The old boat

[ignatzcatz]

Now Mr. RayO, I did spend some time in consideration of my ARBs. About a minute and a half if memory serves me right. Which for me is quite a long time. As I mentioned in an earlier post I was just poking around in the vast acreage which is my garage and found this old anti roll bar which came off a Peugeot 205 GTI. And similarly the drop links were quietly lurking in box of old car junk I should have thrown out years ago. I think they came off my old Cobra which had Jag XJ6 front suspension, fitted as per my build manual but bump steered like crazy. Mustang II front suspension cured that. So yep they are a bit on the long side but as long as they don't continually scoop up road kill and discarded big macs, they are going to have to do. The brackets on the tie bars are welded on by me and they won't come off, ever, and the placement thereof was dictated only by the length of the old Pug ARB. You are right of course that the placement of the eye onto the lower arm directly or in fact anywhere other than in the middle of the tie bar would be a vast improvement but they're on there now so that's it. Well actually that is'nt quite it because when I put the steering on full lock, and I was unable to do this previously because I was waiting to purchase two steering arm ball joints, which I do now have, yes you guessed it, with my fat wheels everything ground together so I had no alternative but to take the hot spanner to the antiroll bar and bend the bugger in a bit more and then turn the tierods round 180 degrees so they attach on the inside. Anyway should the bar and/or links become detached whilst emulating Mr Hamilton or Mr. Button around my favourite rally roads this site will be the first to hear about it. Even from my hospital bed.
Keep the shiny side up.

[indian301]

Well Mr Catz you are going to have to change the name of your car because my car obviously wins hands down as the biggest boat! 1959 Plymouth Sport Suburban, 360 cu in, fuel injected with an overdrive transmission.
Dave[frame][/frame]

[ignatzcatz]

Mr. Indian Sir, I just totally love your car. That is one big mother. I was running a '97 F150 pick up which I sold last October (2010) and have regretted that deed ever since. However I have recently discovered that there is a '58 Buick 4 door sedan, that's the one with the drawer pulls grill and spaceship rear flank, which is long term garaged not more than 4 miles from where I live. I have been trying to get in contact with the owner but no joy yet. Actually my all time favorite American mosheen is the '61/2 Ford Falcon Ranchero which just ticks all the boxes for me. But better not get started on American cars cos I can go on and on and on, I love 'em.[frame][/frame]My truck[frame][/frame]The real deal

[Fingolfin]

Ah, Buicks are very good cars, I'm given to understand; one of my best friends drives a 1997 Buick Century, and she says it's one of the best cars on the road. And the Ford Falcon is one of the best cars ever to emerge from America! But yeah -- let's stick to Minors...

[indian301]

Hey, anything old and mechanical is cool to me. Here is another one of my toys.

Dave [frame][/frame]

[indian301]

1948 Indian Chief I have owned this motorcycle for 20 years. It has been all over the United States, Mexico,and Canada.

[ignatzcatz]

Sweeeeeet, and you obviously ride the wheels off it too. Furthest I've been on ma Harley D is Wisbech an that's a mere 150 miles from my place. Took me most of the day too.

[ignatzcatz]

