1967 Boomerang Resto-Mod - Utah

[sfyks870]

Greg, the hot glue doesn't get hard or leave noticeable stiff spots under the material?

[bajaroadster]

Greg, its also probably worth noting that there are many different manufacturers of the actual glue sticks that go into the glue gun. Some better than others as with any product. My wife is also very artistic and uses a glue gun in many projects. She has discovered not all glue sticks are created equal.If you discover a good brand, stick with it. (Sorry, I couldnt help myself)

[Gregs672000]

I did not know there was any difference stick to stick... I've just used what my wife has. Regarding lumps, the only places I have used the hot glue was on attaching the velcro to the back sides of the panels and the metal of the door, just extruding some out as I roll the strip of velcro out flat. On my BMWs I have used the hot glue to reattach the plastic posts/mounts they use (some much like the metal clips) to the cardboard door panels when the factory thick glue has broken. It was far stronger than any glue I tried (admittedly typical contact cement products) and it was strong quickly and very easy to use compared to tube glue of any kind. Not suggesting it be used for attaching flat panels to vinyl covers... I just used it for the velcro. Once cooled, it's not sticky and is unaffected by typical environmental heat. I've had to remove the panels on the BMW since and the posts have remained solidly attached. I'm sure a more professional/experienced upholsterer would have alternatives, but I was just super happy with the results I could get by raiding my wife's craft box!

[UTBirdMan]

The eBay MAF showed up this afternoon and I went to work. First few tries had the same issues as before with the injectors not firing. I once again went through wiring diagrams with my cheap multi-meter, and once again everything seemed to check out. In frustration I reached out to Michael Spreadbury. Later he gave me a quick call where everything seemed to check out, then he asked me about my fuel lines. I was sure I had them right; I was wrong. After switching the high pressure line with the low pressure return line, the engine fired up with a micro-blip of the starter. I now have a lot of work on my hands. He had me look at the oil pan before I got off the phone with him, sure enough, it is bashed in a bit. Another thing to get on. I'll take a deep breath as I prepare a game plan. Looks like the restoration is on.

[Gregs672000]

Well done Dr. Frankenstein... it's alive! Step by step you'll get it done.

[spriso]

Always good stuff to get customer's cars running for the first time-- as I told Ryan last night-- go have yourself a cold beer!

We love seeing these cars get put back on the road!

Michael

[UTBirdMan]

Things are going to be slow and go for the next few months. I'll post as I can. Spriso's shipment of the exhaust manifold and front brake adapter came in today. The exhaust manifold and cover are in excellent condition. I did clean up the cover a bit and will eventually refinish it when I refinish the valve cover and clean up the engine. That being said, it looks good enough to almost just install it. The brakes are a next year project, but I am accumulating parts for those projects now.
I did clean out the engine bay a bit today, most of the old wiring and components are gone now. My goal is to get the engine running and warm, with a working radiator, fan and intake. I also hope to trial fit the master clutch and brake cylinders and essentially get the engine bay fully sorted out before I look at body work. A recent, not entirely unexpected change in my employment status might slow things down a bit.

Old Wiring and Master Cylinders.jpg

Engine Bay Old Wiring Removed.jpg

[UTBirdMan]

A step for two forward, plenty of leaps back. Still progress is being made.

I took the oil pan off and un-bashed it with a mallet and a wooden hammer handle. It turned out good. The old oil in the bottom of the pan was a nasty brown pudding, plenty of sludge, but nothing that looked suspicious. I cleaned it up good enough to eat off of, then applied gasket sealant (gray) mounted the pan finger tight, and then torqued it down an hour later. I regret not taking a before photo, after photo listed below. One project done!

A lot of parts are showing up. Key parts are a Koyo Del Sol Radiator, 26mm 300ZX calipers along with various hoses and other pieces. I have a plan for mounting the Koyo Del Sol radiator along with the hoses for it, I'll write up more about that when it gets here. Some pieces for the air intake have been ordered, two 45 degree elbows. Once I have those lined up, I'll order a straight aluminum piece to connect them and concoct a line to the idle circuit.

As I prepare for adding coolant, I knew I had to do something about the old heater core hoses. Looking at the rear I could see that they had been cut, I expected that. To get to them I thought it would be best to take the intake manifold out. That was tonight's project. What should have been somewhat straightforward turned into war and it helped me to realize that I am working on a 57 year old car with a 23 year old engine that hasn't really been ran or had coolant in it for over 10 years. There are bound to be problems. The hoses had become one with their mounts. When they eventually gave up their fight, rust dust flew out from the metal connectors, white dust from inside the hoses. I probably should have planned for this anyway, but all the hoses will be replaced and I'll be ordering a new water pump for good measure. On top of all that, the radiator cap I ordered didn't fit the Koyo radiator.

