ME & MY === 1958 Buick, 1958 Buick, 1958 Buick and……..

[dei]

After a call from Mom decided I had better get over to bag leaves and start to finish the landscaping THE CONTRACTOR WOULD NOT DO...

 

It wasn't as nice as last week with temps only around 40 degrees but by keeping moving the body builds heat.

 

I dug a small trench and lined it with landscape fabric then poured pea stone in to help draw water off the side walk.

 

Lot's of kneeling going on...

Saved some pain with my investment in foam pads. Best money I've spent in a long time!

 

It wasn't long before the daylight was going so left and went back to the Special as that place will be sold this December and I have to concentrate on cleaning up the property and clean out the carport now.

There are two cabinets I want to use at home so loaded them into the trailer after taking the big one off the wall.

   

After supper I brought them into the garage knowing I want to refinish them before mounting and placing them out back.

 

Now, if I can just locate that can of Buick green engine paint for that white cabinet...

Edited November 16, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Sunday was a wild windy, cold rainy day which meant time spent inside the garage was the option.

Those cabinets were calling to me so set them up on a temporary table, grabbed my sander & mask to prep for painting.

 

 

Going to use metal primer to slow any more rusting on this one.

 

 

By the time I primed the wood cabinet it was time to head in.

 

 

Low and behold after supper I looked around downstairs and found the can of Buick Engine Green paint I had tucked away. (It's always the last place you look for something. LOL)

It's now in my office easy too see before I'm ready to use it.

 

[lancemb]

That is some old paint!  Is that a 55 hood ornament base in the rear of last picture?

[dei]

3 hours ago, lancemb said:

That is some old paint!  Is that a 55 hood ornament base in the rear of last picture?

 

 

Yes on both counts Lance. 

I used the paint on the new water pump casting and touched up the block some when I replaced the fuel pump too after cleaning up the oil around there. 

 

The hood ornament base is NOS and would look nice on someone's 55.  

I bought it years ago for the bomb site in it.

Know anyone that needs or would like it ?

 

 

 

 

[lancemb]

13 hours ago, dei said:

The hood ornament base is NOS and would look nice on someone's 55.  

I bought it years ago for the bomb site in it.

Know anyone that needs or would like it ?

 

 

 

 

Maybe @Mudbone or @Kosage Chavis?

[Kosage Chavis]

I appreciate you all thinking about me, but I already have 2 of them.  

[Buicknutty]

Actually, we might be. My son and I restoring am restoring a '55 Special, though NOS might be too nice for it.

Keith

[dei]

1 hour ago, Buicknutty said:

Actually, we might be. My son and I restoring am restoring a '55 Special, though NOS might be too nice for it.

Keith

 

Keith, sending you a PM.

[dei]

Monday evening I turned on the electric heater to help keep some cold out while I finished priming the rest of the wood cabinet and get a coat of metal primer on the metal one.

 

 

Going to wait a few days for it to dry as temperatures are falling well below 0 Tuesday night and don't want to keep that heater on overnight left unattended.

 

[dei]

Had a bit of fun today.

It started with an actual job in the morning that wasn't big but just down the road from my car buddy.

When I finished up I noticed he had some of his cars out so went for a visit.

I thought maybe he was going to wash them up as it was back in the low 60's today.

 

 

 

I found Joe inside the garage lowering the hoist with his 55 Cadillac to pull it outside and put one of those two Monarch's back up on it and the other parked underneath.

 

 

Guess he is taking it to a muffler shop in town to have a Stainless Steel exhaust system put on so it had to be ready to drive out first thing in the morning.

 

I hung around while he let everything warm up good before putting them away.

Standing there, smelling the engine oil and exhaust in the air sparked a desire in me to say good day and head over to the Special garage. I have things to sort over there and thought I would try and start the Nash first. With success on that I moved her over to the other driveway and give her a much needed bath.

 

 

I would have loved to take her for a spin around the block saying I needed to blow dry her off but that drive train complains enough I don't want to screw up what is wrong there even more.

