hursst
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Posts posted by hursst
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Thank you, that's exactly what I would be looking for.
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Update from the shop: One of the original oil lines is bad, which I expected. One of the new brake hoses is bad. My brand-new SU fuel pump has a bad terminal that just spins in place. Almost all the nuts and bolts under the car will need re-torquing. The wiper motor doesn't work. This is just from the preliminary check over a two-week period. There will be much more. They haven't started with the roadster top yet. I expected a lot of problems and expect many more, but having new parts fail before even being used is a disaster, as I've had these parts for a few years as I built the car, so they are out of warranty. I'll end up wasting hundreds if not over a thousand dollars replacing garbage new parts.
I expect to spend almost as much money on having the top installed and the full shakedown/tuning of this car than on my actual restoration costs. The hourly rate of these shops combined with the amount of time it takes to do this work properly is crazy. I'm not blaming the shop, their rate is the going rate nowadays, but it's a shame what inflation, old supply chain problems, and lack of quality control of aftermarket parts has done to our hobby.
Again, the shop thought they could complete all the work in two weeks! Of course I laughed and said it would be two months...I bet I'm correct, if not underestimating it.
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Thanks Terry! I sent the Hershey Region a message to try to get my questions answered.
-Chris
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Hudsonite,
Thanks, but I'm not clear on this. Does that mean there is a place to park your truck and trailer each day, or is that just day of the show? If it's all week, that seems like an awful lot of trucks and trailers parked there all week. If you can get a truck/trailer parking pass that includes each day (Tuesday thru Friday), can you leave your trailer there and drive your truck out and about?
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Hello,
Although I've been attending Hershey for about 20 years now, 2024 should be the first time I'm able to trailer one of my cars. Just driving a classic to Hershey if you intend in participating for all 4 days is exceedingly difficult due to where you must park your car (a hotel, usually a little far away, then the giant mud pit/dust bowl which is regular Hershey parking in the grass across the street). If you're just driving your classic up and that's your only transportation, you're at much higher risk of accidents, theft, mud and dust, and hassle.
Asking a few questions for trailering, since I'm a newbie. Thought I'd start asking now so I'm prepared.
1) Where do you park your trailer for the Hershey show day? I know they have some sort of trailer parking.
2) Is trailer parking available at this location for the whole week, or just the day of the car show?
3) Is there a cost for trailer parking?
4) ...or, if your hotel is close enough, do you just park your trailer at the hotel and drive your classic to the show field?
5) How is trailer parking for the hotels around Hershey, is there enough space at most of them?
6) What if you get to your hotel and there's no space for a towed trailer? Has this ever happened to any of you?
7) Any other tips for towing a trailer up to Hershey for this event?
My assumption is to tow my trailer to the hotel, leave the trailer there in a parking space, then drive my truck to the regular parking at Hershey for Tues/Wed/Thru parts show, then either tow the trailer to the parking area or just drive my classic from the hotel to the show field, since it will be maybe 1 mile.
Thanks!
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Thanks, I called them. They do boil out gas tanks. I'll give them a try over the next couple weeks. Thanks for the tip!!!
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Hello,
I have a 1960 MGA fuel tank from my completed restoration project. It's rusty (but appears fairly solid) but has maybe 1/2 a tank of fuel that is 55 years old, which has obviously turned into large chunks. I replaced the original tank with a very nice original used one for my restoration.
In the meantime, I'm not one to throw out any car part if it is at all salvageable. Repro tanks are available, but they rarely fit properly, so I wanted to see if maybe I could save this one. First step is finding a shop that could boil out the garbage inside. Does anyone know of a shop in NJ/PA/DE/MD/VA that could do this job? Seem like a lost art. The closer to northern Virginia, the better. Thanks for any recommendations!
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Other than '7 years and 10 months' from purchase to completion, I have not tracked the time. It's a hobby, so don't care about the time
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Thanks Jeff, I appreciate it. Panel fitment is a 20-footer. Up close, the door fitment is not very good. I should be able to tweak it a little more, but it will always be a little off due to the high repro rocker panels. The passenger front fender lower radius is off a little as well due to the repro patch panel there, so the fender where it meets the rocker sticks out a little too much. Overall, it's good enough, but compared to many other nice MGAs I've seen, my panel fitment is not very good. Your MG resto was still better!
Yes, I saved an absolute fortune by doing most of the work myself. I haven't added up the receipts, but I think if I sold the car, I'd actually make a reasonable profit. However, I have a feeling the sort-out bill from the British Car shop will be very high, because almost nothing on the car was tested with electrics during the build, so I suspect a lot of work to rectify various electrical problems. The roadster top install may be pricy as well.
Within a 150-mile radius of where I live, ANY restoration shop will start at $100,000 to fully restore a car, and that's just the base price; usually more like $175,000 to $200,000 when you get into heavy rust repair and chrome. Anywhere from $140-$180/hr is the going rate.
Still a few more entries due for this blog when I determine what needs further work from the shop.
