JWLawrence Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Jon --- Good trouble shooting on the hesitant cart. I am always amazed about the troubles a bad battery can cause. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted August 28, 2016 Author Share Posted August 28, 2016 Sunday, PM, August 28th. We headed out earl this morning to pick up hay for the llamas. Wanted to beat the heat. It is so hot in the afternoon that I can barely stay outside for any amount of time. We will unload the hay into the barn tomorrow morning. And Alice and I finished cleaning the golf cart. I need another 30 minutes or so put put back on the air cleaner assembly, then "Daisy" can go home. Here are a couple of before and after pics of the cart. The pressure washer does a great job. And here is the old van battery in the cart. Almost fits, but it will work just fine until the owner can get a replacement for the one she had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted August 30, 2016 Author Share Posted August 30, 2016 (edited) It is Tuesday, August 30th. No start on the golf cart. Lots of blow-by from the engine and low compression. She needs a rebult. The owner has decided to put it on Craig's List as is. I would buy it, but I really do not have any use for a single purpose vehicle, and I don't golf either. But the front tire on the cart was down. Decided to use my little tire changer to see what was up. Mounted it and sprayed it with windex and aired it up. Leaks around the rim. So deflated the tire and broke the bead, and then aired it back up. The windex helped it to seal. No leaks this morning. And Diamonti, the llama, found the new hay. He is in heaven. Took the Avanti out for a run of about ten miles. Just a joy to drive. I then decided to put in a gallon of race fuel to give it a bit more octane. The gas cap is all crusty and according to some, should be red. So cleaned it up and gave it a good coat of red engine paint. Edited August 30, 2016 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeventhSon Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Red? Really?! Seems funny. Did you find the source of the oil leak(s) John? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted August 30, 2016 Author Share Posted August 30, 2016 (edited) Chris, yes on the leaks. I have them all stopped except for two. First is the power steering valve body, and the second is the rear main engine seal. I have kits for both. Just need the courage to do the work. The valve Onbody kits has two washers, and great instructions so that should not be too difficult. The rear main is a bugger. And the golf cars is sold. Only took 7 hours. First person who saw it, bought it. Will be picked up tomorrow. $600 out the door. I am sure the current owner will be happy, she only wanted $250 out of it. Edited August 30, 2016 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeventhSon Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Yep, the rear main will take some courage. But hey, you don't have to lay on the ground while doing it! And that power steering valve body - I remember my father rebuilding the one on my mother's '63 Studebaker Hawk more than once. Seems like it was always leaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 Early on Wednesday, August 31st, last day of summer. And we have a short report from Greg. I asked him if the maroon Avanti was back on the road. "No, the 'biscuit isn't running. With the Matheson engine on the front burner, I've only gotten in a few licks on the Avanti. The oil pan is still waiting for me scrape the old gasket away, new set did come in (boy are they expensive now). I sent the old Made in USA pressure plate out for overhaul. The new replacement unit probably fine, but since I've had so many failures (this century) that could possibly be "offshore" related, I'm not going to chance it with a Korean component. R&R transmissions just ain't fun anymore. Last night I pulled out the crossmember, bellhousing and clutch. So far no obvious reason for the noise." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 1, 2016 Author Share Posted September 1, 2016 (edited) Sept 1st, the first day of Fall, bring on the cooler weather. Daniel just sent me an update on Brownie the van. Work has begun. I had to order another panel for her. "John, My comcast email is down, unsure what's up with that. I did get started on your van today. Got the rear bumper off, all bolts but 1 broke or had to be cut off. I have the drivers side, behind the rear wheel, 98% prepped, and the patch ready, as you can see in the pic. Also in the pic you can see the support for the patch/quarter has a hole in it, is that something you want fixed? Also I went through the panels we have for the rest of the repair's. It seems we have a short panel for the drivers side, behind the door to the wheel opening. We had wanted the long panel, we measured that I think, it would be best if we could get the long panel, too many rust holes. I hope to work on the van all day tomorrow." Edited September 1, 2016 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 3, 2016 Author Share Posted September 3, 2016 (edited) Saturday morning, September 3rd. Heading off to Cars and Coffee this