Almost Back in the Saddle Again

As I announced in my 3-3-18 post on my LeMans blog, I’ve decided to bump up the priority of Mikhaila’s Corvair (named Scarlett) so that she can have it to drive sooner (within a few months) rather than later (within a few years). This means that this blog will be reactivated to follow our progress on replacing the wrecked front end of her Monza convertible. I should state here that, for the first time, one of my children has more cars than I do. In addition to the aforementioned Corvair convertible, Mikhaila also has her daily-driver MX-3 and the Golf GTI we’re working to put on the road. Speaking of the latter, this past weekend she and I got the new clutch installed, the transmission put back into place, and everything reinstalled and hooked back up. Yay team. We did all this in very close confines (see above layout). Once I confirm the clutch take-up is where it should be, I’ll drop it off the jackstands and drive it out of the garage. That’ll allow us to move to the next task, replacing the heater core. For that, though, I’ll drive the LeMans out of the garage and put the GTI in its place. There’s no way I can strip out the interior and dash in its current confines – it’ll take the entire garage.



During the, hopefully, short time the LeMans is outside, it’ll be under a tarp with most of the loose parts pieces piled in a corner of the garage.

Once the GTI has its heat restored, it’ll leave the garage and Scarlett will take its place. Could be a busy Spring – I sure hope so.

UPDATE: Luna has sold and is gone. Recurring Theme (i.e. Luna’s also for sale)

UPDATED 1/10/17: Added more photos to the bottom of the post.
UPDATED 1/9/17: Added video links.

Last week Victoria told me I should sell Luna for her. She has accepted the fact that her life is too busy to spend the time required to roadify the car. I feel badly for her because she really likes the car, but I can’t work on it without her. Add to that her supposedly reliable, modern car sucked all the spare car time she had during the first half of last year, and she’s in no mood to give up what little free time she has on another car. I put a listing on Facebook and Craigslist and have received the following notable responses: trade for a motorcycle (had to say no), low-ball offer, “I’m still looking and will get back to you,” and an appointment for someone to come by Saturday to look at her. Currently, her battery is dead, but I plan on jump-starting her Saturday morning and adjusting the carbs so she at least runs and drives for any prospective buyer. I toyed with the idea of welding in the patch panels in the rockers and the front fender, but there are too many other priorities in my life right now.


With that said, here’s the pertinent info on Luna. She has a 110HP engine with a Powerglide automatic transmission. Currently, the engine doesn’t run since she needs a battery and a tuning of the newly rebuilt carburetors. She has new tires and a new top, but the top’s installation isn’t perfect - needs some adjustments. There are rust issues in the rocker panel, right front fender, and passenger door, but replacement panels and door are included. The odometer reads 24k miles, but I’m sure it’s 124k. The top is manually operated, but goes up and down easily. We’re asking $2000 for the car with the extra parts. More photos at the bottom of this post. Here's a video of the engine running. Here's a video of me driving the car around our neighborhood.


As I mentioned in my last post, I am selling the parts needed to build a 140 HP engine. Here are a couple photos of the major parts included (note buyer gets two blocks to choose from). Also included is a bin of internal parts including the lifters, rods, pistons, oil pan, fasteners, etc.

I’ve not had any offers on Glinda as of yet, but I’m still hopeful a buyer will come along soon.
As part of my Corvair Reduction Plan, I’ve taken another load of GUPs up to the Corvair Ranch. In return Jeff presented me with a front end of another ’64 to use to repair Scarlett. This cleansing has allowed me to take down the storage shelves in the garage making more room for working. Unfortunately, after pushing Scarlett against one wall, there’s still a large part of floorspace is being taken up by aforementioned front clip. Hopefully, this weekend I can cut it down to something that’s closer to what I need and recycle the rest.


Here are more photos of Luna.

Making Moves?

My dad’s been visiting the past few days, and the other day we stood in the garage and discussed my desire to park two Corvairs in the garage and still have enough room to work on both. My mindset was I needed to empty the space of spare parts and little-used tools, but I hadn’t decided where to put these items. The easy answer is haul all the parts to the Corvair Ranch and sell the little-used tools on Craigslist, but that would mean someday having to buy back a head or a sunvisor or a rust-free piece of engine shrouding to deal with a dropped seat or busted stitching or a cancerous piece of sheetmetal respectively. So, getting rid of ALL the parts is not an option, nor is getting rid of the tools I’ve amassed over the years. So, additional options needed to be explored.

My solution to the problem? A grand plan that deserves a flowchart of course (see above). Since both Glinda and Luna are at risk of leaving the fleet, I’ve considered multiple permutations. A little background here since I don’t think I’ve ever gone into detail on the lean-to rear stall I built behind the garage fairly soon after we bought the house. The previous owner had sunk some 6X6 posts into the ground along the back fence, so I finished the project he started by bolting a header along the tops of the posts, nailing up 2X4 rafters and sheathing, followed by underlayment and shingles. Currently, the walls are old Harbor Freight tarps. The following photo was taken before we moved into the house over ten years ago. The red chunk in the photo represents the end view. The enclosure is just large enough to accommodate a ’65 LeMans (17’ by 6’).

