Avanti R2, 1963, refresh

[unimogjohn]

Still Sunday, but PM. Greg came over to look at the Avanti and to see how a few things go together; so hopefully things will go a little faster for him as he does not have to remember or guess on how things go.

I explained that I could not get the steering wheel cover off. He jumped into the car and pried up with his fingernails. He showed me that the little tangs are held in place by the retainers, which are on held down by springs under big screws. So after he left I pried up a bit on the cover and squirted some Kroil under the cover. I turned it, and the cover popped off in my hands. Success. Thanks Greg!

So now I am off to look for my puller to see if I can pop off the steering wheel. That is a job for tomorrow.

Here are pics of the inside of the cover.

Greg called and said that he made a puller for the wheel; he needed one for his car so he made one. He reported that it worked just fine and sent me the pic for proof. so will head to his place tomorrow and pick it up.

Edited April 18, 2010 by unimogjohn
Greg called (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

Greg has been busy as usual. He has pulled his steering and is going through it. Here is his report. Maybe I can re-use his old parts on mine, hummmmmmm.

"Couldn't find the puller I'd made to remove the steering wheel. Now that I've made another (quick and dirty) I'll find it.

Pics show the dissected column assembly. Need to order a few things, new turn signal lever, upper and lower bearings, etc. And strip and repaint the outer jacket parts. Another of those jobs I hadn't planned to do, but now's the time."

Maybe I should re-title this little blog as "a tale of two Avantis".

[unimogjohn]

It is Monday, April 19th, PM. Had a great day, it was my 64th birthday. Alice and I went out and bought me ten corral panels and a Mexican dinner. Life could not be finer.

And I did have a little time to work on the Avanti. This morning I remembered that I had bought a universal, professional, puller in the early 70s when I took an outboard engine repair course at a local technical college. Still have it after all these years, and I knew where it was on the shelf. I am in business so did not have to drive down to Gregs and borrow his.

I got the steering wheel off. Came off with a snap and a pop. I looked at the underside of the steering wheel and the contact ring looks OK, but the little arm that has the contact that rubs against the ring was stuck and not moving on its spring. Sprayed that with Kroil and it loosed right up. This could be the problem with the horn not working. I also removed the turn signal stock and the on/off plastic cams look fine. All the wiring in the hub looks good. But I ran out of time. Tomorrow will dig more into the housing and remove the wiring to see what they look like.

I was also looking at the hood, I thought it looked a bit odd. It has a big chromed scoop that is suppose to have a plastic gold S emblem in it. Well it is missing, and it looks like for a long time. Studebaker International has them. Another gold plated piece of plastic to the tune of $44. Maybe next month.

Here are pics of the steering wheel removal.

Edited April 20, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[TexRiv_63]

Happy Birthday, John!

[unimogjohn]

It is Tuesday, April 20th. Picked up 10 gallons of premium fuel last night. Will put that in the Avanti to make sure I have enough fuel to run around the neighborhood before heading into town at some point. The nearest gas station is about 12 miles a way.

My plan for today is to continue to disassemble the steering.

Greg send me his report late last night. He must have quit working about midnight. A good thing is that I was able to see the various components in the steering assembly. Great to have him working on the same stuff I am working on.

Here is his report. "I've put off parking light repair for years, so tonight was the night. The bulb socket retention screws had rusted into the knurled nuts in the fiberglass. I drilled the heads away to release the sockets. I knew the drilling the remaining screw threads out would be a real bear. It was. The screws must have been made of Kryptonite.

Pushed on the drill so hard that one of the knurled nuts blew out the back. That one you'll see was replaced by filing a hex and epoxying a standard nut in its place. So that's another almost check mark on the list.

[] Parking lites

Removed the console plates to freshen them up with new paint and polish.

