So first thing this morning I got an azzchewing and raked over the coals by my boss over the 50' Jag that we're working on. Everyday I don't know if I'm going to be dealing with Mr. Hyde or Dr Jeckle. Yesterday things were great so I must've had Dr. Jecklle, he was extremely excited about the way the flatside of the front fenders and doors were nearly perfectly flat and just a little work left on the hood. Today I had to deal with Mr. Hyde.......... I was told that everything was and that I had pretty much wasted 3 weeks of time and accompanying materials. This started at 7am and lasted till about 10:30am when he left "to run some errands" but more than likely to get away from me.
Anyway, after I reprimed the hood, the flat part of the doors and fenders, I was cleaning the primer gun as usual and I got a text from my wife that she would be pulling up in front of my work shortly. I thought well she's an hour early for lunch but okay. That's when the finishing touch came. I had missed 3 calls from one of my sisters taking care of my mother, well my wife Brandi came out to tell me in person that my mother had passed away around 8:30 pacific time. As per her last wishes, there will be no service or memorial, just the cremation and burial next to my dad. I don't know when I'll be back home or on here.
Soooo, since last Tuesday, I've been off work due to yet another kidney stone issue. All I could basically do was sit around slightly reclined, and drugged up . I decided to do some minor work on some of the parts I had bought. I removed the taillights of the T-bird and took them apart, holy cow were they dirty!! That was it for me that day. The next day, I replaced the rear view mirror and the D/S side mirror glass, then I washed the housings. There wasn't much reflective surface left. I forgot to get before pictures though. I cleaned the lenses and started restoring them but that was it for the day. So, yesterday I repainted all the parts for the taillights. I wanted to get them done before have the stone (which turned out to be 3 stones all stuck together and stuck in place) removed today. Tomorrow I plan to reseal the lenses back to the housings and reinstall them in the car. I'll try to remember to get day & night pics. Now for a few pics
Tail light lenses off the car
FM600 tail light lenses after restoration
Housings off the car after restoration. Not happy about the "Chrome like" paint but............
So yesterday when I left work, I had plenty of boost (10 with an occasional 14). Also had boost when getting on the highway. I took the exit for home, maybe 8 miles. When I accelerated away from the traffic light, NO boost at all. No smoke, no noise. I popped the hood when I got home and found a loose vacuum hose but not on the turbo or controller. The rod for the internal wastegate was still connected. I'm thinking (uh oh dangerous doing that) that the electronic boost control went on a permanent vacation. Thoughts?
A customer of ours dropped this beauty off for final body work and paint. It's setup for a non blue oval power train and has the corresponding suspension under it as well.
So last Saturday the wife and I drove to San Antonio and picked up this. An 86' T/C auto
We stopped for lunch and found this good thing a had brought a floor jack and 4-way lol
I've got a little TLC to attend to. Replacing the rear braked as they don't work. Fluid runs right out of the left wheel cylinder Transmission shifts fine. Doing a tune up although the plugs look good. Sorry about the blurry pic but you can see the color.
Jerry is a good person to deal with. :D I'm pleased with the wing and he promptly shipped it and sent me the tracking #. I'd do business with him again if the opportunity arose again.
So, the 50' Willis finally came back Monday for the engine trans-plant. I don't remember If I mentioned in another thread about it but, the owners took the Willis to a tuner to have the emission stuff, other than O2 sensors, removed from the computer and while the tuner had the vehicle on the dyno, literally cooked the engine. When the younger of my bosses drained the oil, I could smell the burnt oil in the body room, 2 rooms over. Anyway, so shortly after lunch yesterday, the newly rebuilt replacement engine arrived, it was done by the customers uncle. The customer had told us that his uncle "Port Matched" the heads on both intake and exhaust.Upon inspecting said engine, porting material was found in the intake, further inspection revealed particles of grinding stones, paper towel reminants, and more metal particules from the "port matching" were in the lifter valley. Then we noticed something amiss with the roller rockers. About 75% were installed wrong. Large washers were used under the screw in studs, evidently the washers that came with the studs disappeared. We had to remove the studs to remove the heads. The head gaskets were installed with the words "this side up" facing the block. The timing cover was installed with a new gasket/silicone but with part of the original gasket still in place. Oh, they never cleaned the engine or the pan. They also didn't put the new oil pump on and it looked like they didn't inspect the original pump either. The short block and heads are at the machine shop for a proper cleaning and re-assembly. Pics follow
I was curious if anyone close (well somewhat anyway) will be attending this. All of us at the shop I'm working at is going to be there with 3 or 4 vehicles with maybe one almost done. The owners step-dad will be bringing 2 of his (2 of the possible 4). We're bringing: 56' Chevy Bel-Air w/502 5spd 32' Vicky w/blown SBC (don't have any pics) 46' Chevy P/U 50' Willys w/mildly built LS3 (waiting for new engine from builder, dyno shop blew up the original one) 49' Chevy 5 window w/crate 350 (WIP)
Just wanted to show a couple of pics of some of the projects I'm working on. I'll get more later, so for now enjoy.
54' chevy, it's fenders are the ones hanging on the wall. The owner decided he didn't like the XXBlackcherry color 69' Boss Mustang clone. This beast will have a 521 cid power plant. and 1 of my lazy a$$ed co-driver during the trip down. lol
Yesterday after work, I went with the owners of the shop I'm working at to show one of the cars they had just finished. A red and white 50' Willys wagon. There was another of their former projects attending as well, a 46' Chevy p/u. There were also sooo many people it was somewhat difficult to get clear shots of some of the cars. This is a 3 day event with the car show, cruise, test & tune, swap meet, drags. They had a mobile dyno, that was fun to watch but it didn't get much use, but it's available all 3 days. So enjoy the few pics I was able to get.
As the title states I have finally left to go to Texas. What would not fit in my jeep is tucked away in storage as it is the T-Bird. The T-Bird is patiently and safely tucked away in its own storage unit waiting for my return to retrieve her.
. I decided to do some minor work on some of the parts I had bought. I removed the taillights of the T-bird and took them apart, holy cow were they dirty!! That was it for me that day. The next day, I 
good thing a had brought a floor jack and 4-way lol
Transmission shifts fine. Doing a tune up although the plugs look good. Sorry about the blurry pic but you can see the color.