Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium

[driftpin]

Poor Alex Karras took too-much punishment in the NFL. It drove Junior Seau to suicide.

Bob, yes, at some-point you need to allow the kids to help. I'm amazed at your work you undertake.

I spent today in the crawlspace of a rental, doing a re-wire of a hot water heater, which has survived 31 years in-spite of itself. It's still-working, this is to do right, what should have been done-right, to begin with. I lacked a 3/4" NM pipe threaded nut, or I could have made the final glue-up/bolt-up and then pulled the wire. Tomorrow should be the day to have it finished. I did get to-play with a lot of my tools doing this work, including my Harbor Freight SDS-MAX hammer drill/demo hammer, which once-again, has paid for itself, this makes-it four times-over.

 

[Bob Heine]

Was there an unconscious horse out front?

Uncle Willie, just a badly dented Bronco.

Mongo wants beans.


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Mongo and I think alike on that.

Poor Alex Karras took too-much punishment in the NFL. It drove Junior Seau to suicide.

Bob, yes, at some-point you need to allow the kids to help. I'm amazed at your work you undertake.

I spent today in the crawlspace of a rental, doing a re-wire of a hot water heater, which has survived 31 years in-spite of itself. It's still-working, this is to do right, what should have been done-right, to begin with. I lacked a 3/4" NM pipe threaded nut, or I could have made the final glue-up/bolt-up and then pulled the wire. Tomorrow should be the day to have it finished. I did get to-play with a lot of my tools doing this work, including my Harbor Freight SDS-MAX hammer drill/demo hammer, which once-again, has paid for itself, this makes-it four times-over.

Philip, football always looked to me like a life-altering injury waiting to happen. Most of the kids I grew up with who played are either semi-invalids or have artificial joints. My brain injuries came from commuting to work but I only dove under a train once, not every Friday night.

My kids and grandkids are staying away because they all work full time including some in restaurants. Our daughter-in-law is working full-time with Covid-19 patients. She's worried enough to have my son install an outside door directly into their bedroom so she can come home from the hospital, undress and shower before entering the living area. I don't worry about Covid-19 but my wife is petrified. Our state is enough of a petri dish that I'll just stay away and stay in touch. On the project assistance, I would ask for help if my offspring would let me participate. When they come over to help I end up standing (or sitting) around watching them.

The reason I have tools is so I can tackle projects and the reason I tackle projects is to get more tools.

 

[Bob Heine]

Finally made some progress on the Corvette. After several failed attempts I was able to remove the beam. Once the beam was out of the way I was able to get a socket on the upper bolt on the transmission tailshaft housing. It's nice and open with the beam out of the way but I still couldn't get the big air impact lined up to do the job. Ended up with a 16-inch 3/8" ratchet and shallow 15mm socket.

The beam was surprisingly heavy so I tested it with a magnet. It's aluminum so it needs to be cleaned up a little. I first took a look at the speedometer housing.

Looks like I paid $108 for some black silicone sealer. They told me they were only charging me the cost of the parts, which was only supposed to be an o-ring.

Rather than kick the dog or break something expensive I went to the workshop and polished the beam. The polishing relaxes me and takes my mind off everything else.

 

[jbmatth]

I too was surprised at how heavy that beam was Bob, I have one on the floor in my shop that probably needs to make it's way over to Andy. It sure does look good polished up though.

JB

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Bob, every time I turn around you're polishing something! I've had to rethink how I put things back together, probably a subconscious reason I'm not good at getting pictures of my work, I know they aren't as cleaned and polished as should be!~

Fine work my good man!

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Gee and here I was thinking I did good pressure washing 21 years of gunk and leaks off the bottom on my Suburban. Maybe I need to send it down to Bob's Polishorama.

 

[Bob Heine]

I too was surprised at how heavy that beam was Bob, I have one on the floor in my shop that probably needs to make it's way over to Andy. It sure does look good polished up though.

JB

JB, at first I thought it was steel because of its 'ring' when I tapped it. All the aluminum polishing I do is therapy. It helps to take my mind off the stumbling blocks on projects.

Bob, every time I turn around you're polishing something! I've had to rethink how I put things back together, probably a subconscious reason I'm not good at getting pictures of my work, I know they aren't as cleaned and polished as should be!~

Fine work my good man!

Marc, my first vehicles were junkyard specials and many of their parts were unidentifiable because of the grease and dirt on everything. The worst part was my hand slipping off a tool and a bright red line appearing in the black. The hand washing this pandemic has made popular is my daily routine. Work on the car for five minutes, wash up for two minutes, rinse and repeat. I found that once things were polished or painted they were easier to keep clean and way fewer red puddles as a result.

