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I bought a car today. More pictures when I get it home

This stuff is made by POR 15. It's a much thicker version of the same material. I find it useful for patching floor pans and trunk floors that are intact, but have numerous pin holes. I tape over the holes from the bottom side, and apply the POR Patch from the top, leveling it with a Bondo spreader. I recently had a chance to see a car I did this to over twenty years ago, and it still looks like the day I did it.

Anyone else use this?

The EPA is cracking down on emission work arounds. Last fall the fined Diesel Brothers in Utah $1.2 million dollars for illegal modifications to trucks. And recently they  went after KT Performance in Florida, fined them $800,000 but settled for 58,000 and put them out of business. There are others  https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/clean-air-act-vehicle-and-engine-enforcement-case-resolutions. This is not new, but the enforcement has been stepped up in the last few years. Some of these rules apply to ORV  and some street and strip race cars.

They are also watching social media and going after smoke rollers and other obvious violators The vehicles are called in for inspection, and if they can't be repaired they are confiscated and destroyed. So pay attention to your state and federal rules.  In some states the emission rules follow the engine and not the year of the car..

This is just a heads up on my part. Keep your nose clean.

I have a really nice Columbian vise. The jaws are worn more on the left side.  Deas anyone have a source for Columbian vise jaws?

Or a way to correct the jaws I have?

Are you timid or something?

If a mechanic could design his body he would have at least three arms, with two elbows in each of them. And while we are at it one that would telescope to at least twice the length. Also an ear that could be detached and held closer to the noise. And an eye on a stalk that could look at the other side to see if the bolt has come far enough through the hole to get a nut on it. Maybe put the eye on the telescopic arm.

Any other ideas?

The execution is fantastic and very futuristic but there are some design elements that I am not a fan of. What do you think?  

&t=635s

There is an Ebay seller that has dash knob kits at a very reasonable price. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-Rod-Art-Deco-Floor-Shift-Knob-Matching-Dash-Knob-Set/153441488727?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 The only problem they are all drilled for a 1/8" shaft. I have had problems in the past drilling them without scaring the surface.

So today at the hardware store I noticed these compression couplings for 3/4" PVC pipe. I purchased one to try an idea, and the rubber grommet stretches nicely over the knob. Then the compression nut tightens it up nicely so it can be drilled.

I may not be smart, but I am crafty.

How long the old man had been there no one knew. Everyone just called him "The Captain." His little house was down by the beach. It was built in the old style and it was just as easy to imagine it was built by vikings as it was that it was built by Victorians for a folly.

For great lengths of time the little house was quite. It would sit by the beach and those from outside the area would wonder if it was abandoned. Yet at Christmas time the house would blaze with light.

Greenery would adorn the comfortable little porch and bows would be tied to the ever present rocker. "The Captain" would emerge from the lamp and fireplace lit interior with a giant sea chest and place the big box next to the old rocker.

The curiosity of the seeing the old man combined with how well lit and cheerful the house appeared drew many visitors. They would come by singly or in small groups to wish season's greeting or simply to say hello.

With each visitor the old man would smile, return the greeting and beckon the person or group forward. "Tis me way at the turn of the year to bestow on visitors a few wee gifts as tokens of me thanks for a good life and to acknowledge the generosity of the Almighty."

His bright eyes would twinkle out under his old sea cap and his wide mouth would smile as he spoke never letting his ever present pipe full of spiced tobacco droop. No one ever refused a gift. It just seemed wrong to do so.

Each visitor would be handed a small, wrapped box. The unique and curious thing was that each box was wrapped in a map. Maps from all over the world. Some were old, some looked newer, some were in foreign languages, and some were quite strange as they seemed to project arrangements of continents from times long passed.

Each box contained a small trinket. Some contained coins, some contained small carvings, occasionally a scarf, very rarely a small bottle of liquid, and once in a great while the box would hold a jewel. These were the most rare and they would glow from within and a person receiving such a gift would think themselves very lucky.

As the hour of Christmas day wound down to midnight "The Captain" would stand up from the rocker, wish any guests remaining on the porch a good night, pick up the box and head for the open door. Just before entering and closing the door behind him he would turn and say "May the Lord keep thee and thine and if you ever find yourself lost on sea or land remember me trinkets to get yer bearin's."