Had called about new bearings and stuff for the steering column rebuild. Most of what I need is NLA. So I spent some time with the upper ball bearing and since cleaned and greased will return to service. The lower bearing is a nylon thing. Badly worn and then badly broken on disassembly. I see that's available but since I can't tell if it's NOS or a new machining, I just took a few minutes at the lathe and turned a replacement. Yeah, I know it's the wrong color, but Greg the purist wants to drive this car. Shortcut taken. And I left the bearing a little heavier duty. We'll check it again in another forty-seven years. I'll let you know how it held up. You can't see it anyway.

The knob on the turn signal lever is broken. I've seen the levers at swap meets, but didn't buy. Dumb. Now I see the knob only is in the catalog. That can wait.

Goodnight."

Edited April 20, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[R W Burgess]

Note to self....

Red car, Gregg's...

Green car, John's...:cool:

Two for the price of one, you can't beat it!

[unimogjohn]

It is Tuesday, April 20th. PM report. I took out the plastic signal mechanism and checked its fit, function, and for broken contacts, wiring, etc. It looked and worked fine. I did check for power at the appropriate connections and got a bag of mixed messages. Circuits that were suppose to have power did not. For example, the horn did not have power, and I knew that the front parking lights blinkers did not have power. I do not think that my problem is in the steering wheel components at this time, I believe it is in the wiring bundle someplace. So I spent a little time lubing up the turn signal mechanism with a little white L grease here and there, and then put it all back together. I can at least drive her again.

Well, my next spot to check is the wiring on the front parking/turn signals. I have new flat connectors to replace the all red wiring. It should be an easy job to check each wire to make sure that they are connected to the light assembly correctly and each to a good ground. I also have to do the headlight wiring as they have been cobbled together with incorrect connectors also. But the headlights, both regular and hight beam do work fine.

Put in another five gallon can of fresh fuel. Now we read a bit over half full.

We have to take a trip to Baltimore tomorrow so nothing will get done on the Avanti. But maybe Greg will send me a report to file. One can only hope.

[unimogjohn]

It is Wednesday, April 21st. Sorry I did not do anything today. But thankfully Greg did. Here is his report and pics on his Maroon Avanti.

"Chased around town after work. Looking for #1034 bulbs for the parking lights. Finally bought the last two in captivity. '63 Avanti guys, they're getting hard to find. Also got that gallon of paint remover.

Bead blasted the steering column and shaft parts. Got them in prime. Dunked the console parts in the paint remover and got them stripped.

Worked with the new bulbs trying to get the sockets to work. Think I was successful. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Never know."

[unimogjohn]

It is Wednesday, PM. Greg send this is PM report for today. Here it is plus a pic. He is moving right along.

"Took some time during lunch to base in some Fawn color on the column parts, places that don't show but were painted. Now this evening I assembled the pretty parts and mounted the column on my trusty rotisserie, gave it a several coats. When dry it should be ready for final assembly of the shaft, bearings, turn signal switch. Then back where I found it.

Lots of parts on order, but apparently they are still on the road. Clutch, pressure plate, stainless brake lines, taillamp gaskets, wiper motor gasket, rechromed bumpers, other odds and ends. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm considering changing my course. I've been working towards installation of window glass, body details. Now I'm thinking it is smarter to resume finishing the engine, getting it and the transmission installed. That will make it "a car" again.

Buffed , primed and painted the front console cover. I'll darken the black lettering after the Fawn is dry."

Edited April 22, 2010 by unimogjohn
console painted (see edit history)

[Roger Zimmermann]

Looking for #1034 bulbs for the parking lights. Finally bought the last two in captivity. '63 Avanti guys, they're getting hard to find.

Hard to find? They are currently manufactured and not difficult to get! So many cars are using them...

[unimogjohn]

It is Thursday, April 22nd. Took the Avanti on a nice long drive. Did not miss a beat. Filled up in the closest town to us, about 15 miles away. Took five gallons. So it looks like that the half full mark will be 7 gallons used out of 21, so we know that we will have about 14 gallons to use at half full. Will watch the gauge and see how it reads over the next couple of fill ups. All toll, I think that i probably went 40 miles today. Great to be able to just drive and enjoy the Avanti without having to work on it today.

