Dec 2010

OK.. So, i can't figure out HOW to post things in order, and I don't do this everyday. That being said, notice that my comments about photos are AFTER the photos. SO, you got to scroll down to read my witt. or, half witt.

Enjoy.

The doors.

The hood. Stripped, and Primed.

December 30th, 2010

Well, it's been a while since I posted. The 40 is pretty much all apart. What a mess. Eddie, and Stacy are home sick with the stomach flu so I am not at the shop working on the car. I have about 100 photos that I will try to share. A lot of rust shots.

I spoke with Jerry Fisher @ Pennsylvania Metal Cleaning Co., in Monaca, Pa.about dipping the body. He tells me that he can take the body and strip all the rust, paint, bondo, and anything else on the car. it is not a quick process, but he does say everything will be clean. He also says he is about ready for the car. Jerry did say that either he, or i will need to remove all the tar, and sound deadening from the body. Since I work much cheaper than he does, he suggested that i remove it all. this has started, and is no easy task.

I did find an original gas tank for the 40. it is on it's way. NO rot, and a few minor dents. For only $76.00.. WOW.. better than the $450.00 for an aftermarket one. The EBAY store with the gas tank also has original rockers.. in and out.. We are communicating on cost and how much he cuts out of his car. We shall see. I bid on running boards, but was out bid at the last minutes.

Many more hours of tar removal left. The body should be ready for transportation in mid January.

11/28/2010

it's 18:33.. I have to wait another 14 hours before i can work on the 40.. Steelers won, Giants won. so, today wasn't a total waste. Tomorrow I will get some things done.

random photos of making room for the Chevy at Bill's.

Just the photos I have from last week.

Wednesday, November 24th 2010

Today, I got up at 5:00AM. Checked my email. Chatted with Scot. at 7:00 I drove the blazer to Bill's and dropped it off. at 7"30 I was starting the 40 to warm it up. It was running very badly. Missing, smoking, but, it was running. At 8:00, I drove to the Sunoco to buy coffee. At 8:20, I arrived at Bills. NOW, you need to understand, putting the Chevy IN Bill's was going to be a task. I had a SMALL window to do this as I had to drive to DC at 11:00 to pick up Brian. (My choice)

Bill finally pulled the motorhome, and the cement truck out of the shop, an I got to drive the 40 in. I now am a little depressed, as I KNOW it will not be ready to drive again for a while. BUT, the excitement of actually working on MY 40 is something I can't describe. This photo was taken with my phone after I got it into Bill's, jacked up, on STANDS, and I had started taking the left front headlight apart. The headlight doors did NOT have screws holding them on.. how strange.

I will TRY and update this blog weekly as i take her apart. it is a long process, and I am trying to catalog everything, mark everything, and restore everything as soon as I remove it. This way, when the last part is removed, everything will be ready to assemble.

I am also looking into replacement parts as SOON as I find a problem. I found new headlight doors, and headlight buckets, and springs, if I need them. The doors are for sure, I will bead-blast the buckets to see if I can restore them.

November 23, 2010

OK, it's been a while since I worked on the 40. Lat Sunday i started it and moved it in the driveway. tomorrow morning, I move it to Bills.

Bill owns a local garage that his father owned. He is turning 70 in February and still works on cars every day. (ever wonder WHY I got out of the auto repair business?) Anyways, he has agreed to let me clean his shop and then let me work on my car to "restore it". it will not be quick, or easy. BUT, I am ready. i only have a photo of the cleaned area that the chevy will go into right now.. MORE to follow.

Monday, July 26th, 2010

I started the morning running over to AAA to apply for a lost title. I also asked if I could keep my original PURPLE plate. They said as long as I don't transfer it, or change it, it will be fine. After $27.50 to apply for the lost title, I was on my way.


Most of Saturday and Sunday, I spend on the computer trying to find ANTIQUE AUTO INSURANCE. I could get it from Progressive, for $560.00 a year. I finally settled on Hagerty Insurance at $124.00 a year. So, I filled out the application online, added my 4 color pictures plus the declaration page from my normal car insurance. The only think left was to send in money. Now, normally, I wouldn't have a problem with that part, except on their web page they state "It will take a day or two to see if you are approved". And my problem is.. I have to pay before i am approved?.. Oh well. I paid my money.


Now, Stacy, as much as she loves me, has NO idea how excited I am about driving my car. I had mentioned to her that I was going to talk Dad into moving the motorhome so I could back out the Chevy. Dad finally called at 3:30.. and said SURE.. Dad called back 10 minutes later and said, Wait till 7:00 so rush hour is over.. OK, I will wait.

At 6:30, Stacy starts making dinner. Corn on the cob. Cukes, and some "soup" that our neighbor Laura had made from her garden. Now, I am not really a soup fan.. but. This was GOOD..

