FunkyCricket said:*safer
which is the most important part.
My college degree, and my first career, was as an A&P mechanic. I learned early to do it right so I didn't lose sleep at night worrying.
FunkyCricket said:*safer
which is the most important part.
My college degree, and my first career, was as an A&P mechanic. I learned early to do it right so I didn't lose sleep at night worrying.
(I really just meant it with a wink and a nod)
(It was supposed to be funny)
(Baby it's cold outside)
SkinnyG said:(I really just meant it with a wink and a nod)
(It was supposed to be funny)
(Baby it's cold outside)
I took it lightheartedly. Don't look closely and you won't ever find any problems.
"If you can't afford to fix it, don't measure it."
From the Sloppy Mechanics pages, "don't look at the cam bearings. If you look at the cam bearings, they'll be bad. If you don't look at them, they'll be good."
We don't save money doing the work ourselves, we just do more of it, because we -can- fix it.
I currently have the truck torn into pieces waiting for a large RockAuto order to arrive. Fedex is having quite a trip with this delivery to say the least. Each morning I track the package to see what adventure it's going through today.
In the mean time, I did get a small order from Mazda.
You're probably wondering what they are.
They're delete plugs for trucks that never were equipped with a rear bumper.
Baby steps...
Its the little things that really pull it together. Little truck looks great!
I'm currently having that same odyssey with a package shipped via USPS...
Bumper deletes look cool!
What? No 4x6 for a rear bumper?
So, one area of the front suspension that I hadn't messed with yet was the upper control arm bushings. They had a little wiggle to them so I grabbed some stuff from RockAuto.
While I was at it I baked the upper arms to burn the grease off, then a trip to the blast cabinet and some paint. A little spa day for the control arms if you will.
Then for some random reason I spent a little time building bearing press tools out of the old bearing races.
Worked perfect. Press>Hammer.
I love these dirt cheap old close-out parts from RockAuto.
I'm gonna have to do something about these beat up fender well flaps. That's the next project.
Lookin great!
Those old Bendix brake parts are probably at least 20 years old. I work for Garrett, which used to be part of Honeywell, which used to be AlliedSignal, who owned Bendix. But the company changed names from AlliedSignal to Honeywell in about 1999. They bought Honeywell and adopted the name for the overall corporation. They sold Bendix a few years back, and then spun off Garrett this year into our own independent company again. Sorry for the history lesson but it's fun to see this stuff pop up!
I used to help my Dad put in Bendix brake parts (all he would buy back then) for our '80 chevette.
Duder said:Those old Bendix brake parts are probably at least 20 years old. I work for Garrett, which used to be part of Honeywell, which used to be AlliedSignal, who owned Bendix. But the company changed names from AlliedSignal to Honeywell in about 1999. They bought Honeywell and adopted the name for the overall corporation. They sold Bendix a few years back, and then spun off Garrett this year into our own independent company again. Sorry for the history lesson but it's fun to see this stuff pop up!
The history lesson made my day. RockAuto practically gives away these old parts on their closeout sales.
The front end is all finished.
I'm waiting on my McMaster order to arrive with some rubber sheet so I can make new fenderwell splash guards. Currently I'm applying heat and weight to the old ones to get them flat to use as a pattern for making the new ones.
Studded winters shredded the inner fenders on my old Hardbody. I just snagged good(er) ones from the wreckers.
I made inner fenders for the Firefly out of ABS sheet.
Cousin_Eddie said:So, one area of the front suspension that I hadn't messed with yet was the upper control arm bushings. They had a little wiggle to them so I grabbed some stuff from RockAuto.
While I was at it I baked the upper arms to burn the grease off, then a trip to the blast cabinet and some paint. A little spa day for the control arms if you will.
Then for some random reason I spent a little time building bearing press tools out of the old bearing races.
Worked perfect. Press>Hammer.
I love these dirt cheap old close-out parts from RockAuto.
I'm gonna have to do something about these beat up fender well flaps. That's the next project.
old t'shirt's and resin on the inner fender well flaps perhaps????
The inner fender flaps are just flat 1/16" thick rubber sheet held in place by push rivets. Over time the rubber has gotten hard and cracked. I have new rubber sheets coming tomorrow (as well as new clips) and I will trace the old flaps onto the new sheet and cut new ones. Should be an easy project. As much effort as I put into my engine's appearance, I darn sure don't want mud and water migrating from the fenderwells into the engine compartment.
So, last night, Mrs Cousin Eddie was helping me bleed the brakes. I was having trouble using my usual methods so I had to resort to the old-school pump and hold, two person method.
She noticed that every time the brake lights came on, the dash lights lit up.
Well, we all know what causes that, so I figured to make it a little project for the day since I'm currently at a standstill otherwise.
I knew I'd find the dash light problem back here and sure enough....
A three wire socket implies that it uses a dual element bulb.
yet, it had an 1156 single element bulb in the socket. I've seen that a lot of times over the years.
Might as well disassemble and clean up the lights while I'm at it.
The plastic trim got a fresh coat of SEM Trim Black rattle can paint.
The rubber seals got a very liberal bath in 303.
Housings got a trip to the kitchen sink.
The lenses suck. One is cracked and has been sealed up with silicone (previous owner, not me). Regardless, I hit them with my buffer and compound to try and brighten them up a little.
Wiring got cleaned up and all connections and sockets got dielectric grease.
All finished, until I get new lenses to replace the poorly repaired one.
And now, the dash lights don't come on when you hit the brakes.
My rubber sheets finally arrived so myself and Mrs Cousin Eddie made some fender splash shields. She has more skills at this kind of thing.
The attention to detail is so inspiring. If I can make myself put in even half the effort that you do, my projects will come out so much nicer. Great job on giving this little truck a new lease on life.
untchabl said:The attention to detail is so inspiring. If I can make myself put in even half the effort that you do, my projects will come out so much nicer. Great job on giving this little truck a new lease on life.
Thank you, that's very nice of you to say
Looking sanitary as always sir.
This strikes me as a pretty fun truck to drive, probably rides decent, handles decent, and is not fast but peppy. Am I right?
My tracking says that you received a small but heavy package, please tell me this happened.
I have followed your lead on my Lemons car, every thing touched now gets cleaned and painted. It looks better under the hood than on the outside now...but that doesn't take much.
Gunchsta said:Looking sanitary as always sir.
This strikes me as a pretty fun truck to drive, probably rides decent, handles decent, and is not fast but peppy. Am I right?
It does ride good. So many mini trucks get the budget drop with blocks and torsion bar adjustment. This thing is in a different world, ride and handling wise.
I'm still not happy with the rear suspension. I'm planning on rebuilding the rear leafs with new bushings and de-arching to lower it and do away with the tall blocks.
The engine sounds like more than it really is. With that open element air filter and the header (with missing pre-cat), it sounds throaty.
akylekoz said:My tracking says that you received a small but heavy package, please tell me this happened.
I have followed your lead on my Lemons car, every thing touched now gets cleaned and painted. It looks better under the hood than on the outside now...but that doesn't take much.
Oh yes. Everything is safe and sound and arrived in mint condition. I have been cleaning and detailing all of the stereo stuff. That is somewhat of a backburner project since I will do the entire interior refresh at one time. New carpet, run stereo wiring and cabling, seat reupholster. So, there will be a quiet period of collecting odds and ends before I start on that phase.
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