Greg is working on the Matheson automobile engine (circa 1908) for a client. The body and frame are being restored by someone else. Greg sent me pics of the frame and body so I thought I would share them. Also included are pics of the engine. One mighty fine automobile.

[unimogjohn]

It is Friday, April 23rd, AM I was so excited that the Avanti ran so great yesterday I decided to reward it with a few more parts from Studebaker International. So I ordered the hood emblem S insert, two parking light gaskets for the covers, hood to body rubber seal, license plate light assembly (mine is missing the plastic/glass cover, but it works), and new flasher unit for the turn signals. So this will be another $100 purchase.

I am also going to check the bulbs in the parking lights to see why I have only blinking in the rear lights if I manually work the stock. Maybe I have incorrect bulbs in there? So will check that first today. The parking lights do work fine.

Also Greg continues to be busy on his Maroon Avanti. Here is his report and a pic.

"Some parts came in today. The clutch and pressure plate.

Also the wiper parts. That was my ticket to get the wiper motor installed. I'd ordered new chrome nuts and washers for the pivots, so decided to get all that mechanism in and hooked up. Working under the dash is alway fun. Getting that monkey motion back in is today's bonus."

[R W Burgess]

I am also going to check the bulbs in the parking lights to see why I have only blinking in the rear lights if I manually work the stock. Maybe I have incorrect bulbs in there? So will check that first today. The parking lights do work fine.

John, some flashers require more than one burning bulb operating to make the flasher work. I know you have seen a car's blinker blink "fast" because of a burnt out bulb. Well, sometimes they will not flash at all, if only one bulb is burning.

Wayne

[unimogjohn]

Wayne, thanks for the suggestion.

It is Friday, April 23rd, early PM. Done for the day, but with some success. I got one side of the turn signals work. This is the side that had not been cut and spliced together, and still had the factory flat connections. I lubed and then pulled out the bulbs for the first time. They are #1157, not 1034 as required. I have ordered some 1034s, and they should be here in a couple of days. Cleaned the bulb contact after spraying with Kroil and working it slowly out of the socket. Reinstalled it, and it worked!!!!!! Just love that blinking.

Here is the video.

I was so excited I did the other side, no go on that one. Checked the current with the meter and am not getting any juice out of the turn signal line. Now I know the line I am going to trace it back to the master plug under the dash. Will leave that for tomorrow. I am hoping that that line and the horn line somehow got switched in the repair after the fire or crash in the 1970s. And yes, I do carry a fire extinguisher with me at all time. I would hate to have a melted Avanti at this point.

I then decided that I would repaint the two decorative caps on the inside of the door pulls. They were pretty bad. They look to have had semi-gloss black paint on them at some point, so cleaned them up and repainted them with the same color. Will let them dry overnight and put them back on tomorrow. Here are a few pics of the before and after.

[unimogjohn]

Greg was able to get in a little "bling" work before he ran off to "tango" with his dancing partner. Here is his report and a pic.

"Well, if I didn't get anything else done today, I got to uncrate my shipment from the plater. All the bumper parts .

I sent them to Jerry Forrester who has a lot of Studebaker club clients. Those of us who have suffered through auto restoration know that a chrome plater can bring a grown man to his knees . The parts look very nice. And Jerry is a very likeable guy. I'll send him more when I can."

Wow! those bumpers look great. They will really look great with the new Maroon paint. Knowing Greg he will have them on by the end of the weekend.

[unimogjohn]

It is Saturday, April 24th. It is farm day so did not get much time on the Avanti. But last night we decided to head into the nearest little hamlet for dinner. Of course we took the Avanti, but this time Alice drove.

The Avanti is her car so it is time for her to learn and drive it. Well, Alice is not patient at all. She is a get in and go, type A person. So the first thing she decided to adjust the rear view mirror, of course it came off in her hand. Not a good start. I tried to explain to her to go easy. Not a great thing to say. But she smiled.

