[sixball]

It must be nice to have friends.   

[sammons]

Sixball, i have been truely blessed with great freinds since moving here in '72. Although probably 1/2 are dead now😕

Fuel system has been a nightmare. Although the inside of the tank looked good, the sock/strainer was plugged as was the pick up tube. The fuel sender was all gunky/rusty, all the hoses were actually collapsed like a vaccum had sucked them down. Tom pulled my tank so i could clean all up. Acetone in tank to break up the strip of varnish in the middle strip  then a good vinager soak and flush. Same with all hardlines, found acetone then Lysol toilet bowl cleaner really got sock/strainer clean.

Repainted tank, lines, straps, bolts and under tank repainted before reinstall. Got all new rubber lines/clamps on. Made it up to fuel pump, don't think it will ever get clean inside with that caister style on the bottom. So i rounded up a low mile regular fuel pump i swapped out before putting my low mile 350 out of the 77 Elcamino doner as it had a return line my 59 Elcamino didn't need.

While waiting for Tom to have time to do that yesterday, i pulled the dash cluster out to clean that nasty stuff up. Sand and dirt on everything in there. Gonna pull all the switches apart to clean the grit out. The stuff you get into when buying a cheap car😁

[sixball]

That is a lot of progress! The time will be well spent.


"Sixball, i have been truely blessed with great freinds since moving here in '72. Although probably 1/2 are dead now😕"

I have had a lot of great help here too over the years and, yes, most of them and gone now. I always tell people to keep making new friends, younger if possible, so they won't end up with no help when they really need it. It really hit home a few weeks ago while I was standing on the hilltop above my house and watching the wildfire about 800 yards away. No one to call for help. There is no comfort in being the last man standing.  I need to follow my own advise

[TFoch]

Nice progress Sammons!  Great to have friends that can help you!

[sammons]

Thanks  guys!  Word must be getting out, care packages for Camaro are showing up. Some i figured out, some... no clue.

Well good news/bad news. Tom changed my fuel pump from the 1,800 mile Elcamino  save. Didn't pump for a bit, then took off for about 10mins, then started spewing out weap holes
 Sat on shelf to long. Got a new one installed and car runs under its own fuel system now. About 15-20 mins running smoke from all over clouded the garage, smelt like a forrest fire. Between the the rodent nest in exhaust and pack rat collection packed up above exhaust. Good is the Q-jet. Throttled it up a few times, them wound up kicking in those big seconderies, a little black sooty shot out pipe. Idols perfect. We shut it off for couple hours amd Tom just reached in hit key.... i don't think it made a full revolution and fired rihht up idoling perfect. Q-jets amaze me sometimes.

Cleaned up all the gauges and switches once apart. All came out clean and working. Went to reassemble all good, then started to install the clear gauge panel and noticed i must have caught the speedo needle on something amd broke it off😡

Dropped tranny pan to change filter, rather grainy in there. Tom said some clutch material and maybe a small chunk of band. Said it would either work for quite a while or fail quick if age/heat related material failer. Told me to drive this fall and come winter he would pull pan and check. If more crap, he would pull and overhaul for me.

Finally got Trooper from KHP over for my MVE-1 inspection process. Got my insurance on it. Tom had jury duty in the city so he took all up and registered it for me, brought back all registrstion_ temp tag till they print mine in a few weeks.

Gaining, i think!
 

[sixball]

I'm a big Q-Jet fan. When they are working right they are great! When the secondaries kick in HANG ON!

[sammons]

Yes sir, i love Q-jets. If you get one that no one has touched and tje trottle shaft aren't worn. I've always got great gas milage and power out of them. Got tired of carb problems on my 383 mag Ramcharger. Found an adapter and stuck a Q-jet on it. Power and gas milage came way up😁

Tom buttoned up trans tonight and tinkered with a few things. Was just gonna back out of garage to move to the center of garage so i could get to the right side of the car. To hell with it, i backed into the street and drove her down the block. Guess my first official drive👍 Told Tom not to show back up here for a while, i don't need his wife pissed at me😄

 
Crappy pic Tom sent me from short video. But proof it drove again.

