Projects from The Compound

[mistervelocity]

Projects from The Compound -- Pics back up!

First, some background. The Compound is the nickname for my little spread. It sits on an acre in the middle of suburbia a few miles west of Portland, Or. My grandfather built the house for my parents after they got married so I grew up here. Later on a 24X48 pole barn was added. In the mid '90s it became a rental for a few years and I became a renter in 2000. At that point The 2 story 30X36 shop was added. A couple years later I purchased the property from my parents and have been slowly improving it ever since. It's truly a work in process.
When I was a kid there were only 2 other houses visible from my place. We were surrounded by woods, strawberry/corn fields, orchards and horse pasture. Over the last 20 years there has been an explosion of residential construction leaving the general area pretty unrecognizable. In a land of townhouses and apartment complexes, The Compound is a rare thing.
The name refers to the tall surrounding fences and lack of windows in the buildings. I try to keep everything inside and leave the doors closed. Chatter around the neighborhood gets back to me on occassion. No one knows what exactly goes on here -- they just know something's going on.
I'll apologize in advance for any hiccups in continuity. This thread is actually a cut and paste from a few others on other sites. Please feel free to ask questions if something doesn't make sense. Admittedly, it's more about the projects than the facility. I hope you guys enjoy...

EDIT: Photobucket got overloaded so I'll be editing each post for photo content. I apologize in advance for any inconsistencies.

 

[Kevin54]

Mistervelocity.....Welcome to Garage Journal. With 23 post under your belt, i take it no one has made you aware....WE LIKE PICS!!!!! You can't brag it up without backup.

So this reply is now official warning.....Pics. Pics. Pics.

 

[mistervelocity]

The pole barn will be referred to as the paint shop. Homemade booth in the back corner. Room for 3 other cars to be stored.

The main shop is a stick frame 30x36. Left side has 18' ceiling and the right side is 2 story with storage and a party annex. Standard stuff like a pool table, big stereo, couches, etc. All these photos are several years old. I plan to do a spring cleaning in the next weeks at which point I'll do a new walk around tour.

 

[mistervelocity]

Mistervelocity.....Welcome to Garage Journal. With 23 post under your belt, i take it no one has made you aware....WE LIKE PICS!!!!! You can't brag it up without backup.

So this reply is now official warning.....Pics. Pics. Pics.

I know how it works.
I'm mid cut/paste. Plenty more to come.

 

[mistervelocity]

A bit more background: I'm a mechanic by trade. My younger brother is a body tech. Our recently retired dad is an all around car guy. He has an uncanny ability to find sweet deals and I think he actually likes that chase more than the actual project. There were always some cool projects around when we were growing up. That being said, the frojects you'll see posted aren't strictly mine alone. Most are a group effort that 1, 2, or all 3 of us are involved in.
Now, I'll get to some of the projects...
This one was all done by our dad in the 2 car garage in the mid 70's. Now belongs to my brother and looks much the same. 327, TH350, 9", disc brakes. My mom painted the mural on the spare -- it was the '70s, after all.

Our dad's 1964 El Camino. My brother did body and paint (pearl white) and my dad and I did F-body suspension and brakes and a Paxton supercharged LT1.

My buddy Jerod's Softtail painted by my brother. It was purchased as a basket-case and I spent many hours with Jerod building it. We helped each other out on our days off. I was building the gray '36 pickup at the same time. Jerod is freakin' awesome! He's talking about redoing it rat-style but has an addition on his house to finish up first.

My old sandrail. Almost completely scratch built from hand-me-down parts. Look close and you'll see that only the hoops were reused on the frame. The cage portion was actually exhaust tubing and I replaced almost everything with proper cage pipe. A '71 bus and '72 bug were sacrificed to complete it. I used the money from the sale to buy my Cutlass from my Grandpa. Nothing fancy but dead reliable. 1600DP with bus transaxle on IRS clip with swingaxle torsion bars.

 

[mistervelocity]

My buddy Greg's 1968 Firebird. I did a 4-speed swap and disc brake conversion. My brother painted it.

My brother's 1965 Rambler Classic 770. Low miler that needed new crossmember, tune up and paint. This car was sweet. It had like, 12 ashtrays.

My 1964 Rambler American 330. I did a Chevy 283 then 327 swap and it has 2 different 4 speeds then a 5 speed. With a Chrysler rear end and 2.79 gears it wanted to go about 300mph. That's original paint.

 

[mistervelocity]

My 1936 Chevy pickup. Got the body from my buddy Jerod. At one time it was mounted on a school bus frame with a tow hook and used as a yard goat in a Boise wrecking yard. I put it on a Toyota frame and rebuilt the 283 and powerglide from my dad's '64 El Camino. Last picture is in my driveway next to Jerod's '38. I kinda miss this one.

After shot of engine compartment on a '65 bug. My brother painted the car and I pulled, sealed and detailed the engine.

My brother's 1968 Datsun 520 pickup. He got it for a case of beer and gave it the works. This was taken at a Datsun show in 2008.

The 1200 to the left of the pickup was mine. I bought it for $50 from the original owner. It had been parked in a field for over 20 years.

 

[mistervelocity]

I picked up this wagon. Got it running and stopping. Picked up some missing pieces. Once I bought the mustard wagon, I sold the blue one. It changed hands a couple more times then eventually got parted out. Shame.

This second (mustard) one has been ongoing. It was an auction purchase that came with a blown head gasket. I fixed the L20b and drove it for a summer. It now has a GM quad4 and a Nissan 5-speed. Currently my daily transportation. I'll do a more detailed post on it later.

