"I'm Not a Car Guy." - A 1967.5 1600 Refurb Saga

[funkaholik]

Wait... why am I losing?
Is this in reference to the Mercedes I told you I raced last night?

The shirt looks amazing. Nice work, Peter. It's a great blend of art and technology. I love that you snuck some Datsuns in there, being the car guy that you are!

[TobyMan]

Nice! Subtle but awesome!

[iloveredmeat]

Noted and chalked up to progress!

Kinda weak progress, but I needed something progress-positive!

Wait... why am I losing?
Is this in reference to the Mercedes I told you I raced last night?

I was just a little quicker off the line...

The shirt looks amazing. Nice work, Peter. It's a great blend of art and technology. I love that you snuck some Datsuns in there, being the car guy that you are!

Ha. Thanks and I've been thinking of some other shirts that might be fun to do. They're a lot more fun to design than microwave satellite tradeshow booths...

Nice! Subtle but awesome!

Thanks Toby, my brother shot down my slightly less subtle option for some reason... I guess style is subjective.

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[iloveredmeat]

Some good news.

After a bit of a rough patch that required full focus on family... things seem pretty darn smooth these days, and so I’m finally going to work on my car again!!! I’m flying up next week to work on my car, hang with family, go fishing, and work on my car…

It’s been over 6 months since I’ve been up there, and I can’t tell you how much of a bummer it has been not being able to work on it.

On top of that, I haven’t been able to get anyone up there to work on it either… so virtually zero progress has been made toward getting it running.

Down here, I did have the rear brake cylinders re-sleeved and rebuilt, so I will install those and the rebuilt front calipers - and then all the brakes (on the wheels) will be done. That will feel like a milestone.

I also worked on some pretty bits like my grill. Not much.

Dave was able to patch the puncture in my freshly rebuilt gas tank, and I just got a working fuel sender from Mike Young, so that should be ready to install…only I can’t install that yet. My lingering (and biggest) problem has been that my trunk needs to be completely rebuilt, it’s the only part on the car that really rusted, and it rusted horribly. Ross Mullen figured that since everywhere else is so solid, someone probably stored a battery in there.

I do have all of the patch panels, but haven’t been able to find any body shop that would even look at it for a year.

Update… I think I just made arrangements to drop it off at a body shop before I fly back home. So while I’m down here throwing pencils in the ceiling, he can work on it and get the trunk structurally sound – That will be huuuge.

But.. the best and biggest news - and the main reason for the trip - is that Andy has set aside a couple of days to help me rebuild my Warner 5-speed! I was on the fence about whether or not to rebuild my “really good, but no guarantees” transmission… but Andy, Unklpat, Funkaholik, and others slapped some sense into me. Not sure I would have done it without Andy’s offer, so I can’t thank him enough. This will be a giant milestone.

So, that’s the plan. Fingers crossed. Send positive vibes.

Transmission rebuild questions to come...

[2mAn]

Fingers crossed.

Send positive vibes.

Sent

[iloveredmeat]

Fingers crossed.

Send positive vibes.

Sent

Thanks Simon, I think it helped!

[JohnnyB66311]

Fingers toes and who knows crossed have a joy learning something new.

Pau

[iloveredmeat]

It happened!

I finally saw my car again.

As mentioned, it’s been well over 6 months since I’ve seen my car, and unfortunately, virtually nothing has been done.

For this trip, I had 4 things on my to-do list.

1. 5-speed Transmission Rebuild

First and foremost, this trip was to tackle the 5-speed rebuild.

To start with, all credit goes to Andy for convincing me to even consider tackling this thing. Andy lives about 15 minutes from my brother’s shop and months ago, he insisted that I don’t gamble on the transmission as-is and offered to help me rebuild this thing. I can say that he is one of the nicest, most patient guys ever, He has a fair bit of experience, has done about 6 of these boxes (I’m now qualified to call transmissions ‘boxes’ since I’ve handled transmission guts… watch out Premo and Petterson).

Andy kindly worked with me on scheduling between his summer/fall plans, and set aside Thursday and Friday to get this thing done. Well, it didn’t quite go as scheduled, but we did get it done.

In addition to Andy, I reached out to many of the Roadster Illuminati… and I have never, ever received more help and advice from people I only know recently. This 311s/Roadster community is unbelievable in its willingness to help out some nervous, over-thinking, know-nothing newbie. It was really amazing, a bit overwhelming, and ultimately humbling.

The transmission background: Although I bought it from Mike Young, who said it was a good working Warner (But NO guarantees), the condition was really a complete unknown. So I spent a few weeks ahead of time procuring most every part I might need. I bought the full gasket and seal kit from Dean - who made sure I got it in time, all new brass synchros from Ross Mullen, who’s always a huge help, and sourced all of the bearings with the help of Unkl Pat and Mike Firestone, advice from those guys as well as Mike Young, Dave Premo, Mike Kerr, Dave Witt, and a huge save from Steve Petterson. I can’t thank these guys enough. Such a gigantic help.

