Category Archives: Auto Body Work

SCCA Event 4/25/2010 Auto Cross Part II

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So the other cost I mentioned will be in the area of tires.

In this event I just ran with my street tires 255/50 ZR 16  BFG GForce Sport and stock rims (only chrome). There was a lot of tire spinning and some smoking.  The surface of the track was…well lets just say less the optimun..ok…fine…it was horrible.  (You could toss in a few cuss words in front of horrible and you wouldn’t be over dramatizing.)  It was black top, cracked, uneven and there was grass and weeds growing on the far end. The tires looked rough when I finished the 10 runs.  Too many more events (this was the second auto cross on these tires) and I think I’d have to replace them.

So that really means that to protect the street tires and the chrome rims, I really ought to have an other set of tires and rims.  Now you are talking money that many of us average guys aren’t going to spring for.  This is true for vette owners..tires are not cheap for the older vettes. Not so for my co-worker running his Civic, they are reasonable. 

Take my C4  the tires and the Wheels are uni-directional.  Not unusual for tires, but my 1984 C4 rims only go one way and are labeled left front, right front and the same for the rear.  I do have the original set of rims that I will eventually restore to the factory aluminum and clear coat, but right now they would for auto crossing.  But the rubber can run upwards of $700.00 and if I put racing rubber on it, according to SCCA rules it will change my class.

The last cost is the “I broke it cost.”  They could be just about anything on a car that’s racing.  Anything mechanical, brakes (oh..they will wear out a lot faster in auto cross…or at least the way I do it!!!!), undercarriage,  right down to the dreaded “cone damage”. (yeah…yeah….I know you aren’t suppose to hit them…I know the object of the race..but man did I kill some of them ‘good’..no doubt!!!)   I did no damage to the vette but I did see a Evo that took out a portion of his front air dam.

In fact the vette performed flawlessly, only problem was the driver.  I’ll get to that next blog.  You’ll laugh and I’ll give you my times and points and we’ll talk about PAX times and classes.

Thanks for reading.

Wrenchin’ Tip – Fuel Line Threads

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I’ve worked on the gas delivery systems in my Vettes and Mustangs.  This always involves removing  gas lines from the carb or throttle bodies and of course the possibility of leaks after re-installing them.  One of the last things you want is gas leaking here and there in your engine bay..NOT GOOD!

I’ve always use teflon tape to wrap the threads.

Teflon Tape on one of the Corvette’s fuel lines.

This helps seal the connection, and sometimes with older cars you need that was the threads aren’t bad enough to replace….errk…Getting new fittings and flaring the gas lines is sometimes necessary and can be a pain..but if threads are really worn, take the time to do that.  Yes..I know cutting the lines and get correct type hose and some clamps you’ll be fine…but it won’t look as good and since both of my car are trophy winners at car shows, I try to keep them looking professional.

Using the tape does have a of couple drawbacks.  It can form a lip around the gas line opening, partially blocking the flow. Additionally,  pieces can tear off during installation and get into the system.  So some companies offer a thread sealer in a tube, which is made of Teflon in paste form.  I’m using that next time I have to go into the fuel systems.  I know that Permatex makes some (what don’t those people make!?!?!!?!).  They call it thread sealant and it comes in different “models” like High Performance and High Temperature.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1970 Mustang – Update and Next Mini Project – Pillar Moldings

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My '70 Stang

The last I blogged about my Mustang I had finished up the installation of the new dash pad and replaced all the bulbs and cleaned up a few years of dust.

If you recall (well you don’t have to,  just go back and read the posts) I talked about planning and how I could have saved time by waiting to put new dash pad on (not cap, pad) until the pillar molding came, but I decided not too.  The molding came in today….so out with the old….

Old cracked and broken

And in with the new:

New
Mustang Unlimited

I have pretty good luck with Mustang Unlimted’s parts and service. I recommend them.  (No I don’t get paid for plugs or compensated.)

These will have to be painted which is very common with interior parts.  I even had to paint the replacement arm rest.  I have the paint and I’ll post up the entire process.

I finally got the exhaust manifold taken care of (I didn’t do it). But apparent when I had the custom exhaust with hooker headers created and installed, they didn’t use locketight and they loosed up with the vibration of daily and drag strip racing. The right side had to be replaced and the left side was just tightened.  Oh she sounds so much better.

Thanks for reading.  I’ll get the pillar molding replacement pretty quick.

Tim

Auto Factoids for 4/18/2010

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4/18/1955 Lincoln becomes a subdivision of Ford. 

1954-Lincoln

Here are a couple that I did not know.

4/22/1954 – Hudson and Nash merge to form AMC.

4/23/1987 – Chrysler buys Lamborghini.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Auto Factoids for 4/11/2010

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We have a couple big ones this week. 

4/13/1904   Cadillac plant burned to the ground.  More info on this site:   http://www.car-nection.com/yann/dbas_txt/Factq-s.htm 

Hey, on the same date in 1965 Pontiac produce car number 10 million!!  We miss Pontiac!! 

On a lower note, Volvo produced its first car on 4/14/1927 

1927 PV4

 

4/15/1924  McNally published its first road atlas. 

