The lazy blogger

It's been a while. Again. Not a lot to report cuz I've been driving the Scout more than working on it. That's good, right? It is except that I'm still not done the body work. But swapping on a different door and fender on the driver's side got the door to close so much better. And the contrasting colors and stripes garnered me the Rough and Ready award at Carlisle. :-P 

Puzzle pieces.

Oops, this post from 2015 didn't publish at the time. 

I got in a good 14 hours of work on Hanky this weekend. We're getting close to putting the big pieces on. 

I patched the bottom or the B pillar, tacked in the inner, mocked up the outer and end cap, then welded in the inner, tacking it to the B pillar and wheel arch. Then did nearly all the finish welds to the arch patch, welded the end cap to the outer quarter and the inner to the floor forward of the wheel well. Also drilled the lip of the inner for the plugs welds to the outer. Same for the rear flange to weld to the end cap. I might put some bolts in there to make it easier to get in place and snug up tight. 

I ended the day by seam sealing the wheel arch filler that I made and por15ing the wheel arch and some other miscellaneous spots, including the underside of the lip of the top that's hanging over my head. 

The wheel arch filler fits the outer quarter perfectly, but not the wheel arch patch, which changed shape a bit when I welded it in. I think I can make it work. I might have to make a relief cut to reduce the radius.  That shouldn't be a big deal. 

Running time 101 hours. 

Righty Tighty

After Brian and I beat ourselves up two weekends ago trying to install my plow frame, I figured I better bolt it in place. After a trip to Lowes to get a couple new bolts and staring blankly at the set up, I determined that I needed to cut more out of those shackles so they would clear enough to allow them to move freely. I thought for a moment that it would be easiest to take the shackle off, but nope. That didn't work. So I decided to separate the top piece of the frame from the bottom. Broke two of the four bolts, actually one broke and had to cut off the other. Good news! I found two spares in the console. 

Once the bolts were out, I dropped the bottom half and cut another half inch off the shackles. Jacked it back in place, bolted it in and it looks much better.  I need to get one more bolt for the front, but otherwise it's all tightened up, including putting the bumper back on. 

Once that was done, I took a break to watch the Skins get their butts kicked for a bit, then came back out to bolt down the top. Got the header screws in and just one bolt on each side of the bed, but that's good enough for now. 

That done, I thought I might have enough time to change the broken glass in the hatch. In retrospect, I should have taken the hatch off, but I thought I might be able to get it off without shattering the thing to pieces. Mind you, it was already shattered, but holding in place. I put tape on both sides and tried to work the rubber free. Well, the glass wanted to come apart anyways and showered me with little ice cubes.  After sharing them out of my sleeves, I spent the next half hour sweeping up the glass. 

I would have had enough light to put in the new glass, except when I pulled the rubber off the hatch it revealed a bunch of rust holes. Gonna have to fix

That before I do anything else. Hope I can get it done before it rains.  

Braking news

Trying to get Hanky ready for Carlisle and the Nats. This will be the first time in years that I'll be able to go to both. 

When I went out in a rescueission to help Brian Huver a few weeks ago, the tears drums were a bit noisy. When I pulled one I realized that the shoes were worn down to the rivets and gouging the drums. Doh! How did I not notice this earlier?

I had bought new hardware a while ago and got new shoes, and fetched a pair of drums from my stash at Mom's. Got 'em all installed and adjusted. Now I even have a working e-brake! 

I also sanded down the new quarter panel and gave it a coat of etching primer. I kinda like that flat green tone. 

Of course, fix one thing and something else breaks. Today while taking the Scout out, the rear view mirror came off in my hand. Add it to the list of things to fix. 

Into the light

I got so wrapped up in trying to get Hanky ready for Pinelands, I forgot to post my progress. I'll just skip to the punch line and let you know that I made it there and back, even if I was a day later than planned. 

I had hoped to get there on Thursday night but the Fates conspired against me. I got the quarters and endcap on and the gas tank back in. I did some finishing welds on the floors and seam sealed and coated everything. I cut a light gauge patch to put down over the hole in the bed and I still need to finish the outer rocker and dog leg, but the important stuff is done. 

I put in the roll bar while the bulkhead was still in, so now the bulkhead is staying cuz it's not coming out without the roll bar coming out too. I just zip tied it to the roll bar for the time being. It's not going anywhere. I also was quickly reminded that with the PT Cruiser seats I need longer seat belts. The S10 belts I have now just arent long enough with the taller seats. I have some from a Suburban that I'll try out. Later. 

When I was ready to pull Hanky out into the light for the first time in a while, it started right up, so I thought I was good. But here come the Fates. First it decided to throw the a/c belt, which in turn threw one of the alternator belts and shredded it. Rather than putting the a/c belt back on, I just took out the pump. It's just dead weight now anyway until I hook up on board air. 

Then the starter decided to crap out. After noodling with it for a while late into the night and again early in the morning, Brian Huver gave me the new starter out of his Wagonmaster. A friend in need is a friend indeed! Anyway, that installed I was ready to go. The truck ran great all

weekend with the exception of another starting issue. It would sometimes just click on a turn of the key and other times it would give a brief pause between turning the key and starting to crank. I think that's unrelated to the original starter issue. 

I'll deal with that later. See my thread about starter woes on the BP. 

So all in all, Pinelands (even as dry and dusty as it was) was a great success and great to have Hanky back on the trail. Still have work to do but it got me there and back again. All told, I think I'm up to about 130 hours in this driver's side rebuild. 

Would I do it again? Nope. But I don't regret it one bit. 

Working things up

This afternoon I managed a few hours in the garage. I finished welding the bracket that will hold the end cap to the rear sill and bolt up to the tailgate pin. That worked splendidly and once trimmed a tad, it seems to fit quite nicely.

Since that piece fit well, it was time to put the outer quarter back on to see if I really am getting this thing lined up. Sure enough, everything seems to be good. Just need to get a measurement from the tailgate before I make that bracket placement permanent. 

I also started messing with making a filler using Mike Moore's piece as a buck. You can see it sitting in the bed in this shot, with the outer clamped in place too. Once I get that filler piece put together, I'll start tacking all these big pieces in place. With any luck, that might just be tomorrow. 

Keep your fingers crossed. Up to about 87 hours now. 

Well...

The plan was to spend the majority of the weekend working in Hanky. But, well, it was really nice outside and, well, I ended up doing yard work, planting flowers, veggies and herbs and going to a lacrosse game.

I did manage to get about an hour in tonight and got the wheel well patch tack welded in place. I think it will work. Now to get a few more tacks on it then get the end cap back together and on the truck. 

Mike Moore was kind enough to send a few NOS wheel arch filler pieces home with me from my visit a few weeks ago. I'll use them to fashion a new one rather than using the fiberglass one that I have. That will come after the end cap is on and the inner quarter welded in.