unimogjohn

It is Sunday morning, November 8th. Spent the morning over at Corvette Wayne's place with Camaro Steve. Started the build of Steve's original 350 engine. It now has been bored .40 over. Looks nice. Wayne and Steve did the hard work, I just took pics and supervised. Got the crankshaft and all 8 pistons in. Will meet again on Wednesday and continue the build when more parts arrive.

I have to get one of these for the farm. Very impressive work. And Roger Zimmermann could do this with his model build too.

David, thanks for the update. Keep them coming. I see that you also made repairs to the hidem welting around the top plate of the seating area. Looks very nice indeed.

Now I know why you took a break from working on the windshield frame. What an exciting race. Lots of horse power and speed. The finish was really something with all the horses lined up waiting for the big break. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFsxA4uAqWo

David, I do have drip panels under the Jaguar. I am watching closely to make sure that nothing touches the Avanti. I have a cover for the Avanti for the winter, but plan on driving it more over the next few weeks. And speaking of David aka Trimacar on the forum. Greg just sent me some pics of top construction that David is doing on his Dodge. I will let David comment on what is going on and how things are progressing. I think that Greg is very happy.

Still Monday. The first thing I did was pull the Avanti out of the garage, and hit the country roads for about thirty miles. Ran great and was just a super ride. The car is such a nice cruiser. I then put the Avanti under the Jaguar. This will be their winter positions in the garage. I unloaded the Trailblazer from the trailer, and Alice and I used the little John Deere tractor to pull it into the garage. I am going to replace the fuel pump that is in the tank. When it died, it was struggling to start, it was not getting fuel. The fuel pump relay is good so odds are the fuel pump gave up. Also looking at the starter, the wires going to it are crusty/rusty. Going to get the truck on the lift and clean them up. Hopefully, this is the cause of the no crank issue. Also the battery was dead in the truck. This should not be after only three weeks so may pull it and take it back to Wally Mart. It is only a year old.

You are right, it's is in kilometers, but it does not say that. Everything things that it is 200 mph. Funny. I will have to ask Jon on that speedo. He has owned the car since college, many, many years ago. Maybe it's original home was Canada? But it is Monday, November 2nd. And we have a report from Greg. "Golly, can't believe that we're into the month of November already. Year is almost shot. You sure couldn't tell that by the project progress reports. Haven't got a thing done on the '10 Overland, but then again the '21 Dodge is out for a new top and that's going well. And also the R-3 is coming back together. Having my son Nate help me with it has been a real joy. Even though he's not an old hand at this, he has jumped right into it, wielding ring compressor, plastigage and torque wrench. He's also made some observations that led me to say "Oh yeah, didn't think of that". As of tonight we were able to drive home some core plugs, press the timing gear on, degree the cam, install and secure it, get the rods pistons and bearings installed and torqued, even mount the oil pump and its baffle. Definite progress. Otherwise, this morning Barb and I made a brief appearance at Unimog's Cars and Coffee gathering in Marshall. Overnight rain squalls kept attendance down, but better luck next time. Can't forget to set my internal clock back." =

It is Sunday, PM, on November 1st. Of course it rained early this morning, but by 9 AM it had passed. But the roads were wet, I got into the Jaguar and headed into town for our Cars and Coffee event. It was very lonely for a bit, but slowly some cars came. We had about a dozen. Met some new folks and we all had a good time. The rain in the morning I am sure scared off a few folks. It was good to get the Jaguar out and about. It sure handles much better with new tires and shocks. Like a different car. This afternoon, I put the Jaguar on the four post lift. One of the latching mechanism was not working on one post, it would not lock. After some adjustments it did, and now all locks work and the carriage goes up and down equally. So I raised the Jaguar up and down a few times just to make sure all was good. It was. Now I am comfortable with putting the Avanti under the Jaguar for winter storage. And here are a few pics of the Cars and Coffee event for your enjoyment. Do you see anything interesting on the dash of the 1937 Hudson? Oh, and got word that Camaro Steve's engine will be done by the end of this week. Steve has been busy prepping the engine bay to receive the rebuilt engine.