Then it was adjusting the seat. She likes to sit way back with her feet barely able to reach the pedals. She actually will move her body forward to hit the brake. Drives me nuts! So made her move the seat forward. Now she is not starting to like this Avanti business especially with me in the car. She is not smiling as much now.

She starts her up, and off we go, NOT! I explain that you have to let it warm up. Now she is really not liking this, and there is no smile, but is now giving me "the look". But after a couple of minutes, the engine idles down, and we are off. Great ride and dinner. And she loves her Avanti. They are getting to know each other. Success!

Today the only thing I was able to do was put back in the two plates in the arm/pull rests. Here are a couple of pics. Looks much better now. Oh, no parts came today either. Looks like it will be early next week before they come. No rush anyway, it is suppose to rain for the next four days.

[trimacar]

John, you and Alice are great people, and I consider you friends of course, and I really enjoy that you can post such candid events, criticism of your better half and how she drives.

Hmmm. Love my wife, but if I pointed out such things, I'd pull back a nub, and have to start figuring out how to keyboard (for you old people, it's "type") with 9 fingers.

Glad to hear the Avanti is on the road and being enjoyed, what a fantastic epic journey? dc

[unimogjohn]

David, glad you are still enjoying the blog of sorts. I am still alive; Alice did not shoot me, yet...

It is Saturday PM, just got Greg's report and pic. Here it is: "Today I've been blasting and painting bumper irons and hardware. Tomorrow should see the rear bumper installed. The front ready, but I find I'm lacking good rubber grommets for it. They will be ordered and the installation will have to wait."

Told Greg that I have the rubber grommets for the bumpers if he does not want to wait.

[unimogjohn]

It is Sunday, April 25th. It is late in the afternoon, and I am "wired".

Actually, I have spent most of the day tracing wires. I did un-tape the engine bay wiring harness to find the splices. The splices all have new wire, but not of the correct color so it does me no good to really try to find the right wire to the left turn signal and horn. The harness also has been spliced under the dash, of course with another color of wire. So my factory wiring diagram is of little use as none of the colors match. But I have figured out that the horn wiring is all wrong. Tomorrow I am going to use some new wire to see if I can wire it correctly and bypass all the old stuff. We will see if I am successful. Here is a pic of the splices.

Greg also stopped by and gave me the correct 1034 parking light bulbs, so put them in. They are actually brighter than the 1157s I had in there. The 1157s were painted yellow, the 1034s are clear.

Greg did some work today too. Here is his report and a few pics.

"Not adjusted, not tightened, but off the floor and on the car. The bumpers arrived from the chrome shop on Friday. Saturday saw some of the irons cleaned and painted.

Today found me short of some hardware. They used 7/16 carriage bolts to secure the front bars to the irons. Some of the fasteners were so rusty that when disassembling the car, I had to drill and blast . What could be so hard about finding carriage bolts at the hardware store? Maybe no problem in the old days when men were men and hardware stores were on Main Street, (not the mall). 3/8 or 1/2" but no 7/16 in this one horse town.

Pics of: * machining replacement carriage bolt. Also had to machine the two missing spacers for the front rubber snubbers. * front and rear bumpers on vehicle."

[Roger Zimmermann]

Many of the pictures you are showing now would have been very helpful for the construction of my Avanti model. Too much details were just guessed.

[unimogjohn]

It is Monday, April 26th. We have blinkers!!!!!!!!!!! Both sides work, errr, well, sort of.

I was able to find the left blinker wire as it comes out of the firewall, it was white with a brown tracer. Then it went into a white wire with a splice. I looked at the end of the taped wire bundle and all the white wires are going to various grounds. So then I decided to go to the parking light itself. Ok, the ground wire hooked to the frame, sort of, not the best job, will have to fix that; then one wire to the light itself, wait, suppose to have two. The other one is there, but only an inch stub; nothing is connected to it. No wonder I did not have a blinker. So I used a pair of jumper lines from the wire bundle directly to the wire stub, and the light immediately started blinking. Success, finally.