morning, and then will head up to Daniel's garage to take a look at Brownie, pick up some parts for Camaro Steve, and pump 6 gallons of race fuel for the Avanti and Jaguar. Going to replace the coolant in the Avanti tomorrow. Should be fun. Here is a short report from Daniel on his panel replacement project on Brownie the van. "You can see the repaired brackets, and the panel 98% welded in and ground down." Edited September 3, 2016 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 3, 2016 Author Share Posted September 3, 2016 Saturday PM. Cars and Coffee was really good. More than 24 cars were there, so that is a record for us. Here are pics of some of the cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 3, 2016 Author Share Posted September 3, 2016 Then we went to Daniel's shop and picked up the race fuel. He has several cars and trucks that he is working on including Brownie the van. Brownie will get most of his attention next weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buicknutty Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 John, I was out to day with my Buicks and in the parking lot of a nearby shopping and coffee shop, this is what I saw! A Unimog! Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Stoneberg Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 So what does Race fuel go for in your part of the country ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 4, 2016 Author Share Posted September 4, 2016 Keith, that is one "get away" Unimog. Bet it has been some interesting places. Bill, Corvette Ways buys it in a 55 gallon drum. The cost is $511 plus a delivery charge. So about $10 per gallon. I use it in the Jaguar and Avanti as a mix, maybe one gallon to five gallons of premium. Seems to make them run smoother. Wayne runs half and half in his 12 to 1 compression ratio Corvette. The Jaguar is 8 to 1, the Avanti is 9 to 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 John, This is the Unimog you need for the farm. http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/cto/5747452390.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 6, 2016 Author Share Posted September 6, 2016 Tuesday, September 6th. Another hot one, over 90 again today and for the rest of the week. Changed the coolant in the Avanti and then Camaro Steve came over with Barney, the F100 p/u. We put it up on the lift and checked everything over since the build. Found a few things to tighten up, but over all a great job. Here is a Muscle Car of the Week video done back in February. I had not seen it before. A good production and they got it just about right. Worth your viewing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWLawrence Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 Jon, thanks for posting the MC video. I agree, they did a good job describing the Avanti. I did a little work on my Avanti over the Labor Day weekend. I made some brackets to move the front seats back a couple of inches. I ended up raising the front of the seat cushions about an inch too. This resulted in a much more comfortable driving position for me. Arms and legs not so close to the steering wheel and pedals and better upper leg support. It will be easy to reverse if the next owner prefers the original position. Next job is to give the interior a good cleaning. (o[]o) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 7, 2016 Author Share Posted September 7, 2016 It is Wednesday, Sept 7th. Just waiting for the carpet guys to show up to redo our place. Of course they are late. But I am surfing YouTube and found the Kiawah Island Concours from April of this year. We are at about 1 minute, 30 seconds in. Ah, memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 7, 2016 Author Share Posted September 7, 2016 It is Wednesday, September 7th. Daniel sent me a progress report on Brownie the van. The last patch panel should be here on Thursday, so plan on personally visiting the truck, deliver the panel, and make a progress payment. "1st pic, drivers side behind wheel, done, skim with plastic done. Others pics, working on passenger side, part of wheel house rusted , missing, made part, fit panel, welded in." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 It is Friday, September 9th. I always knew that Brownie the van was hot, but not this hot. I pulled up to Daniel's shot to find him airing it out. Seems that he was finishing up welding the wheel arch when he noticed smoke coming out of the interior of the van. Fire!. He pull the paneling out to find the insulation on fire. He quickly doused it with a spray bottle of water. No damage to the van, but the wooden panel is toast, so to speak. The panels in the van are about 36 years old and are dry as tinder. Going to replace it all. Daniel has about 3/4 of the panels replaced and welded in. He is doing a great job. I delivered the last long panel for the driver's side today. He has spent 40 hours on the truck so far. I think he still has another 40 hours to go before I get to take him home. Here are pics of the van repairs. Nice to have it nice and solid again. I also ordered tune-up parts; plugs, distributor cap and rotor, air filter, and spark plug wires. Going to give the van a good tune up when he gets