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I have decided to kick off a new project thread as the Datsun will soon be going to the great scrap heap in the sky and I never really did that much work on it to begin with. The old title was just way too misleading since there was minimal Datsun work and won't be any going forward. So the stable as it currently stands: 2005 Saab 9-3  I got this single owner car with 95,000 miles on it for $2,400 cash. I will never get a deal this good on a car again for the rest of my life. 2008 Honda Element (my partner's car):  It's an Element used for Element things. The the shop the previous owner took it to were a bunch of lying asshats. 2008 BMW 335i  Manual with sport package and best of all, no iDrive. The Dakota in the background is no longer with us. It met an inglorious end in Ohio to a guardrail. 1988 Toyota 4Runner  Not sure of the trim level. It has the 22RE, manual everything. I've replaced the rear glass window motor twice. 1972 Honda CB750 (my partner's), 1994 Kawasaki Ninja 250, 1978 Suzuki GS750:  The newest edition: 1968 Chevrolet C10  It originally had a manual and a V8. It now has a 1976 police package Chevy 350 with a TH350 transmission. The previous, previous owner had lowered the back by removing the rear coil springs. The truck generally just bounced off the axle, although it does have the optional helper springs. They were running large tires in the rear and smaller up front. The ride was level, but quality was not the best. A quick list of things that need to be done: New tires in a better size. Remount the sway bar (possibly remount, I think this was a later addition given the rear half of the mount brackets were welded on while the front half was bolted on. Service diff. Fix horn, possibly replace steering wheel (the wheel in it is from a 1969-1970 I think, it just doesn't look as good as the 1967-1968 steering wheel). New shocks. New coil springs in the front. New tie rod ends. Alignment. Bed liner. Remove loose rust, dirt etc from the underside and apply POR-15 or the like. Replace brake shoes Possibly do a conversion to disc brakes and replace brake lines. Fix parking brake. What has already been done: Remounted rear coil springs with new spring clamps. Replaced upper and lower ball joints (the originals were still on it, not in terrible shape for a 52 year old truck). Tightened down oil pressure gauge line as it was leaking a bit. Shocker, I know. Replaced stereo and speakers. Ran new speaker wires. Wire wheeled the bed and put on POR-15 to inhibit further rust. Removed dumbass tiny door mirrors that you couldn't even see and put on stock style mirrors. Spot treatment with rust converter. New fuel sending unit. Appropriately sized driven gear for speedometer (will likely need to swap the drive gear if I go for new tires) Just some random pics.     https://i.imgur.com/39zW8jo.mp4   
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Oct 14, 2020 14:19
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Dogs! Is that BMW thing ... a cupholder? Like, what's supposed to happen there?
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Oct 14, 2020 17:49
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Krakkles posted:Dogs! Lol, yeah. It has a gear that normally slows down the opening, but it was rather sticky upon opening so I took it out. Turns out there's not a lot that actually holds those in.
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Oct 14, 2020 21:02
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Diagnosed the horn. Issue number one: the wire wasn't actually connected to the horn itself. Issue number two: the turn signal cam has the guide tube that is supposed to carry the spring plunger thingy broken off. Taking the cam out and making contact between the horn contact and ground does indeed honk the horn (and tiny sparks). The actual turn signal actuator cam thingy seems to work just fine. There is a small crack where the turn signal stalk screws on, but a little dab of crazy glue seems to be doing the trick.  New springs in, they fit fine and I wish all spring installs were this easy:  The new shocks came and I figured yesterday that I would just throw them on because of course this will be super simple. I found that the upper shock mount bolts were tack welded in place:  Those weren't a big deal, it was pretty quick to take the angle grinder with a cut off wheel, cut enough to pop the old bolt out, and clean off the welds with the grinding wheel.  The rear shocks, however, were far worse. Some previous owner had done more chicken poo poo welds on the lower mount bolts.  On that side, the weld wasn't even good enough to actually hold the bolt in place so when I tried to break the nut off it would just spin while also preventing holding the bolt with any sort of wrench or pliers. I ended up cutting off the shock itself before cutting the bolt in half. The other side, the welds held so the bolt is still there. If I'm feeling motivated today I'll cut that side off and grind both clean. New bolts are on the way, in hindsight I should have ordered them when I ordered the shocks. My Rock Auto magnet collection is growing rapidly. 
