Today I... "Redux Edition"

[Jack]

People are stupid... it's as simple as that (or drunk)

[tajoe]

Today I ....read these last few posts. And can agree that some of the public, just shouldn't be driving. "Especially" with all these new cell phone distraction. In my days as a youngster, people were driving high and loaded, quite often, leading to some serious accidents. I'm sure there's still some of that going on, but I'll bet these new phones "FAR" out-weigh anything from the past.
Defensive driving is a must today. Some time in the distant future, maybe the people won't be allowed to drive anymore, and public transportation will become the norm...again.

[5th T/A]

Probably less people driving under influence nowadays. But the percentage of distracted drivers is way up there.

I retired about three years ago, when I was working, I easily would drive 1000 miles a week. Sometimes 500-600 a day. I saw people of all ages texting while driving. Even a lot of professional truck drivers. If I saw a vehicle that was having trouble staying in their lane, usually they were staring at their phone. Add the increased traffic congestion and higher traffic speeds, it makes for more dangerous conditions. I try to give myself more space from other vehicles, but on congested roads that is not easy. I love motorcycles and used to take a lot of cross country trips. I haven’t taken a long trip in seven years. Now most of my riding is in fairly rural areas with considerably less traffic and congestion. As tajoe said you have to be a very defensive driver and 100% focused on what is going on around you.

[scarebird]

Parked car in shop after cars-n-coffee this morning.  Noted puddle under left front - now what?

"What" turned out to be master cylinder going out; this is an aluminum unit but even they do not last forever...  ordered a new one.  Topped off master and drove home where it will stay until new part arrives.  Trans Am driver's window having issues - ordered window blocks off Etsy earlier so will try the strict factory method of alignment.

[RamblerRacer]

Today I can report that yesterday I went 5 rounds in Pro Bracket at Island Dragway here in NJ.
Ran the finish line pretty good until the last round where I broke out running 11.23 on a 11.26 dial.  Had a bye into 4th round after posting a 0.002 RT in the second round.
Felt good to go rounds again.

JT

[tajoe]

So what is your "race car" of choice? A Rambler American? An Ambassador? Maybe a Gremlin? Any pics?

[RamblerRacer]

TAJoe

Here are a couple pics of the day and some more info.



The car is a 1979 AMC Spirit GT
It has a 9.8:1 401, TH400 and 9" with 4:30's
I run a 30x9 Hoosier drag radial on Pro Bracket.

I have been working on staging the car better / more consistently and it has paid off with (x4) rounds a few weeks ago and (x5) yesterday.
The track had other events going on and we got rained out last week.
I also reduced the setting for roll out in the practice tree because I think the car is leaving harder than the setting I had in it.

The spot we pit in at Island Dragway is near the Tech Booth away from the track and paved pit area.



First round I was better at the tree by .030 and my opponent broke out.
Second round my opponent fouled but; I had a .002 reaction to get a bye run in the 3rd round.
They put you on a ladder in the 3rd round and there were 13 cars so the bye run goes to best RT in the 2nd



Fourth round I was paired up with a real good racer but he too went red.



5th round I was paired up against another good racer and I had run an 11.250 on an 11.25 dial
The car had varied only .040 throughout the day even with some substantial condition changes.
The exception was on the bye run where the car really yanked the front tires up and ran an 11.23
Well the 4th and 5th round were nearly back to back so I left the dial that I had on the 4th round
That ended up biting me because again the car leaped and I ran an 11.23 to break out by 0.020.
I got put in the left lane on a coin toss and did not get the chance to see my opponent come around
He was dialed 9.77 to my 11.25 and carried almost 20 MPH on me through the traps.
Normally when I run a car that fast I dial hard, but I dialed down the last time I got that deep in the rounds and the car repeated what it had the previous round.

