74(ish) Linton

[neohic]

Brake lines done. Went a little long with one but it'll be under the car, I guess. It was nice to finally start adding some new fluids to this thing.




Next came the pedals. I did need to bleed the newly finished brake system anyhow. I wanted to clean them up first but I also wasn't happy that I didn't modify them in any way yet. It's subtle, but I couldn't let one piece go unmodified.



And then it happened... it's now a roller!




My shop got a little cleaned up, rearranged some, and then things got a bit flipped upside down for more finishing.



Right now the plan is to leave the body alone. I've made the decision to let things stay with some patina... at least until I have the time to really do it nice. We've made a bigger decision to put the house up for sale soon. Time to get this thing as done as I can! FAST!!!

[neohic]

Been a little distracted lately, but things are still moving forward. Cage has been painted and is currently just sitting on the finished chassis. Waiting on some parts to come in before putting the trans back in. I was going to take some pictures of my own, but there are some of the buggy found here...

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9344- ... 8001_zpid/

Yup! The ball is rolling to get out of Minnesota! That means I need to get this thing done!!!

[neohic]

There's been a few changes since the last update. Pretty much everything is painted, back together, new parts added, and it's looking like a car again.

[neohic]

We had a showing on the house today, so I didn't get a whole lot done. I took a page from "Joe's Big Book of Buggy Building" and got myself a quart of Red-Kote. Really good stuff!... stinky though. I made up the upper mounting tabs on the tank and finished the welding, then put the tank outside to vent as to not get remarks on the house like "smells like paint" or "made my husband high".





Looks like strawberry syrup!... smells like chemicals. I had a little time to kill before we had to get out of the house so I turned my attention to the dash. It'll get wrapped in black vinyl when it's done, but this is what I'm thinking right now...



Overall, I like it. It's the same shape as what was there, but here's my issue with it...



... notice it? From my view, I only see from about 35 mph to 80.



I suppose about 30 to 70 is really the important range to keep an eye on, and the fuel gauge is completely visible too which is nice. Obviously those blue dots are place holders for other gauges. It'll be a temperature gauge and an oil pressure. Trying to find a nice set of gauges that sorta match either the speedometer or the tachometer is proving to be difficult. Apparently Sunpro is no more... which is a real bummer. I like the classic look of that tach and I was hoping to keep that going. We'll shall see.

In other news, my harness came! Very cool to see everything labeled and easy to follow.




I'll make up a filler panel between the bottom of the hood and the top of the front bulkhead to serve as a place to mount the fuse block and to just fill the gap. There's about 4" of open space up there.



Getting closer...

[neohic]

Hmm... progress. I've really liked how every buggy has this goofy gap between the hood and the front bulkhead. Here's my fix...





... I'm using it threefold. It's a mount for my fuse block, a filler panel, and it'll be grounded to the chassis so it can be used as a ground bus as well. I put a couple coats of paint on it and in the meantime I finished my windshield assembly. New glass was cut locally.



The headlight buckets got put back together too. More black with a touch of chrome... recurring theme?



The fuel tank got a coat of the same black paint and things really started getting real!




Makes for a nice, cozy spot for the things. It'll get a gasket along the top of the filler panel too.



More tomorrow.

[manxvair]

Looking good! I really like the filler panel, we found we got a lot of air flowing through that area on the highway.

[neohic]

Got a little further with eating my whale today. I went as far as running the front wires to the front, the rear to the rear, and the dash and column wiring sorted.




But of course I ran into a problem. I was using the late model wiring instructions with the Rebel harness as my column came from a '74. I put everything where (as far as I knew) it needed to be and with turning the key the wiper motor started turning... and turning... and turning. Didn't matter where the switch was positioned either. I turned the key off, checked everything over, and tried it again... same result, and then it stopped... and then nothing. Now I'm hoping that I didn't just cook my switch or the wiper motor. Granted, nothing let its "magical electrical smoke" out and nothing smells burned, but I'm still not getting my hopes up. Any thoughts on this? Is the ground coming from the motor just for the self parking switch? Does the wiper motor itself need its own ground?

[neohic]

Little by little, I'm getting there. I only got to spend a few hours on it this weekend which was kind of a bummer. Things started where I left off with the wipers. The wiper motor works just fine when power it put directly to it. The switch is kind of wonky when testing that. Pretty sure the switch is bad which I find odd as there really isn't all that much to go wrong with them. As for what I accomplished?... well, not much. I found out that my brake light switches are bad, so I moved on to the horn and that went well.



