unimogjohn

It is Tuesday, October 4th, mid PM. Well, Packick (Joe Hopkins) and I got the new front sway bar bushing installed. The bolts were all frozen on so it took quite a bit of force to get them to break loose. But we got the bar out. It turns out there are two sizes of bushings. I only had one size so it was off to NAPA for the correct one. And they had them! We also got new grade 5 nuts and bolts to boot. After about two hours of fiddling we finally got the new bushings in and on the van. Glad that it is done. Thanks for the help Joe. Tomorrow we are off to Hershey, PA to drop off the 1923 McLaughlin Buick. Then Joe and I will walk the fields and car corral for a few hours and then head for home. We head back up early on Saturday morning. It is about a three plus hour trip for us one way, and we always stop for breakfast. Here are the pics for today. That is Joe working on the sway bar. And the old and new bushings. Quite a difference.

Will keep you posted on the Avanti for sure. And if you need a interim single master cylinder just let me know. I have one in my used spare parts bin that I will never use. Oh, on the kit I just bought. They forgot to send along the new brake light pressure switch. It is on its way.

Looks great and great work. You are going to look the part for sure.

Monday, October 3rd. Just a quick report. Did some searching for replacement shock absorber brackets. Of course, none available. So picked the next best thing off of Ebay. They are little bracket extensions, but I am sure I can make them work. Still Monday, but PM. Not much on the old car front as we are waiting for Packick (aka Joe and Kathy) to arrive from Seattle. As usual, the plane has been delayed and now will not get in until almost 10 PM. Going to be a long night. But I did get the one new shock in. Looks good.

Carl is correct. Lares is the way to go. Give them a call to discuss. Here is the link to their web site. http://www.larescorp.com/

Still Sunday, done for the day. Spent a few hours getting off the front shocks. Boy, they were sure rusted in. Quite a struggle getting the bolts undone. Had to use every tool I had to finally break them loose and off the van. However, one of the lower shock mounts is toast. Rusted off. I will have to see if I can find a replacement mount or will have to have Daniel make me one and weld it in. One of the shocks actually came apart when I released it from the bottom mount, fluid all over the place. I have to run to Home Depot tomorrow to get new shock mounting bolts and nuts. Here are some pics for you enjoyment.

Sunday, October 2nd. Have not had a chance to work on Brownie the van today. And now the football game is on. Oh well. Camaro Steve came over this morning with Barney the Ford F100. We went to see Corvette Wayne as he bought a repo gas pump at Fall Carlisle. A nice little piece. Wayne also bought a used 8,000 mile GMC Suburban like truck. Nice rig. So he is selling his 02 3/4 ton Suburban for $9,000. A great looking and running truck. Will be a great tow vehicle for someone. And I got the Avanti dual master brake cylinder in the mail yesterday. Looks like a fun job to put in the car. Sure hope it makes it stop better. And the auto transmission service kit for the van came in also. Now I have even more stuff to do.

Still Saturday, but PM. Finished farm chores and ran into town for a bit, and then got to spend a couple of hours in the garage on Brownie the van. I cleaned up the battery connections and hooked up the battery. Brownie has a new heart and started right up. I then did the final clean up on the windshield wiper system and the valance area. Everything now is put back together including the wipers. I then took some polish and went to work on the front of the van. It polished right up. Not that the paint is perfect, in fact, I would call it marginal. But it is all original, so it is what it is. Here are some pics of the before and after the polish. I hope tomorrow to put the van back up on the lift and change the diff oil, front shocks and sway bar bushings. May or may not get them all done.

Saturday, October 1st. Got a quick chance this morning to get the new battery in Brownie now that the new battery tray is installed. And got some suspension parts for him yesterday. MOOG sway bar bushings, even made in the good old USA. Have to clean up the little battery connection screws with the Dremel tool and its little wire brush. Will take about ten minutes or so, then Brownie will have his new heart.

It is Friday morning, September 30th. Rain, rain, rain. Over four inches in 48 hours, some folks close by received over eight inches. Went out to the garage this morning and fitted the battery tray and used pop rivets to stake down one side. Will use a bolt or two for the other side. I hope to get the battery into Brownie the van today. But lots going on so do not know if I will get the time or not. Got more parts from RockAuto and Amazon last night. Front shocks, 3 qts of gear oil for the rear end, and more body paint, color and clear. I have enough paint now to complete the van. I think I have all the parts on hand or on order to complete all my projects for Brownie at this point. Now I just have to find the time to get everything on. I think I have at least two weeks of work ahead of me. Thank goodness that Packick, aka Joe, is coming back for a week or so. It will be nice to have his able help on Brownie for a day or so. He and his bride are coming back to go to Hershey with us.