In order to execute my grand plan, beyond moving the cars around, I’ll get to cut a doorway in the solid brick wall of the garage; install a decent door and doorframe in the opening; screw plywood to the six-by-sixes to create three solid walls on the rear stall; lay down some flooring (perhaps recycled pavers or gravel); put in a couple light fixtures; and then move the shelves, workbenches, and parts, and nearly all the tools out to the revamped space. The result of all this will be as follows:

My dad attempted to talk me out of my plan with his main concern being my cutting a thirty inch wide by eighty inch tall hole through the foot thick all brick wall. I think he had visions of the roof falling in. His recommendation was to build a platform in one corner of the existing garage and move the parts and any possible tools up on to that. That would, he felt allow me to gain floor space for the two cars with less time and money expended than my grand plan. I wasn’t sold on that idea since I felt the support posts and framing would interfere with the floor space and I wasn’t getting any new area to accommodate a workbench. Also, there’d be a lot of work and hardware to create the platform he had in mind.

So when will I get to this grand project? I have no idea. Even though the new kitchen is basically done, I still have projects in the laundry room and half-bath, not to mention the rowhouse basement. No rest for the weary.

Portable Garage Tarp on the Way

Last weekend Victoria and I talked about what we should be doing with Luna. We decided that we’d get a replacement tarp for the portable garage and she’d commit to working on her car at least 8 hours every two weeks. I did some shopping and a new tarp has been bought. It will be here before the snow files, so Luna will be protected for another winter. We’ll get the car running so we can drive her in and out of the heated garage during the upcoming cold months. She’ll be sharing garage time with Glinda, who will be getting more rust repair, including a new trunk bottom, as well as crossing off some more of his tasks in the blogs To-Do List sidebar.

Last evening Mikhaila and I spent some quality time in the garage taking care of Scarlett issues. We lubricated the speedometer cable, screwed down the hi-beam foot switch, installed the C, the I, and the crossed flags on the engine lid using caulk, and adjusted the front toe-in.

The alignment project went exceptionally easily due to Scarlett’s rust-free condition. The clamps nuts over the tie-rod adjusting sleeves turned without drama, the adjusting sleeves themselves also turned with just a pair of vice-grips clamped to them. We started the project by Mikhaila driving the front tires onto round serving trays I’d sandwiched a layer of grease between. This allowed the free movement of the wheels without much resistance. We then determined the center of steering wheel travel by going lock-to-lock and marking top dead center with a piece of masking top at 12 o’clock. Next we laid out our strings along each side of the car exactly ten inches out from the face of the wheel. Then we measured the condition of each wheel to the string at the front of the tire sidewall and then at the rear. Then, with Mikhaila measuring and me spinning the sleeve, we set toe-in at an eighth of an inch (in other words an eighth of an inch difference between the front and back measurements with the front one being larger). I told her to drive the car around and make sure the tape on the steering wheel was still pointed at 12 o’clock while she’s going straight down the road. That’ll indicate where we re-set the steering wheel’s location on the steering column.

With Scarlett back on the street, I moved Glinda to the curb and put the truck in the driveway. I’m such an optimist that I don’t think I’ll need to use the truck any time soon.

I Had a Dream

It must’ve been the recent purchase of a VERY nice car for the lovely Loriann – a ’10 Dodge Challenger R/T – that caused me to have an extraordinary dream. No, not the kind of dream MLK had, but the kind of dream one has in their sleep. The kind of dream we have no control over. In this dream, the fleet was gone, and all we were left with was the Challenger and the LeMans (fully restored, of course – it wasn’t a nightmare). The driveway was empty providing an unencumbered path to the garage, and the garage was cleared of all spare ‘vair parts and tools so we could – and this is what made the dream unbelievable – park both our daily-drivers inside. This has never happened to us before. There’s always been at least one old car in the family, and not since living in Pittsburgh an eternity ago has a daily-driver had the luxury of enclosed parking.

Sadly, it was just a dream, and my barely-a-two-car garage is still filled with Scarlett and car stuff, while the driveway is looks like the beltway at rush-hour. Do I see a day when our home only accommodates two cars? Doubtful, especially if the trend of the last few years continues. The graph below tracks our car ownership starting with our first year of wedded bliss. I guess it’s expected that the number of cars would rise as our fleet of daughters reach driving age. The scary thing is we can’t seem to stem the tide of a growing fleet of Corvairs, even after the eldest had me sell Heidi. If this trend of expansion continues, we’ll gain another Corvair by the end of next year and add a sixth by 2019. In other words, the trendline must make a turn down immediately.

More Thinning

No, I’m not talking about the top of my head. I’m talking about Corvair parts I’ll never use. Yesterday, bundled against the cold, I tackled the task of replacing the cover on Luna’s home (the temporary garage). I started by removing the tarp I’d tied to cover all the holes in the roof. Then I pulled off the front and rear tarp pieces. Finally, I took off the top in pieces as just pulling on it caused the aged material to disintegrate.

With no walls it was easy to drag out parts and pieces that had been in storage. To facilitate installing the new pieces, I moved much of the contents out from under the frame and into the driveway. It took some fiddling, but I got the new cover installed in a little over an hour. I made sure I didn’t make the restraints tight since I believe the initial installation was too snug and contributed to the early failure of the top where it rubbed on the frame. If I could easily slide a hand between tarp and rail, I called it good.

With the garage enclosed again, I picked though the stuff in the driveway and chose what would stay and what had to go. The two 140 HP engine block assemblies stayed, as did the tub with the 140 heads and the one with the parts I’d gleaned from the 140 engine that was in Phil’s Corsa convertible I parted out. Also staying are a ‘64 Powerglide and mating differential (in case there’s an issue with Scarlett’s), the manual transmission out of the aforementioned Corsa, manual transmission bellhousings (one EM and one LM), Heidi’s original engine block/crankshaft/bellhousing assy (I should make that into a piece of art someday), some piston/rod assemblies and cylinders, body portions to patch Luna’s holes, Scarlett’s set of wheels, and one torque converter with a nice, barely worn ring gear. Moved to the back garage were a spare engine lid and hood (to use for patching holes). That which was left was loaded into the truck for a trip to recycler were four torque converters, two powerglides, a couple automatic bellhousings, a non-posi differential, and the old garage tarp pieces.

