wheelsmithy said:
The big question here is budget. Does switching transmission mean axles, flywheel, and clutch? Budget is already getting tight, and I'm having little luck with recoup.
Looking at axles on RockAuto, it appears the getrag diff takes 28 splines and the t350 / 41te take 25 splines. I take that to mean the passenger side intermediate shaft is different between manual and auto cars then too. Automatic axles are cheap on RockAuto (or junkyard), but you'd need to track down an automatic intermediate shaft, or go for unequal length axles using NA pt right axle (probably no big deal since you're mounting it in the rear?).
Edit to add the getrag uses a concentric slave while the t350 uses external slave and clutch fork. Same master cylinders, but probably nothing else shared. Just FYI.
In reply to linkinparker445 :
Wow, man, thanks for the info and leg work. I've got enough rust repair to keep me busy while I chew on my options. I do hate dual mass flywheels, but if I build this thing to handle the Getrag, a T350 is one mount and axles away, as it will surely fit. Hmmm...
Tonight, along with continuing work on the rockers, I did some exploratory surgery.
That's about 1/4" of bondo, and the door appears to have it, too. So, this car was in a wreck serious enough to push the front wheel in, and bang up the whole left side. No matter, as this only pushes me harder towards box flares. There is serious undercoating, too, which is the only reason I've got as much metal to work with as I do.
Also, the cracked filler on the nose had me dying to find out what was under there.
Much better than anticipated.
My new book has an interesting passage. It tells of two wires run in the weatherstripping around the windshield, one inside, and one out. Apparently, if you want to save your windshield (which I do), you are to hook 12-16 volts to the outside wire"for several minutes, until the area warms up", at which point, you can remove the chrome trim, then do the same thing on the inside. They warn that "you can cut the molding all around from both sides, with considerable difficulty, push the windshield out". Golly, I guess I'm glad I waited. I figured I'd just take it outside on a warm day, but if Fiat went through all that trouble, maybe I'll be extra careful.
The wire in the weatherstriping is a new one for me, but them eye-talions do some interesting stuff!
That was news to me too, and I have owned my X1/9 for over 15 years. It is due for a windshield as well, its miles are showing.
Interesting story:
I had spotted a refrigerator down by the railroad tracks. Jerks dump stuff down there, like a load of shingles, chairs, and other crap. Last week, I nabbed an 8 lug truck wheel, and a dishwasher door. Well, today, I went back for the fridge. I had chains to drag it out of the brush, and was going to load it up for challenge metal. I backed way up, but a car stopped 50 feet or so away in the road, maybe filming us? They sat there for a minute, then drove away. Very shortly afterwards, someone started discharging a gun VERY nearby. Maybe those people, maybe not. We got out of there directly and I forgot my chain, and didn't get the booty.
They likely assumed we were more jerks dumping stuff, not pulling it out. A little excitement. I may park another vehicle a distance away, and get my chains. Good times.
Edit: photo added, just in case I can retrieve this, as proof of it's being free.
They may have just been headed to a place they think is good for target practice? Don'no... The second car while you get chain ( and fridge... you are doing your civic duty, cleaning up the 'hood!) is a great plan.
Today's shenanigans:
Anyone who has followed my previous threads Knows I have a nemesis. Its name -Warpage!
Every berkleying thing I try to build, I end up warping the living P!#$ out of. I'm improving all the time, but I have two dormant projects with structural warpage in addition to this thing. So, I haven't been talking about how my door gaps kept getting worse as I've been welding these new rockers on. This morning, on the driver's side, I had a complete rocker, but the door wouldn't even close. The latch had risen 1/2 to 3/4 inch above the pin.
But I had been formulating a plan.
I drilled through the upper rocker for spot welds. Some going through one layer from the inside, some from out. I removed my bracing, and put a lot of heat into the area. Every time I could get another click on the tie-down stretched diagonally across the door, I did so.
When I couldn't get another click, I put another tie down pulling down to the cross member. Since grinding was as much of the cause of all this as welding, I ground the welds while still hot. I snapped a tie down hitting it with the grinder, and had to re-rig the whole contraption.
I the end, I Have a door that while still far from perfect, falls within fettling range. I'm not saying I beat the enemy, but I at least won a battle.
Gotta do the same thing, only less so to the passenger's side.
Maybe I should start using the torch.
wheelsmithy said:
Anyone who has followed my previous threads Knows I have a nemesis. Its name -Warpage!