With this he would close the door and the house would go dark.

Those who had received gifts would soon discover their strange power. A man's life was saved during a bank robbery gone bad when a robber shot him in the chest. The man happened to have the coin the old man had given him in his shirt pocket and so the bullet was deflected. He has the coin, dented in the middle, to this day.

A woman received a little carved bird. She eventually added it to her key-ring. One day she had been hiking in the moors and become lost. She began to become afraid but as she stood wondering which way to go she felt a movement in her pocket. The little bird carving had become animated.

The moment she brought it out it fell to the end of it's little tether. No mater which way the woman turned the little carving always flew in on direction. Finally following the little bird for want of anything better to do she made her way out of the moors safe and sound. The little carving has never moved again.

The most famous story comes from a local fisherman. He had received one of the rare jewels. Something so fantastic he couldn't understand why he, being a humble man, had received a gift worth so much.

Not long after the man had become lost in a fog at sea. Though deeply experienced the fog was quite thick. The man began to be afraid he would never see his home again.

Suddenly the jewel, which he always kept with him for safety, began to glow. He pulled it from his pocket and as he did a great burst of light flared up. Flowing from the flat surface of the gem was a great golden yellow light.

It was the brightest light the fisherman had ever seen. On instinct the fisherman pointed the light to where he thought land might be. After a moment's search the beam's light cut through the fog and the fisherman could see the very end of the peninsula where he had his home. He'd drifted well past it in the fog. He made for the shore and as he arrived the beam went out and has returned to the soft glow it always had.

So, if ever you find yourself on a beach with a well lit old house decorated for Christmas with an old man in a sea cap handing out gifts, don't pass him by. The Captain's gifts are worth more than they seem and his map wrapped treasures might even one day save your life.

Merry Christmas from me and my family
Frank

How many cars have you owned? The first one for me was a 48 Plymouth coupe. The oldest was a 29 Chevrolet. The most of one model was Camaros, I have owned 28, two of them twice. I have also had nine 41 to 48 Chevys, and 21 Novas.

Right now I have 7 here of which 5 are running and driven regularly. I have sold three in the last month. The most I bought at one time was seven, all parts cars. More Chevys than any other makes, and more GM than any other manufacturer.

I don't have an exact count one the total, but it is over 550 since 1961. Every time I try to count them I spend the next couple days remembering others I did not put on the list. The most I had at one time is 22. The longest I have owned one is the 65 Marlin, which I just sold to Shelby with borrow rights LOL. I had it 29 years. I bought two new cars, a 66 Nova L79, and a 2000 Pontiac Bonneville SSE.

How about you?

Czech republic

Monday I went to a new to me dentist. He happens to be Chinese. When he shot the Novocain in the tooth, a little leaked out. He mentioned that it tastes bad. I told him I used to farm, and in the spring we would spread manure on the fields. And if the wind was blowing the wrong way it would blow it back, and a piece or two would get in your mouth. And then I told him that from experience the Novocain tasted like S**T.

He did a nice job on my tooth, so I asked where he went to school? He said "University of Pennsylvania". So I told him he didn't sound like he was from Pennsylvania. He and the technician are rolling on the floor laughing. Then I told him about the two guys talking and one said " All there are at the University of Pennsylvania are Football players and Whores".  The other guy says" My wife went to the University of Pennsylvania". So the first guy says " Oh yeah, what position did she play'?

I hope you all have a good day with or without your family.

Tom finally decided to tie the knot with his longtime girlfriend. One evening, after the honeymoon, he was cleaning one of his hot rods for an upcoming show.

His wife was standing there at the bench watching him. After a long period of silence she finally speaks. ‟Honey, I've just been thinking, now that we're married maybe it is time you quit spending all your time out here in the garage and you probably should just consider selling all your cars.

Tom gets this horrified look on his face. She says, "Darling, what's wrong?‟

"There for a minute you were starting to sound like my ex-wife.‟

"Ex-wife!‟, she screams, "YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE MARRIED BEFORE!!!!!!!‟

Tom's reply: "I wasn't‟.

