Sandblasting and Differential restoration tip.

When I restore the read-end, or axle and differential assembly, I always prefer to manage the sandblasting and painting in two stages. You always have to be extremely careful about getting media inside of parts that will eventually be full of oil and moving parts.

Before I tear into the differential I go ahead and sandblast the entire unit in an assembled form. This allows for cleanup of 95% of the unit without the fear of getting media inside where it can damage things.



In the photo above you can see the rear axle and differential from my Jensen Healey project. I've completely sandblasted the unit in assembled form. Next it'll go back into the garage to be painted. I paint everything but the differential cover and he edge where the cover matches up with the differential. These final bits can have a final cleaning and paint during the disassembly phase.

Cheers!
Jody

French Maids teach you how to change your oil.

Ok, this hands down beats any tutorial I could ever do. Believe me! (*plus I think I'd look rather foolish in one of these outfits :)

Enjoy! May be NSFW (Not Safe For Work / Not Safe For Wife)

This video is a tutorial of How to change your oil by The French Maids.




Cheers!
Jody

Book Recommendation

How to Repair Your Foreign Car: A Guide for the Beginner, Your Wife, and the Mechanically Inept

The aforementioned book was mentioned in some discussions on an Austin Healey mailing list I am a member of. After hearing the book discussed back and forth as well as the glowing recommendations I had to find a copy. Please note that the book is out of print (my copy has a copyright date of 1968), but I found a used copy on Amazon easily enough.

My copy arrived in th epost this afternoon. Now, I originally had grand plans to go out and continue sandblasting on the JH rear, but I made the mistake of opening the cover of O'Kane's book, and well, there went the remains of the day light and a few more hours! I believe the subtitle really captures the flavour of the book: "a guide for the beginner, your wife, and the mechanically inept."

For such a short book, the coverage is suprisingly comprehensive and easy to understand, but best of all, the author's way of writing had me laughing throughout the whole thing. The wife wants to read it next.

If you are in to European and British cars, then this is a must read, regardless of your specific skill level. I just sincerely wish it was still in print. IT's also small enough to keep in the glove box, which should get you knowing nods and smiles from folks who've been around these cars since they were new.

Cheers!
Jody

Jensen Healey 5-speed rearend update

So, I've done a bunch more work on the rear end for the Jensen Healey. This will be turning into a full article once I'm done. In the meantime, here's some good teaser photos:




I love before and after type photos. These are the upper suspension arms. They've been removed, the bushings have been removed, and one has been sandblasted.




Here you can see all of the major rear end parts (short of the differential itself) cleaned up and sandblasted.



A little later you'll see it all with the first coat of POR-15.







And this giant mess of fiddly bits is the rear brake assemblies completely pulled apart, sandblasted and ready for paint.

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to finish sandblasting the primary differential assembly. Then I'll be able to tear into it and keep going. This project is a good example of what you can do with only an hour of time a day!

Cheers!
Jody

Jensen Healey 5-Speed Rear End Restoration

Last night I dragged the 5-speed rear end into the garage that was salvaged from the parts car I bought a couple years ago. Since the Jensen Healey I'm building at present will utilize the Getrag 5-speed transmission I needed to make sure that I matched up teh appropriate prop shaft and rear end. All three pieces were taken from said parts car.

After dealing with light bits on the Jensen for so long, I forgot that there were actual heavy assemblies on the car. The rear end (when complete with brakes) is really freaking heavy. If you need to move one about I strongly recommend having two people to do the work. Since it was just me at the house I managed to wrestle it onto a dolly and then navigated it out of parts storage, across the back patio, through the house and into the garage. It's a good thing the wife wasn't around. :) Also, it really helps a lot if you can remove the upper and lower suspension arms.

Between last night and this morning I managed to get the bushings out of the suspension arms. As much as I wanted them to pop out I finally had to resort to Map Gas and manhandling. There's nothing like the smell of ancient burning rubber. Blech! Took a midday break to run over and visit Jim @ Delta Motorsports. The wife, Jensen and I sat and chatted for a bit while I racked up quite a bill getting new bushings, oil seal, and brake shoes.

The rest of the afternoon / early evening was spent running the suspension arms through the sandblaster. My media cabinet is just big enough to fit the longer suspension arms, but not big enough for me to clean the ends. That's ok though, I'll be doing some open air blasting tomorrow to clean up the differential / axle assembly.

Also, I was very suprised how flimsy the stock brake drums are on the JH. While the sides are pretty robust, the front face is, well, not. So, when you're removing your drums be extra careful about tapping that front face with your BFH.

Cheers!
Jody

Studebaker woes, side projects, and the Jensen healey

Well, after being totally thwarted on the brake install on my Studebaker Champion the other night (the threads on the half axle were no good, so I couldn't reassemble the passenger side rear end) I opted to take a day on my side project. I will say that right now I am very frustrated with Lotus and their documentation. Meh!

While I'm waiting for the axle half shaft to come in I plan on doing up a Jensen Healey 5-speed rear end for my current JH project. I'll drag it into the garage tomorrow to start disassembly and restoration.

Jody

1974 Jensen Healey for sale (Phoenix Area)

This 1974 Jensen Healey MKII happens to be visiting here at They Might Be Racing. It's presently for sale by it's owner for $4,000.

