The Ramper

  While I wait – wait for parts, to get stuff done so I can do other things, for the weather to break from 100 heat index days, for an open stretch of time to put the engine back in – I do other little thangs. This is mostly a photo update, so here's what I've been up to... BRAKES! All the hardware bead blasted and painted - I had the colors, so why not? And new shoes! I bead blasted the drums too and painted them with Eastwood Co's High Temperature Coating (for exhaust parts, but it works great on brake drums.) This stuff - great stuff! Rear brakes too - too bad it won't ever look this clean again. INTERIOR STUFF! I disassembeled the glove box door, basted, painted and fitted it back. With the glove box apart, I pulled this panel, sanded and painted it too. (And the fresh air vent cover.) This fresh air vent cover too. BATTERY BOX! Blasted and painted the battery box cover - yeah, that's a run on the left side... Installed my new, used, refurbished trans cooler....

I can’t do that until I do this, but I can’t do this until I do this other thing… While I’m waiting, I may as well do this.  You know, rabbit holes! Since I have the front suspension out, I may as well pull the gas tank… Should pull the fuel lines too.  I said earlier (somewhere) that the gas tank is in pretty decent shape, and it is, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to clean it out and reseal it.  It’s lying on a table, right? Also, I have enough left over Eastwood tank sealer from another car.  (A 1964 Sunbeam Alpine aka “Alphie.”  I have another blog about that one.  See the right-hand column on the home screen for a link.) The brake master cylinder is coming out, only a moron wouldn’t rebuild the entire brake system.  The brake lines are rust pitted but savable, except for one that I twisted apart when I tried to break it loose.  They’re all sanded and painted now. Since I’m here, let’s check out the wiring harness, the shift cabl...

  The rear suspension played me, made me think this suspension thing wouldn’t be so bad.   The rear was relatively rust free and didn’t fight me much, no seized bolts, no rusted-on nuts… The front suspension settled in for a siege. Seized Nuts! There’s a saying, any one-day project is one broken bolt from a three-day slog, in my case it was seized nuts (That’s what she said, yeah, I know, please forgive me).   I spent more than three solid hours wrangling the nuts off the shock shafts.   You know how this goes, you manage two or so turns of the nut before it seizes, and no amount of WD-40 could have prevented.   You round off the ridiculously inadequate little flats on the top of the shaft, now you can’t stop the shaft from turning, and you run through your favorite four-letter words.   You know, basic wrenching. I had to bring some big artillery to the fight, but I eventually won! Break out the vice-grips to lock down the shaft and used up all my grip ...