It is Friday, October 30th. Alice and I are going to host another Cars and Coffee event. It will be on Sunday, November 1st from 10 AM until Noon, in Marshall, VA. We will be parking in the now closed IGA grocery store on Main Street. We have a new bakery in town, The Red Truck Bakery, which will be open for us. We will be taking both the Jaguar and the Avanti. We are hoping for a good turnout from the locals. Please come if you are in the area. And we have a little report from Greg about David Coco's top work on his Dodge. Looks like David has the bows lined and ready to put on the top. Per Greg - Progress at Coco's Tops R Us. This shot shows the wooden bows covered with bow drill and the front one with leather as found. Per David - The front piece is done. Not installed until I fix leather, just hanging there. Per David - And now ...you have rear storage...the stripes are shadows.

It is Thursday, October 29th. Back from a week near Seattle, a mini-vacation to see family and friends. On arrival back home I had received a couple of packages. The AACA Third Place Trophy arrived for the Jaguar, and a new shop vacuum from Eastwood. The vacuum is very good quality and lots of suction too. A great deal at $39 plus $8 for shipping, or you might snag a free shipping offer or coupon. No interest in Eastwood, but do seem to buy a lot of stuff from them. Maybe I should buy stock? Oh buy a set of extra dry bags, about $5 for 5 at the same time. http://www.eastwood.com/rockwood-shop-vacuum.html On a very funny note: We seem to get a lot of calls asking for us by first name. It is hard to tell who it is, but usually it is folks asking for something. When they call for me Alice says "Sorry, he is not with us anymore. Fell into the mud and the pigs ate him." I chuckle every time she answers the phone.

Fast, but it will get into everything. An inexperienced blaster may warp panels with the heat generated. I would at least try an aviation stripper if it was me. Something you can do yourself, piece by piece. http://www.kleanstrip.com/product/aircraft-paint-remover

Another quick update from Greg. "Late breaking news! Our very own Paul Rose, champion of the unrestored, has bagged another wonderful addition to his fleet. A virtually unmolested 1911 Ford. Some may recognize this as the pride of former owner Dave Plank and then Mark Durst. A 'fifties repaint, Paul intends to perform mechanical maintenance and further preservation. Congratulations Paul!" =

It is Monday morning so it must be a weekend report from from Greg, October 26th. " Got some stuff done this weekend, guess I'm settling in to this winter routine. Got word from David (trimacar) Coco's Cut and Cover where my Dodge Brothers is to get a new top. He says that the front and rear bows are suffering from tack and staple damage, cracks, missing chunks and some wood rot. Pretty much toast. Barb and I were dispatched to fetch them for evaluation. Repair was scheduled for today. Actually not bad for ninety-four year old woodwork, I opted not to replace them, just fix them up. Liberal use of Quick Poly penetrating epoxy sometimes mixed with sawdust and the occasional inletting of a wooden patch was adequate. Not wanting to keep the fun to myself, I was very happy to see my son Nathan come by to help get these things done for a quick turnaround. With his assistance both bows are now ready for David when he wants to resume. Not ready to go home, he was also hoping to get more done on the Avanti's R3 engine re-asssembly. We dug out the oil pump which he then disassembled for inspection and cleaning. Pristine inside, he hosed and blew it out before dropping in the gears and securing the cover. Bagged and tagged, oil pump is now a check mark on the list of things done. Thanks Nate! Ps. Mr. Erb.....opted not to go with the high output pump as per your recommendation." =

