Lord Gruntfuttock

Yeah just wary of it taking more time to deal with the paper shufflers.

I've resigned myself to paying up, have had a good run otherwise. I don't mind paying gst, it's just the BS 'biosecurity' etc add-ons that grate...

Love a good morry, and yep keeping it sv is great idea as they've all had swaps...

On my old sedan I installed a brake lamp behind the rear boot emblem. A sympathetic mod to stop numpties driving up my arse, though ironically enough I ended up using a bloke in front of me to stop after some serious brake fade down a long Dunedin hill...

I love the stationary engine blokes. They stand around their old chuffers in funny hats, discussing ancient technology and admiring each other's contraptions - often wearing tweed and smoking a pipe.

Something to aim for...

I can't quite get over the wank factor of mock patina.

I suppose it depends on the car, and how it's done, but something about made-up distressing distresses me...

^

So figured out why my results were slightly skewed...

Repeated the test but did it in reverse. Set wrench then positioned weight/s along shaft until it just clicked, and measured the distance.

Then maths (adding 0.8 kg to account for weight of toolbar) and looks like we're good to go, the numbers line up well from 15 - 90 ft-lbs. With my nerd on I get an average error of 1.0207% over that range.

Quite an interesting exercise really...

In between paint coats I thought I'd check out my torque wrenches before reassembly (both Sidchrome clickers, one newer than the other). Last time I used the newer one I could have easily boogered a thread but I realised it was WAY out of spec doing it up (just didn't feel right) so I backed off and borrowed another tool. Then I picked up an older one (long story, but basically me taking stuff as part reparation from a loser who owed money) and thought I'd compare them to get some confidence in my tools...



Testing these together the older one clicked at much less effort, so something was wrong, I thought mine may have siezed up through lack of use, but couldn't see any way to get it apart without drilling out the rivet, then I realised I had lent it out, and that someone may have overwound the setting dial. Sure enough, turning it as high as it would go, and keeping going resulted in a click as it overwound. I did this twice and tested it again - felt much better...

So calibration - I asked at our depot (where the proper workers live) but they send theirs out, so looked into doing it myself. Basically did maths to see what the torque relation was to weight applied at a certain distance from the socket...

• Torque = force applied x distance of lever arm
• 1 kilogram-force metre = 9.80665 N·m (actually easier to work on kg-cm)
• Calculate for Newton metres then convert to foot pounds

So with a handy dandy excel chart and some test weights I marked distances on some tape and set to, basically hanging 10kg, 20kg and 30kg weights at certain points to see where it operated. It was still out on the first try so overwound it another click, and it went bloody well at the 10kg settings (15, 18, 20 ft-lbs were right on the button). Changing to 20kg it was correct at 30 and 40 ft-lbs, but seemed out any higher, but at 30kg it was spot on at 60 and 90 ft-lbs.



So a little confused but much happier. Initially (doing some reverse maths) it was operating around 1.5 times the setting so seems some ham-fisted lunk overwound it when returning to zero, not once, but 3 times over.

(lending tools - Gah)...

I'll redo the tests with both wrenches as I'm not sure why some readings seem out, could just be the vagaries of hanging weights along the shaft (or my dodgy maths). Ideally, hanging a known weight from the middle of the handle should coincide with the expected setting, it seemed ok across a fairly wide range though and if I get some consensus between the 2 tools I should be pretty much right...

So busy day yesterday, got a bit more painting done.

I looked at getting the brake booster out, but from memory these are a bastard to get at, so painted it in situ...




Came out pretty well, not perfect, but far better than it was, I'll paint the master cyl cover grey when I do the grille surround...


And got lots of fiddly bits done...


And the front end looks pretty good with the masking removed (did this at 5:30 this morning, visions of overspray on the guards were keeping me awake)...




And it'll be nice to put this together when the paint has hardened a bit...




Quite pleased with the durepox finish, although I have no idea how it'll last - should be ok under the bonnet as it won't be exposed to UV, although I expect I'll scratch it to buggery lifting the engine back in...

Been putting some hrs in commissioning at work so not a lot of progress, but today I was home and weather was great so I stripped a lot of the front grille area parts. These have suffered many years of exposure to the elements plus the odd immersion in rusty radiator water...

Sanded the bits attached to the car, and began masking...

And laid down some epoxy, looks much better already...

Also got a lot of little bits painted, will try to get another couple of coats on tomorrow...

Yeah looks good alright...

So it was a SA Fairmont...

I can see that transporter in something like Richardson's truck museum as-is (just minus critters)...

Wonder what its story is.

Oh and I picked up the headlight buckets. I grabbed these off the Bay as they were cheap enough for a punt (came to around $35 delivered). Donated from a F100 of unknown vintage (picking mid 70s) and arrived 90% blasted clean and very sound...

And just needed a slight mod to fit, cut a shaped slot, tapped in a recess with a punch and drilled it for spring attachment...


and ready for paint...


They will sit around 5mm further out than the originals but that won't be noticable, and I quite like the thought of these things travelling from Robinson, Crawford County, Illinois (pop. 7000) to Invergumboot (pop. slightly more) to be used again...

There's a PT cruiser club...?

Checked your earths...?

I always have dedicated solid earthing points on any bike build, cos it sucks replacing parts to fix a problem caused by poor ground connection...

Yeah I've had things on exemption for years.

Got a spreadsheet to keep track of rego status...

Too buggered to do much today, plus had surf to city with the kids. But did give the shed a real good tidy up this morning as it was a tip. Tools, rags, oil and rubbish everywhere (a consequence of fitting in bits of work when I get the chance). Floor is now spotless, makes it easier to find bits when you drop 'em...

And put all my painting stuff in a surplus packing crate I scored from work. One of my best purchases was a bulk load of measuring cups, about 20c each and really make mixing ratios easier...

And pulled some more bits off the front and waterblasted some crud off in prep for painting...

And tidied up the timing cover. I was concerned about the state of the water passages, but they cleaned up ok...

So now just gotta paint random bits etc while I'm waiting for parts to arrive, so's can begin the fun stage...

Oh, and found this number on cam (CTRV1A). No idea what that means, was a 351 grind and was supposedly mildly warm, but can't recall where it came from...

Being time-poor (as well as poor-poor) I was up at sparrows this am getting some time in. Was dark and almost frosty when I started but was rewarded with this about an hr into it...

Made up a harmonic balancer puller (the benefit of welding on cold mornings is you get nice warm hands, wifey wasn't so pleased with me using a cut-off disc at 6am) Just a simple pulling bar pressing against the partly threaded in main bolt. I used heat gun on balancer and a lot of grease but had fears my main bolt was a bit girly...

It was, stripped out almost immediately so upped the ante a little...

And great success...

Timing cover off and the chain seemed really loose, but was still within spec, go figure...

And ready to slide the old cam out...

Might try to mask off and paint the block today if I get the chance. Nice to make some progress by 8am... 

Bloke at work caught a small clip of the car on th' telly, reckoned it was an XY, probably a Saffer Fairmont GT import...

I have jammed live .22 bullets in there as an emergency fix. Looking back I don't believe I thought that through properly...

Oh, and it appears my replacement headlight buckets have arrived. I'll call past my mum's on the way home to pick them up...