Went & did some tire kicking

[pagrunt]

Tackled another side project myself so it'll be ready for him when it'll need to be done. Made up two (hopefully fully functioning) gauge clusters. One is a '80 cluster with a later quartz tic-tock tach (guess what you could call it. The other uses the '86 up graphics, SS spec tach, currently an 85 speedo with trip but have the SS clusters 120 speedo that needs some work. I have a spare 120 that's junk I'll be using the odometer drum to reset one of the '86 up units to have the right mileage reading. Easier than one thinks but you have to do it a certain way not to show it was tampered with. DISCLAIMER: I am not doing this to cheat the mileage reading & will not do it for the wrong reasons or for gain. To be honest I'd rather have a non trip speedo but the extra '86 up one some how had the plastic frame break. Be nice to find a police speedo but we don't have that kind of luck between us.

 

[joesregalproject]

Finally remembered my chip binder & hit the paint store to get a pint to do the license plate pocket/center filler for Jr.'s car. At first I had sticker shock when they said they could only mix it in PPG's DBC at $300 for the pint!

They called the color library & was able to get a Shop Line base coat formula & was $48. All good but they were informed PPG is discontinuing certain tints so a cheaper option may not be there down the road. Then add another issue, I had them look up the tan interior codes & got nothing. Not sure if PPG is not keeping older formulas on the direct access or they are actually doing away with colors. When I was mixing paint I was able to do colors back to the 1910's. I might have to (with disgust) go to the former employer to see if they can bring up the interior codes.

DBU has been discontinued for several years now. DBC is it for Deltron. $300/pint is on par for most colors. Still a lot of shopline stuff available. The Shopline urethane isn't bad.

 

[pagrunt]

DBU has been discontinued for several years now. DBC is it for Deltron. $300/pint is on par for most colors. Still a lot of shopline stuff available. The Shopline urethane isn't bad.

I knew DBU was on its way out years back but PPG seemed to take thier time as lots of the tints were shared between DBU & DBC. That $300 for a K code really shocked me & told me I've been away from paint too long. One nice thing with Shopline is Omni shares a lot of supply materials, can use my Omni reducers with Shopline. I always ran with any good painter can make any line look good, any bad painter can screw up the best. It does look like the car will be done in Shopline unless I lower my standards & get Omni from the former employer. The current issue is the Colours shop in Indiana can't seem to do anything with One Choice with SC colors so I can start recoloring parts for Jr.

 

[pagrunt]

Another slow day doing anything with the car due to weather. Started with a trip to Harbor Frieght to burn some coupons & picked up a stud gun for the quarter panel dings. Got back pulled out the temp sensor stash for the mirror to find the right one that'll work. Explained to Jr. the function & purpose of the sensor with why it has to get good air flow behind the grill. This might even cover my car as I have it down to three sensors & three locations that'll work. Should post pics next chance I remember. Then while he was checking out stuff in his stash & shifting the '81's transmission I got into the harness of the bum mirror to see if I could just repin wires from its connector to another but terminals are no where near close to do so. This cause I have another Colorado/Canyon mirror like mine & non map light Silveradro displaying both temp & compasson the way which uses a different connector.

 

[pagrunt]

We got to work on fixing the no brake issue today just for one of these moments,

But there was some good, checked the axle tube to find 2BB for it to be a 2.73 & not a 2.29. This combined with the Saginaw's gear to make it move like it has better gears & allow fair highway driving with out the motor screaming. From here it just got ugly.

Out back found out dispite not having the adjuster windows punched, they are the originals & the passenger side is hammered & rotten. Even the earlier retainer clamp bracket is just hanging on the brake line. By the way, those things suck by interfer with the brake line & bleeder along with haveing a bad idea head on the bolt that I don't have any 8 point socket that matches the spline like design. The driver side is OK but they had the shoes over adjusted so the MFH had to assist in sliding it off. Shoes have plenty of meat on them but everything looks original to inluding the drums. All of the hard line fittings are so bad line wrenche spin on them so all the hard lines are now getting replace as I couldn't replace the hose either. I can't wait to open the rearend up to see if the cross bolt is broken or not (odds will be yes.) So for this end I already have the wheel cylinders, stainless axle lines & the rear hose in braided stainless. I even have a set of NOS later backing plates that don't need those brackets on it now. Might just get the Dorman ones as in the past they were thicker so the rot out as fast & have the upper pin bolt. I'll just replace the shoes & all hardware since we are in it this deep.