My Goldwing has been another long term project. The before isn't really mine but it looked identical (I can't locate my pics). I did a hybrid spoke wheel conversion to be able to run Harley sized tires.

My brother's Datsun 521 pickup. Got this one for free. Again, I did the mechanicals and he did the body and paint. The L20b got resealed, added a 5-speed, lowered, and disc brake conversion.

After he sold that he picked up a pair of Volvo 145s. One was traded for a '64 Bug and the white one was his daily driver for a while. That's original paint at 335,000 miles!

He also just picked up a '72 Westfalia that had been parked for 8 years. We got it running, fixed the brakes, de-hippyed the wiring and rebuilt the shift linkage. He sorted out the interior and replaced the top. This is shortly after he picked it up. No current pics. Mostly the same but cleaner.

 

[mistervelocity]

More El Camino sickness:
My '66 got a 400/MY6 transplant for towing. It pulls like a diesel now and the overdrive keeps the mpg close to 20. My wife's grandpa bought it new and the original 327/Muncie are safely stored away.

My grandpa passed away in fall 2010 and my dad inherited his '68. He purchased it in '69 or '70 and it remains relatively unchanged since then. It's another 327/4-speed car. Over the last year the interior has been rehabbed and I pulled and resealed the engine (I actually rebuilt it back in '96 or '97). Like the Cutlass I bought from him, there is no rust and it was really well cared for, just kind of neglected for the last couple years. It looks pretty good in the photo but there are some clearcoat issues.

Then here is a shot of a '65 El Camino. I did some minor tune-up (read "unfuck") stuff and my brother painted it. My dad did the interior. Can't find any before pics. It wasn't the nicest one to come through here but I think it was my favorite. Very understated and a nice cruiser. Those front bumper over riders are pretty rare too.

Next is a few photos of a '67 El Camino (notice a pattern?). It first had a 305 in it that I pulled, resealed and detailed, then it was painted by my brother, then I lowered it, then my dad and I did an LT1 swap on this one too. It was done with a very budget conscious approach so it wasn't well detailed under the hood. It got traded away for a Harley. Dig the wiring shot. No aftermarket harness here.

 

[mistervelocity]

Some Z projects...
My 1970 series 1. Got full mechanical restoration and was painted in my grandma's shop over Thanksgiving break with no heat. This was one of my brother's first completes. Sorry about the boat trailer wheels. It was all I could afford at the time. It sold to a guy in Mukelteo in '03. Saw it on CL a couple years later asking a bunch more than he'd paid for it. Looked exactly the same as when I sold it.

Our dad got this 260 as a rolling shell. I built and installed a 350, my dad did all the interior and misc. stuff. My brother drove it to Walla Walla and painted it in the garage of the rental he was living in. I drove it back to Portland. Our dad was driving it while for sale when a lady ran a red and totaled it. He bought it back and it was sold as is. Last I heard it was in the Tigard area around 2001.

The last one was purchased in Texas basically as you see it. Our dad did some small fine tuning. It was built as a show level race car in the mid '80s (as if the paint and headlights didn't narrow it down for you). VERY detailed and customized. The builder made his own molds for the fiberglass body panels. The engine was dynoed in the 400hp range. Full cage and full interior. Was sold to a guy in Arkansas around 1998.

 

[mistervelocity]

Found another one. Our dad's 1997 Roadking. Was red. He liked the color combo of an '07. My brother made it happen. He's been all over the country on it and it's been very reliable and still gets 50mpg. I replaced the rocker assemblies last year due to a ticking caused by worn shaft bushings. Still has original base gaskets and no leaks at over 70K miles. The Evo was a great engine.

 

[Sunbimmer]

WOW man this is sweet ....

 

[mistervelocity]

Thanks. It really did turn out nice. He sold it to a guy who said he was shipping it to Hawaii but it was spotted later in Seattle.

 

[mistervelocity]

Mini thread within a thread -- My '79 Cutlass. It was purchased new by my grandparents in early 1980. Apparently it sat on the lot for a while. This was their "good" car that got the single spot in the one car garage. It was used primarily for long trips so most of it's miles were freeway driven. When I was a kid this was the car they would drive when they came to visit on holidays. My grandfather had always taken excellent care of his vehicles with a tendency to over-maintain. When he reached his mid-eighties, he drove very little and since my grandma's passing 12 years ago the car had seen very little use. I planted the seed several years ago that i would like to buy it when/if he decides to sell. It was just such a nice car I hated the idea of it being sold and turned into a lowrider or donked out. He lived about 250 miles away so I didn't get to see him as often as I'd like to but a few summers ago, at a family reunion, the subject of Cutlass came up. As (bad) luck would have it, my 1200 burned a valve just a few miles from the event. I followed him the 30 miles to his home and we struck a deal. I ended up paying about twice what I wanted to but he needed the money more than the car and, under the circumstances, I didn't mind. We checked the fluids and fired it up. I then made the uneventful 250 mile trip home.

This car is ridiculously clean! It had 156K. There has never been a speck of rust. Unfortunately he had it repainted about 3 years before I got it. Not a show quality job but still presentable. Thanks to plastic mats, there isn't a single stain or smudge in the original carpet. The trunk is flawless and the spare has never been mounted. It came with brand new tires, a set of mounted studs, and a new battery. The oil-change record revealed less than 200 miles driven in the previous 3 years.
It has a 305, TH200, 2.29 open gears, and the rare aluminum hood, bumper supports and drums. For a Supreme Brougham, it has very few options.
Over the first year I had it I collected a limited-slip, 3.42s, 200-4R, F41 sway bars and steering box, Monte Carlo firewall braces. My plans for the car were to add some of the things that could have been options, but didn't come on this car. The goal is to keep it somewhat period correct.

