Gasoline wrote: I do like the Salt Flat wheels on a Wagon. Just enough, and not too much.
Yeah, I looked at these wheels for the Crown, I like em, I dont like the price.
Think I've found a budget friendly wheel solution....unless I decide to go with the cheap Daytons I found.
Packing up and flying to OKC to begin the great retrieval mission in the morning.
It looks like I'll have 3 tiny passengers in the way of some puppy mill dogs I'm transporting for a local rescue. That should keep me occupied.
I'll update with adventures from the road as time and connectivity allow.
I dunno what direction you're taking from OKC to Joysey, but if you find yourself in the Kansas City area, lemme know, I'll buy lunch/dinner.
Do you have any sort of rough timeline planned? I was thinking of taking the family to Bonne Terre, MO via St. Louis this weekend.
The_Jed wrote: Do you have any sort of rough timeline planned? I was thinking of taking the family to Bonne Terre, MO via St. Louis this weekend.
I have 2 timelines purely based on how long I can survive behind the wheel solo
3 day plan (most likely since I want to enjoy the trip) Depart OKC friday around 9 am, stop for the night in St Louis Depart St Louis Saturday around 9 am stop for the night in Heath Oh (Near Columbus) Depart OH Sunday around 9 and head home
2 day plan Depart OKC friday 9 am and stop for the night in Indianapolis or Louisville (still deciding which route would be more interesting) Depart Indianapolis/Louisville Saturday 9 am and make tracks for home.
Flew Thursday, arrive in OKC to the great hospitality of Mental and Wife and his friends. As if to set my expectations the car sprung a fuel leak as we were sitting there going over it. Quick and easy fix, no issues.
Off and running friday morning, Stopped in MtVernon Missouri to pick up my passengers
At our next fuel stop I noticed something leaking under the car. At first I though it was another fuel line, old lines and ethanol fuel dont seem to do well but nope, it was coolant. Luckily (I suppose) it was the heater core so I was able to pop the hoses off and bypass it. I had been wanting to do that anyway since it was awfully hot in the car so I assumed the valve wasnt closing off completely. Well the good news is the bypass stopped the leak the bad news is it was still god awful hot in there, needs more firewall insulation. The rest of the day was uneventful and my passengers and I checked in to a hotel in St Louis where they had a great time tearing up the pee pads I put down for them and piling into one bed even though I bought them 2.
Up at 8 the next day and back on the road. Not much to report, 8 hours of relatively worry free driving. With about 45 minutes remaining I got a little stumbling out of the engine, chalked up to wonky cruise control. Then a little later it happened again, just a little stumble and it caught up again. Had the same thing today going through the hills in PA and I think it was detonation under heavy load (every time it happened under hard acceleration uphill) I topped off with premium today and ran mid grade the rest of the day and had no more issues.
Spent the night at my old AF buddies house but he had a prior commitment with his wife in the early evening so I got to go out for a bit with Dave (dculberson) and his wife Lisa for a bit. We stumbled across a true dive bar and it was quite amusing, although the men's room made me think of scenes from the SAW movies.
Up again this morning at 8 changed out the air filter since I was worried about the stumbling the prior day and it was pretty caked with Okie dust. Pretty uneventful day of driving and made good time. Sadly an easy trip leads to very few interesting stories. Finally back at my place I was able to let the pups have their first experience with grass. They had a good time.
The 2 smaller darker ones are males and are looking for good homes if anyone is interested. They are very sweet dogs and just need a house that can give them the care and attention they have missed out on these years. They are about 4-5 years old, neutered and up to date on shots.
And since this is supposed to be about cars I have a photo of it successfully back in the driveway.
You cant really see it from the glare on the windows but the back is filled with what will hopefully become another build project on here, but that's for Dan (914Driver) to share with the group ;)
Sweet, glad you made it home okay! The bar was funny, I forgot to tell you that the nice gentleman that spoke to me at the bar closed our conversation with "you got any drugs?"
Ahh, rural Ohio dive bars...
dculberson wrote: Sweet, glad you made it home okay! The bar was funny, I forgot to tell you that the nice gentleman that spoke to me at the bar closed our conversation with "you got any drugs?" Ahh, rural Ohio dive bars...
Do we really have that look about us? Mike had never even heard of the place but now he wants to hunt it out so he can see what we got to experience.
So I had today off as a buffer in case the trip went sour and it happens to be a beautiful sunny day so what's a guy to do. Time to scrape off the Okie dust and see what we got.
After a good buffing with a cleaner wax to remove the oxidation I've come to the decision I'm not going to paint her. Yeah, that's right, the anti-patina guy is going to keep the patina on this one. The whole theme around this is kinda beach wagon and nothing captures that better than 34 years of California sun baked paint and the color is exactly what I would want to repaint it anyway. The wood sides will still get though. I still need to polish all the aluminum trim which should take about 5 years based on how much there is but it's starting to look pretty good.
