Above 1200 Sq/FT Swanny's Garage Expansion Project

[Bob Heine]

Bob - I think there were some decent deals to be had earlier in the week. I'm kinda upset with myself for not going at least one more bid on the Willys, as I think that was a pretty good deal at the hammer price. By later Friday and all day Saturday, the things I was interested in sped right past my comfort zone!!

Gary, I was at B-J the first day and there were some "needs work" vehicles that sold really cheap but one really nice restomod caught my attention because I love non-big-three brands. It was a 1938 Hupmobile 4-door with a very modern drivetrain, (Cadillac Northstar RWD or small block Chevy and 700R4 drivetrain but my memory is a little foggy), modern leather interior with A-C and power everything. It had a light/dark silver exterior. It sold for $18,000. I can't find the listing but someone else has done a similar build:

 

[Swanny1953]

Nicely done! Beautiful, ‘34!

Thanks, Odis. Now the anticipation sets in while waiting for Reliable!

 

[Swanny1953]

Since we came home from PHX 3 days early, and since the replacement control arm for the Cameo suspension had arrived the day before we left, I spent some time Tuesday getting the truck back together.
First, some “custom” work on the “dog bone” as the bushing was somewhat thicker than the one I took off.
Take off -
New -

I reached out to builder who told me he did his “customization” with a flap wheel on a grinder. I was able to get it down to roughly the same width.
Next was to jack up the rear end and take the wheel off again. Then, after attaching the replacement dog bone to the carrier, I used my scissor jack to force the carrier to rotate around the lower dog bone until the upper bushing lined up with the hole. This jack made that process pretty easy.

With both control arms now attached, I then replaced the shock and torqued everything to factory specs and reinstalled the wheel.
Cross that project off the list!!

 

[Swanny1953]

When the Woodie was the cover car for The Woodie Times, I purchased extra copies with the intent of having a collage put together. I finally got around to having Hobby Lobby put it together for me.

Now to find the right place to put it!!

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice job on the suspension repair Gary.

As for the magazine article, I did the same thing when a couple of my builds came out in magazines, I bought extra copies and a couple of them I had made into placards or display items that I have hung in my shop. About the only memorabilia of my past projects that I carried over from the old shop to the new one. I still have all of the trophies and dash plaques, etc. in boxes in the basement. Doubt they'll ever see the light of day again.

 

[Swanny1953]

Nice job on the suspension repair Gary.

As for the magazine article, I did the same thing when a couple of my builds came out in magazines, I bought extra copies and a couple of them I had made into placards or display items that I have hung in my shop. About the only memorabilia of my past projects that I carried over from the old shop to the new one. I still have all of the trophies and dash plaques, etc. in boxes in the basement. Doubt they'll ever see the light of day again.

Thanks, Mike.
The Woodie is the only one of my cars that made a magazine during my ownership. However, the '40 Chev was on the cover of Street Rodder in February 2013 and was featured in the Good Guys Gazette in January 2013. Now, I'm on a hunt to see if I can find those articles on the internet as I don't want to destroy the one copy of each magazine I got with the car purchase.

 

[zmotorsports]

I hadn't thought about doing a Google search Gary. Just for shits & grins, I googled mine and it actually popped up. Even though it has been 28 years ago. WOW! Anything really can be found on the interwebs these days......

 

[Swanny1953]

I was able to find the Street Rodder issue and they allow you to print the pages, so I did so on some photo paper. The colors are not quite original copy quality, but will do for a collage.

On the Gazette side, no digital copies could I find, but several eBay sellers have either individual copies or whole years for sale. Bought one individual copy and have an inquiry to another seller, so we'll see. I need 2 copies to make the collage.

 

[Bob Heine]

WOW! Anything really can be found on the interwebs these days......

Bought one individual copy and have an inquiry to another seller, so we'll see. I need 2 copies to make the collage.

