Eric W
-
Posts
1,026 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
4
Content Type
Forums
Gallery
Events
Everything posted by Eric W
-
Indianapolis Craigslist: http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/4288695915.html Runs, listed at $1500. Super? Salem Craigslist: http://salem.craigslist.org/cto/4281758594.html Runs, listed at $2000. Roadmaster.
-
For my own notes, I was cleaning up the generator brackets (2) and the elbow tube that mounts the water pump. All 3 of these had the "engine blue" paint on them. This came off with the cleaner I was using (brake cleaner).
-
Sorry, I'm on the newer side of selling on there. It won't let me change it now. I'll keep that in mind for the future.
-
Moving along on the hood... Before: During: The bombsight ornament serves to cover rivets for the cross-beam underneath... After: Found the bombsight/spear on eBay a while back. It needed a little straightening. Achieved that with some vise-grips padded with some aluminum scrap...
-
Another item surplus to my needs: http://www.ebay.com/itm/141170115320 Thanks
-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/141162994340 Some of you may have seen this in my "me & my" thread. Turning loose surplus trunk emblem parts. If you want some vintage plastic to experiment with making more clear, or this would upgrade what's on your car, or you just want a wall ornament for the "man cave", check it out. It will sell. Should've put this here sooner - just a couple of days left.
-
Dale - sent you a PM. Here's what I saw in a little-viewed ebay ad last week: Just this single photo where most people selling these put 5 or 6. Could be pretty bad on the other side... Plastic looks shot, but if there's pits in the chrome, it's not obvious. Took a chance. Worst case, I throw it back. Couple hours later with the Simichrome & tiny paint brushes: BAM! That's going on the car. Here's a little of how it went: I'm still going to put some flat black in between the side bars... Yes, the front face of the plastic was shot. Blasted as though from many years outside in blowing sand. Then I remembered I'd polished the headlights on my daily driver - you know, the same short-lived plastic headlights that all cars have now. 5 minutes with that stuff on the old plastic, and it was shiny between the larger pits. I'm not going for like-new perfection, but glossy between the larger pits is just fine. (Meguiar's Plastix) And I got one end of the stuck brake hose loose with some tube wrenches I picked up at the used tools place after a week or so of PB Blasting. The wrenches were cheaper than new, I only had to buy the 2 sizes needed. In picking through, I even found one of them made in the USA. The other end of that hose looks like it's headed toward's old-tank's cut-it-off-and-re-flare idea.
-
Ok, how to clear up chrome pitting quickly: Find 2 more on ebay. One with halfway ok plastic parts, the other with most excellent chrome. Though what you might not see so much fron these photos is the one with the good chrome had blue over-spray pretty much all over it. And the darkness on one end you can see in the bottom of the photo below - maybe it was stored in a greasy bucket of who-knows-what for a while. Fortunately that didn't affect the chrome on the outside, and it mostly cleaned off from the inside of the part as well. Since I had the paints, I went ahead and cleaned up and repainted the 2 that were used for spares. Now turning them loose via ebay to see how low-cost this re-do can be.
-
Beautiful car, ABV! For the brakes, I changed out the wheel cylinders on my '51 about a week ago. I bought this: http://www.harborfreight.com/7-piece-brake-tool-set-188.html The tool across the bottom of the photo is to remove and reinstall the big springs at the top of the brake that hold the shoes. The left end, with the cylinder and hook is to remove. The other end is to reinstall. Can take the springs off in 10 seconds or less. Put them back on - took me a couple of tries, but still very quick. Since you have to take these top springs off to spread the shoes to get the cylinder out, may as well take the 2 lower retaining springs (under the circular caps) off as well. For this, use the black tool in the Harbor Freight tool kit. Just press the tool over the cap, turn the cap until the slot in the cap is lined up with the pin and the cap and spring comes off. If you're lucky, it falls off. If not, it springs somewhere far and you have to go look for it. With those off, the pair of shoes can pull apart, out and drop down, now held to the car by only the parking brake cable. Though before you drop the shoes down, take a photo or make note of how the parking brake lever fits in there (above the axle, below the cylinder), especially the little tab on the spring on the forward end of that lever. Get the tab on the wrong side of the shoe, and the shoe does not want to go back in so easily. With the shoes down out of the way, pull the 2 push-rods out of the cylinder. Need to re-use these. Then the cylinder comes out 2 1/2" fasteners on the side you can't see, plus the brake line (probably 3/8"). While you have all of this off, about all that's left is the brake backing plate. May as well spray that down with the brake cleaner and wire brush. The idea is to keep any undesirable junk from making its way out to the drum surface. I also sprayed down all the springs, retaining pins, and caps - though all this is not very expensive to buy new. More than you might want to know, but if you have 1/2 hour: The video there goes through and does NOT use the drum brake tools, but just pliers and screwdriver. It can be done that way, but it also seemed like a good way to pinch a finger, scratch up the springs, or worse.
-
Ok, here it is: Starting point: Where I'm leaving it until maybe I run across some really choice plastic parts: I'll post the key to this transformation - I don't have the photos on this computer right now...
-
Anyway, I'm going to ruin the surprise of the finished product. Many hours of acetone & Simichrome (and no steel wool) later...