In my current albeit temporary raspberry state, I'm hobblin' round the garage trying to do jobs which don't entail me getting horizontal too much, so staying on the vertical I sealed the back seam on the front wings and bolted them on in order to give them a severe pugging and prime job. They were doing a good impression of the north sea with all the patch panels being welded on to eliminate the rust and even with a good dose of lead they still needed the Big bucket of pug. So a days worth of slapping the old jollop on and then cover that lot with half a litre of high build primer filler mixed neat with only hardener and brushed on so's it's on good and thick and that's job done. It's pretty smooth now so I will wait a day or so for it to fully harden cos it ain't too warm at the mo, then I'll squirt some black guide coat on it and then flat it all back with loads of water and plenty of new 320.
I went to the Kempton Park motorcycle bike jumble on the weekend and amongst getting some cool NOS Harley D footplate rubbers and a pair of stainless grills to go on the front of the headlights on the old boat, I purchased a quantity of gasket paper to cut out the gasket I have been unsuccessfully trying to get for my Toyota T50 trans. You would think that someone somewhere would have a reasonable stock of service parts for this gearbox. I mean it ain't exactly vintage, it's only 30 years old fer chrissake. Anyroad it don't matter now, got my seals and sorted the gasket so at last I can bolt the trans back onto the engine.
One little problem that is niggling me a bit is the little water transfer pipe under the cylinder head. The existing pipe was very corroded and previous owner, yes that's Mister Knob the knob, had in fact, blocked it up with some sort of silicone cum filler muck. I drilled all this out and fitted a new bit of tube but I don't know if my welding no actually I brazed it, if it had penetrated sufficiently around the back part because it is quite shielded by the head itself. Anyway I saw on the E.S.M.'s website they stock replacement bypass pipes so I think I might just get one of these boys and wack it in. Of course the trouble will be getting all the old shizen out. I'm going to TIG a nut onto the old pipe then get it really hot then see if I can tweak it out.
Wish me luck.[frame][/frame]Pugged and primed[frame][/frame]This is the other side[frame][/frame]Saved meself a few quid here

[jedgarrett]

Looking good,are they Mavic rimmed wheels I can see hanging from the roof,they look like a pair I used to have ?

[ignatzcatz]

Got it in one Jed, they're MA3's on Hope titanium hubs on my training Tifosi. I've got upwards of 20 plus wheels as I'm an old racer. If your interested I think you can see some of my old restored racers on photobucket under Ignatzcatz's albums, but there is'nt any of my new stuff on there. After my op I've just started training again, did 30 miles yesterday and it was'nt fast or pleasant, still it's early days.[frame][/frame]My old crit ALAN, a bit whippy but v.quick

[ignatzcatz]

Pleased to say I have been recovering so well from my op that I'm back to daily bike rides and have gone up to 40 miles now but I'm still a long way off previous power and speed, however, I'm back up to full speed in the garage and getting on with lots of stuff. Firstly I have flatted back the whole body with only a bit of stopping to do then more primer, one more guide coat and flat back then I'm calling that quits and then it's top coat time for sure.
I got the heater transfer pipe out of the head and as I thought, my brazing attempts at initial repair did'nt look sufficient as I could not have got sufficient heat round the back of the pipe where it is shielded by the head. I was able to drill the old pipe out then I tapped a thread into the head and have located a section of threaded steel which conveniently has a 6 mil cap screw socket hole in one end and I am just in the process of drilling it through so it will pass fluid then cut and screw it into the head and another job done.
Check out the pics and you'll see that I have all my gauges. All but one I got from Ebay although I did have to snipe a couple which had been heavily bidded. And if it was you who I sniped, oops sorry but don't they look good. This Smiths Classic range is exactly that, a real classic design up there with E type Jags, Cobras, Ferrari 275GTB's. Well they are pretty good looking. I have made good all the fittings to the engine where applicable although the oil temperature gauge was causing a bit of a headache until I discovered in a box of old car parts I had, an oil cooler adapter which had the exact internal thread as on the oil temp gauge. The only problem was the hollow bolt that holds this adaptor onto the engine oil filter face (remember mine's a Marina 1275) had a different thread on both ends. Not a problem really because I found a nut with the same thread as that in the block and welded this on one end then found some pipe thread the same as the oil filter and welded this on the other end. All I had to do then was to find a block off for the other outlet on the adapter and I'm in business. The water temp gauge needed a double threaded fitting to get this hooked up but once again the old parts box came to the rescue.
It may sound like I have tons and tons of old scrap in my garage but most of it is bits I've bought and never used. I must say that when you have built a street rod from scratch you end up using parts from dozens of cars, I used to go up to the breakers and pick up stuff which you thought might just come in useful. Unfortunately in my locale these days are over cos my local breakers is all computerized and there are only specific days when you can go on the hunt for parts and you have to wear a hi viz vest and coming out of the place is like Colditz. No fun. I used to collect name plaques off of all the cars, got some great ones, but alas, no more. I just hope some of you guys live out in the wilds where the breakers are still like the old days.
Going back to street rods and my last beastie, a 302 small block Ford powered Ford Pop was built in order to attend a particular meeting. It was in July and I put the date in big letters on the garage wall and although it meant a few 12 hour days and 24hour weekends I did make the date. The car got finished MOT'd and I made the meet although the Pop was bump steering very badly due to my non-existent grasping of the subtle requirements of steering geometry. So it's Wheels Day on April 6 which if you did'nt know is a mega meet up of all things slightly and very left field in the automotive world. It's a great meet open to everyone and it's 17 weeks away and that dear Morry men and women is my target. 17 weeks - car done. Gulp![frame][/frame]Oil cooler adapter with severely welded bolt[frame][/frame]Smooth as a baby's bottom[frame][/frame]The demon bolt[frame][/frame]Cut, screw, done.
And a very Morry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