It is Monday morning, Ocotber 19th, and as luck would have it, we have a report from Greg. "I've been getting grief for not keeping up with my mail. I'll try to bring us up to date. Hershey has come and gone. It was a good one, the weather unusually agreeable for the entire event. There was a storm on Friday, brief but dramatic. The show on Saturday was one of the best ever. And I had been joined by Barbara, son Nathan and his friend Aimee. I had gotten my business taken care of early in the week, so I spent the rest of the time traipsing and visiting old friends. One of the items of business was to pick up the tail lamp for the Stoddard Dayton race car that I had sent out for restoration. Another check mark on that car's list. The closing of the annual Hershey meet signals the beginning of winter. I find that my mood begins a steep decline as the temperatures drop. Work is redirected to those things done when the shop is warm enough. That includes the marvelous Matheson engine project. There's been some movement of the rest of the car, so my efforts will be to get the engine completed. That also includes buffing and coating the many brass components. I've acquired some old style hardware and need to manufacture what I couldn't obtain. While that happens I'll send out a first batch of items for nickel plating. I'm also sorting through the Avanti R3 engine from the black 5054. A failure of the cam bearings still has me baffled. Complete dis-assembly and cleaning, the cam itself looks ok and I've procured more new bearings. Going to replace all of them, cam, rod and main with Made in USA stock. Although I'm really baffled and bummed by this, the rebuild has afforded a special bonus. Nathan wants to have a hand in its rebuild and last week we cleaned the block, oil passages, set the main bearings and crankshaft. I explained how the inserts fit, how to check clearances with Plasticgage, lube and torque the caps, etc. And as of now the crank is in. He did all the wrench work. This afternoon Barb and I were invited to crash a neighborhood yard party. The Jon Battle/John Feser neighborhood. Enticed with the promise of home grown chili, who were we to say no? A good turnout of nice people and lots to eat. Tonight was another adventure. Something I'd never done before and we tried to figure it out together. The type camshaft I'm using in the Black Avanti R3 was tried in some of the engines they used in the 1963 Bonneville Salt Flats speed record attempts. Recently, I obtained information that the 288* cam was to be setup differently than the usual "line up the dots" method (the only way I've ever). Using a homemade degree wheel and some other quick and dirty tooling, we got started on it tonight. Most of the evening was spent learning what not to do. I had Google imaged a degree wheel, printed it on paper and glued it to a sheet of aluminum. Nate finished it by shearing the edge to make a round wheel instead of square. And since we were dialing in the camshaft without the heads and rocker arms installed, we needed some method of reading tappet travel. Nate fashioned an extension on the lathe. Then armed with piston stops, degree wheels, dial indicators, paper and pencil, we proceeded to get so lost in numbers that didn't add up that we finally had to step back and evaluate just what the heck we were doing..... and realized I'd copied the wrong degree wheel. So with more math and a better understanding of what we needed, it seemed to come together. Turned out to be a good night of chasing a problem and resolving it together. Tomorrow I'll copy the right protractor and be prepared to do it right the next time." =

It is Sunday, October 18th. We had a "hood" car show and lunch today. Lots of great food. We brought our Jaguar and Avanti. Several new cars in attendance including a 1950 MGTD. Always fun to get together with the neighbors. Lots of stories. Here are the pics I took.

Roger, you have to be kidding me. Your work is perfect to my eyes. You must be nuts, how could you do better work. Looks fantastic. I am in awe of your talent.

JW, good to know. But our local farm gas station just added a 100% real gas pump. I have all my gas can full of the stuff now. And I did get the mower working today. Took off the fuel bowl and blew out the main jet and cleaned everything I could. Put it all back together and she fired right up. No harm done, but did lose a couple of hours playing with the darn thing.

Doug, the cause was backing down a long, narrow, gravel driveway at a bit too high of speed. Happened over the culvert, he was about three feet from going over. Lucky guy for sure. And what am I doing this morning? Went to start the self propelled little mower. No start. Will run on starter fluid. I hate that crappy gas. Taking apart the carb now. Hope to have it running this PM.

