Sunday, November 30, 2014

Rust Bullet, attempt #1


After cleaning off the second set of spindles, I prepared the parts for Rust Bullet.  Rust Bullet is tricky to apply when it's cold. It is thicker than I expected and it starts to cure within minutes so it has to go on fast and completely cover the area without applying too much to the area.  The first coat was okay but I'm hoping that a second coat and then a final coat of Black Shell will yield the results I'm after (no rust).  This isn't the 'official' restoration so it doesn't have to be perfect just yet.

I'm going to take the pieces to work where they can cure in the warehouse during the week.  It's typically over 60°F so they should cure quicker.  I may take the second can of Rust Bullet with me to apply the second coat and the black shell to apply the third and final coat.  The warehouse is large enough that the fumes won't get crazy strong if I apply it outside and then bring the parts inside to cure.  If I can do that and then have them ready for next weekend's assembly-things will be on track, so to speak.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

The lesson continues

The weather warmed to the upper 40°F range today so I took advantage of it and spent a couple of hours disassembling and cleaning the old front drum spindles with the goal of getting some RustBullet on them prior to assembling the front end and installing the Airkewld disc brake kit.

With perfect timing, I received the lower NOS LEMFĂ–RDER ball joints today so I now have a full set for the front end...ready to go.  Things are falling into place, I'm prepared, have all of the parts to reassemble the spindles and I'm optimistic.

Everything went as planned and the spindles are in the laundry room drying after degreaser with SuperClean, a wire wheel to remove stray paint residue and then a final bath in SuperClean. Then I located the bolts and planned to test fit the new bolts I bought.

 And this is where an important lesson was learned: Turns out there are two types of front drum spindles for the early Type 3.   The right spindle is the early version.

The early set isn't listed in the parts book - I found them in the Technical section on the 1500 Club website. The spindles that were on the car are technically from 63 - I guess I shouldn't be terribly surprised since I've found a few other things that are carried over from 63 on this car. The drum spindle I'm used to seeing uses an M10 x 1.5 x 40mm bolt for the ball joints. These newly cleaned spindles use an M8 x 1.25 x 40mm bolt (which I don't have).  I couldn't seem to find a properly shouldered 10.9 bolt in this dimension so...

Fortunately, I have another set of front drum spindles and they're now soaking in SuperClean to begin the process of being cleaned prior to paint. The weather is only allowing me two days to get this done - tomorrow is the last day it'll be over 32°F for quite a while so I'm going to try to get the other set cleaned and painted before the temperature drops. Once the paint cures, I can put the front end of the car back together, bleed the brakes and hopefully have it road ready.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Today's accomplishments were yesterday's impossibilities.

 Pulled the EMPI ball joint wide 5 disc kit today.  It didn't take as long as I'd anticipated-partly because I expected the worst and it went very smoothly.  This is the left side.

I forgot to pull a shock bolt before I pulled the spindle but it's good now.
 Passenger's side.  All in all, very clean and an easy job to pull them off.

I've got a little work before I can replace the front spindles and brakes but with the car up in the air, I've got reason to get it done.
 Pulling the front brakes turned out to be a good thing:  The only parts I hadn't yet replaced were the ball joints.  Three of the four were very wobbly and had torn boots.

Excellent time to replace them.

Also found a very slight leak in the brake master cylinder-which might be part of the problem with bleeding them.  I think I'm going to pull it and have it rebuilt so that it's checked off.
The EMPI kit pulled, drained of fluid, cleaned and ready for packing.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

"The fight isn't over until you win"

Jim came by tonight and, finally, the car is running-carburetors are synchronized, idle is stable, backfiring is gone and it's ready to roll...not a moment too soon as it's supposed to snow on Saturday night.  I'm hoping to get the brakes another quick bleed and take the car for a spin on Saturday and have it back in the garage in advance of the snow in the evening.  Then I can remove the front brakes and plan the installation of the Airkewld kit over the Winter and, hopefully, the small section that will allow for the proper mounting of the dual reservoir.  I plan to practice my tubing bending skills in an effort to eliminate the adapter and run 8mm line from the reservoir to the master cylinder.  I don't like extra connections, janky fittings and things that are made more complex by not doing them the right way.

