Whoof. I don't know where to start. Life's been pretty hectic--from having no work from the end of February, to getting screwed over with unemployment (thus no income at all from July to now), having a lot of time home watching the kids, and now back to work.
I started a job two weeks ago. While it was a machining job, it was boring (literally), large fabrication stuff, which I don't like very much. Day after I started, I got another job offer from a place closer. I ended up working a few days where I'd do 8 hours at the first place, then work 4 hours at the second job. I quickly realized I liked the second job, so I left last Monday to take the second job full time. Somewhere inbetween the two, I had yet another job offer. While that one is pretty interesting, and the benefits and pay would be better, I'm going to keep the second job. It's a small company--the owner, the office girl, and me. I have a machine shop all to myself, with no one breathing down my back, telling me what to do. It's amazing. Besides, it's not just machining, and I get to see things from a pile of materials to a finished product, out the door. The company makes welding automation primarily. We're finishing up two brazing carts, but have larger jobs next. I can't wait to make a robotic welding cell....
But back to the car. I parked it for the winter mid-December last year, as the snow would not stay off the roads, and I didn't get to drive it again until late June/early July. It didn't take long to strip down, but it spent a bit of time as a measurement aid while prepping the second(third?) frame. I was having a hard time finding someone that had a sandblaster, but ran across someone that had one, and was finally able to sand blast everything. It took quite a bit of work, but after quite a few hours of blasting, everything was stripped.
There's still coal slag (the media I used) all over my driveway. Ayrton loves to play in it... you can guess how that goes.
My high-end setup...
There's the new one out on the ground to make room for something or another.
My buddy and I went over a few options for paint, as we intended on using the paint for both cars. I've used POR-15 on the rear subframe, and the stuff is pretty tough--I'd take a ball-peen hammer to it, full swing, with no chipping. However, after 6 years of UV, it's graying, and starting to not be as protective in some areas. Also, when you put a gallon or two, plus hardener, and then a clear coat, you're talking about 200+ dollars, which is a little high for me. So, after much research and debating, I chose SEM RustShield, which is supposed to be as good as POR-15, but cheaper, and does not need a clear coat. Yeah, OK. After several coats, and multiple tries, it came out very orange-peel-y, and it chips very easily. Overall, I was very unimpressed. We'll see how it works over time, but were I to do it again, I'd go POR-15 with a clear coat.
We had parts hanging EVERYWHERE...
And then some... (yes, it's a mess, and yes, I need a much larger garage for this...)
Dave hard at work:
Finished product:
You can see the orange-peel. Some of it is overspray, but it was everywhere, overspray or not. A different nozzle may have fixed it, I'll never know.
I then put everything back together, and after having to scrape a little more paint off of two grounds, everything worked well. Except the tail lights; I've gone over it a few times, but something's crossed, and they're all out of whack. Oh well; they're all temporary anyway--they eventually will be replaced by LED lights in the fenders.
I keep remembering things that changed as I load up ther photos... I made a rear bulkhead, and the trans tunnel fits into it (not in this picture, but further down you can see it tucked away). I also converted the handbrake cable to a solid rod, but I don't think I have any photos of that.
I think I like it better without the back wrap-around, until the fenders are on...
In early October, there was a charity event at Nelson Ledges track, which is about 15 minutes from me. I did an early-morning oil change, topped off the fuel, and headed out.
Blah. I got to realize how bad the half-bald cheap tires I have, and the rear suspension is. I was getting tromped by some non-turbo Miatas in the corners. I could catch up in the straights, but I was being somewhat tender with it, because A) it still hasn't had a good tune yet, and B) I didn't feel like stuffing it into the tire wall, as that was the first time I had it on the track. Still, it was a lot of fun, even though I did end up off-track with my daughter at the end (Lots of mud and grass, but no damage. Hosed it off the next day and went on.
However, I have a feeling that was the final straw. When I came in after the last stint, I thought I noticed something, and checked the oil--the stick was dry. Luckily, there was a rotory guy there, and he gave me a quart to pour in for my drive home. When I pulled in the driveway, it was sputtering and died. I couldn't find anything in particular wrong, and I drove it a few more times, but the last time I drove it a distance, I noticed lifter tick becoming more and more pronounced as I approached home, and saw smoke on the downshifts. It was empty again when I got home.
I went to Other Dave's house, and we went over a leak down test, as I couldn't find my compression tester, and there appears to be no issues there, but we saw some leakage around the valve cover gasket area, and around the head gasket in one area. When looking at the plugs, two plugs were in puddles of oil and/or coolant. I think it may have been a mixture.
I'm currently at the conclusion that it needs a new headgasket, valve cover gasket, and the rest of the small stuff. It will work ok, as I was planning on doing an "exhintake" cam swap, but as of right now, I don't have the 35 bucks it takes to buy the new kit. Once I can try to scrape that up, I'll be doing a teardown, and hopefully, will be back in action. I found a guy in Columbus that does MS tuning, and is willing to help me with my setup, so hopefully that will be taken care of.
The cam for the "Exhintake" swap. It's seen better days, I think it's passable, at least until I can do a full rebuild.
Til then...
Here are a few pictures of my favorite hot/rat rod get-together of the year--spectacular food, cars, and people. And much burning of rubber was to be done. While mine is pretty dismal against some of these small-tire cars, I did earn the shirt....
We did a pretty good job:
My favorite car of the show:
Ayrton-sized.
He's saying "It's smoking"...
For there was much smoke going on.
From things like this:
https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xaf1/t50.2886-16/12039861_626277427475052_995268561_n.mp4
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