At 7:00 Dad called to see where I was. I had to tell him we hadn't eaten yet, but would be over as soon as we had.

Dinner was WONDERFUL.. (now, back to the car)

At 7:35, I am tapping my food and Lindsay is not ready to drive me, but says, "OK" and heads for the truck. At 8:03 we arrive at Dad's house.

I now have to load my tools into the 40 in case I break down on the 3 mile ride home.

Dad backs the RV out of the drive way, and I slowly back the 40 out. I am OUT on a public street.


Driving home was very traumatic. it's been SO long.. Had to stop for gas. Then got home.. NO problems..

Asked Stacy if she wanted to go around the block once.. HERE we go..


John and Denise stopped by to say hi,, Laura and Smitty were not answering their phones.. NOBODY to show it off too..


OK.. TOMORROW is another day.. More photos when I can make a closer inspection in daylight..

Cleaning. and Lights

Well.. It's been 20 years since the 40 Chevy has been cleaned. I "washed" the outside a couple weeks ago, but the inside has been sitting in the same dusty garage. Today I get out the shop-vac and pull the "seat covers" off.


It was pretty dusty even with the sheets over the seats. I used the shop-vac and got everything i could see.


The front cleaned up nice, but it real old and faded. Still lots of dust IN the seats.




The rear is equally nice, and equally dusty. The rear floor has some brown carpet. that will go soon.


The headliner is in pretty rough shape.. The Dash, as well as all the window trip has been spray painted gold.




Notice the 5 pedals on the floor. Far left, Headlight dimmer, then Clutch, Brake, Gas, and the one on the right is the Starter button.



OK.. I got the inside vacuumed... Time to start on the lights.


Now, normally, I can figure out almost any car electrical system. This 1940 Chevy has been re-wired. RED. YES. EVERY wire that was replaced was replaced with a RED wire. Oh JOY... I can hardly wait to figure this out.




Starting out. The Left Front Parking is VERY bright. The right front is normal bright. The rear lights, well, let's not talk about those yet.


Pulled the front lamp, and yep, Parking light wire is connected to the turn filament. Cut wires, and swap them. Easy fix. OOPS.. ground wire broke. ( The ground wire (RED) was just stripped and wrapped around a screw head under the fender. No wonder it broke. Cut ground, add crimp terminal and screw to inner fender.. That should last a little longer.


Check ground on Right side.. YEP.. needs the same treatment.



OK.. Inside.. WHY don't the turn signals work? Dad pulls apart the flasher and takes in inside to clean the contacts. Brings it back out, and.. NOPE, it don't work.. The heater element is burned out. Jump on bike and run up to parts store. i ask for a 6 volt turn signal flasher. After 20 questions that i don't want to answer, he says, "Our book doesn't go back that far!" Question to self, "Self, Why don't parts men know that 6 volt flashers are 6 volt flashers?" Never guess the next statement from the parts guy.. Yep.. "We don't have it in stock, but we can have it here tomorrow."


Back to the car. Start looking at rear lights.. OK.. this really doesn't make sense. The car came with 2 filament tail lights. One for parking lamps, and one for brakes. in 1940, cars didn't come with turn signals. Fortunately for us. Turn signals were added sometime in the past. What was added was a Signalstat 900. This is a 7 wire unit. When this was added, someone added a second buld to the tail light housing. NO, it didn't FIT inside..


WHY would someone add a separate wire from the front to the rear to add a second buld that doesn't fit, and won't over power the brake lights. I can't answer this question.


What did I do? I disconnected the extra bulb, cut the original (RED) wires at the dash and connected them to the correct color wire on the turn signal switch. I also cut the brake light wire under the dash and connected it to the turn signal switch. Now, if you have the turn signals on, and you hit the brakes, One lamp flashes and the other lamp is constant. This is how tail light should work.



Next was dash lights. Now here was a rats nest. Seems when you install new wiring (RED), you cut all the old wires and tape them together under the dash. I did find ONE dash light that had power. This was a good start. I connected the other 2 dash light to this source. Oh rats.. That source does NOT dim. Not a huge problem, just something I noticed.

Next was the dome light. I pulled down the light to check the bulb. Yep, bulb was bad.. Installed a new bulb.. NO light.. Oh, Look.. the wire is disconnected. Reconnect wire.. NO light.. Switch all rusty.. Clean and lube switch. clean contacts. NO light...


Crawl back under the dash.. There a 4 wires that run up the left body post to the roof. These are real ORIGINAL cloth and lacquered wires.. GOOD sign. I traced one.. goes to the Fuel Gauge. (See note).

A second goes into a bundle of taped wires.. (Not pretty)

The other two are just hanging there. I guess GM put them in for future use?


