Avanti R2, 1963, refresh

[Landman]

That Mark IX is something else isn't it?

[unimogjohn]

Pat, that Mark IX was the best restored car I have ever seen. It took the owner seven years to complete between a restoration shop and himself. He told me that just to do the interior wood refinishing took him two winters. The car was flawless. He has not taken it to nationals, but I encouraged him to do so as it clearly a number 1 car. Beautiful job.

And I have uploaded all my pics at https://picasaweb.google.com/unimogjohn/JaguarConcours2012

Edited September 17, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

It is Wednesday, September 19th. A nice day today, which was much different from yesterday. A big storm rolled through and dumped two inches of rain. We had a bit of storm damage from high winds so I spent the day doing clean up and farm chores. It is almost the end of the warm weather so doing the last mowing for the season, about a quarter done. About a days worth to go.

Not much car stuff going on, but I did get the enclosed trailer all set up for the winter. Have it stabilized with jack stands and leveled. So now it is the Jaguar garage for the winter. Speaking of the Jaguar I received the new stop light switch and new back-up/license plate light today. The light is a new production in the UK. It looks great.

Here are a few pics. I took a couple of the old back-up light pictures for comparison. You can see the chrome loss on the top and the deterioration of the plastic lenses. Both the stop light switch and the back-up light should be easy installs. Maybe I will find the time to do that tomorrow. I also want to change the anti-freeze. Picked up a couple of gallons today. I will make sure that I flush it with clean water before I refill.

[unimogjohn]

It is Thursday, Sept 20th. OMG! Greg just sent me his report, and he is starting restoration of another car. I have pulled a picture off the web so you can see what it looks like. But, here is the story and an Avanti and Matheson engine update also.

"What have I been doing?

Waiting on Avanti 5054 to come back from the painter. I'm not impatient, though. With the onset of cold weather, not much will get done to it as it shivers in the tin barn on the hill. Not me. I actually saw my breath this evening as I made my way to the second shift. But he is gaining on it. The foul weather and it's humidity got in his way yesterday. Friday he based it in with a couple color coats. Monday he reshot my engine compartment as per my request. I'd put color in there so that I could put the engine back in the hole, but shooting black in a dimly lit and dirty shed, it didn't turn out too well, but well enough for me to get the engine installation off the list.

Today's brief conversation leads me to believe that it's been scuffed and he'll get the final topcoats laid down tomorrow.

A trip to the storage garage for some errant Studebaker parts also netted more parts than I'd planned on. The next project after 5054 will be the restoration of my '10 Overland Model 42 touring car. Purchased in the early eighties, I'd gotten lucky at an estate auction in Hanover, Pa. I drove the old restoration long and hard. A real trooper . But after a weeklong tour in Maine where it spent almost the whole week in pouring rain, it began to complain. So thoroughly soaked, the glue joints in the body came apart, shifting mechanism got so rusted that it wouldn't shift.... Maine practically ruined the car.

So, I took it apart for a "quick and dirty" restoration. I found so much to repair that the progress came to a halt in 1990. A change of careers, two boys, other priorities, life got in the way. The undercarriage is on wheels, painted and pinstriped.

Now it is time to look way ahead to the engine overhaul.

I've begun gathering the parts that I'd scattered years ago. Cylinders and pistons, rods , crank and camshaft are now here with me. To begin taking inventory, the cylinders had been stripped, degreased and then ignored . Neglect and poor storage have allowed surface rusting, so to check the condition of the bores, during lunch I wiped them out with the ball hone.

They look fine.

This car had been restored long agon by Norman Becker. I never met the man, but I would have liked him.

He prepared the car for participation in the 1953 Glidden Tour , and driven to Detroit.

He spent some time in the engine. It came to me with aluminum pistons. Mitch identified them for me today. His old Zollner catalog determined that they were from a Waukesha industrial engine. A great choice. The good bores mean that I can reuse them. The storage wasn't kind to the wrist pins, but can replace them with new ones. I'll be accumulating parts as time allows.