Sunday wasn’t the only car day of the weekend. I spent part of Saturday at my buddy Jonathan’s garage. He’d done some significant work on his Corsa’s engine by installing a trick cooling fan setup (based on a vertical Porsche unit) and an upgraded oil system. With all that done, however, he was unable to get the engine to start. The first thing I noticed after I was done oohing and aahing over the new stuff was the spark plug leads were installed wrong. I had him turn the engine to top dead center to verify that they were off by one post. I did a quick inspect of the cap and it looked very used up, as did the rotor, so Jonathan pulled nice ones off his shelf of parts and they were pressed into service. With the leads properly placed, I had him crank the engine - still no firing. I hooked up an inductive timing light and asked him to crank again - there was no spark going to the plugs. Further sleuthing using a voltmeter and the wiring diagram for his electronic ignition module revealed it wasn’t getting the right voltage. We hooked up a wire bypassing the resistance portion of the ignition wire and the engine fired right up, albeit at quite a high idle. Thinking the timing was too advanced, I turned the distributor clockwise and got the engine to slow down, but also causing backfiring through the carbs. Jonathan then discovered some binding in the throttle linkage, so he disconnected the carbs from the linkage and the engine settled into a nice thousand rpm idle. I aimed the timing light’s beam at the harmonic balancer and found the engine to be a little too retarded (is it still politically correct to use that term?). A slight adjustment and the line and the 16 degree BTDC mark were aligned. That’s a little more advanced than stock, but his engine is far from stock. Also, since it was idling at 1000 rpm, the centrifugal advance is probably doing its thing, albeit slightly. He’ll do the final timing adjustments using the twist-it-till-it-pings method. I tightened the hold-down nut, and we moved on to putting his multi-spark unit back into the ignition system. With the wires all in place per the Crane diagram, we tried starting the engine – nothing. The timing light confirmed a lack of spark again. We spent a while double-checking all the wiring and concluded the box must be bad. We put the wiring back the way it was when the engine ran and it started right up again. He’ll be in touch with the Crane folks to see what to check next.

The Floor Is Down

Of course it’s down. It wouldn’t make sense to say it’s Up. I digress (but only slightly).

Monday night I fired up two of the heaters and spent the evening completing the installation of the new garage tiles. The results, as seen in the photos, are quite stunning. I took advantage of the disarray to change a couple things when putting stuff back where it belongs. I moved the back-wall work bench completely into the corner. That necessitated moving the vise. I haven’t decided the best place for it yet so it just sits useless on the bench. The other thing I did was get rid of all the empty boxes I had been saving for. It makes cuts down on the clutter considerably.

The Garage Transformation Continues

Saturday the lovely Loriann drove me to a small warehouse on the outskirts of Richmond, VA where she bought me 125 PVC tiles to install over the concrete floor of the garage. Once I saw the orange tiles, I knew I needed to change my plans from boring gray and green to orange and yellow with light gray highlights.

Last night, after we got home from our weekend away, I cleared out half the garage, swept and thoroughly vacuumed, and then laid out and snapped together a little less than half the tiles. The results are shown above.

On the tow vehicle front, my buddy, Bill, who happens to live only a few miles from the dealership with the ’07 Silverado, went and checked it out. He called me and shared the good news and the bad news. Starting with the good, the truck is really nice. He couldn't find any exterior blemishes, the tires have a lot of life left, the engine is plenty powerful, and the truck goes down the road straight and smooth. The worst of the bad news is the vehicles previous owner was a smoker and the smell is, while not in your face, noticeable. Additionally, there are couple other issues (all smaller) that need to be considered. The dealer contacted me today and offered to have the interior cleaned out by someone that guarantees they will completely remove the smell. We will be down in that area in a couple weeks, so if the truck’s still available, I’ll probably buy it.

Has It Really Been A Week?

Since I last posted, not much has happened Corvair-wise, which, at this time of the year, is a blessing. After getting Ringo squared away for Ariel, I went back to driving Glinda. Wouldn’t you know it? Her starter (which had been suspect for many months) started doing the same thing Ringo’s had – turn the key, the starter spins, but the engine doesn’t turn. I was, however, after a dozen or so tries, able to get her to start so I could drive instead of tow her home. Once parked at the curb, she’ll stay there until I get the replacement Bendix drive and starter rebuild parts from Clark’s.

While I’m on the subject of Glinda, I’ll mention that the first parts of her transmission transformation arrived in the yesterday’s mail. The clutch/brake pedal assembly unique to ’67 through ’69 models was the only conversion pieces I couldn’t get from the Corvair Ranch. Now I just need to set aside a day to go to the Ranch and pull the rest of the parts from the Corsa I drug up there a few months back. I got a phone call last evening responding to Lucy’s Craigslist ad. The caller’s first car had been a Corvair, “back in the day” and when he discovered the ad, he had to call. He’s interested in buying her, and will try and come out next weekend to check her out.