I go back to the trunk. Yep, a bundle or 4 wires, cut off and taped just above the inside of the left rear fender. (Not a good sign.)

Back under the dash. Un-tape the bundle. NO RED WIRES. Well, the one that went INTO that bundle is cut off.


I grab a jumper wirer and clip one end to 6 volts. I then clip the other end to each of the 3 remaining wires coming down the post. NO light..

Wait.. Crawl out from under the dash, Turn ON the dome light switch. crawl back under the dash and use the jumper wire to connect to each of the 3 wires.. WE HAVE LIGHT.

Now, Find a power source for this... HEY, the headlights should be on when you need the dome light? sure.. and right there.. that green wire (not RED) has power ONLY when the headlights are on.

On crimp connector later, we have a dome light when the head lights are on.. Great.. WAIT a minute.. Why does the dome light dim when I turn the know? Hey, I found the power for the dash lights.. We will save the swapping of those wires for another day.. I am tired, and it's hot..


MORE later...

Brakke lines and brake fluid.

OK, So all the brakes are put back together. We now need to replace all the brake lines. Remember we already installed the front lines when we had that part jacked up. So, now it's just from the Cross member to the rear wheel cylinders that need to be done.



One of the rear brake lines was actually made out of copper. This is both illegal and unsafe. Unsafe because copper will not stand the pressure in a brake system. Illegal because of that fact.


So, we start with the Left Rear, up over the pumkin, to the junction block.


Next come the Right Rear to the junction block.


Next is the Felxable hose to the frame.


Last it the Frame Line to the front Junction block.



FINALLY, The BRAKES are completely together. Now it the time to bleed them. Bleeding brakes is the processes of removing all AIR from the brake lines, and replacing it with brake fluid. Brake fluid is nasty stuff. If you want to remove paint from ANYTHING, use brake fluid. It also turns into water inside brake systems. This is not a good thing. Water has Oxygen. Water and oxygen causes rust. Rust stops brakes from working.

BUT.. a new brake fluid is on the market. It is called DOT 5. it is based on Silicon. Much nicer on paint. Won't attract water. won't rust. Just what Antique cars need.

Remember that hole in the floor for the master cylinder? Well, THAT is where you add/check your brake fluid. NOT easy for those full service gas stations.

First we add Brake fluid. We need to be careful as DOT 5 brake fluit is about $80.00 a gallon.


Next we call dad. He will PUMP the brake pedal to build pressure to push the air out. This takes about 2 hours. and, Dad's leg gets real tired.


FINALLY, We have BRAKES...

Tomorrow, we will talk about cleaning the interior, and getting the lights to work.

Rear Brakes

OK.. So we removed all the brake parts off the rear backing plates. These plates do not come off as easily as the fronts do. I did NOT remove them as finding REAR grease seals would prove much more difficult.







We sprayed the backing plates with Simple green and let them soak for a day. We came back, sprayed them again, scrubbed, and washed off with water.


Next we wire brushed them. Washed again with Simple green and hosed them off.



We then added a nice coat of the Epoxy Satin Black. It looks pretty good all cleaned up.


I did machine the rear drums. The right side parking brake had frozen on. This wore the brake shoes down past the rivets and made deep scores in the brake drum. I had to take a lot of iron out of the right drum to make it usable. The left side just needed to me cleaned up a little.


Now to add the brake parts.

First we installed new wheel cylinders. We also picked up a rear hose, but we will get to that when we are running lines.


I added each part just as I had removed them. Evert nut, bolt, spring, washer or clip that was removed from the left side, was boiled, cleaned, polished, painted and re-installed on the left side.

Here we have a problem. After I install ALL the correct parts on the left side, I can barely get the brake drum on. it is like the parts GREW when I washed them. This can NOT happen.


I call dad out to look. he thinks of several ideas. the last idea is, put the ORIGINAL BRAKE SHOES back on. Well, I think he is nuts, but, nothing else has worked.

SAME RESULTS. I am confused. Time to call it a night, think about it, sleep on it, and come back tomorrow fresh. I sent an EMAIL to Scot, with photos asking his opinion. He comes up with many of the VERY same questions, I came up with. NOBODY can answer this one.


So, I wake up, still thinking about it.. But, I have Parking brake cables to build. I spend most if the day, cleaning, painting, building parking brake cables.


I also did some checking, and made some measurements at home. Learned that the new wheel cylinders are about 1/4 inch shorter that the original ones. This would account for the gap that i saw.


I take another day to get back to the Chevy. After sleeping on it twice, I decide, I will put the drums on and hope for the best.

I installed the drums, adjusted the brakes, adjusted the parking brake. applied the parking brake and EVERYTHING worked perfect. (Don't ask, I can't figure it out) NOW.. Brakes are back together. Time to start bending brake lines and connect up all the wheel cylinders.

More tomorrow.