SeventhSon

Tiny steps, tiny steps. One night, one broken off bolt comes out. Now I know why guys tear cars down to the frame and build back up. Just wreck all the nuts and bolts out, fix the rust, paint and start rebuilding. I never expected to be bogged down with rusty bolts putting up such a fight, but I am. As I said earlier today, the goalpost seems to be moving further away. That's OK though, I'll just revise the plan - make adjustments. Hope I can keep the goal in sight. Bolt extractors, what can I say. I've bought several in the last couple of weeks, most of which have been of little use. Two stand out though, the Grip-Tite sockets and the Craftsman Stud Extractor I bought today just for that broken off bolt at the rear of the left side exhaust manifold. That worked pretty well, gripped the stud and brought it out. Of course, now it won't let go of the stud - I'll have to get that stud out before I can use it on the other couple of broken off bolts I have. I had my doubts about the Grip-Tite sockets, but they came through. I was surprised, they grabbed the worn out bolt heads and brought most out. A couple were (are) too worn down, so I get to have fun grinding those down. Ah well, I'll just look forward to the day when I can start putting new bolts back in.

Thanks Bleach, I'm looking forward to the day I can bolt those manifolds on. The goalpost seems to be moving further away though! One step at a time... Roger, you're right, I can never envision using those manifolds again, but you never know!

Phew! What a weekend! I thought I would be able to devote most of the two days to the Avanti but the garage door opener that started to act up early in the week intruded on my fun for the weekend. So, I spent most of Saturday installing a new unit, only to have an issue with the new opener motor. So, I put all the tools away and called it a day - didn't even touch the Avanti. A new day brought a new perspective and plan, off to Sears I went and got a new motor assembly. I threw that in and we were in business. After a break for lunch and a visit to The Home Depot I finally got to work on the Avanti. I removed the transmission mount nuts so as not to put any stress on the mount when I jacked up the motor to remove the motor mounts. I removed the lower nut on the left side motor mount, then tried to remove the upper nut. No dice. The whole motor mount was turning. After a while of that fun I decided to jack up that side of the motor and work on getting the exhaust manifold off. Since the motor was jacked up on the left side I was able to gain just enough access to the one manifold bolt I couldn't get to the other day. I got that one out! One left to go - I continued grinding on that until the bolt head was gone. Then I grabbed a giant digging bar and worked the manifold loose (there were 2 studs, 1 broken off and the other ground off still holding on). After some time wrestling with it the manifold finally cried "Uncle" (not really, just a figure of speech). I took what she would give me and was happy to get that - the tiny victories these days seem like huge wins at this point.

Oh, sorry, didn't realize that's what you meant. I hadn't thought of that - I definitely will search those out because nobody should have to go through what I have been to get those bolts out! Thanks for the info Paul.

Paul - thanks for the info. I'll look into the stainless steel nuts and washers - I was thinking about using the brass nuts that came with the flange repair kit (which I won't be needing now!). Stainless is always better, I'm sure.

Brian - that's funny about the bumper jack. You jogged my memory on that one, I do remember you guys doing that. I remember that old block and tackle too - we pulled the engine out of Jean and Hal's '67 Caprice with that - hooked up to an aluminum extension ladder! In the barn - cold as the Arctic! I'll let you know about that hoist - I might take you up on that heat riser spacer also. I was reading this article (I can post the link later) by a man with the last name Erb. Not sure if he's related to John Erb or not, but he talks about the heat riser being unnecessary. If anyone is interested they can google "Dodge Pilothouse heat riser debunked" That will probably get you there until I can link the article.

Thanks Roger - you have that eye for detail and noticed that. I was sort of alarmed when I took the manifolds out of the box, I thought one of them was wrong. A quick trip to the garage laid my concerns to rest - the parts match. Now, if I could just get the old ones off....

Thanks Tom - I learn something new every day from folks like you. I hadn't heard of the Jet Hot coating before - I'll check out your restoration site. Thanks for writing! P.S. I love the '59 Buick - great car!

Scott - thanks for your encouragement and reading about what I'm doing. It means a lot to have folks like you providing moral support, because as you probably know, it can be daunting at times. I sure hope those motor mounts go in "easy". Thanks again for your comments!