I've assessed the car and here's what I see:

Engine, Suspension and overall body in very good shape. Car runs and drives really well. There are a couple oil leaks, but nothing suprising for a british car of this vintage. The following has been uprated/upgraded on the car:

• Heavy duty suspension with aftermarket sway bars and Spax shocks.
  
• Pertronix Ignitor electronic ignition upgrade in place of original breaker points.
  
• Heavy duty urethane transmission mount.
  
• Aftermarket upgraded trunk carpeting and side panels.
  

Recent work:

• New high quality multilayer convertible top
  
• New cam belt and belt tensioner bearings.
  
• Rebuilt brake master cylinder
  
• Replaced driver's front brake caliper with rebuilt one from Delta MS
  
• Replaced rear transmission seal
  
• New passengers side motor mount
  
• Replaced exhaust header gaskets.
  

Now, on to what's wrong with it: There's a large (2" diameter) pain chip on the boot lid. Fairly easy to fill/color match. The interior was custom done, and still looks good except for some tears in the seats. The floorboards on driver and passenger side need replacing (which is *very* common). There's a crack in the exhaust header and it needs to be replaced (best option is the upgraded Delta one).

For the price, and a few weekends (or a winter as the folks up north work on things) of work you could have a very nice daily driver. I've not seen a decently driveable JH in this price range that didn't require significant work in a long time.

I have no financial interest in this car, just helping our a peer.

Contact information: Please E-mail or call with any questions or to get additional high resolution detail photos. Steve (678) 429-5837 or (480) 275-8324

Cheers!
Jody

A Good Mail Day

So, 90% of the time the mailbox is full of junk mail and bills. Not necessarily something to get excited about. Yesterday, however, was a nice suprise. Both the latest issue of Turning Wheels (the Studebaker Club magazine) and Austin Healey Magazine arrived.

High points of this month's Turning Wheels - photo coverage and stories from International Drive Your Studebaker Day! If it hadn't been the case that Annabelle's brakes were non-functional I would have been out driving too.

High Points in this issue of the Austin Healey Magazine - a great originality guide for the Austin Healey MkIII BJ8 and a perennial favotire over here is the restoration article (on step 27 as of this issue).

Jody

A Good Car Sunday

Spent yestday just doing car stuff. It was a nice change of pace as the past few weeks have been more hectic than I traditionally like. Yesterday morning went to visit a local Jensen collector Art DeKneef. He just dragged the carcass of a Jensen GT back from Utah. Now, as rare as these are (they made ~510) there's not enough of the car left to make it a viable restoration candidate. So, it's in the process of being stripped for parts. It's always interesting to go look at Jensens because rather than having much in the way of annual models, they just tweaked and improved things as they went. So, you're never quite sure what will or will not be on a given car.

The afternoon, short of a burst air hose and a quick trip to Harbor Freight, was spent pulling and sandblasting the last of the brake parts on Annabelle, my '53 Studebaker Champion. A few hours in front of the media cabinet, a couple coats of paint, and things look like this now:



There's nothing prettier than freshly painted parts! So, once the paint dries it's time to pull the axle, replace the seal, replace the axle and the brakes will be completely rebuilt. Then I just need to finish bending/flaring the brake line and the Brakes will be ready for filling/bleeding.

Hopefully, once that's done she should be back on the road again!

Cheers!
Jody

Gentleman's Express update

Hey all,

Just published a site update. I've now converted up through the first
half of Chapter 11. Instruments and Electrical System. That leaves
three and a half chapters to go as well as the ending Tips & Notes
section.


http://www.theymightberacing.com/Literature/GentlemansExpress.aspx

Why you should always fix things when you notice them

So, this evening I needed to run out to the corner store fairly late at night (11pm ish). It certainly isn't an uncommon occurrence around here, just a matter of process. I ran in, bought what I needed, hopped back into the car. Turned the key and heard nothing but the "Click" of all the electricals dying.

Now, normally this isn't a big deal. I've had on my "To-Do" list to change out the battery terminals for a while now. The stock Ford ones just don't age well. Then I pulled the hood release, and nothing. So, now I'm in the parking lot with a dead car that I can't fix because the hood release is stuck. Mind you, I noticed yesterday that the hood release was starting to stick a bit, and it should be added to the "To-Do" list.

After 45 minutes worth of farting around and getting nowhere I walked home (no big deal, the house is about a 10 minute walk from the store). I walked in, all pissed off and headed straight to the computer to see if I could find anything about the hood latch release online. Found nothing, but was made fun of by the wife in the mean time.

Grabbed a few extra tools (I'd already had a toolbox in the car from working on Mum's Spitfire) and walked back. Spent a good 15 minutes trying to work from the front through the grill to see if I could spring it. No dice. The Ford folks had kindly designed things to put the maximum amount of expensive breakable plastic bits of grill between me and the locking mechanism.

Then I figured, what the heck, and tried reaching up (blindly) from below behind all sorts of platicy bits. Finally, I discovered the release cable, felt across it until I found the release lever and miraculously managed to get enough fingers on it to get the hood to pop!

Then it was fiddling with battery terminals, cleaning corrosion, and adjusting them for best possible connection with what's left of the terminals. After a fw tries the car started right up, hood went back down (but not completely, as I still need to lubricate that locking mechanism) and it was back around the corner home.

Finished up, and I'm sitting here at 1 am reminding everyone, fix things when you notice them, or else!