I know it’s not Corvair related, but it is fleet related. As reported a couple months back, the lovely Loriann and I decided it’s time to replace our current rescue vehicle. While the Suburban, even with its 322,000 miles, still effortlessly drags home dead ‘vairs, its upkeep burns valuable time that should be spent keeping the fleet afloat. At that time, I thought I could get away with a Chevy Colorado with the inline 5 engine, but research indicated those are not enough truck to safely pull a car, especially one on a trailer. Since we wanted to downsize, the replacement truck had to be shorter than the Suburban. Since I wanted to stick with Chevy, the search began for a short wheelbase (SWB) regular cab (RG) Silverado. The same research that pushed me away from a Colorado also pushed me towards GM’s 5.3L V8. Any other engine wouldn’t cut it when doing any heavy towing. I soon found that a SWB RG with the larger engine were a rare combination. I finally settled on a beautiful, low-mileage ’07 in VA with exactly the combination I wanted (pictured above). This decision did not come without its twists and turns. I was temporarily blinded by a spectacular deal (nearly $6k below book) on a ’09 Ram long-bed, but the CARFAX showing two accidents and the lovely Loriann reminding me it really wasn’t what I wanted caused me to see the light. And then there’s the ’04 Dodge Hemi GTX in WV I fell in lust with. While my heart REALLY wanted that truck, the higher mileage and a few mechanical issues caused me to snap out of that infatuation. Hopefully, I can talk the dealer down a little and trade in the Suburban to save me some bucks.

On the garage front, this weekend the lovely Loriann and I will be picking up the Christmas present she gave me – tiles to cover the greasy, grimy garage floor. I found a company doing a liquidation and we’re getting 19” square PVC tiles for only $3 a piece. The pattern I decided on (with some help) will look like the following image. So two VERY exciting acquisitions in my near future.

Christmas Break

Highlights from the last two weeks are:

• I sold Wilma to a guy in Ohio. He’s coming by Saturday to trailer her away. I’m sad to see her go, but the $1500 will be nice to have as well as the open stall in the portable garage. I’m thinking Luna will take up residence there so her spot just outside the garage is available to push TwoTone into when I need to use the garage. Now I need to do some wheel swapping so I don’t give away my good spare tires.
• I’ve got a tentative deal to sell Lucy. The prospective buyer, however, needs to sell his EM before he can buy mine. Right now Lucy’s listed on Craigslist for $2800 as-is (rusted out floors, but all the go-fast goodies I’ve installed over the years). As time goes on I may choose to deal with the floors so she’s a more attractive product.
• 
  I got some awesome Christmas presents. The best of which is a promised new garage floor from the lovely Loriann. She gave me the choice, and after reading the forums and weighing all the factors I’m leaning towards these. I can’t wait to have them laid down since it should help insulate my body from the cold concrete. I also received some additional car-related gifts including a Clark’s gift certificate and a new set of screwdrivers.
• Mikhaila and I moved some parts out of Wilma and into the garage to support the roadification of TwoTone. We filled her old little red wagon with new shock absorbers, spark plugs, fan belts, distributor cap, and some other old stuff that looked like it went with a convertible.
• Last night I got a call from Ariel. “Ringo won’t start.” I pressed her for more details and she related how he barely started that morning and the night before, but she was running late for work, so she took the chance she’d be able to get back home. Thinking it was a dead battery (which in full disclosure Ariel said it wasn’t), I drove Glinda out to her place of employment and attempted to jump-start her car. At first the engine turned, but wouldn’t fire. Then the engine wouldn’t turn at all. I’m now thinking it’s a starter or solenoid issue. Regardless, I loaded the Suburban this morning with all the Corvair rescue accouterments (tow-bar, safety chain, hitch, towlights, wrench, and gloves). My commute home will have a major detour. From now on I won’t be so confident in my over-the-phone diagnoses and will always drive the tow vehicle prepared to haul home the misbehaving fleet member.
• I moved the engines, transmissions, differentials, and larger pieces of sheetmetal out to the portable garage freeing up some valuable floor-space in the garage. One of the engines will go away with Wilma since I won’t have a need for wagon-correct powerplant. I’m also thinking of throwing in the ’64 rear suspension and differential to whomever buys Lucy since I won’t need them and the new owner may want to do the upgrade.
• I prepped and painted a car door for a buddy of mine. It’s always good to get more practice with painting, and doing it on someone else’s part with that someone else buying the primer and paint is even nicer.
• I finished insulating the garage ceiling. It took a package and a half of R13, but the garage already feels warmer and brighter. I’m planning on painting the paper facing white to brighten up the space even more and also provide some protection from sparks touching off a fire. I also used the Home Depot card to get some decent weather-strip for the main door and a plastic temporary storm window kit for the two windows. All this will make the space easier to heat and more hospitable for Mikhaila and I while we’re working on TwoTone.

No Spares is a Tenuous Situation

I’m praying I don’t jinx myself by posting the following bit of information. The lovely Loriann is relying on an eighteen year old vehicle with a wobble and over 318,000 miles as her daily-driver while I do battle with her PT Cruiser. My daily-driver is the ever-faithful Heidi while Lucy languishes in the driveway with most of her interior bits piled on her roof (this really needs a photo). The PT Cruiser work is a not-so-simple timing belt change, while Lucy awaits the welding in of floor patches. Tonight is crunch time on the Cruiser with high hopes for completion.

It hasn’t been all house-painting (the other massive consumer of my limited time away from work and family) and swearing at Chrysler engineers. I’ve had some time for ‘vairs and garage. When last I posted (which was too long ago), I’d filled a cart with discarded engine parts. The next night I promised a fellow CORSA of Baltimore club member my perceived expertness in getting his Corsa on the road. He’d had the electronic ignition quit on him, so he was reverting back to the tried-and-true points and condenser. Simplistically, a running engine is an equation consisting of compression, spark, and fuel. Since the car ran fine before the electronics crapped out, we assumed the compression part was good. I was able to get the spark part working using the instructions found here. Since the car had sat for a few months, the fuel part was missing. We tried a few cranking sessions without seeing any fuel squirting from the primary carburetors. Since my bedtime was quickly approaching, we called it a night with the fun and games to continue in two weeks.

