That Guy
Member
There is always a guy for whom not much (if anything) goes right.
Hi! I'm That Guy.
I don't have a hotrod per se. I do have a couple spicy-ish 90's Japanese sportscars, but a fire breathing, candy painted, hotrod I do not have.
My latest edition, after thirty years of listing after one, is a true old school classic. A real wrench turner (instead of a head turner... don't worry, we'll get to that in a moment).
After first seeing one back in 1992, I dreamed of having a Dakota red, and white, '57 Cadillac convertible. Thirty years later, I became the disillusioned owner of an alpine white '57 Coupe de Ville.
Lessons to be learned:
1) nothing in life ever turns out how you imagine.
2) never meet your heroes.
Has anyone ever seen the movie The Money Pit? Good movie. Hilarious.
I'm living it at the moment.
The good:
The body is in great shape. It's a California car, so there is no rust, just lots of sand from the desert, and dried out rubber parts.
The interior. It appears to have been refreshed at some point in the past, but they did an excellent job on it. No rips or tears anywhere. The only problem I can see is the foam padding has gone crispy and leaves yellow dust on the carpet.
I am happy about the body and interior, as I cannot sew, so I would have to pay big bucks for an interior to be done, and while I can hold my own with a rattle can, and do minor repairs, I wouldn't tackle a full paint job.
Now for the bad.
The engine... everything about it. Two bent rods, a cracked cylinder, and a lot of shoddy work done all around.
The brakes. From what I found out by doing the fronts so far is, the wheel cylinders are good, the shoes are good, and the drums are good. Someone installed the adjusters backwards, and then adjusted them as you normally would, but ended up backing the shoes right off the drums. ...and when they presumably tested the brakes and found that they didn't work, they decided to do nothing about it (y'know... as you do).
Parking brake appears siezed (off).
The gauges, aside from the temperature gauge don't work. The fuel gauge says full, when the car only holds 5 liters before it leaks all over the place.
The gas tank leaks.
I have had the car nearly two years, and have driven it a couple hundred yards, mostly into the storage unit where it is now, and where I am doing all of the work on it.
What I am doing about it:
I have the engine out, and have a freshly machined 365 block and crank on a stand ready to be assembled.
Two rebuilt heads ready to go.
Rebuilt the proper carburator, and restored the oil bath air cleaner.
New pistons, bearings, lifters, and camshaft.
The rods are coming from the machine shop that sold me the new block and crank (it was the owner of the shops engine). He is pressing the pistons on for me. ETA: well.. its going on three weeks so far with no word yet.. Machine shops...
So I am at a stand still on the engine. I am now tidying up the engine bay, which was a huge mess. They rattle canned eeeevvvveeerrryyything black. Its supposed to be body colour. I stripped it all down, primed, and painted it.
All the paint, engine assembly, mechanical, and general restoration work is done by me.
1) because I am cheap, and I got hosed on the purchase of this car.
2) because I can't find anyone else to do the work for me.
2a) when I do find someone, they take foreeeevvvveerrrr. (My rods and pistons for example).
Why I'm here:
The majority of the resources, and community surrounding specialty and enthusiast cars are in the U.S. and are not always applicable to us, so, I am looking forward to learning Canadian specific tips and tricks.
And, well, that's all I gots to say about that.
Hi! I'm That Guy.
I don't have a hotrod per se. I do have a couple spicy-ish 90's Japanese sportscars, but a fire breathing, candy painted, hotrod I do not have.
My latest edition, after thirty years of listing after one, is a true old school classic. A real wrench turner (instead of a head turner... don't worry, we'll get to that in a moment).
After first seeing one back in 1992, I dreamed of having a Dakota red, and white, '57 Cadillac convertible. Thirty years later, I became the disillusioned owner of an alpine white '57 Coupe de Ville.
Lessons to be learned:
1) nothing in life ever turns out how you imagine.
2) never meet your heroes.
Has anyone ever seen the movie The Money Pit? Good movie. Hilarious.
I'm living it at the moment.
The good:
The body is in great shape. It's a California car, so there is no rust, just lots of sand from the desert, and dried out rubber parts.
The interior. It appears to have been refreshed at some point in the past, but they did an excellent job on it. No rips or tears anywhere. The only problem I can see is the foam padding has gone crispy and leaves yellow dust on the carpet.
I am happy about the body and interior, as I cannot sew, so I would have to pay big bucks for an interior to be done, and while I can hold my own with a rattle can, and do minor repairs, I wouldn't tackle a full paint job.
Now for the bad.
The engine... everything about it. Two bent rods, a cracked cylinder, and a lot of shoddy work done all around.
The brakes. From what I found out by doing the fronts so far is, the wheel cylinders are good, the shoes are good, and the drums are good. Someone installed the adjusters backwards, and then adjusted them as you normally would, but ended up backing the shoes right off the drums. ...and when they presumably tested the brakes and found that they didn't work, they decided to do nothing about it (y'know... as you do).
Parking brake appears siezed (off).
The gauges, aside from the temperature gauge don't work. The fuel gauge says full, when the car only holds 5 liters before it leaks all over the place.
The gas tank leaks.
I have had the car nearly two years, and have driven it a couple hundred yards, mostly into the storage unit where it is now, and where I am doing all of the work on it.
What I am doing about it:
I have the engine out, and have a freshly machined 365 block and crank on a stand ready to be assembled.
Two rebuilt heads ready to go.
Rebuilt the proper carburator, and restored the oil bath air cleaner.
New pistons, bearings, lifters, and camshaft.
The rods are coming from the machine shop that sold me the new block and crank (it was the owner of the shops engine). He is pressing the pistons on for me. ETA: well.. its going on three weeks so far with no word yet.. Machine shops...
So I am at a stand still on the engine. I am now tidying up the engine bay, which was a huge mess. They rattle canned eeeevvvveeerrryyything black. Its supposed to be body colour. I stripped it all down, primed, and painted it.
All the paint, engine assembly, mechanical, and general restoration work is done by me.
1) because I am cheap, and I got hosed on the purchase of this car.
2) because I can't find anyone else to do the work for me.
2a) when I do find someone, they take foreeeevvvveerrrr. (My rods and pistons for example).
Why I'm here:
The majority of the resources, and community surrounding specialty and enthusiast cars are in the U.S. and are not always applicable to us, so, I am looking forward to learning Canadian specific tips and tricks.
And, well, that's all I gots to say about that.