I'm waiting to finish the wiring up front until I get the indicators I ordered last week. They're little motorcycle units that mimic the headlights and they'll get mounted somewhere on the front bumper. Everything forward of the front bulk head under the hood is finished though... which is kind of a nice thought.



The footwell side of the front bulkhead has a little more to go before I can drop the hood on. The headlight circuit is mostly figured minus the dimmer. Next on the list is figuring out the hazard circuit. Things really would've been so much easier if I would've been okay with using factory switches.



"Only eight circuits," I thought. "Should go pretty easy," I thought.

[langan]

Its really turning out Great

[neohic]

[neohic]

... still at it. The wiring is going pretty good. A bit slow, but it's still going. Things were getting to the point where the dash needed to be finished so I can make sure I've got all these colorful strings going to the right place.

Mock up...



New gauges and all wrapped up...



... and mounted...



Logically, what's the next thing to set in the car before hooking things up? Seat belts and at least one seat to make sure everything feels right.



New driver's seat view (not that the hanging wires will stay)...



My oil pressure and temperature gauges are admittedly kind of cheap. I found them on Amazon, but the reviews both there and from outside suppliers were pretty good. I was having a tough time finding something that I really liked. What I was hoping to do was to either match the speedometer or the tach. Unfortunately, Sunpro gauges are now hard to find as the name was bought out by Bosch and they really cut back on their gauge lines, and VDO gauges really don't look like anything special for their prices. These were inexpensive, came with senders, have LED back lighting, and I think they look at least on par with the simple looks of the VDO gauges. As for the switches, they are a nice quality and I was able to get them in the colors that I wanted. They're only triggers for the relay bank. The blue one farthest to the right will put power to a USB socket that tucks away nicely.




Next on the list is to finish up the front wiring. It's nice to have the hood on it again (fingers crossed I've got everything right so I don't have to pull it off again), and it's also nice to give this little guy its face again. I found a neat set of marker lights that are intended for motorcycles that look close enough to the headlight buckets that I'm happy with them. The problem with them is that they're only a single filament bulb and there's no room for adding another socket in them. What I get to do now is gut the housings and turn them into a double filament housing to I can use them as parking and turn signal lights. I've got a plan... just need to do it. Until then, I added a couple tabs on the front bumper so they'll hang on either side of the license plate.



Don't see them? That's the idea.

[neohic]

The last couple days has worked out for a few new working systems that include the USB socket, front turn signals, front marker lights, and high/low beam headlights. Had to take apart the column... again ... to clean the contacts in the dimmer trigger ground along with fixing the pins in the column harness connections.




... loose wiring has since been finished.

I also decided to install the windshield after a couple close calls with it leaning against the wall in the shop. The next logical step was the wiper arms and blades. Found myself another unexpected project... apparently I need to extend the arms.

[neohic]

So... here's an abrupt and very disappointing end to this project for now. All my engine parts came in so I started tearing things down. Under the grease, I found a crank case that has been helicoiled, cracked, and poorly welded on. Then while removing the flywheel, I unfortunately discovered dowel pin holes that are all super sloppy.

Now after spending and buying everything I need to rebuild my engine and also started prepping everything for building, I now have no engine worth rebuilding and only a few weeks to deal with it.

This is of course a huge bummer. So close to having it drivable only to be moving and not knowing when I'll be able to get back to it. Then there's this kicker... my house sold so now I'm off to Colorado. My plans were to wrap up taillight housings and the little bits of wiring left. Kept blowing fuses with everything together that was the result of a combination of a bad taillight bulb holder (new from J-Bugs) and a front turn signal bulb holder that was back feeding into itself (also new but from O'Reilly). I think what I need to do in the front is to find a smaller solution to the front indicators/parking lights. For now, the wires got taped and tucked inside the empty light housings. As for the rear, both taillight bulb holders are getting returned. Same as the front, the wires got taped and tucked inside the housings.

Planning for the big move, the rest of the parts were sealed in bags and boxed up. New engine parts were packaged with a light coating of oil. I finished up the remainder of the odds and ends that the rear bumper needed along with extending the wiper arms. The seats have finally been bolted in too.

Next Tuesday it'll get loaded on a trailer with my Jeep Comanche and Cherokee. Then... ... then it'll sit for a while again.

[Mike-Presley]

Everything looks great. I noticed there was not a ground wire to the fuel sender, I had to run one from one of the screws because my tank isn't grounded anywhere else.

[neohic]

Thanks! The tank itself is grounded to the frame.

Did a little more wrapping up today. Nothing major... just getting it ready to sit.