unimogjohn

Still Friday morning. Now for a couple of car reports. I went and saw Wayne last night. He has the 64 Corvette that he is restoring. He had the body at the shop when our Avanti was being painted. Pictures of the car are in the blog someplace. He has been working on the frame at the shop, got it all painted with an Eastwood ceramic type paint and got her home to begin assembly. I think he has only had it in his shop for a couple of days and is busy starting to refit parts. So here is what it looks like, pics below. He told me that he got a bolt on rack power steering system versus the old manual steering unit and that was his next job. He plans to have her back on all four wheels by the end of the month with the everything done by the end of April so the car can go in for final paint. Oh, here is a pic of Wayne's other cars. The gold 73 is really a nice looking car and is for sale. If I had a place for another car I would snap it up. It is clean as a whistle from top to bottom. I think that he wants less than $30K for it. The black one is, I think, a 2007 model, with almost no miles. In fact, I have never seen him drive it. And of course, Greg has a short report for us too. No pics. " I'm not at all impressed with this cold snap. I did take time today to reinstall the Avanti's brake rotors and button up the calipers so Bill and I could take it for a quick test run. Last night's effort to balance the rotors was a success and we got the car put away before our deer population came out to play in the road. Ol Seabiscuit is anxious to run with the best of them. Now to find the source of a power steering fluid hemorrhage. But not until it warms up outside. I'm a cold weather sissy." =

It is Friday, AM, January 4th. Alice had a meeting to go to last night so it was just me, the dog and all the cats. I was roaming the internet so the house was almost as dark as outside and quiet about 8 PM. All of a sudden I heard a crackle on the scanner, which was set to the local county fire and rescue channel. The dispatcher said that there was a report of a car off the road on Conde and Wilson. Whoa, that is our street. She was calling out police, fire and rescue units. So old me threw on my coat, grabbed the dog and some flashlights and decided to head out to see if I could help out. Not many of us too close by in the countryside, and we all seem to rush to help. Got outside and I could not hear any rescue vehicles coming so started the Suburban and headed down our lane to the road. Got down to the end of the lane and was preparing to turn when I caught a figure in the dark out of the corner of my eye. It was person coming towards me crying "can you help me?" I jumped out of the truck, held her so she would not fall and put her in the passenger front seat. She was sobbing, scared and hurt. Her hand was bleeding. She said that she was OK and just wanted to go home, which was about two miles down the road. But I was afraid that she was about ready to go into shock so turned on the car heater to high and backed up the driveway to the house. Ran inside and called 911 and said that I had the girl and would be waiting for aid at the end of our driveway. The rescue units were about five minutes out so just talked to calm her down and offer some reassurance. Stephanie is nineteen and was on her way home. She said that she rounded a corner, and there was a car stopped in the road, she swerved and hit the gravel and went off the road. She had gotten out of car and started walking home, she made it a half a mile to our place. By now I could hear the fire and rescue truck coming and soon they were at the truck. I turned over Stephanie to them. In about fifteen minutes they had her on a backboard and took her off to the local hospital. Her mom was contacted and she was soon there to follow the rescue truck to the hospital. With that over I went down to see if I could find the car. Well it was in our neighbor's pasture. I could see where it left the road and went down a very steep embankment, but I could not see the car. Police were there so I did not stop. Got home and called Henry who owns the property. He said that he heard the crash, saw the headlights in the pasture and called 911. When they got down to the car, no one was in the car so they when back to the house. Henry said it looked like the car left the road a high speed, clipped some trees, rolled 360 degrees in the air and landed in the field next to the pond. So it was a much worse crash than I had imagined from her description of driving off the road. Could not have been at a more dangerous place. The drop off is about twenty feet and then maybe 300 feet to the pond, which is more like a small lake. Stephanie was really lucky. Alice came home about an hour later. She said they were pulling a car out of Henry's pasture and why wasn't down there. Well, sit down I said. So that was my evening. Hope Stephanie is all right today. I am sure that she is pretty sore this morning. Told her mom to stop by and let us know how she made out.

Chris, good job on the headliner. Interesting to see how they glued the old cardboard headliner to the fiberglass. I still have mine, sort of. The previous owners had carefully peeled a couple of layers from the cardboard to still leave a bit of the embossed impression in what was left. Still looks OK for a driver. Question, what are you going to use for the vinyl cover of the new shelf. Did you buy some fawn vinyl that you have not told us about?

It is Thursday, January 3rd, AM. Still in the 20s so not much going on outside on the cars. So spent the day on inside projects, none car related. At one point in my life I was into old clocks. I still have a number of them, at one time I had over thirty. I enjoyed restoring them to running condition. I think I still have about ten of my favorites and rotate them throughout the house. About a week ago one decided not to tic-toc anymore. So within a couple of hours I had everything cleaned. Turned out that a spring was hanging up on itself and holding up the works. There is a very fine line with a mechanical clock working or not. With a little oil she is back on time. Heading over to Wayne's tonight to see his restored 1964 Corvette frame. He has it painted and started hanging on new parts. Will have some pics tomorrow. Meanwhile Greg continues to work on his projects. Here is his report. "After a day in the Wright factory, Bill and I made an unexpected road trip. Wright engine 8-60 progress. I've now successfully pressed the flywheel onto the crankshaft. Anyone who's done any press fitting knows that you hold your breath until the parts are mated. The parts interfere, the "goesinta" part being just a trifle larger than the hole. Not a lot of difference between oh-oh too loose and awshucks, stuck in the hole. Not far enough and can't get it out. Something has to be sacrificed.....which piece do I destroy to save the other. Today's effort turned out alright, the parts groaned and complained every bit of the way until the flywheel was home. Then, a phone call to Dave Coleman. I'd spoken to him about checking the balance of the front brake rotors on the Maroon Avanti, Seabiscuit. He said bring'em and we'd do'em. Immediately after work Bill and I blasted off for Summit Point, about an hour away. My first visit to Dave's shop, I must say he is equipped to take on most anything. Always good to see how the other guy does it, even though we're in different trenches together. When I was going over the maroon Avanti, I had elected to replace the rotor discs. We found them to be terribly out of balance. Dave spent the evening with us, showed us around and got the balancing act finished. It was a good evening. Photos of the flywheel installed and the rotors drilled." =

Chris, great job and perseverance on the glass. You have gone where others, like me, fear to tread. Keep pressing on in the new year. Remember, one little bite at a time. Again, super job on the glass replacement, both ends!

Joel, welcome to the world of McLaughlin's. There are minor differences between US Buicks and McLaughlin Buicks. Most are cosmetic in nature such as the wood dash, exposed top mechanism, etc. The mechanical bits are all of Buick design, but mostly produced in Canada. I have a 23, but do let me know if you need pics. Would be happy to take them and pass them on to you. Email me directly at unimogjohn@aol.com

It is Sunday, PM. Hope that everyone had a great Christmas. We had a great one with family and lots of friends. We had a "car guy" neighborhood party yesterday. Too cold and wet to bring the old cars out, but there we all were, talking carbs, engines, HP, etc. The wives thought we were nuts. But we all had a great time. And Greg was there too, describing the construction of the Wright 8 engine. He had the audience mesmerized. And speaking of Greg, here is his latest report. "I've had a great Christmas and past week. There has been some ground gained in the Matheson Engine Battle of the Century. One day spent at Lee's Sunnen hone has gotten the wrist pins fitted in the rods and pistons. Turned out real well. I'd calculated the right amount of oversize , the new pins were ground to my specs, and a minimum amount of material was taken out of the bores to bring all four assemblies to the same dimension. I've known shops who hone pin bores by the dial indicator gauge dimension and I've also been known to tear fresh engines down because of the resulting wrist pin knock. I hone my bores by feel, the old fashioned way. I've also almost knocked out all that rod hardware. Done except for trial assembly to determine where they must be drilled for cotter and safety wires. And I have also uncovered another Matheson Mystery. The complete disassembly of the connecting rods has revealed that they are indeed adjustable. What appeared to be two bolts retaining the upper half of the bronze bearing was misleading. Actually the upper bronze slides in the rod fork. The two bolts control a sliding steel wedge which positions the bronze, pushing it tighter against the lower bronze bearing cap. The lower bronze is of course captured by the big through bolt and nut. I've never seen anything like this in automotive practice, it looks more like steam engineering or railroad practice. I welcome any reference to other engine manufacturers doing this, and look forward to any input from Dave Liepelt, the Ford Museum's Railroad Specialist. Also enclosed you'll find a series of photos, ( A Steel Life) showing not only the generation of the slotted nuts, but also the advance of the time of day. Of course it wasn't all slaving away in the shop. Last evening Barb and I crashed a gathering of the Feser Neighborhood Car Talk group. An enjoyable evening of entertainment and Alice, not only a great host, but the food was terriffic. That's the latest."

It is great to start with a complete car. Looks like you found a great one to bring back to life. Good luck with your resurrection plans. Your removal of the oil pan to check for sludge is a very good one. Make sure that you take off the valve cover and really soak the valve train. And also remove the plugs and put in some Marvel Mystery Oil too. Old engines just love some new lubrication. Keep us posted on your progress. We all like to follow alone. And welcome to the forum.

It is Christmas Eve. I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas; and wish you all a great holiday with family, friends, and old cars. Snowing here so it is like a winter wonderland. On the car front I met Steve (he has the 67 SS Camaro) and trailered his car to Sterling Hot Rods for repair of the rear axle assembly and an over all check-up. It will probably be a couple of weeks before he sees it again, but then he should have a better running car, and one that stops without the rear axle breaking loose. And we have a report from Greg too. "Christmas Eve. Surprise snowfall. Shopping to be done, some stores closing early, gifts to wrap.................... you'll be relieved to know that I did make it to the hardware store in time to get the rubber tubing for the Avanti 5054 hand brake cables. I can't believe that Chrismas is here. It seems like just the other day I was scrambling to find the wrapping paper and bag of bows. Looking back Christmas' Past, I remember one in the 'fifties. We always got up early, my sister and I , to decimate wrapped presents, then we'd all make the tip across town to Grandmother's for breakfast. This particular one was memorable because of the snow that had fallen during the night. Dad had borrowed the new Jeep from where he worked. A cabin model. The sun was up and the bright red Jeep glistened in the snow, and we were the first one's out, breaking the first tracks in town. Then there was the year that when asked what did I want for Christmas, my only reply was that 1937 Terraplane sedan that Earl Shade had for sale. What else I was asked? Nothing. My sister wanted one of those new battery operated transistor radios. Wasn't any Terraplane in the driveway, but I bet my sister still has that little GE radio. One or two Christmas' later, I did mention I'd like a set of 4.75/5.00/19 tires for my Model A Ford restoration. They're still on it. Now my Christmas wishes are much simpler. A gathering of my friends and family, a good meal, a safe journey home for everyone home. And to do it again next year. Progress this week, not a lot. I did receive the box of brake parts ordered from Dave Thibeault He was short one item, that link that separates the brake shoes. Even though there's a set on ebay, I simply cut a new one from flat stock. I have found some time to get things ready to install and refurbish the hand brake cable assembly. As of now I' ve been dashing through the snow to get them hung on the axle so that I can find them. That's about the latest. I'll send this out with Best Wishes that you'll have a great Holiday Season. GREG." =

I have heard that Hal does great work. The Classic Preservation Coalition Might give him a call.

Chris, had the same problem with mine. Had that tank off three times, finally I restored to the dreaded "stop leak". That finally fixed it. You will have to drive her out to the farm during the holidays if you get a chance. Only an hour away. A good run for you.