And Classic Enterprises has gone up also. I guess I just like to round up. Available in standard or stainless steel Avanti Subfloor Torque Boxes - Standard Steel $1,375.00 Pair Add to Cart Avanti Subfloor Torque Boxes - Stainless Steel $1,675.00 Pair Add to Cart Flat shipping fee on torque boxes shown on above items is ($60.00) Full money back guarantee if our product does not meet your satisfaction.

Spinneyhill, on fiberglass cars, these are the sheet metal panels that give support to the body and door structures. Fiberglass will not support the weight of the door and without the support of these sheet metal structures. Remember, the doors are heavy and were the largest made in their day. The frame supports the body, but the door needs more than just fiberglass. So on the Avanti it is critical to have good panels or the doors will sag and not open or close properly. And they are expensive to replace also, about $2K for the replacement panels, two of them, and installation can be another $3K. They are shaped in the form of a U so they look like pig feeders, hence the name "hog troughs". Here is what they look like. http://www.studebaker-info.org/tech/Hogt/hogt.html OMG, panic in the hood. Our US Mail delivery truck ran off a driveway and is about to go over into the abyss, a drop of about ten feet. So we ran to the rescue. Got a big tractor and pulled it to safety. Dodged a bullet. Just too much fun in the country.

Still Thursday, but PM. Got the Avanti up on the lift and did my inspection. Really, everything looks very good. Nothing broken or missing. I found the source of the oil leak, it is not the fuel pump, but hydraulic oil from the front bearing of the power steering pump. Another job for the winter, and just so happens, I have a newly rebuilt one. While under the car I took a look at the rear springs. Remember last year one was broken so I replaced it. Well, the other one is not broken, but it is sagging much more than the newer one I put on. I still have the other spring that I bought and will add it to my to do list for the winter. Greg had told me a few months ago that I should add a crossover pipe to the exhaust to equalize pressure and add more torque to the rear wheels. He mentioned that the aftermarket folks were not adding them anymore to their kits. To my surprise I have a crossover pipe. It could be original as the car has only 44K miles. I have Quiet Tone mufflers on the car also. The frame and undercarriage looks fine. No rust. And the hog troughs are fine, no soft spots. So in the next couple of weeks I am going to replace the power steering pump, drop the pan and change out the transmission fluid, and do an adjustment to the bands as described in the manual. Should be fun.

It is Thursday, October 15th. Plans are to take the Jaguar out for a test drive with her new shocks. But today is also Avanti day. Going to switch places with the Jaguar and put the Avanti on the 2 post lift. I have an oil leak coming out near or on the new fuel pump. Since this is the first time on the lift will also do a complete inspection. Previous work has always been on my back in the grass, rocks, whatever. Not missing those surfaces now. I just love my lift. Update: Just got back from a 20 mile run in the Jag. What a difference in ride quality. The car seems more solid especially in the corners. There is much less bounce/roughness in running down the country lanes. The steering has really firmed up. I like it. I guess the 62 year old shocks need to be replaced. The car feels really good now. Oh, and the clock stopped working.

Since it is a race car. Is it a pull strap in case of breakdown? Great looking car. I like the rivets to break and enhance the lines of the car. Bernie, are you going to continue "slowly" building the car now that you have it advertised for sale? Some how I cannot imagine you abandoning the project and leaving it in the driveway.

OK, just one more video, and I will go back to my room. This was last week at Goodwood in the UK. Lots of XKs racing hard. The driver of the Porsche really had his hands full. https://grrc.goodwood.com/goodwood-revival/video-chris-harriss-2015-revival-race-can-he-convert-second-on-the-grid-into-a-win#rFwQCFylgPTHEztq.97

Joe and all, This is also a good video of vintage racing in the early 50s. And it is in color, but no sound. Great cars! Note the officials actually on the track! And there must be thirty or more cars in one race alone, and I counted 24 XK120s in one race. And looks to be GM concept cars at minute 10.