No Title!

It’s been a slow week so far. I’ve been getting into the TC more and more. At this point we are replacing the main beam and the wood around the left side door. And are correcting some older work in the rear, taking out an older repair and putting it back to the original way it was. (2-21-07)

Today (2-22-07) I decided to take out the firewall all together. It was unbolted already to give the scuttle top movement to get the latch pillar out. So it made sense to disconnect the oil lines and cut the wiring (getting new harness) to take it out giving better access to the engine and frame for painting etc.

You can see I've done a little cleaning here and there on the engine to get an idea of what is going to clean up nice and what might need a little paint. I think it's going to be a hell of an engine...how can you miss with that blower stuck on the side of it!!!
The interior is pretty much done on RacerTD. The carpets and seats should be in soon. It’s looking real nice. The modifications that were done in its previous “life” have been reversed back to what it was originally.
I’m heading out to Buffalo for a couple days to check on my house there. I’m renting it out and have to check on it. I hate to rent it but someday I may want to return to Buffalo and live there when I retire. Well time to head out for dinner. Later!

This is why I go to Buffalo, I just love this house.

Strange Duck???

Strange duck tracks? Naaa just a weird egg! Like I haven’t been called weird before HAH!

Since there was 12 – 20 inches of snow in the woods I decided to go out snowshoeing. Dad said it would be good to pack down the snow from the house to the main trails for the sleds. It was a great hike and I’ve never been on snowshoes before. It wasn’t hard walking in them once I got used to it. They were the old type not the new plastic ones. They were handmade by a local man. It was nice and quiet with all the now fall. Unfortunately there wasn’t much to see as far as wildlife. There were snowshoe rabbit tracks and a set of tracks from deer but nothing to see, even with all the quiet (walking on snowshoes doesn’t make much noise.) In any event I got a nice workout. I was out for almost 2 hours and had a blast. Here's a few more pics...

This tree looked like it was blasted by lightning at some time and refuses to give up growing. What a scrapper!

This is the bridge I referred to in an earlier post that my dad built for snowmobiles.

Rotten...

Today was a productive day on BlownTC, but more trouble was found with the wood on the left side. I finally got the front quarter panel off and as we has suspected there was more rot that wasn’t showing. Where the bad latch pillar met the main beam the water that was held by the soft wood rotted a bit of the main beam and in the rear the hinge pillar bottom was also rotted. So it appears we need to replace the main beam as well as the hinge pillar. Which isn’t that much more work being the car is “opened up” already. I guess it could be worse, after all it is only one side that has a problem. I’ll have a 4-day rest while I’m waiting for the wood to come in…NOT. In the mean time I can clean up the frame for painting and do a bit of cleaning on the engine to see what other surprises may be in store. Later….

Main beam rot, this is where the beam tapers to a point. You can see the rot on the top of the main beam where the latch pillar sat. You can stick a putty knife into the wood where the screw holes are 3/4 of an inch deep.

Hinge pillar bottom, not much explanation needed here!

What is gone…

You can see the screws that were holding the latch pillar and the under door rail that used to connect to the latch pillar.

OK, OK I'm back!

Yes, I’m back. I got back Friday after driving through the lake effect storm around Oswego, NY. I think they have gotten 10 feet or so of snow. So now I’m back and getting back to work. Well almost, today was a "day off" cleaning up after the storm with my dad. And BTW he wasn't pissed at all about the shop.

Well, what’s been going on? I’ve been back to work on the TC taking apart the left side to install the new door striker and under door wood. The firewall is “off” to free up the dash top, which has to lift to allow the new wood to get under it. The going has been rough, it seems that where the two pieces meet is quite rotted and the nails come out nice and easy. But at the other ends of the wood the nails are happy to stay where they are and it’s a fright to get them out. All in a days work… I’m hoping to have the old wood out tomorrow. I’m holding off on putting in the shocks and master cylinder until the frame gets painted. So that’s the quick update on that.
Progress is being made on RacerTD. The floorboards are in and the rear deck wood is in. The seats have been recovered and the interior is in the process of going in. The wiring has begun to come out and the new loom should be going in soon. Well that’s it for now time to head to bed.

Brrrruffalo

Still in Buffalo and man is it cold. I think it's colder here than in NH. On the way back to Buffalo for a visit I hit snow just past Albany which meant that I had about 4 hours of crappy roads to drive. I still made good time though. Imagine! Dad should have been to the shop by now and i haven't gotten a phone call yet. He was away last week so I was able to do a bit of "re-modeling." When he is around it's difficult to take something apart and rearrange it. He'd be underfoot and saying it's no making the shop any money. So I wait until he goes on a trip and then i get busy.


Last week it was the work bench and the shelves above it. By doing this I am able to see where things are and familiarize myself more with the parts we have in stock and straighten it out. Two people couldn't work on the bench at the same time. There were trays upon trays of miscellaneous nuts, bolts and what have you. Some things are rare and hard to find so it is good to keep them but wow there was a lot (they still have to be sorted! Any volunteers?)

This is the work bench before. Many of you have seen it and probably wondered how we could find anything. Well dad could without much trouble...sometimes. So I tore into it took everything off the bench and the wall, took down the shelving etc. I patched a few things with Spackle. Put up new shelving. THEN SORTED, IDENTIFIED AND PUT IT BACK. It took a couple hours to clean off the bench and wall; then it took 4 days to put it back!

This is the after pic. While things have been sorted and boxed I don't think they are all in their final home. Once all the shelving is done and the shops total storage capacity is realized then the final set up can get done. Here's to getting it done soon!!!