PC for the Garage
I found a newer (black case) Dell computer for a great price ($40) on Craig's List on Thursday and went to pick it up on Saturday morning. Again, I express my love for Craig's List. I came home, set it up in the garage, and booted it up. It was quick. It didn't have much on it, so it was really easy to clean it up. I didn't get much done before leaving for the rest of the weekend to watch the NHRA nationals in Norwalk with my brother-in-law and my father-in-law. My ticket was a birthday gift and I had a great time. Those things are amazing.
Monday, I finished setting up the PC. I hooked up a set of computer speakers and a sub woofer, so I can listen to music in there. I also connected a wireless card so I can use the Internet. The wireless signal to my house was weak and it was slow—1 bar and 1Mbps. I spent awhile figuring out how to increase the speed and I remembered I had a satellite dish laying around from the previous home owner. I pointed the dish towards the house and held the USB wireless card in the center by the dish receiver. To my amazement, the speed jumped up to 11Mbps (the max for my router) and stayed there. Now I just have to mount the dish somewhere out of the way and premanently connect the card to the dish.
After all that was done, I started downloading the programs I will need for accessing the Internet an playing music. Since all my music is on a network drive, I can play the music on any PC on my network. No downloading of music again will be needed. I just hope the wireless connection isn't flaky.
Enough about computers, let's talk about what I did to the Nova. Well, I started by cleaning off the work bench and moving some boxes to the floor in the empty space where the pressure washer used to be—the owner came to pick it up. Then I proceeded to remove the engine mounts from the engine compartment. The nuts were in tight areas, so it took me awhile to loosen them and get them off. After taking those off, I cleaned them up with a wire wheel. Then I went to the passenger side front, and finished removing the tire rod end and took the nuts off the upper and lower ball joints. I have determined that I need to buy a ball joint removal tool, instead of forcing them out with a hammer.
Again I have no pictures today. And since I broke my promise to have pictures the last post, I'm no longer making any promises.
I Love Craig’s List
Last night I emailed someone that had a listing on Craig's List for an impact wrench. The listing included a slightly used Ingersoll Rand 231G 1/2" impact wrench and extras, that included an SAE deep socket set, an extension and a 360 degree swivel fitting. After a few emails back and forth today, I sent him the link to this blog. He read the part about me needing a grinder. He just happened to have a Craftsman electric grinder, that was used once, for $20 and a sawsall both listed on Craig's List as well. He also said that if I bought a few things from him, he would throw in a few cans of primer and rust inhibitor and some body work tools that I will need later.
Needless to say, I took a trip out to New Philadelphia after work today and came home with the impact wrench (and extras), a grinder, and a bunch of aerosol cans full of contents that I will need in the not-so-distant future. I came home and ordered a few pizzas and then used my impact wrench to take off the lug nuts of the passenger front tire. I ended up having to read the directions to see what knobs I needed to turn to get the right direction and power to the wrench. It turns out that the wrench is an air hog and I just needed to adjust the pressure a bit. I started to disassemble the passenger front suspension, but I ended up pinching my hand, so I stopped and called it a night.
Sorry folks, no pictures today. I'll have some photos of my new tools tomorrow.
Summit, Title Transfer, and Drum Brake
On Friday after work, my brother-in-law and I went to Summit Racing Equipment to see if we could buy either an impact wrench or a grinder. I 'll tell you that I was a little disappointed and Summit was not what I had expected. It turns out that it's more of a show store and a retail pickup location, rather than a full retail store. I did buy a deep impact socket set for $20, but nothing else. I have been looking adamantly for an impact wrench since then—on eBay, Craigslist, and retail stores. Perhaps I should ask an uncle to borrow one.
Saturday, I finally got the title to the Nova transferred into my name. There were a lot of people at the Title Bureau and given that it was a Saturday and in Akron, I enjoyed people watching. I didn't get to work on the car at all.
