say it ain't so - kenwood ka-6100

...put... the...phone... down...

That is what I need to say to myself now,
along with a good rubberband snap to the wrist.

electronica

I had seen the craigslist ad late that night before.
The guy had relisted it from way too high to just the amount that was in my pocket.
Great.
Something about 70's stereos with the VU or Watts meters and I go crazy.

He lived in Fallbrook almost an hour away,
but he made it easier by meeting me at his work 10 minutes away.
So when I got the text,
I jammed out there to check it out.
Obviously I couldn't resist.

Without even hooking up speakers first,
I had to see inside.
Holy Chit,
these guys with there cat's or dogs.
The inside had a decent fur coat.

kenwood ka-6100 guts

This is a '77 or '78 Kenwood ka-6100 integrated amplifier.

At 50 watts per channel it's a mid-powered machine,

perfect for a house or garage

Since there is no tuner,

it is really simple inside.

After hooking it all up,

I found out one of the meters was dead.

Bummer...

It did sound equal though on both sides at least,

although it was really scratchy when playing with the controls.

not so secret weapons

With some kid time over the weekend,

this was a good garage project to fiddle with.

Let's break out some chemicals.

I sprayed the heck out of it with the contact cleaner,
 all over the board,
than scrubbed around each resistor/cap with the little acid brush,
than more spray to wash it down.

I've been way more careful with the other stereos,
just cause I have no idea what I am doing.
This was a good experiment to see what they could take.
Obviously I was a little careful.
but this thing looks like new inside now.

After using the lubricant spray to clean the pots,
(volume type controllers)
I let it dry for a while before hooking it up.

custom voltmeter

Well the thing sounded about the same,
but at least it wasn't scratchy when moving the controls.
Couldn't fix that meter though,
oh well.

After letting it play overnight with the CD player,
I tested out the DC offset using this links guidelines.

Amplifier Distortion, DC-Offset, and You! - AudioKarma.org Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

dc offset check left

Surprisingly both sides weren't too out of control,
both steady around 18 (+/-) each side.

dc offset check right

So now we've got another good running 1978 vintage stereo.
Yep.
Just what we needed!
The dead meter is a bummer,
but it's not like i've got time to watch the meters bounce around,
 for too long anyway.
(If you're reading this and have a replacement,
email me!)

Hey,
if you think I'm crazy,
check out this link.

Kenwood KA-6100 restoration

There's a bunch of guys that think its fun to take off all the  capacitors (caps)
and solder new ones in!

I'll just stick to the rattlecan rebuild!

TP

tit for tat

I've got this typically huge post waiting but don't have the time to finish it.
So instead here's the fun I got to do yesterday.

patches

This was the last major dent on the "hurtlocker truck".
Now there's just a ton of smaller ones!

patching

I'm getting better quicker at doing this.
Far from perfect any filler needed will be very thin.

patched

The forming and fitting are the easy parts,
the welding and grinding are the tougher parts,
since the heat is what warps the metal,
and I'd rather not over-grind the already thin sheetmetal.

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deadbolt - patches the clown
play it loud.

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So if I'm on a roll,
might as well keep on rolling.

patches

Now that the doors are lined up,
this last part of the reveal can be tidied up.

hammered

It was tricky to get the right bottom curve.

Add caption

I only had time to tack up the driver's side,
and don't know why I didn't stick around to do it
while I was focused.

At least its the side that I have to see every day!

TP

how to - bear claws!!

After the hinges were figured out,
I thought a bit about door latches.

partially eaten bear claw

Well before I could think too much about them,
a buddy of mine sent me these super bitchin bear claw latches.

bear claw latches

These are some really bitchin mechanisms.
If you are in the market,
here's the link.

USA Made High Quality Bear Claw Door Latches - THE H.A.M.B.

They're not an easy bolt-in,
lotsa modifications needed.
Of course there are no instructions,
and very little info with an internet search.

So,
since this is the first time I've done this,
let's do a...
"how to install bear claw latches"

The first thing I did was make the mounting plates.

rough 1940 ford door

Instead of imagining what to do,
the plates tell you where to cut.
Hopefully.

roughed in

After the plates were tacked in (each side)
the posts landed in the worst possible position.

original striker base

The stock 40 striker has a box that the threaded nuts live in.
This all has to be cut out,
but the remaining sheetmetal is holey and flimsy.

flimsy base

It did allow the mechanisms to be test fit.
Now the doors could actually close and click shut!
it was time to finish the installation.

First the doors...

Add caption

The mechanisms were installed and removed at least 4 times each.
The bases needed to be tacked, cut, moved, twisted
than retacked to get the proper alignment.
I didn't want to ruin the moving parts with cutting disc or welding spray.

