Engine, Part Last

Over the Christmas break, I was able to finish the engine...

 

Water pump powers, ACTIVATE!

 

The finished cylinder head.

 

Almost there...

Done!

Just one can of Moss olive green paint did the job.  That stuff is not cheap.  I bought two because I'm sure I'll need it.  I know a 1275 shouldn't be olive green, but I wanted it to look like what was there before, and the 1098 was an olive green paint job.

Now, I get to put it away for who knows how long while I finish up the body shell.

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Beautiful Back

I'm off of my car break, and back to sheet metal.  There's only one really significant thing left, and that's the back panel.  It's trashed, but I have a replacement.  The replacement is for a 1970-1979, but I'll "make it fit".

Before.

All gone.

 

The old, and the new.

I spend lots of time fitting, and refitting, and adjusting, and refitting.  The most challenging part is mating the panel to the rear fenders cleanly.  I have to do some cutting and welding to make everything line up, but the end result is pretty nice.  I bought "new to me" tail light assemblies off of eBay and make sure everything fits.  It takes a long time; the driver's rear quarter had been smacked in pretty good.  I do lots of pulling and straightening and fitting.  It's not perfect; I'll have to do a little filling to make things look right, but it will be 99% less filler than before.

Final test fit...

And all done.

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Engine, Part 2

I assembled my engine stand and mounted the engine on it before I couldn't dead lift it.  It's not super heavy, but once the head's on there it's out of my comfort zone.

I wrap everything up in plastic to keep crud out of the innards that are so beautifully clean.

 

Pistons installed.

The bottom end.

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Engine, Part 1

I'm still not quite ready to get back to sheet metal, so I figure I can begin assembling Old 99.  Everything looks good and all the tolerances check out, so here we go!

Bare block.

 

In goes the crank.

Cam installed and timing set.

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Front plate and pulley.

Pistons and connecting rods, ready for installation.

The pistons were fun.    In the 1275, the pin is an interference fit in the connecting rod.  I used the power of the Internet and found a way to make my own press.  A long, thick threaded bolt with two washers and grade 8 nuts, and a deep well socket (or a piece of pipe, but a 22mm works perfectly).  Some assembly lube and a 1/2" socket, a couple of hours, and voila!

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Parts, Parts, Parts

Since I was taking an enforced car break, I figured I could at least sort through all the parts that have been in the attic for nine years.  All of this was in the attic over the garage.  It's all back in there, but packed up a bit better.

 

  

Actually, I had an ulterior motive.  I needed to find the hood hinges.  I found them after digging through every box, not finding them, then remembering that there was one last box in the attic, which is of course where they were.

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Old 99

Back in 2010 or so, I bought an engine for 99 cents on eBay.  That's right, ninety-nine cents.  It was a 1275 that had been sitting for a couple of decades.  It was in Queen Creek, AZ, so it was an easy drive from Peoria.

The engine was definitely not in good shape.  The pistons were frozen to the bores.  The head had been sitting in water at some point.  But it was complete and salvageable.  I disassembled it and sent it to Standard Machine in Glendale, AZ, with the understanding that they'd fit it in 'when they had time'.  I gave it to them in August of 2012... I got everything back in fall of 2015.  So it worked out ok.  Roger knows his stuff too, and as far as I know is one of the only shops in the Valley that works on these types of engines.  He cut me a fair deal.

Fortunately, the crank was ok and the cylinders cleaned up at +.030.  The block wasn't cracked and cleaned up fine.  I found another head (the one I had wasn't looking too good) and Standard Machine cleaned up and rebuilt it.

I bought a cam, oil pump and bearings from MED Engineering in the UK.  It's nothing hot, just a 256 duration reground cam.  I bought a set of County pistons (AE design, but you can't get the originals any more).

I also found that at some point in the past I had bought an engine stand.  Yay for me!

Here's everything but the head on the work bench.  Eventually, this becomes an engine.

 

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A Clean Garage

Something rarely seen...

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New Wheels

Remember those Minators I bought, then sold?  Well, I found a set of JBW wheels for a great deal on eBay.  They look great.  I like the polished rim look.

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Another Break

I had to take another car break.  I had a PRK touchup on my left eye, the one I had done a year ago.  I had ended up with astigmatism, and the doc said he could fix it.  This time, I have other stuff to do besides sheet metal work, so my break only has to last a month or so.  Things turn out well and over time my vision improves much more quickly.

Here's a shout out to Dr. Craig Cassidy at Moretsky Cassidy Laser Vision Correction in Mesa and Glendale, AZ  He really knows his stuff.  The staff is great and highly skilled. I recommend them to anyone looking to have their vision corrected!

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Front Wing Fixes, Part 2

I did a little bit more work on the front fender to make the bonnet line up better.

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Rear Wings, Part Last

Here's the passenger's side, all done.

See those ear protectors?  I started wearing them after having a persistent ringing in my ears due to all the tool noise.  I went to the ear doc and he said everything was ok (my hearing is 'near perfect'... no matter what Julia thinks).  But ear protection is just as important as eye protection, and I learned my lesson on eye protection long ago.  So I always wear goggles and ear protection when I work, and my wonderful welding helmet is still going strong.

 

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Rear Wings, Part 2

I was able to save just about everything and fabricate patches for the rusted out pieces.  I reused the metal from the other fender I cut off to make the patches for the inner fender, since it was a) intact and b) the right thickness.  I think it turned out ok.

Before... and after.

 

Now with the closing panel in place too.

 

And finally, with the outer panel installed.  It's not perfect; it's got some waves in it even though I was really careful with heat.  But it's close enough to straighten out with a little filler.

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Rear Wings, Part 1

Down to the second-to-last big job, replacing the rear fenders.  As you can see, the years were not too kind to the inner structure, but it was better than I expected.  That little hanger-oner is a crude attempt to replace what rotted away.  I make it better.

 

 

It looks so much nicer with the replacement skin clamped into place.  I have lots to do before I can make that permanent.

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Solid As A Rock

If you haven't noticed by now, I like using song titles for post titles.

Here's the trunk floor, all welded in, and the inner fenders all finished up.  I messed up when I welded in the bumper stop on the passenger's side, so I had to remove it, patch the mess I made, then weld it back in.

 

 

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