Monday, I was determined to start some more dismantling. I jacked the Nova up and put it on jack stands. Then I proceeded to take the tire off and eventually the entire drum brake assembly, by disconnecting the tie rod, and the upper and lower ball joints. Then I read the Hayne's manual and it suggested to take the brake assembly apart before taking it off the control arms. I managed to get enough thread on both upper and lower ball joints to get the nuts back on.
I did as the book suggested and took the master cylinder cover off and put a ziploc bag over top and snapped the cover in place again—to help prevent drainage. I took the rest of the brake assembly apart and disconnected the hose. I realized that I should have been prepared with another plastic bag to catch the dripping fluid. After taking it apart, I cleaned up the 1/2 inch thick grease that was around the lower ball joint. It was pretty thick. Using the wire wheel, the grease went everywhere, so I decided to use the wire brush instead. Hopefully, I can get enough parts together to make a trip to my uncle's house to use the sandblaster. I hope to clean up the entire engine compartment before installing the engine.
Rust Removal and Reel
June 17
I bought some Rustoleum from AutoZone to see if it would help with the pitted rust in the engine compartment. After using it, we decided that we need to buy a grinding. My brother-in-law and I decided to take the front bumper off to get at the rotted bumper support. If anyone has any suggestions on what to do about it, please let me know. The rest of the front frame is in good condition and I'd rather not replace it if I don't have to. The rusted support is shown below.
June 18
I went to Harbor Freight after work today and bought an automatic drainer and a lead in hose for my air compressor. I tried installing the drainer, but I don't have enough clearance on the bottom and also I would have to cut the tubing connecting the tank and the shut-off switch. I want to do it right, so I need an expert's opinion (hint).
Today, I also unmounted the hose reel and re-mounted with better support connecting to the wall stud. I ran into several problems in doing this. I first took the reel off the piece of 2x4, drew the holes by laying that piece onto a new 2x4, and drilled the holes. I found out that that was a bad idea, because the holes were nowhere near the correct location. So I did it right and took apart the reel so that I could drill straight holes into the 2x4. After that was all done, I screwed the 2x4 into the stud instead of nailing it and then I mounted the reel. All of this took me about 2 hours to do. But it is up now ad the picture is below.
New Light Fixtures and Air Hose Reel
Today, I stopped at Wal-Mart and Home Depot to buy a light fixture for my work bench, a fluorescent light assembly for the ceiling, nuts and bolts to mount the air hose reel, and other small things. While at Home Depot, I spent some time on the phone with my uncle discussing my progress and asking a few questions. He made a few suggestions about books, tools, and products I should buy, to make my restoration project a lot easier.
I mounted the reel on the wall above the air compressor while my brother-in-law installed the light over my bench. I have a feeling that tomorrow, the reel and hose will be laying on the floor. Although the reel is securely connected to the two by four with the nuts and bolts that I bought, I don't think the two by four is secured to the garage wall. I think I may need to screw it into the wall instead of nailing it.
I also installed the fluorescent light above the engine compartment. I first moved the existing light back one ceiling joist, and installed the new one, two joists in front of it. Hopefully, I can get some work done on the car tomorrow. I think I might take the front bumper off to get at the front passenger-side frame—or at least try to take it of.
Disassembly
Monday, June 15
I imagine that as I get more backed up with work on the car, my blog posts will become shorter.
Today, I removed the right front fender, the radiator support, the headlights and the headlight wiring. I realized that a breaker bar or an impact wrench would be a great investment. I'm also starting to realize what needs replaced.
Clean Up
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Preface
Before the delivery of my Nova, I had to make preparations to my garage in order to have enough room for everything. One of the improvements was done in April when I rewired the electricity in the garage and the breaker box in the house to allow for 220 volts in order to run my air compressor. After a few phone calls between my dad and other electrical experts, I installed it the correct way.