Victory is very, very close and I'm hoping that I can achieve the second of my three 4th quarter 2014 goals.  The first one has been achieved, the second is 'in the bag' in 5 weeks and this, the third goal, is so close I can smell it.

In other, slightly related, news:  I swapped a T5 fixture for an LED fixture that I got an irresistible deal on.

This is a photo of the T5 fixture from about six feet away.  The light is adequate but slow to illuminate in cold weather, which is about half of the calendar year.  Total energy use is 58 watts for the fixture.  I thought about installing can lights and then using LED bulbs but figured there had to be a less involved method to get better light.
This photo shows the LED fixture installed without the final wiring being completed.  The internal reflector and light cover are not installed here.  I decided to turn the fixture 90 degrees for better light spread and prevent an opportunity to hit it with the cabinet doors.  I have to come back and extend the conduit in the attic by about 12" so that I can finish the installation this weekend.  I think the output will be slightly brighter once the internal reflector and the light cover are installed.  Total energy for this fixture is 50 watts, so there's not much savings in this particular fixture since the T5 is not High Output like the main garage.

I would like to replace the T5 HO fixtures in the main garage but will likely wait for LED prices to come down slightly before doing the conversion.  In the main garage, each bulb uses 54 watts, or a total of 108 watts per fixture x 4 fixtures = 432 watts.  If I use this same fixture and replace the T5HO fixtures, I'll save 58 watts per fixture x 4 fixtures equaling 232 watts.  In addition to this-I'd like to install motion sensors to turn the lights off in the event I forget to do it, which I'll admit, has happened a few times.

Friday, November 7, 2014

...and the saga continues

Jim came by and attempted to sync the carbs although after a few short minutes it became apparent that something else was wrong.  The left choke was very hot to the touch and wouldn't sync with the right carb.  After a few adjustments, it was discovered that one of the linkage bits (can't figure out what the hell its technical name is) was sticking and not allowing the carb to settle back to idle - it was also the source of the backfiring.  When the car was able to idle, however, it was nice and smooth.  The engine sounds very strong.

I found a spare carburetor and pulled the top off of it-it's going to soak overnight to get cleaned up and then we're going to swap it out with the one on the car-hoping that this is the last real issue with regard to the engine.  My parts hoarding comes to the rescue once again.  I had extra parts and a gasket kit at the ready for the re-installation.

At some point in the near future I'm going to pull the front brakes off the car and swap in the Airkewld kit I bought last year.  I made the decision to help out a guy I've never met fix up his 65 Variant S by selling the brakes to him.  It'll be good for both of us; he will get parts he needs and I'll get rid of parts I don't need.  I decided that this is also when I'll swap out the speedo cable for the correct/shorter version and fix the speedometer so that it'll stay put in the dash hole (it moves around freely right now).

I started cleaning the spindles but only managed to get one done before Jim arrived.  I'll have to wait until next weekend before I can get back into them again.

I also discovered some oddities with the under dash wiring so it feels like I'm going to have to find some heat shrink to cover the exposed spade connectors.  I could swear I heard a wire sizzle but I didn't see anything upon inspection.  Maybe this can be a Winter project and I'll swap the fuse panel for a 12 pole while I've got it all apart.  I can also properly install the headlight relay and pull the random wire I've got in place for the push button assembly that's no longer being used.  I'm hoping that there's a limit to the under dash electrical gremlins

It's supposed to snow tomorrow  soon...so the car likely won't make it back outside until next year which is kind of a bummer.

Monday, November 3, 2014

The windscreen improvement project

Not much has happened with the car recently.  Most everything is on hold until I get past my certification this week.  Nearly everything I have is going toward making sure I obtain that certification.

In the odd moments when I cannot commit to studying at work, I dig around for a random part or two.  Most of the time I find nothing as my range of 'needs' is narrowing more and more.  I'm exercising far more restraint lately in an effort to buy only what I need to finish the two cars-less of the 'buying and selling' piece as it's very time-consuming.  I have many other sands that fill the voids left by the larger rocks of responsibility.

Blah, blah, blah.

All I've found recently is the VWOA wiper arms for the 64S that use the pinch clamp vs. the set screw in the original design that strips out against the wiper shaft.  I also have a right side clamp in NOS condition...just have to find a left side (they're marked on the arm) and I will let go of my NOS original wiper arms.