nadmonk fucked around with this message at 14:15 on Oct 17, 2020 |
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Oct 17, 2020 14:10
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Other rear shock lower bolt cut out. You can see the inner sleeve from the old shock had rusted to it. That kept me from pounding it out the way it came in so I cut off the welds and head as much as I could. Both lower mounts attacked with the grinder and should be mostly flat now. Time for everyone's favorite job: servicing the diff.   #picturesyoucansmell It didn't actually smell that bad. ATF smells worse to me. Everything looked to be in pretty good shape. No chunky bits or extra metal sitting at the bottom. Wire cup on the angle grinder took off the extra dirt and rust from the outside of the cover and a coat of Rust Reformer to make it pretty. Throw in a new Fel-Pro gasket and gear oil and it's good as new (I assume). I also cleaned out the breather tube, cut off a bit from both ends as they were cracked and ratty.  After destroying a good portion of my pants and sweatshirts I have finally learned my lesson and actually wore my coveralls.  Not C10 related: Eggs I think all but the two newest chickens are laying now. 
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Oct 17, 2020 19:37
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nadmonk posted:Time for everyone's favorite job: servicing the diff. I can smell your rearend from here. Looks healthy in there though.
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Oct 18, 2020 18:38
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cursedshitbox posted:I can smell your rearend from here. Looks healthy in there though. It's important that we regularly service our rearends, especially as we get older.
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Oct 19, 2020 14:34
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Normally the sway bar mount brackets on the C10 are held on with 3/8" bolts. It turns out the ones I bought are dummy thicc and also have 7/16" holes.  I got some cheap rear end step drill bits from Tractor Supply Company ($10 for 2). Turns out they work fine and expanded the holes nicely. The cut off wheel did have to make an appearance to lop off the head of the cross member rivet, as that's where the back end of the bracket needs to bolt, followed by the grinder to smooth down where the previous owner had welded the last bracket on to.  New brackets in place with 7/16" grade 8 bolts, nuts, and washers. Tightened to 2-3 hhhhngggs with the wrenches.   Screw you Auto Zone for your oh so conveniently sized bolt / nut / washer packages.  With the sway bar reinstalled. The mounts and bushings were all fine, but did replace the bolts, nuts, and washers.  I'm waiting on the rest of my new shock bolts before I get all of those installed.
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Oct 20, 2020 21:44
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nadmonk posted:Screw you Auto Zone for your oh so conveniently sized bolt / nut / washer packages. I don't know, dropping and losing 2 washers and one nut for 4 screws seems about how I operate.
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Oct 20, 2020 22:28
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casque posted:I don't know, dropping and losing 2 washers and one nut for 4 screws seems about how I operate. That is an excellent point. Somehow I didn't lose any of these but I certainly dropped several.
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Oct 20, 2020 23:40
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nadmonk posted:That is an excellent point. Somehow I didn't lose any of these but I certainly dropped several. That’s because you had spares. If you didn’t have spares, you would’ve lost one for sure.
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Oct 21, 2020 11:07
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If you happen to have one nearby, Tractor Supply Company has really reasonable priced Grade 8 hardware. AutoZone makes a killing on those, the margin is like 800%. TSC has bins, and you pay by the pound.
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Oct 21, 2020 14:35
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sharkytm posted:If you happen to have one nearby, Tractor Supply Company has really reasonable priced Grade 8 hardware. AutoZone makes a killing on those, the margin is like 800%. TSC has bins, and you pay by the pound. I'll have to remember that. Each of those packs were around $3. The really sad thing is that TSC company is both much closer than AutoZone and I was there the other day. But they have been doing construction on that way into town so traffic turbo hosed, as a result, I've been bypassing town. On TSC related things, I feel like they used to have a decent selection of cheap multipacks of 4.15 inch cut off wheels. Now it's just DeWalt and Porter Cable. And the PC are cheaper than the DeWalt, but I feel like they aren't as cheap as whatever was there before. Maybe I'm just remembering it incorrectly.
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Oct 21, 2020 15:44
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Tie rod ends etc put on. I haven't tightened everything down yet. There are also now more Proforged stickers than you can shake a stick at. And Rock Auto magnets:  However, I have run into a decision point. I had thought the wheels on it where 15x7, which put me safely in the realm of still possibly running a 275 tire in the rear, it turns out they are most likely 15x6.    I think that works out to a 22mm offset. I'm still thinking of going with 275/60R15 in the rear and 235/70R15 up front, just maybe get some new 15x8 wheels.