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Today the MG finally emerged from its garage after almost 8 years. I had it towed to my local British car shop to get the initial startup, roadster top installed, and shake down run (Photos 1-3). I'm hoping that most things on the car work, but suspect that maybe 50% of things all the car will work, since nothing was really tested. The shop says they should have it completed in about two weeks. I think it will be a good two months. The reality may be somewhere in between, maybe one month.
I also have an enclosed trailer ordered, which I hope to get in about 8 weeks, so I can tow all my old cars around and go to any show or shop and not have to worry about traffic or weather damage. I bought a 2001 Ford F-250 long bed extended cab as a tow vehicle. Only 68k original miles! It's already paying dividends, as I used it to haul my 1930 Plymouth engine to the rebuilder. It will be an AACA antique itself in only a year and a half.
Next update will be the results of the shop work. I will still have to do some detailing, a little more wet sanding to address the scratches in the paint from poor wet sanding, but other than that, it should be ready for shows in July (and a little driving to start).
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Getting even closer to complete. Finished the passenger side door pocket and door card install. Pocket was again hand-made from scratch (Photo 1), made to the pattern of an original. Here's the pocket installed (Photo 2). Here's the repro Moss door card installed (Photo 3). The Moss door cards are excellent. This was a faster install, again, due to the fact that I could just drill fresh holes, mirrored to the driver's side version, so I didn't have to worry about lining up existing holes in the door.
Last, I got my new battery. Got it installed and somewhat secured using the original style hold-down (Photo 4). Unfortunately, the battery is shorter than the originals, so everything is a little loose. I'll have to cinch it down with a cinch strap to make it fully secure. I was able to attach the original battery terminal for the negative terminal, but I'll have to relocate the original positive ground cable to the other side to make this work.
Communication didn't happen properly with the British Car shop (as I experience with almost every car shop I deal with), so I will have to visit in person tomorrow in order to get an appointment to drop the MG off for its roadster top install, start-up, and shakedown/punch list runs. I'm hoping to have the car complete and drivable by July 1.
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Sorry, I do not, but I'll take a mental note next time I'm at the junkyard.
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Inching ever closing to completion. Finished installing the driver's side door pocket/panel. As with everything, this was quite difficult. Getting all the holes to attach the panel that weren't marked by Moss on their repro panel (most were marked) was very difficult. I took my time and was able to get them to work. I also had trouble with the screws, as a previous owner had rounded out some of the original screw holes, so I couldn't use all the original size screws. I ended up using a combination of screws and eyelets, maybe 40% are original, in order to get it all to work. It was VERY difficult to get the door closed with the new door panel. I think it will just have to take some time to get things to compress a little. The passenger side should be a little easier because the NOS door has no holes at all, so I can just drill new holes, matching them up to where they go on the driver's side, just a mirror image.
Completed some other small tasks, like getting all the paint chips on the doors repainted by touching them up. I'll have to give it 24 hours to cure, then wet sand, polish, see if I burned thru anything, then repeat, until I get it to where no one would notice it except me.
Torqued the rear wheel cylinder bolts down (I somehow missed this originally).
Still working on the passenger side door pocket. Is about 70% complete now.
Bought a new battery. Decided to go with one 12V battery instead of the two 6v batteries. The 6V batteries are wet and it's almost impossible to find the acid for them. They are also 3x as expensive. Also, if just one battery fails, you're still dead in the water. The 12V I found will fit in one of the original cradles. The only thing I'll need to do is figure out how to cable it correctly, as I currently have the original cabling system in place.
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Hello,
I'm having my 1930 Plymouth 30U engine rebuilt, but upon removal of the engine, I discovered that one of the springs in the clutch plate had broken, allowing the broken piece and pin to float around the bell housing. How I never had a problem driving it is beyond me.
I need a new one, or maybe I can get mine remanufactured somehow. The one I have now has a sticker on it "remanufactured," so it could be done in the past. It has a 9" diameter with 6 springs. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, as usual.
-Chris
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Completed one of the door pockets today (Photo 1). Completely made from scratch. The only original parts I was able to reuse were the 3 tacks at bottom center used to provide extra fastening for the fabric to the card backing. At this point, it just needs to be screwed into place with about 16 screws. The actual door card will be screwed in surrounding the door pocket on the outer portion of the inner door. The other pocket is about 1/2 made and should be complete within the next week.
I also made two missing headlight adjustment screw sheaths, found two missing windshield post mounting screws I was missing at the Carlisle, PA show (I had to modify some similar GM screws) and filled the transmission with the proper oil. A few more prep items and the car will be ready to go to the shop, which I anticipate happening maybe the first week in May.
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Was able to get the engine out without removing the steering box by removing the trans, clutch, and flywheel. Thanks again for all the help!
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Still more odds and ends to tend to before the car gets shipped to the British car shop.
Installed the windshield wipers (Photo 1). I may end up taking these off again, because who knows if the wipers will work properly and in which position they will start in. I wouldn't want them to grind into the cowl panel.
