to build another full fendered car, PLEASE remind me of the grief it is to get fenders on without destroying them!

On a good note....I'm really pleased with what the stance of the car might look like. A few more things to finish up since they'll be easier to get to and do before the body goes back on, but at least this thing is starting to take shape.

Lynn

 

Another accomplishment, this time one that actually looks like progress! Put the body back on for hopefully the last time. Two front and two rear bolts have it lined up for now. The wood blocks and rubber pads are in place, and the bolts are dropped into the holes from above and into the blocks. Still might have to do a bit of lining up of holes into the frame with a tapered punch but at this point it should be about ready to bolt in place. Things could change with body alignment as bolts are tightened but at this point doors are lined up pretty nice and they open and close easily. Fingers crossed!

I'm pretty pleased with the rake too. At this point I have between 1" and 1.5" of down-in-front rake along the length of the running board. I'm 5'9"-ish and the highest spot of the roof is about even with the top of my head. I think I'm going to like it!

Lynn