I wasn't the one who installed the wiring harness, I'm pretty much taking it all apart right now, which is not a bad thing as I'll get to re-run it to my liking.

I ended the day on a good note. Fitting a new quality oil filter and refilling the engine with 100% synthetic oil. Otherwise it is back to the credit card to order hoses and a water pump. Photos below.

oil pan 1.jpg

oil pan 2.jpg

heater core lines.jpg

engine no intake.jpg

[UTBirdMan]

Slow but steady progress. A 2-1 exhaust pipe showed up (thanks CART418) along with an original radiator overflow tank. Plugs for the intake manifold lines that need to be plugged, along with a new water pump. Silicone hoses for the air intake made it, as did some Bosch ceramic front brake pads. I took the radiator to a Napa and found a cap that fit. I took the water pump out to find out the one I purchased was the wrong one. Oh well, the new one will be shipped back and the old one should work fine for now, same for the coolant hoses, good enough for now. I plan on tearing things apart again with the body off the frame, this was more exploratory. After multiple attempts at wiring and hose routing, which included far too many times taking things off and starting over, the engine bay looks pretty good. I started her yesterday and she sounds a whole lot better with the limited exhaust system. Other than taking care of the rear heater hoses and the exhaust, I am pretty much back to where I was a week ago. I do kinda feel proud that I didn't mess anything up, and I'll be much better in the future at working on the engine and wiring, so that is something. Work to do this week will be mounting the radiator and coming up with final solutions to the air intake line and coolant hoses. I then should be able to fill her up with coolant and let her idle for a while. Looking forward to that, but could still be two weeks out before I get there.

[UTBirdMan]

Another week or so has gone by, and I am a bit humbled. It seems that everything I have been trying to fabricate has failed.

Two sets of attempted radiator mounts have gone horribly wrong, and I still am struggling with the correct height so it doesn't hit against the steering rods or the hood. Third time will probably be the charm, but that will wait until next year.

The new coolant lines I installed, and the old ones I put back in, all leaked like a sieve when I started the engine up. On the bright side, I used some coolant system cleaner that needed to be flushed out anyway. Now it is all over my floor. The 17" 1.25" flexible lines won't work, needed to be longer and I'm not convinced they are a good idea. I knew I needed new smaller coolant hoses anyway, but was a bit surprised how badly the hoses all did.

The air intake / idle circuit I created did work, but I realize that nesting silicone is not a long term solution. I'll need to put a small aluminum pipe in there as well for more strength and security.

I did get the engine warm enough to steam off a lot of water / oil. The radiator got warm, as did the engine, and that will have to do for now. I'm going to move on to other things and tackle the coolant hoses again when the body is off and I have better access to things.

Next steps will be stripping everything off the body and getting ready to remove it from the frame. There is some room in my basement that I hope to store the body in, that will allow me to work on the frame while my wife still can park her van in the garage over the winter. Once spring hits, the garage is mine.

I've told my son that someone who knows what they are doing would have compressed my last three months into a week, but this is how I learn.....

Prepping intake hoses.jpg

An exacto knife with a hose clamp did a great job of trimming the silicone intake lines.

Trial fit of idle intake.jpg

I used a bronze 90 degree bung for the idle bypass circuit. I tested it on a piece of scrap silicone. I used a small wood drill bit with a 2x3 in the pipe to give me some support. I guess something worked over the last week.

[Gregs672000]

That's the thing man, any time you're doing something the first time, or if it's been a long time, you learn as you go along. Can't tell you how many times I've said "Well, that will take 15 minutes next time and not 3 hours...". Just gotta keep chugging Along!

[UTBirdMan]

Sins of the PO is a common theme with many restorations. Unfortunately some of those sins I am guilty of. This last week I did more work on prepping for the body to be removed. It is almost a religious experience working on a car that I was the one who put it back together over twenty-one years ago. I am grateful for the anti-seize that I used most of the time. I see where I cut a few corners when a lock washer is missing, or perhaps a different sized nut is in place. The worst case is the radio. I didn't really mind the original radio and kept it until I sold the car to my brother. He had to have his tunes, so we went to Walmart and picked up a simple Pioneer single-din stereo, cut (badly) the rear side interior panels and poorly mounted some 5.25" speakers. Wiring was put under the carpet, directly on top of the metal body. The worst of it was the front instrument panel was cut to allow for the modern radio. I am guilty of aiding in that project.