Traffic circles. The state of Ohio has become very fond of them. They just redid a section of US route 20  near me and there are  five traffic circles in 6 miles of highway.

Technology isn't everything. Last night the power went out. The phone wouldn't work because it's powered by house current, and since I no longer get a phone book and use the computer to get phone numbers, I couldn't even call to report it. Thank heaven for cell phones.

I have discovered that in health care, the only thing harder than getting a straight answer from a doctor, is getting two of them to agree. And that there are different cultures in different hospitals.

Don't assemble things backwards just because it's easier, you'll just have to do it over the right way

If arms were built the right way, wrists would rotate 360 degrees, and have at least one telescopic joint.

Time moves faster the older you get. Your body moves slower.

Have you seen anything on the new ford crate engine? Mad for trucks it is 445 ci. Gasoline pushrod engine. Price is pretty decent too. Fita a 4.6, 5.4 transmission bolt pattern

https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-6007-73

Most of use are doing things the way we always did. There parts out there now that could be used, but for the most part we are stuck in the past. For those of use here we have not moved beyond the 70s. There are a couple people who are messing with fuel injection and overdrive transmissions, but that seems to be the end of it.

What are your thoughts?

https://realdealsteel.com/c-1105812-bodies-1955-57-chevy-2-door-hardtop.html

I was looking at some receipts today and I have spent over $1200 on tools so far this year. I just love tools. How about you

Most aftermarket gauges are 2 1/16" diameter. Why pray tell. It's not an even measurement in Imperial, or Metric. Or is it that way because of the same reason the space shuttle solid rocket boosters are not larger in diameter?

This post is about adapting power steering pumps, and box or racks to hoses you have or can get. Don and I were discussing this yesterday. It also works on fuel lines.

Eaton Weatherhead has three adapter fittings that are real handy for mixing and matching parts. The part numbers are 1445, 1446, and 1447. They adapt 3/8" inverted flare nuts to O ring seal connections on steering boxes 1445 has 14mm by 1.5mm Oring seal on one end, and 3/8" female inverted flare fitting on the other. 1446 has 16mm by 1.5mm Oring seal on one end, and 3/8" female  female inverted flare fitting on the other. And 1447 has 18mm by 1.5mm Oring seal on one end and 3/8" female  female inverted flare fitting on the other. For whatever reason Weatherhead has discontinued the 1446 fitting which is the most useful one of the three ad it fits some mustang racks and most GM steering boxes and racks since 1978. In addition it can be used on GM fuel lines and filters to convert to 3/8" inverted flare.

So what are the alternatives? Well there are several.16mm is .004 bigger than 5/8" and 1.5mm threads are only off by .005" from 18 threads per inch. So you can actually easily force a 5/8" by 18 TPI flare nut into the 16mm female threads. I might suggest a little never seize while doing it, but it does work. To get an inverted flare seal you can use a Four Seasons 16749 ORing to Flare Air Conditioning Adapter. I have also done this on GM fuel lines and filters.

I also have a die to recut the 5/8" 18 threaded flare nuts to 16mm to make life a little easier.

On the pre78 GM power boxes the pressure side uses 3/8  female inverted flare fitting , but the thread size is 11/16". Parker Hannifin sells the correct hose end, or if it's in good shape you can salvage a original nut, cut the hose end off next to the flare install the 11/16 nut and reflare it, single flare is all that is needed, much heavier wall tubing. The 1447 18mm fiting also can be made to work. with a little modification.

Metric tubing also comes in a 9.5mm size and uses a  female inverted flare fitting  nut  with a 16mm by 1.5 thread. 9.5mm is less than .001" smaller than 3/8". They are a bit hard to find here, but are used on some fuel injection lines, and can be bought from Inline Tube.

Does any of this help?

Do we have an electronics expert on here? I want to convert an ammeter to a voltmeter. An Ammeter is connected in series with the load, and a Voltmeter is connected in parallel. Both are galvanometers with a similar movement.

In the case of an Ammeter they are wired in parallel with a resistance (shunt) so only a portion of the load flows through the meter itself, the rest goes through the resistor.

In the case of a voltmeter it is wired in series with the load (the resistance), so it reads only voltage to ground, not the load.