Once this place is sold and we pay off some debt I think I'm going to invest in getting it fixed as no one is interested in purchasing a project this time of year.

Besides, she is talking to me to get fixed up and be out on the road again...

 

 

 

While wiping her down a neighbour came over to drool over her as he calls it.

I then went inside and started up the old reliable Special to warm her innards up and went back out to find an older couple standing at the end of the driveway. The woman had this big grin on her face when I said come on over and sit inside the car if you like while I backed up to the front of the car. 

 

I then shut the Special off and told them to have a look at her while I stepped outside and answered a few questions about the Special and the the Overland. 

Gee I've missed the weekly cruise-in evenings...

 

With them saying thanks very much and continuing their walk I resumed wiping down the Nash doing all the door jambs and trunk seams.

 

 

By then the sun was starting to go down so with fingers crossed hit the starter to park her back in the Car Port.

With no reluctance starting up I turned on the head lights to be sure to be seen when backing out onto the road and gently drove the 100 ft to park for the night.

 

 

Tomorrow I'm coming back to set the live trap and see if I can catch what I believe is a raccoon roaming around again!

[dei]

Started the morning with putting a coat of silver paint on the wood cabinet after finishing a few spots of primer outside on the garage door opening I seemed to have missed. The temperature was 54 degrees at 8 am.

 

 

 

I hoping the door and cabinet will be dry enough tomorrow to paint the down sides and then after purchasing new hinges, will mount it outside on the back wall.

 

After some errands went back the the Special garage to pack up a few things to move out and looked at the Nash a bit closer.

The rear bumper was showing a few spots that needed some attention so brought over a chair and my metal polish. 

 

 

Kept at it till I was satisfied it was the best I could get it.

 

 

Will clean up that trailer hitch one day...

[lancemb]

That Nash is looking sharp!  Reconsidering letting it go?  It looks harder to resist for a buyer...

[dei]

Not really thinking too much about keeping her Lance as right now there is no choice.

The few that showed a bit of interest around here (car guys for sure, not tire kickers) basically expressed what has been said here on the Forums that "Projects" are a hard sell. I get that so prettying her up till I get the drive train fixed up will help but not counting on a sale this winter.

Fortunately I have an agreement with the soon to be new owner of the property to be able to use the garage till the middle of April but I have a LOT to do to get her inside beside the Special!

I'm sure not getting bored trying to keep away from catching the virus!!!

 

Meantime, off to grab my son's lawnmower as the drive axle seized up breaking the belt on mine. Time for some paybacks kid. LOL

[dei]

Que the song, "What A Difference A Day Makes".

 

 

Had to borrow my sons lawn mower yesterday to cut two customers yards that had grown with this last two heat waves we've had as mine crapped out and after dropping it off saw this at a light on the way home.

 

 

 

Went to bed last night hoping the forecast was wrong but....

 

(The wife is looking for her parking spot back.)  sigh...

 

[lancemb]

Tee shirt weather to snow in 2 days...gotta love the midwest!

[dei]

After spending most of the day at Mom's fixing up her garden & landscaping I brought my propane heater home to warm things up in the garage as I wanted to paint that metal cabinet. I felt it was a bit cool to use the engine paint and get a decent finish.

 

With it set to medium it didn't take too long to feel the heat so went in for supper and came out afterwards to find it perfect.

 

 

With a little paint thinner and some good mixing it went on very nicely.

 

 

After cleaning up and making sure the paint can lid was sealed well, I moved a few things around and decided to fuss with the flathead I have on the engine stand.

Not sure what is up with the air cleaner and the generator but will address those after I get the Limited back inside.

 

 

Back to Mom's tomorrow...

Edited November 24, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Having spent two days at Mom's fixing up landscaping around her new sidewalk the morning was wet and cold today so no more progress with that work. I need to continue with the pea stone to provide some drainage of water off the new sidewalk and she wants the excess dirt  removed to plant grass.

Guess who is going to be cutting that next year?

 

 

Did a few errands in the rain and wanted to get at things around the garage at home.

Decided to move the metal cabinet and wall unit outside thinking I would continue getting the space ready for the Limited to be pushed back inside...

