The Warrior Project

[pgackerman]

Spoke with Eagle Paint & Body in Grovetown today.  They are "considering" the possibility of helping out and seemed please to know the car is being worked on this weekend.

Saturday I'll be attending my daughter's graduation instead of working on the car.  Funny how many posts I've put up and I won't even be there 

When the car is finished the club should check the little things.  From experience I know it's hard to look at details when the big picture is accomplished.  Here are a few ideas:

• Wipers wipe
• Spray sprays
• Headlights light
• Brakelights light
• Interior lights light
• Idiot lights light
• Blinkers blink
• Horn honks
• No leaks
• Fluids are full
• Tires/spare hold air
• A/C blows cold air and can be placed on all settings: defrost/heat/etc
• Locks lock & unlock via keys & power door locks & deck release
• Windows go down and up
• Gauges move
• Temp & Gas gauges move
• Steering wheel tilts
• Seats move
• Radio works
• E-brake holds car
• Go for a drive!

Good Luck!

[Raydar]

I'm bringing:
An impact wrench and air ratchet.
Metric impact sockets.
Low profile jack and jack stands.
Pittman arm puller and R.D. ball joint tool.
Pry bar.
All my "usual" tools.
Loctite and anti-seize.
Teflon tape.
Zip ties.
Crimp connectors and shrink tubing.
Full set of springs. One pair of "cut" (1.5 coil) front springs - just in case.
I forget what else is in the pile.
Tammy won't let me bring the kitchen sink. Sorry.

Probably won't be there right at 10, but I'll be there. 

[Raydar]

I think Ron768, Raydar and PGAckerman should get together and bargain this out.  Those are the red Sport Line springs and go for about $250 when new.

I don't have any use for the springs. They're shorter than even my spare "cut" springs. 
If Paul wants them, that's fine with me. He can work that out with the club. Unless Ron wants them. Probably won't work for his application, though. 
With those springs, combined with the "drop" ball joints (yes - the car had drop springs and ball joints) it was in imminent danger of bottoming out on painted crosswalks and tar strips, and such. 
The stock springs, and drop ball joints ought to give it a nice, even, stance. (88s usually sit higher in front, with stock underpinnings. At least mine did.)
I'm also quite certain that the ride will be better, now. In addition to the "sport" springs being short and stiff, the front bumpstops were unmodified. There is the largest chance that the car was hitting them, a good portion of the time.
Thanks to Charlie and Ron for jumping in, too. I'm surprised we got as much done as we did.
I'll come up with a set of pads for the rear, and go by there and put the brakes back together, since I'm right down the road. One of the existing pads disintegrated when Ron removed them. Apparently they don't like being marinated in whatever that particular pad was soaked in.

[Fierofool]

After getting the springs in  place, we set the front down on the floor and got about 5 inches clearance.  Once the car's moved, the wheels should settle down to a reasonable wheel well opening.  Maybe 3-4 inches. 

While doing the springs, of course, we found other things needing replaced.  Grease boots on ball joints and tie rod ends were in bad condition.  Bushings for sway bar end links actually crumbled apart and one sway bar didn't have enough bushings.  Raydar made a parts run and brought back what the parts store had.  Grease boots for a Caterpillar were included in the assortment that the store had.  I think they do that to get rid of old inventory they couldn't sell otherwise.  I made a quick run to another parts store and found a set of boots that fit the tire rod ends like they should.  The front end is now good to go.

The oil leak still isn't fixed.  I installed the 90 degree fitting and sensor but then the harness was too short to plug to the sensor so I had to put it back in it's stock configuration.  It isn't crtoss-threaded, but there's still an oil leak.  We plan to remove the battery and start it on jumper cables so we have a clear view of the sensor and timing chain cover area. 

Steve and Ron did most of the work.  Most of the work was a little beyond my physical abilities so i was the Jack boy, the hand me this boy. 

We still need to look at the temperature gauge and sender.  I had the car running for about 15 minutes and the cooling fan never came on, nor did the gauge ever get higher than about 125 degrees.  All else seems to work except some of the idiot lights don't come on when the key is cycled to ON.

A long and fruitful day.  Thank you Steve and Ron.  I got back home at 10PM and was in bed by 10:45.

[Raydar]

I hope you slept well. I was up for quite a while but when I finally went to sleep I crashed and burned.
Thanks for all your help with things. You really overdid it, though. Seriously.

