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Stooge's Longer term car projects, Part 2

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Kev442

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Oval tubing is definitely the nicest IMO. Mimics the curvature of the valve cover.
I don't think an inline 8 has to worry about a lack of low rpm torque. My 250 inline six had one tiny carb and I tow dollied cars and my fiberglass boat with that engine.
 
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Stooge

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I can't wait to see how it performs on the street.

Me too, getting really excited for this one, but maybe not so excited that since the metal work is basically done, its going to start getting expensive to keep progress moving

I’m digging the carb setup! It’s going to looks so cool with a header! Great work.

Oval tubing is definitely the nicest IMO. Mimics the curvature of the valve cover.
I don't think an inline 8 has to worry about a lack of low rpm torque. My 250 inline six had one tiny carb and I tow dollied cars and my fiberglass boat with that engine.

thanks guys! the oval tubing was something that looked cool in my head, but at $150 for 5ft, I kept talking myself out of it and trying to convince myself I'd be happy with round tubing.

specs are a little sloppy, but later 320's were supposedly in the high 160hp range with 300ftlbs of torque, and towed trailers and were put in Flxible buses in the 30s and 40s. Plans for the engine are going to come down to money. theres a long time, highly respected engine builder in the front of my building who works on vintage stuff as well as race engines and I would be confident in the work. I don't need anything crazy, I just want a little pep and to be reliable since, as I've said before I have plans for some extended, thousand mile road trips in this car. Cleaned up, maybe bored out a little, reground cam? and have the head gone over, but i'll need to set a budget and talk it over with him.

Dana Hard, Camco racing engines



Screenshot_2017-09-16-12-44-40-1 by Dan Haas, on Flickr
 

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Stooge

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You know as much as i do at this point! Dropped it off in august along with $500ish to get started, sent along another $1500, (possibly more) about a month later so he could start buying parts and thats the last interaction as far as i know. Maybe he is working on it, but id say theres 70/30 chance that its just been partially disassembled and shoved in the corner after probably having to spend the money elsewhere, versus the 30 that its been worked on at all. Who knows, but 7months is a long time for someone whos not that busy to clean up a free spinning big block ford. I just hope my friend doesnt get burned too badly on this
 

Kev442

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That is nuts. I'd be on the phone weekly and stopping in biweekly. Should have been done in 4-6 weeks.
 

xtremek

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So I read your post about the 460 a day or two ago and didn't think a ton about it. But now that I think a little bit, I think he's beyond toast. Sorry to say that, just my $.02
 
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Stooge

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And because i can be a bit of an ***, i've been sending him, (my friend) links from Racing Junk of whatever ridiculous cid big blocks i come across.

Another tidbit to add to him getting ripped off, the brother in law who suggested where to take the engine to, disappeared from his family for the better part of a week only to appear in rehab a few months back. Now its been quite a long time since ive been a part of the drug doing community, but id have to guess drug do'ers still predominately hang out with other drug do'ers. Unfortunately that happened AFTER we had already dropped the engine and off

In other news, i have a bunch of transmission parts now! A HAMB'er sent me a counter cluster, low/reverse and idler gear for Free, wouldnt even take shipping, and i bought another set of the complete internals from anothr hamb member, and included all of the small rings, washers, bearings etc.. so i have 2 complete sets to piece together all of the best condition parts, and a few spares.

My single and live alone living room coffee table :lol_hitti
 

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Kev442

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Heh. The running joke at my first house ( that I shared with a couple of roommates) was there would always be car parts on the kitchen table. Kitchen went straight into the garage, so that seemed normal to me.
As long as there was room for two plates and two glasses, why not?:bounce:
 

xtremek

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I think we all have stories like that. Didn't have a garage, so I blew apart the motorcycle so I could replace a burnt piston....in the kitchen. Way cool about the ****** parts, especially the free ones.
 

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More than 50 years later, my wife still gives me grief for rebuilding two carburetors and a transmission on the kitchen table. It was snowing outside and the bare light bulb I was using exploded. I admit the smell made dinner less appetizing but no car meant no dinner sooner than later if I couldn't get to work.
 

Kev442

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Wow. It's been 5 weeks. I found this 8 pages deep!

