Coats 40/40 project....

About a year ago, we acquired this 40/40 tire machine and I had the brilliant idea to tear it all apart and paint it up to make it look pretty for the shop.  Well, what happened was that it sat apart for almost the entire time and changed only one tire.  In the meantime, we came across a newer rim clamp machine that is fully functional and needs absolutely nothing, so now.....this thing has to go because it is in the way.

If anyone is in need of a freshly painted, mostly functional tire machine, let me know....

By the way, the new machine will not be getting a paint job....It's scratched up, dirty look is just perfect....

Moving day....yet again....

Finally got the workhorse lathe of the shop back into it's new home.  Wow was this thing heavy, it was all that my 1/2 ton truck could do to pull it around...probably had the trailer overloaded just a bit...

Now that this thing is in, all of the other equipment can finally fit into place and hopefully the shop can become a much less cluttered mess...

Maybe this organ repair might becoming a thing....

....uhhhh, probably not.  I can't imagine there is much demand for a a key pusher while the true organ repairer is working.

Regardless, I was interested in lending a hand on this particular job because the organ in question was all mechanical.  The amount of linkages is absolutely astounding.  As a key is pressed on the console, it activates a series of rods and bell cranks to open a mechanical flapper on a pipe up to 20 ft away.  With all of the points of movement, there is absolutely no play in any of it.

This organ began construction in 1972 in Germany and took 2 years to complete.  It apparently is 1 of 5 like it in the U.S.  Once shipped over here, it took another 3 weeks to install it.

Here is a picture of some on the linkages responsible for making this thing work.  These are just for the key board, there is another set buried beneath the console that are operated by the foot pedals.  This thing is truly a work of art...

Chevy Vortec...made with real tornadoes...

Ever since I finally brought the Nash home, I have been experiencing an itch to maybe start working on it.  It's been quietly, patiently waiting in the corner for the time to be right to resurrect it from it's current neglected state.  Well, that that time might come fairly soon....

First things first, I need to start collecting some parts.  I would prefer it not to end up like so many of my other personnel projects spread out over all of the shop waiting on the necessary pieces to magically show up at my doorstep.  So, over that last several months, I have been acquiring the necessary pieces that will eventually address the many aspects that I find wrong with the vehicle.  Remember, I built the thing when I was 16...I made a lot of mistakes....

One of the aspects that I despised the most was the carburetor.  Have driven the car cross county several times, it was a never ending battle to keep the thing running correctly especially at any appreciable elevation.  The last time I changed jets somewhere in the mountains of Colorado, I swore that I was going to eventually step it up to the late 20th century and install a fuel injection system.

That was at least 10 years ago, and things change...especially...the availability of newer engines and their donor vehicles.  Case in point, I pick this beauty of a truck up for basically scrap price.  Its a 1999 Chevy Silverado LS with a 5.3L GM Vortec engine that had been involved in a slight accident that eventually lead to it being totaled.

Now, I have a couple of friends that have done the 5.3L swaps that have been trying to convince me to do it to the Nash.  I admit, I was a bit hesitant until I saw this on the Youtubes...warning: it's a bit of crude humor....

So, I had to get me one of those tornadoes under the hood....

Since I had a running, driving donor vehicle, I was able to take everything I needed from the engine to the computer and even the OBDII port off at my leisure and part the rest out before I hauled it to the scrap yard.  As it stands right now, there really isn't much left of the thing...apparently the hillbillies around here go crazy for Silverado parts...

I plan on using a 700R4 instead of the stock 4L60E transmission.  It's got a mechanical speedometer and it's not completely computer controlled.  Regardless, the ECU is going to have to be reprogrammed to do anyway with all of the emissions B.S. so I still have to figure that all out...not to mention that the stock engine harness is a bit overwhelming.  So, stay tuned...I'll try and keep a decent step by step review...

 

Rochester spacers...

Though not must excitment has been happening here on the blog, things have definetley been busy in the shop. 

These are some spacers for Rochester 2G carburetors. I like the quick and easy projects....

The power of steam....

Took a little time off last weekend and was able to make it to the Dover power show.  Steam power is absolutely fascinating.... 

Sealing the deal on a 235.......

Since the '50 Chevy is done and gone, onto the next project...

I had a guy drop off a '56 Chevy Fleetside that had a tremendous oil leak out of the rear of the engine.  The engine was supposedly rebuilt and didn't have much actual run time on it.  It only leaked while it was running and the oil appeared to be dripping off of the main bearing cap.  Since the engine had been apart before, I suspected that the rear main seal was the culprit.  The Chevy 235 family of engines use a two piece rope seal for the rear main.  The aftermarket does supply a neoprene replacement but results seem to be mixed on the longevity and effectiveness of it. So, I ordered a replacement rope seal and a pan gasket from Patrick's who sell Best Gaskets...might be little ostentatious in their name, but the are actually surprisingly good quality and I highly recommend them.

So as you can see in the above picture, there was quite the oil leak.  In order to change a rear main seal in a 235, the crank main caps have to be loosened and the rear of the crank lowered about an 1".  The front is held in place by the cam gear and the front seal so you need to take care not to damage those.  In order to drop the crank, the transmission, clutch and flywheel all have to come out.  What's nice about the 235 is that the rear engine mounts are on the bellhousing so there is no need to have to support the engine.

Once the rear main cap is off, you can get your first glimpse of the seal.  Once it was apart, there really didn't look anything noticeably wrong...at least wrong enough to allow that much oil to leak out.  By design, the rear seal doesn't have hardly any pressure on it.  You might notice the large cavity between the main bearing and the seal.  This is an oil drain to allow the oil to drain back to the pan and not come in contact with the seal.  This cavity extends down into the main cap and there is a large hole to allow it to flow back to the pan. 

 

So, since I had it this far apart, I installed the new seal and trimmed it to length per the instructions.  The mains were torqued down to spec and pan put back on.  A little advice when it comes to pan gaskets on 235's, glue the gaskets to block and not to the pan.  It makes it go a heck of a lot easier...

After everything was buttoned back up, I took it out for a test drive....and....it made absolutely no difference!  It still was an oil leaking pig.  Since everything was cleaned prior to being put back together, it was quite easy o spot exactly where the oil was coming from.  It wasn't from the seal, it was running down the back of the block onto the seal area.  The only place where it could be leaking on the back of the block was from could be the freeze plug for the camshaft bore.  So...once again...apart it came....but this time, the bellhousing had to come off.

Once the bellhousing was off, you could see about a 1-1/2" long crack in the freeze plug where it appeared that a previous owner had pried there for what I assume was to remove a previous bellhousing.  Luckily Napa had one in stock and after a few more hours of putting it all back together, out for another test drive.  This time, however, it was dry as a bone!

So, in the end, a 99 cent part caused about 10 hours worth of work...