Matheson work tonight. Before I prepare the cylinders for painting and then installation, now is a good time to begin fitting the piston rings. The rings, custom machined and quite expensive, were supplied a little on the tight side, so I'll take my time working on the end gaps.

Photos:

*The Overland cylinders from storage.

*A comparison of the 4 1/4" bore Overland cylinders with the 5" Matheson.

* Adjusting Matheson piston ring gaps."

[unimogjohn]

Still Thursday, now PM. Well, I had a very nice day today. I went over to visit "Bentley" Bill. Remember a couple of weeks back when I took his Bentley to White Post? That is Bill. I asked him what was happening with the Bentley. He replied, nothing, still in the same spot. He is going to contact them next week to see if he can get a schedule out of them.

But he wanted me to come over to see his other cars and a few other collectibles that he has an interest in. So this morning I jumped into the Jaguar and headed on over for a short visit. Upon entering his home I was taken back and I am sure that my mouth dropped a foot. What a beautiful house. Much different from our farm house for sure. Every room was perfect and wonderfully decorated with antiques. I was impressed.

Then Bill took me down to the basement area. And to my amazement each room was full of different collections. An Thomas Edison collection of very early machines, music, mechanical and electrical instruments; clocks of all ages and sizes; mechanical toys; antique musical instruments including ornate pianos and small organs; and finally a room of trains.

I must say, I was really impressed. It was like walking into a fine museum gallery. He must have thousands of things. Bill told me that he started collecting when he was about twelve, and still has everything he started with. Truly a wonderful place.

Then we headed to lunch to talk about cars, and then I headed home. My sort, hour visit, lasted four hours.

I decided I had to do something today so decided to tackle the Jag jobs. I replaced the brake light switch, which was not difficult with the right sized sockets and then decided to replace the license plate/back-up light. I had to take everything off the inside of the trunk to get to the wiring. Everything is exposed now so I can start to figure out the wiring.

One thing I have found out is that the little dome light in the trunk does not work, so will have to track that down. Also I need to buy some rubber wiring grommets tomorrow as the ones on the car are old and brittle. I also found out that the trunk release handle is pushed in by about half an inch or more and the body is dented. You don't see it as it is down low. I cannot figure out why they did not fix it when the car was painted as it sure looks like the dent was already there because the paint is not cracked.

Tomorrow I hope to have everything back in electrical order with all the lights working.

Here are pics of Bill's Cadillacs. Both have been in the family forever, and have never been restored. They are great cars. Also a couple of pics of his train room. And finally, pics of my Jaguar project.

[John Byrd]

John, sure that you probably have experienced this, but just thought I would remind you. On the little Anglia ( Popular actually ) we recently got, as well as our other Brits and a Pantera we have had, some of the little push-in type and spade connectors seem to frequently have VERY poor solder joints causing things to work occasionally or not at all. The body ground connections are also prone to acting "un-electrically", so give each wire a tug or a wiggle. It's nice when it becomes a simple fix instead of a disasembly procedure. The headlight ground wire was rather firmly hung in the plug-in connector on the Anglia, but only made light when wiggled. A simple re-solder and it's the brightest stock one around here ! Oh..... it's the only stock one around here, never mind. No Lucas smoke escaped during this procedure, ha !Good luck.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Your friend "Bentley" Bill is certainly not a bad man: he has two Cadillacs! The '56 one is atypical: it's a Serie 62 (base model) with options like electric windows, Autronic eye and, but I'm not sure, A/C.

Regarding the dent in the trunk lid of the Jag: body shop people are not always smart. Many years ago, somebody hit my '80 Oldsmobile, the man was sleeping at the wheel. The car was repaired, had a total repaint except the trunk lid, but the body shop did not remove a dent located low on the passenger door!

[unimogjohn]

It is Friday, September 21st, PM. A really nice day, sunny, low humidity and temps in the mid 80s. The only bad thing is that the stink bugs have returned from the forests and are attacking the house, trying to get in for the winter. It will be a daily battle for the next couple of months.