I used a factory limited-slip from an '87 Camaro and 3.42 ring and pinion from an '89 S10. I ordered a ring gear spacer and install kit from Speedway. I also replaced the axle seals. Installed the quick ratio box, front and rear sway bars. Since I haven't been able to locate a "Grand Prix" bar -- I made one. I also made a rear tie bar.

...which brings me to the 3rd pic. I went out to the paint shop one day to throw a charger on the Cutlass thinking I might fire it up that afternoon. When I rolled the cover back I found this dent at the top of the driver's fender. It's tough to really see in the picture but it's about the size of a baseball. To say I was pissed is a huge understatement. And, big surprise, no one knows how it got there. Just goes along with the territory here at the compound. The thought of having to do body work and try to paint-match had me really nervous. It stayed like that for 2 years.

Picked up a set of staggered 14x7 and 14x8 Appliance Wire Mags for the period correct look. They were in pretty decent shape but the PO put some scratches in them in an effort to "polish" them out so I needed to spend some time to get them right. I found a set of center caps at Hubcap World for $5 each too. I racked up the Cutlass one night and pulled the rear wheels. I figured I'd just use the car as a polishing fixture. Mount two wheels on the rear, start the car, put it in 2nd gear, and start with 600 grit and work my way up to 2000. Then use some aluminum polish. The more I worked them the less pleased I was with the lip condition. Tough to tell in the picture but the wheel was spinning while I wet sanded. I was unsatisfied so I quit and took them into the shop. I chucked them up on our brake lathe and cleaned the lips. This got rid of 98% or the gouges and chips. It also let me reestablish the profile that had been damage in the past. (Sorry, forgot the camera so there's no pics on the lathe). There were some imperfections I noticed after sanding. Should mostly disappear after the final polishing. Decided to blast the aluminum read drums since they'll be somewhat visible now. Here we are after 3 hours. Started with 220, then 320, 600, 1500 (all wet), finishing it out with Heavy Metal polish. My back got really sore. Took my hand-me-down tires to work and mounted them up. Lug nuts were ordered from Summit.

 

[Sunbimmer]

Fantastic posts so far, great stuff all of it

 

[mistervelocity]

Again, thank you. More to come. Takes a while to cut, edit, post.

Then nothing happened for over a year. I had fired it up and driven it around the block on a few occasions but that's about it. There was a show coming up in early June (2012) in the town (250 miles away) where it spent most of it's life that I was planning to attend. I had pretty grandiose plans and I wasn't sure it was all gonna happen. First, I needed to take it through DEQ testing before I could get new tags. They expired in 12/'09...such a slacker. So, I needed to weld in a cat and see if it passes before I did anything else. I looked into collector insurance too since I drive it so rarely anyway.
The overdrive 200-4R STILL hadn't been installed. I had been thinking for a while that it might be time to pull the engine, reseal it and give it a "Krylon rebuild". I always liked the look of the late L82 with it's black valve covers and aluminum intake on the corporate blue long block. That means I should probably clean and detail everything else under the hood. Where do I stop? I went to the Portland Swapmeet and picked up a few items. Some ended up on the 305, some probably wont. Here we go...
LT1/L82 valve covers. They look kind of crusty in the photo but are actually in really nice shape. They would polish out great if that's the direction I was headed. Called my buddy about gloss black powder coating:
I couldn't find a reasonable deal on a 70's Corvette or Camaro dual snorkel air cleaner so I did an impulse buy on this Spectre unit. Probably won't actually use it but for $40 (new in box) I couldn't not buy it.Also picked up a pair of Crossfire intakes for $60. I've been collecting 2GCs when the price is right. My buddy came into town for the swapmeet and brought me two that he had found in his stash.

It was time to go to work. Welded in a new cat so I could pass DEQ since the old one was hallowed out. Failed Friday afternoon, readjusted carb, passed Saturday morning and blew zeros! Wanted to make sure I could get legal before I ripped it apart.
Tore into the 200-4R to see what was necessary. I'd planned on a converter upgrade (2200rpm), and a shift kit. I found that the stator support was really worn, which is a common problem. No big surprise:
Ran into town to pick up parts. Grabbed a stator support and shift kit. Neither warehouse had the convertor in stock even though they both claimed to so I had to wait a few days.

 

[mistervelocity]

Got the shift kit installed as well as the new stator support. Then clean up the engine compartment.
That felt like the longest, most unproductive week of my life. I kept trying to make progress but it was just one interruption after another. After it was all said and done, engine ran great and looks okay. The transmission seemed to be wounded. The line pressures are all over the place. Some gears high and some low. Reverse seems pretty good. Won't build more than 220psi no matter what. Gauge check is important.

Got in contact with Superior and they believed the pump is weak. Since I had other jobs to do, it spent the night outside for the first time in probably 10 years.

So, here we are 10 days later. Finally got a chance to work on the Cutlass again. As I stated earlier, the guys at Superior indicated that my pump was weak. After trying a couple things I decided to just eliminate the possibility that I did something wrong and wanted to start from scratch. As luck would have it, that weekend was 1/2 off sale at PnP so I went out and yanked another transmission. It turned out to be a KC code out of an '86 Parisian and will be referred to as transmission #2 from here on. My research uncovered that it has one of the more desirable valvebodys. Brought it home, cleaned it up, replaced a couple seals, new filter and installed it. Completely stock and unaltered with it's matching TC. Lucky me! No second gear and slipping in 1 & 3. Pressure test revealed that it could not produce more than 120 psi. URG!!! Pulled it back out and spent a day trying to come up with a solution. The solution I came up with is to put a rebuilt pump in trans #1 and swap in my KC valvebody from trans #2. This would give me a rebuilt TC, pump, known good internals, and an unmodified valvebody.
Got it all swapped over and installed. Now it shifts into all gears with no slipping. But, it shifts hard and late. There is no passing gear kick-down function. It also has a very noticeable downshift when decelerating. A gauge check revealed that there was 275-300 psi almost all the time. It actually split the hose on my gauge in the middle of my testing. Cable adjustments made no noticeable difference. I gave up and decided it's going to a transmission shop for a professional diagnosis. So it didn't make it to the Pendleton car show. I ended up driving my dad's '64 El Camino instead. He drove the '68.

