IT'S NOT A 69 - IT'S A 70

It's called rust. It never sleeps. But I have a cure for it.

A little siding from one of the garage projects and it's good to go.

  

 Neo has no clue what he's doing. He's a real dog.

 How about some rust and stain blocker? 

It's almost a hundred degrees out there right now and I'm indoors with only a borrowed fan for a cooler. But it could be worse. I could be in the jungle and that's no fun at all.
I'm still waiting on a few parts to get this thing running. It needs an oil filter housing to replace the cooler housing that came on it. They do that a lot with crate engines installed in motor homes. I need to get cooler lines installed. The u-joints on my home-made drive shaft have the wrong caps for the yoke on the transmission.

For all of the rust and cleanup needed, I think this is going to surprise even me once it's all together. I have enough sheet metal to cover up most of the holes. Then, I need to come up with an accelerator cable. There's not enough room behind the valve cover to put the original back on.

Lastly, it's going to cost to put headers onto this 454. I found them for $100 with collectors and all the bolts. The factory manifolds are worth more than that. But I'd also like to get an intake for the spread bore carb. It still needs a freeze plug, oil and transmission fluid, oil filter, transmission cooler, and few assorted things like a couple of hoses and spacers for the alternator. I'll work on the body/exterior and interior sheet metal as well as the drive line while I wait for parts. It has been fun if not downright hot but that's how it goes.  We can do this.

Still Recovering

Twice in the last four days I've taken the truck for a ride into the City of Montrose. Olathe is just a town in case anyone asks. I forgot how fun that truck is to drive. So here's the status of this year's project.

I've broken the glass on the dash twice now. First time I dropped it on the cab floor while trying to talk on the phone and bounce ping pong balls off the wall with my mouth. Don't ever swallow one of those things. It really hurts! Twice! I silly-coned the old windshield in for the present so I can drive it down the road without deer or ducks flying through the hole you get when the windshield in not in. The other glass isn't really necessary yet. I'm not going on any monster truck cruises to Moab or Engineer Pass in the near future or eternity in this truck. I already tried Engineer once. That went worse than the ping pong ball (if anybody cares). So when I put the new glass in the dash I didn't notice until the next morning that it would have been wise to wait until the morning (when there's a lot more light than at midnight) to tighten the speedo/instrument cluster onto the remnants of the super glue I used to put the first two broken pieces together so I could blame some one besides the usual suspects of tampering with more than just ballots for County Sheriff.

Meanwhile I've managed to get most of the lights in working order, the bumper is in primer, the transfer case has a good rubber mount now and the 302 runs as smooth as a 302 can run when bolted to a 850,000 mile frame that's seen things even fish can't understand. I got Dwayne to make another lens for the speedo head this afternoon and I promised myself not to sleep walk out there after midnight and attempt the impossible one more time. For now I'll watch Hidalgo eat locusts and take my meds with a little ice cream.

Tomorrow I'll try texting without my glasses and see who all I can alarm with the same message I read this evening in tomorrow's New York Times: You're ugly! and if you want another opinion; Your mother dresses you funny!

The Bike is Pink

It looks red but it really is electric pink. This one is for Sandra and Gary Helken's granddaughter. Now it needs a chain, hand grips, a better seat and a chain guard. That's all for this afternoon then I'll get onto the old Schwinn.

1939 Girl's Schwinn

 This is my winter project. I have about four hours into tearing it down and scrounging parts. The reason for the picture of a sprocket and chain is simple to me but I wonder how many people know the difference by looking. This is called a "skip tooth" because they were made for smoother pedaling. Two links are close together then there's a tooth roller. The rear hubs have half as many teeth on the sprocket as well. 

 I brought this home from Shon Well's place last fall. I will look for tires but for now I'll use the modern 24" steel wheels until I can clean up the old Schwinn S-5 wheels. I'll send those to powder coat and look for a set of fenders that will fit fat tires. I have the rear but no front and the rear isn't that good. But I've made worse looking fenders than that look like new, too.

I have saved pedals, saddles and hand grips from old Schwinns and I even have an old heart front sprocket but it's not a skip tooth. I'll come up with something. Lastly, I need to make another Schwinn label for the seat post. Pin-striping I can do but I don't do illegitimate trademarks well. I do have an acquaintance that for $50 and a case of beer we could have a 450 SEL Mercedes  for a joyride this weekend.


Check back for progress later.

1969 Schwinn Collegiate

The Schwinn only needs fenders now. I have them clinging to paint right now but need to get the brackets mounted first. The wheels are from a men's road bike. I had to change brakes so the smaller wheels work. Oh, and the zebra just stood there through the whole thing.

...and it is finished  see more on facebook 

It was quite nice out there today.First time above freezing in a couple of weeks. All it needs now  is orange high-lite the chain guard and fender brackets and the fender bolts on the rear need to be shortened, too. The chain gets stuck going into high gear.