Slow week

I’ve been on the organizing kick again. I’ve been going through things to see what’s about. It’s pretty amazing the “stuff” that is around in the nooks and crannies. I have one more area that needs to get organized and that’s the office. I hope it will be soon. I’m going to get a tall filing cabinet tomorrow, which will help greatly until we go to a computer. That will be a big help if I can only convince dad to get one!

I sandblasted and prepped for paint the rims for the Jaguar. I hoping to finish Jag soon, we have another TF coming in the second week of June.

I cleaned up 53TD getting it ready for the body (which I hope is ready in a couple weeks.)

Not a big week for major things happening just a bunch of little things.

The Boss will be home in a week... later…

Poor Winston

A classic good news/bad news…Winston went out to get inspected, his owner and my dad took him to the station. Good news, he passed with no problem…bad news, when he got back to the shop he was leaking water. A quick look at him and the problem was obvious…Winston needed a kidney transplant (water pump). As luck would have it a close relative was at hand (my TD) and was willing to give up a kidney. The operation was started and tomorrow Winston should be ready to hit the road again. With my dad heading out to go salmon fishing for two weeks he wanted Winston on his way by this weekend. The TD has a new “kidney on order.” All is well in the shop. Well almost.

Tillie was ready to head out for the summer but as luck would have it the generator kicked the bucket. Actually it must have been going for some time. The armature shaft is worn badly and the bushing is shot. We are sending it out to an expert to have a new shaft made. You can’t get an armature for a TC generator. And TC generators are hard to come by. This is the original one to the car. We hate to use something that isn’t right for the car. So Tillie will be around for a bit longer.

The AH sprite was finished and has gone home.

I’ve been working on getting the center panel finished for RacerTD, I’m sure the owners will be getting “antsy” with the nice weather we’ve been having so I’ve been getting work done on the panel with hopes of getting the dash in and wired next week. This is only a temporary panel as the panel we have for this car isn't back from the plater yet and won't be for a while...We shall see. Later

Donor…OUCH

Organ

Recipient…YUCK

Center panel for RacerTD

Yikkes!

Work, work, work.

Winston has finally put a couple miles (2) under his own power and at speed. It was nice to hear him “sounding off” down the road. There was a problem with his head light switch which I guess wasn’t able to take sitting for that long. The lights worked at first but then quit and we weren’t able to get them working again. It was traced back to the switch and a new one is on its way. The second problem was with the brakes, traced to the master cylinder. While we were supposed to have gotten a lockeed master it appears that it is an aftermarket master cylinder. The brakes aren’t responding the way we would like them to so we are getting another cylinder and replacing it. Everything else is finished and it should be through inspection tomorrow.

Tillie needs a test run of more than 6 miles. That is when this noise she experiences happens…we shall see what unfolds…

Some more bodywork has gotten done on the 53TD. By the end of the month I’m hoping the body tub is back on freeing up much needed space as we have the TA body tub coming back shortly (we’ll do a TC and TD body tub but the TA was pretty far gone so we sent it out.) and we have a 1500 TF coming in for a restoration.

We are not waiting for the center panel for RacerTD, I painted up a temporary panel and I’m going to begin wiring it next week (hopefully!) We got in the amp and oil pressure/temp gauges. We have found everything for the center panel and are beginning to get the dash together. It shouldn’t be long before Racer is zooming again.

Nothing is happening with BlownTC he’s still on the back burner and awaiting the go ahead to get back to work.
Other than that we knocked out a stainless steel exhaust on a B. Doing a bit of electrical wiring on a Bug eye sprite. Shops busting at the seems…ahhhhh summers here…Later

Fun, fun, fun...NOT!

Probably my new least favorite thing to do in the shop is mounting tires. While we do most everything that needs doing on the cars some things SHOULD be “farmed” out! Case in point...tire mounting. But it’s my understanding that tire businesses won’t or don’t like mounting tires on wire wheels. So yesterday and today I changes the rubber on five wheels for Winston. We were shipped the wrong spokes we had ordered to replace two broken ones so we had the right ones “flown” in. I did get a work out with those tire irons and rubber hammer. I hope it’s a long time before I have to do that again.

The next job I got into was wiring the dash, which required a lot of laying down…ahhhhh now that’s what I’m talking about! By the end of the day most of the electrical was working again. The only things not tested were the charging system and the low gas warning light (part missing on the car and unavailable.) The windshield motor had to be taken apart and cleaned; the grease that was in it had become the consistency of clay and bound up the gears. It’s working again and ready to go back in.

Last thing left to do is change the fluids and put the tonneau cover on and Winston should be ready to stretch his legs for the first time in 25 years.

Tillie got a tune up but has to wait for an oil change because Winston is hogging up the one open bay. We are looking for that noise that the customer wanted fixed. Two of the radiator slats were loose at the top so the radiator shell had to come off and new rivets put in to anchor them. I think that may have been part of the noise problem, there was also a couple of loose bolts and the generator adjustment bolt was put on wrong by someone in another shop. In any event she should be ready to go home on Monday.
Ahhhh the weekend is here. I’m heading into the woods hiking with my new Sony Digital SLR to see what pictures are out there. I hope to have some nice pictures to post. Have a great weekend…Later

Tillie

Tillie is in for a tune up and a check up. She has a noise in the water pump area and a few other minor (hopefully) things. The shop restored Tillie about 7 years ago. It wasn’t a full-blown restoration but she did get a new body tub, wiring etc. This should be short stay.

Tillie

On Winston the brakes are finished and bled, the old wiring loom is out and the new one is in and getting connected. We picked up the tire tubes and antifreeze today so hopefully it will be finished by Thursday. It will be nice to see him go down the road again.

I haven’t been doing much in the way of “car” work in the shop I’ve been on an organization binge again. I’m determined to have the shop organized by the end of summer. Sooner or later I’m going to have to be making a bit more money than what I’m making now. So that will mean working on cars, which will mean finding things when I need them. That is part of my problem with the shop I don’t know where a lot of parts are. By sorting and organizing I straighten out the shop and learn where things are at the same time. It’s a win win situation (and I do hate clutter!) When you stop in you’ll see the changes. Later!