What did you do to your non-G body project today? [2021]

[81cutlass]

Fun fun lathe work

Pulled the B shaft, input shaft and intermediate shaft that I needed to get out to replace the sheared keys.

There is a reason these lathes (adjusted for inflation) were high 5 figure $ machines.

The OD of the shaft and ID of the gear were galled a bit and touch to remove (had to press it off) but it cleaned up OK with a sanding roll and some 1000 grit sandpaper over the journal.

The sheared keys came out ok, but I had to drill one of them and pull it out with a needle nose.

 

[motorheadmike]

Fun fun lathe work

Pulled the B shaft, input shaft and intermediate shaft that I needed to get out to replace the sheared keys.

View attachment 169788

There is a reason these lathes (adjusted for inflation) were high 5 figure $ machines.
View attachment 169789

The OD of the shaft and ID of the gear were galled a bit and touch to remove (had to press it off) but it cleaned up OK with a sanding roll and some 1000 grit sandpaper over the journal.

The sheared keys came out ok, but I had to drill one of them and pull it out with a needle nose.
View attachment 169790

You stud.

 

[CopperNick]

And the saga of the misaligned fairing mounting studs continues. Did a Napa run earlier in the week and scored two 3-footers of 1/4 all thread. Cut one down into two sections and slid each one through the ell bracket mounting holes and added some flat washers and nuts to lock the stanchions together at the correct distance apart. Used this whole assembly as a jig to identify which studs were correctly located and which weren't. Found that both the bottom ones, left and right, had to be lifted and relocated. Ground away the fibreglass and resin overlay and they both popped out cleanly.

Today was fibreglass rehab day. I had previously visited both the pockets that remained from the initial attachment of the lower studs and ground away some additional material to produce a better prepared substrate in preparation for the application of the layers of glass. Still had a quart of resin that turned out to be still in liquid form when the can was opened and found some correct catalyst for it in the body stuff stash. The glass was already out in the shop due to my muffler repacking adventure so had that ready to hand. Cut some layers of glass mat in various sizes according to a mark one mod one eyeball and started applying liberal amounts of resin intermixed with layers of glass. For the other side, lather, rinse, repeat. Being that that resin was about the thickness of honey, it may take a little longer for all this to set so tomorrow will be the first day I look at what I have wrought and see if I can shave and shape it down to the proper original curves. Getting them back to as close to original as possible will allow me to replace the jig and make sure everything is aligned tightly enough that I can use some 2 part epoxy to set the studs in their correct positions. After that, possibly a little more glass to create a finished appearance and a coat of my favorite black to hide the work!

It just now occurred to me that the reason for the odd red/orange color of the old glass and resin laminations was that I used panel bonding adhesive along with the glass fibre when I did the original post crash repairs that turned the nearly destroyed mess back into a structurally intact fairing again. The back story is that my rehab efforts must have occurred during the latter half of the decade that i owned my 78 Monte in because by the time I had no alternative but to let it go to the crushers (totally rusted out, no body mounts, only the rad cradle held it all together, LOL) a substantial portion of the quarter panels above the belt line were the thinnest of sheet metal held in place by multiple gallons of 2 part body panel bonder; kind of like glass resin but back then I think it was a Ford (GasP) body shop product that I had access to through a local wholesaler. Good stuff and brutally durable, just not meant to be mixed up and trowelled or poured into place like sauce over meatballs. Mostly destroyed body mounts meant that it had to deal with way excessive body flex and that didn't help matters either. Still I did get ten more years out of a vehicle that had been parked as done when I found it. The owner was happy but his kids not so much because they lost their play toy! LIttle buggers were using it for a trampoline and the hood had the dents in it for proof. Oh well. Oh, yeah, anyone want some 78-80 Monte doors?? Think I may have to open up that crate some time as they have been in it for around 15? years. Huh!! Maybe a pic or two might be in order here.....Thinking about that some.............



Nick

 

[Supercharged111]

Copy/paste from LS1Tech.

So now I'm going after the plastic tank swap and fixing/reinstalling my 3.73 diff. First thing I noticed removing the diff was a massive interference issue between the rotors and my rear pad abutment brackets on the borrowed diff.

I don't understand how I lathed that much iron off without a wheel coming loose, the car not wanting to move, etc. I had a similar issue when I cambered the diff last winter that mysteriously fixed itself and I noticed it immediately and began troubleshooting. This is a bit unnerving as it could have had catastrophic consequences. I'm not opposed to risk, but I prefer it be calculated. In this next pic you can see what got me off my *ss to swap.

The car has always stunk like raw gas and I always attributed that to the vented tank with no charcoal canister, or because racecar. Last winter the stink got worse and I noticed the tank surface was moist, but never a drip. I wanted to change it out, but hadn't done my research and had bigger fish to fry. Well I'm done with the stink, I've done my research, and since the diff is out it's the perfect time to knock it out. Thinking I'll hit the pull and pay tomorrow to grab the gas gauge sending unit that'll play ball with my LT cluster seeing how the tank is LS. Another benefit of the tank is lighter weight, higher capacity, and the ability to run it lower without starvation which gives me more flexibility WRT weight distribution. And apparently the LT lines plug right in.

 

[ck80]

Copy/paste from LS1Tech.

So now I'm going after the plastic tank swap and fixing/reinstalling my 3.73 diff. First thing I noticed removing the diff was a massive interference issue between the rotors and my rear pad abutment brackets on the borrowed diff.

I don't understand how I lathed that much iron off without a wheel coming loose, the car not wanting to move, etc. I had a similar issue when I cambered the diff last winter that mysteriously fixed itself and I noticed it immediately and began troubleshooting. This is a bit unnerving as it could have had catastrophic consequences. I'm not opposed to risk, but I prefer it be calculated. In this next pic you can see what got me off my *ss to swap.

