Comments for Improbable Garage

Comment on Project Creep 3, paint and more paint! by Ryan Grimm

Ryan Grimm — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:01:36 +0000

Pretty shiny parts. Excellent.

Comment on the manifold exhausting attempts to fix the exhaust manifold. by Pixel

Pixel — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:29:15 +0000

I’ll keep that trick in mind.

Comment on Engine swap, woefully under-photographed. by Pixel

Pixel — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:26:20 +0000

I wanted to do the manifold, paint the engine, etc before it went in, but it was too cold for paint, then I got myself rushed trying to get the engine swapped in one day as I had hoped to take the car somewhere the day before.
The engine swap was a round of poor planning and impatience on my part all around.

Comment on Engine swap, woefully under-photographed. by Ryan Grimm

Ryan Grimm — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:08:57 +0000

Hindsight being 20-20 vision, I’m betting you wished you had changed out that manifold while the engine was out of the car…

Comment on Engine swap, woefully under-photographed. by Ryan Grimm

Ryan Grimm — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:04:39 +0000

I did a similar engine swap on my 69 T-bird with a 460, in early April, in Chicago. It didn’t help that the hoist I rented had both pivoting casters blown out (what a piece of crap), and I was doing it on the street so that the camber of the pavement kept the engine swinging to the side.

What an enormous pain in the ass. However, all went well (eventually) and I was back to my usual 11 MPG on 53 cent leaded Premium…this was 1978 or thereabouts.

Comment on the manifold exhausting attempts to fix the exhaust manifold. by Ryan Grimm

Ryan Grimm — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:56:30 +0000

And by putting pressure on the wrench to move it 1/8th of an inch, I mean moving the HANDLE of the vise-grips 1/8th of an inch, NOT the bolt.
You do not, of course, want to torque and snap the bolt…

I presume you will use Never-Seez during re-assembly.

Comment on the manifold exhausting attempts to fix the exhaust manifold. by Ryan Grimm

Ryan Grimm — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:54:27 +0000

One technique I use to remove stuck studs or bolts THAT I CAN REACH is to soak them with Blaster PB, and let them sit a while….4-6 hours, occasionally giving them another dose.
Then I grip the stud with large vise grips, REALLY tightly! and use a torch (propane works OK for this) to warm up the IRON the bolt is stuck into. This will take a while to heat the metal up well.
Once the area is hot, I spray the bolt and it’s base where it screws into the block (but not the block!) with more Blaster, be aware it may flare up and burn, just blow it out.

NOW carefully using a little leverage, work the vise-grips a little, VERY little, back and forth, only putting a little pressure on the bolt maybe on 1/8th of an inch in each direction…just work it back-and-forth.
Here’s what happens: the Blaster will cool the bolt a bit, making it marginally smaller in the bolt hole. The vise grips also act as a heat sink, and if it gets too hot just change it out for another, or cool it with a tub of water and re-clamp it on.
The pressure back-and-forth will break the bonds of the rust, allowing increasingly larger movements of the bolt in the threaded hole. Add Blaster as needed.
Repeat the heating and Blaster treatments, and 95+% of the time I get the bolts out.
I learned this while working in an exhaust shop, removing frozen studs from exhaust manifolds.
Using this technique I have brought back from the dead, tools and materials that were solid blocks of rust.

The trick again, is to work the bolt EVER SO SLIGHTLY back and forth. This will actually twist the bolt slightly along it’s length (kinda the way torque rods or springs work), allowing the bolt to twist ever so slightly, breaking the rust bond a few molecules at a time.
Simply out-stubborn the bolts. You Will Win.

Comment on Engine swap, woefully under-photographed. by Chris

Chris — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:00:04 +0000

A friend of ours just moved across the country and we went to the going away party this past weekend at her apartment at 175 Whitney Street. As I locked my bike to the back stairs I had a flashback of a winter engine swap that involved a Nova, snow, and very cold hands. This one looked pleasant by comparison!

Comment on Hot stuff, in the good, then bad way by Pixel

Pixel — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:40:52 +0000

The Mustang might, but the Falcon uses multiple wires that fee into separate circuits in the motor(the resistors are probably in the motor). So right now I have two wires going to the motor(plus ground) and only one on the motor. When I get around to replacing the heater core I may get the correct blower motor(I have since found a source, but they are not cheap).

Comment on The Wee Trailer by Pixel

Pixel — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:38:22 +0000

I keep meaning to make stake side, and keep not getting around to it. I figure the point at which I *need* them will be the point at which I get around to making them.