Thursday, I received a hopeful e-mail in reply to my YellowVert Craigslist ad. Subsequent back-and-forth resulted in James’ arrival at fleet headquarter that afternoon. He shared how he was shopping for a father-son project, but knew nothing about Corvairs. So I did a sell job going so far as taking him for a spin around the neighborhood in Glinda. By the end of our drive I’d dropped the price to $300 minus the second interior and he seemed ready to pull the trigger, but instead of saying, “I’ll take it,” he asked me, “Would you be willing to take payments?” He went on to explain that’s the only way his wife would let him get the car. I had to tell him no since I still had some other parties interested. He left me with a request I reconsider his offer if none of the other parties comes through. Sadly, those other parties haven’t come through. Someone e-mailed with me Sunday with everything all set for him to drive out that afternoon and give me a deposit to hold the car for him, but all of my high hopes came crashing down when a final e-mail showed up telling me his buddy told him he was paying too much for the car. I responded that his buddy was wrong and the $300 I’d come down to was a good deal considering I could part out the car selling and then still get $200 from the scrap-man. Oh well, it’s looking more and more like I’ll be removing her engine, cutting off fenders and such, and hauling her to the ranch.

Thursday evening I rolled Lucy out of the garage and stapled up the insulation I’d purchased a week back. That project went well other than some of the long boards and pipes I’d been storing in the rafters would not go back up since the insulation was taking up space they’d previously been using. Oh well, I love a storage challenge – NOT! I spent the rest of the evening moving more stuff around making room for the PT Cruiser project.

Lucy had been garaged for a couple reasons. First, the aforementioned missing metal in the floor. Second, the forcible expulsion of spark plug number four from its threaded home. The latter issue was corrected Saturday morning by the tapping of the stripped hole and subsequent installation of a K-D insert. Like nearly every other project I undertake, this one was not without its frustration. Following the recommendations I’d read on a Corvair Center forum thread, I rotated the engine until the rotor was pointed at the number four cap terminal. Then, to capture all the chips from tapping, I filled the combustion chamber with shaving cream and gave the tap a healthy coat of grease. I slowly turned the tap in the hole, being careful to keep the driven end centered in the hole in the engine cover. After a few turns, I’d back out the tap, clean out the chips, recoat, and cut a few more turns. After repeating these steps about a dozen more times, the tap was turning freely indicating I now had new threads along the hole’s entire length. With a smaller hose attached to the end of the shop vac, I sucked out the shaving cream and then cleaned out the threads with a solvent-soaked rag. The instructions that came with the insert directed me to spin the insert onto a spark plug, coat the external threads with the included sealer, and install the spark plug until it bottomed out. I did all that, but, inexplicably, the plug didn’t go in as far as I’d expected before it became really difficult to torque. I gave it a few more turns using some serious effort before calling good-to-go. Fearing I’d just back out the insert, I left the plug installed and patted myself on the back for deciding to use a new plug since it may be stuck in the head until I have to do an engine rebuild. I finished up the effort by installing new plugs in the rest of the holes. After pouring a little gas down a carb’s throat the engine started right up, and, if not for the clatter of a lazy lifter, she was running as good as she ever did.

The rest of Saturday’s garage time was devoted to the PT Cruiser so, other than reiterating what a struggle it is working within a VERY confining engine compartment, I’ll leave this non-Corvair missive for a different outlet.

Out With The Trash

Last night I carved out some more floor space in my garage by going through the ’64 110HP that came as part of Phil’s collection. This was the one that had water in it. The rust-free crank and camshaft are keepers and went with the other GUPs on the shelves. The heads looked usable, so they joined some of their brothers on the shelf. Some of the valvetrain components went into a box along with head nuts and lockwashers. Finally, the shrouds, which had good seals on them, were jammed on the shelf of sheetmetal. Everything else was tossed into our garden cart for a ride to the recycler.

Speaking of recycler, they get forty cents a pound for pure aluminum. Now I have to remove the studs and other steel from the engine case halves and rear cover in order to collect. Otherwise, I’ll only get ten cents a pound. Once I tear down Ringo’s old engine, also a ’64 110, I figure I may have ten bucks of future soda cans.

Dealing with a Beast

Tuesday night I unloaded the compressor tank from the back of the Surburban – it must weigh a couple hundred pounds. With Victoria’s able help, it’s now safely on the concrete of the driveway. Now I have a number of hurdles to go over before it becomes part of my air supply. First, I need to make sure it’s safe by conducting a hydrostatic test. That is done by: plugging all the outlets in the tank buy one, orientating the tank so that the one open hole is at the highest point, filling the tank completely with water, screwing in a Schrader valve fitting, pressuring the water to roughly 200 psi (150% max), looking for leaks. Once I’ve proven the tank’s not going to kill anyone, I’ll drain the water, brush off any loose rust and shoot some Rustoleum primer all over it followed by a coat of paint that causes it to blend in with the brick wall of the garage that it’ll be sitting in front of. Then it’s just a matter of moving it into place and plumbing it into the system. After searching the web and questioning my car buddy, I’ll be putting the tank in-line as opposed to connecting it with a T fitting.