Finally, a couple of things I would like to accomplish this weekend (after I replace a garage door opener). The motor mounts, and freeze plugs would be nice to have done by Sunday night. Also, since I was going to clean up the water jackets, I thought I would get a new water pump to install when (and if) I ever get to the topside of this car.

I contacted Nimesh Solanki the other night about the fuel return line and asked him if that tiny little line was original. He said it was, 1/8 inch from the factory and having it keeps the engine from vapor lock and also provides pressure relief. I read something about that early on in unimogjohn's "Avanti Refresh" thread, someone said something about when the car is at W.O.T. (wide open throttle) the fuel pump has to have pressure relief or there will be power loss. And we can't have that, can we? So, I stopped by the store tonight and picked up a roll of 3/16" tubing, 25 feet long, with which to construct a new fuel return line since mine is toast. I also picked up a quart of B&M Trick Shift (regular, NOT synthetic) to put in the supercharger. Nimesh told me a few weeks ago to use that - it's better than the usual F type fluid.

Here are the NOS manifolds. Sweet, eh? I just hope I can get the old ones off without resorting to the engine hoist my brother Brian has. The thought has crossed my mind a few times in the last few days - I can't bear the thought of pulling this heavy ass motor, though.

Man, I can't bear to hear the words "engine hoist" with this car. I hope I can loosen the transmission mount bolts, unbolt the old rubber motor mounts, and jack the engine up just enough to slip the old ones out and the new ones in. I remember doing that with Dad's Hawk, hope it'll work the same with the Avanti. I'll probably just get a new heat riser and stick it on there, just so it's all original. First though, a call to Dave Thibeault is warranted, for his thoughts on it. I have to talk to him anyway about getting new wheels and exhaust - maybe I can order that stuff and pick it up at the York meet. Thanks, I may be contacting you about that heat riser spacer!

Ah, I knew if I posted that I wanted to delete the heat riser I might get some informative replies. Maybe I should re-think that (I was trying to save the $65 for a new unit), and I probably will go ahead and order one from Studebaker International in the coming weeks - probably best to put the car back to the way the engineers designed it. Especially after reading that Wikipedia article that was mentioned above (thanks rocktown and Roger). Yes, Bleach, I will post pics of those NOS manifolds tonight when I get home.

Not much to report - another slow night working on the exhaust manifold bolts. I managed to grind off 1 and a half bolt heads, not really grind off, more like cut off, with my Dremel like tool. It's the only thing I can get in the tight spots with. Before I go any further on the manifolds, though, I think I may use the manifolds as "jacking points" on the engine when I replace the motor mounts, which I think I'll try tonight. On an up note, I received the NOS exhaust manifolds on the stoop yesterday - they look nice! I was asking brother Brian about his but then I thought, "Jeez, why ask him to rummage through all his parts boxes and then if he still has them they may need the flange bolts replaced like mine." Plus, the NOS ones were very reasonable, so I went ahead and got them. Glad I did because they are very nice pieces. Now I have to find a spacer for the heat riser - I'm going to delete the heat riser from the setup because I don't think it's necessary. From what I have read it is only put there to stop carburetor icing, and I don't plan on driving the car in the sub-freezing temps. No pics to post this morning - hopefully I'll have lots from this weekend, as I plan on putting in a lot of time on the car over the next couple of days. After I replace the garage door opener.....

Hey Richard - I'll have to slap another coat on and see if it turns black. Even though it doesn't (or hasn't) turned black it provides a nice surface for the top coat. The test areas I did look nice - can't wait to do the whole frame!

Wow, I'm glad mine wasn't that tough! I can't wait to see what awaits me on the other side of those freeze plugs. Actually, I can wait....

Hmmm - I can't count anymore, looks like 6 and 1/2 bolts....did I lose one somewhere? I'll have to recount tomorrow night.

Well, the work creeps along. I had planned on running to Sears at lunch, then running home and trying to extract some bolts from the exhaust manifolds. Then I got the call - the garage door won't work again. So, I rush home, work on the opener - it works fine when I use the hard wired switch, no luck with the remote or the Homelink connection in the car. I rigged it up to use the hard wired switch for now - probably just put a new unit in as this one has just about run through its useful life. So, tonight, after an hour and a half I removed a total of 7 and 1/2 bolts from the exhaust manifolds. 4 to go - a tough 4 to go...

