unimogjohn

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It is Friday, Nov. 11th. Alice and I are heading to the movies tonight with Barb and Greg. Opening night of the film "J Edgar". As you might remember our cars were used in the making of the movie a few months ago. I am sure that any sighting will be fleeting. But we all are excited. And for your morning coffee, here is a short report from Greg. "Nasty job, sanding and buffing. And this was the easy piece. The Toledo pump body is next, but another night. Now for a shower."

It is Thursday, Nov. 10th. Looks like we have been spammed! Maybe the forum administrator can remove them. We made it back from Iceland yesterday. Had a great trip. A nice place to visit. Here is Greg's report from last night. Daylight savings time has taken a bite out of daylight, and there are no real work lights in Greg's hanger. " I know things have been a little quiet lately. The time and temperature change have taken it toll, and the sun going to bed early, I haven't been in the mood to push. Today, however, I did manage to get the Stoddard oil gauge packaged and sent off to John Wolf Company in Ohio . He should be able to troubleshoot the internal leak, repair and recalibrate it. I sent a couple extra internal works along if he needs parts or replacement. And tonight I cut that new gasket for the Dodge, dropped the oil pump cover for the installation. Side pipe is reinstalled, then started to install the cylinder head nuts, etc. That Toledo pump is on hold as I wait for some sanding rolls . These for getting into the nooks prior to buffing. Had the maroon Avanti out yesterday. After an interesting occurance the other day, it developed an occasional miss. And a slight snapping under the hood. Took a look in the dark and was suprised to see a spark jumping. Evidently the last guy to work on it (me) did not get the secondary wire (coil to distributor cap) pushed very deep into the coil. The coil is a hot Mallory unit. A spark would jump from that wire to one of the threaded studs, the point side connection. The current had burnt a hole in the rubber boot to do this. Evidently the spark would jump and find it's way to ground when the ignition points closed? So the points were tarnished a bit. I'm running a single point Prestolite unit, so I popped in a new set and a new condenser and made sure the wire was shoved home. Now 'Ol Seabiscuit wants to get out and go again. Day job going well, nothing to capture photographically, though. Yet."

I do not know if it is correct, but I used a thin piece of cork gasket material to my rear seal. No leaks that I can see and this was over three years ago.

It is Sunday, Nov 6th. We made it to Iceland! Having a great time taking in all the tours to the back country and the local area. What a nice place. Only 300,000 folks and most of them live in Reykjavik area. The natural areas are beautiful. Weather is OK, but we hit rain, snow, sleet, etc., but it only lasts for a bit. We are able to get out and about with no problems. Only a high of about 39 degrees F, so it is a bit brisk. Here are a few pics. Oh, have only seen modern cars in Iceland so far. Bummer. But Greg finally has a report with an update of the new fan installation. Also he is working on the broken inner door panel of the black Avanti. "I've been trying to get something done, but this cool weather is a demotivator for me. Yesterday I took ol Seabiscuit, the maroon Avanti, out on the road to test the fan installation. I hate it. To the point that I called Phil Ritter to ask a stupid question. "Do you remember ever hearing an Avanti fan?" His reply was "No, I don't think so." Not so with this Jaguar fan clutch. Being larger and with a whole lot more fins cast into it, it reminds me of a preflight engine runup and testing a variable pitch prop. I'll do something else at a later date. The temperature gauge did work to get up to 180*, but then again , I had the heater going too. Last night I finished laying up the repair on the right door panel (on 5054), the holes yet to be drilled, but I think I'll try to get the doors and hood over to the paint guy to work on. That's about all I have for now."

Bernie, I am no expert on the matter, but the wiring I have seen is all one color, only the gauge is different. With so few wires they did not need colors to identify them. I just identify both ends when I rewire so I have a clue as to where they go. But you can get cloth wiring with many colored threads in them, but they soon wash out with age, and you have all brown again.

It is Thursday, Nov. 3rd. Well, I actually did some car stuff yesterday. Changed the oil myself for the first time yesterday. Nothing unusual except for a over tight drain bolt that I could not remove from the filter canister so got quite a bit of oil all over when I had to remove the canister itself. Oh well. Next time I will work on that drain bolt to see if I can get it loose. What I did find was a destroyed belly pan. It is plastic and was only being held on by a couple of clips and and back 20% was broken off. Ordered another one so will replace it next week. Attached are a couple of pics of the belly pan. Heading off for five days in Iceland tonight. Taking the computer with me so hope to post Greg's updates. Speaking of Greg, here is his report. "Day job went well, I think I put more of the puzzle pieces together on the Wright V8 project. Worked on that Avanti fan clutch again tonight. It's on, but it wasn't easy. Sure not like N.O.S. that are so easy to work with. This one comes with lots of complications. Bore too small, flange od too small, slots instead of holes in the right place. I had to forego the usual short bolts and make studs long enough to accept flat washers (to cover the slots), lock washers and skinny nuts, yet not too long that would rub the clutch body. If I have to go into it again, I'd do it a little differently. Now that it's spinning, I see there isn't much clearance between the blades and the supercharger idler pulley, and there is some room between the blades and the shroud. Next time I'll machine a spacer that will go between the waterpump pulley and the clutch flange. Things might fit a little better. Or I'll try something else. Now what?

