The heads are back from the machine shop and after I wipe them down and give them a quick coat of paint, they will be ready for installation.
I had the combustion surfaces cleaned up, had a valve job done, the springs tested, shimmed and installed, and new valve stem seals added. $247 seemed like a very reasonable price to me.
I can almost hear the starter cranking the engine ...
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Delayed again, but ...
Well, the 5th slipped to the 6th, but the covers are now on their way here. Looks like Monday and I will finally be able to get started on covering the seats.
So, I finally had to get around to prepping them for new covers. This means reapplying the burlap with wire supports. I have found rear seats and bench seats can be an excellent source for large, very clean, original pieces to do your seats. A few hog nose rings and they were ready to cut. Using the hog nose ring cutters that I have to trim the steel wires, I followed the perimeter trimming them, then floowed back up with scissors for the burlap.
On to the opposite side and repeat.
And before the foam can go on, I add a perimeter of 2" thick poly roll cut in roughly 3" wide strips. These will help prevent the covers from being torn by the frame and distribute some of the pressure so they will look smoother along that edge.
Good news is, I shouldn't really have to do much of anything with the middle or third row seats. Hopefully more to post on Monday!
So, I finally had to get around to prepping them for new covers. This means reapplying the burlap with wire supports. I have found rear seats and bench seats can be an excellent source for large, very clean, original pieces to do your seats. A few hog nose rings and they were ready to cut. Using the hog nose ring cutters that I have to trim the steel wires, I followed the perimeter trimming them, then floowed back up with scissors for the burlap.
On to the opposite side and repeat.
And before the foam can go on, I add a perimeter of 2" thick poly roll cut in roughly 3" wide strips. These will help prevent the covers from being torn by the frame and distribute some of the pressure so they will look smoother along that edge.
Good news is, I shouldn't really have to do much of anything with the middle or third row seats. Hopefully more to post on Monday!
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Light at the end of the tunnel?
After yet another delay, I have finally been given a date for the seat covers: September 5th! With any amount of luck, I will have them back here that weekend and I can FINALLY finish up the seats.
While waiting I have finished up porting the heads and sent them off to the machine shop to prep them for installation. I have also finished the driver's side header and will hopefully knock out the passenger's side before the seat covers get back. Starting to feel like I might hear the motor run soon...
More to come as I have it ready.
While waiting I have finished up porting the heads and sent them off to the machine shop to prep them for installation. I have also finished the driver's side header and will hopefully knock out the passenger's side before the seat covers get back. Starting to feel like I might hear the motor run soon...
More to come as I have it ready.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
No Seat Covers, Yet ...
I just called the upholstery guy back and heard that it will be another 2 weeks before he can START them! Grrrrrr! At least the bucket frames are ready to assemble. I just picked up some new padding to run on top of the foam which is supposed to offset any flattening in the foam.
I will fully prep them for covers this weekend so when the covers are actually done it's just a matter of putting them on.
In the meantime I will work on wrapping up some of the other projects (adjust shifter linkages, finish headers, etc.) so it will be ready to go when they get here.
Here are a couple pics of the finished seat frames:
I will fully prep them for covers this weekend so when the covers are actually done it's just a matter of putting them on.
In the meantime I will work on wrapping up some of the other projects (adjust shifter linkages, finish headers, etc.) so it will be ready to go when they get here.
Here are a couple pics of the finished seat frames:
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Work On The Seats...
I heard back from my upholstery guy earlier this week and looks like I will have my seat covers within the next two weeks, so I got started on cleaning up the buckets.
I had already started the lowers and made some repairs, but I needed to finish disassembling the uppers and make any repairs that were needed to them as well.
After getting the covers off I noticed that there are definitely some areas in the foam that will need some work. Peeling that away revealed a couple more broken springs and the latch assemblies were frozen in place. I clipped away the remaining hog-nose rings from the frames, dumped out the remaining garbage from inside the frames and bagged them up for my blaster guy.
Today I dropped them off for cleanup. 2 hours and $100 later, I have shiny clean frames that needed to be primed and painted. One of the bases had another broken spring which I quickly welded up and them put them in primer while I assessed the damage to the uppers.
Before sending the uppers out I disassembled the rod assembly that runs from the release handle down to the latch and worked both free with a few taps with a hammer. Working it back and forth several times smoothed out operation so it could be blasted in different positions to eliminate as much rust as possible. Getting them back post blasting required working them once more to remove any debris.
After repairing the damage to the to the one upper that had some rust issues, they received a coat of zinc-rich primer and the bases got a coat of Eastwood's Extreme Chassis Black followed by the uppers. With the high humidity it will be at least a day before they dry enough for me to start building up the seats for the new covers, but they are now well on the way!
I had already started the lowers and made some repairs, but I needed to finish disassembling the uppers and make any repairs that were needed to them as well.
After getting the covers off I noticed that there are definitely some areas in the foam that will need some work. Peeling that away revealed a couple more broken springs and the latch assemblies were frozen in place. I clipped away the remaining hog-nose rings from the frames, dumped out the remaining garbage from inside the frames and bagged them up for my blaster guy.
Today I dropped them off for cleanup. 2 hours and $100 later, I have shiny clean frames that needed to be primed and painted. One of the bases had another broken spring which I quickly welded up and them put them in primer while I assessed the damage to the uppers.
Before sending the uppers out I disassembled the rod assembly that runs from the release handle down to the latch and worked both free with a few taps with a hammer. Working it back and forth several times smoothed out operation so it could be blasted in different positions to eliminate as much rust as possible. Getting them back post blasting required working them once more to remove any debris.
After repairing the damage to the to the one upper that had some rust issues, they received a coat of zinc-rich primer and the bases got a coat of Eastwood's Extreme Chassis Black followed by the uppers. With the high humidity it will be at least a day before they dry enough for me to start building up the seats for the new covers, but they are now well on the way!
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