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So I nearly lost a finger working on the car yesterday. Grinder with a cutting blade kicked back and nicked my left index finger. However, a nick from a big ol’ grinder equals out to taking about 10% of the flesh off my finger. Hospital was fun, got to get a new tetanus shot and in the end they just slapped a bandaid on it and said to take antibiotics. It took me 3 hours for that genius diagnosis… and I was debating whether to go in or do that in the first place. At least now I get the pleasure of fighting the insurance company to cover it. Fascists. So whoever buys the car from me in 20 years or so, just know that the excellent shine comes from about 10ccs of my finger flesh splattered across the driver side panel. I think that’s worth an extra 50 bucks in the end.
Long story short, I’ve still got to remove the brake cylinders (which I have new versions of, courtesy of the guy who I bought it from), grommets, and that’s about it before I take it to the sand blaster. I was a little hesitant to work on it today, but I think I’ll get all that shit done tomorrow and drop it off for blasting on Wednesday morn. I’m starting to wish I didn’t have a deadline to get everything done in a few weeks, so that Michelle can get her Rollergirl shoot in, but hell, its motivation.
Lesson #5 – Car parts can be replaced. Fingers can’t.
I’m going to have to buy a cheap camera so I can post photos of my gross-ass finger.
Filed under: Uncategorized
So I picked up all the parts I think I’ll need to be able to steer, stop and not ground out. I also got some groovy new bolt loosener called PB Lube, and as soon as it does its job, I’ll be ready to sandblast, paint, reassemble and get back on the road.
Here’s what I bought:
1 pair Monroe Sensa Trac Shocks with a Lifetime Guarantee – $54.96
1 replacement lower ball joint – $12.44
2 front brake hoses – $23.76
1 front brake spring kit – $7.38
(T.C. $8155)
With a little bit of luck, I’ll get the front end apart tonight!
P.S. Note to Self – Don’t forget to look into the wheel bearings.
P.P.S. I don’t think I’m going to get the control arm bolts out without saying a few rosaries.
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As I’m redoing a bunch of the front end stuff, I figure I’ll tighten up the bolts and clean the crap off it while I go. I looked into a disc brake conversion kit for the front end – retarded expensive. Not gonna happen right now. Besides, I’ve already got the brake shoes for it, so I’ll give those a go for now. If it was good enough for 1967, it’s good enough for me. There are, however, a bunch of cheap replacement parts that I think would be a good idea to get. And here they are.
Steering linkage?
I’m also thinking about taking the drums and drum plates to be sandblasted. Then I could paint them with rustproof black and have them ready for this weekend or so. Of course, I have to get the drum plates off, first.
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I drove the car to work today to show it off. That was probably a bad idea. First, the new sparks feel a little different than the old ones. No idea. On top of that, I think the damn car gets closer to the ground every time I get in it. With all the bottom scraping I’ve done in the last 2 or 3 days, the damn thing is leaking tranny fluid. Not gushing, but a few drops today in the parking garage suggests either a gasket or leaky bolt or, god forbid, a cracked transmission. I need to buy a set of jack stands and a jack so that I can get under the turkey when I need to. In the end, I’m not going to drive the car until I get the new ball joints and springs in.
Lesson #4 – There’s a difference between a lousy front end, and none at all.
**update** Sears has AMAZING prices on jacks and jack stands. Craftsman, nonetheless. Guaranteed until they figure out a way to get out of it. Ask me about my “guaranteed” drill from 1960.
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Again, I’m thinking where I’m going with this and I haven’t made a decision to keep the fatass wide rear tires, or go with something a little more stock looking and not so over-the-top. I’m guessing this won’t happen until fall or better, but I’m going to need to make a decision about it before I buy new tires for the front, and I’m going to have to do that pdq. I’m thinking about 2 different styles for the wheels, and here they are:
The first one costs about $800 for the set, and the second costs about $250. That’s a pretty steep difference, even though I like the left wheels a lot better. I also have to look into tires, availability, size, and all that crap before I do anything about it. I’m also curious to see how much I can get in trade for my current wheels. (Nothing for the tires, I’m sure, cause they suck donkey balls and are as bald as Telly Savalas.) I already know what Michelle’s going to say, but for $550 difference, I’m going to have to think about it.
Here’s some more options below:
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I’d been scouring the interweb, trying to find a photo of exactly what I wanted my final product to look like, and I’ve finally found it. Except for the fact that he didn’t put on the hood tach, this is exactly what I’m going for. I might still do it with stripes on the top, like a traditional Camaro, but classier. My idea is to do just a driver side stripe in dark gray on the black paint. I guess we’ll see… eventually.
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I know I’m supposed to give my car a girl’s name, but I don’t think it’s a girl, and if it is, she’s a bit on the heavy side. So far my favorite name is “El Kabong” from the old Hanna Barbara cartoon. I also really like “Lando”, but that’s probably overdone.
I’m trying to get my head straight on what I need to do the the bird, versus what I want to do to it. Otherwise, I’d go nuts, go broke, and probably go into a ditch. When I bought the car, it had a bunch of extra parts that came with it, since the previous owner was in the middle of a nice restoration when he got another car and lost interest. The engine and interior were both nice, and a lot of the tough work had been done, new headliner, new door vinyl, new carb and spark wires and a lot of other things, but you could tell he stopped working on it and it sat outside for about a year. Little things, like rusty sparks and bald tires – simple and easy maintenance stuff, just neglected. Not bad, just needing attention.
