Always something

The fourth of five tires arrived today, but like so many other times, there is a wrinkle.

The three tires that have been purchased so far are all radial versions of the original. Coker Tires also makes a bias-ply version that is an exact copy of the original — and also lots more expensive. The radial version will ride and wear better. It's also not possible to mix bias-ply and radial tires on a car. Besides, they aren't identical and don't match. All that to say, it was a disappointment when this bias-ply tire arrived.

It could be used as the car's spare. That's not a big deal. What is worrisome is if this was sent to me because no more radial versions are available. We'll see what the seller says.

Dipstick

The original dipstick remains with the car and was restored today.

The handle was blasted and Parkerized while the tube was blasted, polished and electroplated according to the NCRS judging manual's description.

There are two plastic pieces the fit into the handle of this which were found online and ordered in to finish this off.

Well that's better

So glad to find a replacement to this reverse gear that someone tried to fix with a grinder. Not sure what happened to it, but it must have become damaged somewhere along the way and someone tried to smooth it out rather than just replacing it.

The new gear is used, but shows no signs of wear. It fits up nicely with the cluster gear and was only $20.

It's now in position in the case awaiting final assembly.

The purchase of a new main shaft will allow this unit to be put back together again.

Postage included

This Labor Day was spent working on the car, and what better project than retoring the bell housing?

First, the clutch fork and all the hardware were media-blasted and Parkerized.

The bell housing was really dirty and oddly
covered with black rattle-can spray paint.

The housing was pressure-washed before being soaked in diesel fuel for a couple of hours, which took off most of the dirt, clutch dust and the dried grease and oil.

After that it was blasted clean in the media blast cabinet. This removed the remaining grime and all that inexplicable black spray paint.

Next, this was glass bead-blasted to give the aluminum a satin sheen like it had when it was new.

Everything was assembled and has been set aside for when the engine is ready to be painted.

Weirdest of all was a 15-cent stamp that was found in a bolt hole on the perimeter of the bell housing.

This stamp is from about 1979 making this a pretty old Easter egg.

Somebody's been here before

It's very clear that someone has been in this transmission at some point in this car's past and the work that they did to try to save one of the reverse idler gears — a $25 part — is disappointing.

All of the physical damage is in the reverse gears, necessitating replacement of all of the parts associated with getting the car to go backwards. These cars must be put into first gear, which has a synchronizer, and then they can be put into reverse. Yet, most people don't do that and clearly did not do that on this car.

The needle bearings for the main shaft are in the clutch gear and the front reverse idler gear's bronze thrust washer is in place.

A matching set of sliders are due to arrive tomorrow. Many more parts will have to be rounded up and ordered before assembly can begin, but we're getting closer.

Second birthday

It's our grand daughter's second birthday and there was a really big Corvette show nearby, but there was still enough time to Parkerize the bolts for the motor mounts.

As for the Corvette show, the best shark car had to be this unrestored 1970 454 four-speed A/C car in Donnybrooke Green.

Small jobs

The two motor mounts were restored as work began to strip the engine down.

The exhaust manifolds, motor mounts and ignition shielding were all removed while preparing the engine for rebuild.