Bob, I have an armored wire from the horn to the bottom of the steering column, and then regular cloth wire up the tube to the horn. I bought the armored wire from Rhode Island Wiring. http://www.riwire.com/

It is Wednesday, Nov 2nd. Going to be a nice day so I am going to tackle the oil change on the 2003 VW Passat W8. I have always had the dealer do it as it was less expensive than doing it myself, and they always gave it a once over when it was on the lift. But alas, the dealer sold out and the new one doubled the price. So bought everything to do it myself. The W8 is a fantastic and powerful engine, 270 HP out of a little 8. Holds 9 qts of oil. Toughest part will be removing the belly pan. Greg was back on the black Avanti last night. Here is his report. "Tonight's story. With the Avanti down because of fan troubles, I contacted Bob Johnstone, the Studebaker owner's friend. Asked him for an interchange for the fan clutch. One number that came up was NAPA 261306. Rob is a NAPA dealer. I had him order one for me and it arrived yesterday. So after work today, off to pick it up. While I was there, I finished the winterization of the Stoddard and the '14 IHC by flushing their cooling systems with antifreeze. The '10 REO still drained from last winter. I also pulled the Stoddard oil pressure gauge. It has an internal hemmorage and I guess I'll send it out to a gauge repairman who has the time to fix the leak and recalibrate it. Oil would accumulate in the bottom of the glass lens. Back at the ranch, I had a chance to compare the fan clutches. This new one supposedly fits an 80's Jaguar XJS. As you can see by the photos, it is noticeably larger in diameter and the bore in the hub much smaller. I clamped it down gingerly on the mill, indicated center and set up the boring bar. Measurement of the hub assemby on the car told me that I had to rebore the larger diameter to a depth of .135" in a flange that had an body diameter of the same size, so that meant that I'd be cutting that overbore over half of the thickness of the mounting flange. Wouldn't leave much meat. So I did it. As for the fan itself, a perfect fit. Ready for installation, I'll try to get to it tomorrow. All for now."

And here is a web site I found with lots of information on the WB Model R airplane. 1910 Wright Model R and also found a video description and pics of the Model R Baby Grand with the V8 engine. Part of a series if you care to know more. But part 4 has the Baby Grand discussion.

Roger and all, asked Greg a bunch of questions I had including Rogers. Here are the questions and his response. And Greg included a couple of unique pictures. Greg, from the forum and me. What are the plans for the V8 Wright engine you are fabricating? Is there only one to be made? Will it go into an actual airplane? Will it be made to actually run? So many questions. John and the forum, The crankcase castings are for a duplicate of the plane the Wrights entered in the 1910 Gordon Bennett race, Belmont meet in New York. They only built the one Model R powered by the V8, it was wrecked prior to the event. It was half scale (21') to their usual planes of about forty foot wingspan machines, and it had twice the engine. When other aircraft were working hard to break sixty miles per hour, Orville had test flown this one to a whisker under eighty. While I've been digging for information and making plans for some years now, we are now actually underway. With the initial sketches, patternmaking, and foundry work done, I'm about to begin the machine work on the crankcase and sump. There are still some unanswered questions, big ones. The cylinders shared from their production fours, aren't staggered. That means with no surviving samples, I've got to invent suitable rods that share a common crankpin. And can't use fork and blade. Side by side rods that don't result in offset loadings. Since I take so long, the engine work supersedes our airframe guys who are busy on other things. Cliff has been working up the propeller shafts and housings, has the two radiators done. Our research department has been studying existing photos and period descriptions in order to start the drawings. It is definitely being built to operate, we may find out why only one was built and it went to lunch. A massive undertaking, it is also an enormous financial burden on the boss since we don't have any sponsors or funding for it. We've just got to see this monster and bring it to life.

Roger, I will ask. But I do not think that the Greg's shop has the necessary equipment. I would guess that Greg will probably use the automotive machine shop that he uses for his Avanti and other engines.

It is Tuesday, Nov 1st. Here is Greg's report from Monday. "Took off this morning for Baltimore to pick up the Wright V8 cyl crankcase casting at the foundry. Jim Davis as tailgunner. All went well, made it back alive. The corned beef sandwich at Lenny's Deli made the trip worthwhile. Tonight I got in a few minutes on Seabiscuit, the black Avanti, removed the fan assembly. The fan clutch has gone to lunch, Rob has ordered and received one that might work. I'll take the original equipment sample along to make sure . Otherwise, I'll get this in the mail and do some sanding on a bronze water pump for the Pope. Enclosed pics of the V8 castings. Also, in response to questions raised concerning the rectangular recesses in the pan. Enclosed are photos of a genuine, made in the Wright factory six cylinder engine of 1911. On loan for me to study, you can see that it must have been influenced by the design of the eight. Back to the question, you will see that the upper crankcase retains the crankshaft and it's main bearings and caps. The whole unit then merely sits on the lower sump, reliefs accepting the main bearing caps.

