Project Log: 1987 GLHS #0103

[supercrackerbox]

Not much progress lately. Two of my biggest fears have been realized with this car.

1. I'm putting in way to much overtime to be able to dedicate any real time to the car. Good for the funds, but not for the deadline. On top of that, spring came early this year. The lawn is already in need of mowing, and the daffodills have already bloomed. I didn't even know we had daffodills! But now I've got to manage fit in a lot of yard work too.

2. The shop has become an unholy disorganized mess. Typical of any project of mine, but given that this is the biggest project I've ever taken on, it's gonna get way out of hand if I don't fix it soon. First thing's first- Start selling off or throwing out anything and everything I'm not going to re-use on this car. Anyone interested in some stock TI pistons and LW rods?


I did manage to get the old 2.25" swing valve taken off the turbo, and only broke one bolt. Thank you PB Blaster! Also, I don't remember who posted it, but someone said to remove the inside bolt, knock the swing valve counter-clockwise with a hammer first. That little tidbit worked great! I've got the new 2.5" one mounted in the bench vice ready for porting. I had to re-tap the O2 sensor hole just so I could get a plug into it. I've had an Innovative LC-1 sitting on the shelf for a couple years for the Charger; I've decided to just put it in the GLHS instead and skip buying a new O2 sensor for it.

4295519 is the black pad. Grey ones are not available. Dont know if you ever saw the thread but I did get the circlip that retains the 5th gear on both the input & countershafts reproduced and available if so interested.

I have been reading that thread, and actually meant to ask you about that. You said once removed, the clips are usually not as tight as they need to be (paraphrase). So if once installed there's some wiggle, I need to replace them?

My GLH is running at about 200hp. It has the original 525 with a girdle and moly bearing plate.
So far, So good.

http://www.greatlakeshotrod.com/Grea...omplished.html



http://www.greatlakeshotrod.com/Great_Lakes_Hot_Rods/Rebirth_of_a_1986_GLH-Turbo/Entries/2010/8/31_Mission_Accomplished.html

I've always said the 525 is a lot stronger than it gets credit for. The fact that an '83 carbed trans held up in this car as long as it did is testament to that!

[135sohc]

I am not aware of any transmission failures from that clip falling off but yes it is my opinion that it should be replaced. I did not like how it was loose and the clip was free to rotate around.

[Rich Beauregard]

Subscribed

[supercrackerbox]

We found an '86 carb'd/automatic Charger in the junkyard today. It's been a verry long time since I've seen a complete 2-door car in the yards, and this one was not in terrible shape. Garnett car with the maroon interior. Both door handles were broken off, so it took us a while to get inside. After wasting a lot of time with trying open the doors from the inside with some wire, we finally just pulled the glass out of the hatch and got in that way. I thought about keeping the glass, but we wouldn't have had room for it in the car. I may go back for it next weekend if it's still there. Unfortunately the windshield was busted, or I'd have been all over that. I've got a trim tool on order, and I'll definately be going back for the windshield trim.

What we did get today was the interior sail panels, seatbelt retractors, side mirrors, cargo cover hooks, splash guards, tail lights, and a bunch of other odds and ends. The sail panels aren't 100%, but once painted they'll be a heck of a lot better than the sun-baked ones currently in the GLHS. The splash guards are pretty tore up, but I have none in the GLHS right now.

Tomorrow I plan to look over the GLHS very closely and see if there's anything I need off that car.

[supercrackerbox]

Holy crap progress! Kind of.

Amber and I pulled the interior out of the car last night. Everything except for the dash and headliner that is. Sail panels and A-pillar pieces went straight to the dumpster. Carpet will most likely follow. I've got another carpet on the shelf, I'll use the better of the two. The floors look surprisingly good, although the passenger side will need some very minor spots welded shut. And I'll need to pop one of the plugs out of the rear, clean it up, and apply new body sealer. Other than that, this car is in way better shape than my Charger was, rust-wise. This afternoon we're going to scrub all the interior pieces and start painting them.



Pics tonight!

[ajakeski]

If you have small spots to repair in the floor you may want to use 3M Panel Bond Adhesive. No welding sparks and it forms a water tight seal.

http://3mcollision.com/products/adhe...ive-08115.html

Great stuff and it's super strong. I've been using it for years.

Keep up he great work.

[supercrackerbox]

Hmmm, hadn't thought of that. When I did the Charger, I smeared body sealer over a few of them, but that was before I had access to a welder. I haven't pulled the carpet up on that car to see how it's holding up. The part that concerns me on the GLHS is what seems to be a crack that formed where the floor meets the exhaust tunnel. I'll know more when I get all the loose rust and paint cleaned up to better assess the damage.

[supercrackerbox]

Finally got the dash out last night to change the heater core and better assess the rust damage in the floor. Lots of surface scale, possibly a few pinholes. But the only real perforation is that crack, which appears to be a wrinkle that's not supposed to be there. I think it's collateral damage from the nose hit. My body guy advised me not to fix it until after the car goes on the frame machine. So for now it's just going to be treating the rust and cleaning it up. I guess the car will have to get to the body shop somehow with no interior.