So when I finally got it back from the ****** shop, $125 bucks lighter, all they found was that my pressures are high (reason I brought it in), it shifts late and hard (again, reason I brought it in), my cable was not adjusted properly (I told him when I dropped it off), my lockup isn't working (duh, there's no wiring at all), and my cable geometry wasn't right (he couldn't explain how it was wrong though). I have stock Qjet, cable and brackets. It's right on. Anyway, he proceeded to explain to me that I'd be farther ahead to just buy a rebuilt transmission than try to fix the one I have. But he was happy to sell me an ATSG manual at full mark-up so I could fix it myself since I'm "clearly mechanical enough to tear into one of those since you've already replaced the pump and valvebody. You should be able to figure it out" :roll: Basically, I paid for a diagnosis but only got a verification of my complaints. At least I got it back a week late and filthy from sitting outside. I hate being a customer.

So I finally got around to tearing it out and breaking down the pump and valvebody. The pressure relief valve was seized in my reman pump. Looks like it had some moisture in it while it sat on the shelf. Cleaned everything up and found no problems with the valvebody at all. There was one 3/4" tear in one of the separator plate gaskets. Put it all together and stuffed it back in the car. It's about 50% better. Still shifts too hard and late under light throttle. If I do a WOT run while manually shifting 1-2-3-4 it's perfect. It still acted like the pressure is too high all the time but I never hooked up a gauge to verify. I was pretty burnt out on it so I took a break for a few days.

After my break I spent some time at the yard yesterday pulling another 200-4r. Transmission #2 had a 30 day warranty and I was on day 28. So here's #3. It came out of an '86 Cutlass and looks really greasy but it's actually a coat of black paint. Probably safe to assume it was rebuilt in the past but at this point it really didn't matter. I pulled the pan and it had the usual residue and neglected orange-ish fluid.
Got transmission #3 installed. Left it completely stock and unmodified with it's matching used torque converter. All I did was drain as much fluid as possible and put in a new filter. I didn't even change the adjustment on the TV cable (it was dead-on). Fired it up and topped off the fluid then ran it through the gears on the hoist. Once I had positive engagement and positive shifts I dropped it on the ground and went for a drive. This thing shifted so nice! Put a few miles on it and brought it home to give it a bath. Next step wass to exchange the reman pump for another unit. After seeing the stuck valve, I'm suspecting that further moisture contamination is causing the slide to hang up. Then I'll throw #1 back in and try it one more time.

On a side note; Once I cleaned the rebuild paint off the tag on #3, I found that it was also a KC. The ink stamp on the valve body confirmed this. There was a lot of debris in the pan though. Put a few more problem free miles of in-town driving and was pleasantly surprised. Still shifted really nice. Pulled the defective rebuilt pump from trans #1 and took it back to the transmission parts supplier. Their "pump guy" is off for the week so I will get a call once he has a good unit for me.

So after 2 weeks went by and I still hadn't gotten a call from the transmission supply place, I dropped in on my way back from the machine shop. They had no idea what I was talking about :roll: . After getting the right guy at the counter I found out that nothing had been done AND they sent my core money to a random shop :roll: :roll: . They STILL didn't have a good pump on the shelf so now I get to make yet ANOTHER (my 4th) 2 hour round trip tomorrow when it's ready :roll: :roll: :roll: . I'm starting to think transmission guys kinda ****.

I ran transmission #3 for about a month before I finally got around to swapping transmission #1 back in. The current configuration is new converter, reman pump, KC valvebody. It's about 80% better now. Still has a pretty firm/late shift but MUCH better than before. Looks like the defective reman pump was to blame for most of it. I'm not completely confident in the current cable either. Acts like it's stretched or something. I might pick up a new one just to see if there's much difference.

To test it out I ran over the hill to the Wednesday night Beaches/PIR show.
My car ran great as usual. And, as usual, didn't get much attention at the show. I did catch a few guys trying not to get caught taking a closer look. Almost like they didn't want their buddies to see them checking it out. Great, my car's like a cute fat chick .

 

[1/2 Cup]

Thanks for posting, great work and an enjoyable read.

 

[mistervelocity]

Ordered the tires up at work along with some new center caps (online). Got tired of waiting for the caps to show up so I finally just mounted the tires. I waited for a month for the caps to show and they never did. Apparently the company went under but they never disabled their site. It showed my order as processed and shipped but nothing actually happened. I ended up getting a different set off ebay.

I also ordered up a Grant (#830) wheel and an Olds horn button. It seems too small so just ordered up a larger diameter version (#832) of the same wheel. Was planning to have it leather wrapped in a medium blue that would compliment the darker blue on the hood and roof. Haven't decided yet. I really need to get my rally pac gauges installed too.
I also painted the recessed portions of my trunk and front fender emblems.

