The "Whatever" Project

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Getting ready to pull old mangy back out. It's about time to get it to the engine shop and have them get started on it. I hope the 462 heads will be usable. I have an Edelbrock Torker and Holley 650 dual feed carburetor for it. I pulled out the Gaerte cam gear drive, Fluidamper damper, Stewart Stage 3 water pump, and some miscellaneous items that I have for it.

Getting a quote for a clutch disc and pressure plate, going to get a Ram aluminum flywheel, and a Howe hydraulic clutch throwout bearing. So physical work at a minimum, wallet work at a maximum

[Captain]

Its Only Money !!
"If You Live WITHIN Your Income.....
You Have a SERIOUS Lack of Imagination !!"

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Its Only Money !!
"If You Live WITHIN Your Income.....
You Have a SERIOUS Lack of Imagination !!"

Oh that's not a problem! . However SWMBO has no imagination with regards to car stuff. At least nothing like mine...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Trailer will be done by the end of the weekend . It'll be out of the way so I can focus on the Whatever project . I was able to get the new deck plate fitted and half bolted down.
I still have to paint it black and wire it.
left side rear and front additions.
of course if you remember I welded flange nuts into the trailer to be able to bolt the plates down without any crawling around to get to nuts under the deck. However that means that I had to locate the holes in the deck plates. So I made these:
I suppose I could have bought real transfer screws, they look like setscrews with a small hex just below the point. But that takes time, planning and money. Making these 4 screws, 2 for blind or hard to get to the back side of, and 2 that can be screwed in from underneath, took about 30 minutes total on the lathe and bandsaw. The 2 short ones took a little bit more effort because I had to file flats for a wrench. Of course it ended up being metric. So now they go into the custom made tools drawer, as I know I'll be using them again.

I did trial fit the u-joints for the steering box and column.

Stuff will clear the engine and pedals. . I've got to draw the under cowl support hoop full scale and bend it to fit. That's next...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Closing in on finishing up the trailer! Paint and wiring and it's done!

Paint tomorrow, wiring as soon as it has dried.

So instead of watching paint dry, I intend to bend the tubing for the cowl support hoop. I've got the dimensions of the thing, so it's just a matter of measuring, cutting and bending some 1 inch tube. I'll do that while the paint dries, as long as I can keep the garage door open. I can't tolerate paint solvents anymore for any length of time.

Pictures of both next week...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Woo hoo! Started wiring! Backed up a step and made brackets for 4 running lights, welded them on, an primed today. So back in black tomorrow, and finish up on the wiring. Maybe by Wednesday?..

[DanStokes]

Shocking! (hopefully not......)

Dan

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Shocking! (hopefully not......)

Dan

Another step to the rear today. So not shocking yet! But I have the final piece of the puzzle on order. A 10 foot pre wired 7 blade connector and a 7 terminal junction block. Combine that with the 4 wire light harness, a few adel clips, some wire loom, a whole lot of terminal connectors, some shrink tube, solder, tools and time, and viola, a wired trailer! Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it?



And Stretch got me in touch with the local big rig aluminum polishing guy. Later this week and I will have freshly polished deck plates. And yes it's worth paying someone who does it for a living, to save my back!

So while waiting for the stuff to show up, I can get a little bit done on the Whatever project...or just putter around the garage for a little bit tomorrow. We'll see!

[cstmwgn]

Another step to the rear today. So not shocking yet! But I have the final piece of the puzzle on order. A 10 foot pre wired 7 blade connector and a 7 terminal junction block. Combine that with the 4 wire light harness, a few adel clips, some wire loom, a whole lot of terminal connectors, some shrink tube, solder, tools and time, and viola, a wired trailer! Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it?

WHOW - clearly you are new to trailer building!

If the metal isn't measured by eye and cut with a torch - including any wiring holes, lighting fixture mounts ...
And the only approved wire connectors are wire nuts!

Jeeeze that trailer will never past muster!

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

WHOW - clearly you are new to trailer building!

If the metal isn't measured by eye and cut with a torch - including any wiring holes, lighting fixture mounts ...
And the only approved wire connectors are wire nuts!

Jeeeze that trailer will never past muster!

That was in my racing days. Car first, tow vehicle 2nd, shop stuff 3rd, trailer last. And you used wirenuts? Twist the wires together and wrap with duct tape, sometimes only had masking tape.

Which reminds me of the time with the bar maid, the bowl of oatmeal, and the feather duster. But I'm much better now...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Also the trailer axle was a mobile home reject, one without brakes. Welded solid to the angle iron that made the frame of the trailer. The only not angle iron part was the tongue and it was old BIG DIAMETER pipe. Tha trailer towed as good as anything back then.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

So going back to post 289, I was being optimistic, saying it was going to be done by the weekend (last weekend, Halloween! ). But I digress. Ordered a new 7 wire connector with 10 foot lead, and a 7 terminal junction box yesterday. And as promised, got it this morning. I like service/parts departments that deliver on their promises. I'm going to have them install the brake controller and extra wiring in the Equinox when it's time.

Now between this new stuff and the light wiring harness I picked up over the weekend, I can finally wire the trailer. But first paint. That's a whole day project, mainly due to having to heat up the garage first thing in the morning. That's tomorrow. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Oh and instead this afternoon I'm going to fit the steering column into the whatever project. I get to use the new 1 inch tube dies today

[DanStokes]

Now between this new stuff and the light wiring harness I picked up over the weekend, I can finally wire the trailer. But first paint. That's a whole day project, mainly due to having to heat up the garage first thing in the morning. That's tomorrow. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it...

I REALLY like having my big honkin' hanging heater. Makes everything toasty in an hour unless it's super cold - then it takes 2 hours. But it do burn some gas.

Dan

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

I REALLY like having my big honkin' hanging heater. Makes everything toasty in an hour unless it's super cold - then it takes 2 hours. But it do burn some gas.

Dan

Cold days it takes an hour or so. Gotta be careful not to get it too hot in the garage however. I've even had to open the back door to cool off the garage a couple of times. When we had this new house built at least I was smart enough to have the builder insulate it same as the rest of the house.

But best planned lays, no reverse those words... had an off day. Kidney stone yesterday afternoon into the night, caused a bitch of a muscle spasm in my back. Not much sleep last night, then got stuck in an electric recliner until Maggie came out to the family room to rescue me. That didn't work out too well, as she stumbled and fell on my left foot sticking out over the end of the recliner, causing Maggie, me and the recliner to all end up all cattywompus, with my foot under Maggie. Hey looking at the brighterside, she got me out of the recliner. Besides that's the foot that has very little feeling since the back issues started a few years ago.

So long story short, nothing got done on the Whatever project and the trailer today. And probably not tomorrow either. The good news is that the recliner is still under warranty, so a new power actuator system is being shipped to me. No cost to me!