So in my case the Ammeter is calibrated to read  40 amps charge or discharge. I have yet to determine the shunt resistance. So my thought is if I can figure out the proper resistance of a resistor wired in series with the meter, I should be able to calibrate it to read 12 volts at the center (zero) and show a charge over zero when being charged, and under zero when discharging.

Am I barking up the wrong tree? It sure would solve some problems.

I have been using a cobbled up stand to hold T5 transmissions when rebuilding them. So after having one fall out of the stand last week, I made a new on that they bolt into. You can rotate it to six different positions. Yes there is a counterweight on the other end of the stand.

The owner of this 54 3100 does not like the beaded fender welt on the fenders. So I need a suggestion on what to use instead. I have been thinking along the lines of a rubberized cork. The only premade stuff I can find is a heavy tar paper, and that doesn't impress me.

Any one have pictures of power steering pump brackets for a 76 Chevy C10 with a 350? I'm sure I have some, but I don't remember what they look like.


TIA

Bob Vogle known on here as UglyOlds passed away from pneumonia Wednesday. He will be missed by many on the RRT.

https://images.harborfreight.com/hftweb/recalls/Jack-Stand-Recall-56371_61196_61197.pdf

https://heavy.com/news/2020/04/mike-lavallee-dead/ Truly a gifted artist

I have some pictures of some of the stuff I have been doing. The spindle assemblies have been done for a while, but I didn't post any pictures. The caliper brackets are Speedway universal weld on brackets, modified for my use. At $9.99 each they make a good start. The caliper and rotor are both for a 1976 Chevy Malibu, the spindle is Series III XJ6 Jaguar. The Jag bearings fit the GM rotor in and out. I had to shorten the Jag spindle ,300" on the end, thread it about the same distance in, and drill a new cotter pin hole. I needed a spacer for the steering arm, and everything bolted up. The lower ball joint is a XJF style ball joint. It is a bolt in replacement for the original and sold as a service part for the XJ6

I needed a lower steering column bearing. So I have a 3/4" wheelbarrow bearing pressed into a plastic sleeve that presses in the bottom of the column.

The Fuel cell is a RCI 17 gallon It's mounted with 1" by 1/8" steel straps under it, and 1" by 1" tubing on the top, all insulated with 1/16" Buna N rubber insulators. I modified the fill neck so it can be fueled with a cap in the bed floor.. Fuel line and vent are both 3/8" tubing with a S10 fuel filter.

This column is only 1 3/4" diameter, and the wires would not fit inside it. So I needed a chase that would hid the wires under the column. There are several pictures of designing and bending a chase out of 22ga. steel. The first bends were done in a sheet metal brake, but the second bends were too close to the first to do on the brake, so I used some pieces of strap to clamp it in place for the second bend, Then used a piece of curved brass to bend a curve into the top of the chase to match the column. A little paint and I can install it.

When you have a choice what brand drill bits do you prefer? What alloy? HSS? TiN? Co?

It might surprise you to know that metric measurements have been used on cars for a long time. For instance 18mm, 14mm and 10mm spark plugs were virtually the only ones used after the 1920s. Many of the wheel bearings on old cars are actually metric measurement. That's where we get some of the odd sizes that don't reflect on anything Imperial. Spark plug wires are metric, as are the threads on many dash switches. Spicer U joints are metric and have been from the start. We just never noticed it.

When Volkswagen built the bug, it was designed that metric or imperial tools could be used to repair it. If you look at things in that light the XX/32" wrenches start to make more sense.

Your thoughts?

The rear crossmember on this truck supports the rear shackle mounts, but is in the way of the new fuel tank I am installing. So I decided to redesign it a bit, and move it back about 3" at the same time. I left the original ends, and reshaped them a bit to fit the new crossmember made from 2 by 3 tubing.

A buddy of mine stopped by to show me his car. He has been working on it about 5 years, 425 Buick with a Super Turbine 400. Glass body.

This sounds a bit silly, but all of us have a collection of junk screwdrivers. I pull the handles off of them, scrap the metal bit, and recycle the handles on files. Sometimes on bigger files you have to drill them out, but they work very well.

