unimogjohn

Vern, Hopefully, Greg's response will answer your question. Here is Greg's response and report for your morning coffee. Me, nothing, still doing taxes and farm stuff. I plan on getting back on the Avanti today or tomorrow. " While I give the primer a chance to flash off (I'm in the Hupmobile bodyshop tonight), I'll try to recall today's events. I drove to Lee's first thing this morning to deliver the sleeve. I had remembered that I'd left it in the freezer (I'm not a morning person, took me a few minutes to find it) for that shrink test just for my own amusement. Having spent the night in the ice tray, it shrunk a thousandth and a half in diameter. Anyway, received the usual greeting (was ignored) and then he says "Well, did you try it in the hole?" No I hadn't but yes I would (with fingers crossed). It wouldn't go. Whew! Then he let me in on the rest of the story. Wasn't like him. When workmen measure things, machinists, carpenters, etc. they use tools of the trade. Micrometers, tape measures and such. When a carpenter wants to fine tune a measurement, he'll often advance the tape to the one inch mark to split the line. Machinists using old style micrometers find them marked in .025 divisions. Ultimately the measurements can be misread . One inch and twenty-five thousandths are a common error (I've learned to use the ten inch mark on the tape measure). But yesterday when we checked the sleeve in the hole he'd bored, it took an eight thousanths feeler gauge to make up the difference. How the heck could I miss by about ten thousandths?! That's when Lee grinned and admitted that when he saw that (yesterday), he knew. Said that he knew I was better than that. He pulled out his bore dial gauge. The needle on the dial will indicate ten thousandths for each revolution . ......... he'd read it wrong. Sent me on my way with a wrong number , and of course it had to err on the small side. He then recalibrated his gauge, checked my new sleeve with his micr and said "Nearly perfect". I felt better even though I wasn't sure it was really Lee. I've been asked by some who knows about this sleeving operation: why were we reducing the diameter of the sleeve. Here's the story. The Studebaker R-3 4 and 5 engines were 304.5 cu. in displacement. An overbore of .093 from the usual 289". Evidently replacement sleeves aren't a normal shelf item. To sleeve an engine cylinder you have to set up and bore out the hole oversize to allow room for the new wall to be installed, and then it is rebored and honed back to the orginal diameter. Lee started boring. Instead of the usual routine of opening up the hole to accept the sleeve, he stopped short. He'd cut out material to amount to an overbore of two hundred and eighty thousanths over the 289. He knew this was a rare block and he stopped short before possibly cutting through and "hitting water". That's when he called me in to turn down the outside of the sleeve to fit the hole and the fun began. So now the new sleeve is a trifle oversize, he'll hone the bore to allow force fitting the sleeve . Then, he's got to rebore the sleeve the .093 (3/32") to bring it back out to size. This will leave a sleeve with a wall thickness of about .090". With fitting and installing the sleeve, the overbore and honing, not to mention machining the block to true the headgasked surfaces.... he's got a lot of work ahead of him. Otherwise, day job going well and I've another coat of primer to lay down."

It is Tuesday, April 10th. For your morning coffee, here is Greg's report. "The back ordered sleeve for the Studebaker block made it to town. Picked it up this morning along with Lee's expected complimentary comments. We took another look at the first attempt, carefully measured the deficiency and with it as a baseline, I've remachined the new one to size. The other day he had snapped at me "I can make the hole bigger, can't make it smaller!" and with that in miind, I've allowed an extra .002" oversize. If it's too tight, let him deal with it. Actually, I think before I crash for the night, I'll put the sleeve in the freezer to see if it shrinks any overnight. And another round of Hupmobile hood sand and prime. Done for the day." =

Larry, my two Buicks, a 1928 Town Brougham model 29 and 1923 McLaughlin Buick Touring model 45, were both in the 2011 movie, J. Edgar. Directed by Clint Eastwood.