Trying to think positive we tackled the fronts just to find out the right side line blew out & drained the master cylinder. Really?!?!?! Calipers swaped out after WD freeing the bolts. Tried just show how one is to bleed brakes dispite not being able get get any fluid to the driver side caliper. Again thick pads with everything else looking original. Rotors also still have alot of meat on them. Hard lines are just like the rears. New pads & hard lines are on the list here. To save some headaches, I should have a set of hose brackets in the arts stash so I'll just replace them when the time comes.

With both ends needing full tilt replacements I'm going to replace the front to rear line since I sense it'll get me too if I don't. I think the proportioning valve & master cylinder should also be done. This way everything will be new. Even with him being able to get into this like it was planned, Jr. got to see how things come apart & back together with how fast things can go south on cars that have been sitting & neglected.

One other thing I was able find was a mouse induced rot hole in the replaced section ot the driver side rear frame rail. There was an old nest right on top of it. Should be able to clean it up & trim it square the weld on in a patch. From how the car sate for all those years on the that angled driveway it was a perfect spot for one to set up house in that spot.

Now with all of this I really need to make time to finish getting the garage ready for the car so I have a better spot to get all this work done.

 

[Tomeal]

Now with all of this I really need to make time to finish getting the garage ready for the car so I have a better spot to get all this work done.

I feel your pain. Dont you have a body that needs to go in there also?

 

[pagrunt]

I feel your pain. Dont you have a body that needs to go in there also?

Yep. For that I'll need to build a wood frame to have it sit over its frame. Only if it was two cars deep & three wide in there.

 

[pagrunt]

Was planning to have more than two pics of us in action from Saturday but like everything else that idea went south. Just one of Jr. learning safety first with him chocking both sides of the tire & me putting the right rear drim back together.

Now doing some brainstorming today I think I opened up a can of worms as planning went from just to a full brake redo to "well, if I'm in the rear why not get the suspension updates done" to "the car will be up on stands so why not dig into the front too" with "if the car won't be doing an driving why not look at the 4 speed swap". So working on a plan to get all we can done is now the plan with building a new shopping list with figuring out if the suspension should be close to stock or really put the handling into it with aftermarket parts along with what spring set up will be right. I'm trying not to to say hell with the drums & go with rear disk since Jr. wants as much of original as possible. Should of figured a simple job would change plans on how we were going to approach this project.

 

[pagrunt]

We did some small things today. Was able to show him how to make a wire for the clutch safety switch to starter switch which will be needed. Then cleaned up & painted the spare outer header panel to rad support backets. Then being just me I started to work on rear license plate pocket/center filler panel to clean up some nicks in the plastic so it'll need just a little bit of high build to fill them in. Than a shout out to the PA Lottery for funding the purchase of a pair of new vertical license plate pocket trim.

 

[pagrunt]

OK, now since things are getting caught up & heading back to somewhat normal I started on the replacement rear plate pocket myself as I don't want Jr. to damage it by mistake while learning body work. Got the undercoating cleaned off that was sprayed at the filler neck opening. Revealed some really nice white paint thatwas recovered in primer. Still needs some high build which was out of stock in the garage.

Then while checking a few thing on the car I noticed the Ebay inserts I got for his wheels are getting sun faded so the Monte crest is loosing the color. Did get a set of repop inserts with the repop centers so I can replacethem it they get too bad.

Next was doing a few spray outs of some tans to see if any were close to the interior shades. None matched, even the SEM 15033 saddle tan. I'll need to see what else is out there before I head back to my local Colours to find someone smart enought to call PPG for the needed formula in One Choice.

I got back to a few things that needed moved to allow the car to finally make it indoors after a co-worker takes the scrap old steel/cast iron heater. While I've been dealing with my family stuff another co-worker told me about another Monte that he wasn't sure of the year that he was passing on from an in-law of his. Last weekend I got a chance to check it out since I was going near it. It's another '79 Landau that has spent the last 10 years out side & the 10 years before in a barn. It'll be a good parts car for Jr. Just need to get my other obligations taken care of them work a deal for it.

For a stress relief a few weeks back I went off the radar from the family & did a yard run which I found a few goodies for both cars to include a pair of those parking brake pedal pads that match our brake & gas pedal pads. They do look better than what our cars came with.

I do hope to have some up dates on the work getting done along with Jr.'s education on being a car owner more often than what I've been.