Probably more info than you requested but thanks for asking

JT

[tajoe]

Very impressive JT. Even tho your racer isn't a Pontiac, at least it's not a 69 Camaro, like so many others. I'll give you credit for originality. I've mentioned this on this site a few times B4, that my room-mate I was stationed with in the USAF, (back in the 70s,) educated me on the potential of AMCs. His name was Tony Pinto, and his father was huge into AMXs, and dragging. I'm not sure where they're at these days, but maybe you've heard the name.

And I miss class racing, or heads up drag racing. Wasn't a fan of brackets, and still aren't today. It must be so frustrating to be so close to your dial-in, yet still get beat. But at least you're out there having fun. And your bottom photo is a bit worry some too. Where is everyone? The staging lanes are almost empty. I stopped into Lebanon Valley drags a couple years back on a "regular" Sunday afternoon. A perfect day for racing. No clouds, and nice temps. There was about 1/4 of the pits that had cars. There was no fighting for parking spots. Seems the drag racing participation is waning fast. On the special events, (Like Muscle Palooza) the place is packed. Maybe Jersey is a little different?
P.S. Ever here of Bob Maxey JT? He use-ta run Atco and Englishtown quite a few years ago. (70s, into 80s.) Bracket racer. Started off successfully with a 68 FB, then graduated to an Ex pro stock Astre in the 10 sec. bracket. 455 W/ QJ. Very popular at the time.

[scarebird]

Started pulling the window out by the book and noted the forward window nut had come loose somehow, dropping the front of the window down.  Reattached it, set the guides and stops and was amazed it fit perfect - does not rattle even.  Never had a chance to use the blocks... 

Good thing as the factory notes you need to use suction cups too which I do not have.

Yesterday at CNC; a pair of 71 A rags.

[RamblerRacer]

Despair not TAJoe. That picture was only the cars left in R4
A moment later the pits were full again for the consolation race for racers that lost in 1st and 2nd round.

I believe Pro Bracket had 52 cars yesterday.

And although it has not been down track, I have a 79 TA getting a complete paint job.
Hoping to get it done before the weather changes.

JT

[b_hill_86]

Today (earlier anyway) I test drove my car after a short project. I had my 4 speed rebuilt by a local shop a few years ago (big mistake) and had several issues during the process. Eventually, after several rebuilds and arguments, I was satisfied enough and I counted my blessings and walked away. The downside….my guess is they disassembled it so many times they reused gaskets and/or didn’t replace any of the seals because it started leaking on me last year. I topped it off with some stop leak which seemed to just about cure it until a couple weeks ago. After two long drives one Sunday I noted some noise idling in neutral. Underside of the car was coated in gear oil. Little to none dripped on the ground surprisingly though. Anyway I sure as heck wasn’t going to take it anywhere again so I decided to replace the gaskets myself. It also needed a new speedo drive gear (the one inside on the output shaft) which was badly worn and the shop ignored.

Upon tearing it apart it was apparent the gaskets were leaking badly. They were applied dry and due to oil saturation from the leaking they peeled right off. Good for removal, not good for sealing. Anyway, I took the side cover off and tail case which wasn’t too bad. I left the bearing retainer gasket in place since it didn’t seem to be leaking as well as the one between the intermediate plate and the forward case since that would be quite a bit more involved and it was hardly seeping if at all. I replaced the speedo gear, rear seal and bushing, shifter shaft seals and the remaining gaskets all of which appeared to be leaking. One thing I found was the reverse idler gear, thrust washer and tail case were badly worn. Another thing the shop likely ignored or caused by improper installation. I wasn’t sure the exact cause but with some help from a guy named Paul Cangialosi who owns a shop in FL and has a YouTube channel (gearboxvideo) with EXCELLENT videos on various manual transmissions I got the correct thrust washer which proved hard to find. He also explained the wear is from the metal that chips off of the teeth when one shifts into reverse while rolling forward still. Anyway, long winded, I apologize, but I got everything back together and sealed up tight (so far) last night after work and test drive today. All-in-all, not a bad job to do. I highly recommend his videos if you need any info on the Muncie, t10, super t10 and more.