Gee and here I was thinking I did good pressure washing 21 years of gunk and leaks off the bottom on my Suburban. Maybe I need to send it down to Bob's Polishorama.

Uncle Willie, anything you deliver will certainly get polished but you may have your youngest in college before it's done. The '72 Corvette has taken 37 years so far and no end in sight.

 

[Bob Heine]

Made decent progress today. Removed the old seal from the transmission extension housing and pressed out the bronze bushing. To get the seal out I used an old wood chisel to get under the edge and worked it out a little at a time. I got to use one of the large 1/2" drive sockets I bought on clearance at Sears a few years ago. The 1-1/4" socket was too big and the 1-1/8" socket dropped through the bushing. Turns out the 1-3/16" was perfect. My first socket extension got used once again. Many decades ago I used it as a driver and messed up the socket end. Worked perfect in the 15-ton HF press to drive the bushing out.

It appears Mongo used a chisel to knock the old seal out and left some evidence of his prowess on the sealing surface. I used some gray Scotchbrite to remove the ridges but the deep scratches will remain.

I ended up buying two seals, one is an OEM ACDelco (on the left)and has no shoulder. The other, a Timken seal with a shoulder (on the right), which came as part of the bushing kit. The old bushing isn't totally worn out but I am putting a new one in just because I can.

For the second time, I get to use my HF seal installer kit, first for the bushing and second for the seal.

This is new territory for me . The bushing and seal went in undamaged and the outer lip on the seal should keep that groove from weeping transmission fluid.

The bolts for the extension housing have no shoulder and did a fair bit of gouging the flange so rather than buy new bolts with shoulders I went through my junk washer drawer and found four (apparently metric) washers that fit perfectly. A little wire brushing and they'll do the job.

Bolted the extension housing back to the transmission and torqued the bolts to 26 ft. lbs. I decided not to polish the housing because it would make me want to drop the transmission....

 

[bj383ss]

You polished your beam quite nicely there Bob!

Bret

 

[y'sguy]

Keep up the good work, Bob! I did wonder if you were going to attack the polishing of the extension housing! Good place to stop I say.

 

[xtremek]

Nice job on the seal/tailshaft housing. I use plumbing floor flanges as seal drivers, crude but effective.

 

[Bob Heine]

You polished your beam quite nicely there Bob!

Bret

Thanks Bret, it's cheap therapy.

Keep up the good work, Bob! I did wonder if you were going to attack the polishing of the extension housing! Good place to stop I say.

Y'sguy, I was tempted but couldn't justify the project creep. The driiveshaft U-jionts didn't really need to be replaced but now I know about another failure point. The heavy steel ring on the transmission end of the driveshaft isn't securely attached (separated from the rubber) and I only found one place that sells the slip yoke with vibration damper.

Nice job on the seal/tailshaft housing. I use plumbing floor flanges as seal drivers, crude but effective.

Kirk, that's the kind of thing I used to use but never had the right size flange.

 

[Bob Heine]

Started putting it back together yesterday. Got the driveshaft installed with no trouble and with the beam out of the way I could get a socket on the fasteners and was able to torque them to spec at 150 in. lbs.

I don't know if those brackets were worth what I paid for them but it sure was easy to put the beam back in and toque the mounting bolts to spec, 37 ft. lbs (at the transmission end) and 59 ft. lbs. (at the differential end).

I plan to get the tires balanced and play with the cat-back section of the exhaust tomorrow. Tire Kingdom won't touch the tires they installed 12 years ago so I'm going to a place that actually sells used tires. They told me they'd balance my tires but mark the invoice with "aged out" tires or some such thing.

 

[Bob Heine]

Got four tires balanced today (local independent shop open on Sunday). You would think getting tires balanced is a simple task but it turns out to be a PITA.

Twelve years ago a tire went flat on the Corvette while sitting in the garage. I didn't notice the tire was flat and drove the car 50 feet to the end of the driveway, ruining the tire. Flat was caused by clip-on weight at the bottom of the wheel letting air past the bead. Went to Tire Kingdom and it turns out Goodyear stopped making 255/50-16 tires so I couldn't buy just one. The only thing Tire Kingdom could get that day was a set of four Sumitomo tires. I had them use stick-on weights to balance the tires.

In recent years there has been a slight vibration at 70+mph so I thought it was a good idea to have the tires balanced again. Called Tire Kingdom and as soon as I mentioned the tires were dated late-2007, they said they wouldn't touch them. So much for my future business. All 4 Tires has two shops and one is two miles from me. Called them and explained what I wanted. Guy says they'll balance the tires but will note they are aged-out on the invoice. Told him I would pay cash and didn't need an invoice.