home. And we just had our house carpeted, I think I have enough left over to do Brownie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packick Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 John: Is Daniel going to paint Brownie when he has finished welding in the patch-panels, or are you just going to take her to Maaco or some place like that to have it painted? Or, since you now have money left over from the carpeting job, will Brownie get one of those $15K paint jobs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 Joe, for the time being I am just going to rattle can the repairs. Bought four cans of the correct color paint. All I want for now is that it is one color with no holes or rust. I plan on prepping a section at a time over the winter, and maybe in the spring I will have it sprayed, or I will spray it. After all, what could go wrong. I really want to get new front seats. Maybe we can take a trip to a junk yard when you are here in October and pick out a couple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 Sunday, September 10th. Late or really early, can't remember. Down a back track of a dirt road, we drove the Avanti over three miles over the hills of Virginia. We finally came to a big tract of woods called Gratitude House. The land and buildings are all owned by Dos, our Ford Model T friend. First time we had the honor of going to his place to see his collection of "stuff" and to attend his annual Model T and friends. He is on over fifty acres of property, mostly woods with lots of shops and run in sheds for all his cars. He has over 24 Ts and As in various states of rebuilding. And he has lots of other stuff. Jeeps, Jeepsters, TR6s, motorcycles, etc. You name it, he has it. He loves to build Model Ts and has parts to build over a 100 of them. He must have 5 or 6 under construction. He never sells them either. Oh, and he built everything himself, no contractors for him. Here is a taste of what we saw. The Model club was there in force. They are a touring group, no trailers please. They drive everywhere. They just returned from a 75 mile jaunt through the backwoods. Only one fatality, our Paul Rose of Vintage Motorcars, either broke a crank or rod as his T came to a dead stop with lots of smoke. Good thing he owns his own shop. And with over a hundred guests, we had a great dinner and good conversation with lots of folks we did not know. And a country band too! It was just a great afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 (edited) and the band played on. The MP4 file is large and will download to hear the band playing. So if you are still on Dial-up, don't bother. P1070977.MP4 Edited September 11, 2016 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1lark Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Neat pics John, thanks. That wooden two-cockpit runabout and the Jeep station wagon make quite a pair (in my garage I wish! ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 Monday, September 12th. Finally, a day under 90 degrees. Nice as the humidity is way down also. So I spent the day in the garage. Cleaned up the Avanti and the Jaguar from a weekends worth of driving, and then drove the 1923 McLaughlin Buick out of the trailer, around the hood, and after a few miles bouncing down our country roads, into the garage. I did have to prime the vacuum tank to get it running. So I spent a few hours cleaning her up. I am going to get it up on the lift as I have to adjust the brake on the left side of the car to get it in sync with the right hand one. The car only has two wheel rear brakes so it is very important that they work together. And I have to spend some time detailing the underside of the car and the wheels also. Will be great to work on everything with it up in the air. I also opened up the front window for some more air while driving, air conditioning at it finest. The big Hershey AACA show is coming up in early October, the 5th thru the 8th. I will trailer the 23 up on the Wednesday before the show, which is Saturday. Then on Sunday we have the Hunt Country Classic British car show on Sunday. It will be a very busy weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 Who knew, Avanti top five muscle car according to FOX. http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016/09/12/top-five-luxury-muscle-cars/?intcmp=hpffo&intcmp=obnetwork Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 (edited) It is Tuesday, PM, September 13; and it is hot, hot, hot....... so I turned on the AC in the garage to 74. Ahhhhhhh, perfect. Spent about seven hours cleaning the 23 once I got it up on the lift. Up in the air I was able to get to places I had not seen since I had put the car together many years ago. Now the undercarriage is clean, the wheels, and the body. All ready for Hershey. Only the top left to do and will do that tomorrow. A good vacuum of the top should do it. I do have to do some touch up painting. Nothing major, just stuff the judges will see and knock off a point or two. The pics are before cleaning. Edited September 13, 2016 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 (edited) Oh, I penned an article for the Buick McLaughlin Club of Canada back when I first bought the 23. Thought you might enjoy the history of the car as known to me. Edited September 14, 2016 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1lark Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 1 hour ago, unimogjohn said: It is Tuesday, PM, September 13; and it is hot, hot, hot....... so I turned on the AC in the garage to 74. Ahhhhhhh, perfect. Oh man John, that A/C and that lift are going to spoil you! Sure wish I could be spoiled like that!