Keepers build

[Keeper]

Some finishing touches.

I waited until the end to do this as I did not want to take the chance of bending things on accident. I built a frame for the mesh and bolted it about 1/8 off the shell.

That was the final addition to the build. Now its time to drive the tires off of it. Well after I get plates, that is.

I figure next fall will be a good time to blow it all apart and do the final body work for paint.

 

[2old2fast]

Nice grille ,looks "right"

dave

 

[putz]

Nice looking grille/rock guard.

 

[Keeper]

So I finally broke down and started pulling things apart for some fixes. I need to fix a couple oil leaks, and figured while it was apart I would clean/paint the engine and trans.

So I started yesterday pulling off all the little things and today the big things. Needed another set of hands I did not have so I improvised: Engine hoist makes for a good partner:

Once the body was out of the way I started pulling the rest off. Here is where I left it for the day:

Engine and trans out. Body sitting on the floor.

Things to fix:

Oil leaks - front timing cover seal around the balancer - figured all the grinding dust ate it up.
I thought the rear main was leaking, but it turns out its the rear seal on the intake, blowing a lot of oil out, not sure how that happened. Once I tear it apart I will see what happened.

Transmission - fix o-ring on speedo sensor. Replace moderator(?) cover, its seeping through the rust, I thought it was just surface rust, turns out it was worse then I thought.

Water pump - back plate is hitting the timing cover - pull gasket off cover, use goop instead, should give me the clearance I need.

Interior - get some carpet padding, glue down trans tunnel carpet. Fix rear cover stitching, not as clean as I would like. Re-work dash - need to move gauge cluster forward a couple inches, make a new top plate for gauge cluster.

Body - clean up bad glass work on firewall, pick up some undercoating for the bottom of the body. That is the extent of the body work being done this year.

Make new mirror mounts, fix holes I drilled in the windshield posts.

Take radiator and shell to rad shop, they are going to move the filler neck to match the shell.

Pull rear-end - take to jag guy for pumpkin swap, 2.88 posi for 3.54 non-posi.

Replace rearend springs.

Make a new e-brake cable, the one I installed is a bit flimsy and I do not trust it in a panic situation.

 

[Keeper]

So I got a few things completed:
- shortened the trans dipstick to better fit the car and not have it bent and hanging halfway up the intake, I am to cheap to buy a $110 loker one!
- cleaned off and ground down any casting flash on the engine/trans in prep for paint
- painted the engine, the only color an engine should ever be painted....Chevy Orange

3 coats of primer, 4 coats of paint. Turned out nice.

 

[TbucketMike]

Looks awesome!!

 

[Zack]

Love the color. Chevy Orange is hard to beat.

 

[Keeper]

One step forward.......and well we know how that goes.

So I was press out the shafts for some cleaning/painting. Knowing I needed to be careful and keep things straight...well it didn't matter:

Too much pressure and not enough heat.

The only consolation I have is knowing I needed to repair/replace them anyway as they had a hairline crack in them. Well I know this one won't be repaired.

I did though get the pumpkin swapped out for a 68 e-type with 3.54 and posi Should help put the RPM's back in the power zone when cruising.

 

[Youngster]

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Keeper]

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup. :|

But they were cracked and needed to be replaced anyway....(about the only way I can look at it without getting upset!)

 

[Youngster]

Do you have a pair found yet?

Ron

 

[Keeper]

No but I think I have found a complete rearend. They seem to want $250 a hub up here. But an entire rearend is $400. Hopefully by tomorrow night I will have one.

 

[Keeper]

And the fun continues! I picked up a 1962 MK10 jag rear over the weekend. Went and inspected it, mainly for the hubs. No cracks that I could see, so I bought it.

After 2 days of cleaning 70 years worth of gunk off the parts, I find this:

If you look on the right, you can see the inner hole is not right. Here is a better pic:

What happened, the outer bearing failed, allowing the inner stub to contact the hub. Grinding away the seal surface.

Now I should be able to save this as there is a small "lip" left that I could seat a new seal in. The bearing race surface was not touched, looks like they stopped driving it before they totally screwed up the hub.

So now I continue to source parts to put things back together.

Anyone have a space early IRS hub laying around?

 

[2old2fast]

I'm wondering if someone w/a mill could hog that area out & make a sleeve that could be tigged in, then machined? I have no idea of whether that would be cost effective or not.?.?..
dave

 

[Keeper]

I'm wondering if someone w/a mill could hog that area out & make a sleeve that could be tigged in, then machined? I have no idea of whether that would be cost effective or not.?.?..
dave

Thats my thought. It could even be press fit as there is no stress on the area, it only holds the oil seal.

hmmm maybe I should start looking for a lathe

 

[2old2fast]

GAB could probably shed some light on this !!
dave

 

[Keeper]

Started putting things back together while I am waiting on new (to me) hubs to show up.

At least I am making room in the garage again, things were getting crowded!

My shortened trans dipstick:

Look at that, I can see the floor again!

 

[Keeper]

And no I do not use that plate to lift the engine, I am only using it to cover the carb hole. I do not trust 4 little studs to hold 600+ lbs of engine/trans.

 

[Keeper]

So finally got my parts I have been waiting on.

After my last mishap buying a used jag rear for the hubs, I just went to a jag parts guy and had them ship me a set of hubs. This way they were completely inspected and could be replaced if something was wrong. Well they showed up today and I spent a couple hours cleaning them up. The good news is NO CRACKS!!

I also ordered new bearings and seal kit as I was warned the lower bearings were shot, as to be expected coming off a 1983 car.

So tomorrow I will apply some caliper paint to keep that nice clean aluminum look and put everything back together.

Next up is getting the nerve to spray some paint, I am a bit paranoid about the isocyanates in the hardeners and am trying to determine the best course of action for me.

 

[Keeper]

Been a couple weeks since I updated:

So I finally got up the nerve to spray some paint, after being paranoid about the isocyanate stuff in the hardener, I just went and bought a better full face mask respirator and opened the doors

Hanging things from everywhere I could:

Sprayed some undercoating/sound deaden-er on the bottom and inside of the bucket, not much use in sound insulation in a roadster, but its the same as the regular rubberized under coating:

Since these were all chassis pieces I used the Farm implement primer and enamal along with the hardener, for the body I did not spray it and used a foam roller, as it was a rough surface and did not need to be smooth, plus I did not have to mask everything off to do it.

Then I finally could start putting things back together.

So once the brackets and everything cured I started re-assembly:

Starting to look like my bucket again

Most of the 90000000 pieces of the jag put back in, I still need to reassemble the hubs and install them, but I realized I do not own a bearing puller so its off to the tool shop tomorrow!

Some how I missed painting the drive shaft!!! Maybe paint it if I have to respray the gas tank.

Starting to get excited again.

I am planning on trying to wet-sand and buff out the gas tank, with my "open air" spray booth I got a bit of crap in the paint and it shows on the flat parts of the tank. (Well and I needed an excuse to buy a buffer/polisher)