I cleaned up the inside of the hoops so there weren't giant blobs of stuff throwing off the balance. Also gives the technician a clean surface to stick the weights.

I don't know if Sumitomo tires are good or bad but I've never owned a set of tires that needed such a large supply of lead to balance them. One tire required ONE ounce (each square is 1/4-ounce)...

..but another required 10.25 ounces (like the rest, this tire is branded on the the left with week 45 of 2007).

Gave the guy $20 for the balance and $5 just because they did what I asked (rare event in Florida).

 

[gearhead1960]

Bob,

Shelf life on tires is considered 7 years. Not surprised to hear they had a cow balancing the tires. In an earlier career of mine, I worked for Goodyear. If we had to use that much weight to balance a tire, we knew something wasn't right. Ideally, on better tires, the tire itself should be relatively balance, but may have a heavier side to it. Likewise, the wheels should also be balanced, but again may have a heavier side. What probably happened was when the tire was originally mounted, the two heavier sides were matched up. Thus creating a tire/wheel package that was too heavy on one side. An experienced person should have recognized this issue and spun the tire 180 degrees to counterbalance the weight, thus reducing the necessary weight to balance the wheel/tire assembly. I would bring that one back and suggest they try that if you are so inclined. The amount of weigh on that assembly now is excessive and likely will still cause a vibration.

(edit) On a second look at the picture, the weigh being across from each other is counterbalancing itself. While my original explanation still holds true when doing mounting and balancing of tire/wheel assemblies, I wonder if something is not going on with the tire and wheel package. Is there water or something inside the tire?

 

[jbmatth]

Wow Bob, 10.25 oz to balance, that does seem very excessive, was it flat spotted by chance? Also I must say nearly 13 year old tires is pushing your luck especially if you go highway speeds. For around town or on the farm I wouldn't hesitate doing that. Heck on the farm I think you remember Andy's tires with so much tread left after multiple decades.

JB

 

[OutlawDrifter]

I used to run a tire shop as part of a parts department at a John Deere dealership. Generally in that situation, I would pop the bead and rotate the tire 90 degrees and see what kind of difference that makes, that is a LOT of weight.

 

[madison069]

I'm in the same agreement with the others. I used to work at a tire shop and when I had a tire/wheel combo needing that much weight, I would disassemble the tire and see what the wheel gave me by itself. If the wheel was out of balance I'd double check that I didn't miss some cruds or something to that effect. If it all check out and no indication of a out of round wheel then I'm do my best to balance the tire with the wheel by rotating the tire on the rim.

I do know my boss would of wrote me up for letting that amount of weight go out the door.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob,

Shelf life on tires is considered 7 years. Not surprised to hear they had a cow balancing the tires. In an earlier career of mine, I worked for Goodyear. If we had to use that much weight to balance a tire, we knew something wasn't right. Ideally, on better tires, the tire itself should be relatively balance, but may have a heavier side to it. Likewise, the wheels should also be balanced, but again may have a heavier side. What probably happened was when the tire was originally mounted, the two heavier sides were matched up. Thus creating a tire/wheel package that was too heavy on one side. An experienced person should have recognized this issue and spun the tire 180 degrees to counterbalance the weight, thus reducing the necessary weight to balance the wheel/tire assembly. I would bring that one back and suggest they try that if you are so inclined. The amount of weigh on that assembly now is excessive and likely will still cause a vibration.

(edit) On a second look at the picture, the weigh being across from each other is counterbalancing itself. While my original explanation still holds true when doing mounting and balancing of tire/wheel assemblies, I wonder if something is not going on with the tire and wheel package. Is there water or something inside the tire?

Mark, I appreciate the feedback and agree with everything you are saying. You may be right about water in the tire (Florida air is mostly water) but spinning the tire should have evened that out.

Wow Bob, 10.25 oz to balance, that does seem very excessive, was it flat spotted by chance? Also I must say nearly 13 year old tires is pushing your luck especially if you go highway speeds. For around town or on the farm I wouldn't hesitate doing that. Heck on the farm I think you remember Andy's tires with so much tread left after multiple decades.

JB

JB, I haven't locked up the brakes to flat-spot the tires but the first-second shift on the automatic does produce a decent chirp. My only highway speed driving is a 2-mile run on I-95 to get me to the nearest Home Depot or a 2.5 mile run on the same road to get me to the Home Depot in the other direction. Last long drive was in 2014 (tires were only 7 years old) to visit Mark (IGO2XS) for his open house. Had no problems on that 400 mile trip.