Heading into house for the night, glanced back, right side of car looks like a sissy with those skinny weird Rally wheels🤪

[TFoch]

Nice!

[Essex_29]

Great work, sammons, a clean fuel system is a big part of making a trouble free driver.
That work with the instrument cluster too, that's a thing not many even think of getting into (me included).
So fun when everything works and looks decent.

[sammons]

Thanks guys.
Essex gauges aren't bad to clean up, but are delicate. Dad started mr cleaning them up when i was 6-7 yrs old on the old cars he would flip. I learned a valuable lesson on an 50 (?) Chevy p.u, dad  handed me to clean, it was really dusty and the letters were kinda yellowed. I wiped down as normal but the yellowed numbers woulfn't come clean. So i used some kind of cleaner, glass cleaner or possibly dish soap. Washed some right off and streak/smeared the others. Dad was pissed said never use any thing more than i showed you, dry soft rag or klenex with a tiny drop of water.  He had to hand paint all numbers back on.

Bad day yesterday. Right rear wheel stuck to hub like the left was, still stuck. When i go in for the night i always flip breaker off to air compressor and my garage door opener. When i came out to flip on, the air compressor was on. I know i flipped it off. Getting aggravated at wheel i went on to something else. Got done and figured i'd make a speedo needle out of a flat toothpick, in the house cause garage was getting hot. Did that and hope the needle isn't to heavy to work propper, then decided to do lunch. Took a short nap and woke up sweating. Thought it was just me, looked at thermo 87 in there. Circulation fan running, opened back door and condencer unit not running. Went thru all start up stuff from power down checking thermostat on/off, unit on/off  out to garage to check breaker, it was tripped flipped it back on and reset every thing and it took off and run fine. I must have flipped a/c breaker instead of air compressor one breaker up.
Tried wheel again, too hot to deal with that struggle, took on easy tail lamp bulb replacement. Ha ha, most corroded in socket  and had to mangle to get out, only got 3 out. Soaked all others for today.

This 100 degree heat is making me less patient and aggravated easily. I may just clean house and stay in for the day.

[sammons]

Finally got the right rear off yesterday morn. The big gear puller wasn't working, even with 2 day soak of acid/penatrant. Ended up driving around the block 4 times and another 2 laps down the alley with the lug nuts loose and hitting every pot hole. Still nothing, put gear puller back on and it finally popped off.
Went for a 20 min cruise around town. Tranny feels good even though the clutch chunks and crap in the pan says different.

Dang i still hate that color.

[sixball]

If the car is not the same when you go to bed at nigh as it was when you got up in the morning that is progress. All progress is good even if it doesn't seem to be at the time. 

[sammons]

Lol, thats a fact!

Like the goofy guy from Oklahoma i watch on youtube (Puddin's Fab Shop) always says at the end of his videos.....  "Remember, sitting on your ass will not finish your project"

[sixball]

"Remember, sitting on your ass will not finish your project"

So that is my problem, I knew I was screwing up somewhere.

[sammons]

Lol    Sixball, life gets in the way sometimes. Your like my brother, so much up keep and maintance around the ranch, wifes car etc, i don't know how he fimds time to work on his projects.

I saved the old qtr panels off the '69 Elcamino that i replaced for a guy. They had a lot of useable sheetmetal for patching. My temporary floor panel for the drivers side till this winter when i put in a real one. Glad i just have the drivers side to do.

A blst from the past. My Aunt sent me some pictures from my grandmas photo album. Around 1985, Morro Bay Ca, we were headef back to Kansas in my old '69 Torino Cobra. 428 CJ, 4-speed that i sold to another friend 4 months earlier. He just had the motor rebuilt and told me to take it on the trip to break in the motor right. If i would have known it only got 12mph, i'd have taken something else.
From left to right, a young Tom, grandpa, me and my brother on the right. Sent to Tom and said dang your mullet was longer than my hair and he looked like he played in a rock band of the time. He reminded me that grandpa had just cut my hair, the more he talked, the shorter he cut it😁