It is Monday, April 9th. I was just reminded that I have only a week to do our taxes, and I have not started yet. So it looks like I have to take a break from other projects to start on it today. Oh well. But Greg has something for us. And Dave Coco (Trimacar) post a pic of the Hup car so we can see what she looks like. "What a nice weekend we had here in the MidAtlantic. I was rousted out early Saturday morning with a surprise guest. Big ears and bearing a present. No, not the Easter Bunny but in fact Trimacar Coco. Hoping to ready his 1910 Hupmobile for the (soon) upcoming antique show in Winchester, his hood panels were the remaining bodywork and paint required. So we got started on them. Put him to work cleaning them in the bead blast cabinet while I did some dent bumping and touchup where the years of use had caused them to tear at the hinge points. A light coat of filler (Bondo and paint makes 'em what they ain't) applied and sanded, then today I primed them with epoxy primer. That shows the remaining scratches and dings that need a little more attention. I'll now allow them to cure for a day or so and then sand and prime them again. Mixing work with play, we used my Dodge to run an errand to the parts store. David, a past Dodge Brothers owner (times 4), drove it into town, his storytelling only interrupted by his horn blowing. The horn button is mounted on the driver's door and that's where he was accustomed to resting his leg. Another surprise was to find Frank Gable as wingman for a while. I drove it back and that's when I determined that ignition/backfire problem needs to be stepped up to Plan B. It did it again. That required a trip to Rob's. He had offered me a NOS set of points and he wouldn't be satisfied until I also carried out a new distributor cap and rotor. Also on the pile was a NOS ignition/light switch. This old car hobby also generates lifelong friendships. The new points are now installed, but now, after I've been using a modern 12volt coil and condenser , I'm wondering ..... should I be using a resistor to reduce the voltage to the points? I have no idea what the original coil delivers to the point set. I think I'll experiment with a resistor from my Studebaker pile. The removed set of points didn't look too happy. Otherwise, Friday's brown truck unloaded the Studebaker 288* camshaft that I'd sent out for touchup and re-Parkerizing. Included in the shipment were the reground tappets and some of the necessary phosphor/zinc assembly lube and additive to put in today's zinc starved motor oil. Topping it off was Barb's nice dinner, friend 'Ol Bill as unexpected guest, and an evening meal with my Mom. Now, the cars are put to bed, another touchup of filler on the hoods and we'll see what tomorrow brings."

Still Sunday, PM late in the day. We got home in time to do a couple of quick things on the Avanti before I had to head out to feed all the critters. The reason I have been slow to put on the front bumpers is that I was bidding on a complete set of mounts on Ebay. I did not want to fiddle with the ones I had and do the job twice if I won. Well, my high bid of $135 did not make the final winning bid of $260. So I will use my old iron, as sad as they may be. They obviously had been hit, broken and repaired a couple of times. Here is what they look like. The driver's side is the worse and contains an extra welded in brace where the corner was repaired. Oh well, it seems like everything is a compromise. They will do just fine and you cannot see the repairs unless you are under the car. So tomorrow will clean and paint the bumper mounts. I plan on getting them on the car by Wednesday. I also fitted the beauty rim on the headlight. Pics are of both the rims installed and all the lights lit front and back so you can see that everything is working. Yes, I still have to figure out the front parking lights. But progress is progress, bit by bit she is getting done. I also have new glass headlight gaskets, but I will have to go to Greg's house to see how they are fitted to the glass covers and the body. Greg said that he had to do some special things to get them to work. So maybe mid week I will head on down to his shop and take him lunch. He works for food.

Still Saturday, but PM after dark. Headed out and made the final adjustments on the headlights. Look great and aimed right. I did have time to put one one trim ring, the other side will have to wait until tomorrow or Monday. Happy Easter too!