-
I missed Mike's (Roadmaster 75) other question - yes, hose replacement is on the list. Got the fronts done. The one in the middle of the car to the rears - the environment wasn't as favorable to allowing either end of that one to break loose (both end fittings of the hose rusted/corroded into the mating parts...). Got it soaking with PB Blaster... And plan to buy a brake fitting wrench before I just round off the little brake line nut... Though the thought has crossed my mind - get a wrench that can apply a huge amount of torque, and just break the head of the nut off...then it escalates to maybe an inline union to give an inch or so to work with & a new brake line end fitting... Also still working (probably too much) on the trunk emblem. The results are promising...
-
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/gms/4269724400.html
-
Thanks - I haven't tried anything else yet. Holiday is over. Will add pics when I have something to show.
-
I think I just found the "after" photo for my '51! What tires are those? The wideness of the whites is exceptional!
-
As far as I can tell, the metric feature is just the hex on the bleed screws. The threads to the pipes/hoses are standard pipe thread. These are new, not rebuilt.
-
So this thread doesn't give too much idea that all I'm doing is taking stuff apart & fixing up some small parts, I swapped out 3 of 4 brake wheel cylinders yesterday. Why 3? Cuz my jack stand collection at this point is only 3. I'll get some wheels/tires back on to set it down and get the 4th wheel. Wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Though the metric system has now invaded the vehicle. I went to try one of the bleed screws - 3/8 wouldn't fit. 7/16 - too big. 10mm...:mad:
-
Whatever this plastic is, it's impervious to acetone. I tried a small area. I could see it seep into the cracks. Then a while later, it had evaporated back out again without any noticeable change to the part. This isn't a surface issue. The plastic is maybe 0.2" thick, on average, and the outer 0.1" or so is cracked. So the outer surface is actually smooth and reasonably clear. But the idea of painting it with a clear coat - that might seep into the cracks similar to the acetone, and then cure there.
-
Trunk emblem was yesterday. Did the hood emblem today. Instead of the VHT tail light paint, for the red I just used the Testor's Dark Red enamel. It turns out fairly translucent with just 1 coat, so I left it at that.
-
Other fun stuff - tried restoring the lenses in the trunk emblem. Painted the letters with silver enamel. Painted the lens itself with VHT "night shades" tail light paint. Goes on extremely thin. This is with 5 coats: I have something in mind to make the lenses clearer. But if someone knows a trick, let me know.
-
Yes, could be that they had the '51 cylinders available & were ready to unload some stock that had been sitting. '49 not interchangeable? There are floor patch panels for the '51 advertised on eBay for $49 each, L&R front floors + L&R rear floors. I might try those. The father of a friend of my wife runs one of the hotrod shops around here. I may ask them to take a look. I don't have anything to weld with, but it's on my list of things to try sometime.
-
Couple of things in the past few days - punted on the brake master - found new/repro units on eBay (from CARS, Inc) for ~$50 off the regular catalog price. Slightly lower price than rebuild, and I don't have to worry about whether the sleeve was done right, etc. Had to transfer the studs over from the original unit. Still need to to wheel cylinders / hoses, etc. Though I've seen some comments on here that CARS may not be the quickest to ship sometimes, whoever is running their eBay sales is right on top of it. Got this <1 week from the other side of the U.S., so they're getting the product out their door same/next day. Pulled out the front seat. Wasn't as hard as I thought - I wasn't sure a seat with back would fit out the door, but a little tilt and it dropped right out. 8 bolts. Found all of $0.02 under the seat. Pulling up the floor covering, there was a mat under the floor cover on the driver's side. Maybe they expected some severely high wear over there. Anyway, the "insulation" does a great job of retaining water which rusts the floor pretty thoroughly.
-
Nice work! I'm painting emblems on mine as well - some kitchen-table jobs between the in-the-garage jobs...
-
I just got a new-production master for the '51 from CARS, inc. via their eBay sales. They were listing these for ~$50 off catalog price (lower cost than rebuild by xyz) on eBay only. Shipping was ~1 week. Whoever is running their eBay sales is right on top of getting things shipped. I just moved the studs over from the original cylinder yesterday, and I still need to do the wheel cylinders, so can't comment on performance, but it's a new part, fit right in, and was lower cost than a refurb'd/sleeved cylinder. As far as I could tell, this part isn't available via NAPA/Rockauto.
-
1951 Special 2 door hardtop WITH MANUAL TRANSMISSION $1400
Eric W replied to a topic in Buick - Buy/Sell
If I'd follow my own advice, I would have talked myself into this car. I am owning/restoring a 4-door, Dynaflow '51 Special, so here's why this 2-door, standard-trans one is worth going for: 1. The needed section for the trunk is included, as is a non-bent trunk lid. Ok, so there's some labor here, but the parts are all there. Sell the extra trunk emblems & maybe tail light assembly... 2. 2 fewer doors means lower costs all around: Lower cost replacement rubber, lower cost glass, if needed (glass in a 4-door is 2 pieces per door), 2 fewer door handles to re-chrome, 2 fewer latch mechanisms to get working right, several fewer stainless parts to have buffed out and re-fitted, fewer interior panels, simpler paint prep/bodywork... 3. Big one here - the 2-door is going to be worth thousands more than the 4-door when restored. Cuz 2-doors is "cooler". So easily worth hundreds more at the start... 4. A possibly even bigger one here - the standard trans can avoid thousands in auto-trans rebuild costs or thousands in trans adapter / later model automatic / new driveshaft / new rear end / new suspension... And get better gas mileage... So, following all that, I conclude that I should be restoring the car listed rather than the one I have... But I'm at where I'm at, and the one I have is 20 feet away in the garage, rather than 1000+ miles... So see if the seller might come down any, and if not, it's still a very good deal for the above reasons...