[supercrackerbox]

The car was loaded up this morning and hauled to the body shop to have the frame straightened. Should be done by Tuesday. In the meantime, I hope to have the engine and transmission assembled this weekend.

[supercrackerbox]

Transmission is assembled. Interior panels are painted. Block, seal housings, water pump, and all engine brackets/mounts are painted. Crank is in the engine. F'd up the seal saver trying to install it on the intermediate shaft, called it a night.

[86Shelby]

A pic of the trans after it was finished.

[86Shelby]

Back from the frame shop!!!



The interior pieces are looking fantastic. If nothing else this will be a very pleasant car to ride in.





The interior still needs a small amount of work before it hits the road.

[phoebegoesvroom]

Looks great! I'm thinking about giving my gray interior pieces a respray too eventually, just to get them all even. What did you use on yours?

[minigts]

^^ +1 Still haven't found a store in town that sells vinyl paint for a reasonable price. SEM is very close from what I've used with the charcoal, but I'm looking to spray mine with a gun, so I'd like to get it in volume.

And the car looks good from the pics, can't wait to see it painted! Keep it up Adam!!! (and others. )

[supercrackerbox]

Looks great! I'm thinking about giving my gray interior pieces a respray too eventually, just to get them all even. What did you use on yours?

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...erior+adhesion

I pretty much followed this thread to the letter EXCEPT no one in town carried the Scuff and Clean, so I used Ajax. The sail panels and A-pillar pieces came out of a maroon car, so it took about 4-5 very light coats to cover everything. The rest of the parts got by with two coats except the arm rests which took 3 because they were oddly discolored. I think I used 5 cans of color to do everything, and still have half a can left over which should be just enough to do the seat belt covers when I drop out the headliner this afternoon. There's only two stores in my area that carry SEM, and each only stock one can of the Warm Grey at a time, so it took a while to round up enough color. I do have to do my rear speaker covers too, but need to figure out a way to pull the carpet off without destroying it. I'll probably just leave them yellowed for now.

Since the charcoal pieces are all lower and less prone to fading, they all got by with just a good cleaning.

^^ +1 Still haven't found a store in town that sells vinyl paint for a reasonable price. SEM is very close from what I've used with the charcoal, but I'm looking to spray mine with a gun, so I'd like to get it in volume.

And the car looks good from the pics, can't wait to see it painted! Keep it up Adam!!! (and others. )

I asked Kaleb what he used on our Chargers a few years ago, and he said PPG DDL. He said it's a laquer base, and not a lot of places carry it, but give it a shot. I can also tell you that just like above, prep is key. I must not have cleaned the A-pillar pieces in my Charger very well, because they started peeling bad after a year or so in the sun. I can see the plastic beneath is shiny, so a little more time with the scuff pads may have prevented that.

Another friend of mine said he used some stuff from VTH with good results.

[supercrackerbox]

Some newer pictures:



I believe a lot of the rust in the passenger floor was due to (A) It's an L-body, and (B) when the PO converted it to the Super 60 wiring, they just wrapped the LM boot bracket in duct tape and stuck it back in the hole. No seal whatsoever. I cut the bottom off a pop can and sealed it in with RTV. Not so permanent that it's irreversable (just in case), but should seal much better. With the engine bay now painted, you can't even see it.






Before and after of the new interior panels.






Ray and Amber putting the transmission back together.







Amber primed and painted the engine bay.





Freshly re-cored radiator, sitting in front of the old radiator out of Amber's '62 F100. Sadly, her radiator was too far gone to repair, and a replacement set her back over $400.











Four rust holes cut out of the passenger floor (one small one shadowed by my hand, and one you can't see in the wheel well). I cut patch panels out of one of the old beat-up fenders. This was my first attempt at actual rust repair, and I'd say it went pretty well. Yes, it looks like I may have been better off replacing the whole pan, but it was mostly just surface rust. The blue stuff is Eastwood's Rust Converter. Brushed it on thick and let it cure for two days. As of tonight, the front floor pans and wheel wells are coated in Rustoleum Rubberized Undercoating on the outside, and all the seams inside are recovered in Transtar paintable body sealer. Next project will be painting the whole floor with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator, and then their equivalent to Dynamat. I'm fairly confident these floors will be fine for many years to come.



Welcome to L-body hell.

[minigts]

Wow man, you are making good progress on the car! Plans are still to bring it to SDAC I hope? Can't wait to see all the work you've done with it!!! Keep up the pace!

[supercrackerbox]

I doubt it. The car is still just a bare shell at this point, and I've got two weeks to put it back together? I'll most likely be driving the Daytona.




Which doesn't run either at the moment.

[BadAssPerformance]

Looking good Adam! *fingers crossed* for SDAC

[86Shelby]

It can be done. Again it's all down to how complete do you want the car to be... I'd prefer no delorean action; though it may make the car indesctructible. Hmmmmm