Bill, I remember in the mid 60s I was paying $.25 a gallon for my 1959 AH Sprite. I remember I could hardly afford the gas then too. It is Saturday, April 7th. Another nice day after a coolish start of 33 degrees. But it quickly warmed up. Finished with the day of beauty for the VW Passat W8. I must say that I enjoy driving this car the most ever. It handles rock steady and has lots of power out of the 8 cylinder engine. Best engineered car I have ever owned. I also received a partial order for the Jag; the Thor hammer with it copper and hide ends for the knock-off wheel hubs. Also got the new oil flex line for the cams. This hopefully will not be a big deal to replace. Looks like there is enough room between the engine and the firewall to make it a somewhat easy installation. And pulled the Avanti out and took her for a ride. Wow, is she quiet now. The sound reducter material really worked. Then put her on ramps and installed the grill. Since I was under the car I decided to look at the power steering again. I checked the fittings again and all were tight, even the one I thought had broken loose again. Then I noticed fluid coming from the hose that is connected to the fluid canister. The clamp is tight so am going to cut off the end and reinsert. We will see if that stops the fluid flow. Going to do some more cleaning this afternoon to continue detail the car and get off all the dust, debris, and dirt. Update PM. Cut about a half an inch of the power steering hose and reattached it. We will see if that will stop the leak. The end was as hard as a rock. I cut it back to the point that the rubber was still pliable.

Chris, the list gets me back on the road for the summer with a great driver quality car. Remember I have not really touched the suspension, engine or transmission. With this being a 44,000 mile car I hope that I won't have to start taking major components like the engine/transmission apart for a rebuild. I still will have lots of little stuff to replace so it will be a life long process. At some point I have to start thinking of replacing the gaskets on the doors. Some of it is OK, but other pieces are hard as a rock. But will leave all that for 2013 and beyond. Am going to take her out on the road tomorrow. I am anxious to see if the sound deadening material I put under the carpet made any difference.

RHL. Agree you need a new head gasket. You can get a new head gasket and the intake and exhaust gaskets from Olsens Gaskets out in WA. Olson's Gaskets Their prices are reasonable and products excellent. On the carb adjustments. The adjustment wheel on the bottom of the carb has a notch on it. Close the valve and then just back off until the notch is parallel to the post. This was the factory setting and adjusted during the run in of the engine. The air gap knob on the top of the carb should be at the same height as the little holding arm. This is an initial adjustment. For best running you have to screw it out or in a couple of clicks and drive the car to see if there is any improvement in running. On car rebuild kits. None available that I am aware of. But they are simple, you can make your own gaskets and just clean up the needle and seat for the float mechanism. The correct size cork is available from Bob's Automobilia for less than $10. You have to coat it with Superglue to make in work in today's gasoline and not get gaslogged. Remember these carbs do leak. You have to turn off the gas at the fuel pump/vacuum tank when you turn off the engine. If you do not you will soon find a big puddle of fuel on the floor and your vacuum tank empty. The car needs full choke to start, but can be pushed in almost immediately to the full off position. If you have to leave the choke pulled out half way or more then you have debris in your jets. Hope this all helps. Good luck. Keep us posted.

It is Friday PM. Got some time on the Avanti this morning and until early PM. Decided that I would check the headlight that did not have high beam. So pulled it and checked the socket. But still a no go. Had another new headlight and tried that, no luck. So it is a problem in the wiring. Will work on that another day. At least I have a low beam. Then I mounted the antenna for the radio. It is a tight fit to get it inserted from inside the trunk, but mounted OK with some slight bending. I had ordered a new rubber grommet pad for the outside, but cannot find it. I must have put it in a special place. It will turn up one of these days. The radio works much better now, no static. Cleaned the contact to the antenna so that must have helped the connection. I also glued down the new rubber seal between the cowl and hood. Let it set up a few minutes and then closed the hood to make sure that I have full contact. Well, had a few minutes so decided to install the wipers. Done. Put on some anti-seize on the nubs to make take off a bit easier in the future. I have one wiper assembly that is shiny stainless and the other is a more muted color. At some point I will look for ones that match a bit better. Did some general cleaning as there is still a lot of body work dust in and around the interior. So I give it about 30 minutes of detail work and concentrate on just a small area, and then move on. There is always cleaning to do. What do I have left to do? Well here is my list. Fix the wiring for the headlight and parking lights Tighten the power steering hose to stop leak, have to make special wrench Re-glue and clean the carpet in the trunk Install the front bumper brackets and bumpers Align/aim the headlights and then install new gaskets, glass covers and chrome rings Install radiator grill Finish install of the rear bumper Re-build and install the interior kick boards Re-build and install the vent assemblies Re-build and install the covers on the forward sides of the console I figure that I still have a week or two of work to do before I can declare victory. Next week I have to get back to work on the barn extension. Still have to put the roof on. Oh, also won a set of horns on Ebay so next week I will be able to add that second horn to the car.

