Avanti R2, 1963, refresh

One funny thing that happened. After the judging, the Head Judging came back with a suggestion. He showed us how to roll up the back top straps so they do not flap about when the car is run with the top up, and it also looks more presentable for judging. Alice now has a new job to do.

And a couple of pics of that the judges do best, judging.

Hi John,

It was great meeting up with you on the show field on Saturday. I was one of the many forum members to make a point of meeting you and your wife. My brother-in-law, Cliff, was with me and will be a new follower of this blog. The car looked great (as did the owners in period costume) and I am sure did well in the judging. Thanks for posting all of the pics and good luck with the Jag today.

Phil

John- Don't know how I missed you on the show field but it is my loss. Meeting you and having my second year at Hershey friend see the show for the first time were mainly why I went over there so I was disappointed a little. But the cars were stunning! Some really good brass there, less big classics than usual I thought and some great HPOF in the back. I talked at length with the guy with the '13 Stude model 35 in HPOF, loved the restored garbage truck near it in commercial and the small blue bus. The guy was in full driver's costume and made a beautiful restoration look even better even if he felt a little foolish like he told me.

About the only thing I saw that did not impress was the gray Avanti. Nice car just did like the Avanti in gray, had never seen one before. Being a flea market rat I love having the old cars cruise the fields. This year the '10 Rambler and John McAnliss '12 Loco were my favorite drive by's. I want to take the '12 or '13 some year just to do that! Did I mention I love Hershey?....... Can it go two weeks next year???

It is Sunday, PM, October 12th. Just got home from the all British Car Show. Well attended with lots of interesting and well presented cars. I will post pics tomorrow. Started raining at the end of the show so drove home in a light rain.

Alice did good again this years. A first place in class. Way to go Alice!

One special car that was there was a MGA race car. I was impressed with the restoration to include the light on the fender so you could see it at night, and the little light on the front bumper to alert the crew that the driver was coming into the pit on the next lap. Just too cool.

Here are the pics of the British Car Show. Hope that you can id most of them. I really liked the MGC.

And more cars.

There were 141 pre-registrations. Lots of cars came in un-registered. There must have been over 200 cars. A very nice turnout.

This series of pics has our boot/tool display. Only a handful of the cars had their tools displayed. Ours received a lot of good comments.

Here are the final pics from the show. The two top awards were won by Jaguars. Jake Keesler won the Mayor's trophy and 3rd place in class for this black XK120 OTS. Dave Hofstadter won the British Embassy Best Car award and 1st place in class for his Jaguar E type. Both are members of the Jaguar Club of North America, National Capital Region. Thought I better give my club a little recognition.

We are spent from all the work of the weekend. I will clean both the Jaguar and 23 McLaughlin Buick tomorrow. I like to get them ready for their next outing.

It is Monday, October 13th PM. Just got a note from David Coco/Trimacar that the 23 McLaughlin Buick had received its AACA National First Junior Award. We are honored and happy. Looking forward to getting it to more National shows in the future. And we know that some things have to be done to improve the car. David, ready to do the side curtains?

Spent the morning unpacking from the weekend and cleaning both the Jaguar and the McLaughlin Buick.

I also received the battery relocation kit from Summit Racing. Looks good and seems to be of very high quality. Here are pics.

I decided to check the battery on the Avanti one last time before I embark on the relocation effort. The 3EE battery reads 12.6 volts on the meter. Turned the key and the solenoid barely clicked. I put in an old, like ten year old, tractor battery that still holds a charge. Hooked it up and the Avanti roared to life. So it is confirmed, the 3EE battery is dead, gone, kaput.

On another note Alice fell in love with a British car at yesterday's show. So it looks like we are on the hunt for one to restore. Here is a pic.

John:

Congrats on your first place AACA Junior award. I know for a fact that your '23 McLaughlin has come a long way from the first day you purchased it. You are also to be congratulated for all of the work you have put into it. I know you had fun doing it.

Oh, and by the way. They are never completely restored. There's always something.

congratulation on the first junior and good luck finding a Morris woody.

Al

Congrats on the First Place! And good that the Avanti problem is just a dead battery.

John:'

Congratulations! It is nice to see that all your hard work has paid off. Just don't forget to roll those straps!

