epix1718

Quick update, did some tuneup tasks (plugs, wires, ignition stuff), new oil, new coolant, some new hoses, new 6V battery. Sprayed in some starter fluid into the untouched carb (which I soaked bolts in penetrating fluid so I may remove it tomorrow). Neighbor is an old timer so he came over and helped me figure out the starter pedal.. which I had to press on REALLY hard for it to trigger so need to service that too. Hearing it run was exciting though, last time I new it ran was 2003. I siphoned out the old fuel and it was very orange so not sure if rust or varnish (probably both).. either going to drop the tank and rinse it out best I can and use in-line filters, or purchase a repro tank and put that in.

that there is just WOW!!! what a transformation, amazing work sir!

Can't view it.. maybe b/c of privacy settings.

Thanks for the compliments. Sorry I haven't seen that part but try asking jcmiller, I think he may have been selling that piece.. I check eBay very often so if I spot anything I'll send you a message.

Motorcycles are probably my 2nd favorite hobby after cars.. Especially weeklong or longer trips on them. Recently rode a lil 250cc from Phoenix to Michigan, and have take my Ural sidecar with my dog out to Colorado, and around Lake Superior camping most nights. Non-vehicle related hobbies I enjoy messing with computers, lately especially building Plex servers (basically a personal Netflix), my server has 100TB+ of hard drive space running on Unraid OS and has been streaming to myself and friends for 2+ years now with a 99.9% uptime.. not shabby for a homebuilt unit that only draws about 70w of power the majority of the time.

No big updates.. Here is a photo of the front drum after the rust reformer on it. I did not use electrolysis on these as there were bearings.. instead just lots of elbow grease to remove the majority of the surface rust, degreased the outside then I put on 2 coats of Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer (great stuff btw). This is before adding black spray paint. Got the wheels/tires on (well 3, misplaced the rear axle nut... it's around the garage somewhere) Helped clean up and sell my step-fathers 87 Silverado, had it out a day and was sold quick! Also been working on rebuilding an engine for a '01 Mustang that is being turbocharged. Picked up a 25' roll of 3/16" NiCu brakeline, fittings, cutting tool, flaring tool, etc and possibly tomorrow going to put on new brake lines.

In my performance cars/motorcycles I use those LiFoPO4 batteries.. not only are the extremely lightweight, they hold a charge like nonother.. quite expensive tho! A downside is they lose much of their cranking power in cold weather.

I use this battery tender/charger, works well for both 6v or 12v. https://www.amazon.com/BLACK-DECKER-BM3B-Automatic-Maintainer/dp/B0051D3MP6

Bought the Kanter kit to completely replace my brake system.. new wheel cylinders, master cylinder, etc... While at it going to replace the brake lines and they appear to be 1/4" originally and know that 3/16" is the modern standard. Thinking about picking up this kit on Amazon that is 25' of NiCu 3/16" with all all the normal SAE fittings. Would this work? (I've never replaced brake lines before so it's a learning opportunity) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01801G45A/

I'll scrummage around my trunk this week/weekend and if it's still in there we can compare.

Good info, I'll check them out! Just researched it, and is a nice alternative especially here in the rust belt states. Nice article on the advantages/disadvantages of Nickel-Copper alloy lines here: https://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-truth-about-copper-brake-lines-1818499200

Had some friends able to make it over this evening, was able to work on the drum brakes front/rear. Still need to put in the brake lines and replace the master cylinder. Looking at the drums they don't need to be turned as the scratches look pretty minor. Full driveway: New components installed The date is when I bought them (Dec 2015) Before AND after of rear drums after electrolysis, rust reformer coating, and finally a rust inhibitive paint. Going to buy some 1/4" brake line this week and run new lines, along with cleaning up the front drums and backing plates.

5 hours in the solution: Cleaned off the anode, and letting it soak some more until tomorrow afternoon.

Not a whole lot done today, called local O'Reilly Auto Store and asked if they turned drums, they said they do if I make an appointment as they only have one fellow that knows how to do the job. Going to be doing that soon depending on if I need it or not, the drums are quite rusty. I'm a chemist by trade and have been wanting to try out rust removal via electrolysis for a while so this was a good opportunity to try it out. Rigged up a makeshift operation from household items like kitty litter bucket, old motorcycle battery, random steel threaded rod, and old motorcycle battery connected to a battery charger/jumper cables and going to let it soak overnight. Some before pictures of a rear drum: Electrolysis setup One hour update being submerged and active Bonus picture of all 3 Bulldogs on the motorcycle from a fundraiser we went to last night. On Monday a friend offered to help me out with the brakes, so HOPEFULLY we can get started on those.. I'll need to make sure his choice of beer is available

Another small update. Put the new radiator hose/heatercore hoses on last night along with some new clamps. Called tire shop this morning and was told the white walls were ready so went and picked those up, came out really nice. Going to paint the wheels carefully once I decide on a color for the car. I went with the Coker Classic 6.00-16 Bias Ply, white wall radials for the 16" wheel seem hard to come by plus the cost is pretty crazy. Got these tires for about $125/each, the local tire shop mounted/balanced/new tubes for $135 out the door, so in all about $635 total. I won't be driving the car a lot, maybe few hundred miles per year so they should be fine for my needs. It's pretty cold today so just going to spend it inside organizing some parts.