Man, you gotta love an orange small block Chevy motor!

Not a good night for Avanti progress. When I arrived home tonight I was greeted by a balky garage door opener. Balky, as in inoperable. On the side of the garage with the only operable car in it. So, that meant I had to work on that before I could commence work on the Avanti. I took the housing cover off the garage door opener and fiddled around with the innards. The gears looked a little dry - then the main gear fell off onto someone's car (I am SO glad that 1) she told me to put that old blanket on top of her car and 2) the gear was plastic). I put everything back together and tried it out. It hardly worked. I took it apart again and greased the gears, then put it back together again. It works! The balky gear gets the grease! By then most of the time for Avanti fun had passed. I still tried, and failed, to get anything accomplished on a) removing the right side block drain and removing any exhaust manifold bolts. So, I have decided to go to Plan B as far as the exhaust manifold bolts go. Now, what did I do with that grinder.....

Don, thanks for checking in and watching all the fun I'm having! I can't help but wonder what was going through someone's mind when they allowed a perfectly good engine to cook itself - typically one gets a fair amount of warning that an engine is heating up, especially when it really heats up. But, as we in the family know, there are other issues at play there. Ah, well.... My Avanti, according to the "build sheet", was sent from the factory to a buyer in Plattsburgh, NY, on Lake Champlain (explains the beginning of its rust problems). Apparently it was sold to a doctor. Then it ended up in the hands of an Air Force officer who was apparently stationed in South Carolina, then Texas. Then, it ended up in a man's collection in southeast Texas on the Gulf of Mexico. From Lake Champlain to the Gulf of Mexico, with many adventures (and a few secrets) in between.

Time to get after this freeze plug situation. I threw a bucket under the radiator petcock and let it drain while I got under the back end of the car and attached the rubber fuel line from the tank to the fuel line. After finishing that the bucket was nearly full so I emptied it into a large plastic container and continued draining the radiator. After that finally stopped (a lot of coolant in this system!) I moved under the car and removed the block drain plug on the left side, poked a scratch awl through the crust and drained the block. It drained green coolant until the end, then the rusty water started coming out. I have a feeling I'm going to see a lot of rusty water in the next few days. I tried the right side block drain plug but it rounded off. Of course. That would be too easy, to have both drain plugs come out with no trouble. Oh well, tomorrow's another day! I'll get it then....

You know, that's a funny (or sad) thing about this car. Wherever it spent 25 years sitting it must have had its left side to the source of moisture. Whether it was the Gulf of Mexico or a river or some source of moisture, it was to the left of this car, because everything on the left side of the car is beaten by rust. I was comparing the control arms - the lower control arms are specific to each side, they have a certain "cant" to them. The upper control arms, to the best I am able to tell, are identical, and I wanted to put the control arms back on the side they came off of. Just because. And I thought, "How will I tell which is left and which is right after I paint them?" The answer came to me pretty quickly - the left side control arm has much more pitting than the right.

Well, last night I tried to remove the exhaust manifolds (cue record needle scratching across a LP). It was what is known as a non-starter - all the bolt heads have been reduced by rust down to a size less than 9/16. No surprise there! So, I decided to fool around with the fuel line hookup at the tank, which I have left undone while I had fun with the suspension, etc. No deal there either, as I have the wrong size fuel line - the main fuel line being 3/8" (!). Man, that sucker's pulling some fuel out of that tank! So then I decided to check out the fuel return line that runs from the fuel pump back to the tank. A tiny little line, probably about the diameter of a brake hydraulic line. Which brings me to the question of the day: is that the correct line size for the return line? I'm going to replace it as it is rusted through - it broke as soon as I started fooling around it, dripping gas out (yep, there's still fuel in the lines, apparently). I just want to put the correct size line back on so all the pressure ratios stay in line. There are a couple of pictures of pieces of the line below. I ordered some bolt extractor sockets, along with a freeze plug installer - should be here soon. I have plenty to do while I'm waiting for them.