On all four paws

The chassis is on four wheels and tires again.

After spending $2,000 on tires, there wasn't much else to do on the car but torque some of the suspension now that the frame is no longer up on jack stands.

We'll get a main shaft for the transmission and start putting that together when we get out of the poor house.

Don't tell my mother

The fifth and final tire came in today from JEGS to complete the set so it was time to mount it onto the last wheel. It had been a struggle to mount the first four at first, but it had become easier as we went along until it only took a minute or two to seat them to the wheel. That is until this one.

This old center-post Coats tire machine is from 1987, but it's 16 years ahead of its time when it comes to this car from 1971. It has a built-in bead blaster that expands the tire with a powerful blast of air to seal against the beads of the wheel long enought for it to inflate. However, this wasn't working on this tire for one reason or another.

After a long struggle, it was time to bring out the ether and explode it onto the beads and seat the tire. It's not exactly the safest way of doing it, but it became the only way to break the stalemate.

BAM! It's on there now and it looks great.

Once the touchup paint cures to fix where some paint chipped off during installation, this will go onto the car and complete this very expensive but satisfying step and get it on the ground on its wheels.

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.