4/16/1908 Oakland began selling its brand of cars. 

I believe they actually began producing cars in 1907.

 

4/17/1969 Ford began selling the Maverick.  <cricket…..cricket…>  Come on..it was a good car and getting more and more collectible!!! 

wait…for it….wait…for it 

OH YEAH…..4/17/1964……Ford produced the MUSTANG!!!! 

Oh..wait..that's not a 1964...it's my 70!!!!

 

Oh..here ya go. 

1964 2+2 Fast back

 

Thanks for reading 

Tim

C4 Vette Valve Cover Gasket Replacement Part VI

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Ok..let me finish up blogging to you on this  event.  I had a read ask if it has really taken this long and the answer is No and Yes.  (I’ll explain the YES in a bit..it ain’t pretty!!!!)       

After find the correct bolts, wrestling the covers back into place was, I bolted them down.  Installed they looked pretty good.       

Check it out.       

Left side painted and installed. Still missing the emblem..right now

 

The only difficulty was aligning the holes in the cover and the gasket and the engine. Due to the lack of room to maneuver I wasn’t able to keep the gasket and cover holes aligned while wrestling them into place. I used two (small enough to slide into the threaded holes without damaging) phillips head screw driver to help keep them aligned and put the bolts in.       

Errrkk……whatever you do tighten them carefully…..let me spell that for you  (Mickey Mouse Club tune playing in my head)  C…A….R.(because you care about your car)…E…F….U…L…L…(cause you want to keep the oil full)…..Y…(because if you tighten too much on the 1984 C4 magnesium valve covers you’ll crack them and they can’t be welded, JB or other wise, and then you’ve got to find used ones, because aftermarket aren’t all that great)….Ok…end of Mickey Mouse Club song…and the end of one of the original valve covers….       

And in case you didn’t get the between the lines intention of the above Errrkkkk…I broken one.       

I wasn’t sure at first, my mind refused to process the sound so that I could be sure..it might have been a crack, or maybe I just crunched one of the plastic tubes covering a bundle of wires.  Yeah..that’s it…I sure (it might have been a crack though….crap!!…let me spell that for you…oh…never mind….just invision huge font type all in upper case, bolded and underlined.)       

I inspected the cover while it was in  place and I couldn’t see anything and said…ok.average guy.. with average skills and average budget..you have above average luck…at least today…at least that’s what I thought…or hoped.       

When that  happens the only way to tell is to either take the cover back off and inspected…that wasn’t going to happen…or let her run and build up the oil pressure and see what happens….that is what you’d normally do any way after replace the gaskets.       

Here she is running:  (includes bonus views of the injectors…I think they are pretty cool to watch.)       

<embed width=”600″ height=”361″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowFullscreen=”true” allowNetworking=”all” wmode=”transparent” src=”http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid299.photobucket.com/albums/mm296/timsweet2200/MVI_6967.flv“>  

http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm296/timsweet2200/?action=view&current=MVI_6967.flv 

Covers don’t look to bad…but they aren’t going to stay…because..there really was a crack…but it didn’t show up  by leaking on this run…it should up the next day when I took the car to work.  I checked it when I arrived (about a 15 minute drive) no leaking…drove it home and she started to run poorly and had no power…yeah….it was leaking…on to a spark splug….got home and a little puddle of oil formed under the car and…well lets just say as I replaced the tightening episode in my head the crunching noise…sounded a lot more like a crack..in fact it was very clear on the replay!!!! The little referee in my head….said ‘After reviewing the play..the ruling in the garage is over turned, and Tim is charged a time out and $400.00 fine for cracking the cover and the vette gets parked until the parts get here!’       

Here is the pick where the crack occurred.       

Yup...cracked!!!!

 

That was Monday (4/5/2010) fast forward to today new cover have arrived (chrome) and they’ll be installed today or tomorrow.  So Yes it was finished and now No it’s not.       

Thanks for reading.       

Tim

C4 Vette Valve Cover Gasket Replacement Part V

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I’m now at the point where I can re-install the valve covers.  I’ve painted them and cleaned up the gromets (for one of my vette buddies who was dismayed when the saw the interim pics).  

If you remember I had to remove a few things including vacuum hoses, spark plug wires, a/c parts.  In addition the bolts that hold the covers down had spark plug wire holders  and other brackets for hold wires.  

Brackets that would mount through with the bolt for the covers passing through.

 

Keep this in mind as I explain what I learned from my decision to use Fel-Pro gaskets. 

Ok..fine enough dramma..lets get to the lesson I learned (which is often learned the hard way when you have average skills and less than average experience). 

I am not smarter than the engineers at GM.  They knew what they were doing when the used permatex…it was all about the bolts.  Specifically, the length the engineers decided do use, or maybe it was the budget guys. They knew how to follow the build sheet. Here is the bottom line.  The length of the bolts supported the thin layer of the permatex and the brackets shown above and that was it. 

They did not support the thickness of the gaskets.  They were just under a 1/4 too short.  With the brackets and the Fel-Pro gasket in place barely two threads poke out, not enough to catch the thread on the engine.  errrk….When did I know this and what got into your head to do it anyway? 

