what do car guys do in winter time?

[TGM2054]

Get these ready for next year.

[smallblockhero]

[Reslotted]

Then the next thing you know - is that it's 25 years since your last Pass and you think "Where did the time go?"


-

[DAVE]

And the cool thing about those planes is they could be flown inside school gymnasiums. A year round
activity. The real pros made the airplane frames out of thin piano wire and skinned them by floating
liquid nitrocellulose on water and dipping the frame into it. Those planes were so light that they would
stay airborne forever.

[dreinecke]

TGM2054 - I simply love the box Malibus. If the wife could ever get over the gag reflex she has on wagons, I'd build one for sure.

Love the shot from '87!

[VenturaAlfa]

1. 77 Alfa Romeo spider- Finish new interior, repaint in progress, back date bumpers to 1974 stainless steel in place of the butt ugly rubber 5 mile an hour bumpers.

2. 74 Jensen Healey- Put on new ported and flowed head from west coast racing cylinder heads and get it back on the road.

3. Put 70+ foot slot car track currently on the floor on to a table to be built over the holidays so the dog can't jump on the track anymore and the kids don't step on it.

4. Finish at least a dozen slot car projects including converting putting a 1992 Petty STP Grand Prix AMT model kit that arrived today onto a SCX slot car chassis to go with the other AMT Vintage NASCAR models that are either done or partially done. :D

Ventura Alfa

[DAVE]

Ventura; I had a '77 AR 2000 Spyder. I hope yours isn't as much of a P.I.T.A (pain in the a** ) as mine was.
I still have a spare motor I pulled out of one that burned to the ground. I'll make a coffee table out of
it since i don't think it is rebuildable. What a fantastic driving and track car it was. Too bad it was such
a problem child. It lives on as a vintage racer that Mike Besic built for a customer.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Ok, what I am going to do is work on my 97' Ford Exploder. It needs a simple brake job in the rear. I sank it last Spring...long story. So the rear pads are shot and need a swap.

Simple as pie to do.

Oh sure, I have had all summer and early fall when it was nice outside to do it. But where is the fun in that?

No, it has to be cold. With the wind whipping about bringing the wind chill down into the teens. This way, when my hand slips off the ratchet (and it will) my frozen knuckles can scrape the inside fender well, which is 4 times as hard as it is frozen too. I'll start out on frozen ground/gravel as I don't want to get too comfy. As I work, it will defrost and adhere to my pants like it has a hot glue backing. My body will keep it wet too, so when I move I can be refreshed by the iceberg like effects.

Then there are the two trips to the parts store. It doesn't matter that I have planned this for days. Something will be missing or get broken in the process. Plus at least one, if not two tools will be needed. Two trips is usually the norm for my projects.

Parts stores are great. Especially ours, where when I walk in wearing my ridiculous oversized jeans and massive parka from the second hand shop and body covered with a mixture of grease, oil, mud and likely a couple other mystery fluids. Remember Arnold in the first Predator? I'll make him look clean.

They will be happy to see me, especially when I have to buy one of the tools I don't have. Regular price is $12.95...but for me it will be triple that. Plus it will break half way through the job. This is that second trip I spoke about. Oh, no warranty either. It was on special.

I'll start around 9 or so tomorrow and should be done by Sunday night.

I can't wait.

[dreinecke]

Harry, I feel your pain. When we lived in Germany from 1980-1984 we lived in an apartment without a garage. I did everything outside on my 1968 Chevelle - tuneups, bodywork, you name it. I think the only time I got to use the Auto-Hobby shop on base was when I put the headers and exhaust on it because we wanted to use the lift.

Worst job I ever did on it was the motor mounts. Turns out that the original Chevrolet design was a 2-part mount. Which, broke and usually stuck the throttle wide-open due to the fact that the motor would torque over and not go back into the now broken mount. Well, between our little town of Machenbach and Ramstein AFB, that is what happened. After 2 months of trying to get the right parts through JC WEHAVEYOURMONEYWHITNEY, I had my aunt go to Sport Chevrolet in Baltimore, MD and send me an unmarked package. Not only did I finally get the new mounts, but they were the new style with the safety catch in the event they broke!

Back to the story: It was January, about 20 degrees, and snowing. Oh, and did I mention the sustained 25 MPH winds? I started at 10AM and finished at 4PM. Normally, this is a 15-30 minute job per side. Not when you can't feel your hands, face, and other parts. It took me about an hour to get the driver's side out, and then 2 hours to put the new one in. Everytime I tried to line up the bolts, something would move, fall, etc. Of course, the car was parked on a cobblestone driveway that would swallow the bolts and nuts and take 20 minutes to find. I finally put an old GI blanket down as my arse was now frozen to the pavement. I went in for lunch and to defrost and finally had an ephiphany - was it better to freeze or was it better to burn? I elected burn and cranked up the car, got the headers nice and hot, and went back to work. I still remember burning skin off the back of my knuckles a few times on the passenger side. But, the good news was that I warmed it up about 10 degrees under the car. I think I did that about 5 times; start the car, let it run a few minutes to heat up, and then shut it down and go back under it. That sucked more than any lousy job I've done since.

As for the parts store, it would take months to get packages from the aforementioned money stealer. I finally resorted to having my aunt send everything for me in unmarked packages. I had 3 clutches and 4 Hurst shifters show up open with missing parts. Turns out the good old mail sorters in the APO world needed stuff for their cars too.