Part of Tuesday’s antics included moving Luna out of the driveway. In order to do this, I had to deal with replacing the fuel pump. As reported a couple weeks ago, Luna’s carbs weren’t getting any gas after I installed a replacement fuel pump. Since we’d put about five gallons of gas in her tank before her test drives, I assumed there was plenty left in the tank and the issue was with the pump. So, I installed a different new pump that had showed up with Phil’s stuff, primed the carbs, and started the engine. It took a few times of unsuccessfully seeing gas squirting before I decided to make sure there really was gas in the tank. While blowing air back through the fuel line leading to the tank, I had Victoria listen for bubbles – nothing. After pouring a couple gallons of 87 octane into the empty chamber, lo and behold the engine ran, the pump pumped … and leaked. Irrr. A few turns on each of the screws that hold the pump together and the dripping ceased. Success … in a way. Where did all the gas go? Could it have really all evaporated during Luna’s extensive inactivity? I carefully searched for dripping fuel and could find none. We’ll know more once she gets her new top installed and is on the road as a daily-driver.

Last night, being one of my two designated garage nights, was spent dealing with more garage things. I believe all I accomplished was making a larger mess of the space. I picked up some free insulation yesterday and it’s now piled on top of Lucy. Looks like it’ll just fit between the roof rafters. Any help will be appreciated with winter just around the corner. Now I just need to find time to staple it up. I also took some time to deal with the beast of an air tank. After moving it out of the middle of the driveway, I removed the lower drain plug and was thankful when no water came out. There was some powdery rust residue, but not too much. I am a lot of confidence the tank will past testing. I also removed the other fittings and created a mental list (uh-oh) of the plugs and caps necessary to close off every port. The only unknown is how to connect the top port to a pressure source. I’m sure I’ll do my typical thirty minutes of pawing through all the brass and iron fittings at Home Depot.

My last effort of the evening was actually car-related. I popped the engine lid on YellowVert and put wrench to harmonic balancer bolt and successfully rotated the engine. Feeling the euphoria of learning the engine was not seized, I endeavored to the pull the spark plugs with the plan of doing a compression test on each of the six combustion chambers. After removing the three plug wires from the driver’s side, I was greeted by the sight of more acorns. When vacuuming failed to get them out, I decided the car will be sold as-is. I’ll throw the acorns in for free.

An Exhausting Weekend

First, a status on the eBaying of some of Phil's parts: it didn't happen.I decided I’d try a couple other avenues before dealing with eBay. I gave the CorvairCenter Forum folks first crack at the wire wheel covers and 140 4-barrel carb intake setup. The wheelcover post got not responses, but I did sell the intake setup. The wheelcovers were then put up on Craigslist and the only response I’ve gotten so far was SPAM , so they’ll go up on eBay in the next day or two.

During the school year, Wednesday has always been a fleet night since the lovely Loriann and Mikhaila have their Girl Scout meeting. This year I’m getting an additional designated fleet night since the lovely Loriann’s new job as our church’s youth director means she’s occupied each Friday evening. So, last Friday night, I backed Ringo’s rear up onto the ramps and tackled the dreaded effort of replacing his muffler and tailpipe. With all exhaust projects, one must be prepared to replace every component because, as noted many times before, rust never rests and this axiom is never better illustrated than on the metal of mufflers and pipes carrying away the escaped byproducts of each engine explosion. Even though Ringo’s muffler had only been on a few months, I was ready to replace all components from the exhaust manifolds to the tailpipe.

Why, you may ask, am I removing a perfectly fine part – especially when the removal is rife with possible swearing opportunities? Well, when Ringo was ready to be put back on the road, I needed a muffler and the only GUP Jeff had in his Corvair Ranch stock was for a ’64 and newer Corvair. While it wasn’t correct for Ariel’s ’61 coupe, it could be used, so I played the cheapskate and bought and installed it. Since Heidi now needs her muffler replaced, I purchased a new EM muffler from Clark’s intending to swap Ringo’s onto Heidi and bolt the new one onto Ringo. That way each would then be sporting proper parts.

Back to last Friday – I first liberally applied penetrating fluid onto and around the nuts of the clamp at the exhaust pipe-muffler joint as well as the slip joint itself. After giving it a few minutes to magically do its thing, I torqued off the nuts and, by jiggling and twisting the muffler and finally beating on the end, I was amazingly able to remove the muffler. I then gave the exhaust gaskets (the ones between he manifolds and the pipe flanges) a close inspection and deemed them undamaged. The new muffler and tailpipe slid into place easily and the clamping of the two joints was anti-climactic. Ringo’s engine fired right up and settled into its subdued rumble with all the exhaust exiting only through the tailpipe – no leaks. TYL.

With his rear still raised, I used the rest of the evening to change his oil and filter. This overdue task should have been done a few hundred miles ago (a rebuilt engine should have it’s oil and filter replaced around 500 miles after putting it on the road). The oil drained from the crankcase appeared normal, so I’m gonna’ go with this being an indication my rebuilding job was acceptable to the engine gods.

The final task before rolling Ringo off the ramps was a slight tightening of the fanbelt. A quick, uneventful spin around the neighborhood and he was parked at the curb.

Heidi was then driven down the driveway and backed up the ramps for her portion of the muffler transplant. A quick review of the state of things indicated the exhaust gaskets would need replacing since the failed muffler had vibrated the end of the exhaust pipe and caused enough damage to the gaskets to render them useless. Since it was nearing 10:30 at night, I just squirted the penetrating fluid on the threads and joints that need it and called it a night.

It wasn’t until yesterday afternoon that I was able to get more car time. Completing the muffler transplant was priority one. It was far more difficult on this car than it was on Ringo since the muffler had been on the car since January of ’06. Once the hanger had been unbolted, the old muffler came right off, but left its mounting flange still at-one with the exhaust pipe. Next came the most remarkable part of the project – all four fasteners holding the pipe to the manifold came off without breaking. A huge TYL. Then, with the help of a cutoff wheel mounted on my die-grinder, I carefully cut a slit through just the remnant of the muffler flange and peeled it off the exhaust pipe. A few minutes at the wire wheel, and the exhaust pipe was ready to be reinstalled with new gaskets. On it went and the muffler that I’d removed from Ringo soon followed. After sliding in the tailpipe, I rotated the muffler and tailpipe to their proper position and installed the two clamps. The subsequent test run of the engine cause me to tighten the four flange fasteners at the exhaust manifolds until no pulsing jets of air were escaping.