On this Jag front end I am doing I am using GM calipers and rotors. The ones I picked are from a 76 Malibu. The Malibu rotor fit by using the Jaguar wheel bearings, on one of them an alternate cup, and shortening the spindle by .300".

For the caliper bracket My original idea was to make it from scratch. But looking in the Speedway catalog they had one that would work with a little trimming. And the price was $9.99 each. So, look at the pictures and I'll show you how I did it so far.

There is a new speed shop in town  https://thespeedshoptoledo.com/index.html  I was in there the other day, and they have a lot of stuff, new and used at really good prices. The store is about 30,000 sq ft and they also have a warehouse. They also do EBay. It's worth looking at.

I have Uglyolds rear axle housing and centersection here. He wanted the new gears and posi set up, and the housing straightened. Setting up the rear end was a piece of cake once I got the pinion apart, it took a press to get the yoke off the old pinion shaft.

But I needed the carrier housing to set up my bar for straightening the axle housing. I had decided some time ago tp make a new straightening jig so I could do it cold rather than using heat to do it. So I made a cart with a 6" heavy I beam 6 ft long so I had a solid base to work from. Since this rear was stock length, and the bar I had was too short, I bought a new 6 ft 4130  by 1.5" bar 5 ft long, and straightened it to less than.001" run out in 5 ft. I then made two stands that clamped to the I beam I could hold the rear end on, and another pair of clamps that fit over the housing near the center that would hold the housing securely to the stands. I bought a stubby 20 ton jack to bend the housing with. I installed a pair of pucks in the carrier bearing bores, and installed the carrier housing with a gasket. I pushed the 1.5" bar through the pucks in the carrier bore, and then installed the axle bearing pucks on the bar, neither one was lined up.

Somehow I managed to loose all the pictures of the rig, but you can see some of it in the straightening pictures.

The first unibody car was the Lancia Lambda in 1921. There were only 50 of them made, and there were a lot of problems with them.

The Budd company engineered a unibody in 1930 and in a couple years licenced it to Citroen who came out with the Traction Avant in 1933 the first modern unibody car. They ended up making almost 800,000 over the next 24 years.

Chrysler Corporation also licenced it for use on the Airflows both Desoto and Chrysler in 1934. Chrysler slightly modified the concept by using a box girder that went from the extreme front of the car, over the passenger compartment, and ended near the rear bumper. It still had a vestigial frame make of 14 ga steel that was used to hold the front axle and the drivetrain so it could be assembled on existing production lines. There were 17 body mounts on each side, and the body supported the frame rather than the frame supporting the body. The Airflows were made in 1934 and 1935 in the case of Desoto, and 1934 to 1937 for the Chryslers. There were really no problems in the body assembly, but they looked very unconventional at the time and didn't sell well.

Due to the popularity of the Traction Avant in the late 1930 many European manufacturers started developing unibody cars for the smaller models since they could be lighter than conventional construction. Less material, less cost. And after the war steel was hard to obtain.

The next American car with unibody construction was the Nash 600 in 1941. By 1950 all Nash cars were unibody construction. The same basic construction methods were used by Nash, and AMC through 1986 when they were bought by Chrysler. Through most of the 1950s they had problems with rust but by the early 1960s they had come up with rust proofing method that made it less of a problem. AMC with the Jeep brand was also the first American manufacturer with a unibody pickup, the Comanche.

Chrysler started developing unibody construction in 1954, and many Chrysler cars had an abbreviated frame by 1957 and outside of certain models by 1960 most Mopars were unibody.


In 1960 GM and Ford also started making unibody cars with the new compacts although they both made Unibodies in Europe and other countries long before that. The 1960s were also when they started building several models of car off the same understructure. The BOP compacts all shared the same understructure even though they looked different. The Ford Falcon, Mustang, Cougar, Fairlane, Comet, and Meteor all shared the same platform for several years.

I'll post some more later

I like lowered cars just like the next guy. I have one customer I have lowered his car more three times. now he complained that the X member hits the road when he goes over a bump on the expressway. The only way to fix it is to raise it back up, or fabricate the crossmember higher. I mentioned Air bags, he doesn't want that because "it's cheating". He doesn't want to raise it, and he doesn't like my price on a new X member.  He can take it to someone else, and let them cobble it up, and then bring it to me to fix it, if I can, for more money.

