Jeep is finally stripped to the frame and it's going to the powder coaters this week. Both me and my tools got beat up on that one... Rebuilding and restoring a tilt column for a 69 Chevelle. Going in a friend of mines car Just got all the front end parts for my friend Tony's 69 GS 400 4 speed vert. I have a set of freshly powder coated control arms. So I'm going to pre assemble them with new bushings and ball joints. That way I can just swap out the parts so the car isn't down for a week. My friend Mike stopped by for a quick rear brake job today. Trying to keep busy in the off season...
Oh...and Jennifer's Boss 302s battery went dead over the winter.....yeah, my fault. I didn't have a tender on it. Now it's got three monitors not ready. So I have to drive it around more and do a state inspection on it. Just turned 12k miles...
Stock radio is fixed and waiting for a new front speaker. I'm going to get the heater controls working next. Other than that, my car's ready to go.
Prepping my Gladiator for it's first Easter Jeep Safari. Got the '72 out for a burn today. Such a fun car. I need to get serious about getting a headliner installed ($500 and need the windshield and rear glass removed from a local shop---probably turn out fairly nice if I don't do it myself ) in the next couple of weeks. Add the door glass and all the door weatherstripping, some other misc stuff, and I've got a car for the summer. It'll be awesome to burn around a bit in this thing. With the 455, the stock gas tank could use some more capacity.
Still getting the stereo project finished in the shop truck. One thing leads to another! Organizing the shop a bit, been digging parts out looking for small stuff for board members projects. Might list some stuff for sale here.... I purchased a 2022 Silverado ZR2 a week ago, learning curve is kinda steep for this old guy but what a rig!! Oh, and working OT, going in for 11 hours tonight. Gotta pay for the new truck!!
Retired a year and a half ago, then had foot surgery to remove a piece of bone that was causing extreme pain. Now I am reorganizing my shop after having ceiling insulated and covered with OSB. Then new insulated roll up doors installed after a mini-split. I can see the temperature of the shop and adjust from my LazyBoy. I am throwing things out and will probably being selling some Buick parts to make more room. I will probably sell my 1965 Skylark convertible so I can move a vehicle into our two car garage. One thing I have finally realized is you can use a building as a garage and a shop, just doesn’t work well. So I am organizing and then on to a project that has been in the shop fifteen years.
Working on rebuilding the left core support on my 64 Wildcat. I went to pull the battery and found most of the structure beneath was rusted away. I have just about got all of the metal work completed. Naturally being a full size Buick all patch panels and structural pieces had to be fabricated by me. Not easy with just a 5" vice, torches, and hammers....
Had a slow day today and took a little time for some equipment maintenence. My hydraulic jack has grease fittings on it, so thry got some grease. The saddle was frozen so I used some pb blaster and got it freed up. Greased up my little dinky harbor freight jack that gets tossed in the trailer. Wiped everything down with mineral spirits. Swept out the garage, cleaned off the workbench and waxed the tool box.
Working on getting my Firebird Formula back together so that I can put it up for sale this spring. I need to get my GS back in the garage! Had a small seeping leak from the water pump gasket, that little regasket job grew legs. The while I'm at it syndrome kicked in ...so I decided to clean/repaint/detail the engine compartment. Luckily its going back together now.
An experiment in restoring a tuckered out Group 65 battery. I replaced it a couple months ago in the Interceptor but then topped off the electrolytes and have since been desulphating it with my BatteryMinder. So far have well more than doubled the CCA (from 212 to 493).
Unloaded and unpacked a new 20-Ton shop press, now waiting for the casters to get here. Resealed the pneumatic tires on the hand truck. Slid the driveshaft back in. Cleaned the TA rear end cover and reinstalled it. Will get fluid in and the rear wheels on tomorrow, then down and out of the garage so I can put metal plates under the mid-rise lift. And then get some work done on the daily drivers as I move the GS in and out of the garage into pollen season.