Oh and after refilling with oil, the noise in neutral is almost completely gone. Hard enough to hear it makes me wonder if I just never noticed it before so hopefully the bearings survived. Time will tell.

[firebirdparts]

Interesting post, thanks.  I haven't taken a 4 speed apart in many years.  A bit rusty.

[b_hill_86]

I never had before now. Those videos I mentioned really helped me even for as little as I did. I don’t think I’d have the confidence to go further than I did but I do. I just lack a press and a proper bearing puller but I think I could make one.  Glad I didn’t have to but I also like the challenge.

[roadking77]

I like a challenge and also like to learn new things about motors and such. I would like to tear on apart and try to put back together just because, But Im not sure I would want to do it to a trans that I liked 

I watched a guy on youtube, may have been the one you are referring to. It seemed pretty straightforward and simple enough, but I know I would have trouble with something.

[gm muscle]

Congrats on taking matters into your own hands. I've seen many of Paul's videos on YouTube and is very knowledgeable and experienced.  I believe he came out on one of Eric the Car Guy's videos...I started watching Paul's videos after Eric sang his praises. Good stuff.

[tajoe]

Another stick shift saved from the ravages, and transformations of an automatic. I like it. These things are starting to be as rare as hens teeth. Good job on your reseal, and thanks for sharing your photos.

[b_hill_86]

Congrats on taking matters into your own hands. I've seen many of Paul's videos on YouTube and is very knowledgeable and experienced.  I believe he came out on one of Eric the Car Guy's videos...I started watching Paul's videos after Eric sang his praises. Good stuff.

Yes they really are. He’s very knowledgeable and like I said, he had the correct thrust washer I needed and made some suggestions to avoid replacing that gear. Only a $50 part but he could’ve easily upsold  me if he wanted to but he didn’t.

[ryeguy2006a]

Yesterday, I saved my cheap air compressor! I was trying to fill up my truck's tire in a hurry and my little portable 26 gal. Husky tank tipped over and cracked the cast iron nipple that goes into the tank...  After carefully drilling out the broken off part, I was able to expose the threads in the tank. My neighbor had a 1/4" NPT tap, and we were able to clean out the original threads! Got a new fitting and sealed it all back up.

In the not too distant future, I want to get a new 2 stage tank so I really don't want to buy a new cheap compressor if I don't have to. Simple fix, just took some patience.

[tajoe]

Today I....will be finally finished with a returning project that has taken me a few weeks to perfect.
I know this isn't "T/A" related, but some might find interesting or educational.

My daughters 6 speed manual tranny, 2014 Scion Tc has been plagued with a developing transmission whine for over a year now. To make a long story short, the tranny is an EB-60 (Toyota) that to this day I can't find out who the manufacturer is. Guess it's a common problem with these cars from 2010 (?) to 2016, that the 6 speed manual transmission has inferior input shaft roller bearings that prematurely fail. They begin to deteriorate at about 60-80K, and then will eventually "implode if not remedied. The symptom is a growl or whine that will follow eng. speed, and will disappear when the clutch is engaged, or pushed in. Checking the fluid for contamination didn't reveal any major metal particles in Allies car, but the growl was definitely worsening.

So because the garages wanted around $4K to repair, I decided to tackle this job, even tho I've never pulled a FWD tranny B4.  I paid Toyota less than $400 in parts, and not to do a total O/H, but fix the major culprit, which was change the 2 input shaft brgs. The car is clean, and (I can't believe I'm gunna say) "relatively" low mileage, at just over 100K. However, since I was there, I did replace the axle seals, and clutch disc. I could've gone the full O/H route, with also new axle shafts, but didn't wanna get into the "over a grand" mark. Those items can be replaced, if needed in the future, if she decides to keep the car. The parts in question were serviceable, so I let them ride...for now.