We all love stories, especially car related. And we love Greg's car stories. Here is one he just sent me. It is a good read. "That smart guy Randy Hespenheid just dropped me a note about how many moving parts does it take to steer a Studebaker? He brings a story to mind. The answer to his question is the same answer I got from an Army helicopter mechanic in Viet Nam. I wanted to hitch a ride in one of the new Cobra gunships that just arrived. The answer I got in all scencerity. "Don't do it. Too many moving parts and each one is critical". I'm still following his advice. Meanwhile back at Studebaker. When I took 5054 off the road for a frame up restoration, I needed to replace it since it was my daily driver. I found and bought another Stude, a '65 two door sedan. Actually the last Studebaker sold new in Winchester. I liked it because it shared the 109" wheelbase chassis with the Avanti. I didn't like it because it had a Studebaker installed Chevrolet engine. Used it to commute the fifty miles (each way) to the dynamite factory where I'd been hired on (good pay to pour into 5054). One day when working the evening shift I was driving my usual 65 mph on the interstate. On Rt. 81 just North of Winchester the dual lane highway starts to bear to the right. The car was lazy about staying in the right lane. I corrected a little more. It didn't. I was used to driving cars with sloppy steering, but this thing was starting to straddle the dotted line. Correct some more. Still heading for the fast lane. As my two left wheels were leaving pavement for the median, I really cranked the wheel to the right. Nothing. Leaving the asphalt all together, I gave the steering wheel a snap and it just spun like a top. Meanwhlle the car was roaring along in the grass . I knew the car had drum brakes and knowing that they can be touchy, was afraid to use them. Lock one up and it might toe in or out and who knows, might cartwheel the car. I just took my foot off the gas. The median is trough like. As it found the bottom, it then began to climb the other side towards oncoming traffic. Not heavily traveled at the time, but cars were starting to scramble. As my two left wheels were about to climb the asphalt of the oncoming fast lane, the car then began to heel over to the right again. Down the trough and up the other side . My two right wheels got close to the asphalt of the friendly fast lane. Then down we went again. Although it was slowing itself down, the car took me up to greet the oncoming traffic again. It did this five times before I felt I had slowed enough to use the brakes. I got it stopped just before it would have hit the berm of a crossover. I'd been too busy to freak out, now it was time to sweat a little. A passeby that I'd narrowly missed pulled up beside me to see if I was ok. They gave me a lift to a nearby telephone. I called Steve who was just getting off work. He brought my floorjack and I crawled under the car to see what the heck happened. If you look at the photos I just sent, you'll see a big nut on the steering box that retains the pitman arm. It was missing and the arm dropped off. Can you believe I had a spare in my toolbox?! So, how many parts does it take to steer a Studebaker . All of them. And I found out that that big one on the steering box is just as imprortant as the nut behind the wheel. Now, every time I travel 81 Noth towards Clearbrook, I'm amazed when I see the number of culverts and other cement structures that litter that stretch of median . And I missed every one."