A big thunder storm is approaching to have to quit and move the car back into the garage. Later I am going to un-tape the wire bundle and see where the wire goes. The bundle is about three feet in length. Worse case I will run a new wire from the firewall to the light. Stay tuned, more later.

[unimogjohn]

Greg continues progress on his Maroon Avanti. He told me he is getting everything ready to install the engine/transmission. He said that the transmission was rebuilt many years ago and put into storage. He is waiting on the clutch/pressure plate, which should arrive something this week.

He also told me that he originally bought this car in the very early 1970s as a repo from the local bank. He had known of the car so snapped it up. Of course, it had been in a few accidents as the previous owner was known to race it on the streets against all comers. Ahhhhh, the 60s.

Here is Greg's report for Monday. "Legend has it that when the first owner didn't have the car parked outside the Knotty Pine Tavern, he was racing it out on the new dual highway (Front Royal Road in VA). Legend also has it that he wrecked it before it was repossessed.

Looks like at least in the left front fender. I notice that the parking lite housing was installed upside down and now this. The left radiator support to frame bracket had been broken and wasn't repaired. So far tonight I've removed it, given it a quick blasting, reconstructed it and after some dinner, I'll reclean it and get it primed and painted."

Edited April 27, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

It is Tuesday, April 27th. Talk about being in a bowl of spaghetti; I had wires every where. Today is the day to take apart the wiring harness to see what is going on with the horn and left turn signal. Took off all the tape and found many wires burned or melted, and this was on the replacement splice wires. Sure glad I stripped the tape from everything.

Sure enough they had mis-connected the horn wire and the turn signal wire. And when they could not get them to work, then they put the wrong wires on the horn relay in an attempt to get it to work. Of course it did not, overheated the horn circuit and melted a bunch of wires. Instead of trying to fix it they just disconnected the horn relay and cut the wire to the turn signal.

I replaced all the burned wiring with new, and soldered each connection and enclosed everything then with heat shrink tubing. I checked every wire in the bundle. Then I put everything back and re-connected everything. We now have a turn signal that works, and a horn honking when you press the steering wheel horn levers. Yahoo!

But after 6 hours I have given up for the day. I have one wire in the harness that is too short and one too long. Will fix those tomorrow. Also have to put on the flat connectors for the lights and turn signal/parking light. I have to remove the battery to do that so will leave it for now and put it on the to do list.

I am very happy now that all the electrics work as they should. I even replaced one burned out light bulb in the overhead console. So everything is working.

Here are a few pics of today's work. You can make out some of the burned wiring. And I have included a pic of the wires that were replaced.

Over the next few days I am going to concentrated on really cleaning the body and the bumpers. There is a local car show on Sunday, and we want to take the Avanti. The interior looks great, it is just the body that really needs a good polish.

Edited April 27, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

Greg has been busy on Tuesday too. Here is his report for today's work. "While I can still find the gaskets that came in, I took the time to prepare and install both taillight assemblies. I'm getting better at losing things. Still need work on finding things.

Pretty chilly here tonight, so I didn't spend much time in the annex. Must be something here in the warmth to do."

PS: the annex that Greg talks about is actually an old barn/airplane hanger. It is full of wings, propellers, etc from old 1920 and 1930 airplanes. It is neat just to look inside. The Avanti is locked in the annex.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

I like "I am getting better at losing things. Still need work on finding things". Gregg needs to copyright that one. LOL.

Ben

[unimogjohn]

It is Wednesday, April 28th. No work on the Avanti today, just got too busy on other stuff, but thankfully Greg continued to work on his Maroon Avanti. But I did get in the parts from Studebaker International this afternoon, and will put on the hood emblem, license plate lamp, and gaskets for the parking light lenses. Pictures of those tomorrow.