If you go back a few posts you'll see a mention of a mystery dent on the driver's fender. Not sure how it got there but it was about the size of a baseball and went through two subtle body lines on the crown of the fender. I tried for 3 months to get an appointment with the paintless dent removal guy. Finally got together with him yesterday. Such an impressive skill. Took him about 20-25 minutes to make it disappear.

I actually made the Pendleton show this year. Left at 4am and was home before 8pm. No breakdowns and I got 20mpg. We were parked in the exact same spot as last year. My dad's '68, my '79, and my buddy Jerod's '38.

Overall I'm really happy with the way the car runs and drives. The next couple things I address will probably be to replace the noisy AC compressor and convert to R134. I'd also like to upgrade the speakers. I need to run it through DEQ in December. After that I plan to upgrade to dual exhaust and a better muffler. Another winter project will be to try some SEM interior paint to renew some sun faded panels. Someday in the distant future I'd love to build an Olds 403 for it.

 

[mistervelocity]

Here's a couple projects that came and went with no work done. Essentially flips.

1950 Studebaker pickup. There was almost 2 complete trucks here. Doubled my money.


1978 Chevy 4X4 Shorty. Running and driving but very rusty. I got it free -- pure profit.


I did an engine swap, wiring, full brake replacement and some suspension work on this '55.

 

[mistervelocity]

Thanks for posting, great work and an enjoyable read.

Glad you're enjoying it.

Some after shots of a '68 Mustang my brother painted last winter. It had been hit and "repaired" in the left front. Only problem is that it was 1" up and 1" swayed right so nothing even came close to fitting. He did a frame pull and replaced most of the front sheet metal. Horrible pictures but beautiful paint.

The lady picked it up and drove it home. Her husband started messing with the carb. It hasn't run since and has been parked outside. What a waste.
...and yes, I know it has too many emblems on the front fenders. That's how the owner's hubby wanted it.

 

[mistervelocity]

My '35 Ford sedan. It's been on hold for over 2 years now. It's got an 8" (from the pickup), a custom torsion bar front suspension, 4.6 DOHC and 4R70W from a Lincoln Mark VIII. I plan to run fenderless with a custom grill.

 

[mistervelocity]

A couple boats that came and went. The first trio came from the auction. The stars were aligned; right after the holidays, cold rainy day, poor attendance. I bought all three boats for $5 each. Including the 10% buyers fee, I still got change back from a twenty dollar bill. Cost more in fuel to get them home. All I did was hose them off and drain the water out. I sold the pair with motors for $600 and the pink one to a buddy for $50. Not too bad for a day's worth of shuffling. I even got to keep the pile of fishing/camping gear that was in them.
Pink 1959. Had probably 100 gallons of water in it. Solid but UGLY!

Red and white, another 1959. Appeared to have been a rental at some point. 35hp Lark. Could have been put back on the lake easily.

Blue 1965. Soft transom but very complete. 75hp Evinrude.

The last one was a 1978 Jetster I got at the same auction about a year later. Paid $10 for it with an 85hp Chrysler hanging on the back. While I was hitching it up to bring it home a guy came up and told me he was moving and needed to get rid of his stash of Chrysler outboard stuff. Picked up a complete 75hp and another disassembled 85 for free on the way home. I planned to restore it and keep it but got distracted. Sold all the motor stuff for $500 and the boat on the trailer for $250. It was really solid and well built but suffered from a bad repaint and a stalled "refurbish". It was originally heavy flake metallic gold on black. Discotastic! Wish I could have kept it. I'm told it's a fast hull design for what they were.

 

[mistervelocity]

Last time you saw pics of his daily driver '64 El Camino he was running a Paxton supercharger on his LT1. Recently (I suspect mostly out of boredom) he's been focusing more on fuel economy. The supercharger came off and he had acouple other PCMs flashed by my uncle. The final conclusion was that lowered compression and the automatic were holding him back. Since the current LT1 has had the pistons replaced with lower compression pieces to make it more blower-safe, it made more sense to just replace it rather than tear it down again. My dad is the master deal hunter! He came up with another LT1 that was claimed to be a low miler along with a harness for $200. I tore it down to reseal and detail it and found it was immaculate inside. I would estimate 30-50K miles on it. I pulled the first engine and 4L60E, swapped a few parts and installed the new engine.

Why would anyone chose an S10 transmission? Aren't those super weak? Stick with me, there's a few reasons for this choice.
1. My dad drives like an old man 99.98% of the time.
2. This car will never see track time. Economy is the focus here.
3. The engine is bone stock and will likely remain as such.
4. The S10 version of the T-5 has a forward position shifter that is better suited for bench seats.
5. The s10 transmission is the only GM version of the T-5 that uses the standard front bolt pattern in the standard orientation. The early Fbody version is canted at a 17* angle. Later Fbody has a Ford front pattern.
6. The gear ratio is a great match to the 2.56 posi that he has in the car. Almost the ideal 10:1 compound first.
7. This particular T-5 is a relatively rare late-'93 model. It IS a WC not the weaker non WC that people say are weak. Never heard of it? Don't think it exists? Here's proof:
I pulled the input shaft out to have it machined down to the standard Saginaw/Muncie/T-10 dimensions and verified that it had the fiber lined blocker rings as opposed to the regular brass synchros. The Splines needed to be cut back about 1/4" and the end of the pilot was shortened 5/8" and the retainer was also shortened. I used an M-20 to match up all the dimensions.

By using a regular '86-up (one-piece seal) flywheel and 10.5" clutch set it is feasible to replace this transmission with any of the GM 4-speeds if the desire should arise. The only part that would need to be swapped out is the clutch disc. I contacted Otts Friction to see if they could build me a 14 spline clutch disc in 10.5". As it turned out, one is available but I'm not sure what the original application is.