Still Thursday, PM. Made a Costco run and while there I picked up a new battery for Brownie the van. The battery in him now is ten years old. About time for a new one. So for $85, Brownie has a new heart. Of course I knew that the battery tray is toast. I had a new one and am proceeding to mount it. It is for a 67/68 Camaro so the battery will fit it. I have to drill some hole to mount it to the van battery frame. I wire brushed the mounts and painted them with Eastwood's encapsulator paint. The battery should go in sometime during the weekend. I also took the time to remove the stickers on the back bumper. And I got the other wiper blade off with a bit of persuasion. I got the valance off and got all the junk out. I could have had a tree growing in there. I cleaned everything up and ready to reassemble once I grease up the wiper mechanism. Here are pics of today's work. Probably more than you want to see.

Thursday, September 29th, AM. Took a few minutes to see how the little wiper removal tool worked. Not! The jaws are to narrow for the post so had to use the Dremel tool to widen them just a bit. Then it took off the first one easily. You do have to remember to release the tang on the wiper or it will not release from the post. Will do the second one when I get home from running errands.

After reviewing the comments and doing some research I ordered the following stuff via Amazon. Transtar 4167 Ultra Flex Black Seam Sealer - 11 oz, for the roof rail and sun- roof surround. M-D Building Products 1025 All-Climate Auto and Marine 17-Feet Weather Seal Strip, Black, for the rubber seal in the sun roof glass frame. Thanks for all the suggestions. I will let you know how everything comes out. I did get the little wiper puller last night. Will give it a try sometime this early afternoon.

A question for those of you that are following along with the Brownie the van refurbishment. What would you use to seal around the sunroof and the roof drip rails? I was thinking of clear silicon. But is there better stuff?

Just finished another couple of hours in the garage. Done for the day. I removed the sun roof from the van. The seal around the glass frame where it mates with the roof is rock hard. It will have to be replaced. About 1/3 of an inch in width. Also the sealant around the frame and the roof need to be resealed along with the roof gutters. I guess that 37 years have taken it toll on the van. I also took a couple of pics of the 1928 Buick now that it is done. And I threw in the new carpet that will be installed on the floor.

Do you mean this fabric? Oilcloth. http://www.oilclothbytheyard.com/products/55-wide-solid-blue-oilcloth

Wednesday at noon. Done my garage work for this morning. Brownie the van has new rear shocks. It was a little tough and used lots of WD40, but got the bolts off without breaking them. So they got reused with a liberal coating of anti-seize. I also am pre-lubing the bolts for the front shocks and sway bar. Hopefully, the WD40 will make it easier to do that job when the parts come in. The frame and underside of the body are rust free, it looks really good. The suspension pieces is another matter. Lots and lots of surface rust. With the shocks done, I turned my attention to the fire damaged interior wood panel. Patched everything up with stuff I had on hand. So everything is back in place. Does not look too bad. For now it will do just fine. Also I use a led headlight for work under the car where I need my hands free. This unit works great as it has a high intensity bulb/diode in it. Here are some pics for your morning enjoyment. And includes a big mud wasp nest.

The come up on Ebay from time to time. Watch out for crumbling bodies due to age of the pot metal. http://www.ebay.com/itm/MARVEL-CARBURETOR-Model-A-10-160-Original-buick-essex-pontiac-oakland-hudson-/322263279539?hash=item4b086367b3:g:IssAAOSwstxVNtE1&vxp=mtr

Hursst, First, give us a first name we can use in our post. On the car, do you plan to have the body and frame soda blasted or are you gong to strip it yourself? Are you going to farm out the metal work? Sure glad that you are almost at the turning point of putting it back together. You are at the point that most folks give up or really slow down, thanks for sticking with it.

It is Wednesday, AM, September 28th. When it rains it pours. Everyone is bailing on going to the Fall Carisle. Rain, rain, rain. Suppose to get over two inches today, and three tomorrow, or more. So it looks right now that we will not be going tomorrow. Oh well. More time to work on Brownie the van. Speaking of Brownie, I am going to finish replacing the rear shocks this morning and also see if I can patch up the burned area inside the van for at least a little bit. I did order new front sway bar bushing as well as a transmission service kit and rear end gasket. One good thing about having a reasonably old, but still new car are that parts are still available and cheap as vendors are getting rid of stocks. As an example, the transmission service kit, which includes a filter and all the gaskets was $4 and the rear end gasket $1. I also ordered a couple more cans of metallic cordova brown and clear coat rattle cans. I have a lot of little rust areas that need to be looked after. Oh, he also has a sun roof, I have to pop it out and reseal it. So bit by bit, I will get Brownie back into shape. With all my other cars done and on the road, Brownie gets to live in the big garage instead of the barn. But at least in the barn, Brownie is under roof.

