Bumping into some free time.

First, I would like to thank all who sent their compliments on Old Biddy’s “blog card”! So nice to know that folks appreciated our holiday greeting and we appreciated all the responses! I joke around at our house and say that I install a revolving door in place of our front door on Christmas Eve and put the regular door back in place New Year’s Day. We get many visitors who come and go through our house this week every year. When I did manage to catch a break on Thursday, I decided to do something nice for Old Biddy for Christmas.

I had to work on her rear bumper because it has been getting in the way and has been moved around about thirty times since it arrived two months ago.

The bumper had the same wire wheel treatment, followed by priming and chrome paint, followed by chrome polishing with Nevrdull that was done on the front bumper. The original overrider/bumperettes were in bad condition.

 I found a nice pair from Arizona on eBay so I bought Old Biddy a Christmas present. They just needed to be polished and have new rubber strips made.

Here is Old Biddy before her bumper.

Here she is with the bumper and overrider/bumpettes installed.

At least something was done this week! Next week is a new year. Let us hope for some more good times on this project.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Happy Holidays!!

Merry Christmas to you from Old Biddy and her family!

Thank you for visiting!

Toddy

A week like every other.

All focus has been diverted away from things I would rather be doing this week. But when I had a quick chance to pay attention to Old Biddy some cool things happened.

I made another visit to Chris’s because there were a couple minor decisions that had to be made on the motor. He installed the flywheel using an interesting process of heating it in his oven then sliding it in place.

The timing chain cover and pulleys were put on and all timing and balancing marks were aligned. Chris assured me that the engine will run smoother and stronger than new.

He also attached the oil lines and cranked the engine to read the oil pressure. Pressure is a touch high but so far so good!

The head is going back to have the combustion chambers ported out a bit more because the compression is a touch too low.

While waiting for the head, he started to rebuild the carburetors. The SU HS2s are dirty but in good condition.

He should have the motor ready to start in a few days. On my end, I finally borrowed John’s engine crane! May the body lifting commence!

All I want for Christmas is a small, uninterrupted chunk of time!

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Fabricating a story.

This month has been crazy busy! Poor Old Biddy sadly looks at me every day before I go to work and begs for my attention. So I gave her what little I could this past week and a half.

I had to fabricate a lifting bracket out of a bed frame rail (angle iron) and attach it to the firewall so we could lift the car up and remove the sub-frame. I measured twice and cut once with a hacksaw.

I brought it out to the car to re-measure both holes. My wife held it onto the firewall...

...while I crawled inside to mark the holes.

Then I made a futile attempt to drill a 5/16" hole through the hardened steel by hand.

I decided to take it to the high school shop were our friend, Daryl, teaches to use the drill press instead. I also took the rear bumper to remove the extra metal and overiders. I never used a right angle grinder before. All I can say about the experience was...COOL!

The bumper was stripped of the extra metal. I probably will not have a chance to work on its preservation until January, but at least it is ready and waiting now.

And I brought the angle iron home and temporarily installed it in place. Now the lifting crane can be brought here either on Wednesday or Friday this week.

At this point in time, I do not know if I will make my 2011 New Year's Resolution goal of having the engine rebuilt and installed, and having Old Biddy standing on all four wheels. Stay tuned as the drama unfolds!

Thank you for visiting!
Toddy

Finishing the brake rebuild operation

Now that Thanksgiving is just a memory, we can finally settle down and do some more work on Old Biddy. The two projects which still lingered over my head were to get the calipers rebuilt and to work on fabricating the angle iron lift bar.

Since my workshop is finally cleaned and reorganized, John came over to help with the calipers. I felt like one of Santa’s elves working with him!

After we cleaned out the old rings and scraped the rest of the rust out, I was delegated the job of using the brake cleaner…lucky me! Notice that the mating surfaces were carefully polished.

John reinstalled new rubber rings and gently tapped in the metal locking ring with a 7 ounce hammer.

Then we squeezed the piston into the caliper with my vice, which is a two person job since my vice is not bolted to the bench. (Long story!)

In accordance with the “Book of Highly Exalted Words”, here is John torqueing the caliper back together.

Rebuilt at last! They will just have to be degreased before they get repainted their original black. The new pads, clips, shims, and pins will be installed after the calipers are in place on the car.

John brought the angle iron (an old bed frame rail) for me to fabricate the lifting bar. I will get to it on Friday.

At this point in time, it is crucial that I concentrate on getting the front sub-frame removed. All the planning and prep and forward progress that has been done up to this point rests solely upon this step. The front suspension, motor, steering rack, and radiator installation (etc…) will be very difficult to do with the sub-frame in place. Wish me luck!

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Braking apart the calipers

This week was very busy but I did manage to squeeze in a couple free hours to do some work on Old Biddy. Since he has more tools than me, John figured that it would be easier to disassemble the front brake calipers at his house and to reassemble them here at home. So up to John’s I went with the brakes.

The bolts holding the halves together were stuck. Nothing that a vice and a little torque could not fix.

After taking out what was left of the brake pads, we thought that the pistons were going to be frozen in place.

I read somewhere about using compressed air (instead of brake fluid under pressure) to “pop” the pistons out. It worked GREAT!!

It was a relief to see that the pistons were in good reusable condition. They just have to be cleaned up before the rebuild operation takes place.

Here are all the parts that came out of the calipers. One of the main reasons the “car didn’t have good brakes” (as the guy who sold me the parts car stated to me.)

I also had a chance to swing by Chris’s to drop off the timing chain cover and the starter. The block has been mated to the transmission.

It looks like jewelry! Check out that nicely painted oil filter housing (if I do say so myself)!

Besides his pride in his craftsmanship and attention to details, one thing that I have always admired about Chris is his straight forward honesty. He has painstakingly labored over this motor more than we both thought that he would. But, he is not ready or in a hurry to finish it until it is finished correctly.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Progress in slow motion

A lot of work was done this week but there is not much to show for it because it was more sanding, priming and painting. Time was a rare commodity but I did what I could when I could.

The brake calipers took a couple days to clean up and prime. They were a rusty mess!! I found out that they were originally black…thus black shall they be again.

As I was cleaning them, they literally crumbled apart.

I have now received all the necessary NOS and replacement parts to rebuild the calipers (as I cross my fingers and hope the pistons are still good.) Now I need to find the time to do it.

I finally got around to restoring the timing chain cover. I just need the time to take it down to Chris who is waiting for it.

I started to make a template out of a cracker box for some angle iron that will act as a lifting bracket. We will need that so we can lift the car body with an engine crane to remove the front sub-frame.

I hope to finish the bracket by the end of the week. The next two weeks are going to be crazy busy!!

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy