unimogjohn

And here are the final pics. Some nice cars. But lots of modern ones, all tricked out with lots of neon flashing eyebrows and light in bumpers/grills. Here are some of the oldies.

It is still Saturday, but early PM. Just got home from the car show. The weather was great in the morning, but this afternoon it is threatening. Everyone left the show promptly at 1 PM. Wayne in his 72 gold Corvette came by in the morning and we were off. Always safety in numbers in case of a breakdown. We arrived at 9 AM and got to our assigned spot. Lots of folks came early. We had a great time talking to everyone, and lots of the neighbors came down to see us too. So we had lots of visiting to do. Also met some really nice people. John Casey brought his pristine MGA to the show and parked next to us. An ex-Navy fighter pilot who loves British cars. Had a nice visit with him and hopefully he and his bride will come out to the farm when they are out and about with their car. It was not a big show, maybe 50 cars, and only three European cars. But was local and fun, with a great group of volunteer. The food was good too. And the Jaguar was rewarded too. It received the ladies choice award from all the attendees and best of show in the European class. Well, there were only three of us, but the competition was fierce. Anyway, here are some pics of the cars. It was well attended by folks passing by and going into Home Depot. The pics will be in two posts.

It is Saturday AM, October 6th. Just pulled the Jaguar out of the trailer and got her wiped down. Local car show today and then a big all British car show tomorrow. Going to be a nice day today and a cold, miserable day tomorrow. Oh well, not every day can be perfect. Did not get the level sensor for the Suburban yesterday so it is still parked in the middle of the front lawn. Maybe it will come today? Hope everyone has a great weekend and doing car stuff.

It is Friday AM, October 5th. Went out to the barn last night and the primer had dried on the battery tray for the Suburban, so now it has a couple of layers of gloss black on it. Moved it out of the barn after painting and into the house for drying. So now it has cured about twelve hours and looks pretty good. I have to wait until the sensor arrives and I can put the windshielf spray system back in before I can install the tray. And Greg has a report for us also. So for your morning coffee, here is his report. "On the way home from work today I stopped by to look at old 5054. Just happened to have some hardware in my pocket, freshened up and ready to screw into something. With the gasket set handy, the trusty bottle of Indian Head Gasket Shellac, and the engine valley cover all at hand, no choice but to get them together with the R-3. Digging a little deeper I also found (surprise surprise) the hardware that secures the intake manifold. With it's gaskets also nearby, the manifold was installed and torqued. Now I don't have to look for all those parts. Funny thing, when I was at White Post Restorations, I helped devise a method of identifying and storing the many parts of a car. Bagged and tagged with codes that were categorized. Made it so convienient , especially when reassembling the parts into a car. But here in the real world, that's not my style. I simply pull the parts off, put them in boxes and lose them all. You'd think after doing this kind of work all my life, that I'd learn. Word came today that the Overland camshaft now has a fresh (stock) grind and Parkerized. And on it's way back. Matheson? Tonight I began measuring the connecting rod wrist pins, piston pin bores and the pin fit in the rod bushings. They're all over the place. Time to contemplate whether to make new wrist pins. Oversize pins would remedy the slight wear in both the piston pin bores and the rod bushings. Getting up close and familar with the rods themselves might help me understand what in the heck was Matheson thinking?! Looks to me like they detailed an engineer from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Thursday already. I'm in my annual Countdown to Hershey, the big car show and swap meet. It starts Tuesday, runs through Saturday. Can't believe it's here already."

Still Thursday, but PM. I decided to work on the 03 Suburban today. It had to go into the shop yesterday as it failed the state inspection. The rear disc brakes were not hitting the rotors correctly, and I was only getting about half use out of them. Usually, I do brakes myself, but ....... So the shop did it and also replaced a tie rod end that was loose. Today I decided to change the oil as Greg had put on about 4,500 miles pulling the trailer a month or so ago. Then decided to see what was up with my windshield washer system. It has always been funky. I would fill it up and a week later it would be empty. Really a nuisance during the winter when you really need that fluid. So had a couple of free hours today and decided to pull it. Well, not as easy as one might assume. First you have to take off the inner fender plastic, then the battery, then the battery tray, which had several rusted bolts that I had to grind off. And then the little hoses, motor and electrical connections. I thought I would find a split in the plastic reservoir, but it turned out to be a misaligned rubber grommet that the level sensor lives in. It was misshapen and was allowing seepage. I called around for a new gasket, but you have to buy the sensor too. So for $12 on Amazon I have a new grommet and sensor coming tomorrow. I need the day anyway to clean and paint the battery tray, which was looking rather crusty. I also have to head into town tomorrow and get a few bolts for the tray as a few are now unusable. So I am happy that I found the source of the problem, didn't cost a lot to fix, and I will be able to have lots of fluid during the winter, not just a couple of cups, but a whole gallon or more. Yahoo! And for those cat lovers, 9 and 10 are doing well on the farm. The little gray one had some medical issues that the vet fixed up and she is now frisky as ever. Orange is doing well too. Mom is happy to have a safe place to raise her kids. Everyone is getting along to include Shadow the dog. Life is good on the farm.

Roger, we are all following along and are in awe of your work. We are enjoying the journey. Do you keep track of the hours you spend on the project? And as an example, how many hours do you have just in the construction of the fuel pump, which is fantastic by the way.

It is Thursday, October 4th. We were out of town for the day so I did not make any progress on anything. But Greg hardly ever takes a break. Here is his report from late last night. "In order of occurrence: My day job is progress on the repro 1910 Wright (long crankshaft type A Montgomery motor). * Fitting the plumbing for the oil pump and soldering the tubing in place. * Fabricate the nozzle, fit the plumbing for the fuel pump and solder everything in place. * Begin fabrication and fitting of the tinplate side cover. Avanti 5054 reconstruction: *Passed up lunch with Lee to ready the supercharger drive pulley for installation. *Screwed it in place. Matheson Engine Department: Finished filing, sanding and buffing of the main bearing oiling tubes. I'm not a fan of clear coating, but I did these since they aren't accessible after the cylinders are on. So, with the exception of missing my usual Mexican with Lee Day Day, I can see what I got done."

Chris, what are you going to do to the dash? Going to make repairs and put in a new dash pad? Sure would be easier to do with the glass out.

It is Tuesday morning, October 2nd. It is really raining hard outside now. Hitting the roof so hard it woke me up. Sure looks like an inside day today. Yesterday I spend the day doing farm stuff and put the pool to sleep for the winter. I then spent some time cleaning out all the sleeping stink bugs from car door jams. The worse was the 28 Buick, and it was in the garage too. Must have been thousands in the jams, all packed together. Here is a shot of them on the Suburban. They did not get into either car, stopped by the seals. Nasty little buggers. And for your morning coffee, here is Greg's report. "A recap of today. Other than Wright four engine work.... as I find pieces of Avanti 5054 I've been transporting them to the hangar on the hill. Before work, while I had the coolant manifold in my hands and the hardware and gaskets handy, I got it mounted. Check that off the list. After work, it was Matheson time. The pistons, being about ready, were reunited with their wrist pins that had been packed away. Their retaining bolts look to be in good shape, but I'll use new lock washers. I haven't forgotten that before the cylinders are installed, brass oiler tubes must be installed. Pulled them out and began prepping them. They'd been buffed, but had been pretty dinged up. One, in fact, was scarred so deep and the fitting cracked, that I've silver soldered it. Letting it cool is a good enough excuse to leave it until tomorrow to finish. And, a surprise in the mail. I'd happened onto new castings of the water manifolding for my Overland car. Always a problem, the original components, being aluminum, had deteriorated so badly that I'd epoxy them before taking the car for a run. These raw castings are really nice copies that require machining. I'll file them away, hopefully not so far away that I'll never find them when they are required. And another nice surprise was a brief visit from Frank Gable, my favorite ex pro baseball player. Make that my only favorite ex pro ball player."

Lee the block is green. The pan is semi-gloss black (I believe) as well as the valve cover, starter, generator. Water pump is green also. I have seen the black, gloss black also. I think it is your choice unless your intention is original. Bill Hirsch and Bob's Automobilia has the paint.

Roger, it is a 2002, it was my fault. The lights stayed on because I left the key turned on to raise the windows. Oh well, just chock it up to old age. Here is Greg's report on the haul yesterday. And when I left him he was still at the hanger admiring his new paint job. He has the rest of the car (doors, trunk, etc) all painted and ready to go on. And he even found the time to start re-assembling the car. What a guy! "The weather, John and his trailer, Jason at his shop and John's dog Shadow, all connections were made and the 5054 Avanti was loaded for it's trip to the tin barn. It's black alright. If you know your Studebaker models you'd understand what I mean when I say it's black enough to be a Studebaker President. So now that it's home , I'm starting to collect the parts I've got all over the place, getting them staged for installation. The ball is in my court again, maybe by warm weather I can have found the parts I've put away for safekeeping."

It is Sunday, September 30th. A beautiful autumn day. Got my orders this morning to do farm stuff, no cars, per the boss. But about 10:30 I got a call from Greg. He wanted to go pick up his black Avanti today versus Monday. I checked with the boss, threw the dog in the Suburban, turned the key...... nothing. I left the interior lights on all night and the battery was stone dead. Put it on the charger, but it was going to take a long time to get life back in the battery. So transferred the trailer to the Trailblazer and off we went to see Greg and his Avanti. The trip was uneventful. Had good conversations with the painter, Jason, and stories from Greg. We got the Avanti, sure glad the new battery worked great, and unloaded at the airplane hanger. Said good-by to Greg and got back to the farm for a few hours of fun farm work. Here are a few pics of the Avanti. Really nice paint job, and so black you can see yourself in it, like a mirror.

And to add to Larry's "driver" issues. A couple of months back we were driving our new to us 1953 Jaguar XK 120 back home from a cars and coffee event. Made it about half way home, some twenty miles to go, and then I could feel a slight stumbling so I started to look for an exit from the freeway or at least a safe turnout. After about a half mile, she finally just gave up. I reached a good pull out and called our insurance company. About a half hour later a roll back came and took us twenty miles home. Turned out the fuel filter had turned to a ceramic mess. I could not even blow through it. So replace it and torn into the SU fuel pump to make sure it was clear of debris. So far she has been running great, but once in a while I will feel a stumble, and it about stops my hart. We always now travel with the good old cell phone, insurance card, and a smile. If it happens, so be it. We just try to deal with it and continue to work the bugs out of the car. So I guess it happens to all of us from time to time. Goes with the territory.

Best thing to do is buy a program, sit down with your favorite pencil, and circle the vendors you want to visit by field. The vendors usually have a description of their wares so you can focus on Buick and the years you are interested in. What you do not want to do is go from field to field, stay in one field for half a day and then move to another. Do not pass up a part thinking you can come back, 99% you will be too tired to go back or the part will be gone. You can dicker on price, but do not expect a lot off the asking price. Sit down and have a drink of water every couple of hours. Pace yourself. Carry a backpack to keep your hands free. Put in some water and a few snacks. Wear a hat for sunburn. Have fun. Oh, and bring cash. No credit cards or checks accepted by most.

Chris, nope, the Avanti is still here. We have taken it to three shows and one farm party this summer. I am driving it a couple of times a week. It has just been the past week that it had issues with the battery. A new one fixed that issue. We are using it this weekend so I do not want to put it in the barn as it gets all dirty and dusty even with a cover on it. It is next to the llamas, and they like to roll in the dust and when they do the dust gets everywhere including under the cover and on the Avanti. Paul, we have two large two stage blowers to blow out the llamas before we shear. This is done in the spring and only once per llama. Since we have two blowers I have commandeered one for blowing off the water on the cars. Works great. It must blow over 100 mph. Another storm is coming, getting dark, ran out and waterproofed the Avanti. Here is a pic. Looks like a space ship.

It is Friday, September 28th, mid PM. We had a whopper of storm last night. It total we got over 2.5 inches in a little over an hours. It was like being under a fire hose. And the wind was whipping too. I went out this morning to inspect the Avanti. Of course, it was full of water. So I am drying it out. Nothing major. But at Greg place, that is another story, and I must admit I have never laughed so hard. I am sorry. Here is Greg's storm report. "Cleaning up after last night's torrential downpour. I was in the tin shed while it was raging. Not only was it pounding on the tin roof so hard, and there was some leaking going on, that I sat inside the Seabiscuit parked therein. When it subsided enough, I returned to the shop to find Scott mopping up after the tsunami that came in beneath the office door as well as others. Surveying damage this morning I was surprised to find that while I was sitting it out on the hill, a large pine had snapped it's trunk letting it's upper fall about fifteen or twenty feet onto and thru the roof of the tin shed. We've had Wright gliders hit trees before but this is the first time that a tree hit the glider. While it was hangared. A couple of us were detailed to pull debris from in front of and off the hangar, the boss' Land Cruiser and a tow rope was working fine. With another storm forcasted, we then covered that part of the roof with the blue tarp trick. While doing this found that a yellow jacket was trying to help out. In my shirt. With that done, I made one more attempt to move another tree that was blocking the emergency gate. The rope slipped and I relocated the boss' front bumper instead. Oh yeah, and Jason just called to say the car was ready, could I come get it? I said maybe Monday So how's your day going?" =

It is Thursday PM, September 27th. Big storm rolling through. High winds, lots of heavy rain, and thunder/lightening. It is blowing so hard that it is making some of the rain into a mist and it is swirling. Really something. The lights are flickering, but so far we have not lost power. Did not do much today other than run to town and get the Avanti battery. Got home and put it in. The Avanti fired right up, great to have a good battery again. Then I prepared the winch battery and put it on the charger to make sure that it had a full charge. In the early afternoon UPS came up the driveway and gave me the new jumper battery. Boy, it was an electrifying day. Here are some pics. And of course the Avanti is outside in all this rain. Glad that she does not leak. The storm surprised everyone and I did not have a chance to get it back into the barn. I am sure that she will be fine. I will use the llama blower to dry it in the morning.

Chris, glad to pass on helpful hints. Going to help Greg put in his glass in his Avanti when he gets it home. Probably will be after Hershey. So I will be better able to help you if you want a pair of extra hands.

Chris, that is the dum dum I bought too. You need to put it in the refer or freezer and get it cold before you try to pull it off the paper and use it. It will not come off the paper cleanly if it is at room temp, even worse when it is hot outside. And it sticks to everything. To include the paper it is attached to. I lost 1/3 of the stuff as I could not get it to release from the wax paper they put it on. Been there, done that as they say.

Bernie and Brian, that is a great looking 23. Very stately to say the least. Actually, the price is very good if the interior is in good shape.

Still Wednesday, but PM. The post lady drove up the driveway to present me with my package from Denmark. My tool kit for the Jaguar had arrived. Ran into the house and immediately opened it. A real nice set and complete with all the correct tools and markings. No disappointments. Now I only have to find a few bits at Hershey in a couple of weeks. The big thing I am missing are the jack and handle. So I will be on the hunt.

Dale, your wish is my command. As long as folks enjoy reading these car adventures Greg and I will continue. Glad you still like to read them after all this time. Still Wednesday. We are under attack. The stink bugs are back with a vengeance. The entire house is covered and they are looking for any way to get inside. Since we are in an all wood house, we have lots of little cracks here and there. So they are finding their way in. I must have vacuumed up a hundred inside the house already. I have three vacuums at the ready to get the little buggers. Here is a shot of them on the outside of one window. Greg called this morning and said that he may want me to pick up his black Avanti from the paint shop. The last time I picked him up the winch battery was flat. Tried to charge it up this morning and was not taking a charge so picked up a new battery. Then went to start the Avanti and it was a no go, so charged it up and went to pick up Greg for lunch. I hoped that it would restart at every stop we made. it kept getting slower and slower, so after I let Greg off I ran home and pulled the battery and went off to NAPA. Traded that battery in and a new one will be ready tomorrow. Now I do not trust batteries so ordered a new portable battery jump starter/charger from Amazon. So now I am $300 poorer, but power rich. Greg and I went to lunch. Met Lee, the engine machinist, at the local Mexican stop. Had great food and conversation. I also got up to date on several of Greg's projects. The Wright V8 recreation looks great. It is only lacking connecting rods and pistons, and a few other do dads like a water pump. Greg has the pump built and is machining the mounts. Construction is on the back burner as he has to get a repo Wright 4 done and running to put in a plane, which is nearing completion. He is working hard on the Matheson engine. He is behind his schedule, but hopefully he is looking to getting it done over the next couple of months. He is waiting on parts to be plated. Finally, Greg showed me the engine pieces of his Oakland. I saw the cylinder jugs, crank shaft and block. The actual car is in another location. All in all, a very interesting day. And the Avanti ran great too. Cruised right along. I hope to get the battery tomorrow morning and then take her out for a spin. And I have to get the open trailer out of the pasture to get ready to pull Greg's black Avanti home. Maybe Friday.