Fast forward to today, the wire that was placed under the carpet has several spots where it wore through to the metal wire. The holes in the rear body panel will need to be re-formed, and I will need to determine how and if I clean up the console area. I did purchase a retro-sounds radio and it looks amazing, I plan on putting 5.25" subwoofers in the rear panels, hopefully able to make it somewhat air tight. I'll cut some holes in the front "triangle" areas under the dash and mount some new 5.25" 2-way speakers, I also have a 200 watt mini four channel amp from a previous car I plan on putting in. That amplifier only draws 15 amps, so I should be fine with my power requirements. I don't expect high quality sound, but I to hope it will be adequate.

I am starting to move some parts of the car down to my basement and hope that I can bring the entire body there soon. Reality might dash that hope, but the thought is 4-5 local guys lifting it off the frame and carrying it down a steep hill, around to the back side of the house.

I am probably a few weeks out from lifting the body. Parts are still coming in. I am working with 18racing to have custom 15x6 +20 offset w/76mm center bore ordered, those will arrive around April of next year.

Basement Staging.jpg

Current basement staging area

TestingRadio.jpg

Testing the radio

RetroRadio.jpg

Very pleased with the look of this

CutConsole.jpg

I recognize that I am guilty, I have remorse, I will make amends.

[UTBirdMan]

I'm trying to make a point of posting weekly on my progress. It keeps me motivated and adds some responsibility to the project. I tend to do a few hours of work on the project over a handful of days, and then spend one hard day working on getting some big things done. This week was no exception. I did get the side fenders off, along with the passenger door. Front bumper came off easily, fenders not so much. Rust had really attacked the bolts and held on to a few of them. The front of the two bolts on the underside of the fender both snapped off instead of unscrewing, that will need to be addressed at a later date. The other fender screws / nuts gave me a bit of a fight in the front, some needed to be drilled out and then convinced even after that, but they all came out. I'll be replacing all those old bolts and screws anyway, now chance in salvaging them.
For wheels I thought I was going to go with 18racing and get them properly sized, they got back with me saying they couldn't get them bored out and have now gone silent about a "special order" for 15x6 4x114.3 +20mm RB's, so I am looking for alternatives. I have some time before the wheels are needed.
I did play a bit with some paint removing tools, tried the 3M bristle pads, and while effective in some scenarios, I don't see them as a real solution, same with the Bluehawk grinding pads. I'll likely end up with something like the Eastwood Contour tool.
Front speakers came in, pleased with those. 5.25" (2-way) Rockford Fosgate T152's. Those should pair nicely with the Tang Band 5.25" subwoofers, Pioneer GM-D1004 4x45 Amp and the Retrosound 2B radio. I'll post more on those when they get installed.
Finally the exhaust and suspension should ship early next week, which is good timing. I hope to have the body off by the end of the year.

Working on Panel Removal.jpg

Had to get at least one photo of me working on the car

Bolt Removal.jpg

Some of these bolts needed some extra convincing

Panels Off.jpg

Might be a week or two before the van can be parked in the garage

[Gregs672000]

Ya, should be done in a weekend or two! Ha! Keep up the good work... it's never a straight line to the top of the mountain eh?

[UTBirdMan]

Christmas 2023 Edition of the Boomerang Resto-mod Blog

This week has been full of small work. Everything that can be taken off the body is off. The bolts holding the body to the frame are off, one of which snapped and will need to be remediated along with two other frame fender bolts. I was able to track down all the nuts and bolts necessary for the 300zx brake upgrade. An expensive trip to Harbor Freight brought home body and paint working tools, including a barrel sander that should make quick work of most of the paint removal. Suspension, exhaust, tires and battery came in, wheels should be here in the next few weeks.

Battery is an Antigravity ATX-20HD and I'm planning on mounting it in the engine bay where the old battery went. The weight difference from the lead brick of the old battery the PO had planned on (and cut up and drilled into) mounting in the trunk is remarkable, with a savings of 40 pounds, not counting cables. I realize that this new battery is technically undersized for the car, but after looking at the specs and the use case, as long as I don't run accessory power for extended periods of time, it should be great.

Four minute walk around earlier in the week



Great looking Christmas tree

Christmas 2023.jpg

Optima battery on a bathroom scale - 45 pounds (20,411 grams)

Old Battery.jpg

Antigravity battery on a kitchen scale - 4 pounds 6.5 oz (2,000 grams)

Lithium Battery.jpg