N8 1998-2012

Back in May I wrote about a friends kid - Nathan Strube,
 who died in a skateboard accident.

Nathan Strube 1998-2012

His parents had some sadly cool stickers made,
and Sam sent down a few.

As a parent I can't imagine how they are coping.
These stickers are a good trigger to appreciate the simple joy of just being around.

Nathan and Sam Strube

TP

Jakob's weekend

"Hey we went to the beach over the weekend,
what did you do?"

perich brothers and sister - child labor

"Oh nothing,
my Dad made us sort out all these nuts and connectors he had mixed up.
After that he made us weed the yard cause he hates weeds."

back to work!

"Than he made me ride my skateboard in the rocky alley.
I got speed wobbles going down the hill."

road rash

"He just said that was part of growing up,
than you have scars to show your kids."

matching road rash and rubber bands

"He let me read for the rest of the day though."

Jakob's chill spot

"oh, that's cool"
"yeah it was cool..."

flathead scavenger

A couple years ago I got this old "running when pulled" flathead
from a local guy on craigslist.

While it was really clean,

the block had a good size crack in one valve/cylinder.

ford 59a flathead

The plan I had with the engine disintegrated,
and if you've been reading you know the domino effect.
What can you do.
It will all be for the best in the long run.

59a flathead internals

This engine had been recently gone through,
and if there was some free money I would have sleeved the cylinder
and had some unleaded valve seats modded in.
The problem was it wouldn't have stopped there.
This thing had the early mushroom valves which are notoriously hard to remove,
so on top of the machine work this would have snowballed into a money pit.

crackola

During the move I went on a scrapping mission,
but this block was saved from the cut.
Nobody wanted this boat anchor on craigslist,
so the plan was to strip it and squeeze every last penny out of the insides,
than scrap the rest.

I was really surprised how clean the insides were.
There was no cylinder ridge,
the pistons, bearings, rods were so clean almost new looking.
Must have been opened up recently.
How could they not see that big ole crack?

little sludge!

And if it was recently gone through,
how could they not have seen this quart of sludge on the bottom!
It was so thick it had solidified,
and almost looked like a baffle around the oil pickup tube.

This is probably the best reason to not wash out an engine
 with kerosene or diesel between oil changes.
A sad sight if this was dislodged into the system.

ford flathead valve removal

There is only a handful of stuff that I wanted to salvage -
the rods/pistons, main caps, pressure plate/clutch/flywheel
and most important were the Johnson adjustable lifters.
The originals are hollow,
and the new repops are solid.
Hopefully the set would be useable.

torching valves

After maybe a half-hour of unsuccesfully removing a valve the mechanical way,
an internet search suggested the simple torch and hammer method.

Ok how about a quick how to - remove flathead valves!
Time is money on this project and after a few valves it became easier.
The first ones I found once the spring was surgically torched off,
a little heat would weaken the valve enough to smack it with the chisel and break.

ford flathead valve removal

Each valve became easier and easier to remove.
The trick was not to break them out.
First the valve was lifted and a screwdriver placed to keep it raised.
Then some light torch work to burn out 3 rings of the spring.
After that,
the valve itself needed to only be heated up,
no oxy-lever work until the valve was red hot.
The valve spring tension would pop the end of the valve off.
The bottom part of the guide can then be smacked with the hammer/chisel,
and that's that.

removing ford flathead mushroom valves

After the first couple,
it was possible to prep 2 sides at a time.
The most important thing I'd suggest is keeping the gas pressure really light,
no need to blow a bunch of slag around,
the oil smoke is bad enough.

pushing it

The other thing I'd recommend is wearing shoes.
I used up all my luck not getting injured,
and borrowed some from my kid.
Jinx!

jaxon and jakob perich - road rash

He came back from skating around the block with some good road rash.
Good times!

johnson hollow adjustable lifters - ford flathead

Now let's see if someone wants this old junk!