With the car off the ramps, my next task was cleaning up and lubricating the pivot of the gas pedal. It had been sticking badly for the past week or so – to the point of being tricky to drive safely. After pulling the carpet back, I removed the screws holding the forward cover off and one of the two screws holding bushing support to the floor. The second screw refused to budge, so I ended up having to bend the support enough to break it at the resistant attachment point. Some scotchbrite removed rust and polished the rod. The bushing was cleared out with the appropriately sized drill bit. The joint was liberally greased and bolted back into place with the tunnel and carpet following suit. No more sticking!

With some more car-time left, I used the borrowed engine hoist and put the two competed engine assemblies on moving dollies I’d recently bought at Harbor Freight. This will make maneuvering them around the garage possible after I return the hoist to its owner.

The final bit of fleet-related news took place this afternoon when I added a couple tools to my arsenal. I bought a ginormous (at least to me) air tank that took two of us and a tractor to load it into the back of the Suburban. I’m going to plumb this in series with my current air supply system to bump up my reservoir capacity by two-hundred percent. While the seller was clearing a path from the corner of his pole barn to the door, he invited me to peruse the rest of the building’s contents since it was his intention to clear it out ASAP. I found an old welder and drill-press, but the item that caught my eye, and ended up coming home with me, was nice, beefy, USA-made grinder on its own stand. This purchase will allow me to dedicate polishing to my low-horsepower Harbor Freight unit.

Now I need to figure out how I’m going to get the beast of a tank out of the Suburban and into place. Thank goodness I still have Larry’s engine hoist because I don’t have a tractor.

A Space Has Been Carved

Over the last few evenings I've been in the garage making order from the chaos that was multiple drivetrains just haphazardly spread across the floor. Last night, I finally put the last tool away. There are three transmissions and two differentials on the floor under the shelves, a completely disassembled engine in a pile on the floor in front of the shelves, and two complete engines on end in the corner sitting next to a partial engine (only the case and bellhousing with crank and cam). Also, in the corner, surrounding the engines, is Larry’s engine hoist (folded up), my new-to-me engine stand, and the engine cart. Across the room are boxes filled with Corsa interior bits and pieces. You get the message – it’s still pretty chaotic.

However, there is enough room to get a Corvair and still have a bit of work space around it. The plan for this evening is to figure out what’s gone wrong with Lucy. I’m struggling with whether driving it from the street to the garage is going to do any more damage to the engine, but I guess that after Ariel drove it, even a short time on the interstate, a quick trip up the driveway won’t be of much consequence. I’ll be reporting back Monday on what I find.

Also, again on the agenda for the weekend is to drag Mikhaila out to the portable garage and decide what interior is to go in YellowVert. My hope is her current seats are still decent enough to be recovered, and then I can sell the interior that came out of CorsaVert. Speaking of selling things, I need to put some of the other items from CorsaVert on Craigslist or eBay. That should happen sometime soon as well. Anyone out there interested in a Carter 4-barrel with a 1-into-4 intake adapter?

Away From Prying Eyes

Yesterday evening I walked out to the garage and noticed the front corner of the tarp over Mikhaila's Monza 'vert had been pulled up. Immediately I became suspicious of neighborhood snoops looking to turn me in or, worse, city zoning inspectors looking to fill the city's coffers. Obviously I needed to finish the portable garage.

First, though, I needed to make a run to Home Depot for the fittings necessary to re-plumb my compressor’s ¼ outlet to the ¾ pipe in the garage. Sadly, they were out of the size I needed, so I drove down the road to Lowes, where I successfully found the fittings.

Once back home, I then needed to look at Glinda to see if the pinging Victoria was hearing was caused by another shift in the dwell setting. I attached the dwellmeter and the needle rose to 32 degrees and stuck there – just where it needed to be. With the timing light hooked up and flashing at the indicator on the engine, I found the timing was still around the 12 degrees BTDC I’d set it at a few weeks back. I took her for spin down the hill and back up, making sure to lug the engine on the back up part, but I was unable to get the engine to ping. Victoria and I decided I’d drive her car to work today to see if I can replicate the undesirable noise.

Finally, I was able to address putting the cover on the garage frame. Since half of the Monza ‘vert was sticking past the front of the new garage, I moved the frame away from the garage until its front was flush with the car’s front. Then I pulled out the directions (yeah, I know - an engineer reading the directions) and first attached the front piece with the zip-up door. It went on as advertised, so I moved on to installing the main cover. It would’ve been easier with help, but I was able to drag it up and over the top of the frame and then get the four corners battened down. Now I’m safe from fines, but hopefully, I wasn’t too late.

Making Space

Initially I had planned on squeezing two cars into the tool-filled, used part warehouse otherwise known as my two-car garage, but harsh reality dictated by the laws of Physics meant that no two Corvairs can occupy the same space at the same time. So sadly, I am stuck with leaving Wilma out in the cold until the Corsa hulk has been hauled off to the Corvair Ranch.

Last night I had intended to begin removing the drivetrain from the Corsa, but was sidetracked by the need to clean up the garage with the attempt to magically make space for more ‘vair stuff from Phil’s collection. I was successful in moving Ringo’s old 110HP engine from the driveway and into the back corner, but it’s become obvious that the portable garage must be pressed into serving as more than just a house for Mikhaila’s Monza ‘vert; it will store some parts harvested from the collection until I can sell some stuff.

