Yesterday night was spent doing a number of things. For starters, after having removed and replaced the spring caps (coil top) on the spitfire numerous times the dirt and grime on them finally got to me, so into the sandblaster they went! All cleaned up with a coat of POR-15 and they looked much better.
While I was out there I managed to get one side of the rear brakes assembled for the Jensen Healey. I need a couple more bits to do the other side (washers and circlips from Ace).
My buddy Chip came over and we put some new pads in the front of his contour. The transfer went well, but there was a very spongy pedal afterwards. Now the problem in bleeding his brakes was that the bleed screw on the passenger side was busted. So, that's all she wrote on work that night.
Today was spent finding a shop that could deal with the Triumph springs. I finally ended up at the MG Shop in Tempe, AZ. They'll be setting the springs for me tomorrow and I should have them back into the car tomorrow night.
A friend was having problems with her Saturn Vue. All I can say is bloody GM engineers need to be shot, repeatedly! The car needed some goofy ignition switch which was an annoyance to remove, but fairly easy to install the new part. The challenge, however, was the built in car anti-theft. To reset the GM anti theft you have to attempt to start the car, and leave the key in the on position. Then you wait 10 minutes until the security idiot light goes out. Once it does you remove the key and repeat. You have to do this a minimum of three times, possibly four. The fun part, if you don't get it started immediately then it faults again and you have to start over. Well, I guess it works, because I will never steal a Saturn. It's not worth the effort!
With that resolved we opted (Chip and I) to try and get the remains of the broken bleed screw removed from the caliper. 3 hours and a number of broken bits, ez-outs and the like later we finally opted to go buy a new caliper. Chip just got back to the shop after hitting autozone, so it's time to go back out and get the caliper installed.
eesh, one step forwards, two steps back!
Jody
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
A Tribute to Sir Joseph Lucas
I was pointed to this silly, yet wronderful little gem earlier today:
A Tribute to Sir Joseph Lucas.
If you've messed about with British cars, you'll appreciate this!
Jody
A Tribute to Sir Joseph Lucas.
If you've messed about with British cars, you'll appreciate this!
Jody
Garage vacation
Once a year, generally around Thanksgiving, I schedule myself a week's vacation with a single destination: The Garage (or as it's termed around here, "the Lair of Repair"). This year's goals are finishing up the alignment solution on mum's Triumph Spitfire and getting some good progress around the Jensen Healey.
We started in on the Spitfire yesterday, but I keep forgetting that the diameter of the springs combined with the shock absorber simply do not fit any known standard spring compressors. I even upgraded my current set to a better larger unit. But, the clamping arms are always too big for the springs. I'll be removing the existing assemblies again today, disassembling them, and running them up to my local tire shop to be mounted. Hopefully that should correct that last of the issues there and we can put some new shoes (tires) on the car.
The other issue that has been ongoing with the Spitfire is the fuel system. Nothing super suprising there. There's a little gunk in the tank (varnish, etc) and the driving is knocking it loose and clogging the fuel filter. That, in addition to old rubber fuel lines was allowing air into the system when the pressure was too great.
One of the tricks to dealing with this is to rig up a 2-liter soda bottle with a length of fuel line drilled through the cap. You also need a small vent hole near the top of the bottle. You fill the bottle with gasoline, and connect it up near the engine end of the fuel lines, cover the vent hole and squeeze the bottle. It will use fluid pressure to force gasonline backwards through the system and into the fuel tank. In theory, this should push any blockages out of the way and allow fuel to flow regularly again. It may be annoying to keep a stock of fuel filters in place and have to swap them frequently, but if there's only a little crud in the tank it's far simpler than pulling the whole arrangement and re-doing it!
Jody
We started in on the Spitfire yesterday, but I keep forgetting that the diameter of the springs combined with the shock absorber simply do not fit any known standard spring compressors. I even upgraded my current set to a better larger unit. But, the clamping arms are always too big for the springs. I'll be removing the existing assemblies again today, disassembling them, and running them up to my local tire shop to be mounted. Hopefully that should correct that last of the issues there and we can put some new shoes (tires) on the car.
The other issue that has been ongoing with the Spitfire is the fuel system. Nothing super suprising there. There's a little gunk in the tank (varnish, etc) and the driving is knocking it loose and clogging the fuel filter. That, in addition to old rubber fuel lines was allowing air into the system when the pressure was too great.
One of the tricks to dealing with this is to rig up a 2-liter soda bottle with a length of fuel line drilled through the cap. You also need a small vent hole near the top of the bottle. You fill the bottle with gasoline, and connect it up near the engine end of the fuel lines, cover the vent hole and squeeze the bottle. It will use fluid pressure to force gasonline backwards through the system and into the fuel tank. In theory, this should push any blockages out of the way and allow fuel to flow regularly again. It may be annoying to keep a stock of fuel filters in place and have to swap them frequently, but if there's only a little crud in the tank it's far simpler than pulling the whole arrangement and re-doing it!
Jody
Sunday, October 25, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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
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
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