| November-Dec, 07 |
Taking a break for the holidays. |
| June-Oct, 07 |
Had all panels media-blasted, fixed extensive rust in doors, acid-etch primed, build-primed and
have been block sanding ever since. |
| May, 07 |
Purchased 1951 trunk lid, had it media-blasted, I fixed a rusted out area, primed. |
| March-April, 07 |
Decided to put other seats. Found a donor car, a 2000 Buick LeSabre with power seats
and tan leather upholstery. Bought the front and rear seats and spent a few weeks adapting them to the floorpans. |
| January, 07 |
Removed all glass and
stainless trim. Preparing to jump into bodywork.
Noted severe leak in transmission at the selector shaft. Found Valley
Gear in Seattle, WA that sells the correct seal to stop the
leak. Had to cut a small section out of the pan to get to the
transmission to be able to replace the seal, though haven't
actually replaced it yet. |
| September, 06 |
Took first test-drive!
Didn't wreck, didn't break down. Looks like she's pretty solid. |
| August, 06 |
Installed stereo,
speakers, sub-dash, sub-woofer. Installed two electric fans on
radiator and adjustable thermostat. |
| July, 06 |
Started her up for the
first time in two years! Adjusted valves. Will have to readjust
later. |
| April - Aug, 06 |
Rewired using EZ Wiring
harness (www.ezwiring.com) |
| Feb. 7, 06 |
Reconnected the steering
column and steering box to the front linkages. Had forgotten how
difficult steering this monster is! |
| Feb. 4, 06 |
Dropped the body down on
the frame... slooooly! Reconnected the body/frame bolts. Woo Hoo! |
| Jan. 06 |
With the help of a pro,
welded in patch panels to rear of passenger-side rocker panel
where wheel well starts. Also welded patches in three cross-braces
where captive nuts live. Welded patch panels in rear wheel wells.
Finished hooking up brake lines. |
| Nov,05-Dec.05 |
Learned how to MIG
weld. |
| October 23 |
Determined that lifters
are fine. Lifters for the 263 L8 do not compress after they are
primed. If you install unprimed, they take a while to fill up with
oil that travels down the pushrods and into the lifters. Bought
and replaced remaining 6 lifters.
Finished treating/painting the uderside of the front fenders
(air chisel, sand-blasting, wire brush/drill and 220 sandpaper)
using Eastwood's Rust
Encapsulator. |
| September 5 |
ARC4000e is installed.
Engine runs, though 3 lifters are collapsing. Will have to get new
ones. |
| July 23 |
Assembled ARC4000e. Will
have to wait until a friend can weld the caps to fit on top of the
bags. |
| July 15 |
Ordered Air-Ride ARC4000e
Ride Pro air suspension system with four 2500-pound bags from Gauge
Store. |
| June |
Kinda took a month off to
decide what air suspension to buy. |
| May |
Finished painting frame |
| March 25-27 |
Finished degreasing,
wire-brushing and painting all top-visible parts of frame. |
| March 20 |
Continued applying Rust
Encapsulator to frame. Geez, will this EVER be done?? |
| March 18-19 |
Replaced lawn timbers
which support the car while separated from the frame, with treated
pine 4"x4"s. Continued applying Rust Encapsulator to
frame. |
| March 12 |
Realized that to put the
engine back in the frame while the body was off required turning
the body around in the garage to nose-out instead of nose-in.
Lowered the car back to the frame, moved the whole car into the
drive, did a 180 in the drive and rolled it back into the garage. |
| February 25 |
Finished stripping
undercoat and rust off the gas tank and applying Rust Encapsulator.
Bought gas tank sealer but have not applied it yet. |
| February |
Started wire-brushing the
frame and applying Eastwood's Rust
Encapsulator. This is pretty
much all that got done in February. |
| January 22 |
Removed front shock
absorbers. |
| January 8 |
Finished separating frame
from body. Steel-brushed most of the loose rust off. Bought new
fuel line. Installed freeze plugs |
| January 2, 2005 |
Finished replacing main
bearings, connecting rod bearings, installed crank, pistons, cam
and timing chain. |
| December 18 |
Finished degreasing and
repainting engine and all external parts. Pulled entire L-8 engine
apart and have received new connecting rod and main bearings to install. |
| October 31 |
Finished two month-long
process of removing cylinder head, getting valve job including
buying/installing two new exhaust valves and pulling engine. |
| July 23-Aug.20 |
Stripped trunk, applied
body filler, correcting previous body work. Primed trunk. |
| July 18 |
Replaced headlights with
NOS lights. |
| July 5 |
Removed under-seat heater
core and shrouds. Started removing extensive rust on shrouds. Core
has major leak. Put body filler on rear bumper shrouds in
preparation for priming. |
| June 29 |
Stripped rear bumper of
painted-on silver paint. |
| June 28 |
Tried to clean upholstery
fabric under seat covers. Was unsuccessful on an area on the
driver side. Fabric is deteriorated too much. Left seat covers in
place. |
| June 27 |
Found leak in heater
control valve. Removed the valve and disassembled it. Found that
the seal was faulty. |
| June 26 |
Replaced differential
fluid and differential cover gasket. |
| June 18 |
Replaced ignition
components, adjusted fuel mixture. Getting reliable starts now!
When idling for long periods, plugs will still foul, but after
driving, plugs clean off. |
| May 17 |
After much cranking, Maude
is once again alive! Forgot to tighten main jet plugs and leaked
gas at first, tightened the plugs and took a short test drive. No
hesitation now! |
| May 16 |
Installed and hooked up
carburetor. |
| May 14 |
Finished carburetor
rebuild. Did not have tool to remove main jet, and could not find
one locally or at Kanter so had to assume that dipping in cleaner
2x will clean the jets sufficiently. |
| May 3 |
Removed carburetor from
engine and began disassembly. |
| April 28 |
Received carburetor
rebuild kit from Kanter. |
| April 15 |
Received trunk handle and
spark plug cover in mail from Panama City, FL parts car. |
| April 13 |
Found timing mark and
attempted to time engine. #1 cylinder did not match with timing
mark on flywheel (?????) |
| April 4-10 |
Stripped rear bumper
shrouds below trunk lid, worked them with hammer and dolly, body
filler and primed it. |
| March 24 |
Cleaned up windshield
washer bottle and cap/assembly. |
| March 21 |
Took off front rain gutter
trim for cleaning. |
| March 20 |
Changed transmission
fluid. |
| March 19 |
Replaced all radiator and
heater hoses. Did not hook up internal heater under seat. |
| March 6 |
Scraped off 10 pounds of
dirt/grease/oil from front driver-side suspension. Started
hammering on top to remove a ridge. |
| March 4 |
Successfully drove to work
and back home. Engine got a little warm. |
| March 3 |
Bought and installed
battery cut-off switch. |
| February 29 |
Finished initial cleaning
of passenger side suspension in front. Initial degrease of engine.
Removed front license plate frame. Cleaned door entry plates,
found green paint on underside of passenger side plate. Removed
rear seat and found fossilized mouse turds. Cleaned out mouse
turds and crawled into trunk to open trunk from inside. |
| February 28 |
Took car to body shop to
get an opinion. |
| February 26 |
Changed oil |
| February 22 |
7:00 AM Car arrives at
Lowes' parking lot in Maryville, Tennessee! I drove it home,
washed it and vacuumed it. |
| February 12 |
Hired "A Aaron Auto
Transport" (broker) to transport car from Rochester, New
Hampshire to Maryville, Tennessee. |
| January 30 |
Sent check to seller. |
| January 29, 2004 |
Made deal with seller to
purchase car. |