But, here is Greg's report and pics too! "In my travels around the shop today, I stumbled across the stainless door post mouldings. The ones I misplaced a few weeks ago and have been looking for ever since. Before they escaped again, I took them immediately to the buffing wheel to remove some scratches and carried them straight to the car. Here they will wait for me to screw them down. After more upholstery panels arrive.

That done, I've returned to the engine. Borrowed a 1 1/2" socket to secure the crankshaft center bolt and just now I've again gone over the valve adjustments."

[unimogjohn]

It is Thursday, April 29th. A good day! Put in four short hours today.

First thing I did was to replace the flasher unit. It only cost about $3 so decided just to put it in, and see if was any difference than the original 47 year old unit. Was I surprised! The lights are much brighter, and they stay on a bit longer. A definite improvement so the old unit is now in the spares bin.

Next up, the wiring harness. I lengthen one wire and shortened another to make the harness fit back in the brackets. Then re-taped everything. It now looks back to factory; and all the electrics work.

Next it was time to put the emblem on the hood. The little PAL nuts came off easily. It sure was dirty under the chrome bracket. Cleaned everything up and put on a coat of wax. Then put a couple of dabs of waterproof glue on the two tabs that hold the emblem to the bracket. Put it all back together, and it sure looks good. BUT for some reason the black in the emblem turns to a shade of gray in the sun and heat of the day. Odd, will have to watch it.

Then put on the new brake pedal rubber. Had to pry off the old one, it was as hard as a rock. Oh, and then put on the gaskets around the parking lights. Hopefully, they will stay dry inside now.

Looks like I am done for today. Wait, I see the grill in the corner of the garage. Well, it does not do any good just sitting, so either put it on or sell it. Well, guess I will put it on. Drilled holes for the top attachment loops,and had some special metal fasteners that go over the fiberglass flange to affix the three screws. The bottom cannot be fastened easily as the lower valance is about two inches lower than the grill. I can say that the quality of the repaired front clip is not the best. Well the grill is on and looks good. Actually, the Avanti now looks like the car I remember when I was a senior in high school, 1964.

Done for the day, have chores to do in the PM.

[Frank Tate]

Cool! An Avanti with a mood emblem!!

It's just telling you everything you are doing to it is good.

[unimogjohn]

It is Friday, April 30th. Thanks Frank. Appreciate that you are still enjoying the journey.

Managed to put in three hours this morning. Wanted to accomplish two things today, managed three.

First, I wanted to replace the old license plate light. The old one had lost its cover and was just a bare bulb. The old fixture came out easily and found the connection in the trunk. Even found the jack handle! I wondered where that was stored; does not look like it has ever been out of its pocket. The new light did not want to go in by hand so found a socket that fit its cover lip. Used a bit of force to get it to pop in. Done and it works, what a bonus.

Second, wanted to check out why the light in the trunk did not work. Easy fix, a dirty contact. Yahoo!

I was so far ahead for today decided to replace the light in the console panel that lights up the heater/air controls. I figured that there had to be two bulbs in there. I hate to say this, it took over two hours to accomplish changing the bulb. Those little levers were corroded on tight. Used lots of Kroil and pried them up with screw drivers on each side. One would not give up, so that one took almost an hour to finally get it to give up. Yup, it was a burned out light bulb, replaced it and both are now lit. Cleaned up all the panels, lubed the controls and rods, and put everything back together. Made sure I put some anti-seize on the little knob connections in case they have to come out again.

So that is it for today on the repair side. Going to wash it tonight when I get some shade. Maybe do some more body cleaning and waxing.

Edited April 30, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

I have gotten several emails over the past couple of days wanting an accounting recap. So here it is. $8500 cost of car, $7265 parts and repairs, total cost: $15,765.

Also Greg sent me a note that he out of town for the next few days. Delivering his seats to Phantom for recovering.