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So… Andy and I broke into it on Thursday afternoon and had it mostly torn apart by the end of the day. We could tell that it had been rebuilt (glue and gasket seal), and it seemed as though it was recent, but what we found was that it looked to be in pretty good shape - no busted teeth, no rodents, no loose ground wires, no bad 02 sensors... everything looked great. Before this, the only transmission images I’d seen were from horror stories. This was not that.

Major points of interest:
A. It was indeed a Warner. Phew.

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B. Only one nut on the 5th gear, but plenty of threads for a second. Hmmm. And the single nut was not very tight… yikes… glad we dug in, could have been a time bomb???

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C. Splined 5th gear. Woohoo!
D. 5th gear servo synchro appeared to be very lightly worn on one side. Nice.
E. Bearings all seemed tight.
F. It just looked good.

On Friday afternoon and after a broken counter shaft bolt delay on Saturday morning, we replaced synchros, bearings, gaskets, and seals.

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Then, the biggest question mark, and the source of a TON of overthinking and stress, was the infamous “How to keep the 5th gear nut from backing off?” issue.

Since I know nothing, and never want to rebuild a ‘box’ again, I over-researched the shit out of this. I asked/bugged everyone, posted questions here… and it seems most everyone has a unique (and valid!) solution for this. So I waffled back and forth on what I wanted to do, and, more importantly what I could actually do, given the time frame. A bit of bush mechanics considering the schedule.

Poor Andy, he tolerated my indecisiveness like a champ… but I think I got close to the end of his rope. Pretty sure I saw him think about dropping a hammer on my foot.

I won’t go into all of the ideas/opinions/options, but my one demand was to have a jam nut. However, with only two days in rural CA, what to do? I called Steve Petterson, who’s only about an hour away, and he hooked me up! I picked a jam nut up on Sunday after fishing with my nephew.

Then Andy and I got back in there Monday and finished it up.

Regarding my final solution - I was told by some that the solution was “Paranoid overkill”, and by others that it “Just won’t work, period”, and everything in between. Since I HAD to get this done in a day, I did get some begrudged consensus that this was the best I could do, and so… My brother was able to resurface the thrust washer to perfectly flat, so we had clearance, Clarence. We tightened the main nut and kept proper endplay. We then marked it, backed the main nut off, put one drop of red Loctite on, then re-torqued. Double checked endplay. Then we put 3 drops of Loctite and tightened the jam nut tight to the main nut. Nearly pulled the bench over, so it’s tight. I’m confident in this, so fingers crossed, positive thoughts, and if it fails you will know. Andy has run a similar build for 30,000 miles.

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Monday night and Tuesday morning I spent cleaning up the outside of the transmission. For a bit of it I used a huge angle grinder/wire wheeler. The thing weighs 10+ pounds and is a beast to hold onto. The real fun was when the handle broke and the whole thing jumped off the bench and nearly castrated me… pardon my ugly belly button, but this is the result. It’s been a week and the wound is still killing me. So, that was fun.

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As always, I tried to feed my hosts well. Thursday night was fresh Bluefin and Yellowtail sashimi. Then Venison burgers. Then venison backstrap. All were sensational.

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I can’t tell you how generous it was of Andy and his lovely wife to open their house and spend the time helping me out. Outstanding people, and I’m so grateful. This was an enormous milestone, and I could not have done it without them.

Next episode: Items 2, 3, and 4 and I’ll probably think of something else.

[Bwk2000]

Quite the informative journey (sorry to hear about the near castration though) … and one hell of a fine rebuild Pete.
Of course my take-away from all of this is that I want to come over to your place for dinner.

[iloveredmeat]

Quite the informative journey (sorry to hear about the near castration though) … and one hell of a fine rebuild Pete.
Of course my take-away from all of this is that I want to come over to your place for dinner.

Ha! The key word is 'near'... phew.

And, yes... I know I overwrite, but... I feel as if I'm an outsider looking in... like a gonzo journalist experiencing this car stuff from a different angle than I've ever had. I took on the project more for the experience of doing something I hadn't done before, otherwise, I reckon I would've waited to buy a driver.

Maybe that's why I'm so surprised and stoked by all of the generosity and help I've gotten from my 'new community'. Really cool and humbling, and I want to record it for myself, and maybe I can bring a bit of a fresh perspective to others?

And, please, you're welcome for supper anytime you're in San Diego!

Alright, enough of the philosophizing...

[JohnnyB66311]

Believe me The time is limited and I don’t log much time on this sight lately, these are the threads that keep inspired. Truly amazing comradery. Truly an honor for me just to laugh and cry at some of this stuff

[iloveredmeat]

This episode: Goals Number 2 and 3.

