What have you done to your wagon lately? (Let's keep the thread going!)

More "33" pics

really does a nice job on interior stuff

 

Dont know why I keep calling it "33". It's actually aerospace "303".

 

Looks great.
Have to add that to my shopping list. (the 303, not a Roadmaster....but it WOULD be nice to have one of them, too!)

 

You can get it at amazon. It's not cheap, but it's worth it. Tons of positive feedback.

 

Looks like they also sell it at Walmart now - 18$ for 16 oz. (1.12 $/oz). By the gallon at amazon is definitely the way to go (0.33 $/oz) Once you try it, you'll find lots of uses. It goes a long way.

 

8-track repair

Since the weather has warmed up the 8-track player has begun to run erratically. It would work fine till the day got warm, typically above 79, and then would stop playing. Radio was fine so the electronics was not to blame.
Tilting the cart a bit would make the music return but usually it would stop again sooner than later.
All the while I could hear the motor running inside just fine.

This is usually a sign that the belt has stretched... but I'd swapped the belt last year! So... after church I removed the player and popped the cover only to discover that the belt was indeed just fine.
In fact... couldn't actually see what was wrong.
At first.
With a cart inserted into the player, everthing seemed to be working just fine... except no sound. And no typical capstan burn mark on the tape so I just couldn't figure out what was wrong.
At first.

What I did notice was that after many months of daily use the head and capstan had become quite dirty so I pulled the capstand out of the machine to clean and... low and behold the two were no longer one. (On most machines the capstan and pulley can simply be slid out of the machine. Sometimes there is a thrust bearing support that needs to be removed first if the drive belt is on the bottom of the machine. But this one is on the top so the thrust bearing is on the end of the shaft and gravity alone holds the capstan/pulley in place.)

You see the capstan and the driven pulley are suppose to be locked together. Usually it's a press fit, but in this case the capstan shaft had loosened to the point of being able to spin inside the pulley hole. Sort of like a clutch slipping when there should be NO slipping!
Soldering was out of the question because the pulley is cast pot metal, while the capstan shaft is made from machined hardened steel.

After cleaning the machine, head and bearings I ground a slot across the top of the capstan pulley and shaft end.
Then a 3/8" long .030 piece of hardened music wire inserted and epoxied in place.
This created a keyway and the epoxy will hold it in place. Since the forces on the capstan are not huge like an alternator pulley... I figured it would work and probably last till the millinium.
After re-assembly she works like a champ! Sound is clear and clean and temp no longer effects tape play.

Now... if you bothered to read all this, I bet some of you are wondering why I didn't just go out and get another tape player? Because most times people would have in this "throw-away" world. Heck... I tossed that crappy Motorcraft 2bbl in the trash after I put on the new Edelbrock 4bbl. But there are some things that have an intrinsic value which far outweighs replacement.
A good underdash FM 8-track player I believe is worth too much to simply toss in the trash. Most of them are very well engineered and simple to fix if someone just takes the time to look into it.

So, that's all I did to the wagon this week. No pictures. But.... soon as those door glass panels arrive I'll be doing some major work on it!
Happy Monday!

 

Your interior looks great! What is the "greasy" factor after you use it on the interior? Is it like Armuor'butter'all when it come to acting like a dust and in my case dog hair magnet?

 

It doesn't seem greasy to me at all. Of course this morning, after doing the interior yesterday, I spilled a big cup of black coffee over the passenger front seat. Before I could even reach over to wipe it up it had slid out the back of the seat and onto the back seat floor. I dont think anything seeped into the stitches at all. This stuff really repels water. In reading one of the reviews on amazon, I guess you can spray down clothes and make them waterproof.