TP

how to - rig a tig

Finally got the garage bench as clean as it's gonna get,
and put the aluminum plate down to make a true welding bench.
There were a few learning curves,
so this is the perfect opportunity to show a
quick HOW TO,
and possibly help someone save some time and money in the future.

about time

I splurged a couple weeks ago and got a TIG setup for the Miller Maxstar 150.
The welder has been a stick only welder for the past 5 years,
but since it is capable of 110/220v it's perfect for the garage.
Fortunately this is the tiggable model as there is an arc only model too.

weldcraft legacy LS1712R tig torch

The only TIG torch I could easily find for the little Maxstar is the legacy LS1725R,
 which has a 25 foot lead.
This Weldcraft unit is combined in the Miller kits at the local weld shop.
After some digging I found the 12 foot LS1712R,
which should be sufficient for the garage area.
Hopefully I won't regret not having that extra 13 feet.
My concern was mainly using it with 110v,
and losing amperage as it went so far down the line.

I could only afford this thing by using flipper cash from the paypal account.
The TIG kit was on ebay,
and strangely enough the same company was selling stuff cheaper through there website.
BR Welding Supplies
The weird thing is there's a second website that seems like they are related.
US Welders - Welding Equipment Products - MIG/TIG/Stick Welders & Plasma Cutting
both from Maryland,
but the prices aren't the same.

weldcraft 195234

Anyway the problems with internet orders are
1-shipping time
2- correct or missing parts
The 2 boxes were sent separately from their warehouse and the weldcraft plant,
so they didn't arrive the same time.
That didn't matter cause it took me over a week to hook it up,
then I found out the 25mm adapter was missing.
They'll send one out in a couple days...
Fortunately the local weld shop had one in stock.

maxstart 150 stl

A couple months ago I used a similar machine as a TIG unit,
(which gave me the idea to set it up instead of the Dynasty)
and after much trial and error,
had figured out how to hook these babies up.

It is a strange design.
Typically the ground is negative and the stick is positive.
On the Maxstar the ground is positive,
and the tig torch is negative.
The way we'd found out on the friends machine,
is the argon gas passes through the actual negative post.
Check out the picture and you'll see the little hole.

hookin it up

The legacy torch has the integrated finger remote switch.
I've got one on the Dynasty but prefer the foot pedal,
only cause i've not practiced with it enough to be comfortable.

I thought I'd be sneaky and since I had ordered the 6-pin torch
that the maxstar needed,
I'd also order a 14-pin to 6-pin adapter so my foot pedal could be used.
Well funny enough there is no such thing as a 6-pin torch.
They just add the 14-6 pin adapter (miller #300507) to the order.
So now I've got an extra $45 adapter.
Ah hell.

ceriated tungsten

The one thing I didn't forget to order is the actual tig consumable kit.
You would expect the torch to come with all the pieces but it doesn't.
Since the 17 series is geared for light duty,
there was an .040 tungsten electrode included.
It's awesomely thin and it looks perfect for sheetmetal.
Will be fun to use that one.

ancient grinder

Here's the good old tungsten grinder.
I've had this for many many years,
was passed down from my grandfather - papa.
I love this old tool,
it has the coolest sounding noise to it.

belt grinder

Finally the little TIG was all hooked up.
All good right?

miller maxstar 150 stl

I started out with the foot pedal,
fixing Jakob's recent $1 Razor score which was a little loose.

Razor surgery

What the heck the thing didn't seem to want to work.
Was it the nasty chrome/paint steel?
 Nope.
It was the old scratch-start TIG technique.
I've been so spoiled with the High Frequency auto-start,
the touch and go spark isn't normal.

Home Cookin'

So time to get some welding 101 in and start practicing.
Broke out some new gloves,
and dug out a stagnant project a friend had been bugging me about for weeks.
Hey I'm just the welder not the engineer on these!

bent seat posts

Really should have unplugged the foot pedal to get used to the hand control.
Next time.
Well bottomline,
this is a bitchin little welder.
Using the 1/16 tungsten the dial was at 60,
with more than enough power for thicker material later on down the line.
Biggest bummer is not being able to weld aluminum,
but I've got other machines for that.