It is Friday, April 6th. Going to spend some time on the Avanti and then on the 2003 VW Passat W8 Wagon. Have been neglecting the modern cars and they need a beauty treatment. First up will be the W8 with the full treatment. And just in, a report from Greg on his black, sort of, Avanti. "But 'tweren't no day at the beach. After work I loaded up the powerwasher in the company pickup, delivered it to the hangar on the hill and then loaded up the applesause barrel to fill it with water. Managed that and then with 5054 rolled out into the sun, I tried my luck. Feeding water through the small spigot that someone had installed in the drum just wasn't enough to satisfy the demand. Loosened the hose and dropped the loose end in the barrel and we were off to the races. Yesterday's presoaking with the solvent seemed to work, even if it was a biodegradable "green" (darn I wish I had the trademark for the word green!) cleaning agent. The exposed chassis looks pretty good, in fact would clean up even better if I got after it with a rag. Maybe someday I'll put it on Rob's lift and spend some time underneath it. After hitting the fender wells and frame visible from the front wheels, I then hosed out the filthy gas tank compartment and trunk area and rear wheel wells. By then the sun and temperature had fallen and I called it a day. Sure glad that's over with."

RHL, First you need a couple of manuals, the reference, or operators manual and a shop manual. You can find both on Ebay most of the time. Here is the reference manual. 1928 BUICK Full Line Owners Manual User Guide | eBay Most of the time bad running, if it was running good before, is bad fuel and debris inside of the carb. The two main jets can plug easily and result in poor/bad running and no power. The carb is easy to clean. When you pull it apart you will see two long tubes, one longer than the other, these are the ones I mean. Here are a pic of them. And it is easy to do a compression test to check the condition of the valves sealing. Let us know what you find out. Oh, and can send a Marvel carb manual via email if you want it just let me know. unimogjohn@aol.com

Still Thursday, but PM. I hopped into the Jag this morning and headed to the body and paint shop, 60 miles round trip. The car ran great and was a hit with the crew. As a reward I filled it with $55 of premium. Gas is now $4.29 a gallon for premium, $4.05 for regular. More garden work and then installed the Supercharged emblems back on the Avanti. You need some small hands to get in there to attach the little nuts. Success, so decided to move the Avanti out into the yard and take some beauty shots. So these are the pics I took. Since the Jaguar was out I pulled it to the Avanti so you can see both cars together.

It is Thursday, April 5th. In the PM yesterday tackled the rest of the roto-tilling for Alice's garden. So the patch is about 15 x 50 or so. She was happy as she planted her little spring seeds. Plan on going to the body shop today. Have to pick up the old Avanti upholstery. Never know if you might need just a strip of vinyl. May even take the Jag. And I pulled the "Supercharged" badges out of their little baggie for a clean and polish. They will go on today with some help from Alice. They cleaned up nice, but certainly not show quality. But they were born with the car so back on they go. Just received a good story and report from Greg. It is a good one too. "Trying to move things along, but nothing to write home about. The weather is cooperating, allowing me to get in a few minutes work in the hangar on the hill. I'm trying to make sure black 5054 is ready should the paint guy ever say he's ready for it. Still doing grunt work on that one. Scraping paint mostly, but tonight I started degreasing the chassis part of the engine compartment. A cup full of solvent and a bristle brush. No fun, but the 1970's Imron looks ok. I've been wondering how I could pressure wash the underside of the thing. Tonight it came to me. Problem is although the pressure washer is gasoline powered, I'm working about a couple hundred feet West of the end of the garden hose. David (Trimacar on this forum) Coco to the rescue! You see, once upon a time I used to work at this automotive restoration facility. It's a long story, but one evening I got a phone call from this guy in Louisiana. He had a Hupmobile and so did I. I guess that meant even though we had never met, we were like blood brothers or something. Nice phone conversation, see you-bye. Some time after that while at work one day, the boss said that I had a friend in the office and I should go say hi. Trust me, that never happened! Strolled into the office , saw a stranger sitting on the couch, no friend of mine to be seen. To shorten the story a little, it was the guy from the phone call. He was applying for a position in our upholstery shop and used me as his reference. Just great. Anyway, he hired on, we became steadfast friends and remain so. But it didn't take long for him to frequently mutter to me..."Greg, if you ever leave here you're taking me with you." So after a mere couple years of the boss urging him to "find something else if you're not happy here"... he did, much to the boss' dismay. Trimacar hired on at the local applesause plant as Vice President. Having Mondays off, I'd go in to meet him for lunch. We'd be riding along in his black Mustang fastback, I'd look over at Mr. VP in his shirt and tie (and pants of course) and grin. He'd counter with a Cajun "Pleeeze don't throws me in the briar patch". What's that got to do with pressure washing? While looking through our storage hangar I happened to find a large plastic drum, fifty gallons or more. A surplus applesause drum! And it even has a spigot installed in its bottom. I'll just put it in the pickup bed, fill it full of water and get started. He's no longer making applesauce, but he was there long enough to make my pressure washing possible. Kind of makes it all worthwhile. Maybe tomorrow evening before dark I'll give it a try. And at lunch today friend Lee announced he'd ordered another sleeve, but it went backordered. Just great." =