Mike and Gary, I did a search back in 2015 for the very first car magazine I bought when I turned 12 (in 1956). It was an issue of Rodding and Restyling with a "Sensational Lincoln-ized Mercury" on the cover. It was the small size (8"x5.5") magazine that was common back then. I remember forking over 25¢ (my allowance) in a luncheonette across the street from my grade school. Imagine my shock finding that magazine in decent condition for $9.99. Being old, I balked at the price but when I checked the online "Inflation Calculator" 25¢ in 1956 is $2.88 so I bought the magazine. It was an east coast publisher so not many California cars were featured. If you wanted to remove the hood ornament and bull-nose your car, they had the $4 method.

Back in 1956 the flathead Ford V8 was still king but folks were adapting Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, Lincoln and Oldsmobile OHV V8 engines to their existing manual transmissions. It was a big deal back then, especially on the east coast. Everything changes and everything stays the same -- now it's just LS and Coyote adapters for manual transmissions.

I remembered the $2 whitewalls, and JC Whitney sold me a set of 16" ones for my '47 Ford seven years later.

They still sell Portawalls but they start at $69, not $8 a set.

 

[Swanny1953]

Bob - Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I have had a continuous subscription to Hot Rod Magazine since the age of 6 (1959), although they have transitioned to just digital now, I think.

 

[Swanny1953]

The ‘34 Ford was delivered Saturday morning. Reliable did a great job of getting it to me quickly and keeping it covered during transport.

Based on the loading photos, the car was outside last Monday while it was raining in Phoenix. So, needed to clean it up using Griot’s waterless car wash.

Once that was done, I determined the finish did not need decontamination, so put on a coat of Griot’s Show Wax. In talking with the Griot’s guys at BJ, I learned this product has some filler that will take care of minor swirl marks.
It seemed to do a great job.
I’m impressed by the attention to detail on this car. This is a pic of the ignition key. You’ll note in the background of the picture of the dash, below the grill on the right is the headlight switch. They camouflaged the key to look like the headlight switch, including the small eyebrow on the dash.

Drove the car to dinner with the guys Sunday night - other than inadequate headlights, it was great!! Guess I have another project to do. I would put the Holley RetroBrite lights in, but the profile of the lenses would not be proper.

 

[LXCam]

Oh boy it’s Christmas! That’s exciting stuff Gary and I hope all she needs is a new set of headlights, wouldn’t that be a pleasant surprise.

It was great meeting you and how’s the wife feeling. I hope she got over whatever was going around out here.

 

[Swanny1953]

Cam - I likewise enjoyed meeting you. Thanks again for breakfast.
Lori finally turned the corner enough that we could get back on an airplane to Seattle yesterday for a surprise 60th birthday party this weekend. She was pretty miserable once we got home late on Monday and for the rest of the week. The couple we traveled to PHX with also both got something and had to endure feeling crappy while going through a move to a new home! Knock on wood, I appear to be the only one of the 4 of us not to get sick!

 

[Swanny1953]

Got a chance to fix a couple of items that were bugging me on the Cameo PU.
The first was self inflicted. I didn’t fully read the manual for the Classic Auto Air system. Had I done that, I would have known that the top lever in the control panel was a dummy and didn’t control anything. Instead, I tried moving it with some force, which resulted in bending the stationary lever. I took the plastic knob off and was able to bend it back to its original condition.
The second was the fitment of the glove box door. It was very loose. I was able to properly adjust the striker plate so it now closes very tightly.
Much better! Check those two items off the project list. I also changed the oil and filter as the truck went over the break in mileage since I bought it.
The truck was assembled without a parking brake. The builder was able to source and send me cables. I spent a bunch of time under the truck trying to figure out routing and mounting points, only to find the cables are a little too short given the positioning of the exhaust system. Now to search the interwebs to find cables that will work with what I have. My intent is to install an Estopp electric e-brake controller.