The car has always stunk like raw gas and I always attributed that to the vented tank with no charcoal canister, or because racecar. Last winter the stink got worse and I noticed the tank surface was moist, but never a drip. I wanted to change it out, but hadn't done my research and had bigger fish to fry. Well I'm done with the stink, I've done my research, and since the diff is out it's the perfect time to knock it out. Thinking I'll hit the pull and pay tomorrow to grab the gas gauge sending unit that'll play ball with my LT cluster seeing how the tank is LS. Another benefit of the tank is lighter weight, higher capacity, and the ability to run it lower without starvation which gives me more flexibility WRT weight distribution. And apparently the LT lines plug right in.

A couple other issues come to mind, at least before you spend money you might rather allocate elsewhere. That may be a leak up top that's traveling down a strap. I had that happen when the factory rubber lines disintegrated from ethanol fuel on top of a c10 saddle tank, smell slowly got worse as the degradation got worse, eventually wet tank. Pulled the tank to learn it was perfectly fine, but the rubber was a whole different story. Also had a sending unit get a leak on top of a tank, similar issue.

If you're willing to change it anyways I'd drop it to verify it can't just be fixed with a few bucks worth of appropriate barrier rubber fuel injection hose...

 

[Supercharged111]

A couple other issues come to mind, at least before you spend money you might rather allocate elsewhere. That may be a leak up top that's traveling down a strap. I had that happen when the factory rubber lines disintegrated from ethanol fuel on top of a c10 saddle tank, smell slowly got worse as the degradation got worse, eventually wet tank. Pulled the tank to learn it was perfectly fine, but the rubber was a whole different story. Also had a sending unit get a leak on top of a tank, similar issue.

If you're willing to change it anyways I'd drop it to verify it can't just be fixed with a few bucks worth of appropriate barrier rubber fuel injection hose...

When I had the trap door off last Spring it was all dry around the sender. Lines run down the driver's side and the leak is on the passenger's side. I've had the plastic tank since 2018, bought it in anticipation of the LS swap that seems like it'll never happen. At this point, all I really need to buy is the tank sending unit and the benefits of being able to be more selective with my fuel level is very appealing. Before I even get down to a half tank the car starves for fuel. On an average race, I'm only a gallon or 2 off of that by the end. If I ever do get to the LS swap, I also have the lines for the returnless setup that will swap right on.

 

[ck80]

So, as if I didn't have enough projects waiting for attention, we just finished up paperwork on buying yet ANOTHER thing that... it's "ok" for now but definitely will need some upgrades/tweaks/attention.

For now a hint...

Dyno had rwhp at 301, rwtq at 382 lb ft.... And that's after passing through the 4l80e.... but it does come with lots of paperwork which is nice...

And this one went under the wife's name. It'll be her toy so I can later but one for myself. We'll have to give it it's own thread later on.

 

[Texas82GP]

So, as if I didn't have enough projects waiting for attention, we just finished up paperwork on buying yet ANOTHER thing that... it's "ok" for now but definitely will need some upgrades/tweaks/attention.

For now a hint...

Dyno had rwhp at 301, rwtq at 382 lb ft.... And that's after passing through the 4l80e.... but it does come with lots of paperwork which is nice...

And this one went under the wife's name. It'll be her toy so I can later but one for myself. We'll have to give it it's own thread later on.

The 8.1 Suburban you've been looking for?

 

[CopperNick]

A post lunch trip to the shop earned me the information that the glass job that I had laid down on the fairing had, in point of fact, hardened quite nicely. Time for a little shave and shape work. Due to all this being done inside, both air quality and dust abatement were issues to contend with. My body sanders would have done the job RFT but spread dust around like chicken feed in a barnyard. Weapon of choice became one of my new Nicholson half moon b*st*rd tooth files. The procedure became, file a little, clean the file, dump the dust; lather, rinse, repeat, multiple times for both sides until I had compound curves that more or less matched what was there originally.. Didn't find or expose any cavities or divots during the process so counted that a bonus.

Next step was to bring the jig over and do a test fit to see how well the lower brackets with their attached studs matched the curves of the re-laid glass. The stud bases and the glass seemed to like each other so time to make the relationship permanent. Mixed up a small batch of J-B Weld and applied a thin layer to the surface of the bases of the two studs and then set the complete jig back into position. The J-B is supposed to bond to metal and fibreglass so we will see how well it holds when it comes time to remove the nuts and lift the jig off the fairing shell.

If all goes well the next step is more J-B; a perimeter layer/coat of the stuff to create a shoulder around the base of each stud and lock it into position. That will get sanded smooth once it hardens and then a top layer of glass will get applied to cover it all up and back to black. Alternatively I have a small section of micro mesh cut and split similar to expanded metal but very thin and fine. I may fabricate pockets from it and lay that down over the studs and glass it in as re-enforcement before laying the glass top layer. The deeper the overcoat on those studs, the less likely they are to twist or break free under all the surface material and start floating around. Something to consider.



Nick

 

[Supercharged111]

'nuther copy/paste from LS-Juan-Tech:

Dropped the tank.

Can't really tell where the leak came from and I wasn't curious enough to find out so it's in the scrap metal bin now after I robbed the pump and chopped the harness. Next I unloaded my wounded axle and loaded the borrowed assembly. I then disassembled the wounded assembly. Looks like enough meat is still there to biff a seal back into.

Just need to straighten that up a bit. As for this POS?

I found a use for it.

Balancing the axle assembly to drain overnight. Plan is to shove a used axle in there, new seal, maybe a blob of silicone, and send it.