 

[mistervelocity]

Red white and blue...

 

[mistervelocity]

Proving that I'm a ***** that will work on anything...
'49 Plymouth with 318. I had nothing to do with the build in any way. It was dropped off for timing cover gasket replacement due to coolant leak. Timing chain too since I was there. The engine is pretty tired but at least it sounds good through the lake pipes. Kinda cool so I thought you guys might want to see it. This was a couple years ago and it's been painted gray since then.

 

[mistervelocity]

One of my parents' neighbors has a pretty nice collection. This '62 Impala came to my place to be prepped for sale. Had some minor leaks to fix. From what the owner told me, that's original paint. The odometer shows less than 6000 miles. For you guys familiar with points and judging, this car is a 997. Solid lifters sound ****. Don't be jealous.

 

[mistervelocity]

Well, the Impala is pretty much done. All the little leaks are fixed and the tune-up stuff is done. This thing sounds GREAT! Been waiting on the water pump for over a week. Since this is a mega-numbers-matching car I had to send the original out to be rebuilt. It's been sitting in my empty bay patiently waiting. It should be wrapped up Tuesday or Wednesday. It's replacement is already loaded in the trailer. Stay tuned.

While it was in a holding pattern I went over to the owner's house and pulled the exhaust manifolds on his '55 convertible. He didn't like the rust look so I had them ceramic coated in cast iron finish. I would consider all of his cars over-restored and this one is no exception. No car ever came out of a Detroit factory this nice. The bottom side is just as clean as the top. I should have grabbed a couple pics.

 

[mistervelocity]

The Impala finally went home yesterday. But not until a last minute accelerator pump failure. Starts so easily now and runs perfectly. It ran pretty good before but was getting harder and harder to cold-start. It didn't help that the restored had disabled the choke. So, the owner picked up the '62 and dropped off his Tbird. This one is just needing some brake work and a hose clamp to fix a coolant leak. Probably a battery too. The color is hard to describe in person. It looks really pink in the photos but more red in person. Yes, he bought this one for his wife.

 

[mistervelocity]

My wife LOVES her Neon. It's been totaled 3 times and brought back from the dead. The most recent was an SUV backing into the left quarter in a parking lot. After the dust settled we got a check just big enough to persuade my brother to repaint the whole car. It had been spotted in so many times in the past that it looked horrible and the only way to set it right was to shoot the whole car at once. I misplaced my camera for all the before stuff. Mmmm, fresh flame red.
I gutted the interior so I could pressure wash the carpet and scrub it with Tide. It's a trick I learned when I worked at a detail shop 20 years ago.
The clean carpet and interior back in. Added some seat covers and heavy duty mats for protection.
You'll see a gauge cluster with a factory tach. I added that a couple years ago. I've been collecting upgrade parts at the yard when I see stuff I like. You may have noticed the "power bulge" hood. That's a fresh addition too. I always liked the look of the Sport edition with the gray door trim and bumper detail. They are textured and molded in red plastic rather than painted. Roof racks weren't really common back in the day and you rarely see them now. I picked one up at the wrecking yard a couple years ago.
Still have the black trim right above the side windows to repaint black. The cat has been rattling for about 4 years now. I parted out a Volvo with a brand new one a few months ago so I'll see if I can make it fit. It'll be nice not to hear that in the drive-thru. I'll be keeping an eye out for some factory alloy wheels for the finishing touch.

 

[mistervelocity]

Aw geez...it's contagious. After being around my brother's Westy and borrowing it for a camping trip, my dad decided he'd like one too. This will probably just be a flip that he plans to drive through the winter. He has his eye on a relative's newer Vanagon that may be a permanent addition to his fleet. But in the meantime this will be yet another distraction. Should be fun!
1968 VW bus. It's a bit of an odd (rare) duck. Turret top camper and first year of the bay windows. That means it was originally a panel. Overall it's in better than average condition. Normal rust in the front floor boards and battery tray -- easy fix. Some rust puckers in various places down low but nothing cancerous. Looks to have originally been white (or white and yellow), then yellow, then this blue color over a very straight body. Hasn't been on the road in about 10 years.
Front half of the interior is pretty decent. Presentable rubber floor mat. Great headliner in the front. Nice seats and dash.
The back is gutted and there's a standard bench seat sitting in there. It's supposed to have a cabinet on the passenger side, a folding Z-bed, a drop down table on the driver's side, and a single seat backing up to the driver's seat.
The engine is a locked up 1600DP with a 009 distributor and aftermarket exhaust. I'll see if I can break it loose but it might just be cheaper to replace than repair.
My brother stopped by and looked it over. He's the in-house bus expert. I was showing him the big stack of receipts I found along with the original owner's manual and purchase paperwork. We verified that it's an early Riviera. Here's the history lesson: Back in the day the factory authorized and sold campers that were built by Westfalia. These are far and away the most common camper you'll see around. The problem was that they sold like hotcakes but VW corporate would only allow dealers to buy a percentage of Westys. So, to get 10 campers, dealers were required to also buy 10 transporters (regular buses), 5 pickups, and 5 panels. <<Those numbers are probably not accurate and were meant to illustrate the circumstances<<. Many dealers just couldn't justify buying the harder to sell body styles just to get the Westys. So, Riviera Motors in Beaverton, OR (5 miles from me) decided that they would just buy panels (which had no purchase restrictions) and convert them. They quickly became popular and soon they were distributing their conversions to dealers all over the USA. In the '70s and '80s the Riviera was a strong seller and was similar to the Westy but had a larger pop-top and the interior cabinetry was different.
According to the paper trail it appears that this thing has had about 8 owners but never lived more than about 100 miles from where it was originally sold. Pretty interesting to see a receipt from 1970 that covered an "engine inspection" along with a valve adjustment and new valve cover gaskets. Total parts and labor cost was $5.90 :? .
Pulled the engine out and set it on the ground so I could have better access to everything. Poured 1/2qt ATF down the carb plus some Marvel Mystery Oil in each cylinder. Couldn't get it to budge.
Thought I'd pull the clutch off so I could get a big breaker bar on the gland nut. What disc?
Hopefully that's the reason the engine was pulled and it's just stuck in the bores from sitting not at the crankshaft from being blown up. It had oil in it so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll just let the chemicals do their thing for a couple more days.

