Projects from THE COMPOUND

[DRIVEN]

Finally brought this thing home.


Battery was beyond dead and the gas was pretty old. Once I got around those issues it fired right up. It's thumpy.



Then I started breaking down the Shot Rod engine. There was a dead mouse and nest under the intake.



When I wrecked this donor car the engine got a couple minor injuries. The drivers side valve cover got cracked (I have a second set) , the timing cover got cracked ( I have a replacement), and the balancer got tweaked and damaged the keyway in the process so now I need to hunt one down. The crankshaft is not bent.

 

[DRIVEN]

Spent 2-3 hours cleaning this thing up. It's been sitting for about two years and looks like it's last trip out was mud/trail riding with zero cleanup after. It's not as clean as I'd like it but as good as I could do with the tools on hand. New battery installed.



Haven't been working as hard as I should have been the last couple weekends but did manage to get the 4.6 pretty well done. Cleaned all the parts at work but before I could reassemble it the snout needed to be addressed.






Then I could reinstall the timing chains before bolting it all together.





Knuckle sammich.


I'll have to wait for Ace to open to get some missing timing cover bolts then get a replacement idler pulley to set up the rerouted belt. I'll be deleting the A/C compressor and PS pump that it had in the Lincoln. I'm still undecided about the valve covers. Tempted to blast and clear one set and paint the other to compliment the body.

The next phase will be to do some relocation work with the coil packs and vacuum components related to the IMRCs. Then the task of harness dissection and revision. Somewhere in the mix I need to clean the transmission and toss a new filter kit in it.

 

[DRIVEN]

East for turkey dinner.

Quick snapshots of teardrop progress. He bought these Cessna wheelbpants on eBay. I think it has a way cooler shape than those ugly HF fenders. They were already painted so he just left them as-is.






He said he's going to tinker a little with it and maybe take 1 or 2 short trips next spring then sell it.



Since the car market is a bit flat right now he decided to put his money to work somewhere else for a bit. He bought a little 5 acre farm about 1/2 mile from their house on the river. House was built in 1935 and is pretty typical of the era. Hardwood floors and arched doorways. Sparse kitchen, wood stove. He fixed some small things along with new appliances and countertops. Also added a water filtration system and lots of basement cleanup. The house has short term renters moving in today.




That leaves him with the rest of the farm to play with. I helped him a little (very little) with some wiring in the pump house yesterday. There is a corn crib right next to that with a concrete slab floor. He's planning to remove the end wall and build doors. Then put a new roof on it. It will be about the right size to store a large travel trailer in.
There's also a small hog pen (closest building in the pic below) that needs to be cleaned out and some work done to the roof.
Lastly is the barn. The ridge beam has failed and the weight is pushing the 2 side walls out. He's pretty enamored with the old structure and really hopes to save it. Of course, he's already had a couple offers to tear it down in exchange for hauling off the wood.
There is tons (literally) of scrap and junk strewn about the acreage. He's hoping to maybe get my nephew over for a week or two to earn some money. Otherwise he'll be busy for several days just cleaning up the grounds. Lots of work for the old tractor to do.


Gray skies and murder of crows look foreboding.

The end plan is to have it pretty well under control by next summer. Depending on what the housing market is doing he'll either sell it or re-rent it as horse/cow property.

 

[1evilregal]

other than the crows, the place looks like my version of what I'd like to retire to. acreage to farm/4wheel in, and barn space to make into a workshop for the projects to keep me out of the wife's hair!

lovin the canned ham trailer, really love the airplane fenders he came up with, gives it that unique look, that when he decides to sell it, will bring the right buyers!

 

[marcar1993]

The 4 wheelers are fun. I have an 88 Warrior myself, most of my friends have 400ex's or Warriors.

As for the 32v 4.6, I'm not sure the route you are going, but a lot of guys deleve the imrc's and just gut the plates. They run well with both ports open all the time, and so much simpler/cheaper than having to worry about a standalone imrc.

 

[DRIVEN]

other than the crows, the place looks like my version of what I'd like to retire to. acreage to farm/4wheel in, and barn space to make into a workshop for the projects to keep me out of the wife's hair!

lovin the canned ham trailer, really love the airplane fenders he came up with, gives it that unique look, that when he decides to sell it, will bring the right buyers!

That's pretty much what the farm deal was about -- a project to keep him busy for a while. If the market goes the right direction, cool. If it doesn't go up in value after the improvements enough to make sense to sell, it'll be income property for a while. I knew nothing about it until after he'd bought it and was a little surprised. Once I saw it in person I could see what he was seeing. It's really pretty cool.

The 4 wheelers are fun. I have an 88 Warrior myself, most of my friends have 400ex's or Warriors. View attachment 57158


As for the 32v 4.6, I'm not sure the route you are going, but a lot of guys deleve the imrc's and just gut the plates. They run well with both ports open all the time, and so much simpler/cheaper than having to worry about a standalone imrc.