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Oct 22, 2020 15:19
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I realized I have some old wheels for the 4Runner. After examination they turned out to be 15x7 (possibly 7.5) 6x5.5" bolt pattern. They are a bit rusty so I figured a call to the local powder coat place was in order. They can definitely do it, for only $550. Considering I've seen brand new wheels for $90-ish a piece, I think new wheels are in my future. I'd really like red, so now if I can just find some 15x8 6x5.5" sort of Daytona-ish style for not a lot of money, I'll be all set. Or I could try refinishing the old wheels. But the last time I did that I started to hate life. Maybe I just need to finally give the media blaster a try.
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Oct 22, 2020 21:16
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nadmonk posted:I realized I have some old wheels for the 4Runner. After examination they turned out to be 15x7 (possibly 7.5) 6x5.5" bolt pattern. Try a specific wheel refurb place instead of just a universal powercoating shop. Its £40-£50 here per wheel here for a strip/repair/powercoat
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Oct 23, 2020 12:18
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Tomarse posted:Try a specific wheel refurb place instead of just a universal powercoating shop. Unfortunately, I live far enough away from most specialist places like that (even the closest Honda dealership is over an hour and a half drive away. The powder coat shop actually does do a lot of wheels. Enough so they have their own tire mounting equipment. I do have a blasting media hopper I've never tried, so I might give it a try to refinish the 15x7" rims myself.
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Oct 23, 2020 13:21
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nadmonk posted:Unfortunately, I live far enough away from most specialist places like that (even the closest Honda dealership is over an hour and a half drive away. The powder coat shop actually does do a lot of wheels. Enough so they have their own tire mounting equipment. That sucks. Is their high price because they simply work by the full load when powercoating? (so its $550 whether you have 4 wheels or an entire walk-in power coating oven full of wheels) or just because they have a captive market who will pay it?. At that kinda price it is definitely worth giving it a go yourself!
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Oct 24, 2020 11:39
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Tomarse posted:That sucks. Is their high price because they simply work by the full load when powercoating? (so its $550 whether you have 4 wheels or an entire walk-in power coating oven full of wheels) or just because they have a captive market who will pay it?. I'm not sure. My guess is smaller market, less competition, all that good stuff. I was going to ask what it would cost to redo a bike frame, but at that cost, I think my half way decent rattle can job is just fine. The bolts for the shocks came in. Thiccbois:   That cable on the left that looks like it's been chewed by a beaver is the parking brake cable. The other side is no better. Replacements are on the way. More work done on the brakes. I did get the front shoes and adjusting arms on (with new cylinders and flex hoses). I held off doing the rears, because I figured even if I don't get the parking brake stuff sorted right away, it will be a lot easier to hook up the drum cable before it's all together. Front cylinder:  That flex hose looked rough before I even did anything to it. When I tried to unscrew it, it just sheared off. All new hardware:  (Not pictured: me having all of that assembled front drum secondary shoes, which are slightly different than the front drum primary shoes, so I had to take it all apart and redo it with the correct shoes in the correct orientation) After all of that I'm getting rather fast at putting all of that back together. I will say a set of Quick-Grip clamps large enough to span across the shoes and hold them together makes things a lot easier. The Rock Auto wall continues:
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Oct 25, 2020 00:10
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Each new photo of the magnets reminds me that they won't sell to residents of Colorado and now I'll never get the whole collection. Edit: I forgot I was going to say: You may find that there's a certain size bolt that is used all over that truck. It's a great plan to get a bag of 100 nuts, lock washers and washers of those sizes for like $20, $40 whatever. And whenever you reassemble something it gets a fresh nut. It'll make life easier if any are stripped, crusty, starting to round, out of shape or break. I now have containers of 5/16-18, 3/8-16, 7/16-14 and 1/2"-13 ready to go. StormDrain fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Oct 25, 2020 |
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Oct 25, 2020 02:58
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StormDrain posted:Each new photo of the magnets reminds me that they won't sell to residents of Colorado and now I'll never get the whole collection. What the heck did CO do to get on Rock Auto's poo poo list? I did actually have a bunch of new 3/8-16 bolts and such. Sadly, everything I've needed to do so far (other than the sway bar mounts) has been a different size. Thankfully, I think I'm at the end of bolts I need to mess with for the near term.
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Oct 25, 2020 13:36
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nadmonk posted:What the heck did CO do to get on Rock Auto's poo poo list? They can ship to some parts of Colorado but not a lot. They claim it has to do with the complexity of processing sales taxes in that state.