[unimogjohn]

It is Sunday PM, May 2nd. What a nice day for a car show. Early this morning we headed west to the first car show of the season. Fifty miles each way and the Avanti did not miss a beat. Even got it on the freeway for a few miles and coming home we hit 70 mph real easy. Drove nice and straight, and was not noisy at all.

Arrived at the show at 9AM and stayed until 3PM. Got really hot at the end of the day, and we were ready to head home. Lots and lots of really nice cars, most were tricked out to the nines. I would guess that there were easily 400 or so cars. None were antiques and all were modern cars of which many were highly modified or ticked out. None-the-less, there were some really nice cars.

We even saw two other Studebakers. An un-restored 1952 Champion, and a 1963 Grand Turismo Hawk in original condition except for a repaint. Finally, another Avanti owner identified himself, and he had brought his 1970 Avanti II. This car was totally restored (frame off) in 2007. It was clearly a number 1 car. Beautiful.

Here are some pics of what we saw.

We got a lot of lookers at the Avanti, and all were very positive. We had five to ten people around the car most of the time. We spent plenty of time talking to folks. What great fun.

The Avanti ran a bit hot. I think I will get a new thermostat and put it in. I did not do that, and in hindsight I should have. I cannot hear any boiling noise from the radiator or excess fluid, maybe the gauge reads high.

Edited May 2, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

It is Monday, May 3rd, early PM. Ran to the local auto parts place this morning and picked up a thermostat, radiator cap, and gasket. Total cost was about $11. They did not have a 170 degree thermostat so opted for 160 versus 180. They did have the correct 13 psi cap.

Rained hard last night and this morning. Now I cannot believe how humid it is; it is like August. What funny weather. I had to turn the AC on in the house to get it comfortable. Now the humidity in the house is 37% and outside it is 87%. It just make the sweat come out of you.

Not too hard to get the old thermostat out; four bolts, an alternator bracket, and the expansion tank is out. Wow, it must have been leaking at some point as everything is covered in orange RTV. Must has worked as it was not leaking. The old radiator cap is incorrect too; it is rated at 6 psi not 13. The thermostat is 180 degrees, not 170.

I cleaned up the housing flanges with the Dremel tool with a little wire brush. Both ends are now nice and bright and free of all that orange RTV. I coated both flanges with Permatex number 2 sealant, inserted the thermostat and its gasket, and put everything back together. I am going to just let it sit without coolant for a couple of hours to let the sealant cure a bit. Hopefully, it will not leak.

Here are a couple of pics. Will give an update later on in the day.

Edited May 4, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

temperature update, it is 4 PM. Took the Avanti out for a test drive. Came up to temp. of around 170, put it in D, and off we go. The temp. stayed at between 190 and 195 degrees and went no higher on a fifteen mile jaunt. Usually, it was between 210 and 220. Yesterday, it did get as high as 230 degrees. So I am happy, seems to be much cooler running, and no leaks noticed at the flange.

But of course, I had a minor mishap. The Eastern Box Turtles are running across the road. Yesterday, we stopped and picked one up; this morning I did the same thing coming home. Well, on my jaunt there was this little turtle, stopped and moved him to a safe spot. Of course I was on a slight hill, so I put on my emergency brake. Got back in, forgot about the emergency brake and drove about six miles with it on. I could smell something, but thought it was the antifreeze burning off the engine. NOT! My back wheels were really smoking when I got home, so got the hose and cooled everything down. Lots of steam, looked like a old steam train leaving the station. Well, I will let everything cool down and take it out tomorrow and check how she does. I know the rear brakes are really broken in now. The fluid level in the master is fine so at least I did not melt a wheel cylinder. Oh well. It is always something, but this time it is of my making.

Edited May 4, 2010 by unimogjohn
id the official name of the turtle (see edit history)

[bhclark]

No good deed goes unpunished John!

Keep the updates coming! I wish I could get something accomplished every day like you do.

You are an inspiration!