The next improvement was to repair the leak in my air compressor. This was done in the beginning of May with the expertise of my uncle. I thought it would have been an easy weld to patch a tiny hole, but I was wrong. Long story short, he cut the motor mount bracket and welded a steel plate to cover the entire leaky area.
Repairing my leaky—and apparently partly moldy—roof, was done on my birthday weekend, with the skills, knowledge, and help from my dad. We were both a little sore the next day and I learned a new trade. The most recent improvement which was completed on Saturday before the delivery, was a 9 foot work bench. This, I constructed with the verbal help from my uncle, and a borrowed saw from my other uncle to make a few cuts. Currently, the bench is completely covered with car parts. Perhaps a shelf between the bench and the floor would be a good improvement for extra storage space.
All of the above mentioned people deserve a big thank you for helping me thus far. Someone else I would like to thank is my great uncle who left most of his tool collection to me after he passed away. Without it all, I wouldn't be able to get started with this project.
Post
Today, I went to Harbor Freight to purchase over $100 worth of supplies and tools, including a few wire brushes, mechanic's gloves, safety goggles, and a new air hose and reel. I started my work by vacuuming out the interior and cleaning certain areas of the windows, as shown in one of the above pictures. I also started cleaning up the engine compartment using the wire brushes I had purchased. The first two above pictures are closeups of the engine compartment before I started cleaning.
My brother-in-law spent a lot of time cleaning the engine compartment with the a little help from the wire brush, the air compressor, and the Goof Off that I purchased earlier. Nowhere on the bottle does it say anything about rust removal, but it seemed to have done the trick. I spent some time disassembling a few parts, looking up the parts in a catalog, putting the nuts and bolts into Ziploc bags, and labeling them accordingly.
I removed both inner fender wells and set them on the floor of the garage. I later found out that when my dog got scared when my air compressor kicked on, he bolted out of the garage and he *censored for graphic content* cut his leg on one of the fenders. That incident resulted in a trip to the veterinarian emergency room at 11 at night. He is doing OK now. The five stitches come out in ten to fifteen days.
We also managed to remove the driver's front fender to have better access to the engine compartment. The work that has been done is shown in the photos below.
Delivery Day, June 13 (a short story)
Saturday, June 13, my uncle and I picked up my Nova and parts from its previous owner (to mask his identity, I will refer to him as Brent) and delivered it all to my garage. We ran into a few problems along the way, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. It started raining the minute I showed up at my uncle's house and I was starting to wonder if that was a bad omen.
I drove my 2004 5-cylinder Chevy Colorado to my uncle's to hook up the enclosed trailer and had to back up a hill to the barn to remove the corrosion from the electric hookup. It was a learning experience for me because it was my first time backing up a trailer of any kind. I found out that I do alright if the trailer is straight from the start. Needless to say, there was a lot of backing up and pulling forward on my part.
After my uncle got his vehicle trailer attached to his 1994 V-8 Ford Bronco, he told me that he was a little concerned about the rusty frame on the rear passenger-side, right where the ramp rests. Later that day, we found that the other side is the side we should have been concerned about.
Off we went to the site of the Nova. On the way, we apparently passed Usher in his *correction* pearl white Bentley? I must have been focusing on where we were going and didn't notice. Also on our way, we drove on the worst road in Akron. We were going 5 mph, dodging all kinds of holes, dips, and bumps.
A little shaken from the drive, we arrived at our destination and we decided to load up the Nova first. The car had to be jacked up and put on car dollies to move it over to the side of the garage with the larger door. We hooked a chain up to the Nova's hitch and Brent's Blazer. I got into the Nova and went for my first ride. Even though the transmission wasn't installed, I was an idiot and put it in neutral. Brent pulled the Nova up through the gravel to the flat part of the driveway with me steering and my uncle guiding me.
When I got to the top of the driveway, I held the brake down as my uncle backed up the trailer to the end of the driveway. Luckily, it wasn't a busy street, because his truck was blocking the road for about 10 minutes. We didn't have any troubles loading the Nova onto the trailer, except for the low rear bumper scraping the ramp. With me in the car, the two guys pushed the Nova onto the trailer. I held my foot on the brake while my uncle pulled the trailer onto the street to strap it down. Not five seconds went by and the first vehicle came up the street.