All, here is some more information from Greg on the plane that crashed and one of the Wright Brother's pilots, Frank Coffyn. Greg, thanks for the update. And you should watch it, you are one of the main characters. This looks like the video, and some other interesting stuff. Frank Coffyn Coffyn Flies Under the Manhattan Bridge Just gotta love the WWW. John In a message dated 12/20/2012 10:02:23 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, gregcone@msn.com writes: Good morning John, I was surprised that you found the video. Maybe I'll watch it someday. Ken's inadvertant destruction of about ten years of work, it might not be easy to relive. Definitely a life changing moment. The plane itself. The engine of course we hadn't meant to fly on. Old number 20 built in the Wright shops in late 1910. One of the few remaining (about 15 originals) that we can trace to a specific airframe, the first Wright hydro on floats, pilot Frank Coffyn used it to make the first aerial motion pictures of New York (the footage is out there, search that one), and as the only Wright artifact that was functional, it was too precious to risk in the air even though it still dynos at 34.9 hp out of 35 advertised. But time constraints dictated that I'd have to use it. It got slight damage, other than a cracked gear cover (I straightened and welded), the other parts bent were my repros. The airframe that was salvaged was rebuilt into the Model B now on display at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. As a static display we could reuse parts that we woudn't fly on. The engine is also a non functional Scott special , they aren't as heavy as the real thing which is a factor since the Navy hangs the airplane from a cable. Meanwhile, we also have replaced Ken's airworthy machine. I'm not sure how much of the first found it's way to it. The engine is the one we'd meant to fly on. An original also, it's Number 33 which found it's way to us as a pile of parts used for a 1920's window display. Crankshaft cracked, mismatched cylinders, lots missing. I chose to make it airworthy by replacing everything except the crankcase and flywheel. It dynos at 35.04 hp. And no, Ken hasn't flown it yet. From: Unimogjohn@aol.com Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2012 08:47:48 -0500 Subject: Re: Wednesday night in the shop To: gregcone@msn.com Greg, question. Got a couple of email asking what happened to the broken bird. Did she get patched up? Or did you have to start all over. Glad I found that video, sure surprised that you had not seen it. Was a very good piece. John =

It is Thursday, December 20th. Seems like a number of friends have out of town guests for the holidays. So they have been bringing over folks to see the llamas and talk about old cars. Gives me a chance to get them out and run them. I did do some work on the Jag. I dug out the old sealing rubber on the vertical post of the vent windows. The actual seal was as hard as a rock and took a considerable amount of time to dig them out of their holding channels. But got everything out and put the new rubber in. After some cutting to get everything to fit, they look good and the vent windows are sealed for the most part. I have two other pieces of rubber to put it, but have to remove the vent window to get them in. At some time in the past these rubbers had been replaced as they are still pliable but they have shrunk over time. And of course Greg is getting closer to get that massive Matheson engine ready to go. Here is his report. "While I'm between passes of the Matheson bolts, time to get this off. On today's big brown truck came the new Matheson wrist pins. Now I will be able to take them, the pistons and connecting rods to Lee's were I can mooch the use of his Sunnen hone and fit them all together. Otherwise, thanks to John Feser I'll enclose a link to a Nova PBS film covering our ill fated flight of the Wright Model B. If you cannot get the link to work, it's appearing on a Youtube near you.... search Wright Brothers' Flying Machine by PBS (it's 54:17 duration). I haven't seen it. I believe it first aired in late 2003 while we were doing the First Flight thing. We were busy, and it was also very fresh in mind, kind of like watching slow motion replays of seeing a favorite puppy being squashed by a dumptruck. A very demanding year, 2003, and I did learn some things. I had devoted much of my life to the Wright Experience pursuit. And although it was a very worthy cause, when it was finally over , to me it felt like the circus parade had left town and I was standing there with an empty bag of popcorn. I gotten too close to things I had no control over. 2004 saw my return to projects that had been in long term storage. So as of now: Stoddard-Dayton together and running check 1910 REO up and running check 1914 IHC up and running check 1921 Dodge up and running check R-5 Studebaker engine together check '63 maroon Avanti up and running check '64 black Avanti in the works check 1910 Overland in the works check and a few detours as well. It's been a wonderful ride and I hope to keep after it. Now it's back to the lathe."

Here is a great PBS video on the crew of the Wright Experience to include our own Greg Cone. If you watch it to the end it describes the Ken Hyde crash. Based on the pics, Ken was a very lucky guy. Glad he is around today to talk about it.