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 14, 2016 Author Share Posted September 14, 2016 Wednesday, PM, September 14th. With Alice's help we got the top up and secure on the 1923 McLaughlin Buick. I will vacuum it tomorrow and then put it back down. It will not fit in the trailer with it up. The top is approaching maybe ten years old, and it still looks brand new. It has been in a few rain storms and several trips on a open car trailer. David Coco, our own Trimacar on the forum, did it for me. And as a side judging comments. I was chided at the cars first AACA Hershey showing a few years back for not rolling the leather straps for the top and the rear tire. The chief judge was kind enough to roll them for me before judging started. Now we do it every time. Here are the before and after pic of the loose and rolled leather straps so you can get an idea of what I am talking about. Only the engine bay to clean now, approaching the end game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 I'm sure, as the new owner drove it for the first time in a rainstorm, after just putting up the top with his wife's help and getting her fingers caught in the folding metal, the guy said, wait a minute, sweetheart, I'm going to go roll up the straps into the saddles.... Great car, and a privilege to work on it...I always dread the new tops going down, but John and Alice have used this car and respected it, and enjoyed....as they're meant to be used! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 14, 2016 Author Share Posted September 14, 2016 (edited) Still Wednesday. I have been fussing over the condition of the 1928 Buick with its broken engine. I talked to Mitch (a engine rebuilder/machinist of all things older than dirt). I told him about my cracks in the block, and he said that he has fixed many blocks by stitching the metal and would be happy to do mine. So that is what I am going to do. So today I uncovered the old girl and cleaned the outside and vacuumed the inside. Only the engine bay and windows left to go. I hate working on a dirty car. Here are pics of the car. I bought it in 1987 from the daughter of the original owner. I paid the grand sum of $5,000 for it. The car is still mostly original, the fenders, hood and the lower portion of one door were repainted by me, as well as the replating of the radiator surround. The body color, Harbor Blue and Black around the windows is still original, as is the top material and the interior of the car to include the carpet in the passenger compartment. At some point the wood for the battery cover broke, you can see how it was repaired, the tin is on both sides. Here are a bunch of pics to include the box of spares that I carry with me. Edited September 14, 2016 by unimogjohn (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 Thursday morning, very early, like 3 AM, September 15th. Just a little more history on the 1928 Buick. I met the daughter and her son when I went to look at the car. She said that it was her mother’s car. In the 1930's she remembered that they took it from their diary farm in Burlington, WA to Seattle, WA during the fall to sell produce, mostly apples, pears and cherries. She said that they removed the rear seat and stacked the rear of the car with boxes of produce. Back in the day it probably was about a 4 to 5 hour trip, one way was about 70 miles. During WW2 the car was put on blocks as there was little gas for a pleasure car, and the fuel that was available would be used for farming. After the war the car was put back into service around the community for five or six years. Then, its useful life up, it was put on blocks in the milk barn. There she sat until I bought her in November of 1987. There is a oil change sticker on the driver's door jam. It says that the oil was changed on February 21, 1950 @ 40,533 miles. The car now has 43,425 miles. So between then and now, the car has only traveled 2,892 miles. Or about 43 miles per year. I have not been able to find any mileage records of when I bought the car. Our longest trip was in 2000 when we drove the car to the Buick Nationals in Richmond, VA. A round trip distance of about 250 miles. Here is a pic of the sticker and the car at the Richmond Buick Nationals. Boy, we were young back then. Here is a pic of the sticker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 Still Thursday, a few years ago, John Lee of Australia fame, sent me a couple of very old period pics of other left hand drive 1923 McLaughlin Buick's in Australia. Turns out there is one known left hand drive 1923 McLaughlin Buick in Australia (Richard Brenner). So mine is one of one in the USA, and one of two in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 (edited) Still Thursday. Seems like I have a lot of irons in the fire. So here is what is going on. Avanti: Wanted to get a set of valve cover gaskets. Way too expensive at over $30 plus shipping. But I can get a full upper gasket set which includes the valve cover gaskets for $63 from Rock Auto. They have been ordered so now I will have lots of gaskets for the upper end of the engine to include head gaskets. A much better deal. I am also sourcing a duel master cylinder kit. I am really unhappy with the braking of the car now that it has the Turner front disk brake setup. Just too little poop from the little original master cylinder. The cost of the kit is around $200. 