 

[LXCam]

Got a chance to fix a couple of items that were bugging me on the Cameo PU.
The first was self inflicted. I didn’t fully read the manual for the Classic Auto Air system. Had I done that, I would have known that the top lever in the control panel was a dummy and didn’t control anything. Instead, I tried moving it with some force, which resulted in bending the stationary lever. I took the plastic knob off and was able to bend it back to its original condition.
The second was the fitment of the glove box door. It was very loose. I was able to properly adjust the striker plate so it now closes very tightly.
Much better! Check those two items off the project list. I also changed the oil and filter as the truck went over the break in mileage since I bought it.
The truck was assembled without a parking brake. The builder was able to source and send me cables. I spent a bunch of time under the truck trying to figure out routing and mounting points, only to find the cables are a little too short given the positioning of the exhaust system. Now to search the interwebs to find cables that will work with what I have. My intent is to install an Estopp electric e-brake controller.

I was starting to wonder if you guys were ok since you hadn’t posted in a while Gary.

Have you looked at what Lokar offers for cables? They seem to have a decent selection of stuff that allows for modification even if it isn’t cheap. lol.

 

[IGO2XS]

Gary, I went to the Florida Barrett Jackson in April a decade or two ago. Really glad I didn't have a bidder's number because there were some stupid good deals I would have happily gone into debt for. Also went to a Kissimmee, FL Mecum to see one of Mark's (@IGO2XS) masterpieces.

wow love seeing this car!! I should have kept it!

 

[Swanny1953]

I was starting to wonder if you guys were ok since you hadn’t posted in a while Gary.

Have you looked at what Lokar offers for cables? They seem to have a decent selection of stuff that allows for modification even if it isn’t cheap. lol.

Cam - thanks for the concern. We're all good here. It was really cold in TX last week, so not much going on. I've got a couple of things to update on.
I was aware that Lokar had a pretty wide offering and will be checking them out. I'm sure there are other options out there as well.

 

[Swanny1953]

While I’m sitting here with our newest family member in my lap resting up because he spent most of the night awake and whining, maybe I can get a couple of things updated.

First, the new family member. He’s a male long hair Dachshund, 8 weeks old last Monday, and his name is Tank!! At 3-1/2 lbs, not much of a tank, but compared to his little sister (whom my youngest daughter bought), he is!! We had to put down our last Dachshund while we were away on vacation in Hawaii almost 3 years ago, and Lori just hadn’t been ready to get another dog because Ozzy was such a great companion to her. She finally became open to the idea, and our youngest started looking for her. This little guy “spoke” to her, so we made arrangements to drive 3-1/2 hours one way on Wednesday to pick him and his sister up!
It’s been nearly 30 years since we had a puppy in the house (Ozzy was an adult rescue when we got him), so we’re dealing with all the new puppy stuff - chewing everything (including me!!), house training, separation anxiety, whining all night, etc. But, he’s a loving little guy and we will get through it.

 

[Swanny1953]

The Dallas Autorama was a couple of weeks ago, and the Lone Star Corvette Club always has a display. Two years ago, I showed my ‘60 and ‘64 restomod convertibles. This year the coordinator wanted my ‘19 ZR1 after I told him it was a 1 of 1 car. I won first in my class, but there were so many classes, I don’t know who I was up against!!
The Lone Star display -



Leading up to the show, I did a full detail of the car, including cleaning and conditioning all the leather and putting it on the 4-post lift and cleaning the undercarriage. Prior to that, I drug out my QuickJack to take all the wheels off and detail the inner barrels and the wheel wells.

