Technical What did you do today?

I put the old chrome reverse, that I cleaned yesterday with aluminum foil and soapy water, on the 57, then tried out the 59 impala wheel that I'm piecing together.

 

found out my windshield wouldn't interchange with my parts car.

 

Been there a couple of times myself ! Luckily the seller was sympathetic and had the right one on hand.

 

New motor mounts in my ‘40. I think the old ones were a little worn out.

5F7132F3-4D0E-46CC-ACD1-16122769B460 by Zax posted Apr 11, 2019 at 8:23 PM

 

Started working on a tune up. Timing adjustment wasn’t working right, so pulled the rotor off and found that the advance weights are hammered. Need a recurve kit with some new weights and springs. Hopefully I can pick one up tomorrow.


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Today....I learned that TIG welding sheetmetal, buttwelded, overhead and out of position under the truck is a real pain in the ass!!! Sorry no pics worth showing yet....

I actually knew that, but the trigger went bad on my MIG machine. So I had a reason to be up for the challenge. Actually turned out pretty good, just a pain.

 

worked with my grandpa and his 39 Chevy coupe to get it in primer for Lonestar roundup


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continuing with the wheels on things vein, I built this rack to get my rears off the floor

 

Tore the carb apart in the 37 to fix a vacumn leak,found I might have a hard time finding a carb kit locally now. It was no problem to get one when I put the truck togather 20 years ago,I can order one but will most likely make a gasket since I do not want to wait.

 

Today I took the pictures of the rejuvenated carbs I got back late Wednesday and installed yesterday.
Before:
After:


Carburetor man is a magician!
Hope to fire it up later today.
Oh yeah, it is a 65 Riviera which I believe is tolerated if not exactly within the preferred year parameters.

 

Betting the horses in Hot Springs Arkansas yesterday, today and tomorrow.

 

My day was not all that exotic, the fit of parts on a Studebaker after you replace the floor/rocker panels door bottoms and fender trailing edges tweaks the fit. The drivers door went from nicking the rocker at the front and then about a third of the way back opened up about as much as it was tight up front. I trimmed the door at the front and added 1/8 inch rod along the bottom, and...I was smart enough this time to leave the door hung until I got the rod tacked on. I am no great fabricator but I think this will work. I didn't get all of the body work done but wanted to get it blasted/primed and color on before winter set in so....yeah there is more work needed

 

A follow-up:
The good news is it started right up after priming it with a little gasoline.
The bad news is that fitting at the front of the front carburetor was dripping gas!
Took it apart to discover the threads were a bit mangled on side that screwed into carburetor.
Checked all three auto parts stores for a replacement with no luck so bought 1/8" pipe die to use to try to salvage the threads. It took awhile but they cleaned up pretty well. Put it all back together using ample sealing tape and other thread sealer and it held.
I'm gonna keep an eye on it but I let it run a good while and all seems good.
Now I can take it for a spin without worrying about it stalling and not restarting without a Chinese fire drill to squirt some ether in the carbs!
Happiness is a quick starting and smooth running engine.

 

Went and rented a "helper" this morning and got the ceiling in the new shop nailed up. Slowly but surely it's coming together. 20 years ago this shop addition would have been a 2 weekend project. Now it's more like 2 months!

 

One more thing I did today that I'll share as it might help someone else in the future.

As stated above, I just got the car running well and all seemed good but the amp light was staying on.
Dang! Alternator must be shot. I got the old one I took off the Gran Sport engine that worked fine on it so no big deal... but! Let's do a bit of troubleshooting to be sure the alternator is failing. I checked the connections and all the wires running to it seemed to be correct. I pulled out the Gran Sport alternator and noted that it had a ground terminal so I went back to check for same on the Riviera. The ground terminal on the Riviera didn't have a nut and wasn't connected to anything.
Hmm... I wonder.
Found a jumper wire and connected the ground terminal on the alternator to a good ground on the engine.
I started it up and... yep, the light went out and it started charging like crazy according to the auxiliary amp gauge.
I ran a permanent new ground wire to the alternator and it still works properly!
Y'all might remember this little tip; especially if your alternator is mounted way down below the air conditioning compressor like it is on my Riviera!!
Surprised and very thankful Al

 

Not car related but but this guy was a gearhead. Seems like I can always find the traveling Vietnam War Memorial when it come to a town near me. This time I left a photo on 38E row 77. In memory of my friend Don Hausrath Jr., the last known photo of him. May he continue to Rest in Peace.

 

Made a vintage drag car inspired roll bar with students today for one of our electric race cars. Simple, but we used a bender and had to do the math and read a rule book

 

Been busy putting my Panel together

 

Distributor recurve kit installed and distributor back in place.

Initial tune up and got it running. Put a few road miles on. Tune still needs some work, but it was nice to drive again.


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Started patching the floor in the Galaxie. Don't remember it being so much work! Got to keep the outside out and the inside in.

 

Picked up a box of LP's at the dump, one from a 60's group I never heard of on eBay at $ 75.00 to $1,000 wish me luck. Glad others are working on their cars, it gives me something to watch.

Bob

 

Picked up the center caps from the pinstripe guy and mounted them on the new wheels

 

Finally finished rewiring my old 48 Ford beater. Now it cranks up instantly without any smoke escaping from the wires like before and all the lights work. Sure took me long enough, something always got in my way. And I want to give kudos to Charlie NY over on the Ford Barn. He rebuilt my carburetor and it starts without even making a complete revolution and idles "like a Cadillac" as the old guys used to say.

 

Thank you to Don and all the brave men whose name is on that wall!!

 

For those of you not following my thread on my 32 cabriolet that was in the same family for 75 years and I'm now installing a 425 Buick; here's a picture after I spent most of the day welding in the firewall indention for the distributor and then cleaning up my dang welding!
Before:
After today's effort:
I'm glad most of the work to the firewall and crossmember are complete. Still much to do but these are key components to have mostly completed. I'm hoping most of the dirtiest work is behind me.

 

some days you gotta just go with what you got...

my oil pressure sender dies on a regular schedule, i think i figured out that what kills them is engine vibration (imagine that... engine vibration... engine oil pressure sender...) so i'm remote-mounting it. just one of those dumb 0..100 psi senders from Speedway.

cut out and bent this simple bracket. neoprene-foam lined, the sender will go on the inner fender, with a braided stainless steel "brake line" to the block.

this better work.

 

Dyno Day at Hawk Speed & Custom in Whetstone, AZ. This is 1962 Volvo PV544 is a 1940's design with old school tube nerf bars. Sort of On-Topic, it has spun aluminum wheel covers, header (singular) and a Smithy's glasspack. Drive train is slightly newer and bigger Volvo, but still a pre-1965 design. It is up to Ryan and the mods if this is inside the bounds.

At 79.7 RWHP, one HP was "found" this year. The data scatter between runs is several HP. Went out, had fun, and supported a couple of local businesses.

Lots of imports, some vets and a few older cars just a few years beyond the 1965 line. Lots of folk doing the best with limited money. I was surprised to find a bunch of high school kids in the audience, including my 17 year old granddaughter.

 

Me? What did I do? I lost 2 leaves from my model A spring. I had 4 spare ones now only have 2. How can I loose something that big in my shop? Time to stop building rods and take up golf.
If I can,t find a spring I,ll never find a golf ball.

 

Just about ready for some paint... finally!!

 

Now your cooking!