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Oct 25, 2020 13:45
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Fermented Tinal posted:They can ship to some parts of Colorado but not a lot. They claim it has to do with the complexity of processing sales taxes in that state. Yeah that. Worth noting that 'some parts' is like, small towns, unincorprated places, and fake cities made up for tax/control reasons like Lakeside, home of Lakeside Amusement Park, a shopping center, and 8 residents.
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Oct 26, 2020 02:49
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Turns out I do have some 3/16" (I think, I'll have to double check) brake line and some flare fittings. If most of the brake lines look ok, I may just do the outer crusty ones. I got the old 4Runner tires unmounted and wire worked off the loosest of the rust and paint. Picked up some media for the sandblaster, so I guess we'll see how clean they get.  I think they'll look pretty good redone in red. The one on the right is the rustiest, but in all they aren't in bad shape.
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Oct 27, 2020 21:49
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I finally got the last bits for the rear brakes of the C10 in. I know I've got most of the C10 stuff covered in the project thread, but hey, who doesn't like seeing a good rear brake drum job? Also, perhaps tips to help some other poor unfortunate soul that also has drum brakes. Tip number one: Only do one at a time. Don't take apart any others until you've fully finished. You will refer back to the other side like a dozen times. Last bit of the puzzle: parking brake cables. The old ones were rusted to uselessness. I suspect you might be able to replace these with all of the brake hardware on, but connecting them at the very beginning seemed far easier.  Parking brake arm held into the new shoe with a circ clip. Actuator arm in place to show orientation when installed.  Next place I start is putting the rearward shoe on, with self adjusting arm so they are held on with the spring and pin.  Parking brake arm is hidden behind the shoe's body in that picture. It swings freely for now. Next do the same with the front arm. You'll notice here that the actuator arm for the parking brake is not in place for this, or any of the following pictures. If I were smart, I would have put that between the shoes at this point. However, I was not being smart and had to go back later and put the arm in. I did not get pictures of that. Just pretend these are front drum brakes. Right now, the shoes are held against the backing plate and cannot move in any farther as there is a lip there. Pull the shoes away from the backing plate a little bit and gently compress a large enough quick clamp, making sure the cylinder's pistons are properly aligned in the matching shoe grooves. The shoes should seat on the pivot at the top of the backing plate.  For most of this you can get by without specialized tools, but a brake tool set, or more specifically, this little guy, are absolutely invaluable for getting the springs over their respective holds. That little notch helps it stay in place while you angle it up and the spring pops on. That yellow arm bit connects to the self adjusting arm. I've also had styles where it was a short length of cable that connected to it.  Second top spring on same as the first:  Don't forget the lower spring for the self adjusting arm. It can still be put on later if you've forgotten, it's just more of a pain in the rear end later.  You can take off the clamps now as the spring tension from the top is holding the shoes against the upper pivot? mount? bracket? thingymabob Next in is the adjusting wheel. If you are wondering which kit goes on which side, the adjusting wheel is usually marked with R or L.  I always put a little bit of grease on the threads and the end where the swiveling cap goes. I don't know if they are necessary or recommended, but that's what I do.   Throw in the bottom spring. I'm sure there's a specific way to put this on, but I find a pair of vice grips works fine to get it in place. Then the very last one I put in place is the spring that holds the self adjusting arm under tension.   A better view of what's going on back there.  I also replaced the brake cylinder before putting all of this back on. One more side to do Another tool I'll recommend is this spring remover. It isn't always the perfect tool for getting a particular spring off, but when it is, it is great.   Fun final fact: The first image on the Wikipedia page for drum brakes is of the rear brake assembly on a Chevy C10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_brake#/media/File:Drum_brake.jpg
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Oct 29, 2020 03:08
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Drums fully brushed with the wire cup and repainted. Here's a test fit (I did also paint the center of the hub):  Good from far. A test fit with the wheels I'll be refinishing before I get too far down that road:  I'll have to see if I can find some center caps for those. If I'm feeling super motivated tomorrow, I might try to sand blast them now that I have media and at least get them primed. New bracket and stud for the kickdown cable, which had just been flopping around on the back of the engine: 
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Nov 3, 2020 23:22
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nadmonk posted:I realized I have some old wheels for the 4Runner. After examination they turned out to be 15x7 (possibly 7.5) 6x5.5" bolt pattern. I ran into the same thing I can buy new take off sets of Ford/Chevy/Nissan/Toyota wheels on FB for $100-400 all day long I’m not paying $125 a wheel for them to powder coat some old ones.