Spring has sprung, things should start happening again. I thought of this thread while I was rearranging the garage to get a different angle on a project car. Still cold outside, but I got the garage up to 58. Still a few weeks away from opening up the pole building...
 

xtremek

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Did you get snow over the weekend, Kev? We didn't, but the Big D did. They still had some on the ground this morning
 
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Stooge

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I actually have some pictures to show! Trying to get some regularity of work done without over doing and bothering my sciatica thats been getting better every week and ive probably been in the least amount of pain these last few weeks since atleast june last yr!
Went at the exterior, (pass side for now) with a handful of sanders, and even bought the chicago pneumatic mini 2" and 3" orbital sander to get into the body lines, around the doors, etc. Got it down to bare metal, knocked out a few dents, fixed a few previous owner repairs in the front fender, uncovered a bunch of filler in the rear fender that as far as i can tell, was only used to fill in deep scratches in other filler, metal all seemed good on it. Theres some lighter pitting in the doors, cowl, and most of the body, but some heavier pitting around where the trim was, so this was more an experiment to see wht i could get away with more than anything as i really didnt want to cover the whole car in body filler to cover the light pitting. Skim coated a few spots and did a coat of U-Pol direct to metal high build primer over the fenders, door/door jam and cowl amd im pretty pleased with it really. Still have a lot of sanding to do, but the high build seemed to cover alot of the light pitting that would have been impossible to get out unless i was going to reskin everything.

Wasnt too confident in my 1.5 primer gun as the primer was pretty thick even when mixed 4:1 with hardener, so i used the 1.8 sharpe finex spray gun ive been using for metalflake and was happy with it. Still alot of work to do, but nice to see atleast some of it in 1 color and looking car'ish
 

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Stooge

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The Buick is really looking good. Glad to hear your back is treating you better. Mike

Thanks! Was just good motivation to look at the front 3/4 (i didnt do the rear qtr) and have it finally look like something after having to take it real easy the last few months with physical therapy. Still cant just go at it all day if i want to be able to walk the next day, and have been cutting it short before i start hurting, but i'll take it!
 

MP&C

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Wasnt too confident in my 1.5 primer gun as the primer was pretty thick even when mixed 4:1 with hardener, so i used the 1.8 sharpe finex spray gun ive been using for metalflake and was happy with it. Still alot of work to do, but nice to see atleast some of it in 1 color and looking car'ish


If either of your paint guns has the Fluid Filter (item #24) installed, pull it out when spraying high build. It's openings are too fine for high build and acts to slow down paint flow, which then causes dry spatter finish.


Sharpe parts.jpg
 
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Stooge

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If either of your paint guns has the Fluid Filter (item #24) installed, pull it out when spraying high build. It's openings are too fine for high build and acts to slow down paint flow, which then causes dry spatter finish.


Sharpe parts.jpg

No filter in that one since ive only ever used it for metalflake, but after playing with the adjustments a bit, i was realy happy with how it worked with the high build especially for a relatively inexpensive spray gun. i think last time i used this primer, i used a 1.5 devilbiss cheapy and was having issues with dry spatter and resulted in a heavy textured finish in some areas. I use Dekups disposable cups with my regular sealer/base/ clear Tekna prolite spray gun and those use the disc filters. Im not a seasoned painter so it was a good run through to see how i will paint those no-flat-surface 6ft front fenders without making too much of a mess, but they will be off the car for paint.
 
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Kev442

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Did you get snow over the weekend, Kev? We didn't, but the Big D did. They still had some on the ground this morning

We've been getting heavy flurry events, but no sticking as it is above freezing during the day when they arrive.
 

Kev442

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I actually have some pictures to show! Trying to get some regularity of work done without over doing and bothering my sciatica thats been getting better every week and ive probably been in the least amount of pain these last few weeks since atleast june last yr!
Went at the exterior, (pass side for now) with a handful of sanders, and even bought the chicago pneumatic mini 2" and 3" orbital sander to get into the body lines, around the doors, etc. Got it down to bare metal, knocked out a few dents, fixed a few previous owner repairs in the front fender, uncovered a bunch of filler in the rear fender that as far as i can tell, was only used to fill in deep scratches in other filler, metal all seemed good on it. Theres some lighter pitting in the doors, cowl, and most of the body, but some heavier pitting around where the trim was, so this was more an experiment to see wht i could get away with more than anything as i really didnt want to cover the whole car in body filler to cover the light pitting. Skim coated a few spots and did a coat of U-Pol direct to metal high build primer over the fenders, door/door jam and cowl amd im pretty pleased with it really. Still have a lot of sanding to do, but the high build seemed to cover alot of the light pitting that would have been impossible to get out unless i was going to reskin everything.

Wasnt too confident in my 1.5 primer gun as the primer was pretty thick even when mixed 4:1 with hardener, so i used the 1.8 sharpe finex spray gun ive been using for metalflake and was happy with it. Still alot of work to do, but nice to see atleast some of it in 1 color and looking car'ish

As a guy with a heavily pitted car I'm working on, these pictures represent a lot of hours!

Did you work the deep pits to be sure they were all shiny metal before skimming? Everyone makes it sound like if there is the faintest discoloration of metal, you are doomed to bubbling, but I've seen mesh and blob bondo jobs last for decades...

What's the shop temp when you spray the U-Pol?