Larry

John, we have a friend up near Knoxville, Tn. ( Larry Newberry ) that fools with "little cars" and knows where almost anything is for sale. He used to have a Morris Woody that was an old street legal Baja Race car, and has had many more. If you are interested, you can contact Larry at www.microcarlot.com . Neat, helpful, interesting fellow that LOVES all small cars ! (Don't assume he doesn't have or know of one if it doesn't show on the site.) He used to tease me about our 63 Mini saying it was a big luxury car compared to some of his, ha !

Congrats on the First Junior! You have a great car...side curtains here we come (OK judges, not proper side curtains, what, 10 point deduction from the 400??)

It is Tuesday, October 14th, late AM. Have the Avanti up on jack stands so she is nice and secure all the way around. Time to decide how I am going to run the hot wire from the battery in the trunk to the starter solenoid. I am going to mount the battery on the passenger side of the trunk for weight distribution. Fits good in a little cubby hole just behind the wheel well. And can still get to the spare tire if need be.

Ran the red wire across the rear body brace and then beside the fuel lines. Did not like that, somehow fuel and sparks don't mix. So I am going to run it along side the frame on the passenger side, go up by the heater motor and then tuck it in behind the main wiring harness and cross over the firewall to the solenoid. I will post more pictures as progress is made. Right now we are waiting on a huge thunderstorm to pass thru the area.

Here is where the battery box is going.

Well...It takes a lot of space into that small trunk! Hard also to do some maintenance to the battery, for example to control the water level. Maybe with a mirror?

How do you attach that black box to the body? If there are internal bolts/screws, you will not be able to put the battery in!

Roger, the box is attached to the floor by a bracket, which goes through the floor and fastens to the floor. The top does come off for inspection. Yes, it will be a pain to check on the battery as I will have to unbolt it from the floor and move it out. So I have decided to buy a new Optima battery. It is sealed so nothing to check, and it should last ten or so years. Also i will not have to put in a vent line so one less hole in the trunk area. I realized that my spare batteries were made in 2005 so their life is limited. To be on the safe side just ordered new. The battery will be here on Thursday.

Update. Measured several times and drilled holes through the battery box and the floor to hold them together. I was surprised somewhat to discover the fiberglass floor is for the trunk. They sent me huge washers for the mounting rods so I do not think that it will be a problem. Plan on running the cables tomorrow.

Still Tuesday, PM. Now that the car is up on jack stands I can get under it and look at the oil and power steering leaks at the front of the engine. All I can say is that the car is bleeding to death.

I am going to clean up the front end tomorrow and then see about replacing the power steering pump (have a rebuilt unit), the power steering hoses (have them also) and the timing cover case gasket and crankshaft felt oil seal (have that too). While doing this all I will remove and repaint the fan. It is currently black and should be orange. So I guess I am in for a few days of work in addition to the battery location. This is going to be exciting as the car is in the garage on a cement floor so I can use my new Lisle floor creeper. Looking forward to getting nice and greasy. Just got to love old cars.

Oh and while I have it up on stands may just go ahead and change the transmission fluid, filter and gasket (have them all too). So everything is all paid for and ready to go, just my labor is not covered. Oh well, it should be fun, or at least interesting.

It is Thursday, October 16th, early PM. Rained hard yesterday, 3.5 inches, so I did not do any car work. I was too busy making sure all the drains were working.

This morning I called LeBaron-Bonney and ordered a yard of the brown wool carpeting for the back passenger area of the 1923 McLaughlin Buick. I will fit it to the car and then take it to David Coco so he can sew on the piping that needs to go around it. This is the last interior project that needs to be done in order to make the car correct interior wise.

I also made hotel reservations for the AACA Tidewater Region Spring Meet in Virginia Beach, VA. We had so much fun at Hershey decided to see if the 23 can receive a Senior Award at the meet. Besides it will be great to spend some time at the beach. The meet is at the end of April.

I am waiting for the Optima battery to show up for the Avanti. Should be here about 5 PM today. I did some cleaning of the engine bay, but with all the components still on the car it is futile. I will get the new battery in the trunk, run the wires and start up the car to make sure everything works. Then will start pulling components to hopefully stop some of the oil and transmission/power steering leaking. Lots of stuff on the front of the engine. Going to try to leave the hood on, but it may have to come off. The cost of the carpet and shipping will be approximately $120.

I need a new grounding point for the battery near the trunk area. I selected a welded bracket on the rear of the frame itself. The bracket is for the rear sway bar connection. It had an extra hole in it so cleaned it up down to bare metal, and put a bolt and washers through it. This is were I will mount the negative cable.