Goal 2. Install the newly rebuilt and resleeved rear brake cylinders.

Brakes didn't happen.

I spent all of my time on the transmission, and a bit of time taking my nephew fishing.

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My nephew hooked his first fish, a tanker, and it broke off, but I guarantee he'll not forget that anytime soon. It was cool.

I actually caught a couple of fish and didn't take photos because I was positive I'd catch a nicer one... but, like the brakes... it didn't happen.

Goal 3. Get my car to a bodywork person.

Probably one of the biggest challenges in this 531-mile-away-rebuild, is putting away and taking out and cleaning up the car every time I go back up. It's typically stored outside at my brother's house. There's just no room at his shop with all of his clients' cars or in his home garage with all of his own cars, so it takes a lot of time just getting it ready to work on or getting it ready to store until next time.

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So, my hope has been to find a good bodywork person to work on it while I'm gone. Then it doesn't just sit there.

I've had a good referral from a local Datsun guy, but that referral, "Ron", has been so busy he wouldn't take it on. "Come see me in a year." But, before this trip, I finally bugged him enough and told him he'd have months to work on it whenever he wanted, and at this point, I don't need it pretty, I just need it structural to hang the fuel tank. He reluctantly agreed to take a look on Tuesday.

So, my brother and I loaded the car up, including all of the patch panels, two trunk floors, etc., and we towed it about an hour down to his place to finally meet with "Ron". Hopes were high.

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"Ron" met us. Nice guy. Mediocre-ish at best workspace. He walked around my car, looked at it silently and pensively, then gave me his price and the requirement for a half-down deposit. Well... frankly, I was kind of shocked. At least 40% more than my high estimate. I asked for time to talk with my brother, who had been walking around Ron's "shop" and had already called one of his right-hand-men, Donovan (whose brother works at a respected body shop), to talk about the price. The consensus was that the estimate seemed really high and that, along with my brother's observation that 'every car looks like it's been in the shop for a year or two, didn't give me the confidence to strike the deal. So... we headed back up to my brother's with the car still on the trailer.

F-word.

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While driving back, my brother suggested I try to convince Donovan and his brother to take a look and consider a side job. I've always hoped for this, to keep it "in the family", but they hadn't shown any interest, so I'd put my hope in 'Ron'.

When we got back to the shop, all the guys were surprised to see my car back, and I pulled Donovan aside and pleaded for help. I think he sensed my desperation, and with the caveat that his brother "does this all day and may not want to take on a side job", he agreed to bring his brother over to look at it that evening.

So, they did come over that night. And they were f'n awesome. As opposed to some silent introspective mystery calculation, they asked all of the right questions, gave me every option, i.e. "Factory seam or can we do overlap if we have to?", "Do you want this patch panel squared like it is, or rounded off like factory original?"... they talked me through everything they would do, all of the challenges, what the easy parts were, and why it would cost what it would cost.

In the end, I just wanted them to do it... and then their estimate came in right at the top end of my budget, so I was so relieved and happy and finally hopeful! And, I TRUST these guys. My brother has known them for a decade or more and has only the highest respect for them. So, my car is going to bodywork!

They'll pick it up in a week after their vacation (at a race track), and off we go. I am so excited.

Beyond that, if I can fill the Roadster Fund, I'm going to have them paint it, too. Can you imagine??? Then it would be assembly time.

Is that a distant light at the end of a very long tunnel I see?

Man, I hope so.

[JohnnyB66311]

Fingers and toes crossed!

Ours sat in , bodyshop hell for 8 months with not a thing done so we snatched it up and trying to find another shop, most wont touch it because the money is in insurance repair claims, so as you in search of a credable shop that does not want a kngs ransom.

[TobyMan]

Mine sat in the body shop for one day short of a full year. In his defense the Nightmare, as Jeff learned to call it , was a 35 year sitting in falling down barn, rusty hot mess that most would not have even tried. He did basically an entire body rebuild, then painted (there is a thread about how they sent wrong paint and he had to scrap off a layer with a razor blade) it and added all the rubber bits to the doors, trunk etc. too from the kit I bought from Dean. Drained the roadster fund big time somewhere around 18k. Good thing i have so much history with this car. Phenomenal job, worth the wait . Took almost a year to get him to agree to do it too. Artist are hard to get to commit and you can't rush them but quality shows through. Now if I can only get my seats back from the upholsterer, it's going on 7 months since I dropped them off and he would get "right on them" . So I have been told patience is a virtue. Happy trails!

[Bwk2000]

There’s something to be said for the old classic car adage: ‘Buy the best you can afford - That’s the least expensive option’.

The amount of work, sweat, tears, time, patience, more time & savings necessary to bring one of these back to life from near dead is astonishing. Since I can’t do bodywork to save my life, I’m always drawn to that aspect of restoration first and how much effort (and cost) it takes to get it done right.