Larry, you might want to check the timing mark on your flywheel. You might be off. You can check with a timing light if you have a 12v source for your light. Procedure is in the operators manual. I can scan if you need it. Also I would observe the operation and movement of the distributor by the controls, then disconnect it at the distributor and make sure that you can manually move the distributor to the same points. The little gears may be off and not letting the distributor fully advance or retard.

It is Monday, October 31st. Cold here, in the 30s. Only got a couple of inches of wet snow out of the storm. That is a good thing. Lots of flolks up in New England received a lot more, up to 30 inches. They said 3M folks are without power. Not good. Here is Greg's weekend report. "OK, weekend come and gone. Saturday wasn't much. The weather (rain and snow) put a damper things. I did strip the paint from the Avanti right door. Also evident was a failed patch to the inside panel. I've begun the repair. Today, Sunday, found us on our way to Rob's. What with cold weather here, it is time to make sure my cars there are properly drained of water. We also moved the Stoddard Dayton out of the doorway to a side parking place, out of the way for the winter. Not much else to report."

Don, OMG, what a great looking ride. Keep us posted. What a good find, she is looking good.

Tim, Bobs Speedometer at Bob's Speedometer does good work. Give them a call. I had mine rebuilt for about $260. Or do a search on the web and you will find quite a few instrument repair places.

Bob, the hot/positive wire goes from the back of a hot terminal. On mine it is a combo switch and is wired to the ignition terminal. I do not know what you have. The negative wire goes up the tube and is attached to the horn button assembly. When you press on the button it completes the negative circuit and the horn goes off. The horn button is grounded by the side of the steering tube when you press the horn button. This is by memory, I will check the wiring diagram in the morning.

Thanks all for the help. Really appreciate it.

Keister, you are right. Looks to be from a 1963 Chevrolet. Here is an Ebay ad with a pic. Looks the same. 1963 Chevy Tail Light/Back-Up Lens, With Chrome - Used | eBay

Keister, I got out my trusty magnifying glass and could see the following on the light bezel. TMC-1001 SAE-STDB-63 GLO-BRITE

My friend Joe in WA sent me a couple of the number 1 produced Avanti. It belongs to the the LeMay Museum in Tacoma, WA. It is under restoration near Ferndale, WA and is suppose to be ready for display in mid 2012. Looks to be still in the repainted condition it was found in. Here is a link to the car at the museum site. LeMay Museum And here is a link to the future plans for the car. http://www.lemaymuseum.org/page.php?id=419

Picked up a box of odd parts. I was able to id most of them. These two have me stumped. The first is a rear tail light. Looks to be from the 60's. The second is an electrical part, stamped Ford on top. A switch or relay of some kind? Any help would be appreciated.

Still Friday. What the heck is going on? Now they are saying 5 to 7 inches of wet snow by tomorrow PM. Leaves are still on the trees so if we get wet snow then we are going to have some power outages with limbs and trees coming down. Decided I better head out and get llama food/500lbs of grain and corn mix to fill the feed bin. When I got home decided to work on the 23's starter generator. Of course I had to move the Avanti and that required a 30 minute run through the countryside. Oh well. Anyway, back to the starter generator. Remember a couple of weeks ago, I pushed in on the starter pedal and she started to turn, but did not catch. I hit the pedal again and it just when clunk/flat. The motor was turning, but not engaging the starter. So this is what I found so far. Pic 1: you can see that the large rod that goes into the generator motor has not retracted into the motor. So it is stuck. Pic 2 and 3: I removed the cap to the generator motor and immediately saw a broken plastic insulation washer for the third brush. You can see where it attaches to the third brush arm as the other half of the washer is still there. Have the broken piece out. Should be interesting to try to find a new one. The backside of the motor generator looks fine. I can see no other obvious issues. I did find out that I had pinched a wire, but did not break it, under the cover plate. A little squished, but OK. Pic 4: This is the plate that moves the starter pinion gear in and out. As I remember, there is a large spring that applies tension to the gear when you press in and releases/pulls back the gear when you let off the starter pedal. So in the next day or so I have to pull the cover and see what is happening. Of course I have to remove the starter rod system to get to it.

Roger, I understand that you can "work" the sand with hand tools, but that it is hard enough to move around without fear of damage. It is Friday, October 28th. Snow expected tomorrow, 1 to 3 inches. Same storm that hit Denver a few days ago. I did feel well enough with this cold to go out and work on the 20s cars to get them ready for winter. And here is Greg's report from last night. "No great shakes tonight. Pope Toledo pump: Last night I did the layout and drilled the mounting holes, then drilled and tapped for the grease cup. Tonight I began the preliminary work required for polishing and buffing. While sanding the body of it, I found a soft spot. A little poking uncovered a casting flaw, a paper thin wall over a large hole. I cleaned it, brazed it closed and sanded smooth. To match the rest of the engine, this pump will need a lot of sanding and buffing. Not fun, not fast. Also, as promised, photos of the newly cast Wright Brothers V8 oil sump. I didn't hear from the foundry today. Either he didn't pour the crankcase, or ..... it didn't work out on the first try."