Vern, passed on your note to Greg. And if you would like you can contact him at gregcone@msn.com This morning I asked Greg what he was doing for fun. He said "Still scraping paint off old blackie." So that is his report for today. It is Wednesday, April 4th, early PM. Well, I finally made some progress on my Avanti. Couple of steps forward, and of course, a step or two back. Rebuilt all the wiring for the headlight and parking light circuits, installed the bucket in the car, and then the headlight. It works, sort of. Have low beams on both, but the high beam on the passenger side is not working. I know my wiring is correct as I had everything labeled. Betting and hoping that I did not push in the connector all the way. But it is a job for another day as I have to move onto other farm activities before I can call it a day. Oh, and the parking and turn signal lights on both sides are not working either. So I have some troubleshooting to do. They both worked before I took everything apart for painting. I am betting that I do not have them correctly grounded. I did spend five hours on the car today. Ordered my first batch of Jag parts yesterday. Wanted to wait until I got to know the car before I started on any serious work. All are maintenance items. Seals and new flex oil lines. Everyone warned me that one flex line in particular, oil line to gauge must be changed as they get old and are prone to blowing out. So got that one. I also noticed that the cam oil lines, a Y thing, is leaking and all the fittings are tight. So it needs new copper seals, but this hard line is prone to stress cracking and blow out, so ordered a new Y which is mostly flex line versus hard. So got that too. So, $220 for stuff you cannot really see.

Chris, just a note on the rear brakes. Make sure you check the two little brake shoe adjusters to ensure they are free. They are at 3 and 9 clock position on the backing plate. Yours look rusted in. Also check on the end of the adjusters that you can still get a wrench on them. They have an odd shape and size and most are rounded off because they used vice grips on them to turn. Do apply a little bit of anti-sieze where they go through the backing plate. You need the adjusters when you first put on the shoes, first, fully released to get the hub back over the shoes; and second, to tighten the shoes to drag slightly against the drums before you begin to bleed the system.

Still Tuesday, but PM. I give up. I fiddled with the rear bumper most of the morning. First, one bolt would not line up with the encapsulated nut in the bumper. Loosened every bumper bolt I could see, but still could not get the treads to grab. So went to the other side, it lined up, but the threads would not grab. So I need longer bolts. I finally figured out that the mounts in the bumper were taken out and then re-welded. They sit a bit more into the bumper and now require longer bolts. Go figure. Only took me four hours of frustration to figure that out. One a good note both sides took both a 1/8 and 1/4 rubber shims. So then decided to work on the rewiring of the driver's side headlight and turn signal. Boy, what a mess. Everything is cobbled together so am going to replace major sections of wires. Got all of them tagged and there is one just hanging loose so will have to figure that one out too. Does not do any good to look at the wiring colors as these have all been replacements at some point. Probably when the harness caught fire. So for about eight hours I just spun my wheels so to speak. I did pull the battery so at least I will be able to start quickly on the wiring tomorrow. I also saw that the battery tray is cracking/splitting at the bottom joint. I will have to see if I can fix that too. And if that is not enough, the power steering hose connection that I can barely get a wrench on has become loose again. I will have to cut a box wrench to fit the pipe to go over the nut and then heat it to make an angle so I can get more of a turn on it. Just more fun, ugh. Note or PS. Thought about that wire that went nowhere for a couple of hours and the thought popped into my little brain that it is probably the horn wire since I have no horn on the drivers side. I am looking for a horn so I do not want to just cut it out. So will do a little hiding, but not too hard to find.