Once out back I realised the rain was dripping onto the stoop of the new door and noticing a tarp sitting there, decided to rig up a temporary water diversion which gave me a dry space to position  those cabinets and keep the stoop dry.

 

 

Meantime I had fired up the propane heater again and before you know it was more than comfortable in there. Looking forward to getting projects finished up and getting at that front frame of the Limited in the new year.

 

Might be time to hang a new calendar...

 

That wood cabinet is somewhat heavy (might be me...?) but got it up on top of the metal one below with some effort.

I only had 2 1/2 inch wood screws which are not quite long enough for a good bite but it is sitting there without anything inside for now and will make a trip to Home Depot tomorrow.

 

 

Going to see if my son will help me after we go and get his new metal cutting band saw and sander that came in for his garage. He wants to do metal fabricating on the side and thinks he can make me a metal ramp for the difference in pad height to be able to park the cars back there when the garage is enclosed.

 

One step at a time.

Edited November 26, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

After picking up and delivering my son's new metal band saw and unpacking it spent time looking it over with him. I now have a place to cut any metal I need cutting for??

He is slowly setting himself up to do some fabricating on the side which he did a lot while at University in the Mechanical Engineering Program.

Going to take him up on making that ramp for me.

 

Went back at the cabinets levelling up the metal cabinet and secured it to the wall.

 

Then fastened the wall cabinet with longer screws ensuring it won't come down.

I will have to do a bit of wood work on the door as the old hinges broke trying to free them up and are now not available. I believe I can make another set work cutting out some wood to get them at the depth to work properly.

 

 

While the rain ended in the night, that tarp made a difference keeping things dry.

 

Once the door is hung I will continue with a bit of wiring to have power outside without running an extension cord or opening up the garage door.

Edited November 27, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Had to stop transporting things with my trailer today as the front brakes on my truck were complaining loudly!!

 

I shopped around knowing what my Shop was going to charge me and after the 2 nd call hearing what premium parts were going for as it was Black Friday, purchased what I needed and called my son this morning.

With no hesitation in his voice he said, Sure bring it over.

 

With the ladder rack and his low door height we got it in his garage as far as we could to get out of the wind and went to work.

 

 

The fright front was feeling the worse for wear and sure enough...

 

 

 

Both sides were worn pretty much the same and fortunately the calipers were in good shape.

 

This will be the third set of rotors and pads since buying the truck new in April 2011.

The first set (all four) under warranty due to factory warped rotors at 24,000 kms.

The second set at 78,000 kms due to worn out pads and now the fronts only (so far...) severely worn pads gouging the rotors at 125,000 kms.

 

Hoping these will fare better as I'm keeping the truck till it dies totally.

 

 

 

Will be able to haul a load to the transfer station on Monday again.

[EmTee]

I'd say you got your money's worth out of that last set of pads!

[cxgvd]

Looks good Doug and son.  I performed the same job on my 2010 Toyota truck with 152,000 Kms two weeks ago.  I used premium parts and changed the calipers as well.  Easy and the truck stops better now than when it was new.  Swapping out a (w)holy muffler this afternoon.

 

Regards, Gary

 

[dei]

That's one way to look at it EmTee.

 

I saved 300 dollars doing it ours selves this time and happy my son was quick to offer help.

I know saying a loaf of bread used to be a .05  but 1,100 dollars for a front and back brake job seems... ? 

What we did took only 2.25 hrs with the parts costing 240.00 and everything works as it should now (without the complaints - hahaha). 

 

I recall doing a complete brake job on the Special including wheel cylinders (as I didn't have a lot of money to pay a shop while in High School) and it was about 55 dollars but again I digress.

 

Will have to take a closer look at the back brakes later but for now need to get ready for a supposed snowfall accumulation on Tuesday.

[JohnD1956]

Make sure you know how to do the rear if there are disc brakes there. Some of those rear caliper pistons must be rotated to the reset position vs the fronts which usually can be reset with a c clamp.

[Bill Stoneberg]

I jus bought all new shoes and wheel cylinders for my 1960 Electra. All 4 wheels were $ 145 including taxes and shipping.