It is Wednesday, December 19th, AM. I spent the day yesterday getting equipment ready for winter. Changed the oil and checked everything over on the 20KW generator and ordered more propane for the house tank. I also went over the Kubota tractor and changed all the filters and oil too. Ready to push snow if need be. And Greg has a great story for us today. As an old TV show exclaimed "Now you know the rest of the story". "New news? Not much. Tonight I'm back in the bolt business. Slow cutting, hard steel. Even though my first tool room boss, John Mayer, a grizzled old tool and die maker tried to instill in me as a newby apprentice that "The world belongs to the greedy." That meant take a cut so deep that it made the lights go dim downtown......I'm not doing it. All I need to do is work harden the steel and I'm starting over. Old news? Yesterday was an anniversary. Nine years since the Kitty Hawk Anniversary flight attempt. That whole 2003 year was a killer. Working night and day for months to get the boss' Wright B in the air so that he could break it to smithereens in the first few minutes off the ground...... and then I rolled over to the 1903 Flyer project. We had outsourced three repro engines that became my responsibility to sort out and maintain. So that was nearly seven more months of working on catnaps. Engine rebuilds, dyno testing and adjusting, mating power trains to (3) airframes and then flight testing. The enclosed photo that I found on the net was taken by a photographer unknown to me. It shows Chris Johnson and I at work on engine maintenance. Chris was not only a big help, but of the pilot candidates, in my opinion he was the best. He was the only one who wanted to know everything about the machine. Part of my "night before preflight" was to tear the engine down to clean the make and break ignition system. Difficult and time consuming, I'd be doing that while the rest of the crew was at the Black Pelican restaraunt stuffing down crab meat. Except for Chris who as you can see spent the time learning how to maintain the equipment. Even though our Pilot Training Program leader Scott Crossfield said to me more than once "Chris is the stick", he never got his chance to prove it on the powered machine due to accidents, time constraints, and politics. I think he could have pulled it off. Not that there weren't Kitty Hawk moments that I'll always remember. Time spent working with the Wright's pre-powered machines, the series of gliders. I'm privileged to be able to see a period photo of the Wrights flying a glider tethered on ropes and to know what it is like to look up at the same thing.... see the blue of the Outer Banks sky and feel the pull of the rope. And I don't even want to recall the launching and carrying of their famous 1902 glider. As for the powered machine, I'm also privileged to have a first hand look at it. Most have seen the first flight photo of it hanging gently in the Carolina air, or have seen it hanging in the Smithsonian like a giant butterfly, but I know it for what it is. It is a mostly out of control man killing machine. If you can survive the engine startup. No carburetor, no choke, no throttle, only gravity fed fuel metered by a graduated stopcock. To start it's four cylinder engine you flood it with gasoline. If you don't flood it enough, it won't start. Flood it just right it will start. Flood it too much and fuel flows out the exhaust ports and then catches fire and runs happily. Since I was the only one of our crew that handled the engine development at the dyno shop, I'm the only one that knew that when the engine did catch fire I saw flames erupt high enough to scorch the ceiling in Lee's dyno cell. It took a very fine touch upon startup between a nostart and burning a gas and oil soaked cloth and wood airplane (and probably the pilot). Although I always demand a fireguard when starting any of "my" aircraft, we were lucky at KH. And after our Pilot Kevin Kochersberger managed a good introductory attempt at flying it, then came Terry's crackup that put us way behind. A badly damaged airplane cost us about a month of repairs with the clock ticking. With very few days remaining for us to not only to learn how to fly the thing, but to actually prove to ourselves that it could without breaking. For me, Kevin's next was the deciding flight. With a good engine start and the spark timing advanced (to at least 1050 rpm), he pulled the launching trigger and just as soon as it cleared it's launch dolly (it is self powered down the track, not catapulted), a quartering wind gust caused the plane to weather vane to the right. I watched as the ship's right wing actually dipped into the sand. Kevin was able to roll in some left bank as the wingtip scooped up enough sand to fill a five gallon bucket. After straightening it out, he was able to control it until it decided to come back to Earth. The Wright Flyer had gotten him out of trouble. Of course, on the big day with the whole world watching, and we were to launch at 10:30 like they did a hundred years before.....it was cold and raining on us. Although we had a good startup and the engine settled in at 1050.....while traveling down the launch rail, the make and break components got wet, the front cylinder dropped out and it only had enough power to lift itself off the dolly and fall back onto the rail . That broke some of the skid sticks, game over. Of course nine years ago today, the day after, the sun was out, wind was good and right down the runway, and oh yeah.....the park was closed and the crowd of forty thousand had gone home to dry out and warm up. What did we prove? Besides having some of the same mechanical issues that they experienced a hundred years before, and our rain soaked ignition duplicated a failed launch which they experienced in May of 1904, I guess we demonstrated that on December 17, 1903, the day had chosen the Wrights, not vice versa. And that my position here at the Wright Experience is to take the blame as usual."