It is Tuesday, April 3rd. Well, the best laid plans. Planned to work on the Avanti yesterday, but it was very cold in the morning and was then reminded that the garden needed tilling. So fired up the old tiller, it is at least twenty years old, and started the work out. I got about half done, enough to say "mission accomplished". But in the end, no car work. Ah, but today is another day. Backyardmechanic. I forwarded your note to Greg. Here is his response. "John, To reply to your forum member with the suggestion to check all wire connections, thank him. Roger that on the loose wires. And they are OLD wires. I'm trying a systematic check to see what might be the remedy. Freshen up the switch and make sure those wires are tight. Run it some. If it does it again try something else. I'm not using the stock coil. It went to lunch years ago and to get it home I just stuck a more modern conventional coil and condenser in it, and it's still in there. Don't forget I had to file the points at your house once. Rob says he's got new ones for me. So yesterday, the nice day that it was, after work I drove the DB into town, ran some errands, got gas and back. No problem, but don't forget this backfiring is a very seldom occurance. Even though it seems like an electrical problem, I'm reminded that years ago the car would do it, blow the expensive Bob Long reproduction muffler to smithereens. But the car was also prone to sticking valves. I cured that by adding Marvel Mystery Oil to it. Since I haven't been doing it, I'll add that experiment to the program after the electrics. No telling what this corrosive corn fuel is doing to it. The good thing is that to track down the cause and cure of this problem means I have to put a lot of road time on the old thing. Speaking of road work. Then I jumped out of the DB and into the Avanti. Trip overland to Mother's house about seventy miles from here. A nice evening for Old Seabiscuit to flare it's nostrils and lay its ears back. On the way home, a good chance to test the fuel mileage on the Interstate 66, 12.2 MPG. With it's 3.73 axle it used to get about 15/16 MPG. Fresh engine, front end aligned, where do you think the lost mileage went? I guess going "green" means that you stretch your fuel supply by diluting it with alcohol but you just use more of it. Of course if you use more of it, aren't you spending more for road use taxes?"

It is Sunday, April 2nd. Still lots of jet lag. We are both up at 3 AM and Alice was up two hours earlier. And I just got Greg's weekend report. Here is what he said. "Not much to report this weekend. Had the '21 Dodge out for a run on Saturday. It's running fine, plugs right along. But twice now, without warning it will emit a tremendous backfire. In a phone conversation with Rob Burchill, he mentioned that he also has experienced this problem and his suggestion was to disassemble the ignition switch and clean the contacts. So, I pulled the dash loose and released the switch. Disassembly did reveal dirty contacts. At this time, the switch is reinstalled and the car has been test run but not road tested. I'll save that chore for a sunny day. Dark and lonely job but someone's got to do it. Another sleeve has been ordered for the Studebaker job."

It is Sunday, April 1st. We made it home. After a ten hour flight we pulled into the airport, and in a couple of hours we were back on the farm. It never looked so good. Got up early with a bad case of jet leg. Had to mow this morning as the grass was over a foot high. Got a package yesterday too with my little hood bumpers and bumper pads. The most I could muster today was to put on the two hood bumpers. It is good to be home, I promise to do more tomorrow.