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Nov 4, 2020 01:11
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sharkytm posted:If you happen to have one nearby, Tractor Supply Company has really reasonable priced Grade 8 hardware. AutoZone makes a killing on those, the margin is like 800%. TSC has bins, and you pay by the pound. Less actually, more like 150%. The orange bulk cartons were actually where the big profits were. O'reilly's just stopped selling the individual nuts/bolts/etc from the orange boxes because they were always a big shrinkage thing due to people not billing them out properly. Now they are sold as a whole bulk case.
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Nov 4, 2020 08:38
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Miscellaneous parking brake cable bits came today, so I now have functional parking brakes (or would, if I had the rear drums on):  I ordered a bearing packer, so we'll see how that works. In prep I got the front wheel bearings cleaned off. It looks like they had been serviced pretty recently. The grease was nice and clean, looked fresh, and minimal wear on the bearings with smooth movement. Also took advantage of a day in the mid 60s and got two coats of bed liner painted on.  In doing some test prep on the current wheels and giving it some thought, I'm 99% sure I'll just buy some brand new black wheels. That way I can get the 8" width and not have to worry about it.
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Nov 6, 2020 21:08
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Soft 8s boyeeeeeee
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Nov 7, 2020 00:20
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Boaz MacPhereson posted:Soft 8s boyeeeeeee I don't dislike the Soft 8s, but I think my heart is set on the Daytona style. Maybe this:  Replaced the driving light lenses as they were looking a touch rough:    Front suspension all back together, torqued to spec, and lubed up:  Starting doing some of the crusty brake lines. I did both of the fronts, but I'll actually be redoing this one as I foolishly did single flare:  That's ok, it totally isn't a pain in the rear end flaring hard line on the truck. nadmonk fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Nov 8, 2020 |
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Nov 8, 2020 01:34
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D-windows are cool, too. Look into an in-line flare tool if you don't have one already. Easier to get good flares (I think) and you can use it while the lines are still in the car.
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Nov 8, 2020 02:04
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Boaz MacPhereson posted:D-windows are cool, too. Look into an in-line flare tool if you don't have one already. Easier to get good flares (I think) and you can use it while the lines are still in the car. Thanks for the suggestion. That does look like it would be easier. I think there is one one pain in the rear end bit though, so I'll probably just contort myself to do that one. If I needed to do more in place I'd definitely consider it. Like when I had that Dakota that had its brake lines start rusting through.
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Nov 8, 2020 03:35
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I ended up taking the easier way out and just took the brake line that needed the one end redone off the C10. I ended up replacing about 10 inches of that one (front passenger side) and replacing the front drivers side hard line and rear passenger side hard line. Also replaced the tail light sockets and lens gaskets. It seemed to help the brightness a bit on the passenger side.
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Nov 9, 2020 01:53
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While I'm not regretting buying new wheels versus refurbishing old ones (that were smaller than I would have liked) the shipping experience has been nuts. It will be almost a month and a half since I ordered these things by the time they are supposed to ship. Soon....maybe  In the meantime, I'm itching to do more stuff so maybe I will bite the bullet and get those long tube headers. That seems like not a terrible winter project.
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Dec 16, 2020 16:28
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nadmonk posted:While I'm not regretting buying new wheels versus refurbishing old ones (that were smaller than I would have liked) the shipping experience has been nuts. It will be almost a month and a half since I ordered these things by the time they are supposed to ship. Where did you get them from? I get that style wheel for imports all the time if I need cheap rims from ebay or Amazon and they are here in 2-5 days max.
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Dec 16, 2020 18:31
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everdave posted:Where did you get them from? I get that style wheel for imports all the time if I need cheap rims from ebay or Amazon and they are here in 2-5 days max. Ordered through Rough Country. There's not really any rush. I wouldn't be driving the truck in the winter right now anyway. The price was pretty good as well, I couldn't really find any cheaper. Also, the ones I'm getting are six bolt, which seems to be a touch harder to find than five bolt.
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Dec 16, 2020 21:11
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Wheels pushed back to the 8th, then the 15th. If they get pushed back from there, I honestly think I'll just cancel the order and go with different wheels.
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Jan 7, 2021 02:27
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Damnit. Was gonna say D windows should be easy as hell to find, but all I can find in that bolt pattern, in stock, is Vision... with a honkin huge center cap. Everything else is Rough Country, showing in stock in March. Even eBay let me down. Soft 8 knockoffs maybe? They're... softer looking than D windows, but close to the same look.
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Jan 10, 2021 07:14
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Holy crap, y'all! The wheels finally shipped! I was honestly about one day from cancelling them and buying a slightly more expensive set.
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Jan 17, 2021 00:26
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