I was nearly done with this process but hadn’t yet put the wheels back on the passenger side. I had partially lowered the QuickJacks to make getting the wheels back on easier, when Lori came into the garage saying she was ready to go to dinner. Rather than raising the QuickJacks back to full height and engaging the safety locks, or, better yet, delaying our departure to remount the wheels, I decided to leave the jacks at mid-height. You can probably guess where this is going.
While at dinner, I get a call from the alarm company telling me one of the window sensors in the garage has tripped. I asked which zone, and since we had disabled all the window sensors, I cancelled the alarm. Being curious, I looked up the tripped zone and it was the glass break sensor for the portion of the garage I was working on the ZR1 in. Now my mind is racing throughout the rest of dinner and the drive home - what if what the sensor “heard” was the ZR1 slamming into the ground due to jack failure and the carbon ceramic rotors shattering??
What I walked into was this -

Yes, the passenger side jack was fully collapsed. Thankfully, the rotors were undamaged. I think what the sensor heard was the hydraulic fluid from that one side being forced back into the pump unit.
The bad part of all of this was that the pump would not re-raise the passenger side jack - it would only raise the driver side further. And, I couldn’t get any of my jacks under the front of the car. I was finally able to get a jack under the rear control arms and raise the car enough to get the rear wheel back on. With that, I had just enough room slide the passenger side QuickJack out of the way and get my lowest profile jack under the front jacking point and raise the car to get the front wheel back on.
Once I got all that sorted out, the QuickJack reverted to working properly. Why it wouldn’t raise the passenger side earlier remains a conundrum.
Note to self - don’t leave the QuickJacks unattended in the raised position without the safety rod engaged!! Almost a very expensive lesson learned!!

 

[Geoff289]

The Dallas Autorama was a couple of weeks ago, and the Lone Star Corvette Club always has a display. Two years ago, I showed my ‘60 and ‘64 restomod convertibles. This year the coordinator wanted my ‘19 ZR1 after I told him it was a 1 of 1 car. I won first in my class, but there were so many classes, I don’t know who I was up against!!
The Lone Star display -



Leading up to the show, I did a full detail of the car, including cleaning and conditioning all the leather and putting it on the 4-post lift and cleaning the undercarriage. Prior to that, I drug out my QuickJack to take all the wheels off and detail the inner barrels and the wheel wells.

I was nearly done with this process but hadn’t yet put the wheels back on the passenger side. I had partially lowered the QuickJacks to make getting the wheels back on easier, when Lori came into the garage saying she was ready to go to dinner. Rather than raising the QuickJacks back to full height and engaging the safety locks, or, better yet, delaying our departure to remount the wheels, I decided to leave the jacks at mid-height. You can probably guess where this is going.
While at dinner, I get a call from the alarm company telling me one of the window sensors in the garage has tripped. I asked which zone, and since we had disabled all the window sensors, I cancelled the alarm. Being curious, I looked up the tripped zone and it was the glass break sensor for the portion of the garage I was working on the ZR1 in. Now my mind is racing throughout the rest of dinner and the drive home - what if what the sensor “heard” was the ZR1 slamming into the ground due to jack failure and the carbon ceramic rotors shattering??
What I walked into was this -

Yes, the passenger side jack was fully collapsed. Thankfully, the rotors were undamaged. I think what the sensor heard was the hydraulic fluid from that one side being forced back into the pump unit.
The bad part of all of this was that the pump would not re-raise the passenger side jack - it would only raise the driver side further. And, I couldn’t get any of my jacks under the front of the car. I was finally able to get a jack under the rear control arms and raise the car enough to get the rear wheel back on. With that, I had just enough room slide the passenger side QuickJack out of the way and get my lowest profile jack under the front jacking point and raise the car to get the front wheel back on.
Once I got all that sorted out, the QuickJack reverted to working properly. Why it wouldn’t raise the passenger side earlier remains a conundrum.
Note to self - don’t leave the QuickJacks unattended in the raised position without the safety rod engaged!! Almost a very expensive lesson learned!!

Wow, a lesson indeed. I always put jackstands under the back of my QJ - the rearward leaning point that would stop the parallelogram from collapsing in the event of a lock bar or cylinder failure - as insurance. Glad it didn't turn out worse for you.