Here are a couple of pics. One of the mess on the garage floor, which I had totally cleaned yesterday. And of the negative cable attachment point.

John, good moves on the battery type and the location. I have a 6 volt Optima in the Anglia, silly looking, but they are great ! As for the ground cable, when we had our Pantera, I was fortunate enough to become friends with a local gentleman in Alabama that had been one of the "big wigs" at Ford's Sheffield, Alabama aluminum plant as well as one of the writers for Pantera shop manuals ! Paul told me immediately upon looking into my engine compartment that I should be having minor if not unusual starting issues. I asked him why after confessing I had, and he said that there should also be a ground strap fastened to one of the starter mounting bolts since the battery and its regular ground were so far away (up front in the "hood" compartment). He was absolutely spot on ! Might consider this IF you have any slow or hot-start issues. I also immediately put one on the Tiger we had then too, as it's battery was factory mounted in the trunk....guess what ? It was a better starter too ! Coincidences ? Perhaps, but a cheap, easy, immediate improvement on both those cars.

Different topic, different response.... About your car leaking.... our Avanti leaked a bit too, and was never totally stopped, but during the same time period, we had a 55 T-Bird I had bought for Karen that was possibly the champion leaker of all time ! It was an excellent, good driving, easy starting, reliable vehicle, but honestly, I think even the chrome, wiring, glass, paint, along with ALL mechanicals leaked something on that thing from one end to the other and the width of the vehicle ! We had cardboard, kitty-litter, and blankets under the cardboard trying to keep everything "sopped" up ! I should have tried to get a contract with the county to supply a fresh coat of oil on asphalt roads, Ha !!! My Harley's always "marked their spot", but the Bird wanted to mark it's acreage ! We learned quickly NOT to park it on the grass....

Still Thursday, but PM. The big brown truck pulled up and dropped off the Optima battery. Looks great and it fits the box perfectly. Am a happy camper. Hope to have it in the car tomorrow.

I was thinking. The negative cable is connected to the engine. If I connect it to the frame will that have the same effect, or do I need to put a ground strap from the engine to the frame? Remember, the Avanti body is fiberglass.

Note: John, thanks for the input on the ground strap. I will measure and get one. In fact I just ordered one from Amazon, less than $10 to my door. It is a AC Deldo unit, 18 inches.

on my Avanti and several Corvettes, i found that there is no such thing as too many grounds on a fiberglass bodied car!

the starter and engine ground to frame are great ideas. i'd also coat a lot of dielectric grease on the bare ground for the battery to prevent rust and acid build up...

Still, Thursday later still, and just picked up the mail. Received a letter from the AACA with a congratulatory note on achieving the First Junior Award. They enclosed a oval plaque that must be permanently mount to some place on the car. I put on some double back tape and put it on the glove compartment door for now. Looks pretty nice.

It is Friday, October 17th, PM. Going to have a stiff drink. Done with battery installation on the Avanti. Took most of the day to do the best job I could do. Drilled holes in the battery box to fit the battery, drilled holes in the floor for the wires. They are located behind the battery box so you do not see them when looking into the truck. Everything looks good. Nice and neat.

When I got done, I turned the key, AND she fired right up. No ground strap needed. But will put one on when it comes in the mail.

Here are a few pics. I was able to route the red/hot wire through several holes in the frame and then over the brackets that hold the hog troughs, and then I went straight up by the fan motor and across the firewall. Everything worked out great. I used every inch of the 20 feet of cable. I still will wrap some of the red wire in the engine back so it does not stand out too much.

I am going to get it off of jack stands tomorrow and take it for a spin. Then going to back it into the garage so I have more room to work around the engine bay.

Have the 23 McLaughlin Buick out, letting the top get really dry. Checked the anti-freeze and it is fine. She is already for her winter slumber

It is Sunday, October 19th. A cool, but beautiful day. Started up the Avanti a few times to make sure the new battery in it trunk location was good to go. The engine fires right up every time. Twist the key and she roars to life.

I got a email from Suzy and Mike. They are good friends and have several cars. One is a 1923 American touring car. I know that it is a First Place National Awards Winner several times. I believe it to be the only one know to exist. She wrote this morning that the car "Bud" received the Rockville, MD Mayor's and Council Award. This is a first place award. Here are the pics she sent me. I sent Suzy the link to the blog so she may tell us more about the car.