I took a ton of pics for my own future benefits, but will post only a few for your reading pleasure. I hope the site will allow them to up-load. I can't seem to post from my 'puter, so have-ta use PB. Don't like the PB ad over the photos, but what to do?
This is Allies 2014 Scion Tc.
 

And here is the parts that must be removed for tranny removal.

This is designated an EB-60 transmission, and looks like a cross between the twin towers, and a lenco. Very complicated rail design.

Removing the crap brgs, the "Rube Goldberg" way.

And finally reinstalling, with home made plate on a scissor jack.

I was fortunate enuff that the growl was terminated, but had a couple problems to be remedied, once I prematurely returned the car to Allie. I'll post them below, so this one post won't be any larger.

[tajoe]

And to finish the above post, after the return of Allies Tc Scion, she noticed an annoying squeal, that worsened over a week or so, so she brought it back to me, to find it was just the passenger side backing plate touching the rotor. Easy fix, by just pulling it away, with my fingers.
Could all be complete, and finalized? Of course not. Once that noise was dissolved, the next noise was a dull "thunk" that was random over small road imperfections. Sounded something like an exhaust system interference, but after a while of investigating, was also cured by tightening (smoking) the LHS sway bar link,...about 10°. Amazing how much noise those spherical rod ends can make, and tough to find.
So, are we done? Of course not. Then next appeared, was the dreaded "leak".
I had problems not only with the removal of the RHS drive-axle, (a story I won't bore you with), and this is what it looks like in place...kinda.
 
The axle seal that I replaced, was another Toyota crap design, that had no lip, not only on the seal, but in the tranny case.

So when you install it, there is nothing to keep it located. And unlike the drivers side seal, (which was normal, and no problem), the pass. side seal, doesn't have a press fit. So the new one fell inside the diff upon installation. Fortunately it was retrievable, but I damaged it with my seal puller. So because the original didn't leak, I decided to take a chance, and re-use it, in order to expedite the job quicker. (Stupid I know) So I glued it in place with some Permatex, and let it dry over-night so when I re-installed the drive axle, it wouldn't push it inside. And it worked. It stayed in place, but naturally...now became another thorn in my side. It leaked.

So the car once again was returned to me, while my daughter and 'fiancé took a vacation in Fla.for a week. After work this week, I pulled the drive axle, replaced the leaky seal, and now it seems the car is "un-problematic"(?). Fingers crossed. What I should've done was keep the car for a week, and drove it, B4 returning it, the weekend the brgs were changed. At least she was able to drive it, while a whittled away at the minor inconveniences, but it was not a job for the faint of heart.
And as much as I hate to admit this, I had-ta join an import forum, for some advice on the job. It was only marginally helpful, but better than nothing. Not a lot of info on the Scion car. So I'll end with this, and hope you got something out of it...like be a little more cautious than I was. 

[scarebird]

...saw this at Cars n Coffee:



1976 455 4 speed with less than 40k on the clock.  Was not originally black though.  He also has a 78 Bandit car, a 92 SLP and a pair of mean-ass 02 TA's.

[Jack]

I'm glad you fixed it Joe, but I'm not sure if I should be crying for you or laughing at the sight of you driving around in a scion

[tajoe]

I'm glad you fixed it Joe, but I'm not sure if I should be crying for you or laughing at the sight of you driving around in a scion

You can do both, Jack. The things we do for our kids. 
(And now back in the garage to your "no spark" 350, and QJ.)

[5th T/A]

Today I attended the Indian Uprising car show in Crystal lake Illinois. It was a three day event with Saturday open to all Makes of cars. The announcer said they had 500 cars on Sunday. My wife took some wide angle photos with her phone but unfortunately I have not been able to open the files, so I don't have may photos.

IMG_8460 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

This is by far the one of the best engine compartments I have seen. Like it just rolled off the assembly line.

IMG_8467 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_8468 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr


This is really a Lemans wagon but a nice presentation of what a GTO wagon could have been. Even the interior looks like a GTO.