I have a buddy with a 35 Ford five window coupe. He called me looking for a price. Mostly original car with a later  8BA engine and a 39 trans, it does run. fair interior, 35 wire wheels with decent tires. It still has mechanical brakes. Solid body with original paint, some rust but no holes visible. Needs a radiator, but has a new original type wire harness.

Any idea on price.

I have been working on a disc brake conversion for a 1959 MGA. It's Chevy powered, with an S10 rear end, and he wanted a 4 3/4" bolt pattern on the front too. With some investigation of the rotors available, I found that there were none that would just bolt on, but the closest I could find was, believe it or not, S10. The outer bearing race on the spindle was listed at .75" but actually measured 20 mm. The inner bearing race was listed as 1.187" but actually measured 30 mm. For the 20 mm bearing I was able to find one that was .061" bigger than the S10 bearing, so it was no big deal to machine .0305" out of the bearing bore to make the outer bearing fit the S10 rotor. The inner bearing was not so easy. All the 30 mm ID bearings were either way to big, or too small. So what I ended up doing was making a sleeve that I could shrink into the bearing bore, then turn the inside to fit the metric bearing. Not an ideal solution but workable.


I had to install a spacer on the spindle to take up some excess length in the spindle bolt, and move the rotor out enough to make room for a caliper bracket. The wheel face of the rotor is about the same as the original MGA hub. The spacer ended up being.400" long.

Since there was so much offset I had to fabricate the bracket from two pieces, and weld them together. I used some 3/8" thick material I had, angle iron actually, that I had on hand. I had some new steel for the job, but messed it up on a false start. :oops: The calipers I ended up using are, Surprise, S10.I have a pattern for GM metric caliper brackets that I traced on the steel with locations for the caliper bolt holes, cutting it out with my band saw and drill press. To find the location for the bracket I put a 1/8" spacer on the edge of the toror, and clamped the caliper and bracket to the rotor, and measured the location. I tacked the bracket together, and made a jig to properly locate everything straight and true for final welding, and then welded the second one to match.

After fitting everything in place, I dressed and sand blasted everything and proceeded to paint the parts. I'll do final assembly when I get home from the Zoo.

I like it

https://jalopnik.com/fastest-woman-on-four-wheels-jessi-combs-killed-in-jet-1837654356

A very talented lady

I had been thinking about the 350 HP 327, one of the best factory engines GM built. I was thinking I ought to build one, then it occured to me that the fuel it needs is no longer available at the corner store. Then I thought about the compromises that would need to be made to run todays fuel, and the fact that a LS1 would make as much horsepower and get twice the mileage. So I got discouraged and thought about something else. I'm like the guys that think a flathead Ford is still the epitome of cool.

I am looking for the hub to hub measurement for a Fox Mustang 79 to 93. Even a 94 to 2004 would work. I can find the tread width, but not hub to hub Thanks in advance

Check this place out  https://www.thestopshop.com/  They have the best price I have seen for Cupro Nickel brake line, and fittings for most everything.

Fords and Chevrolets are the most popular for street Rods/Machines with Mopar a distant third. The Mopars are out there, but have become so expensive I think the owners are afraid to modify or even drive them for the most part.

55% of men under 40 can not change a tire, or unclog a drain without help. Any skilled trade you can mention has a shortage of new people entering the field, and the ones who do don't want to start at the bottom. In the meantime, 40% will be retiring in the next 10 years.

The car with the most American content is the Honda. Fiat Chrysler is second, GM third, and Ford fourth.

I had lunch thursday with a high school friend I had not seen in 54 years. We has spoke on the phone, and by email for the last few years but that was it. It's kind of amazing but we were the same places at the same time, but never crossed paths. It was an enjoyable afternoon.

I am amazed what these guys do with rudimentary tools to repair these trucks. The are making new frame rails basically by hand using only a hydraulic press they built in another video. They hot rivet them back together by hand too. They also build dump beds, flat decks, and cargo vans again using hand tools and a Hydraulic press and sheet steel. Check it out. They have a ton of videos.

 

Ugly Olds messaged me to say he is a bit under the weather lately, at this point it doesn't look serious, but send him good thoughts anyway.