It is Saturday, December 15th, PM. Had a call yesterday from a local guy who said that he saw the Jaguar at the Father's Day Car Show. At the time I was heading home, and could not catch up with me. He called the show sponsor and got my name and phone number. So he called, and said he would like come see the car up close and personal. He also said that he had a Jaguar 150 fixed head coupe, however, the car is in pieces and has been since he bought it some number of years ago. So today Jack came and we had a nice visit. Turns out he also has a couple of MGBs that need some help also. He said that he may sell the 150 and use the proceeds to fix one of the MGBs. He is going to send me some pics. And Greg has had a good day too. Here is his report. "Day job, While I've been looking over the next big hurdle on the Wright 8 (connecting rods), I have been taking care of detail work. This includes installing the flywheel key in the crankshaft. Their method was to cut a keyway in the shaft on a horizontal milling machine, install the key and then lathe turn the portion of the key that straddles a ball bearing seat. Got that done yesterday. With some time today, and idle hands, I resumed a project begun sometime around '86. Tappet assemblies for the Overland. That engine uses square tappets that slide in a solid babbitt guide that has a flange cast on one end. Not only are mine worn, but some of the flanges had cracked and broken. I found this when I tore the engine down after the hard miles I'd put on it. Rummaging through the scattered parts, I recently found some cut off brass tubing. This refreshes my memory as to the plan for renewing the guides. My idea is to add a brass washer to the ends of the tubes. Then I'll make a mold that will allow me to pour the hot babbitt into the brass tubing and also form the flange. After some lathe work to trim things to size, I'll broach the bores square. As of now I've sheared some brass , punched the .937 holes to allow me to position them on the tubes for silver soldering. After machining the washers to the proper diameter, cutting the tubes to proper length and silver brazing them in position, I'm now mulling over the molds to form the flanges. While in the mulling department, I've multi tasked. Today's pleasant weather gave me the chance to make the gasket and install the cover plate to my 5054 rear axle. I have new brake system parts on order but winter's chill kills my sense of humor and interest in lying under the car. Now it seems like a better idea to join John and Alice Feser for steaks. Ps. I'm having trouble with my email capability. For some unknown reason Hotmail has taken it upon themselves to "upgrade" me to this new Outlook system. I hate it. Not only am I the old dog that doesn't like having to learn new tricks, it has made my mailing an agonizing process. Is there an IT in the house?" =

Chris, the carpet is glued and screwed down. Take a look at the old pieces and you will see where they spread the glue/contact cement. Going to put down some sound deadener like I did?

It is Thursday, December 13th, AM. Spent most of the day yesterday taking Tan the cat back to the hospital for a check-up and xrays to see how is broken and shattered leg is doing. Well the little guy is making a great recovery and the leg is healing. On the down side he has to stay in at least two more months. He ain't liking it. A caged lion. On the way home Alice says "what is that rumbling sound?" Well, said I, it seems that the sealed front hubs on the 02 Trailblazer are starting to go. They are suppose to go about 70 to 100K miles before replacement. I have 173K miles so I guess it is about time. So ordered a pair and put them on my "to do" list. Not much money, $71 for the pair to our door. And we had a beautiful sunset last night. My little camera did not do it justice. And this morning we have a report from Greg. "Bill and I did the usual Wednesday lunch special. Impossible to eat salsa and chips without getting it on your shirt. Matheson engine: More of the same. Tonight I machined the shanks for the long bolts and parted them from the bar stock. I'll machine the hexes when I've gotten all of the bolts turned and threaded. Eight of the smaller ones to go. Wright 8-60 engine: The Wright oil pans, like everything else they did, were an attempt to fight mean old Mr. Gravity. Formed from tinplate steel that's no thicker than a post card. I'd already formed and soldered one for this project while doing some for the four cylinder engines. I found this to be a good time to pull the bottom casting from the crankcase and invert it for convenience in fitting and soldering the pan's details. The brass breather pipe transitions from round to rectangular where it joins, the reinforcement strips of "flatwire" for the retention screws, the piece of glass tubing for the sight glass held in place by rubber tubing, and of course the cork drain plug. The brass tubing for the oil pump pickup will have to wait until it is fitted to the pump before it can be soldered to the pan. That's enough for tonight." =