 

[mistervelocity]

My dad came by last night after work and scrubbed off some of the moss. I was amazed at how straight and shiny(ish) it actually was. I assumed that under all the green fuzz was some unseen bodywork sins. Sometimes I don't mind being wrong.
He picked up a replacement engine for it last weekend. It came off a sandrail and was advertised as a 1600 but the seller said he suspects it's actually larger. Without pulling a head to measure bore and stroke there's no easy way to tell. The alternator and electronic ignition are nice upgrades. Either way it's an improvement over the single port that would have been original equipment. It'll get a reseal and a Krylon rebuild before it goes in. Haven't decided what will happen to the stuck engine that came with it.
Started tearing the the stuck engine apart so we could clean and transplant the tins to the new engine. Once we got the doghouse off we found the reason it wouldn't turn. A shot of my dad getting a shot of our discovery. Also found 4 petrified mice on the left head. Made a shopping list and called it quits.

Devoted a few more hours to the bus yesterday. Got the engine mostly done. The carb still needs to be rebuilt but the parts spent the night in the dip tank. We also have to swap the alternator stand. The one that's on it now is for a generator. It was looking pretty bland so I gave it a tie-dye treatment on the alternator backing plate. Hippies love tie-dye. My brother came by to address the battery tray. This is what happens when you do hack repairs. Unfortunately the only real rust on the car was completely avoidable and self inflicted. The tray had been "repaired" at least 3 times causing lots of places to collect debris.

I'll be working on brakes today. New wheel cylinders (yes, 6 of them) and good used master. Our dad will be working on the steering. The box was reeeally worn out and the column was loose and missing some parts. He found a guy parting out another '68 and picked up some parts from him. The best part of his find was the Z-bed rear seat with fresh upholstery, rear mattress pad, door panels and some deluxe interior pieces.

 

[EA400]

Lots of work in cool projects. My compliments!

BTW what is this tool meant for?

Greetings from Brazil.

 

[mistervelocity]

Quick catch-up on the bus. Finished the steering. Finished the brakes (all 6 wheel cylinders, 4 hoses, master cylinder). Had to make another trip to the store because they gave us the wrong wheel cylinders. Installed an actual ignition switch in place of the toggle and push button that it came with. So much hacked wiring :? . Installed the engine but not without having to remove the clutch and take it back -- they gave us the wrong one. Routed and mounted an external spin-on oil filter and cooler. Got it fired up and my dad drove it around the block. And it even came back under it's own power!
Still have some work to do on some of the lights. At that point it will be legally drivable. The rest will be mainly cosmetic stuff that hopefully doesn't involve me.

I had hoped I was done with the bus but no such luck. We started into the punch list and found tons of stuff wrong. Ended up replacing some light housings that were too corroded/damaged/broken to repair. Also replaced the front signal lenses. The left headlight assembly was on the right side and the right was on the left so the bulbs wouldn't seat correctly. The backup light wiring had been cut out and needed to be replaced. Almost all the dash lights were bad. The horn wiring was shorted out. The license plate bulb socket was sloppy. The oil pressure wiring had a break inside the main harness. The alternator wouldn't charge because the indicator bulb was burnt out. The turn signals wouldn't work because the relay was dangling under the dash and needs to be grounded by the mounting screw. The dimmer switch is stuck on low beam. Once the lighting was all done we added an under dash heater.

Then we turned our attention on getting it to run better (stronger). I was having very little luck tuning the carb and ended up replacing it with the spare. It didn't make it any faster but at least I could fine tune the idle. It was still pretty inconsistent though. It would run okay for a while then just start running horribly. I swapped in the spare distributor too just to see if it changed anything. A little better but not quite. Did a compression test and found #2 is a bit weaker than the rest but not enough to explain the erratic behavior. I finally found that #3 plug wire was intermittently going open. I'm kind of embarrassed that it took me so long to figure out such a simple problem. New wire -- all better. Runs great now, but still pretty gutless.
My dad has been puttering along with his '68 for the last couple months. Here's a couple update pics I took yesterday. Compare these to the photos a few pages back and you can really appreciate all the work he's done.
Repainted wheels with proper LT rated winter tires. The restored/repainted top came out nice. I didn't open it because it was raining and I didn't want to get the new canvas wet. He also made some nice vinyl skirts that snap over the canvas when it's closed. You can see the wood interior panels that he stripped and refinished. Also in the lower left you can see the curtains he added. They're actually the originals from my brother's '72. They match the blue perfectly. He found a correct Zbed rear seat that had been freshly recovered on CL. Since there was a gap on the passenger side from the missing cabinet, he built a small storage box and covered it in matching black vinyl. The table may or may not be changed. And lastly you can see the laminate floor and repainted wall panels. What's not visible is all the insulation and sound deadening he added.
The rear bumper has been straightened and primed.
I never got any good shots at the end before it sold to a guy in San Diego. He flew in and drove it home.