[ignatzcatz]

And I only forgot to post a pic of my lovely gauges did'nt I. I know you know what they look like but it's always nice to see 'em again. One little job is to make a pod for the tach to sit on the dash, I shall enjoy doing that.[frame][/frame]See I won't rev it over 6, well not much.

[ignatzcatz]

I must admit I do rather enjoy spraying, in fact I think I could do it as a full time job maybe after I'm retired although after spraying the thirteenth Ford Focus wing in a day it might not be such a rosy occupation. Dream on. However I have managed to get a few pretty nice coats on the old boat bits which is not bad considering I have to spray outside at the back of my garage where it's only three feet wide. I hang two large sheets, one on the fence and one on the garage wall, a sheet on the side gate and polythene on the ground then blast away with subject item balanced on an old workmate and on an equally decrepit ironing board. I had to use a pair of steps to do the bonnet and almost dragged the air hose over a previously sprayed area. Oops, nearly instant heart attack. Anyway they have all come out good especially as I was also spraying in 5 degrees C temperatures. Using just a bit more thinners and going very gently worked out fine. So just the roof and side panels to do now and for them I will be pushing the old boat out onto the drive to sit on a sheet of polythene and I have covers for the Merc and Audi so hopefully they won't get sprayed at the same time. Also it would help if it would just stop raining for a couple of days too. While I am doing these other panels I shall also be spraying the inside metal and all the shuts to give it a complete colour change. The roof and insides will be black and all the rest a VW mid grey. With an old car you can't go mental with colours unless of course the car is well rodded so I'm edging on the conservative side. I have painted a couple of motorcycles before but this will be my first car and I still have to rub out and polish all my work so I'm still keeping fingers crossed.
The other gargantuan news item for this week is the engine has left the building and is now installed. Yep engine in, trans in, propshaft all bolted up and I'm just trying to get hold of some JB Weld or similar metal paste to install the heater transfer pipe in the cylinder head so I can torque that down as well. This paste is the stuff you can repair metal cracks and splits with. You can drill and tap the stuff after it's hardened and is perfect for setting a steel pipe into cast iron but I can't seem to get it anywhere and I am reluctant to fit the head on without blobbing a load of it around the heat pipe. But not to worry because next week I'm off to Los Angeles to attend a very big car show and I will deffo be able to get some there as the auto parts stores are like our Tescos. Big? you would'nt believe it. I am only away for a week but it will be a nice break away from the sh*te weather and gloom.
So I'm still on track for my end of March car completion date although my scribbling list of jobs to be completed seems to be getting longer instead of shorter. I can cross off brakes as I have a lovely brake pedal, steering, new ball joints fitted and I have even done the tracking, ride height is OK although I did have to raise the front up three inches, I originally did sit it low but two inches ground clearance was a bit extreme. Looked cool though. I'm back in the garage now, here's some pics . . .[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]Considering the number of patches welded into this wing, it has'nt come out bad at all.[frame][/frame]The engine crane returns home at last![frame][/frame]It's in at last, now where's all the bolts?[frame][/frame]Nearly there.