IMG_8478 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_8479 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Pulling out of my subdivision I ran into my neighbor with a 73 TA. I had seen the car driving a couple of times but never got his attention. We were headed to the show and he was waiting for a buddy of his before heading out to the show. Sorry I don't have more show pictures.

IMG_8459 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

[tajoe]

Thanks for showing the 73.

[Jack]

Thanks for posting and I do like the wagon, not something you see now a days.

[ryeguy2006a]

I've searched, but haven't been able to find any info on this piece of siding? I'm hoping to find the company and see if I could pickup maybe 15 pieces of siding to finish up the front of my garage.



I figured having that UPC code 047563539882 that I could search it up and find all the info I needed...

[Jack]

Unless it was bought from the big box stores it's not an easy task to track down. Harvey Building Products is big in my area might want to see if they can help.

[FormTA]

Not today but a few days ago it took these pictures, thought they were neat.

[roadking77]

Picture looks great Luke.

Ryan,  Good luck on the siding.  You may be able to search the colour.  I get my material from a local joint that sells about 4 or 5 different brands. There may be a local siding supply company that the builder bought it from. Check around in your area. HD and Lowes may not be of help with this kind of stuff.  FWIW I do not recognize the colour name.

[b_hill_86]

Not today but a few days ago it took these pictures, thought they were neat.

Those are cool. You gonna hang those front flares soon and check out that pburg show sometime? 

[Jack]

Nice pics.

[FormTA]

Those are cool. You gonna hang those front flares soon and check out that pburg show sometime? 

Ya,ya..... I know I need to do that but haven't had time and I have been driving it a lot. But with all the full throttle pulls at every stop sign, my engine may not live long.... an LS sounds sooooo good over 5 grand!

[b_hill_86]

Those are cool. You gonna hang those front flares soon and check out that pburg show sometime? 
[/quote]

Ya,ya..... I know I need to that but haven't had time and I have been driving it a lot. But with all the full throttle pulls at every stop sign, my engine may not live long.... an LS sounds sooooo good over 5 grand!
[/quote]

O man I bet!

[roadking77]

Larry, Somehow I missed the pics you posted. Looks like a good day full of Pontiacs. Isnt Crystal Lake where Weather Guard tool boxes are made?

[ryeguy2006a]

Those are cool. You gonna hang those front flares soon and check out that pburg show sometime? 

Ya,ya..... I know I need to do that but haven't had time and I have been driving it a lot. But with all the full throttle pulls at every stop sign, my engine may not live long.... an LS sounds sooooo good over 5 grand!

Haha, Luke that's what it's all about. Drive the wheels off of it, who cares if the spoilers are missing. Or at least the rubber haha. I agree 100% that the ls motors sound so good at WOT. I have my rev limiter set to 6500 and I regularly bounce off that all the time. I'm tempted to bump it up to 6800 soon too. I feel like you can hear when the motors want to be shifted and I hit the limiter because I don't feel like it wants to shift that soon haha.

[RamblerRacer]

Since Mr. Luke took advantage of the concept of a grace period; here is my attempt at the same.

Today I am posting pictures of the last weekend of racing and whatnot.
Two days of racing and hanging with friends at the Anniversary Race at Island Dragway.
We raced Summit E.T. points on Saturday and I had another good outing going (x4) rounds.





We stayed over at the track in the toter-home my cousin owns and then raced on Sunday as well.
We first threw down with wings. shrimp, fries and dogs in a turkey fryer



Then we went out carousing >>> there were about a dozen and a half nostalgia funny care teams there an we partied with them until 2:00 am.

Some pit lane and action pics











Went (x2) rounds in N2 class good to 10.00 with me running 11.20's

Thanks for indulging my tardiness

 

[Jack]

Looks like a good time, doesn't get any better then good food, company and cars.

[roadking77]

Looks like fun,

[RamblerRacer]

Was fun!
Tomorrow is just a regular points day.

Today I hope everyone has a good weekend!

JT