$ 1100 seems like highway robbery to me.

 

[dei]

24 minutes ago, JohnD1956 said:

Make sure you know how to do the rear if there are disc brakes there. Some of those rear caliper pistons must be rotated to the reset position vs the fronts which usually can be reset with a c clamp.

 

Thanks John for the info.

Interesting that you mention what might not be known to everyone. My son (Masters graduate in Mechanical Engineering) looked up info on line for torque specs and read that we had to drain some fluid from the calipers before compressing them to avoid a dash light if not done as it would effect the sensor (ABS?) yet the brakes would function OK.

He had not heard of that before so did as instructed and voila, no dash light.

 

I'm never too old to learn something new.

 

The time spent yesterday was what I call quality time, cold fingers or not, as conversations were varied, insightful and good for us both. 

I realise everyone's children are special to them but I'm especially proud of the fact my boys have gained the moral values and knowledge my Dad tried to tech me and are being the best they can be.

There were many moments while helping out that It brought me back that instant to watching Dad over his shoulder under the hood of the Overland and even at 12 years old, sharing things he felt were important to him.

God those are the times I miss him but comforted with the fact I have done my best too.

 

Thanks for listening and may we all stay safe and well.

Doug

 

[dei]

12 minutes ago, Bill Stoneberg said:

I jus bought all new shoes and wheel cylinders for my 1960 Electra. All 4 wheels were $ 145 including taxes and shipping.

$ 1100 seems like highway robbery to me.

 

 

Amen to that Bill and exactly why I reached out to my son and bought parts to do it ourselves!

 

Look, I've been in a small service industry soon to be 46 years and understand about business costs. I don't have much overhead other than a truck and equipment to complete that service but... those costs here in Ontario through over regulation and importing costs (equipment/supplies not manufactured here) drives things to almost discouragement at times. 

The business is window cleaning not rocket science.

As an example, The required Insurance costs are inevitable for everyone's protection but I have to clean one hell of a lot of windows before those insurances are paid to break even on that before I pay wages, fuel, replace expendable supplies, equipment repairs or replacement, vehicle costs and the mandatory payroll taxes let alone the 13% charge on the service the Government has to be paid here in Ontario Canada.

Complaining? Yes and no.

It gauld me to no end while dealing with a Ministry of Labour Inspector (the regulating body here) when I made a comment about a rule that I won't go into, saying to him it was really pushing costs for small business and he said, "Just pass it on to the customer".

Then there is this pandemic, scaling back business access with distancing issues and such. Most places with having people not in the office working at home justify not having clean windows for the few that are there.

I'm being forced into retirement or change in the way I earn some type of living having no company pension. 

 

Highway robbery you say, well... I guess if it was easy everyone would be doing it. 

 

Turning to my cars is the only piece of mind for me but still have to be able to purchase things to get them running and on the road even with all the parts I have collected over all these years.

Such is life I guess.

 

 

[dei]

After I get Mom's and a couple of driveways cleared I need to get the garage space cleared up and move the Limited back inside.

 

[Buicknutty]

 We had about 6" of wet snow here, and more to come. So the snow blower got a good workout this morning!

 

Doug, about insurance. I owned and operated a vending machine business for some years, and a few customers insisted that I have insurance, mainly in case of damage to a floor, or something like that. My concern was more along the line of if someone were to claim that something from one of my machines made them sick, the costs could get very high, very quickly. I wasn't so concerned about the machines themselves, if one got stolen, or damaged, not easy to move as they weighed over 400 lbs each, plus stock if they were filled, I'd just eat the cost. That never happened though. I never did schools or that sort of place.

 The first insurance company I was with at wanted nearly as much to insure the things as I would make in profit from them. With argument, they bent a bit, but I could not find a better deal, and had to go with them at first.

 Though after that I was able to find another company, and when I explained what was needed, they then said, this doesn't sound like much risk, and gave me a rate less than a quarter of what I was paying. Then the first company gives me a hard time when I go to cancel, in that case, not renew.