Still Friday, but PM. Spent the day in the little seaport of Anzio. While there we gassed up at $6.75 per gallon US. And we saw our first accident. Looks like it was a head on between a big scooter and a Fiat Panda. Looks like the scooter rider layed it down before impact, but it was a big one. The were doing CSI stuff. No report on the rider. Here is a pic. Heading home tomorrow. Cannot wait to get back to work on the Avanti. Oh, the trip was great, the crowds "janormous" in Rome and on the metro trains. All the folks we met on the trip were friendly and helpful, oh, except for one waiter. And here are some thing you don't see much off. Flip flops Body art T shirts on men No tips, built into the bill, 10% American food except for the rare McDonalds Not much is written in english, but most kinda speak it. Most songs are in english and are USA All TV, over 400 channels are all in Italian, no english. There are no big US cars or trucks on the road Parking is non-existent in every city and town All maps have the littlest print possible in some criptic style of engish. The GPS is often confused.

Friday, March 30th. Our last full day in Italy, heading off to have lunch in Anzio. Toured the Vatican yesterday. We walked eight miles. On the way I finally saw an old Fiat 500, and then another micro car parked with the scooters. And finally, we have been catching the bus into Rome. Here is our bus stop, notice the foot of space between us and the road. Can I say road kill. Here is Greg's report from last night. "Photo. Not sure which rule this falls under. So Lee calls me today. "Get over here and bring your three inch micrometer." I knock off early and know what to expect. He's sleeving the Studebaker block with the pin groove in cyl. number four. New sleeve in hand, it just came in UPS. I see that he has already overbored the cylinder , bore dial gauge in hand. He wants me to measure with my mike "So that we're on the same page". He gives me a precise dimension that I'm to turn the outside of the sleeve down to 3.822" No more no less. Seabiscuit and I beat it back to the shop to get started. He won't want his boring stand tied up with my stuff for long. I make up an end plug to center the open end of the sleeve and carefully center it in the chuck. No runout. He wants a precise diameter because the sleeve is to be a one thousandths interference press fit. Never having seen a cylinder sleeved before, I can just imagine how easy this job could turn into a dung sandwich. Too tight and the sleeve gets stuck partway in the hole. Remedy probably is to destroy the sleeve. Too loose and you throw the sleeve away. I very carefully start reducing the outside diameter. Twenty-five thousandths at a time for a while, then when getting within a hundred thousandths of the final size, I start taking ten thousandths at a time. When within ten, I go to two thousandths at a time to check accuracy of the dial and to keep a nice finish. I can imagine that a finish that is not very smooth may prevent the sleeve from going in all the way. What do I know? To get a nice finish you usually turn the part faster and use a finer feed. This also heats up the part slightly. Knowing that heat is the enemy of close tolerance work, I take a break . When with in a couple thousandths, and taking very slight cuts, I stop and get the air hose. Somewhat warm to the touch, I blow it with compressed air to bring it back to room temperature. Final cut, measure and start breathing again. 3. 8225". I snatch it out of the lathe, head back over to see if he's still at the shop. Get it there this evening and he can resume first thing in the morning. Yep, he's there. Strolling in to show off my ability to get the job done with accuracy and haste, I take the sleeve and line it up with the bore and it falls right in.................slicker than deer guts on a doorknob. I guess our shop is warmer than his and the sleeve has shrunk a thousandths and a half. Nothing to do but toss this one in the trash and order another. The rest of this evening I returned to scraping paint off Avanti 5054."

Chris, the two condensers on the regulator and alternator are there to help with electrical interference to the radio. The condenser in the distributor is absolutely necessary as it is part of the circuit. Here is more info on the process. Ignition system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sunday, March 25th PM. Stayed outside of Rome today and visited ancient ruins. While there I spotted the largest car and the smallest car together. This will give you an idea of the competition. And here is a short report from Greg too. "I don't recall if I have sent this out, day job Wright V8 pic. I've gotten the camshaft bearings machined, and with the cam and bearings installed, have mounted the case on the lathe to lap and "run it in" . Now I am studying the crankshaft. They had modified the crank from their production four cylinder engine. I think I've determined how they did it. A wrong answer for an expensive crankshaft would'nt be a good thing. Especially with no one else to blame."