 

Well started on the Caprice tonight. Installed the SS wheels first(except for the left rear). When removing the original hub caps I noticed every lug nut was loose, realized the seller must have taken the good tires and gave me these rollers. No big deal, I had already bought SS wheels and tires for it. With the wheels off I really inspected the car. Odometer shows 42,xxx. By looking at the frame, and under carriage, brake pedal, gas pedal I believe this is the original miles. Have to wait for all the maintenance records to come to verify. Hooked up the battery charger and all the marker lights came on, including dash lights. Looked inside figuring the switch was on. NOPE. Okay, well that's interesting. Have to check that out later. Pulled the inner fender well out of the left rear to inspect fuel lines. Perfect shape, inspect the tank and think it might be leaking. It appears to have a dent in it on the lip. I take a pair of pliers to bend it back and SPLASH!!!!!!!! Raging river of nasty horrible old gas comes raining down. Soaked the strap bolts with PB blaster and decide to inspect the under side of the car. There is absolutely zero rust in the notorious spare tire well, floors are perfect, frame is clean, belly pan is perfect. Notice the car has what appears to be factory air shocks as the hoses are ran in a "tray", 10 bolt rearend with a Posi tag. Inspect the interior and am pretty happy with the overall condition, needs a little love in the cargo area but nothing major. It must have had the original window shades as it has the straps for them. Rear window goes up and down as it should, manual gate works great, all doors open and shut great. So, as I am inspecting the fuel tank and thinking this is going to suck I notice CUT wiring. As I inspect closer I notice this harness use to be the trailer wiring harness for the factory hitch that has been removed. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. So I take my anger out on the leaking fuel tank. After a 15 minute battle I have the old tank on the ground. Before removing it I notice the gas gauge was WAY past full. The ground was hooked up as well as the "sensor" wire. I will have to ohm the sending unit and make sure it is good, then trace the wiring. I will almost bet the wire was cut with the trailer harness. That's the progress so far. To dark to get pictures of it. But I will snap some in the morning

 

Fixed the gate so it would swing open to the side as opposed to only drop and fixed the dome light. A latch linkage arm was off in the gate and a plug was apparently never reconnected when the interior was put back together by the PO. Two little things that didn't work that irritated me.

 

I got the car up on jack stands and changed the oil and filter, lubed the front end, and sprayed all the old rubber bushings with silicone.
I had planned to finish flushing the old brake fluid. This being the monsoon season in Florida, my shade tree mechanicing day was cut short by torrential rain so the brakes will have to wait a little while longer.
I was happy to see that the RR footwell didn't flood today, so I guess I can finally install the new carpet set that has been taking up space in my living room for months.
As soon as hurricane season is over anyway....

 

Tonight the wagon was put on the back burner. Me and my son worked on his motor for the Camaro. Installed the new cam, put it all back together, then primered the freshly sandblasted inner fenders. We are going to paint them to match the body color, we already did the firewall in body color. Hoping to slide the motor and tranny back in tomorrow night.

I did buff one rear quarter on the wagon, and one fender. I took some pictures of it with the new wheels and to try and show the difference in the paint. Hard to tell in the pictures but it really comes to life with a quick buff with rubbing compound. First picture is of the left quarter after I buffed it, 2nd picture is to show how dull it was on the right rear quarter. Third is the front fender, you can see exactly where it was buffed and then stopped. And last is the new wheels






Was hoping to get the tank back in it tonight but the son was wanting to work on his car. SO maybe tomorrow night

 

Didn't get the tank back in tonight. Put the motor back in my son's Camaro. Got hot and tired so we called it a night. I decided to throw a good battery in the wagon and crank it over to pump the bad gas out of the lines. It cranked about 4 times and started!!! I couldn't belive it. I thought for sure it would need the carb rebuilt and a tune up atleast. Sounded good for the three minutes it ran on the crappy gas in the fuel lines

 

Unexpected bonus is always a good thing! Way to go.

 

I have done nothing to my wagon. We have had nothing but rain and severe storms every evening for weeks and it has been so hot and humid! We are 2 inches away from having our normal rainfall total for the entire year!

Hopefully can do something soon.