In case anyone is wondering like I was. Autobianchi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chris, I remember that day well. What a sad little puppy. Didn't run so we had to push it everywhere, but we got her in the garage. And the work began. You have done a great bring her back from the dead. Gradually she will get better and better with each little thing that you did. One day you will look back on the journey and have a big smile for all of your accomplishments.

It is December 12th, Wednesday, AM. Greg is in a writing mood so here is his lesson for today. "Chasing threads. Sounds like something you'd do on shore leave. Not this time. Matheson engine department and working on fasteners. I think that our ancestors leave us with some of their traits. I guess it's luck of the gene pool who gets what. I think my Grandad donated to mine. E. Earl Cuthbert came up the hard way. Pennsylvania born, it's said that he worked in the steel mills. A machinist. Somewhere I've got a brass ignition plug (or key) for his Model 32 Hupmobile (about a 1912 or 13). Later on he found himself in the automobile repair business and even a dealer for Oldsmobile. Then he moved his family to Virginia in '28 to run a gas station/restaurant . I guess late thirties and/or forties he was back in the machinist business in a textile plant. By the time I knew him I guess he'd retired. I remember him for being master of all trades that required skill and artistry. Gunsmith for his friends, cabinetmaker, artist, and with his modestly equipped basement shop, still a machinist. Hanging out in the basement with him, I still recall him at his bench lathe. Slowing the four jaw chuck from spinning with the palm of his hand, he'd have centered the work piece with a large piece of blue chalk that I still have. I can still see him taking his micrometer from his tool box and running it's thimble down his arm to fast forward it to approximately the right size for measuring the cut he was looking for. I think of him every time I do it. Being born in a time when we had to make our own entertainment , it required imagination, usually a crescent wrench and a bicycle. This was in the days prior to computers and the modern generation's desire to devote your life to the mastery of the video game. Building model airplanes and cars, some drawing, and then afflicted with this car thing. Bringing home that Model A thrust me into the world of hand tool . Drills, an electric motor with a flexible cable that Dad got me for wire bushing rust away, etc. Seeing guys like John Jackson doing work in his home garage, I knew I'd be stepping up . I got my chance to learn machining as a tool and die maker apprentice. I must admit that it came naturally to me. Like I already knew how to make the cut. Must have been Grandad's influence. So back to tonight. I got four of the bolts threaded. These will be the long ones that go through the connecting rod caps. Big deal, all evening to do four threads? Here's my excuse for taking so long. Chasing threads on the lathe with a single point tool. It ain't just one swipe. After verifying the thread diameter and then the pitch (how of the sharp edges per inch), the lathe must be geared to that number. Used to be checking the chart and swapping some gears around. Then it got easier with swapping levers around like in a transmission. Then comes the fun part. I find that I'm what they now call a Manual Machinist. Makes it sound like I do manual labor like digging ditches. Guess I am. When the work piece has been cut to the exact diameter, a V shaped threading tool is used. With the transmission set to the right arrangement, various levers and timing come into play. In modern times, computer controlled machines do the work. In my time here's how it goes. There is a dial on the crossfeed which moves the tool in and out. Move the tool in until it just touches the spinning workpiece. Set the dial to the zero. There is also a compound feed with a dial. This is adjustable to allow you to advance the tool on an angle of your choice. Just watch the dial for now. This whole deal is mounted on the lathe carriage. You can guess why it's called a carriage. There's a clocklike dial and an engagement lever on the right side of the carriage. This dial allows you to time the engagement of the lever to begin the carriage travel. It has to be right every time or you've screwed the thread......... With the lever engaged, then comes the concentration and the coordination. I mark the end of the thread with a felt pen. When the tool gets to that line, a simultaneous withdrawl of the tool and the disengagement of the lever. Be slow with the removal of the tool and you'll groove the work. Not only unsightly but also a weakening of the bolt. Taking light cuts each pass to prevent pushing the material away with the cutting tool (that of course louses up the dimension of the thread), I counted tonight that it takes about twenty-five passes per bolt. If fighting off boredom, it can be more fun and challenging to keep increasing the speed of the lathe. Until you screw one of them up. So now that I've had an evening of living on the edge, I guess I'll get some sleep and do it again in the morning." =