Hope this helps someone out!

TP

little pet

Over the weekend we found this old June Bug.

cotinis mutabilis - june bug - figeater beetle

It was on it's last legs,
something happened to it's wing,
and it was just about ready to get smashed on the bricks.
The kids gave it some water on a paper towel,
and now it's been 4 days.
I'll admit it's one of the most mesmerizing things to watch.

macey with the june bug

This is about as close as the kids have to a pet for the time being.

Jakob with the June Bug

Now at least I know where the kids are,
either riding scooters or bikes in the alley,
or hanging out on the porch,
with the june bug.

perich brothers & sister

TP

stool time goes domestic

The stool followed me home one day.
It's been the catalyst for a number of different projects.

stool time - house duty - maxstar 150

The garage was so unorganized,
I had to sneak this into the house for repair.

messy garage

How does clutter build up so fast?
Before my wife blew a fuse,
I had to get my chit organized.

not as messy garage

One thing I don't like about cleaning is it takes so much time.
Once there's a little momentum,
it can be very rewarding.

good enough

While I get my chit together here,
I've realized there are many options of tool organization.
Pegboard, rollaways, tool box, shelving units.
It's really tricky,
especially as I've got alot of the same stuff.

This pegboard was dragged from the old shop,
then modified to fit here.
Over there it was used but more like as long term storage.
The tools filling it were convenient but not used that much.

Before I make outlines for each specific tool's position,
there's got to be an evolution of what is needed and what can be boxed.
I'm kidding about making those outlines,
and am amazed that someone can be that organized to do that.

more stool time

The stool also helped out in finally making the roof for the shed.
It had been a couple months now,
and of course I had already been loading stuff inside.
Thank the weather gods it hadn't rained,
right now it's that dew that comes with the morning fog.

woodwork

Since I had made the box into a big ugly rectangle,
the trick was making the roof angled so water didn't pool up there.
I'll probably put some roofing material on after the first rain,
than wonder why I didn't do it after I wrote this post.

shed!

I even tried some fancy trim work,
and realized working with metal is more fun than wood.
Just realized I better get some paint on there.

That's it for now,
stay tuned for part 2, or was this part 2?

TP

tortuga revisited

Can't believe a year and a half has gone by since we sold the old beemer.

perich brothers (and sister): beemer

For a year Aaron rocked the crazy unfinished panel paint,
but over the summer he finally personalized it as his own.

1968 bmw 1600

Here's a refresher of the tortuga v.2011

la tortuga 2011

Yeah some funky chit huh!
These things are a little like the early Ford Bronco's,
where guys will throw the fender flares on it.

bmw 2002 fender flare + rota grid wheels

Many of us would cringe at cutting almost perfect original sheetmetal,
but hey a car's a car,
and this BMW was barely $1K and perfect for making a happy owner,
while making restorers cringe!

Aaron Vandermark's - 1968 bmw 1600

Besides the 10 metallic black rattle cans,
the big expenditure was the bitchin 15" Rota Grid rims and 255 tires.
That gives purpose to the fender flares,
and makes it one tough turtle.

It is backed up by the PO's 70's 2002 engine upgrade,
and Aaron dyno'd it out to a stock 104 HP which isn't too bad.
He's looking for a tii turbo though!

1968 bmw 1600 - la tortuga 2012

I'll always think these bmw 1600/2002's look wrong without the dual light treatment,
and european cars don't always need Cibie lights!

1968 bmw 1600 - la tortuga 2011

Also gone are those aluminum bumpers,
replaced with a front fairing.

1968 bmw 1600

Other than the color change,
it was weird how unchanged the rest of the car was.
Even the interior hadn't changed a bit.

unfinished interior

The best part is this thing just runs and runs.
Maybe not one of my smartest flips but at least he's happy and that's all that matters.

TP