The filler strip boxed in the plate,
so the door assembly was now very rigid.
Not too pretty though.

bear claw latch installed

Now that the door part was permanent,
the latch post could be positioned to the perfect spot.
This meant filing the hole a little further inward making an oval,
until the door and body was flush...

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Today I had to pull out one of my favorite repeaters to finish the last part.
With maybe an hour to work,
I wanted to get this last section finished,
and this song definitely helped. 10 times!

Jimi Hendrix - Hey Baby - (new rising sun)

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Since the latch post is continually hit by the door,
a reinforcement base was cut out of some 1/8" plate,
and a 7/16 hole was marked using the ovalized hole as a guide.

base plate

The post was a little short cause I inset the latch a little too far,
even though it was flush with the outside of the door.
The plate helped space it out properly.

positioned correctly

With the post tightened in the right position,
the plate was welded on.
Since I was pressed for time,
I jumped around the plate welding <1" beads,
but didn't let it really cool at all,
just finished it.

migged up
crude but effective

Well you wouldn't think it would warp,
but those posts need to be centered in the mechanism,
and somehow it warped in the right direction.
both sides actually fit better after they were welded and tightened.
Whew!

working passenger door!

To say I am relieved that everything worked out is an understatement.
This project was spread out over 9 days,
working about an hour every other day.

The latches were test fit the first couple days,
and the alignment was a little off.
The doors sagged a bit,
and they also stuck out so they weren't flush with the body.

working driver's door!

When there's too much time inbetween work sessions,
my mind goes a little crazy,
basically making a molehill into a mountain.
Maybe that helps being prepared.
If I had done this in one long day,
I probably would have gotten a little burnt with a half-ass finish.

side view
1940 ford chopped coupe
wow it looks rough in this pic!

If you look closely there's a custom pull string.
This works so well it may be there a long time.

Now I can move on to that huge gap under the door!
With the doors held tight with the new latches,
the patch panel can be positioned correctly,
much easier.

Talk at ya later...

TP

waste not want not

This old air compressor carcass has been kicking around the shop doorway for 2 weeks now.
It had become normal to just walk around it.

dead air compressor

The plan was for a clean air tank,
just in case I start painting or something.

switcheroo

After swapping the base/wheels around,
and welding a bung for a water drain,
I made a little mistake that will cost me another half hour -
I welded up the old drain,
which would have been a perfect inlet.
Ahh heelll...

clean air tank

These are the kinda quickee projects that linger around forever.
I'm sure I'll put it to use.

priorities

Well at least there's some better feng shui at the shop

TP

will work for car parts

A friend of mine threw this SBF together for his f100 pickup truck,
swapping out the old 6-cylinder.

mike's 302

I like the way those fords look,
especially when nestled in a ford frame.
The only thing I'd change is the MSD distributor to an older Mallory,
but that's only for looks not performance.

A mutual friend of ours, Mario,
has a ton of car chit.
We were talking about Mike's engine,
and he said he had some of those finned valve covers.
Hmm.

So he dropped by with some chevy ram horns headers with a broken stud.
Yep,
some guys work for $$,
I'll work for car parts!

ram horn surgery

The stud was broken but the ear was also cracked,
and of course it cracked off.
So much for the quick fix!

brazing cast iron 

That meant bringing out the old torch,
and brazing the pieces together.
I've done alot of cast iron brazing for our neighbors who run a die cutter business,
and those pieces take alot of abuse before they fail,
if they fail.
The pieces that do break don't brake at the braze joint either.

Since these are relatively rigid,
the only issue is the continual heat changes.
So we'll see how long this lasts!

finned valve covers
ford 289/302/5.0

So now I've got one more piece to the puzzle!
(okay 4 pieces)

lincoln town car 5.0

With the solid 5.0/aod in our Lincoln Town Car,
it makes it that much easier to keep it.
Since it's like driving around on a couch.
it's been hard to let go of anyway!

TP

trust

With the rainy season comin on,
I've been trying to finish up that mountain bike project
I wrote about a couple posts ago.

perich brothers (and sister): hammered - bridgestone mb-3

Not that I'm gonna ride too much in the rain,
I'm too much of a girlie man nowadays.
But you never know.

1989 bridgestone mb-3
now

Can you see all the changes?

19989 bridgestone mb-3
2 weeks ago

Yeah I guess it kinda looks the same from where you're sitting.

1989 bridgestone mb-3
on purchase

Some of the things aren't too exciting.

deore brake lever
stock

But they replicate what I did on my original mb-3 20 years ago.

deore brake lever
minor drillium

Yeah there's something about drilling holes in perfectly good pieces.
I also swapped out that $3 chainring after drilling about 15 holes in it,
but it's not worthy of a closeup picture.