Next, I lowered the car off the jack stands and torqued and cotter-pinned all the suspension bolts. I'll have the Shop do another check to makes sure I didn't miss anything, although they will need to torque the steering ends, as the ball joints just spin in place and I don't have the proper tools to prevent that.
In the "attention to detail" section, I reproduced the mint green blotch of paint that I found on the rear axle when I originally disassembled and cleaned it. Looks white in the photo, but it's actually minty fresh (Photo 2).
Some more progress on the home-made door pockets. First, I completed the vertical portion of both pockets (Photo 3). I'm currently working on the U-shaped pockets themselves from a piece of card stock that seems to match the original almost exactly (Photo 4). I had to cut out the cardboard, bend all sides so they can be fastened to the vertical pieces, then glue on the vinyl. I couldn't do it all at once, as the pocket sides need to be bent at 90 degrees, so had to do the center first, then each 90 angle had to be clamped in, in order to get the glue to set on the card stock properly and the correct angle. Still a lot of work to do, as these will need small holes drilled/punched in order to fasten them to the vertical piece using split tacks, as original. I'll then need to piece together the chrome washers and screws that attach the whole works to the doors. The driver's side will be easy, as that door is original and all holes in the door are already there. With the passenger door being as NOS door, there are no holes for the door pockets and door card, so I'll have to mark them as a mirror image of the driver's door. Should be pretty easy, as it doesn't have to be perfectly lined up, just very close, so I can simply punch holes thru the door cards to insert the mounting screws. I think it will cost around $9 to make them myself; if I bought them, it would either be in a $500 kit, or I would have to find individual ones that would probably be around $200 for a set. Not bad when your labor costs $0/hr.
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Thanks for all the great tips. I'm going to attempt leaving the wheel and steering box on at this point. It may be easier for me to remove the transmission, clutch, and flywheel, and leave the burdensome bellhousing in place on the chassis so I don't have to remove the burdensome steering wheel and steering box. If that doesn't work, then I'll have to reapproach the steering wheel removal anyway, where I'll have to use some of your great tips and tricks.
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Working on the odds and ends now. Installed the front interior trim in front of the door. Also found the original cable clutch nut and bolt for the "Demister" cable. Cleaned that up and installed it. Last, started making my own door pockets (Photo 1). I found the perfect outer card material, but had to use a thicker backing material, which is almost twice as thick as original, but there' no other material available. Should turn out just fine. For now, using the original I have to cut out the backing panel, cut out the new vinyl, and cut out the pocket card material itself.
Also stopped by my British Car shop to give them a heads up. I'll meet with them again in two weeks and I will schedule having the car towed into their shop then for initial startup and a thorough shakedown.
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TAKerry, thanks for the offer. I just need the door pockets, not the door cards themselves. Luckily, I have that one original, so it looks like I already have good backing material, I just need some of that lighter cardboard for the actual pocket itself, which yes, I think I can get at any craft store.
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Big progress today. First, installed the lower rocker trim on both sides (Photo 1). Next, had to friends over and they were able to help me get the windshield installed (Photo 2). Took about four tries as the two repro gaskets on each sound of the mount were a little too thick. Ended up using only two gaskets and a few layers of painters tape in order to get it to fit and seat properly. Had a few problems with some of the original fasteners on the sides of the windshield. Two of the screws were stripped, so I'll have to figure out some replacements. Last, I installed the two grab handles on the windshield post (Photo 3).
Next will be to install the wipers and wiper arms and the front interior trim panels, now that the windshield is installed. Will probably hold off on the door pockets to see if I can get some at the Carlisle import show in May, as I'm not going to buy the $600 kit. If I have some extra time (unlikely), I may just make them myself, as I have the vinyl. I would just need the card backing, which I could probably get at a craft store. I still have one original door pocket to use as a template.
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1 hour ago, 60FlatTop said:
The best source for those C-clamp steering wheel pullers is the old style military surplus houses. I got mine from the place between Hershey and Williamsport on PA RT 147 with the tank out front.
One of those Murphy's Law tools. If you get one you probably won't need it again, which ain't really a bad thing.
Thanks. Do you have a better idea on the location for the place on Rt 147? I'm not familiar with that place.
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Hello,
I'm trying to remove my engine on my 1930 Plymouth 30U to get it rebuilt. In order to do this, the steering column must be removed. In order to do that, the steering wheel must be pulled, so the steering column and steering box can be removed thru the firewall.
Attached is a photo of the steering wheel after the clum switches have been removed. I've since drilled two holes in the steering wheel metal in order to install a steering wheel puller. I tried using this, and the steering wheel won't budge. At a certain amount of torque, the threaded part of the puller will start to move off of the center threaded portion of the steering wheel.
I don't know what to do now, the steering wheel will not budge. Does anyone know a secret to this, is there something I'm missing here? It feels like it's welded on, no motion whatsoever. Thanks for any help or tips. -Chris
Fuel Tank Boiling/Restoration near NJ/PA/DE/MD/VA ?
in Technical
Posted
I got a quote for $600 to clean this one, too. Not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm not spending $600.