Tuesday, early PM on September 27th. Worked on the 1928 Buick this morning. Filled the radiator and engine with water, and let the water get hot, drained it and refilled with water. I will put in the anti-freeze mix before winter sets in. Put in the new throttle and return springs for the Avanti. The carb did not have any spring when I got it so used what I had around the house at the time. Now it is correct. Also cleaned and put on the fan shroud. I then turned my attention to Brownie the van. Got it up on the 2 post lift. Did an inspection. Other than some dirt and rust here and there he looks pretty good. Only the shocks and front sway bar bushings need to be replaced. Sprayed down the shock mounts with WD40 and managed to break loose the bottom nuts of the rear shocks. I bought some rear shocks a while ago. So they can go on immediately. The fronts are on order. Then I changed the oil and filter, and gave him a lube job. Looks like I last changed the oil on September 20th, 2014 and 155,043 miles. He now has 155,294 miles. So I have only gone 251 miles in two years. This afternoon I may try to repair the fire damage in the interior. It won't be perfect, but should look better than right now.

Tuesday, up early on September 27th. Oh boy, I get to work on three cars today. The Avanti, the 1928 Buick and the 1979 Chevy van. Going to spend an hour on the 28 flushing the cooling system and then refilling with anti-freeze. I am going to declare victory and then just drive it for a couple of weeks before it is put asleep for winter. I will probably change oil in it again just to make sure there is no water in the oil. On the Avanti, just a couple of little things. New and correct throttle springs, and a couple of decals. I have the Turner disc brake system on the front and just do not seem to have good working pedal, in other words, it does not stop on a dime. So have decided to replace the little single master cylinder one with a dual. Bought a kit from a Stude vendor. Should be here in a couple of days. Here is a pic. On Brownie the van, she is going on the lift today. I also ordered a wiper removal tool to get it off its post. These have never been off so I need more than just a pry screwdriver. I needed another little tool so this is great for only $11. Camaro Steve needs it for his Barney, the 1953 Ford p/u. Also ordered a pair of front shocks, have new rears. So I have a few days work to do on Brownie.

Monday, September 26th. Brownie the van is home! First thing was to wash him, and then I went to clean the interior. Looked under the back seats for the first time in many years. A treasure trove of oil, tire chains, and other bits. No money. I even found the time to drill out and put in plastic plugs where the spare tire was mounted. The truck was really dirty, inside and out. Now I can move onto the maintenance items. Brownie really looks good with all the panels replaced. Here are some pics. First thing to do is improve the windshield wiper function. It works, but it is slow. I looked under the air intake screen and the area where the wiper mechanism lives, is full of debris. I have to take off a panel to get to it and remove the wipers themselves. I have to get a puller to get off the wipers. Tomorrow it goes up on the lift. Going to change the engine oil, lubricate the steering, change the rear shocks, and change the rear axle fluid. The brakes work good, but I will inspect them. Tires are new so OK there. On other issues, I had a flat tire on the open trailer. Another valve stem failure. So decided I would try to replace it using my Harbor Freight tire changer. It worked, but was a struggle. Not easy. But made it work. So I saved several hours in getting it done at the local shop, and $30 to boot. I also put in the coolant sealer in the 1928 Buick engine and radiator. I have to wait until tomorrow morning to flush the system with clean water, drain and then refill with anti-freeze. I also took the Buick on a run, maybe about ten miles. It just ran great. A real pleasure to drive.

Still Sunday, Daniel just sent me a note. Brownie the van is 99% done, and I can pick it up tomorrow afternoon. Yahoo! Just in time. I have about a morning's worth of work to do on the 1928 Buick so the timing is perfect. Brownie will go into the garage bay with the two post lift so I can do some maintenance work for the next couple of days.

You are doing a super job. Glad that you are almost at the end of the "taking it apart". Look forward to fix, repair and paint process. Oh, the Hunt Country Classic for British cars is going to be held near Marshall, VA on Sunday, October 9th. You are so close you should drop on by. If you go, stop by the pastel green Jaguar XK 120 coupe and say hi. Would love to meet you.