Gramma's Car: the new project!

[njsteve]

These are the guys that have most fabrics for our era cars.

http://www.smsautofabrics.com/

[KevinW]

Congrats to another looong build thread! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/laugh.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

Just dropped off the engine parts. He agreed the bores looked great...and then laughed and said &quot;But the ridge (and the bore measurement) indicates it's time for bigger pistons.&quot; He said to blame Gramma for that: all those two mile trips to the beauty salon with the engine never fully warming up and the choke flushing all that extra gas down in the engine ends up washing the cylinder walls of oil.

So now I have to start shopping for some replacement pistons once he tells me what size we need.

Anyone have a Summit Racing coupon out there???

[RAIIIT/A]

Looks like that old Firebird has been well preserved and well maintained. Those cars really show the wear and tear if they aren't. Nice car!

[njsteve]

Spent the day cleaning the turbo 350 tranny. Since the car sat for most of its life, all the seals needed attention. I replaced the torque converter seal, the tailshaft seal and the pan gasket and filter.

Here is the rather dirty trans wheeled out the driveway after I swapped the converter and driveshaft yoke seals. The old furniture moving cart came in handy, along with some old railroad tie sections.

[njsteve]

I then used a spray bottle full of Purple Stuff degreaser and some wooden sticks and vinyl/brass brushes to clean all the oil, tar, mud and sand that was encrusted on the sides. Took several &quot;lather, rinse, repeat&quot; iterations to get it comepletely clean. I stayed away from steel wire brushes as they tend to scratch the aluminum.

Sure is handy having the cherry picker to hang the thing on.





After hoisting the tranny up I was able to pull the pan and replace the filter. The pan looked great, no metal in there. I guess someone back in the 70's replaced the filter as there was some gasket goo on the pan gasket. The underside of the pan was pefect, flat, and scratch free, further evidence that the tranny had never been out of the car. (They usually get dragged across the floor when removed.) I was careful to not place it on the ground, in order to further preserve the pan's finish.



Here is the VIN stamp location on the turbo 350. Happily, this one matches the car and the engine.

[njsteve]

All done and headed back into the garage. Last thing left to do is the filler tube O-ring which doesn't arrive til tomorrow.

[Jonesy]

Thanks Steve. I will give them a call.

[njsteve]

Cleaning time. Used a spray bottle of the purple stuff degreaser and cleaned the engine compartment. Thirty six years of oil and dirt everywhere. Got most of it washed away with the garden hose.







Notice where the exhaust head pipes are sitting? Gee, what do you think the odds are that when I went to remove the brake master cylinder, that the flare nut wrench would slip out of my hand and fly through the air and land right in the driver's side head pipe...and then slide a foot or two down the pipe...laughing at me the whole way. Nothing but net.

I had to find a flexible wire and fasten a magnet to the end and fish it down the pipe. It was like a carnival game from Hell. I finally won the game and got my wrench back after about an hour of fishing. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/no.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

I pulled the front steering linkage and the steering box, just to clean the encrusted gunk off. The steering box was natural cast finish with an aluminum cover and a pink paint daub on the spline where the steering shaft mounts up.





Dodged a bullet here! Check out the steering box bolt in the center. I used PB Blaster to loosen the bolt but it still took an impact gun to get them loosened. I would loosen, then tighten, then loosen repeatedly, to rock them free. Looks like the center bolt came out just in time. I was surprised it didn't break after seeing how much was rusted away.