 

[Swanny1953]

Wow, a lesson indeed. I always put jackstands under the back of my QJ - the rearward leaning point that would stop the parallelogram from collapsing in the event of a lock bar or cylinder failure - as insurance. Glad it didn't turn out worse for you.

Geoff - hadn’t thought of that - great suggestion that I will follow through on.

 

[GRN96WS6]

I had my QJ cylinder fail on me when putting my car down, ironically same side (passenger) I had no damage and was able to safely get it down but took some working around. I now have two new rebuilt cylinders.

Glad you came away unscathed.

 

[Geoff289]

Geoff - hadn’t thought of that - great suggestion that I will follow through on.

Not the greatest pic, but you can see what I mean I think.

 

[Swanny1953]

I had my QJ cylinder fail on me when putting my car down, ironically same side (passenger) I had no damage and was able to safely get it down but took some working around. I now have two new rebuilt cylinders.

Glad you came away unscathed.

That must have sucked! Did QuickJack rebuild the cylinders or was it on your dime?

Geoff - thanks for the pic!

 

[GRN96WS6]

That must have sucked! Did QuickJack rebuild the cylinders or was it on your dime?

Geoff - thanks for the pic!

It was a slow collapse thankfully and not a crash down fast n hard. I got mine when they first came out in 2014, this happened last year I think....so it was on my dime and wasn't cheap, but hopefully they are good for another 10yrs!

 

[Swanny1953]

It was a slow collapse thankfully and not a crash down fast n hard. I got mine when they first came out in 2014, this happened last year I think....so it was on my dime and wasn't cheap, but hopefully they are good for another 10yrs!

Yeah, mine’s an old one as well. The first pump they sent didn’t work, but no problems since until the latest event.

 

[zmotorsports]

WOW, glad it didn't do any damage Gary.

Car looks amazing by the way and congrats on the win.

 

[Swanny1953]

WOW, glad it didn't do any damage Gary.

Car looks amazing by the way and congrats on the win.

Thanks, Mike!
I debated telling that story on myself, but figured it might help someone else on here avoid a similar mishap!!

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks, Mike!
I debated telling that story on myself, but figured it might help someone else on here avoid a similar mishap!!

We're all human Gary and we all do something that we wish we could go back and change at some point, whether we think it was something stupid or not. Anyone who says they've never messed up, has never done anything to begin with.

 

[Swanny1953]

We're all human Gary and we all do something that we wish we could go back and change at some point, whether we think it was something stupid or not. Anyone who says they've never messed up, has never done anything to begin with.

Amen , brother!!

 

[Swanny1953]

I haven’t been posting to this thread lately, somewhat because I continue to forget to take pictures to document my activities, but mostly just outright laziness!!
I’ll attempt to catch up a bit on what’s been going on.
First up, it’s finally home!

After 6 months in the shop and some challenges getting parts (keen eye readers will note the Eurospec headlights), I finally have the 427 Convertible home. And just in time for our monthly autocross event tomorrow.
It turned out really well, I think.

New bumper cap and left fender.

Door repaired where the mirror gouged it during the tow truck ride home.
Overall, very happy with how everything turned out. Would not hesitate to recommend HCC Performance in Dallas.
There were a couple of things I had to address. I have a quick connect below the front bumper for my Battery Saver.
When I hooked it up after getting it home, I got a fault light. With these devices, that means the polarity is reversed. When the guys put the car back together, they hard mounted this, and access behind the grill is very limited.
Luckily, the leads were accessible and I was able to swap them around using my angled hemostat.

Success!!
Next up, I have a couple of aftermarket accessories, Window Valet and DashLogic controller, both of which use the OBD port. I had a splitter, but neither accessory was working when I picked the car up. First, I determined the windows had not been “indexed” following the battery disconnect. For those who don’t know, C6 windows index down a fraction of an inch when the door is opened and go back up when the door is fully closed. That wasn’t t working. Restoring the indexing feature is pretty easy. Once that was done, the Window Valet worked as intended.
However, the DashLogic unit just wouldn’t work. It worked when plugged directly into the OBD port and worked when I swapped it out with the window valet on the OBD splitter. Conclusion - need a new splitter.