Fare enough question.  I found out when I queried a couple of Corvette forums about what gaskets to use.  I got a lot of responses, everyone has an opinion..ya know!!!  But only one had actually done an 84 C4 and he said..if you don’t use permatex you are going to have to get longer bolts and BTW your bracket for the spark holders won’t fit.  So I knew this before  I picked up the valve covers (but not before I ordered the set from the supplier).  

Why I didn’t go with the permatex solution was the amount of space and jostling what I had to do when I took them out.  I was pretty sure getting them back in would be worse and the changes of wiping off the some of the permatex and messing up the seal, making the odds of redoing it high. 

Finding the longer bolt took some doing.  The auto parts store…yes..yes.. the same one that said they didn’t have anything but cork and when querying another employee show me what I and originally asked for..didn’t have the proper bolts.   The 84 C4 was all metric, bolts and nuts, you can even switch the digital the dash from US to metric.  The heads are 11mm the threads were 6mm and the pitch was 1/4. 

I ended up at ACE hardware and the only thing that would work and look good were the chrome.  Ok…average guy with average budget…warning..they weren’t cheap…I know that when the manger took me to the back of the store and showed me a stack of boxes that were padlocked shut.  They lock them up!!!!  They were over $2.00 each, washers were nearly a $1.00.  

So I decided on the chrome but they only had 7 bolts..I needed eight with washers as well, they only had 1 washer.  When did we as a nation have a shortage chrome???  Any way I went ot another Ace and the guy there didn’t have any, but tried to tell me the ones I purchased at the other ACE wasn’t correct.  He had the washers so I picked those up and traveled to the next ACE (they’re a lot like Walgreens..they’re on nearly every corner here in Tucson). 

Replacing the covers was about the same as removing them and while doing it I was very glad I didn’t use the permatex, most of it wouldn’t have made it on the covers or the engine.  I’m thinking at the GM factory they put the valve covers on before the AC and all the vacuum hoses and alternator…etc. 

Tomorrow I’ll  finish this up….well maybe…one more lesson was in store. 

Thanks for reading. 

Tim

Auto Factoids for 4/03/2010

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Later than usual in  the week, but I’ve been busy with the valve cover work.  So here ya go.

4/5 /1923 Firestone inflated the production of balloon tires.

4/9/1957 Lotus’ first single seat race car

Thanks for reading.

Tim

C4 Vette Valve Cover Gasket Replacement Part II

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Here the next installment of the removal of the valve cover.  There is very little room in this engine compartment, as compared to my 70 Mustang, and I had to remove a few things to just get the covers out.

But first a couple of mistaken assumptions I need to clear up.  GM did not use cork from in the factory for the 84 vettes.  They used Permatex sealer gasket maker.  I got that wrong.  Carrying on with that assumption as I viewed the old material in one of the videos, I suggested that the gasket had been replaced once before.  That was based on the previous assumption that the factory used cork..in fact, what you will see in the video (post that one tomorrow) is the original factory seal.  With 64k original mile, I’m guessing that is correct. (Learning is good…oh and don’t worry..I have one more lesson to share…..sigh)

These next photo shows how tight it is on the right side of the engine.

The black outline shows the span of the valve cover.  The white shows the pieces that have to be removed.

There are a couple videos coming up andlet me tell you that aren’t great… its tough to record with one hand and work with the other…oh…well…you’ll see.

This next video shows the air cleaner coming off and a vacuum hose.

This next video is more of the same.

errrk.. I’ve learned that this blog take a while for video to process so I’ll have more video loaded tomorrow….errrk.

Of all the parts I had to remove on the right side the worse (meaning it’ll cost me later) was the A/C electrical sensor.  You can see that in the picture above circled in white.  Yeah….I know why the garage wanted $700.00 to replace these…..

More coming up tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Reader’s Cars 55 Chev Pickup

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I love this.   Every now and then one of the readers of my blog will send a picture of their pride and joy.   

Jeff Applegate is co-worker  and he is the owner of this beautiful 55 Chevy 3100 pick-up.  This is a super looking truck.  It was converted from a 6 cylinder and now sports a 350 with dual exhaust.  The interior is mostly stock as it came from the factory.   

What you can’t see in this photo is the beautiful wooden bed that this truck has.  It’s a sight to be hold.   

I’ve ridden in this one and it can haul butt!   

This truck started out as a work truck for the University of Arizona, before Jeff and his brother got a hold of it.  What is extra cool is that Jeff also graduated from the U of A as well.  (A whole better than a year book and letter-man sweater!!!)  As Jeff described it “It was trashed”.  The truck had been used for exactly what is was purchased for “work”.  Jeff notes that the wooden bed was rotted out due to the harsh weather here in Southern AZ, the body was beat up pretty good and the straight 6 was plumb worn out.   

I’ve asked Jeff (a bunch of times) to sell it to me…and …well….let’s just say his response, once cleaned up for family viewing was “No”.   

Thanks for sharing the picture Jeff…Is No your final answer?  Yeah that’s what I figure!!!!   

Jeff Applegate's 1955 Chev 3100....NICE!!!