Things are looking great!
 
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Stooge

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If i was going to do it again, (which i am for the driver side fender) i might start with a chemical trip to get rid of the old lacquer paint, but i went at the heavy body crust and what was left of the paint with some coarse (40?) aluminum oxide discs on a sander that knocked alot of it down, same grit on some roloc pads on a die grinder to get into the crevices and into some of the pits a little better, then a pass with a semi coarse fiber surface conditioning pad, then 80grit and some rust converter for reassurance, then filler and more 80 grit then 120 before high build. There was still some discoloration in some areas, mostly along the curve of the window frame where the weather stripping and trim was but working it wth a coarse roloc pad until brown dust wasnt coming up anymore. Seemed reasonable enough to me and my guesstimates and guidance of a friend whos a long time body guy, and about as far as i was going to go before i would start replacing more metal, and really didnt take too long. Obviously sand/soda blasting would have been more efficient, but im on a budget and i didnt want to uncover too many more secrets in the body, so sanding it is!
 

Kev442

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This pulled in next to me at DQ today.
 

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Stooge

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Another few days of grinding, sanding and cleaning means priming the hood, roof and rear quarter. Scarily almost starting to look like a real car :confused:
 

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Kev442

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All this painting had me wondering about your compressor/dryer setup. I didn't recall ever seeing it mentioned, so I went down the rabbit hole of both threads. Enjoyable, but still don't know what you run.

The U-pol question about shop temp is because I was going to use Southern Polyurethane products, but there was a lot of problems with the product at lower metal temps. They are basically saying 75+ for best results now. Not gonna happen very often in Wi without there being 90% humidity too.
 
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Originally there was an 80gallon giant beast of a compressor in a back room at the shop, was there when i moved in, (still there) but it had been repainted and was pretty old, though im sure i looked at it before, i dont remember the manufacturer. Half of the truck, including all of the paint on the dash, console and the exterior, was done using a cheap 30gallon oilless husky because the other compressor's pump seized up and it was decided it wasnt worth replacing by the guy i rent the shop from whos compressor it was, i needed a new one quick and didnt have much to spend. The husky worked great, didnt have to worry about oil getting into the paint, just needed a water trap and i use those disposable moisture traps at the air fitting on the spray guns. I needed more air, and probably a yr ago, the owner of the building, a friend of his died, he bought out the guys entire shop who was a body guy, carpenter, engine builder, just a little bit of everything, and in that lot was a fairly high end, older devilbiss 60 gallon, 6hp (if i remember correcty) compressor and thats what ive been using. Before i actually start painting, im going to go through and replace the oil/moisture traps just t be sure, but they are also devilbiss brand.

When i primed yesterday, i had the bay door open most of the day and it was about 65 and sunny, closed the door to spray but it was still warm in there. The burner was repaired probably 2yrs ago and theee are a few blowers habging from the ceiling that do a good job of heating up the space if im painting when its cooler out but i didnt turn them on yesterday. Im obviously an amateur in the bodywork realm, but so far between the buick and the truck, im a big fan of the u-pol high build
 

xtremek

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So when do you think you'll have it in paint? When do you think you'll have it on the road? It's looking really good, at least to my amateur eye.
 
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Stooge

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So when do you think you'll have it in paint? When do you think you'll have it on the road? It's looking really good, at least to my amateur eye.

I havent really thought of a real schedule of anything, but if i can go at it with any consistancy and keep it simple, i'd like it to be close to on the road in a year/next spring-summer. Where its going to be black, ill have to get pretty **** about getting the body straight, then depending on if i have the engine machined or just cleaned up, putting some money together for getting atleast the bumpers rechromed, glass, wiring, tires, and basically everything else. Plus i need to find an upholstery shop to redo the seat now that Lebaron bonney, the interior company, just closed up due to bankruptcy. Fortunately, i was just about to put an order for a seat kit with them, $1100, but procrastinated so atleast i didnt lose that money!
 

Kev442

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You should consider putting a couple of jump seats back in the car to differentiate it from the business coupes. Jump seats are cool and a real talking point. A friend had a Toyota something or nother, the one that is a clone of a jeep, it had rear jump seats. Everybody had to swing them down and play with them.

The Dodge ones are about the simplest and probably still common:

https://bluestarperformance.com/rea...r-blue-dodge-truck-club-cab-1978-82-used.html

If you want smaller, the ford ranger ones were kid sized (and useless).
 
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Stooge

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You should consider putting a couple of jump seats back in the car to differentiate it from the business coupes. Jump seats are cool and a real talking point. A friend had a Toyota something or nother, the one that is a clone of a jeep, it had rear jump seats. Everybody had to swing them down and play with them.