1928 Buick: All cleaned up inside and outside. Looks very nice with clean glass too. Filled the tires with air, they were all 20 psi or so, they need to be 32 psi. The wooden spokes of the wheels need a few coats of Tung oil as the finish has evaporated over time. Now I can get to the engine to see what is up with the cracks. 1923 McLaughlin Buick: Engine bay has been detailed, see pics. Charging the battery. Vacuumed the top, looks great. The car is ready to go back on the trailer as soon as I fix a couple of lift-the-dot posts, which broke off on the last trip out. I have to dig them out of the wood as the screw portion of the post is still imbedded. 1979 Chevrolet Sports Van: Still at Daniel's shop. On the back burner. Nothing done this week except to cut out the passenger side rear corner. I delivered three more rattle cans of body paint. Daniel has lots of other work now, so Brownie has taken the back burner for a few days. Also include are pics of an original 1947 Harley Davidson Knucklehead motorcycle. It is all original. Daniel's job is to get it running again. It has been sitting untouched for 30 years in a basement. And he is putting in new wheel arch panels and rear valance to a Mustang. Enough for now, back to the garage. Edited September 15, 2016 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 Thursday, PM. Done for the day. 1923 McLaughlin Buick: It is done. Spent about an hour digging out the broken post in the bow. I did not make too much of a mess of the wood, but had to go deep enough to get a grip on the end so I could screw it out. Now all I have to do is finish the charge on the battery, put the top down and move it into the trailer for its trip to Hershey in two and a half weeks. Here are the pics of the operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 Now for a report on the 1928 Buick. First, a pic of a wheel that needs to be restored/cleaned and rubbed with tung oil. Second, smelled the gas. Awful, so I pumped about four gallons out of the gas tank and a pint or so out of the vacuum fuel tank. Some nasty stuff, but very little debris in the fuel glass bowl and screen filter. The gas was the color of coffee. I think that it was turning back into oil. Now I can put in some fresh, real gas. Third, pulled the battery so I could clean and charge it. I bought it in 2006 and seems still to be good. I will put it in the car tomorrow and see if it will turn over the engine. If not, I will get a new one. Fourth, took a look at the engine were I think it is leaking. See the little rust spots in the pic. Had to use a mirror to see the underside of the head. Notice that there is lots of JBWeld on the block's water jacket. This does not bode well for a repair. However, I will smear on some more JBWeld to seal the crack. It is under no pressure as the coolant is not pressurized. Fifth, pulled my spare block from its hiding place in the shed. Purchased it for $200 about five or six years ago. It is dirty, but the cylinders look good. Will clean it up tomorrow and give a report. That is all for today. Where is that beer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeventhSon Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 You're going to have to start filling out a time sheet every day John. You have the job I want! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted September 16, 2016 Author Share Posted September 16, 2016 (edited) It is Friday, September 16th. Just a couple of things before I get started on my day. I pulled the 1928 cylinder block from the storage shed. Bought it a few years ago for $200 in a "just in case moment". I guess it was good that I did, it may be that moment. It looks to be in good shape. Today I will pressure wash it and see if I can clean it up a bit. The cylinder walls look good too. I will have to borrow a gauge from Corvette Wayne to measure the cylinders. The previous owner has put on heavy grease on the walls, which is still there. I can see no rust. It does have several broken head studs, but I am sure that a machinest can get them out. Going to use some carb cleaner on the engine block in the car in the area that has the crack. When I laid the car up, water was leaking in drips from the area, so I know the crack is not a large one. And if the battery charges up will attempt to turn over the engine. And of course will put fresh gas in it. And when Brownie the van comes home it will be treated to new spark plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor. Edited September 16, 2016 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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