I figure since I just dumped a bunch of moo-lah into the damn thing, I’d ease back on the hammers a little bit and do the stuff that he had planned and had parts for. Most importantly and number 1 on the list is the ball joints, front springs, and just about everything in the steering that needs redone. I don’t have the tools and stuff to do it, so I’m going to have to take it in, I think. But, since the final plan for the car is black/grey paint with red badges and accents, I think tonight I’ll hit the hardware store and pick up some red rustoleum spray paint and give the springs a good rust proofing and paint. Simple shit. I doubt I’ll be able to get the car in the shop until next weekend, since I have to go to an out-of-town wedding on Saturday, and won’t be home until Sunday afternoon. In the meantime, I guess I’ll look through my catalogs and drool. I could, however, do the brakes on Sunday if I’ve got the time.
I think #2 on the list is going to have to be the door locks/handles. Right now, to get out of the driver’s side, you have to reach through the window and open it from the outside. Classy. On top of that, there’s no key for the door locks, and even if there were, the lock mechanisms are either bent up, rusty or both. This would be why I don’t really want to park it in public right now. Also, if I’m going to be redoing all of this, I want to do it modern, with a remote entry keychain and power locks.
Now, after talking to my friend Roy, he thought I should shave off the handles and do a remote door popper and all this stuff that I had to look up. I’m thinking that’s a LOT of extra work, and if it gets fudged up, I’m permanently locked out of my car. I’m not that hot of a technician, so after a little research, I think I’m going to go with one of these sets, at around $100. Not bad.
A1 Electric – 2 Door Power Door & Keyless Entry Kit
JCorp – SPAL AS80 Remote Entry System w/ 2-Door Power Lock Kit
I don’t think I’ll be getting around to this for a while, since I’m going to try to keep the priorities in order; get the steering done and paid for, before buying the next big thing.
The next few things (not in any particular order) which I need to look into doing are tires and/or wheels, deck lid, spoiler and front bumper (which came with it), floor shifter & center console (which I have, but might sell since I think it’s ugly), seat covers & interior, radio & sound system, windshield wipers & motor, a/c unit, heat and sound guards for interior, front spoiler & valance bodywork (including busted front blinkers), and I’m sure there’s a pile of other things I don’t even know about yet.
Lesson #3 – This hobby is expensive.
Filed under: Stuff
After getting the police to come check the vin and then getting to the BMV and then waiting for 2 hours I FINALLY got the damn thing legal with title transfer and plates. I got new insurance Monday, which ended up costing about $30 every 6 months, since I tacked it onto my truck insurance (thank you eSurance!) It was getting late and I’m not yet crazy about driving at night, I decided to stop into the AutoZone and pick up some of the things I needed. I got a full set of new Bosch Platinum Plus sparks ($24) and dropped them in when I got home along with the new interior door handles ($14) and a can of Gumout. I also picked up new valve stem caps for 7 bucks because I needed 3 of them, and they were so tacky, I had to splurge. (T.C. $8056) They look like .45 bullet casings and are wonderful. They actually look pretty good on the big ass rims. Very Joe Dirt.
1967 Pontiac Firebird V8 400. The car I’ve always wanted and now I have it. I rule!
I decided to start this blog thing to keep a record of what I do, what I spend, what I mess up and what I learn about my car. I tried doing the same thing with the BSA I was restoring, but came up short, so wish me luck.
On Thursday, I was able to win the bidding on eBay for the car of my dreams. The bidding ended at $8211.14 and would have been cheaper if one asshole hadn’t kept upping it on me. Oh well, it’s worth every penny of what I paid, considering that a crusty, rusty rolling frame with no motor goes for around $3-4000 and the motor itself runs about the same. Here’s what caught my eye and stole my heart:
I suckered my buddy Joe to drive the 160 miles each way on Saturday morning with me (we had to leave the house about 5:30am). We picked up the car ran it around a little and I was both scared of it and impressed. There were things that were much better than expected, and some things that were worse – tires especially. The guy I bought it from noticed that I was a little put off by the tires, so he kicked some cash back to me and made it an even $8000. I was down for it and after a gas run, we were on the road.
The bird drove great on the highway and I was smiling the whole four hour drive back to Indy, except when we would pull in for gas and have a tough time starting it, and it started idling high and flooding it. I was starting to get really worried at this point, that I had just gotten scammed or something, since I know a little about motors, only whatever theory can be brought over from motorcycles. We stopped by a Pep Boys and I bought my first part for the car, a replacement air filter for about 11 bucks (total cost of car $8011). It was definitely needed since the old filter looked like a used cigarette filter, but over the next few hours of riding it around, didn’t really seem to help.
In the end, after a few grumpy swears and a few sweaty beers, we found the problem – a sticking throttle valve dumping too much gas into the engine constantly, which was flooding it and making my afternoon a pain. Lesson #1 learned – Always carry around a can of carb spray and a decent tool kit.
Over the weekend I also made my very first modification to the car. I replaced the stock nut that was holding down the air filter with a wingnut, since I was taking it on and off more than a excitable stripper.
Unfortunately, the gas gauge doesn’t work, so I rounded out the weekend by running out of gas a block from the house, and pushed the car down our alley. Of course, I’m used to driving a 1999 Tacoma 4-cyl, so I never think about running out of gas, ever. Lesson #2 learned – If you think you can make it another day without stopping for gas, be prepared to push.