The Dodge ones are about the simplest and probably still common:

https://bluestarperformance.com/rea...r-blue-dodge-truck-club-cab-1978-82-used.html

If you want smaller, the ford ranger ones were kid sized (and useless).

it's something I've been thinking about, probably not anything that would ever be used, but it was definitely something cool about the stock jumpseats. realistically, for now, im just going to get the front split bench seat covered so I have something to sit on, and theres a 50/50 that i'll try and make some door cards and cover them in a similar material mostly because of the escutcheons/ rings for the door and window handles that are on the inside of the door. the rest of the interior will be something i'll worry about when its on the road and I can just pick off little things to do. really don't want to pull another truck project and have the interior delay everything by a couple of yrs!

I do remember sitting in the back of ford rangers and those seats were absolutely useless, BUT, they do look most like I could get them to work in the back :headscrat
2019-04-09_07-19-37 by Dan Haas, on Flickr
 
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Stooge

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Sounds like you dodged a big bullet.

and my luck, I certainly would have lost the $1100, especially when there are big material suppliers, distributors, etc who are owed big bucks. Throwing away a grand definitely would have hurt the meager buick budget!
 

Kev442

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it's something I've been thinking about, probably not anything that would ever be used, but it was definitely something cool about the stock jumpseats. realistically, for now, im just going to get the front split bench seat covered so I have something to sit on, and theres a 50/50 that i'll try and make some door cards and cover them in a similar material mostly because of the escutcheons/ rings for the door and window handles that are on the inside of the door. the rest of the interior will be something i'll worry about when its on the road and I can just pick off little things to do. really don't want to pull another truck project and have the interior delay everything by a couple of yrs!

I do remember sitting in the back of ford rangers and those seats were absolutely useless, BUT, they do look most like I could get them to work in the back :headscrat

Thought I would mention it so you get enough spare fabric when you do the front seat. Those Buick ones look so simplistic you could make them out of plywood and piano hinge.
 
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Thought I would mention it so you get enough spare fabric when you do the front seat. Those Buick ones look so simplistic you could make them out of plywood and piano hinge.

there are a few car shows coming up, (big swap meet one coming up on the 28th) that should have 1 or 2 buick/ gm coupes with jumpseats so i'll try and get a better look at how they are set up. My mother's probably retiring soon and keeps talking about looking for new projects/ hobbies, maybe i'll suggest she takes up sewing and car upholstery! I'd be up for trying to give it a shot and learning, but I've never operated even a small home sewing machine. that's why my pants just get patches :beer:
2019-04-10_08-14-55 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

thinking about breaking the truck out of hibernation this weekend, needs some fresh gas, probably a charged battery and I was having some timing issues last yr that I think were due to the air cleaner coming on and off a few times and I was bumping the distributor. Really planning on putting some miles on it this year, but I might need to put a real exhaust on it, or some quieter mufflers so my neighbors don't hate me

2019-04-10_08-19-35 by Dan Haas, on Flickr
 
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Stooge

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yeah, I kind of ignored it last yr, im guessing I was a little burnt out on it after working on it for so long. I sorted a few things out that I was having issues with like a relay for the air suspension, intermittent issue with the tail lights, but I think my fuel gauge is still off a bit, but the last drive of last yr, I seemed to be having an issue with the timing that im guessing was caused from having the big Cadillac air cleaner being too big and contacting the distributor when it was taken on and off a few times. resulted in a few stalls on the drive and having to get it started on the side of the road, and upping the carb idle to keep it from stalling since I didn't have a timing light on me and even if I did, the battery is under the bed and I wouldn't have been able to hook it up, so I just put it to sleep for the winter. i'll dig out another air cleaner and hopefully its nice out to play with tomorrow, though I still haven't received the new registration sticker in the mail so to play it safe, it might just get a drive around the block. maybe i'll take a day off and burn a vacation day next week to play with it as next weekend is a no go since I have a new dog visiting from my friend's dog walking/ boarding business and said I'd take it for the weekend. Hasn't stayed over either of our houses yet so im not sure what to expect but sounds like he's a bit hyper

2019-04-12_11-37-47 by Dan Haas, on Flickr
 

Kev442

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I was going to ask about the pickup and forgot. I guess you felt it anyway. Is the plymouth streetrod still tucked in your shop? I forgot to ask about it too.

Looks like I am a U-pol guy when I need it. They make two hardeners, one for cooler metal temps, so that makes me happy. I too will start experimenting later this year as to how much sanding marks I can get away with. Lots of guys claim it will fill 80 grit grooves on bare metal, which are much shallower than 80 grit grooves on bondo. I don't think I'm that brave.
 

Kev442

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Saw a '57 Ford today driving in the rain with the vacuum wipers barely cycling. Got me thinking about a certain '58 Edsel. Anything new happen lately?
 
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