Mid-summer working in the heat woes

So, it never seems that I successfully make it through the worst heat of the summer without having to do major/extensive surgery on one of the daily driver cars in the family. Today it was SWMBO's Toyota Corolla. I already knew it needed a new catalytic converter, and then last week three of the four interior door handles disintegrated, making those doors inoperable from the interior.

Then, the other day I made the mistake of driving it. The Struts front and back were totally worn out. She'd also mentioned to me that the brakes needed a little looking at.

So, picked up the door handles from a Toyota salvage yard on friday, and last night picked up the new struts for the front and back of the car. At the same time I ordered the catalytic converter (for delivery today). I got up extremely early to beat the heat this morning. Managed to get the door handles in with only one minor issue.

Then it was time to pull off the front tire and get into the struts. The first thing I noticed after pulling the tire was the grooves in the rotor and the almost lack of brake pads. Made a mental note to self to go pick up rotors and pads when I went to pick up the catalytic converter. Continued on with the struts. I don't know why, but I always have it in my head that the springs magically appear on the struts. I think it's due to being afraid of having a healthy respect for spring compressors. I don't like using them, but once I know I have to it's a long and slow process because I'm very careful when I use them.

Eventually the struts were done and installed, just in time to go out to the shop and pick up the catalytic converter, rotors and pads. Changing rotors and pads on the Toyota Corolla have to be the simplest process I've ever done for this. Had both sides of the car completely done in under 30 minutes. Finally, a bunch of elbow grease, dirt and minor pain and the catalytic converter was in place.

I was pretty burnt out at that point, and my wife's sister is bringing her car over for me to look at this evening, so I've opted to put off the rear struts until tomorrow morning.

Plus, the AC is fritzing on the explorer, so I get to fix that next. argh.

Site update, new Frame off restoration article

This morning I finished up another article for the web site. This article is part of the frame-off series and involves dealing with the car's glass: windows, windshield, rear window, etc.

You can read the full article here: http://www.theymightberacing.com/Frame-Off/Glass.aspx

Parts stash, the sorting begins....

Ok, spent the evening sorting. Did a rough sort and then went through the lighting bits. There's parts in there from all over the LBC world. My wife thinks I'm nuts because I'm as happy digging through boxes of bits as I am driving the cars. She doesn't understand the discovery and excitement of going through old parts to find those perfect bits.

Here's photos of tonight's results:

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Jody

Jensen East 2009

So, being out in Arizona, making Jensen East (which was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania this year) is not something that's easy to do. I had this little gem passed on to me this morning though. Apparently one of the writers from the New York Times blogged about going down there: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/jensen-lovers-gather-in-pennsylvania/

Cheers!
Jody

Post from the Road: Pensacola, FL

So, I wasn't really intending to post anything while I was off on vacation. The basic idea was to turn off the computers all together and have a "non-digital" holiday. This morning, however, I had to take a moment for this "vehicle"



Yes folks, that's right, this beauty is a "Schort bus" tow truck rig. Note the faux exhaust pipes sticking out around the "hood." So, as far as I can tell it's a shorter school bus that's had most of it's body chopped away to create a cab. The front end has been "uglitized" and the rear end is a tow truck. What I'm not entirely sure of is whether the frame and engine are from the school bus, or are from somwhere else...



On an additional side note, I was cruising down Pensacola Blvd in our rental car (a Chevy Aveo) which has been dubbed the "Brave Little Toaster." It's a gutless wonder with a wonky transmission, but it does go from point A to point B. During my little cruise I ended up traveling alongside a blue (possible metallic blue) Studebaker GT Hawk. So, if anyone knows this car/drive, say howdy for me.

If I run across any other gems on the road I'll let y'all know!

Cheers!
Jody

Parts stash, the pictures!

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Here you can see the front fender collection and some seat backs.

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Anyone need a steering rack? I have 40 million of them now.

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Factory hardtop, two roll bars.

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Convertible top frames.

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Rubber bumpers. Some MGB. You can also see driveshafts, axles, some springs.

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Metal bumpers.

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Doors, doors and more doors! All metal is solid.

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Boot lids to match the doors!

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Box #1

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Box #2

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Box #3

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Box #4

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Underneath the radiators are brake drums and more unknown bits.

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Box 5

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Fuel tanks (I believe the big one is MGB)

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

A stack of boxes. Tiers of rims behind.

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

More parts!

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Rear axles. Some of the rims.

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Some heads

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

a 1500 and 1800 engine, numerous transmissions

From Spridget & LBC Parts stash

Carboard boxes full of whistle pretties.

Parts stash recovery - the story

"Things are neither good nor bad, t'is thinking that makes it so" - Shakespeare

The intertubes worked for a given day and I got wind of a parts stash out in California near LA. Since LA isn't that far, and the size of the stash was large, and the price was right (free) I figured it was worth the effort. After the arrangements were made with the present owner, a U-Haul was rented and some assistants were lined up (Steve, an LBC guy, and Chip, a ford guy, but he's a good mate) it was time to head out to Cali.

We went out on Sunday the 5th of July. The idea is that it's a one day run, get in, get parts, get out: surgical recovery. We headed out of Phoenix at ~5am. I slept 2 hours, Steve had slept about the same and Chip hadn't been to bed yet. My partners in crime crashed out in the car as I headed out of town. I drive out to LA fairly frequently, so the drive out was mostly uneventful. We were in the Chino area in about 4.5 hours, which is good time for my Ford Explorer.

We got turned around a bit finding the U-Haul place, which was annoying, and the owner of the bits called us as we were verging on late. We found the hardware store that had our reservation for the truck, and were immediately told we had to wait. The people were really nice and polite, but were incompetent. 45 minutes of farting around and they'd finished with the first customer they had for the day (they were returning a pre-paid truck. This takes ~10 minutes at a normal Uhaul store.

I finally made my way to the counter and they starter, and failed, and failed, and failed. While remaining polite, yet being utterly frustrated, I took the keyboard and mouse out of the guy's hands and did the reservation myself. Finally we had the truck!

A little driving and we were at the storage unit. An hour's frenzied filling and the unit was empty. A little driving and we were over at the PO's place picking up more stuff. By the time we were done the Uhaul (a 17 footer) was full waist deep with parts. A stop off at In and Out burgers (a California tradition) we were back on the road.

A number of gas stops and energy drinks later we were back in Phoenix (after a set of standstill traffic coming in to town for no reason and a pile of ridiculous speed cameras in the middle of the desert). Another Hour and a half's worth of unloading and everything was stashed in my sorting area.

Then, we had to rewire the lighting in Steve's JH. By the time we were done with that (so he could drive home) it was near midnight. What an exhausting trip!

Jody