On another note, Victoria recently reported that Glinda is pinging again. Irr. I’ll pull out the dwellmeter and timing light again tonight to see if settings have changed again. If not, I’ll have to bump the timing back a little.

Tires On and Frame Up

Yesterday afternoon, with the back of the Suburban filled with wheels and tires I visited the local used tire store. My visit was twofold. First, I needed them to reseat two of the tires I'd bought last week since they leaked at the bead. Second, I wanted to go through their collection of 13" tires to see if they had any more of the elusive 185/80-13s. After pawing through about 3 dozen, I had pulled aside the only four they had left. Fortunately, all had good tread on them, and two even appeared unused with the molding nubs still intact. I pulled four wheels with cracked, old tires out of the back of the Suburban and, a half-hour later, I was on the road with the Suburban’s rear even more packed.

Current spare wheel & tire inventory now includes a four mounted on red wheels for the wagon, at least two additional good tires mounted on EM wheels, and at least four good tires mounted on LM wheels. I’m ready to move cars!

After getting home, I commenced the assembly of the portable garage. The frame went together quite easily, and my only issue was the non-stop battle with mosquitoes. During the midst of construction, the lovely Loriann came out to inspect. Her reaction was, "It's big enough for two." "Not quite," I replied. It is larger than I'd expected, but that's just fine. The last nut was tightened just when I got the 10 minute warning for the serving of dinner. That signaled the end of the working day for me.

Tomorrow morning early, I hit the road for Waldorf with the utility trailer empty and the Suburban filled (mostly) with tools and tires. Phil’s brother, Bryan, and I will have quite a full day going through all the stuff Phil socked away in his big garage, and I am oh so looking forward to it.

Life Goes On in Overdrive

Wouldn’t you know it – work demand and fleet maintenance demand are both on a rising curve. It started last Thursday when Victoria called me while sitting in Glinda on the side of the beltway. Something to the affect, “The Temp/Press light came on, now the car won’t start.” Ariel was nearby so she gave Victoria and Mikhaila, her passenger, a ride home. Later, after dinner, Victoria and I took the Suburban, loaded with the tow bar and it accoutrements, out to Glinda’s resting place. After we connected Glinda to the Suburban and made sure Glinda’s brake was off and the shifter was in neutral, I turned the key to restart the Suburban and all I head was clicking. A dead battery in the tow vehicle? Seriously?! With no jumper cables, I attempted to use Glinda’s battery but was thwarted by the post terminals versus the Suburban’s screw-on type. Finally, our savior pulled up behind us. Maryland’s State Highway Authority has service trucks roaming the highways looking to rescue poor folks with automotive breakdowns just like me. A quick jumpstart and we were on our way.

When I got home, I cleaned all the terminals and connection at and near the Suburban’s battery and that has fixed that problem. Glinda’s turn was the next day when I checked the fuel delivery to her carburetors. The pump wasn’t sending nearly enough fuel, so I swapped it with Luna’s and the problem was solved. A quick trip to Carquest and the offending pump was replaced under warranty and then installed in Luna’s engine.

Saturday, Victoria and I were finally able to attempt the installation of Luna’s new convertible top. I should’ve have known it would not be a good experience when my garage PC wouldn’t boot up. The next issue was the screws I’d bought were too large for the holes in the bow for attaching the new pads. I drilled and tapped for the screws I’d bought, so that problem was fixed. With the pads on, we move on to the rear window. The directions say to lay the new piece over the old one, and punch the mounting holes in the same place. We did that, followed by the same exercise for the well cover. After a successful test fit, I put a bunch of staples through window and well and into the trim sticks.

The directions were the same for the main top piece, but when the old was laid over the new, we discovered the tops were VERY different; too different to be usable. At that point, we were done. I sent the previous owner an e-mail telling him the top he’d included in the sale was not right and did he have any guess as to what it might fit. His response was that he’d gotten it from someone else who’d told him it was for a ’65 Corvair, so there’s a chance he’d gotten the year wrong and it fits an EM instead. I haven’t’ yet laid the top over Heidi’s, but I’d bet it fits.

The rest of Saturday was spent moving stuff around trying to free up space in the garage. The spare door we got went to the back stall with the LeMans, while the right front fender is leaning against the side of the house hidden by the shed and covered by a tarp.

Sunday we sold Victoria’s boat, so that freed up space in the driveway. Yahoo and TYL!

Finally, last night I started the assembly of the portable garage that had shown up at the house last Friday. The directions are easy to understand and simple to implement with all parts fitting nicely – so far. Once the trailer is gone (which will occur this evening), I’ll be out there with a ladder bolting all the subassemblies together – right on schedule for this weekend’s moving of Phil’s collection.

All Wired Up

Last evening I stopped by Home Depot and bought a 20 Amp circuit breaker for the panel in the garage (the compressor draws 14 Amps at startup). Once home, I ran the Romex and hooked one end to the new breaker and panel and closed off panel. That allowed me to turn the power on to the garage again and work by something other than my new battery-powered worklight. The trickiest part of running the Romex was routing it around the beer bottle collection and not break anything. Out in the shed I screwed the service box to the brick wall and installed the receptacle. I’m ready to move the compressor out there now, but I still need to get some chain to anchor the compressor to the shed studs before I’m willing to move it out of the locked garage. I also need to get the fittings and hose to reattach the compressor’s outlet to the inlet of my garage air plumbing.

Here's what the new-to-me compressor looks like. Happy Birthday to me from my parents and the in-laws.