It is Wednesday, September 26th AM. Sitting here with a good cup of coffee and a little kitten sleeping on my lap. Life is good, I am a Dad again. And I just read Greg's report too. Going to head to Greg's place today and take him to lunch. I think he needs a break. Driving the Avanti, and bringing along a spare batter and jumper cables just in case. Here is Greg's report. "The following opinions expressed are my own, no reflection on the management. This evening in the Matheson Department, I worked on the piston ring pins as promised. The lower three pins had been driven deeper to clear the new rings. Modern rings had been installed, stacking thinner modern rings in each groove. A practice that many rebuilders resort to. I guess it works, but the purist in me won't stand for it. Another good reason for not doing it in this engine is that each cylinder bore contains an oiling groove about halfway up. A groove about 3/32" wide. Some of the rings were 1/8" or so. I can't imagine those skinny rings jumping that skinny trench . There are horror stories about others doing this and getting into deep doo doo. A ring that gets hung up in a groove like that means destructiion of something. Probably a piston. I'm returning to the original wide rings. I drove the pins through the walls of the pistons and then reinserted them from the outside and drove them in the proper distance to check the piston ring from rotating in the groove. The pins in the top grooves were another problem. Couldn't drive them through, they are in blind holes drilled into the piston's top deck material. So they had been filed away to make room for the new rings. Redrilling a problem because the centers of the holes were in line with the crack between the top of the ring and the piston diameter. A quick and dirty fixture was made so that I could redrill in the proper location. With the four holes drilled without incident, I called it a Matheson night. Car 5054, where are you? Still at the painter's. I did stop by today to take a look. Jason's Dad was busy sanding with 1500 grit wetpaper while Jason was gliding the buffer around on the top. His plan is , after it is sanded, to buff with a coarse compound, rebuff with a medium, and then finallly a finishing compound. I'm almost afraid he's going to get it too glossy. Unlike most of today's restorers, I'm not a fan of basecoat/clearcoat finishes. What Glenn Miller calls the glaized ham look. The Avantis were originally painted with acrylic lacquer. In most cases it wasn't a long lasting finish, but it gave an elegant lustre. That's what I'd like , but with lacquer all but extinct, I chose the single stage type of finish. I also went with urethane enamel hoping for durability on the fiberglass body. I like subtle elegance. Not necessarily the "in your face" hurt your eyes method . A good example is something I saw while in Idaho. We went to a car show, lots of street rods in attendance. Two cars side by side. Thirty-two Fords coupes. One was bright yellow with purple . Cartoonish waves of colors and stripes. Lots of garish chrome. Couldn't look at it in the sun. But the other..... a full fendered three window in dark black. Body just as straight as can be. Black wall tires on dark red wire wheels. Just a modicum of chrome. But the pinstripe! The beltline from the radiator to the splash apron in the rear, flawless triple hand laid stripes in dark red. Perfectly spaced, the center line was maybe double the width of the outers. And where they converged at the rear, he'd painted a neat little V8 in Ford script. The work of a master, the whole job was stunning. Most probably overlooked the thing. Those cars, if I had to compare them to female entertainers, I'd have to say the one was either Lady Gaga or Nicki Minaj, the other was a Lauren Bacall." =

Pat, I agree with you. I am amazed at Greg's expertise. He quickly makes something out of nothing. It is still Tuesday. Ran into town this morning to buy feed for the llamas and then made a quick stop at our "we have it all" hardware store. Pickup up some chrome washers for the Jaguar's rear bumpers. they cost me a total of $5.23. I lost a few points from the judges for having rusty washers. Actually, looking closely at the attachments I also have chrome loss on the brackets. Those will have to wait until next year. After all, my cars are drivers, not concours. Here are some before and after pics. Also took out the Avanti. Funny, it would not start, no power, like the battery was dead. Put it on the charger at the fast setting and let it cook for about five minutes. Then she fired right up. I did clean the battery terminals a couple of days ago as it would not start then. So I know that the terminals are not the issue. Both the cables are new also, well, only a couple of years old. I will clean the contacts on the negative engine attachment and the positive attachment at the solenoid tomorrow. I will see if that may be the issue. If I am still dead after a couple of days of sitting then I will take the battery in for a check. I was told by the shop that Interstate Battery hates to give anyone a replacement battery so I may have a struggle on my hands.

It is Tuesday AM, September 25th. Here is Greg's morning report. And I may tackle adjusting the rear brakes on the Avanti. At least I will take her for a nice drive. "Today was ok. Got in more time on the next Wright 4-28/30 repro engine. Took my old friend Weldon Britton to lunch. Chinese, it was good. Missed Jason at the paint shop, he'd probably gone to buy a replacement buffer for the one he said "went to lunch". This evening was spent finishing the notching of the Matheson piston rings. Next comes the piston ring land pin renewal. Enclosed photos: * If Weldon was a car, he'd look like my old Dodge Brothers. They were manufactured about the same time. That's what we took to lunch last time. It wasn't as much fun for him as his trusty P-40 was (or his P-51), but he enjoyed it anyway. * A stack of Matheson piston rings ready to be deburred." =