Yes, beautiful car, was in the Orphan Display and then parked in front of the stage when Mayor made presentations...very impressive...it was a fun show with lots of good people, and, uh, oh yeah, great cars too!

It is 34 degrees here this morning, brrrrrrr. It is Monday, October 20th, AM. Moved the white car trailer to it winter place in the pasture. Put the 1923 McLaughlin Buick away in it for the winter. The Jaguar is in the black car trailer and all set for its winter slumber. I am going to keep the Avanti in the house garage where I can work on it over the winter. Our car show season is over. We still have plans to take both the Jaguar and Avanti out during the fall. When they start salting the road, I put everyone to bed for the winter.

Monday! We have a report from Greg.

Another fast weekend. Another fast week.

Now that the weather isn't friendly for work in the tin annex on the hill, Avanti 5054 is almost ready for hibernation. Got to drain the water and flush with antifreeze, same for the old Dodge. Freezing isn't imminent, so there's time.

But now I can get back to the Matheson engine overhaul and perhaps a little progress on the 1910 Overland. Rob located another ignition coil for me to try on the make and break ignition for the Matheson. Comes at a good time when I'm about to close up the cylinders. I'll do some performance testing.

Saturday Barb and I ventured to the Rockville, MD car show. I'd sort of gotten Coco on the hook to display his '31 Pierce, and Rob had signed up with the '09 REO. Nice show, probably 300 cars, nice weather....a good time. Had the camera along but have no idea why I didn't take a single pic.

As for the Overland, the set of tires arrived, and in anticipation of getting them mounted, I took time to get the wheel rings prepared. These rings retain the tires on the rims and they appear to have been galvanize coated. I found a firm in Baltimore that does hot dip galvanizing , the rings were shipped on Wednesday, arrived Thursday and was notified on Friday that they were in the return mail. If they meet my expectations I'll broadcast the contact information.

As for this evening, to wind down I did work in some machining. After a conversation with Mitch, I decided to try his method of fixturing to pour the babbitt main bearings for the Overland engine. The die cast inserts provided by the manufacturer I hope to imitate by casting them in the aluminum crankcase.

All for now, time for some midnight chow."

=

Actually, 537 cars showed up at the Rockville show, everything from teens, twenties, thirties cars (although these were in the minority) to later American, foreign, and exotic....something for everyone....very nice show on a hilly field (they hand out wooden blocks for wheel chocks as you come in). Not real friendly for trailered cars but it worked, I didn't want to drive my Pierce on the Interstate, and it's a place that's hard to get to without an I-xx road....check it out next year!

October 3rd. Made it home. 1,100 miles with a drive time of 23 hours in two days. We bought the 63 R2 Avanti. Not as good as I had hoped, but better than I feared. It is a 46 year old car, and still all original. So we dickered a bit on price, struck a deal, and the old girl is ours. Original owner is now 90 and second owner 77. Color is a dark green, repaint from Maroon/Red. Interior has been resprayed black from Maroon.

The good: Complete, no missing parts from what I can see from a visual inspection. No frame or rail rust except the rear cross brace. 44K showing on the odometer. No body damage, bumpers are all in great condition, except missing one rubber on the front bumper corner. Interior looks great, but driver's seat torn due to age, everything is there including two good visors.

The bad: Does not run due to leak in cooling system and fuel disconnected. Did run three years ago before fuel leak. Has not been out of the garage for at least ten years. Missing only the front parking light lenses, cut out clear plastic as replacements. Supercharger disconnected as has different carb, supercharger has disconnected for 30 years. Have original carb for supercharger. Brakes non functional. Will need a re-paint. Some trim and hood off the car as previous owner decided to make some repairs, and then lost interest. Tires are new, but age cracking, will need to be replaced. Brakes are a big unknown, but really not an issue in the short term.

My current plan is really a short term one, get her running under her own power and drive her off the trailer.

Things to do first:

Driver's side window is off the track and will not go up, so that has to be immediately addressed.

Trunk does not latch, maybe just a stuck cable. Will investigate.

Determine location of coolant and fuel leaks. Repair as needed.

Put in a new battery, turn the key, see if she will start.

Then on to brakes.

Well that is it for this first real report, I am sure that I will find many other things over the next few days. Will keep you all posted. My goal is get a great mechanical driver before we tackle the paint and interior. Actually, she looks great as a survivor, but I doubt that we will keep her in such a condition. She deserves to be all cleaned up and looking good.

