Whatchu Workin' On?

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Spent a few hours re-touching the truck bedliner on the 80. It was thinning and faded in spots (where I'd previously touched-up using rattle can paint); now its all fresh and semi-glossy. Thought of doing it grey for a different look, but ended up applying black.
 
Well I started here with my V8 coffee table project. She's come a long way already!
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Fresh back from sand blasting.
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Cleaned out about a pound of blasting media and ready for paint.
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As it sits now, painted in Bright Aluminum Duplicolor engine paint.
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Stokes said:
Well I started here with my V8 coffee table project. She's come a long way already!
Fresh back from sand blasting.
Cleaned out about a pound of blasting media and ready for paint.
As it sits now, painted in Bright Aluminum Duplicolor engine paint.
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Nice! Put her back together and drop her in the 80!!!
 
EricG said:
Tried my hand at MIG welding aluminum today. Got some 0.035 5356 wire, a clean new tip and borrowed a small tank of argon from a friend. I had no feed problems at all - guess I don't need the spool gun. But it's really tricky. Started trying to run some beads on a piece of 1/8" 6011 plate - won't be posting any pics of that! It's really hard to control the heat, and aluminum conducts heat so well that you can have a cold wel at the start of your pass and blow a hole through the end of the pass all while moving the same speed. Anyway, I finally decided to try on some actual joints, and found that having more material in the vicinity made it much easier - more thermal mass.
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Glad you got it going. I tried several years ago with my 120v welder. Even with a new liner I had feed problems, bird nesting. For the short times I did get it to feed, the joints were bad, just not enough heat or operator error. I checked my wire and I had tried both .030 and .035 diameter. Maybe I'll try again sometime...
 
Greg, cool project but where are you going to put it?
 
CO_Hunter said:
Glad you got it going. I tried several years ago with my 120v welder. Even with a new liner I had feed problems, bird nesting. For the short times I did get it to feed, the joints were bad, just not enough heat or operator error. I checked my wire and I had tried both .030 and .035 diameter. Maybe I'll try again sometime...
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There are also two different types of Al wire - 4043 and 5356. The 4043 is softer and is the only thing I found locally - Lowes, Home Depot, etc. The .035 5356 wire I have is relatively stiff, but I haven't compared it to 4043 directly.

Did you keep the plastic liner, or did you sell it with the old welder?
 
Stokes said:
The basement of my house is my man cave, it is going to replace the 80's hand me down coffee table that is down there.
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Hope you have a walk-out basement - I'd hate to carry that thing down the stairs! :doh:
 
EricG said:
There are also two different types of Al wire - 4043 and 5356. The 4043 is softer and is the only thing I found locally - Lowes, Home Depot, etc. The .035 5356 wire I have is relatively stiff, but I haven't compared it to 4043 directly.

Did you keep the plastic liner, or did you sell it with the old welder?
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Mine are both 5356, I think I bought them at AirGas.

I replaced the liner so it went with the welder.
 
CO_Hunter said:
Mine are both 5356, I think I bought them at AirGas.

I replaced the liner so it went with the welder.
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Interesting - wonder why the feed worked so much better for me. Can't imagine that the mechanism is that much different from the same manufacturer.
 
Along with my ongoing 80 project, which should be finished in the next could days, I picked up another 1/10 scale toy off eBay for a steal. This is more for when I move to NY, but I'll try to get up to FoCo to run it a few times before than.

It's set up to run the Vintage Trans Am class. This class is designed to use slower motors, limit traction, and deny the use of aerodynamic aids. There's only one allowable tire type/compound, 3 motors available for use. And you don't have to have a $500 chassis to be competetive. All bodies must be realistic late 60s or early 70s Trans Am series replicas.

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This thing is fighting me every step of the way.

The good:
It's timed. It runs great.

The bad:
I took the fan clutch off and when it came loose, it jettisoned into the radiator. So that now has a hole.

Was hoping one from a FZJ80 would work, and I could get it from Redline. Nope. Of course not. So got one on order, next day air.

I do have a leak by the oil filter...even though its a brand new gasket there... So I'll fix that when I pull the old radiator/condenser.

So the plan is to pull that out tomorrow, fix the oil leak, reinstall the rad on Friday, and finish up this fiasco.

And since it looks like I'll be off the road a few days more, I'll see if I can get some new rubber on it as well.
 
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SAS said:
When it seems I can't win for losing...take some time off and have a barley beverage! Hate that it poked your radiator.
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Oh I did! No dramas though. At least its one less item I have to worry about in the future.

Order tires today as well. Trying a different route with rubber this time. Going with General Grabbers (the new ones). Tougher sidewalls, since I seem to have an issue with busting those apart.

Just waiting to leave work so I can get the radiator out and figure out why it's leaking oil from the filter housing...
 
MrMoose said:
Oh I did! No dramas though. At least its one less item I have to worry about in the future.

Order tires today as well. Trying a different route with rubber this time. Going with General Grabbers (the new ones). Tougher sidewalls, since I seem to have an issue with busting those apart.

Just waiting to leave work so I can get the radiator out and figure out why it's leaking oil from the filter housing...
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Probably a dumb question, but did you put any oil on the filter gasket before you installed it? My dad claims that it will leak if you don't do that and my brother had a leak at his filter once when he didn't. Usually there's oil on the block anyway, but with a nice clean, dry new engine maybe not.
 
EricG said:
Probably a dumb question, but did you put any oil on the filter gasket before you installed it? My dad claims that it will leak if you don't do that and my brother had a leak at his filter once when he didn't. Usually there's oil on the block anyway, but with a nice clean, dry new engine maybe not.
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Yea I did. The actually assembly that attaches to the block appears to be leaking. But I'll have to pull the filter to get at it good, so I'll make sure to put plenty on the filter as well.
 
Masked and painted Ford engine blue. Wait a minute?!? Ford blue on a GM V8? Yep, I like the blue better than the GM blue plus there really isn't reason I chose a GM motor except it was $30
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Dried and unmasked. I kept all of the machined surfaces silver.
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Made a locking plate for the spare.

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Pulled the bad smog pump last night off of the 60 with the help of my dad we managed to wiggle it out without taking out the radiator or anything out besides disconnecting the power steering line and the tensioner! The best part was of course nowhere in my side of Colorado Springs had a replacement belt besides Napa by the time we found it they closed before we could get there. Oh well just another excuse to keep the 60 in the garage and working on it!
 
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