And Greg has just sent me an update on his Avanti. Here you go.

"Well, it looks like we're on the downhill side of it now. Jason got the topcoats applied this morning. I stopped by during lunch to take a look. Enclosed photos of what I saw.

He'll let it harden over the weekend and next week begin color sanding and buffing.

It's been a long long time since it looked this shiny!"

[unimogjohn]

It is still Friday. I did get some time on the Jaguar today. Was able to install the new license plate/back-up light. Had to run into town to get some grommets as the ones on the car were original and hard as rocks. Looks good.

Then I turned to the wiring. I started to pull the wiring out and found three broken and one disconnected wire in the back of the trunk. No wonder why the lights did not work. I by-passed the harness and when directly to the light to make sure that it works. The backup light works, but all the time. I will have to look into that. Also the little lamp on the headliner was disconnected and a line broken. I have to head into town tomorrow and see if I can find some bullet connectors

Here are pics of the lamp installed and the broken wires. I also pulled the spare tire out and gave it a good scrub. Per the 2nd owner of the car, that is the original spare, a Dunlop Road Speed.

And finally, I had Alice jump into the car to test the brake stop light switch. It works! Now we have brake lights.

[unimogjohn]

It is Sunday, PM, September 23. Well I did some more electrical work on the Jag. I had to do a lot of splicing and cutting to get almost everything to work again. The harness had been mangled and wires misrouted or broken. No wonder nothing worked. The wiring digram was helpful, but you really could not make out the color tracers in the wiring so red with brown tracer, and red with orange tracer looked the same.

I was able to get the license plate lights to work correctly and the trunk dome light. I did not have success with the back up light. I cannot find the wire that goes from the switch on the transmission to the light. But it has been rewired and if I can find that connector, then it will be an easy connection to make. I have to remove the carpeting over the transmission tunnel to get to the switch.

Was going to change the anti-freeze today, but just ran out of time. The wiring fixes just took forever to complete. Oh well, tomorrow is another day for car projects.

Here are some pics for your enjoyment.

[unimogjohn]

It is Monday, September 24th. Greg just sent me his weekend report for your reading during morning coffee.

"The pleasant (but slightly on the cool side) weather made it possible to get in some work and get in some play. On the work side, I spent time completing the gapping of the Matheson piston rings. Careful going, took two evenings and a Saturday morning. The gap for each ring was adjusted to fit it's particular cylinder and in it's particular neighborhood of operation. They turned out well.

Then, a piece of aluminum was counterbored to the proper size to receive each ring, hold it stationery and allow me to mill one end of each ring for a relief. These original pistons had been pinned to prevent ring rotation and that's the way it's going back. The pins, that's another problem and I'll get to them when these rings are milled. Someone had removed them. More slow going, it's not the time to get sloppy and wreck these custom fabricated and costly rings.

Today we found time to enjoy the day and drive to Rob's. Delivered some parts for long term storage there, then Barbara insisted that I air the tires on the '10 REO. On the low and/or flat side, she's a stickler on tire pressures.

Rob's '28 Chrysler station hack is nearing completion, but not the Hershey date that I'd been told.

Also, I wish I had taken this camera along. His latest big project had arrived. Another Chrysler of course, I think he said it was a 1933 two door convertible sedan, one of 800 built. I'm not sure of the date because: 1. I'm not that familiar with Chryslers. 2. The car went through a garage fire and is burnt to a crisp."

=

[unimogjohn]

It is still Monday, early PM. I got the Jag out of the trailer this morning to change the anti-freeze. Pretty cool outside, you can smell that fall is coming.

The radiator has a bottom petcock to drain the coolant and so does the engine block. I tried to rotate the radiator petcock by hand, but it was a no go. In fact the little arm came out of the fitting. It looks to be a quick fix replacement anyway. I will use some JBWeld to glue it in when I get everything done. I grabbed my trusty set of plier and was able to get the petcock to rote and the old gunk started draining.

