randroid

Don, In order for one to be lost one must first be found but being found is not the same as being discoverd and being discoverd is not necessarily the solution. -Randy

48D, If you get the opportunity, please read "Round The Bend" by Nevil Shute, (1951, William Morrow). Long out of print, it would be a difficult search but well worth the effort. It is a work of fiction in which one character (an aircraft mechanic) successfully ties together Zen and the concious thought of mechanics, and the story is told in such a fashion that it has been my mechanical inspiration since I first read it in High School. I was fortunate to have found a first edition of it about twenty-five years ago and still read it over once every several years, and one of the main things it taught me was to appreciate the joy of PM (seriously) and the feeling of "oneness" it brings to your project. BTW, "Round The Bend" is a somewhat archaic British expression for "being a bloody loon", which is how most mechanics would see the effort you put into your truck, but most wrenchers are wanting to "git-r-done" rather than bask in the residuals of a true Zen moment. I think you'd enjoy the read as I enjoyed Pirsig's work. -Randy

Larry, Some good suggestions here (and a few that really bite because I don't think a tartan pattern would receive due appreciation) and I don't want to roil the waters because that is simply not my way. Use any color that pleases you (mine is a 1961 Chevy Seafoam Green) but do not paint anything that has oil on the other side of it black! The reasoning behind this is simple; if it's black you'll play hell ever finding an oil leak. There are plenty of folks who will say I'm wrong about this, but most of them drive "trailer queens" and I doubt thats the direction you want to go. -Randy

Gents, Been a while since I've poked my nose into everyone else's business but this is one of my favorite topics. 1. Be certain to get the polarity correct or you'll end up electroplating the rust to the part you want clean, which can be funny if you don't like the person who's doing it but not too productive if it's a friend. 2. Washing soda can be both difficult to find and sometimes expensive. TSP is the same stuff wearing a different shirt. 3. I've used this method for removing paint, too. Did a great job on Pigiron's cowl vent all in one swell foop. 4. I found a WWII practice bomb in the middle of the Mojave Desert that got squished but didn't explode. I used a big trash bag for the liquid and it did a grand job even in the little squished places. -Randy

Gents, I finally got talked into getting a Twitter account last week, and within three days it was hacked. I no longer have a Twitter account. -Randy

Kacee, What Rich said, but I needed to remove the fan before the pump. No biggie; it's an easy job. -Randy

Paul, Seems as though Neil Riddle (the great parts guy (206) 285-6534) drives a '52 Suburban with an OD tranny. When I bought my OD from him he said I should expect better mileage than your estimate, and I'd bet he'd like to chat about it with you. Why not give him a call? -Randy

Gents, A bit over a year ago I bought a Zendex hand-held sandblaster to help clean rusted parts on Pigiron, my '48 P-15, and it worked well for the two minutes I used it before it became obvious I was going to need to build a blasting cabinet. Once I got a cabinet cobbled-together my compressor died and it's taken me this long before I could replace it, and then the blasting gun began leaking around the trigger. After disassembling the gun and not finding the problem I contacted the manufacturer (Zendex Tools) and explained what I had done and, long story short, today I received a new gun via UPS, no questions asked. An American company selling an American-made product and standing behind it although the warranty had long since expired spells a high level of integrity, and they are to be applauded. This is the way every company would work in a perfect world but let's all take a deep breath of realism and admit that Zendex's actions were above-and-beyond. Thanks for taking good care of your customers, no matter how small. -Randy

Gents, I had the same car as Ed with the smallest V-8 (230?) I ever saw before Buick came out with a 228 in an aluminum block. -Randy

Gents, This got shared on my Farce Book page and thought you might enjoy it. I have no information on the rig but it sure looks sweet. -Randy

Glenn, About 2:00 Monday afternoon. The picture might be a bit deceptive as that's not water, it's stationary drying mud, and I saw a set of footprints but me walking is like something from a Monty Python skit so I didn't try. The interior is visibly trashed but I couldn't see any damage to the body other than what should be expected after being caught in a flood and there wasn't very much of that so maybe it didn't travel very far. I don't want to disturb anybody working around there because the cleanup will be a 24/7 situation for months to come and they don't need me interrupting them right now but I'll do an eventual followup and keep everyone posted, just without pictures, lol. -R

Tod, Yup, that's just like the button I pushed. Came out different for me than it did for you, huh? Time to get rid of the bucket and try something I can learn to use in less than three hours, wouldn't you think? I've posted to it many times in the past but three hours to get it wrong isn't worth any more effort on my part. Neat old car, too, and didn't look to be on its way to the boneyard the pentultimate time it was parked. -Randy

Gents, Obviously that didn't work. I spent the last several hours stuying the Help files on the bucket and the Search files here and I haven't figured it out, so if anybody here knows a way of getting pics from the bucket to here I'd appreciate a clue. I tried everything I could with the URL; that was the first thing I tried. Anybody know what really works or should I just keep pictures to myself? -Randy