[Fierofool]

Actually, I didn't sleep very long.  Feet and leg cramps had me up walking the floor trying to get rid of them.  I finally sat down in the recliner as they eased off.  Grabbed a small throw blnket and that's where I woke up this morning about 8:30. 

Overdid?  Nah!  We have to get this car finished up and delivered, whatever it takes.  Painted or not. 

[pgackerman]

Sounds like a lot of good work. 

Just returned from a week in PA.  What still needs to be done?

I'll talk to Eagle Paint & Body some time this week.  Probably Wednesday or later.

[Raydar]

I still need to come up with brake pads for the rear, and finish putting the brakes together.
Not a big deal - just need to do it.
There's an oil leak that needs to be found and fixed. Possibly the oil sender or possibly... something else.
A few onesey - twosey things, listed above.

[Fierofool]

Aside from the oil leak, we have to install the cowl cover and the new washer hoses we got.  Get new wiper blades, and the brakes as Raydar mentioned.  I'm hoping the oil leak isn't the timing cover or sending tube.  I have an extra tube or two if we need.  I'll bring one next workshop.  I installed the 90 degree fitting but that makes the harness too short to plug into the pressure sender.  The sender isn't cross-threaded, so I don't think that's where it's leaking. 

I don't think it needs the oil changed by the looks of the clarity of it.  It might be good to change the filter, though.  I provided one that should be over there. 

I emailed with Jeanette and they still have the 27 year old Marine on hold.  Someone's transporting him to where he needs to go.  I told her that we may have to deliver the car to him without a paint job. 

I still have the ashtray doors and springs.  They need to be painted and installed. 

Engine needs to be sprayed down with an engine cleaner like Gunk or other less odorous concoction.

[TopNotch]

Engine needs to be sprayed down with an engine cleaner like Gunk or other less odorous concoction.

I've been using "Purple Power" (available at most grocery stores) as an engine cleaner. It works quite well.

[f85gtron]

How long to get the car to Augusta?  How to get the car to Augusta?  Has anyone done, or prepared any p.r. associated with this project?

[Fierofool]

Raydar still needs to get the brakes on the rear.  The car should have an alignment.  From what I've been reading, when we replaced the springs, it changed the front geometry.  Seems it doesn't affect the rear.  Fix the oil leak and it's ready for the road.  While we were working on the front springs, I did find a reinforcement strip on the front fascia that needs to be secured.

I can get the car to Augusta with probably 2 days notice.  Pick up a tow dolly then go get the car on Day 1, tow it to Augusta and return on Day 2.  We can rent a dolly for about $60.  Or maybe we could buy Roger a couple of tires for his dolly and use it.  He's been very generous in letting the club use it and his tires are pretty dry-rotted. 

I need to do the scouting run for the RFTH 20 Scenic Route and that makes my Saturdays and money very scarce for working on the car. 

We did a press release last June and I sent it out to about 15 newspapers plus several TV stations and radio stations.  The Buford Post of The American Legion posted it on their web page but we never got a hit from any of them.  I also distributed it to 6 auto parts stores in my area and nothing from that, either.  I sent Paul a copy of the file so that it could be printed and shown down there.  You might get a copy from him.  In the Word Document file, you can change the date from June 2014 to June 2015. 

DAV of Atlanta or Chattanooga has not been able to provide any candidates.  So far, Paul has given us a good source of candidates and they actually have one waiting at this time. 

[pgackerman]

Paul is also happy to report Eagle Paint and Body in Grovetown has agreed to provide a paint job 

We spoke at Cars & Coffee in Augusta this morning.  The club should have come. 

Of course, Eagle P&B needs to see the car to completely agree.  Standard quid pro quos and all that. 

[f85gtron]

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!!!!!!!

[Raydar]

Okay... I looked through my stuff, and have a new set of Raybestos pads that I can put on the car.
Don't know how quickly I can get it done, however. I've got the 84 up on jacks, replacing the calipers and repacking the bearings. I'm waiting for a pair of wheel bearing seals to arrive (tomorrow) but I'll be away until tomorrow night. Hope I can get it back together in a day or two. (Gotta have something to drive to the meeting, next weekend. )
And I just figured out that I need to put a clutch in the gray car.   That will be later on, though. After July 11.