Worked on it some more last night and today. Last night did a preliminary flush of the cooling system.. simply just flushed it out using the garden hose for the radiator, heatercore, and engine block.. Only a bit of brownish liquid came out, most was green antifreeze. I opened the petcock down near the oil fill/distributor cap but NOTHING would drain out there so not sure if that is either broken or clogged. I turned it all the way left and all the way right and no difference. Took off the wheels this morning and drove them up to the local tire shop to have the new Coker 6.00-16 tires and tubes installed. While waiting on the tires ran to a couple auto parts stores to get some Autolite 303's, new heatercore hose, and a new 1-3/4" ID cylinder head to radiator hose. Bought a kit online for spark plug wires but when they came the wires were way short so found some better looking cloth/laquer style wires and misc crimps so pulled up some YouTube videos on how to DIY. I think they came out pretty nicely.. The kit I found was for an 8 cylinder (and cheaper than the 6 cylinder kit lol) so I'll have a couple extra wires as backup.

Oh gosh.. it's been a long time since I even posted this. I've neglected the car to the corner of the garage until just last night where I got some motivation in me to go work on it. In the mean we've acquired 2 more rescue bulldogs. I didn't do much but going to spend this entire weekend dedicated to working on it and HOPEFULLY fire it up. Removed the plugs and added some Marvel Mystery Oil, while it soaked I took lots of reference photos, removed some very old age dried rubber hoses, removed antifreeze, and took off the spark plug wires as well as the cap. Under the cap was surprised to see that the rotor looked fairly "new". The plug wires are shot, they were extremely brittle. Oh, tried turning the engine over by hand, and it did so without issue I still will need to work on the brakes and may need to find some help on that but if not I'll just go head on and figure it out with help from online. I also now in my possession a new set of Coker 16" Bias-Ply White Wall tires. The Trailblazer SS is also undergoing some more modifications -Pete

Saw this while looking through my Instagram post and wanted to share.. I know it may not be everyone's taste but they did seem to do a good job at the build. Gordon Custom Fabrication built this LS powered 4-door 1946 Plymouth for the Gambler 500 rally https://gambler500.com/ More pictures can be seen here through their rotating instagram feed: http://gordoncustomfab.com/instagram/

Looks good. Not too far from you over in Sturgis, MI. You should try and make it out to one of the Essenhaus cruise-in's next year. Last week there was over 1400 vehicles there!

Here are the vehicles I currently own: 07 Trailblazer SS and 92 GMC Typhoon - The Trailblazer has a 416ci LS3 with heads/cam/built trans/nitrous.. it's my daily driver and tow rig. GMC Typhoon is still just a V6 but yet makes the Trailblazer seem slow Also have a couple Subaru Brats - 86 with 165K miles I use for hauling the little motorcycles around and just having fun, it also has the rare A/C for this model and power steering, the 83 Brat is all stock with the rare automatic trans with 29K miles on the odometer. Both have the Fun-Tops (T-Tops) and Jumpseats. 86 83 Also own a lot of motorcycles, About a dozen of them lol.. didn't get into this hobby until about 5 years ago but have already done numerous 1000+ mile trips, including a Phoenix to Michigan ride then around Lake Superior and home on a 250cc bike. 2008 Yamaha WR250R Have 3 of these Yamaha Big Wheels (2x 200cc and a 350cc BW350) Finally my Ural Gear-Up, this thing is such a blast. Rode it out to Colorado a few years back with my dog, and last summer my g/f practiced riding it for about 2 hours in a parking lot, first time on a motorcycle, then we embarked on a 2600+ mile trip together (I took 250cc bike she took the sidecar bike)

Thanks for choosing us!

Oh my!!! Please share the story behind this.

Not too far from us Don! Already busy enough with my own projects to add more lol.

I have a 24x48' barn next to my house, cement floor and non-insulated of where I store some vehicles/lawnmowers/etc.. I've found evidence of mouse nesting and one day while out there to retrieve something our indoor/outdoor (declawed) cat caught himself a mouse within a minute. This got me thinking that I need to do something to at least lessen the threat of mice out there. Any of you old-timers have some good tricks to exile the mice? I'm honestly quite thinking of getting an outside cat which would at least get the mice when outside the barn (barn is sealed shut but mice do find their way in) I've heard that peppermint oil works but what are your suggestions for outside AND also something to use inside the vehicles stored out there? Thanks!

Kented, just read this entire thread this morning.. great progress! Btw was that a GMC Typhoon in your friends shop? (photo from Oct 2014)