I used to run a tire shop as part of a parts department at a John Deere dealership. Generally in that situation, I would pop the bead and rotate the tire 90 degrees and see what kind of difference that makes, that is a LOT of weight.

Marc, that sounds like a good idea. I'll have to do something like that if there's another long trip in my future.

I'm in the same agreement with the others. I used to work at a tire shop and when I had a tire/wheel combo needing that much weight, I would disassemble the tire and see what the wheel gave me by itself. If the wheel was out of balance I'd double check that I didn't miss some cruds or something to that effect. If it all check out and no indication of a out of round wheel then I'm do my best to balance the tire with the wheel by rotating the tire on the rim.

I do know my boss would of wrote me up for letting that amount of weight go out the door.

Cody, I agree with you and the others. These tires need to go. My dilema is when and how to do it.

• Replace these tires right now with the same size using the current rims. That starts the 7-year clock on the new ones and I'll be 83 when I have to replace them again.
• Wait for a sale on this size tire. At the moment the only 255/50-16 street tire available is a BF Goodrich G-Force Sport Comp 2. Discount Tire has them for $138 each [$656 Total]. Can't tell if those are dated anywhere near 2020 or are already 3 years old. These should be OK in the snow.
  
  
• Forget about street tires and buy a set of Toyo Proxes R888R for $160 each [$744 Total]. Pretty sure my grandchildren would approve....
  
• Go for it with new rims and tires. An 18-inch rim would give me a whole bunch more options for tires. If I went with a Bronze/Gold rim and the same BF Goodrich brand and model tire it's $352 including mounting, balancing, nitrogen and lugnut/concentric hub rings [$1,408 Total].
  
  

Those Toyo tires are growing on me. Of course the sticky compound is going to wear a lot faster but keep in mind I've driven the Corvette 59 miles in the past seven months!

 

[gearhead1960]

Mark, I appreciate the feedback and agree with everything you are saying. You may be right about water in the tire (Florida air is mostly water) but spinning the tire should have evened that out.

Bob,

Keep in mind water is a fluid and does not stop moving when in motion. Even with the centripetal force on the assembly, the water will affect where the balancer wants you to put the weight on the wheel. Everytime you spin it, the weigh and location will change. That probably accounts for all the weight on both inside edges of the rim.

New rims and tires will be the smoothest and vibration free solution....go for it!

 

[Toolfool]

New shoes always make a car happy. Even if the driver doesn't wear shoes.

 

[casmurbax]

Bob New tires will make the car feel like the day you first drove it.....

All this polishing you are doing, you will want to show it off. New tires and/or rims you will be driving it lot more than 59 miles in 7 months.

btw what is your load capacity on your vette?

You can do what this guy does next time you run to Home Depot.....

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob,

Keep in mind water is a fluid and does not stop moving when in motion. Even with the centripetal force on the assembly, the water will affect where the balancer wants you to put the weight on the wheel. Everytime you spin it, the weigh and location will change. That probably accounts for all the weight on both inside edges of the rim.

New rims and tires will be the smoothest and vibration free solution....go for it!

Mark, I was thinking about the water issue and the heavy weight on that one wheel. I did weigh the lead I removed from the wheels and that one was over 7 ounces so it has been heavily weighted from day one. The Passenger Front wheel was the lightest weighted rim with 4 ounces originally and only 1 ounce this time. The other light one (Driver Front) had 5.9 ounces on it and this time it was 4.75 ounces. I marked each wheel for location and previous weight before I had them balanced.

It probably won't help but I'm thinking the money for rims or even tires would negate my need for a used C8. "Honey they aren't even selling tires for that old thing anymore. We should trade it in on a newer one..."

New shoes always make a car happy. Even if the driver doesn't wear shoes.

John, we're pretty fancy down here. I always wear boat shoes when I leave the house but socks, not so much.

Bob New tires will make the car feel like the day you first drove it.....

All this polishing you are doing, you will want to show it off. New tires and/or rims you will be driving it lot more than 59 miles in 7 months.

btw what is your load capacity on your vette?

You can do what this guy does next time you run to Home Depot.....

John, I would never put something like that on the roof of my 'Vette. It's a convertible and I rarely put the top up. That said, I've used it to bring a 12" miter saw (in the box), two wooden saw horses and enough lumber to build a box like that one.

 

[shortykorte]

I’m thinking a new lathe could get the rims in balance. Shall I send links?


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[Bob Heine]

I’m thinking a new lathe could get the rims in balance. Shall I send links?