Didn't do much under the hood but wipe off the dust, it's pretty solid under here.
On other notes, I ordered a new heater core $25. I love old cars no ripping out the dash, there's just a few bolts on the top of the heater box on the firewall and the whole thing pulls out the top, nice and easy.
And what does the collective think of a little bumper tuck? yea or nay? They do seem to hang way out there.
A little lemon oil or Penetrol might bring back that wood trim...
And, yes to the bumper tuck.
Tuck em!
Bumper tuck would look good
Woody wrote: A little lemon oil or Penetrol might bring back that wood trim...
I'll take a close up in a few minutes...there's no saving this wood. I wish I could because I like the weathered look but it is cracked and peeling.
I also think rather than trying to repair the stock headliner I'm going to add to the beach theme inside by turning this into a headliner
Oh and I'm looking for 2 cheap, only need to be decorative, surfboards if any of you that live in a more surf oriented area come across some cheap damaged boards.
JThw8 wrote: And what does the collective think of a little bumper tuck? yea or nay? They do seem to hang way out there.
Yes
the patina is really cool i would wet sand her down and shoot her with clear and the woodgrain. i wouldnt do a bumper tuck. if you do save those infill panels they look perfect
I like where this is headed..
cutter67 wrote: the patina is really cool i would wet sand her down and shoot her with clear and the woodgrain. i wouldnt do a bumper tuck. if you do save those infill panels they look perfect
I dont think I'll even bother with the wetsand and clear, it polished up well enough as is. I never understood the point of overdoing it with clear or anything when preserving patina the point of patina is to just leave it out there. A coat of wax a few times a year should keep it fine.
This captures how bad the original woodgrain really is.
Yeah, I was thinking if I tuck them then I'll make some new fill panels with fiberglass and save the originals, it's hard to find those in good shape.
the problem is even buffing it the oxidation returns. most of the time in days and it is worse on reds that is why a lot of people clear patina. it also stops it in its tracks. wax will not protect it like clear will.
if you could cut the part of the woodgrain that has rolled and the cleared it i think it would look pretty cool but i dont think you could do it with out disturbing the rest of it.
that is a very cool wagon the things that could be done are endless
cutter67 wrote: the problem is even buffing it the oxidation returns. most of the time in days and it is worse on reds that is why a lot of people clear patina. it also stops it in its tracks. wax will not protect it like clear will. if you could cut the part of the woodgrain that has rolled and the cleared it i think it would look pretty cool but i dont think you could do it with out disturbing the rest of it. that is a very cool wagon the things that could be done are endless
I dont mind waxing her a few times a year and it will allow the patina to continue down its normal path. If there were parts which were down to metal to allow rust to start I'd consider the clear but if Im going to prep this thing to spray then Im just going to give it fresh paint.
The woodgrain is really too far gone to save but I promise the replacement will be good :)
Well this is moving along faster than expected but I contacted a place that deals in used surfboards and told them I just wanted 2 boards about the same size and they could be beat up and unusable for surfing.
Guy got back with me and we discussed the project and he pulled out these 2 for me :) He's going to clean them up and send along a bag of surf stickers to decorate them and I figure once they get here I'll hit them with the striping brush to dress them up a bit more.
The decent into polishing hell begins. Cold and raining outside so I started with the air cleaner, yes it's aluminum.
Not in bad shape, just dirty and a little corroded.
Some 1000 grit sandpaper and some Mother's aluminum polish
Nothing too exciting tonight. I have to drive this to work Friday to meet Dan so he can get his presents out of the back so I pulled the old heater core and I'm praying the new one arrives tomorrow so I'll have heat. It's been in the 30s in the mornings and its an hour drive up there. I'll have to bundle up otherwise.
Gave her some new wiper blades so I can see if it rains and ditched the locking gas cap for a regular one because sooner or later I'll loose that key or break it.
My new headliner material did arrive today (the reed matting shown above) and I have lots of other stuff on order for it. Had to order up some new One Shot for the striping since I didn't have any colors I liked with the brown, I'll be using a tan and a cream and I ordered but not sure Im going to use yet, a gold as well. And some shine seal to protect the aluminum trim once it's polished.
Also have a new heater valve on order since the heat was technically off when the heater core was leaking so I dont thing the valve shuts completely and new innards for the turn signal since it wont stay in place for signaling right (it also cancels the cruise control when you signal a right turn so I'm probably going to find some fun stuff when I pull the steering wheel)
This is turning into an expensive beater, but she's so pretty (in my distorted view) and in such good shape that it's worth making some things right.
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