 

[mistervelocity]

Oh boy. Look what followed me home from the auction. This one's an '82 Westfalia. Drove it on the dolly so I know it will run. Time to clean it up and see what else is wrong with it. It's purely investment. The price was pretty right and they sell for more than they should. I figured I should be able to double or triple my money. Basically, I'm a big fat *****.
The top is good on 2 sides but got rotted on the passenger side from being improperly closed. One of my customers from Croatia came by today and was drooling all over it. He said the rug in it is handmade and probably worth $300-$400. Bonus!
It's an '82 so it's aircooled. They went water cooled in mid '83. The more I go over it the more obvious it is that it was someone's baby. I suspect the previous (neglectful) owner didn't have it very long. In fact, we're pretty sure this was being advertized on CL a few weeks ago by a seller who got it impounded for driving without insurance. They wanted a buyer who would go to the impound yard and pay the fines then an additional $1000 to the seller. I guess they had no takers.
Some of the things I've noticed are recently replaced heads, probably 10-20K ago judging by the grime. Starter looks really new. There are higher-end Bilsteins all around as well as aftermarket front and rear sway bars. Even the tires have great tread and are the appropriate LTs rather than passenger tires that many people skimp on. It also has a dual stage remote oil filter. It looks like the set that Amsoil sells for about $300.
There's a thermostatic bypass and a really nice plate style cooler with an electric fan. Something that I would definitely want if I was driving one of these is this nice gauge set. Tach, cylinder head temp, oil pressure and oil temp. They all work great too. Very useful upgrade.
I haven't driven it out of the neighborhood yet but it runs really well and I think it'll make a nice driver for the next owner.

 

[Sunbimmer]

I wonder why you are called "mistervelocity"

 

[mistervelocity]

Straightened the rear bumper and replaced the missing end. Replaced the missing ashtray and cleaned up the dash. Also reattached the speedo cable and replaced the defective brake switches behind the dash. The main battery that it came with was weak so I bought a new one. Then I revived the old one and used it for the house battery that was missing. There's a battery box below/behind each front seat. Cleaned up the kitchen unit and did some testing. The stove works great. The sink works on shore water but not house water. I think the pump is dead but it really doesn't matter since I don't have a key to remove the water tank filler cap anyway. The fridge works using the house battery or shore power. It gets cold enough to make ice in the back! Haven't tried it on propane yet. Cleaned a couple stains on the cushions and washed the curtains. The smoker smell is 95% gone now. The upper bunk needed no cleaning.
I didn't take a picture of the ceiling when I got it but let me assure you it was gross. It was covered from front to back with black, green and white mold. The inside is finished with a fuzzy texture that kind of resembles velour -- referred to as flocking. Everyone on Samba (VW forum) recommended Tilex. It took a couple bottles but the results were well worth the effort. Apparently it's a common problem in wet climates or when storing the top when it isn't dry.I put a few hundred miles on it. It runs and drives great! It's no powerhouse but it keeps up with traffic. I ran it through DEQ and it failed miserably. It has euro-spec exhaust on it with no cat so it's no surprise, really. Funny thing is, it passed the visual inspection. The "professional" at the testing station had no clue what he was looking at :roll: . Don't laugh at my catalytic tailpipe. Believe it or not, it actually functioned well enough to get me through testing. Once I got it legal it sold quickly. Tripled my investment!

 

[mistervelocity]

I wonder why you are called "mistervelocity"

It certainly isn't for my posting ability.

 

[mistervelocity]

A couple other buses that came and went...
'71 Riv my brother practically stole. Owner acquired it as payment on a debt and had no interest in it. Only mechanical work we did was clean up the wiring in the engine compartment and a pair of used tire for the front.
He did the bumper and wheel cleanup and repaint along with a really good detail. Made a quick $8500

Our dad got this red and black one from a relative. Another '71 Riv. Just needed some general cleanup, tires and a little brake work. It sold quick.

 

[mistervelocity]

Anyone ever seen a Bricklin before? Here's one that my dad bought from his neighbor. Complete with **** brown interior complete with 8-track, dash mounted fan, and super custom JC Whitney musical horn controller.
Since only 2854 of these cars were factory built, this would be toward the end of the production run. Early cars were AMC 360 powered. This one has a 351W 2-V and an FMX transmission. Dual exhaust too. AMC based front suspension resembles Mustang and it has a non-posi straight axle in the back. Brakes are power disc/drum. It's also got AC and cruise control.
Doors were originally hydraulically controlled but most were converted to pneumatic.
Overall, this one is pretty unmolested. The stupid interior add-ons can be undone pretty easily, otherwise it's fairly original -- right down to the 1975 date coded plug wires. The plan for this one is strictly mechanical. Since it's been in storage for the last 20 years I expect most of the issues to be fluid related. Probably some attention to the fuel system and brake system. I also know there's going to be plenty of work to be gone to the door system. Beyond just a general cleaning there will be no cosmetic work done. He wants to market the car as a mechanically sound survivor or barn find.
I gave it a quick wash and degreased the top of the engine and engine compartment. It got new tires too. Much better now. New control relay and new pump installed and wired. Just need to run 1 air line. I spent hours and hours getting the doors to work right. Ended up replacing the compressor, controller, regulator, both cylinders (rams), rebuilt all 4 solenoids, replaced the driver's door popper, replaced the wiring on the driver's side, and added 2 relays. It cleaned up pretty well for a car that's been parked for 20 years. He put 25-30 miles on it and says it runs and handles great. Gets lots of attention everywhere it goes. Ended up going to a consignment dealer who sold it on Ebay.