I'm not going to fall in love just yet. I like it but I've only ridden it up and down the driveway a couple times. It's not really what I was looking for but it was too good of a deal to pass up. I'm hoping to trade it for more of a farm/trail machine as that would be more useful to me.

The 4.6 is tentatively slated to the '35 sedan so I'm going to leave it mostly stock for simplicity sake. I'll relocate the coil packs to the rear of the heads and streamline the harness the best I can. If it doesn't stay with the sedan it'll likely go up for sale as a streetrod of kitcar powerplant. I really loved the way it ran in my Lincoln so I'd kind of like to run it again in something.

 

[DRIVEN]

Some catching up is due...
I messed with the El Camino's charging system and found a poor ground at the regulator. Once that was remedied it barely charged at idle and went high 14s at cruise. I decided to buck originality for now and just install one of my spare internally regulated alternators. Direct bolt in with a jumper wire at the alt plug (different shape) and another jumper at the regular plug so that the idiot light functions. It still works without the jumpers but no way to know if it quits. Now it's a steadier 14.0-14.2. And, 63A > 32A. It's all easily reversible should I decide to go back to bone stock.
Ever since I got it back on the road I would get the occasional hard start and a couple times it would idle shitty. Well, I think I found the problem. Was going to drive it to work on Monday and it didn't want to start. After a couple minutes of cranking I could really smell fuel. Popped the hood and gas was puddled in all the crevices on the intake and the throttle shafts were dribbling. Shitty needle and seat would explain all of the above problems.
Turns out the float was catching the sides of the bowl. I also had this odd thing develop with the Crane ignition module. It would discharge the coil when I turned off the ignition. Sometimes it would cause dieseling. I ended up going with a Pertronix and matching coil. Played with the advance springs too. Runs better than ever now.
The last thing I did was replace the 80/90 with GM Synchromesh fluid. It really shifts nicely now. Before, it would be fine once it was all warmed up but notchy when cold.

Since the Neon has been parked in the shop for over a year I figured I'd better get it up to snuff if my daughter was taking it to college next year. The tags were expired so before I could do anything it had to go through DEQ. Passed without issue and even got complimented for it's condition by the testers there. Who would have expected that? I've been driving it a few times a week for about a month now. It needs a timing belt soon.

Tried to get a title on the quad and had all the documentation I thought I would need for a lost title application. Turns out it's never been registered in Oregon. The process to obtain a title is going to be more of a hassle than it's worth for an off-road toy so I'm going to give up on that.
It had been 3 months since I applied for a title on the Shot Rod sedan and I hadn't heard anything so I called DMV and tracked it down. They said it was approved and processed and I should have it any day now. Plan for it is to drag it to the swap meet in April and put a ridiculous price in the window (frame). If it sells, cool. If not, I'll just take it to Idaho in a few months.
Swap meet related; I hit the yards on 1/2-off day and found no T-5s to flip. Those are my swap meet hustle so I was pretty dissappointed. It's really easy money and I cleared over a grand by 10am on day one last year. Oh well. I did pick up a Grand Cherokee steering bof for the El Camino. I'll post pics when it's installed.

I'm working a deal on a flatbed car hauler trailer. It'll need work.

Did a carb rebuild on the quad. starts easier and no longer has the little stumble that it had. I'll likely list it for sale next weekend. I'd love to trade it for a TW200 but cash is more portable.


In preparation for selling the Goldwing, I replaced the timing belts, changed the oil and plugs.


Trying to tie up loose ends with the '35 pickup as well. Placed a sizeable order for bumpers and lighting. It's trickling in a few pieces at a time. Once the rear bumper and brackets arrive I'll be able to drag it to work and do the exhaust. For whatever reason, I hadn't bolted the sway bars on so I remedied that on both ends. Swapped in the A833 where the Muncie was acting as placeholder. When I went to drop in the driveline I discovered that the rear U-joint was wrong. After I sourced and installed the conversion joint I set it in place for hopefully the last time. About the only thing left that I can do to the chassis is bend and plumb the brake lines. Then I'll be needing a body...but that's still a sore subject.



And like I needed more projects, I did some reconfiguration on a ridiculous Mosin build. Only thing left to do is a bent bolt.

Got wood...
[/quote]

It's been sell-off and organize mode so I've been doing a bunch of CL deals. Since one of those deals happened to be waste oil furnace in my shop it's been a little tougher to get motivated to get out and work. Cold out there.

 

[Turbo Zach]

Good to hear you are still kicking!

 

[DRIVEN]

Still alive, just really busy for the next few months.
Thanks for looking.

 

[DRIVEN]

Had a slow day at work last week so I grabbed some parts when I went home for lunch and did a steering box upgrade on the El Camino. A Jeep Grand Cherokee unit is a bolt-in that gives you a significantly quicker ratio along with improved road feel. With the new rag joint and fitting adapters I think I was in the whole swap less than $80. Money well spent and if I would have known what a vast improvement it was I would have done it years ago.


Tough to see down there but just below the yellow lettering on the belt there's a Z cast in the box. That's the one you want.


Also, sold the quad.