I let my uncle back up the enclosed trailer into the driveway...to save time. He first pulled forward into the neighbor's driveway and the trailer jack got lodged between the sections of payment. I had to lift up the trailer at the hitch while he reversed to get unstuck. After he backed up inside the garage, we loaded up all the parts—engine first—into the trailer and secured everything for transport.
I thanked Brent again for the sale and his two boys waved good bye to the Nova and Brent took a picture as we drove off to its new home. Because of the rain earlier, the roads were a bit slick and my uncle's truck was barely holding traction going down a fairly steep brick road. Even though I have lived in Akron for almost two years, I still didn't know this particular area quite well. I kept looking back at my uncle in my mirror as if to ask for directions. I saw him pointing in the direction I needed to go. At one point, he was changing lanes and I thought he wanted me to switch lanes as well. So I pulled out in front of him and I heard his tires grab a hold of the pavement and screeched a few times. I then realized that he wanted to pull ahead of me and lead the way home.
We did finally make it safely to our destination. Again, it took me awhile to back up my narrow driveway and inside the garage. I set my keys, phone, and wallet on my grill while we unloaded. I opened the trailer and surprisingly everything was still in place and nothing shifted. We unloaded the trailer of all the parts and improvised with vehicle ramps and plywood to get the engine out with its stand. Thankfully, that part went smoothly. I pulled out into the street and my uncle went around the block to get situated for his turn to backup into the driveway. It took him the same amount of time to back up the driveway with his 20+ foot trailer as it did me and my 10 foot trailer.
We ended up having to jack up the front of the trailer to bring the back end down a little to minimize the distance the Nova would have to travel downwards. We also added 4x4's under the ramps to decrease the angle, so as not to scrape the bumper again. With me in the Nova and my uncle pushing from behind, I went down the ramps onto the driveway—only not as expected.
When the front tires went off the 4x4's and onto the ground, it was enough force to break through the rusty ramp bracket. This resulted in the ramp unhooking and getting lodged between the rear passenger tire, the rear bumper, and the ground. Mind you, this was opposite side that my uncle had been concerned about. He then explained to me the improvements that he intends to make on the trailer to make loading and unloading easier. This occurrence gave him more of a reason to start the project.
We dislodged the ramp and with me in the drivers seat, continued pushing the Nova into its new home. I put it on vehicle dollies again for easier maneuvering in my garage. After we got everything situated, I closed the garage door and thanked my uncle again for his time and effort. We agreed to go to back to his house now and drop off the trailers.
I walked out to my truck and reached to open my door and realized it was locked. I remembered that I left my keys on my grill inside the garage. Needless to say, I broke into my own house by means that will not be disclosed for obvious reasons, to get a metal hanger, to bend it just right and fish it through the slightly cracked driver's window of my truck, to hit the unlock button, to open the door, to get my remote garage door opener, to open my garage, and to retrieve my keys, wallet, and phone that I previously left on my grill.
Most of the excitement was over for the day and we finally headed back to his house. He wanted me to backup the trailer up a hill into its preassigned parking spot. Even though I had my truck in 4 wheel drive, the tires were still spinning on the wet grass and creating a mess of his lawn. I pulled forward and around and had trouble backing up into the spot. He took over the wheel and did the job right.
This experience was relatively problem free and nothing unrepairable occurred during the day, so I was pretty excited to have my new toy parked in my garage. I must have been exhausted, because I went home, warmed up some leftovers and fell asleep in my chair after I ate. I didn't get any work done.
Fin.
I will try to keep the blog going and take many pictures of my ongoing progress. I will also try to keep the blog entries a little shorter than this one. Check back at times to see the updates I have made.
Enjoy,
Dan