I then tried the engine petcock. That also was a no go by hand. But with the pliers I was able to get it open. But nothing came out. Now that did seem to be a bit odd, but finally it started to drip. So I figured that it was plugged. I pushed some compressed air and got the gunk dislodged. I tried to capture some in my hand. Looks to be silica and sand, and of course all kinds of crud. With a few blasts of air I was finally able to get it to run. I must of tried about ten times to finally break all the gunk out.

After running water through the system I was finally able to get the water to run clear out of both petcocks. I then filled everything with fresh water and let it circulate through the engine and radiator. Then I did a final drain and then filled with two gallons of nice, new anti-freeze.

So this project is done. Sure glad that I decided to change out the coolant. Here are some pics. You can see how bad the old coolant was, might as well been mud as it was that color.

[unimogjohn]

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."

=

[Landman]

As I look at all the various crafts and trades being featured in these forums, it is the machining that I think I would have enjoyed doing the most. I remember being totally engrossed by Dean's work on the '29 Hupmobile and now this old engine. It seems to have almost endless possibilities.

[unimogjohn]

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.

Edited September 25, 2012 by unimogjohn
added cost of washers (see edit history)

[Guest straight shooter]

Unimog, Interstate is a really good battery but if they are going to give you a hard time giving you a replacement than consider a Sears Die Hard or Platinum battery. They have never given me any trouble when I have needed one replaced under warranty.

[unimogjohn]

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."

=

[dalef62]

Happy Anniversary on your Avanti Refresh thread!!!! 3 years today. Keep it going, this is wonderful reading.

[unimogjohn]

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.

[unimogjohn]

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.

Edited September 26, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

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.

[r1lark]

Llama blower? John, do you have to blow-dry the llamas after a rain?

[SeventhSon]

John - I was beginning to become concerned that you may have sold the old Avanti - I haven't seen it in a while! Good to see she's getting some attention.

[unimogjohn]

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?"

=

[unimogjohn]

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.

[SeventhSon]

Glad to hear it John - I miss seeing the Green Hornet!

[unimogjohn]

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.

[Roger Zimmermann]

John, you are a lucky person when your boss accept changes of the day's program!

The car is good looking, your friend must take care not to damage the paint when installing doors and other elements...

It seems that you have no luck recently with batteries! Which year is the Suburban? Since some years, the lights are turned off after 10 minutes when no activity is sensed or the engine is not running.

[unimogjohn]

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."

[unimogjohn]

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."

[unimogjohn]

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."

[unimogjohn]

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.

[MCHinson]

John,

I had basically the same problem with my 2003 Tahoe a month or so ago. That job is a lot more of a pain that it should be. In my case, the sensor had just vibrated loose and the gasket was still OK. I was able to reassemble it apply a little duct tape to prevent it coming loose again and the problem was solved.

[unimogjohn]

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."

[unimogjohn]

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.

[unimogjohn]

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.

Edited October 6, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[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.

[unimogjohn]

Still Saturday PM. We have made the decision that regardless of the weather we will head up to the MG all British Hunt Country Classic tomorrow. After all we have a coupe and a good heater. Let it rain, let it storm, we will be warm and dry.

And I received a note from the Jaguar concours event judging staff from last month's event with the scoring for the class I was in. Here are the results:

CLASS RANK SCORE NAME

D1

1 9.983 Rick Wolfinger

2 9.953 Michael Craig

3 9.94 John & Alice Feser

As I suspected, the broken stop light, license plate light and reverse light really killed us. Along with a few rusty washers and some missing chrome plating. Have almost of them fixed now and there is always next year.

[SeventhSon]

John - where was that show? I love that old Suburban!

[unimogjohn]

Chris, we were in Warrenton, VA. The Chevrolet Carryall 3100 was really neat. It was all original inside with just a repaint on the outside. A real nice truck.

Since I got the little sensor for the Suburban and while it was still light, I decided to see if I could put everything back together before dark. Just made it. Here are progress pics. Oh, and it took over a gallon of fluid to fill it as well. I did use a dab of Vasoline on all the parts to make sure everything would slip back together and not bind up.