 My experience is that it is very difficult to pass these costs along, which is what they figured I would simply do.

 Keith

[dei]

 Keith,

I do recall discussing your business when we shared a cocktail after the Banquet in Wisconsin 2017 and know you get what small business has to go through. This pandemic is making it so much more difficult to deal with issues and survive. Thanks for your response sir.

 

Looks like you received a bit more snow than we did down here in Southern Ontario. hahaha

It still covered things up good but was slushy enough I didn't use my blower as I know even with being a two stage, it would likely stick in the chute which can be a PIA. 

 

Getting a reprieve for a few days with low 40's which will most likely melt it all away.

I have no problem with that! 😎

[dei]

Spent the evening tonight in the garage as I need to remove an organ that while I enjoyed an hour or two playing, it really is taking up space and is looking the worse for wear now. It was a cheap purchase that came from a local church but has some issues with certain settings getting feed back sometimes and some settings just don't allow both keyboards to play so... it's going to go once I get it outside soon and into my trailer.

 

Once things were cleared in front it was easy to roll out to the middle of the garage to get back there and clean up.

 

 

Will do a thorough cleaning inside those drawers later as there were a few surprises in one of them...

Meantime it is perfect for my engine stands allowing more room around the Limited when she comes back inside.

 

 

 

Satisfied with that progress I looked at the bumpers as I have not moved them for a long time. Clearly I have some work to try and clean them up.

 

 

Grabbed my trusty metal polish and patiently went at it for awhile. Most is coming off without scratching so a little here and a little there will win the day (at least for driver quality for now).

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Clearing, moving things around I managed to get the organ outside today and will load it into the trailer tomorrow for it's last song so to speak.

 

Then I had to secure more wood to the tarp out back as the wind was allowing it to flap and was going to tear it off. It is temporary but like how it has kept water & snow from the new garage door.

 

As you can see the temperature got up enough to melt a lot of the last snowfall.

Wait a day and it will change again.

 

[old-tank]

13 hours ago, dei said:

I managed to get the organ outside today and will load it into the trailer tomorrow for it's last song so to speak.

So, you are not going to play with your organ anymore?

[38Buick 80C]

5 hours ago, old-tank said:

So, you are not going to play with your organ anymore?

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

8 hours ago, old-tank said:

So, you are not going to play with your organ anymore?

 

  Damn, Willie , "bout spewed Bushmills all over my keyboard!🤣

 

  Ben

[lancemb]

11 hours ago, old-tank said:

So, you are not going to play with your organ anymore?

I've heard those things last forever

[dei]

You guys are a hoot!

All in good fun eh?

Thanks, I needed a good laugh or two recently.

Edited December 5, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Moving that organ was more work than I thought!

On the dollies it rolled easily till I got it out to the driveway. It has dips from the years of cars with salt eating it away and what a PIA to roll out to the trailer.

Had to roll the Limited back some to clear the side posts and found the tires a bit soft so broke out the portable air compressor too before able to push it back.

Then the real fun began...

 

This thing must weigh in at around 500 lbs. and once off the dollies hardly managed to lift it side at a time to get it in there. Even the foot pedal board has some weight to it too.

 

 

The old grey mare she ain't what she used to be.

 

Sad ending to what was a once fine instrument when I pushed it off the trailer and seeing it hit the bottom of the bin crashing and busting all apart.

 

Once back home I started in moving more things to prep space for the Limited again.

There was a lot of wood that had been hanging from brackets off the ceiling and while saving some of the good pieces, the rest I put in the fire pit.

With it being a calm night and not too cold figured it was a good time to light things up.

 

 

Little did I know my wife came out and sat in the doorway on the deck to take a few shots of me in the process.

With being in the City, possibly blackmail??

 

Hmmmm, keeps showing up posting sideways so no picture for now...

(maybe just as well?)

Edited December 5, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[Elpad]

Make sure your DL states “Organ Donor”

[Elpad]

Too bad yours was not like this one... you could pump up your Special deflated tires with this model!

[Fr. Buick]

Boy, you could play the Hokey Pokey on that one!