John, the problem is in West Virginia. Lots of stuff including video's are on the net. Looks like a big fire. Looks to be in farm country. Well Steve picked me up in his 67 Camaro, and we headed off to the hod rod shop. Had a nice visit. Tom, the owner, and Tommy, the trimmer, spent a lot of time with Steve going over the car. The car really runs good, but is really iffy on braking as it really pulls if you hit the brakes hard, the back end wants to come around. Anyway, it was decided that Steve would bring the car back in a week or so for a full inspection and recommend refit with estimates. He will have to leave it for a couple of days so will head up with him and bring him home. Tom pronounced the car in very good semi-restored condition and that Steve had gotten a great deal. Steve was on the hill leading to our place and almost missed the entrance so he hit the brakes a bit hard. The car just kinda jumped. I got out and as he pulled away the back of the car was going sideways and one the rear tires was hitting the lip of the fender. Something was wrong. So he pulled up the hill and up into the front yard. I got under the car for a look see. It was easy to see the problem. The spring axle plate was missing two of its four bolts mounting. This plate holds the shock and the axle to the center of the spring. With these two bolt gone the axle was free to move back and forth on the rubber pad on the bottom of the spring. We jacked up the rear of the car and Steve kicked the tire hard enough to move the axle back onto the plate and I was able to line up the holes. So we were able to put in a single bolt to hold it all together, enough to get it back home. Now I think that the braking problem was not the brakes, but the axle breaking loose and moving back and forth. Steve made it home OK and I was able to find the correct T headed bolts on the internet. So all is good. There we a lot of cars in the shop so I got to take a few pics. The Chrysler Darrin was in for a full restoration and was just about complete. Will be heading for a CA concours in the spring.

Bill, was the hood/bonnet trashed in the fire? I loved the patina on it. Posted a couple of pics of your car from 2009. I think that you might be able to see the patina I am referring to.

Scott, great work. Something to see the van coming back to life. See you in the spring. Keep warm this winter.

It is Tuesday, December 11th, AM. Steve (68 SS Camero) is going to pick me up, and we are going to an appointment with Tom at Sterling Hot Rods. Steve is complaining of a really iffy suspension with a lot of body lean. He also wants to talk about getting the AC working before summer. And Greg has a report for us too. "Another day in the life..........another good one. Day job: Coming along on the front cover of the V8-60 Wright. It's fitting alright, holes are drilled, about time to move on to something else. After day job: 'Ol Bill and I made the trip to the Chrysler Building (Rob's) to pick up my newly soda blasted Overland crankcase. Rob wasn't home so I had to give Bill the tour. Rob's got some new toys to look at. The '31 eight cylinder victorial coupe that he drug in last week (very nice styled car) and an intact '26 Dodge Brothers coupe. The crankcase will be hosed off and the interior coated with glyptol paint to seal it. With another round trip (any round trip is a bonus) completed and the warm evening temperature, I found time to apply the painted housing plate and starter motor to 5054. That's another check mark on the long list. Matheson hardware: With the time left over, it was my opportunity to check out the steel that came in today's brown truck. I thought I was ordering steel similar to the ETD 150 pre-hardened material I like for high strength applications. What I got was a bar of hardened 4140/42 chrome-moly alloy. Jeeze, this stuff is harder than the times of 2009. I've tried cutting it, and I can tell it's going to be slow going and hard on tool bits. Threading it won't be a day at the beach either. So, now it's time for some midnight chow." =