[unimogjohn]

It is Tuesday, early PM, May 4th. Hay fever, ughhhhhhhhhhh! It finally got me. I cannot stay out for very long, so retreating to the house with all the air filters running (four) so I can breath. I will be miserable outside now for two to three weeks. Inside I can survive.

But I did get out and check out the Avanti. Drove it around the farm, brakes work fine; and then put it up on ramps and did a visual check. Everything looks fine, no grease or brake fluid dripping out the drums. Dodged a bullet. I did check the rear end grease, and topped it off, it was just a little low. And, the rear end/main shaft seal is not leaking, it had about a half inch of dried grease around the yoke when we got the car. I was afraid that it would leak like a water hose, but everything is nice and dry. I then tightened up the emergency brake adjustment cable for the last time. Everything looks good to go.

I also checked the oil, power steering, and brake fluid after our 100 mile trip. Everything was fine, but I did lose a bit of power steering fluid. I know I have a leak at a hose fitting, will have to try to track that down. Right now it is not a big problem, we only dropped maybe a quarter of an inch out of the system.

And Greg made it home on Sunday PM. Here is his Monday PM report and a couple of pics.

"Four seats have been delivered to Phantom Auto Works in hopes that they can furnish two good ones. Avanti seats are lightly constructed on fiberglass shells. Old age and abuse take their toll on the shells and turn the foam rubber into sawdust. We'll see how they do.

After driving through some of the torrential downpours you heard about, home again.

Tonight's chore was to get materials and begin the construction of a quick and dirty cradle for transporting the engine. Assembled on my old '70's three wheeled engine stand, I could picture it going end over end.

Eyeballing and cutting began tonight. Hung together with a minimum of drywall screws, tomorrow's trip back to Home Depot should yield enough hardware to make it sturdy enough.

Tonight's pics of: Last weeks removal of seat tracks from the seats. The tracks will require major restoration efforts. Tonight's work on the engine cradle."

[unimogjohn]

Well, it looks like Greg made significant progress on his engine stand last night. The engine sure looks looks good sitting in her temporary home. Here is his report and pics.

"The cradle is together, the engine removed from the build-up stand and is now resting safely on the pallet jack for transportation. Flywheel is installed, and its hardware needs to be torqued."

[unimogjohn]

It is Thursday, May 6th. Not much yesterday, just more cleaning and washing the pollen off, and a short drive too. May take her to another car show on Saturday, we will see, getting behind on my farm duties. This is a AACA chapter show that has been running many years. You do get a different set of cars at this meet, rather than the real modern cars.

But thankfully Greg still is busy on his maroon Avanti. Here is his report and a pic.

"Nothing substantial done tonight. I did crawl under the car and remove that crossmember that supports the engine/transmission. It looks like it has hit every rock between here and South Bend. Doing some straightening. It's shape and construction don't make it very friendly for repair. So I'll do what I can and keep reminding myself "This is just a driver"."

Edited May 6, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

It is Saturday, May 8th, a nice day for another car show. Alice went off to build a house with Habitat for Humanity Women's Build, so I cleaned off the Avanti and headed to the AACA show. Lots and lots of cars. A much different crowd than last week. Lots of unrestored and restored cars, and not a hot rod or tricked out car in sight.

The Avanti ran great, but it does have a stumble at odd times, usually around 2000 rpm or so. It feels like misfire or something electrical, and only happens for a moment. I have platinum plugs in the engine, going to go back to the standard plugs and see if that makes a difference, if no difference, I will reinstall the old coil. So it will be a test and see kinda of procedure as a start.

Here are some pics of the car show. The Avanti was visited by lots of folks. Three people dropped by and said that they had an Avanti or two in the garage needing help or not running. I encouraged them to get the cars back on the road. Greg was also there too; he brought his International Harvester speedwagon, and that picture is here too. It had a place of honor in the center of the field.

Edited May 8, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[bhclark]

What is that white convertible? That is drop dead gorgeous!

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Brian, if you are asking about the second pic, with the red top, it is a Keiser Darrien. About 1954.

Ben