Gents, Part of the aftermath of our recent floods. It was near the road but I couldn't get closer because I walk with a cane and didn't think it would be prudent to trust the mud to hold. I have no info on the car other than it came from upstream, lol. -Randy <div style="width:480px;text-align:right;"><embed width="480" height="360" src="http://pic2.pbsrc.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf" flashvars="rssFeed=http%3A%2F%2Ffeed51.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff392%2FRandroid%2FMuddy%2520Graham%2Ffeed.rss" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" /><a href="javascript:void(0);" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_geturs.gif" style="border:none;" /></a><a href="http://s51.photobucket.com/user/Randroid/library/Muddy%20Graham" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_viewall.gif" style="border:none;" alt="Randroid's Muddy Graham album on Photobucket" /></a></div>

DJ, Every thing you've been told is good advice and I can't add to it so far as the hinges are concerned, but I read a tip on the car side that may help you reassemble it. Before you pull the doors drill a 1/8" hole through each hinge plate because 1/8" is just slightly smaller than the diameter of a 16p nail. When you're ready for reassembly drive a nail through the hole in the plate and into the hole you drilled along the hinge line and voila!, instant alignment once the bolts are started. Don't drive the nails until you seat them or you'll pay the devil to get them out. The hole can easily be filled with Bondo but the holes will be so small they'll hide themselves and don't need filling, especially if there's a dab of paint on them. Have fun. -Randy

Gents, ... and yet another way is to soak the parts in boiling auto dishwasher soap. I think that to which Greg was alluding was either finding what makes those god-awful chemicals attack deposits and try to improve on that with something else, or find something you like and just use it. I like the dishwasher soap plan because it works very well and very fast and there aren't any noxious fumes to deal with. -Randy

Tim, Don't tell him! It's a lot faster method than spermacide in his biscuits and gravy. -Randy

Don, If you didn't get my email last night, you might want to postpone your visit to northern Colorado for a few days or a week; however long it takes the state to replace bridges and roads. Wrong end of the Summer for this sort of weather. -Randy

Jon, I learned long ago that everybody is whipped by something, be it drugs, alcohol, or the phone company. If I had my druthers, I'd druther be whipped by something I can enjoy, thank you. -Randy

Gents, It has occurred to me that, while I may never get my P-15 in true form, I have been able to accomplish soomething I've not heard of anyone else here doing. With patience and understanding from my Lady Wife I have been able, at little or no cost, to convert a modern attrective bathroom in our home into a genuine replecation of an early 1950s Texaco rest room. I do what I can to keep our hobby alive. No incriminating pictures will be forthcoming. -Randy

Don, That would be sort of silly, don't you think? You'd sure have a lot of holes in the manifold to block before you could hook the vacuum to one without leaks. Sheesh! -Randy

Skivi, One more vote for pulling it to do the job. If your condensor needs replacing then your points should be due also because they should both be replaced as a set, and the points will be easier to accurately set on the bench. It isn't as though you're going to need to pull any other piece out to do it and the time difference is neglidgeable. (Sure wish we had a spelling checker here again.) The small amount of extra time it takes will be forgotten after the job and you won't need to ruin your knees with your head in the engine bay. -Randy

Ed: I can't find an exploded view in the manual so I can't give you the exact name but it's the outer-most bezel, the one with chrome on one face and flat black paint on the other. It is held by tabs to its inner counterpart and the glass is sandwiched between the two. Too many openings I'd need to tape to make spraying a practical option. Tim: No, but it smells just the same. Merle: I hand the crown of over-spending on paint to you, and do so humbly. Then I snatch that crown right back because your results can at least be seen and not be hidden forever. Now I pass the crown back once again because I probably could have done the same job with a magic marker and nobody should be rewarded for stupidity. -Randy

... and I own some. Gents, Due to abnormally large amounts of rain, undependable helpers, and personal sloth I haven't been able to get Pigiron out from under her tarp all month but that has gotten me onto inside stuff that needs to be done anyway, and today's project was to get the instrument cluster cleaned, painted, and reassembled. The inside of the cluster housing was originally painted flat black to avoid the over-powering glare generated by the several two-candle-power bulbs and some of the paint had come of while I was cleaning it. (You can cook a turkey in a dishwasher too; I saw it on Red Green.) So off I went to a local NASCAR fan store because they sold model cars and surely they would have a bottle of Testor's around, but they said that all of the permits and safety laws surrounding paint made it almost impossible for them to sell it so they didn't bother because the models they sold were pre-painted anyway. I eventually found some at Hobby Lobby which they were happy to sell to me because they're Hobby Lobby. A 1/4 oz. bottle for $1.59 got me to thinking that maybe I could get some cheaper if I were to drive five miles one way to Wally World but we're talking saving maybe a nickle at best so I sucked it up and bought the jar, but I still was thinking about the price and here's what I came up with: 1/4 oz. times four = one oz. @ $6.36. 128 oz. = one gallon @ $814.08 This is flat black enamel, boys and girls, and it doesn't ever do anything clever like change colors when you go around a corner nor does it glow in the dark; it was flat black when it left the factory and it remains flat black to this day, and it does so at $814.08 per gallon US money plus tax. Lord, it's no wonder I never get squat done on that car! Maybe I'll put the remaining few grams on ebay and sell it for enough to pay for new upholstery. -Randy

Gents, I'm guesing too, but I don't think it's either of the first two suggestions because it's too small and flexible for an engine mount, and wouldn't last long as a drive shaft mount because it's a bushing with no lube points. It looks more to be an alignment bearing for a floating part such as the shaft betwen the steering wheel and the worm gear. Does your car have a two-piece shaft for that application? -Randy