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

Stewart, that would be wonderful! You could also send an urn for my remains.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Oops

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Stewart, that would be wonderful! You could also send an urn for my remains.

With a new lathe you can make one.

 

[gearhead1960]

Bob,

The 255/50-16 tire size is an obsolete size. If you are seriously considering new tires and wheels. Look into changing your tire size and rim diameter. This will open up many more options for you. For your application, going to a 17" rim and 275/40-17 tire would give you the same diameter within .25" (shorter) while giving you 20mm more width. Here's a link to Tire Rack and all the different options you now have with this size. Good luck considering your options.....

 

[bj383ss]

Bob,

The 255/50-16 tire size is an obsolete size. If you are seriously considering new tires and wheels. Look into changing your tire size and rim diameter. This will open up many more options for you. For your application, going to a 17" rim and 275/40-17 tire would give you the same diameter within .25" (shorter) while giving you 20mm more width. Here's a link to Tire Rack and all the different options you now have with this size. Good luck considering your options.....

Even with that size you will have to order tires ahead of time. Most places don't carry due to them really only being on 2 factory cars. I own one of them. The other has a pony in the grill. It's kind of annoying that the only tires kept in stock are 18" rim and up.

I use to run the BFG's kdw but they got real expensive and their tread life is not that great. I switched to the Nitto 555's and they are much better, cheaper and I actually have traction in the rain.

Bret

 

[Bob Heine]

Oops

With a new lathe you can make one.

Uncle Willie, I've been working on my epitaph and grave marker. Maybe I should look into granite carving.

Bob,

The 255/50-16 tire size is an obsolete size. If you are seriously considering new tires and wheels. Look into changing your tire size and rim diameter. This will open up many more options for you. For your application, going to a 17" rim and 275/40-17 tire would give you the same diameter within .25" (shorter) while giving you 20mm more width. Here's a link to Tire Rack and all the different options you now have with this size. Good luck considering your options.....

Even with that size you will have to order tires ahead of time. Most places don't carry due to them really only being on 2 factory cars. I own one of them. The other has a pony in the grill. It's kind of annoying that the only tires kept in stock are 18" rim and up.

I use to run the BFG's kdw but they got real expensive and their tread life is not that great. I switched to the Nitto 555's and they are much better, cheaper and I actually have traction in the rain.

Bret

Mark and Bret, rims and tires have moved down the priority list.

Some dental work planned a year ago, postponed because of my heart issue and the pandemic, has moved up to the top of the list. A couple of lower teeth have given their notice. This preliminary work will consume $10,000 of my 'fun' money. Part deux will be another $20,000.

This is important because I want to have a nice smile when I tell my tribe where their inheritance is going.

 

[shortykorte]

That’s funny Bob. I’m sure the tribe will appreciate a flashy smile.


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[Bob Heine]

I did do a little more work on the Corvette. Because I chose not to lock down the cat-back exhaust system, they wandered a bit when I welded them back together. They wandered about four inches and about five degrees. Thinking I could persuade my mess back into it's proper position, I ordered a bigger ratchet strap. Worked perfectly but it really won't look good as a permanent solution on the car. I made a furring strip brace to hold the final position.

To fix the 4-inch misalignment I cut a slot in both pipes on the inside. I figured a couple of tacks would help pull the tips together.

I was especially mad about the angle mismatch but I went ahead and cut the outer pipe off and aligned it properly.

Welded everything back together, ground the majority of the boogers off and sprayed the cat-back with some exhaust paint. My "measuring stick" is a perfect friction fit and the exhaust went back in.

Because there was so much bulky stuff to put back under the car, I did it out on the driveway. Had to do it anyway so I could weld in the A/C. Even with a 10'x10' canopy set up over the car, it was Africa hot out there.

 

[Grizz1963]

Good to see you posting Bob, seems a bit quiet on here.

Been keeping in touch with Andy.

Basically, extending the trip as long as it is good.......

It is still good.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Color match that strap and no one will ever know.

 

[shopnut]

Awesome job on the exhaust Bob... it looks great!

 

[Vieux]

Awesome job on the exhaust Bob... it looks great!

I totally agree!!!

 

[rharman]

The strap might have added some interesting aerodynamics to the beast....

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

The strap might have added some interesting aerodynamics to the beast....

At speed, it would have worked like baseball cards in your bike spokes and given it a nice roar!

 

[y'sguy]

Great job on the exhaust welding, Bob! And painted too!

 

[Bears Fan]

Nice work on the Corvette! I just hope that piece of wood on the exhaust doesn't get too hot and catch on fire