[irmscher]

Fantastic job can you spray mine whats that v twin in the corner

[robedney]

It being the doldrums of January I've just sat in the office and read through this entire thread. I'm not an easy mark for laughing-out-loud, but you've gotten me several times. Nice job on the old mog too!

[ignatzcatz]

Ah Robedney LOL should only be done in the privacy of your home otherwise people may think you strange, but then you drive a Morris Minor so there is very little hope for you anyway.
And Mr. Irmscher that what you keenly spied is a Buell ST2 Thunderbolt. I bought it from a pal of mine in Indiana written off, the bike not my pal, some poor sod had done it a mischief with only 1900 miles on the clock and it was written off. This pal runs a body repair shop specifically for autos in Lowell in Indiana and it came into his shop. It only needed the left hand chassis leg straightening and it was back on the road. But I did strip it down mainly to spray the frame and of course it's been 'got at' over the years. It's a great stress buster but boy does it ever eat up rear tyres.

[ignatzcatz]

Well the isobars and the saloon bars all merged and good heavens it stopped raining so I moved all the motorcycles out the way and pushed the old boat out onto the drive for a quick priming. And there you go, all done, just a couple of places that need a bit of the old remedial. I'll squirt a bit of stopper in the depressions and I'll be top coating before you know it. I'm away for a week tomorrow so it will give the primer a good time to settle. And here's my Harley cos a pal wanted to see it. Laters.[frame][/frame]Looks like one of those blasted hot rods[frame][/frame]What an abysmal photo[frame][/frame]Similarly crap so I went down to Argos and I now have a Nikon Coolpix S3100 so just wait.[frame][/frame]Not everyones cup of char but it does for me.

[irmscher]

It does it for me.thats awesome and baby blue

[stag36587]

Beautiful!

[ignatzcatz]

OK hands up all those who have been in the garage every day since this cold spell. Ah yes that must be me then. I am so glad I bought my Sealy infrared heater last year. It cost about a ton but boy has it ever been worth it. No smell, no noise, no watery eyes, it is genuinely the bo##ox. Unfortunately due to the snowfall I have been unable to push the old boat out of the garage in order to topcoat the roof and side panels but I was able to paint the dash and interior metalwork with my airbrush turned up to the max and this was great because it kept the overspray down to a bare minimum and so I did not need to cover everything with polythene. With the dash painted I can now crack on with the wiring and get the speedo and all the extra dials, all six of 'em, hooked up. There's a pair of spotlights to go on the front and I will be wiring these up through a relay and similarly will stick a couple of relays into the headlight circuits and one for the horns. My grill surround was in pretty bad shape, the chrome was history and it was dented so I elected to paint this and I am hoping it will be a nice contrast to the other good chromey bits on the front. I spent a good day just getting the headlights and front indicators all shipshape. The bulb holders were very rusty and there were rust holes in the headlight buckets. They were all repairable and although I could have bought new ones it just seemed more sensible to repair the existing stuff. As I have been somewhat marooned in the garage during this bad weather I also took the opportunity to go through all the stuff that had earlier been removed and bagged and I cleaned and painted everything, brackets, hinges, nuts and bolts so that they all will be ready to be bolted straight back on when it reaches their turn. I still have three boxes of bits though but they are getting smaller, I think. Gotta tell ya I had a week in LA at the end of January, I went out to one of my hot rod shows which was beyond awesome but the big deal was the temperature. Can you believe it was 88 degrees, shorts and slaps every day and then I came back to this. Minus what, I really think I should emigrate. Here's some pics from my nice warm garage . . .[frame][/frame]All coming together, might start one day[frame][/frame]Black is the new er, black[frame][/frame]All by airbrush, good thing it's not a closeup[frame][/frame]Primed and ready to go