What a beautiful interior, it looks like it's in pretty good shape (this should be the easy part of your project). Good Luck, hope to see some more pics when your done!

Still Monday. The carpet arrived for the 1923 McLaughlin Buick. Pictures of it tomorrow. And the grounding strap for the Avanti arrived also. The Avanti starts like a rocket now with the new battery. Just turn the key for an instant and she roars to life. Such fun.

The MG Club posted a huge bunch of pictures of the Hunt Country Classic in which we participated. If you like British cars then these are for you. We got our picture taken twice that I could see. Not its best sides. http://www.mgcarclubdc.com/photos/hcc14.html

John - I know I have read that cold Cranking Amps don't make a difference as far as the power of the battery, but I'm not sure I believe that. So, a couple of questions: How many CCA's does your new battery have? And how long is the warranty?

I might have to get a stronger battery in the future - my Avanti cranks slowwww at first, gets a bit faster, then fires after ten seconds (that's after it has been sitting for a week or more). I would like a super powerful battery to put in it when this battery dies - I won't be moving it to the trunk though.

Chris, 800 cold cranking amps. 3 years full replacement.

I have had two of the 3EE batteries, the last one from NAPA, the first one was an Interstate. Both high end batteries. Both lasted exactly 25 months. "Houston we have a problem". So decided to just cut my losses and relocate the battery. Also the battery on the inner fender had caused the fender to split and was repaired a couple of times. I did not want that to happen again. So the Optima seemed like my best option. The remote location I chose is not easily assess-able so I wanted something that did not have to be checked every few months or so. I also did not want the battery outgassing inside the trunk.

It is Sunday, October 19th. A cool, but beautiful day. Started up the Avanti a few times to make sure the new battery in it trunk location was good to go. The engine fires right up every time. Twist the key and she roars to life.

I got a email from Suzy and Mike. They are good friends and have several cars. One is a 1923 American touring car. I know that it is a First Place National Awards Winner several times. I believe it to be the only one know to exist. She wrote this morning that the car "Bud" received the Rockville, MD Mayor's and Council Award. This is a first place award. Here are the pics she sent me. I sent Suzy the link to the blog so she may tell us more about the car.

yes, old Bud the American was made in Plainfield, NJ. One of the last to be made. These cars were made from 1916-1924 with a total production of 5,290 for all years. They were known as the "Balanced Six" since their weight was balanced to a fraction of a pound over each wheel. Made handling easier so driver could "smile the miles away". It was also known as the "smile car" for that reason, but some people think it is the smile car because of his bumper that looks like lips. ha! Anyway, we have had Bud 24 years. He is onery and the only one known. On the drive across the show grounds Sat. to get our picture up by the great house, Bud had to spin, fling mud, and make a rut. Leave it to Bud to leave an impression. I think he was put out that we would even ask him to go up that steep hill on soft ground. Pretty funny! We received all the original literature that came with the car new when we bought him. Even letters from the factory to the original owner, warranty booklet with coupons and all the manuals.

Thanks for the battery info, John. I'm sure mine will be going at some point - I've had it 31 months! It still holds a charge and starts the car, but it's just so darn slowww cranking. I will definitely look at different options - the reason the inner fender cracks is because the dang battery weighs almost 50 lbs.! Really made for a forklift or other industrial unit.

Chris, your battery sounds like mine did. I think you are on borrowed time. But then again, it still starts your car, mine did not.

It is Tuesday, PM, October 21st. Had to run into the local farm feed store this morning. The llamas and cats have to eat. We were about out.

Unwrapped the carpet for the 23 McLaughlin Buick. Looks good. Must be the end of the roll so they sent me almost two yards when I ordered just one. Only a couple of inches shy of 6 feet. Now I should be able to make a piece for the front too, but that would be incorrect. The carpet was $89 and the shipping was $20. The carpet is wood with a rubber backing. Looks to be of very high quality. Here are a couple of pics.

Raining hard here now and will be for the next couple of days so any cars work is slowing down for sure.

Still Tuesday PM and raining hard. It is suppose to turn into a nor'easter tomorrow with high winds and rain.

The FedEx truck pulled up this afternoon and handed me a box from the AACA. It is the First Junior National trophy. Wow, it is heavy, almost nine pounds. Very nice. Going to sit on the mantel for a long time.