No pics on installation as there just isn’t enough room under that dash!! But, everything now works as intended.

 

[Swanny1953]

I attended a local car show with the ‘40 Chev, the ‘34 Ford and the ‘19 ZR1. The ‘40 won best interior, the ZR1 took first in the 2014 and newer Corvette class and the ‘34 won best pre-50’s car!!

 

[Swanny1953]

I was successful at tracking down multiple issues of the February 2013 issue of Street Rodder magazine and the January 2013 issue of the Goodguys Gazette, both of which had featured the ‘40 Chevrolet as the winner of Goodguys America’s Most Beautiful Street Rod for the 2012 show season. These are now hanging in the new garage section

 

[Swanny1953]

I think I mentioned earlier that the headlights on the ‘34 Ford were inadequate. I would have used the Holley Retrobrite replacements, but the lens shape would have been all wrong (flat vs. curved). I found Summit is now making LED headlight replacements, so I bought a pair to try out. Much better.
Low beam -

High beam -

The headlight buckets on the car don’t have much/any adjustment, so these are not as good as they could be if properly aimed, but they’re certainly better than what was there.

 

[ODIS]

Awesome pictures and looks like you are having a ton of fun! Most do not realize what it takes to prepare for these awards. Nicely done, Sir!

 

[LXCam]

Now that’s a proper catch up Gary. Congrats on the triple crown too

 

[Johnno]

Congrats on the awards. I like the new lights on the 34' definitely an improvement.

 

[zmotorsports]

Great update Gary. The Vette looks great, they did a nice job.

Looks like the car show turned out great as well. All three cars looked amazing parked there.

 

[Swanny1953]

I’ll get some more updates ready over the weekend.
I surprised my bride and visited Hobby Lobby and picked up some patriotic bunting for the lake house railings. We’ll have a full house this weekend with 9 adults and 5 littles enjoying the warm water!!

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend.

 

[Swanny1953]

In post 87 I shared the story of how I became the very surprised owner of a 2023 Corvette HTC that my girls presented to me as a surprise 70th birthday present. While I was blown away with their generosity, what I really wanted in a C8 was the Z06. I had very mixed feelings about trading in the HTC on a different car, it having been a gift from the heart and all. My youngest daughter doesn’t have much of a sentimental bone in her and has told me from the get go if I wanted something else, she didn’t much care. The older one is a bit more sentimental and I tried to be sensitive to that. She was “OK” with me replacing it with another 2023 model, especially if it was a 70th Anniversary Edition!
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a Corvettes & Coffee at Corvette World Dallas and they had a 70th Anniversary Edition C8 HTC in the one year only pearl white color. I really (no, REALLY!!) love that color and it’s a bonus it’s a one year only color. Anyway, I submit an online inquiry. As soon as I hit send, I get an email from Bring a Trailer for a 700 mile 70th Anniversary Z06 equipped pretty much exactly as I would have speced it. So, I decide to take a chance that the Dallas car will be around when the auction ends the following week and pursue the auction car. I was in the lead until the last hour, when the bidding went beyond what I told myself I was comfortable with, plus the 5% BAT fee and the cost of shipping from Portland, OR made it less appealing than the Dallas car!!
My luck, the Dallas car was still available, and they had dropped the asking price $2,000! We struck an agreement on my trade in value, and I’m now the happy owner of a 2023 70th Anniversary Edition C8 Z06 HTC.

I haven’t done much more than drive it home from the dealership and to dinner one night, as we hosted a family reunion at the lake house starting the day I picked it up. But I can say this - the driving experience is more visceral than the base C8 and, boy oh boy, is the exotic sound of that flat plane crank LT6 intoxicating!!!