72 TA : New Project

[njsteve]

I got the front end aligned today. Since the car is still minus its interior and glass, etc. I had to find all the iron weights and barbells in the house and loaded them into the car. I tossed a couple floor jacks and my 3/4 drive set in there too. I also filled the gas tank up to the top. All that was probably good for about 300 pounds of ballast.

I trailered it to an old timer in the area who retired about 30 years ago and now drives a school bus as a daily job. He works out of a local garage in his spare time.

It's amazing to watch an old skilled craftsman at work. He uses a set of bubble gauges that mount on the wheel hub that are from the late 1930s, art deco labeling and all! I had him do the alignment on my Camaro years ago and he did an awesome job.

No one today at the chain store, tire shops has any idea how to align "old" cars with the upper A-arm shims, let alone have the extra shims in stock. If it doesn't involve a computer, "laser beams" and a cam to turn, they have no clue whatsoever.

This guy even had all the specs memorized. When I told him I was going to be using bias ply tires instead of radials he told me he would adjust the specs accordingly since the bias plies need a little different tweak to the aligment to prevent the twitchy-ness that people associate with those repro tires.

This guy was a pleasure to deal with. And he charged $50 for 2 hours work!

While I was there, the owner of the old garage wanted to know if I could use a few old car books. Look what he gave me! Original 1960s, 70's and 80's Chilton hourly rate books with all the OEM part numbers and prices.







After I got the T/A home, I took her out for a little drive up and down the block just to blow out all the body work dust in the ventilation system. I felt like a WW1 Flying Ace - I should have worn , though!

[mockingbird812]

Nice score Mac!

[olredalert]

------Steve,,,Im guessing he just knows a good guy when he sees one, and knows the books will actually get used. Im also guessing that he is thinking that he got lucky finding someone who could appreciate what he was offering. It probably good for all concerned........Bill S

[njsteve]

Thanks.

If anyone needs any tuning specs, part numbers or prices out of these books, feel free to ask.

I checked, and a 426 Hemi crankshaft was a whopping $48.25 in the 1968 edition.

[njsteve]

I spent a few hours today ironing out the fold marks and creases in the new headliner I bought. My wife laughed, of course, since this was the first time in 15 years of marriage that she ever saw me put an iron to an ironing board.

When she finally stopped laughing, she was a tremendous help though, telling me I needed to set the iron to full steam and set it to the lowest heat setting, and then place a beach towel over the headliner and iron through it to prevent melting the material.

She really knows her home-tech, that woman of mine! She is the Ms.Gyver of Household Drudgery.

[njsteve]

I found a pair of 15 inch rally rims on craigslist for $30 and was able to mount a pair of the 20 year-old Comp T/A/s on them. They are hard as rock but will work fine as bodyshop rollers. I need to find two more 15 inchers to replace the mismatched front 14 inch rims with 2 different 60's on them. At least I'm halfway there.

I have been starting her up and (allegedly) driving her around the cul-de-sac every few days just to warm the drivetrain up and to get all the dust out of the ductwork.







The things on the doors are a couple of pieces of roll bar padding to protect nearby stuff from those 100 pound, wide-swingin' doors.

[mockingbird812]

See MacGyver, all you had to do was post an update here and wa-la your stars are back!!

[njsteve]

[ QUOTE ]
See MacGyver, all you had to do was post an update here and wa-la your stars are back!!

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If only everything was that simple!

[njsteve]

I figured out a way to paint the new fender flare welting. Everybody who restores these cars tends to paint them the same color as the body which is incorrect. The welting material was originally supplied in bulk as a white latex-like material (on the white cars). They were installed at the factory that way, unpainted.

Since my old welting is petrified beyond useability, (that's them on the right, in the photos), and the new welting comes light grey, I ended up using white interior vinyl due. I cut the pieces to the correct lengtths, trial fitted them on the flairs, then removed them and over a period of several days I lightly misted the individual sections of welting until they were very thinly covered in white. They are now extremely flexible and should work out fine. The problem with painting the welting (other than being incorrect) is that even with flex agent, they will crack at the severe angles the welting has to conform to.

Here they are just temporarily press fit to the flares for storage purposes, and so they get a "set" for their final positioning.

[x Baldwin Motion]

[ QUOTE ]
I spent a few hours today ironing out the fold marks and creases in the new headliner I bought. My wife laughed, of course, since this was the first time in 15 years of marriage that she ever saw me put an iron to an ironing board..........

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