Oh yeah,
I forgot to mention I removed the front derailleur,
so now its temporarily a finger shift.
Since most of my riding will only be back and forth from the shop,
I almost considered a single-speed.
After riding up the hill a couple times,
decided a 7-speed would be best.

2 of the earliest versions of front shock forks
rock shox quadra 10
manitou mach 5 sx

One of my main "problems" was finding a working front shock with a 1" steer tube.
The black manitou one was basically seized up,
even after taking everything apart,
and thinking it was going to work.
One of the seals had slid out,
and wedged itself half-in and half-out,
basically binding up the whole enchilada.

I through a WTB ad on craigslist,
and a fellow bike addict, Chris, had a stash of parts.
We made a deal on a decent Rock Shox Quadra 10,
which was probably a stock item on the last 1994 version of the mb-3's.

The problem was the steer tube was to short and it was threaded,
and I needed a longer threadless version.
What do you think I'm gonna do about that?

rock shox quadra 10
ancient technology

Well cut and paste of course!
Holy Chit you're thinking.
Yeah I tried to figure something else out,
and after a couple days just figured WTF.
They TIG the stems and frames and they hold up.
I've butt-welded frames and many water/fuel/exhaust pipes that haven't broke yet...
so...

Well I had some 1" chromoly that matched right up,
and tigged it up as straight as I could.
I banged on it against some wood and it seems solid enough!

more cutting

After the fork was mounted with a new "aheadset",
I figured might as well cut those handlebars down a couple inches.
No I didn't cut them hipster-style when they're only wide enough for your hand,
just enough to match my shoulder width.

old school mountain bike

Now the thing rides like an authentic 22 year old mountain bike.
Actually it probably rides like a $99 toys-r-us special.

Great.

Time to ride it to the shop...


TP

prequel of the '40 coupe project - "shanghai express"

One of my few regrets is not starting this blog thing years ago.
So much random stuff has happened that I've forgotten,
and its a good way to remember while I can.

I wrote about the trip to Portland to get the 40 over 3 and a half years ago.
It is on my not very used Myspace account,
so before it disappears I just cut and pasted it.

It was a good time!

shanghai express

So a month or so ago won this ebay auction for a rusty 40 coupe.
Not a resto-quality project! but something I like to do.
Restoring a car & hot-rodding a car are two very different things,
and i’m definitely not a restorer!

Before the auction ended though I studied alot,
and I gotta say the internet rules.
Found some cheeeeaap flights to Portland (1000miles away) for $100 a pop!
www.bookingbuddy.com - has all the ticket sellers on one site.
(hint-buying from the airline allows you to modify the ticket, date/name, but you can find the
cheapest flight/seat on the priceline/expedia/etc and cross reference it to in our case delta.com)

Then went searching for a way to get it back.
Driving there and back in our van pulling a trailer woulda killed it,
so looked at all the truck rentals, uhaul, hertz, penske etc.
and found what I thought was a mistake.
www.budgettruck.com
All the other ones quoted $370-500 for a small 10 foot box van one way, w/o insurance.
These guys are insane- $115 oneway, plus 90 for a $500 deductible insurance!
Its all done online so it doesn’t seem secure, but it all worked out, no surprises.
(I guess everyone is leaving california, so a one way out of CA is $1000!)

So thursday night Luke and I flew out non-stop to portland arriving there at 11pm.
Of course its raining but I hadn’t been on a good trip for a long time, and luke just kinda broke up with his longtime girlfriend,
so we were ready for an adventure.
Unfortunately the truck rental place didn’t open til 8am the next morning so we had time to kill,
and too cheap to finda room,
so we hopped on the mac-trolley and fortunately met someone who knew where to go.
(Alex from Rochester with one of the craziest hats i’ve seen a guy wear to meet an ex-girlfriend!)
Of course the headline on the newspaper in the train says "gang violence down, 13 deaths this year"
Ha now two outta town white boys walking around with a bunch of hundereds...

on the MAX trolley

anyway we stopped off at "old town/china town" which was sposta be the place to go.
http://turnhere.com/co_GoogleEarth.aspx?filmname=port_old
(wish we’d seen the video before leaving, but the doughnut place was good!)
It was crazy.
It was raining, not sprinkling but raining, and there were hundreds of people walking & driving around,
going to clubs/bars/restaurants with no umbrellas or jackets.
Seriously girls were walking around with tight shirts, dresses in the rain.
Real strange, in ventura no-one goes out when its sprinkling or even windy!
After an hour or so of walking around in circles checking the place out,
a bar was needed. 