Shrinkage, err... warpage gets me every damned time. You have a sneaking suspicion it's going on, but don't know how bad the damage is till you check.
Keep at it, love the project!
914 guys put door braces in with turnbuckles.
preach said:
914 guys put door braces in with turnbuckles.
That is great advice.
Today, I just wasn't in the mood to breathe rust and grinder dust, So I sweated some pipes.
Before:
And after:
I haven't tested them yet, but they appear watertight. I used copper house wire hammered a bit flat to give the solder something to cavitate under.
Also, This is my old water heater. No bites after a week on Craigslist.
I peeled all the tin off it before scrapping the tank.Unfortunately, I beat the metal up a bit more than I would have liked.
I couldn't bring it up on my work computer for some reason the other night but door bracers here:
http://www.tangerineracing.com/tools.htm
I would probably just make my own...
The passenger's rocker pretty much came into shape on the first try. I just wasn't happy with the driver's. Today, I started slow, using the burn off the sharpie with a MAPP torch method. When that proved insufficient, I got out my little torch.
A lot of heat, some beating, and a lot of force, and I'm finally satisfied.
The door gap may even be a touch tight at the top, and the latch is still so-so, but I'm moving on.
To body work.
What it looks like to me is someone put nearly 1/8" of filler over the original blue on damn near the whole car. This is going to be fun.
I just bought an old truck that looks like it was bondo'd with 1/8 to 1/4 over whole cab before it sat long enough that rust popped half of it off. I SUCK at body work, and too broke/cheap to pay for it , so this should get interesting! Prolly fix bare min. of rot, and brush paint it in the flattest paint I can find!
In reply to 03Panther :
Thin it and use a roller. Really. Just do tons of coats. This may be the future of this car.
This post, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.
I completely thought you were cutting sections out of the front of some really cool microbus I had never heard of.
wheelsmithy said:
In reply to 03Panther :
Thin it and use a roller. Really. Just do tons of coats. This may be the future of this car.
Wow! Would NEVER have thought of something like that! Someone as skil-less as me might even be able to pull that off! Grey primer is one of my favorite colors, anyway!
this was rolled with rustoleum, thinned 50/50 with thinner and rolled on using foam rollers and foam brushes.
Fantastic use of donor car sheetmetal!!
Really don't want to derail the thread, so just treat this as a dumb driveby; Panther, why not use something with some gloss so that you can then polish it a bit when you're finished to better hide issues induced during the dozen or so coats of roller paint? I know it won't hide body problems as well as flat or semi, but it seems like a good compromise move. Also, lighter seems better with these jobs.
pres589 (djronnebaum) said:
Really don't want to derail the thread, so just treat this as a dumb driveby; Panther, why not use something with some gloss so that you can then polish it a bit when you're finished to better hide issues induced during the dozen or so coats of roller paint? I know it won't hide body problems as well as flat or semi, but it seems like a good compromise move. Also, lighter seems better with these jobs.
mostly 'caus I don't have a clue what I'm doing!
And, also, I was into "suede" paint before it was a style!!! Back then, it was called too cheap to paint!
Side by on the drive by. Before common use of 2 part primers, a friend of mine in the 70's built a bad azz 'cuda... with plans to paint when he could afford. Since that primer was porous, he waxed it once a week to prevent rust! Sanded it all down and prepped for paint 4 years later!
Thanks.
I've got the week off, and I'm working through the car's rhinoplasty.
Again, I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Thousands of tacks to come. Be well, everyone.
03Panther said:
pres589 (djronnebaum) said:
Really don't want to derail the thread, so just treat this as a dumb driveby; Panther, why not use something with some gloss so that you can then polish it a bit when you're finished to better hide issues induced during the dozen or so coats of roller paint? I know it won't hide body problems as well as flat or semi, but it seems like a good compromise move. Also, lighter seems better with these jobs.
mostly 'caus I don't have a clue what I'm doing!
And, also, I was into "suede" paint before it was a style!!! Back then, it was called too cheap to paint!
Side by on the drive by. Before common use of 2 part primers, a friend of mine in the 70's built a bad azz 'cuda... with plans to paint when he could afford. Since that primer was porous, he waxed it once a week to prevent rust! Sanded it all down and prepped for paint 4 years later!
Thanks.
You can do Rustoleum via roller/brush in a gloss instead of satin or flat. It works pretty well, cars used to be painted with enamel back in the day using similar techniques, it just isn't quite as fast or as durable as modern paints.