Kelly's Olympian
Portland, Oregon

This place was awesome. $2 pabst on tap, tons of old bikes hanging up - bsa’s triumphs, honda race bikes, an prewar indian in the window, the biggest collection of metalflake helmets i’ve ever seen, gas pump toppers, and a great live band.
Even Tim Robbins was hanging out with an entourage. and no cover!
http://www.kellysolympian.com/

inside kelly's olympian

The other cool thing is the bars close at 2:15.
the bummer is the trolley stops at 2.

2:30 in the rain
streets of  portland

So we walked around, it had its shady moments since all the homeless people converge under protected areas,
but we found a restaurant that closed at 4am! and planted ourselves.

Fortunately the trolley restarted at 4:20 so we decided to huff it back to the airport,
and sleep there til the "morning"

I guess lotsa people do that cause we got hassled by a cop,
Luke first, and he was still a little drunk,
you know when you get asked a question when your sleeping...5150..
(and he had the stank-feet jeezus no wonder he got hassled!)
Fortunately we had tickets, airplane blankets and no warrants, so he let us stay.

long walk

in the morning we decided to save the $25 taxi cab and walk 4+ miles to the budget rental center.
I’m not sure why we were so cheap but the walk was refreshing, along a slough.
The reservations worked out and we were on the road.

made in Oregon

After visiting a skatepark under the burnside bridge we went to get the coupe.

burnside 4 life

The guy had just moved back from kentucky, and had brought everything he could load,
and dumped it at his sons house.
He had a decent ’51 merc that was kinda east coast, a ’37 sedan w/tci projects.
We went to the storage yard and I was relieved that the 40 was what I’d expected.
They were too! so $620 shorter we were off.

1940 coupe
all loaded up

The drive down was so different from driving to LA. Lotsa trees, and nature. Trees, and trees I ended up falling asleep after a while...
We ended up driving down to San Jose to meet up with some friends,
but of course misjudged the mileage and slept in a rest stop overlooking 6 flags.
Fortunately we had those airline blankets, but Luke was miserable.
It was funny actually I can sleep pretty good, maybe cause I’m older and tired,
but it was cold and we’d turn the engine on for the heater,
I think I passed out for a long time with the engine idling...

Anyway we met up with Pat Lash and Sloppy Sin and friends down in San Jose.
Pat (& wife sharon) had just bought the most bitchin house, with a 4 car garage...

pat lash's garage

sloppy's RPU
Pat's machine shop

Pat's 29 roadster
Sloppy's 29 RPU

It was a good day, very rare to be able to completely f*ck off on a sunday!
One of the cool things was not going somewhere "far" because of a car show, just a random weekend.
Getting to hang out and seeing friends shops was kinda cool for a change.
However we soon realized their friends are kinda wacky, they had a surprise planned out. Actually Billy had the surprise planned out and the other 13 guys and girls were the pawns.
Of course it was the most random thing and when "ice skating" was the surprise it was one of those "what the fuck" moments. Imagine a bunch of car guys going to a mall ice rink. Sloppy and I were thinking "we could be working on his hot rod" but we were stuck. 

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As the hour went by, me and sloppy were the last ones off the rink. It was kinda fun after some falls. Luke who was the star hockey player astounded everyone. My legs still hurt...

It ended great though cause one of their friends Thane is a bartender at the coolest bar in San Jose, Trials. An english pub it was cool to hang out with everyone and get a good buzz.

sloppy's self portrait?

We left after hanging out at Sloppy’s house, its crazy his sisters posse is addicted to "rock star" which is kinda like guitar hero.

Anyway we got home ok and spent about 270 on gas, which wasn’t bad, about 15mpg.

Now don’t be scared of these next pics!
The car is actually really complete except grille.
Its amazing that someone could let a car in decent condition sit outside somewhere rusting.
The whole back half I ended up cutting off just for ease of moving it around.

1940 ford coupe first mock up

side view

here I thought
no problem...

The decklid has a good outer skin, but the inner bottom is flakey, ok for me.
The dash is crazy, so complete yet so rusty. Fortunately its solid not flakey.

crusty 1940 ford dash

So Now I wish I had detonators 40 chassis he just dismantled!
Actually I have other ideas for a more current frame/running gear,
And also the chop from that model too.
The best thing is the steel is surface rusty but not cancerous, on the top anyway.
He gave the rear quarter bottom patch panels too, and some door bottoms.

I’m actually excited about starting it,
but right now I need to clean my plate of the stagnating projects first :P
at least its here.

Anyway thats about it!
Talk at y’all later...
TP

So I wrote this around the 18th of March 2008!
Damn alot has happened since then!


TP


Oh yeah,
here's why it was called the "shanghai express"
Shanghai Tunnel
people would get kidnapped at bars,
and shipped out as forced sailors or into prostitution!
Crazy times!