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The "What Did You Work On Today" thread

3M views 36K replies 388 participants last post by  cerial 
#1 ·
4 hour work day for me at the shop. Used the time to do a valve body swap on a '01 Jetta 1.8t auto .... I successfully installed a transbrake on the car .... that however wasn't my intention.

Its in 2 gears at once in park, all other gears (R/N/D/2/1) are forward gears.... they all seam to be first gear.

I have it torn back down most of the way. Tuesday I'll actually get the VB back out and see whats up.... but part of me wants to take it out for a test drive the way it is just for the fun of it.
 
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#2,182 ·
I hear you Jay, there have been a few, very few successful 57 customs but really, they are best left alone.

Brian
I will confess that my '57 had no grill or front bumper when I bought it. (for $75!) I flipped a second set of top grill trim upside down... mounted it below the grill opening... made some side "rolled pan" filler pieces, and then a black expanded aluminum mesh grill.

Did it look better??? Not really :-( ... but that satisfied my need to be "unique". LOL!
 
#2,183 ·
This is one that will make you cry. This is an old friends of mine. He bought it when he was 16. Back five years ago he lost everything, his home (makes me sick) because he has some "Issues" (the least of which he is 3 foot 9 inches tall). He didn't contact me until it was too late being proud as he is. By the time he did he was a week away from loosing this car! It was in a storage unit and a week away from them changing the lock and making it theirs. I went and paid the storage up but we had to clear out the unit of all this stuff that he wasn't going to use again. His whole house was in that unit! It took me weeks to empty the thing out to a little 8x12 unit that he could afford. Part of what I sold off was his beloved 57. It broke my heart selling that car, seeing it go for him was like seeing a sibling he loved go.
I thought about buying it from him because it was SOOOO nice, but there is no way I could do that to him, he was so distraught I couldn't let him see it ever again, it had to LEAVE and hopefully a long way away. He refuses to go to any rod events and I am sure it is because he doesn't want to see ANY 57's and most certainly wouldn't want to run into his!

It had no motor or trans in it and the most I could get for it was $15K. I wish I had stuck a cheap motor and trans in it but I just didn't have the time, this man was a full time job for quite a while selling off his stuff on ebay (lots of seriously collectible stuff, how about a MINT 60's vintage Höfner "violin bass" like Sir Paul McCartney's! Anyway, I just couldn't do it and he lost out on a bunch more money. But those are the ways of life.

Anyway, this thing was NICE, we are talking ZERO rust with body bolts still with zinc on them, it was a treasure.



Brian
 
#2,184 ·
i feel for the guy. got to ask why his legs are so short tho. my avatar is for sale and hasn't got much interest in the 16K i wanted. dropped to 13K still nothing. i have been offered 10K when it was on ebay.

i splurged and FINALLY GOT MY HEADS BACK from the machine shop for my 67 lemans. I will still never get my money out of it. Just money down the drain, but at least the motor is all back... still haven't put the heads on. wondering about my springs, but that's another story. i am broke as hell still. things are going to start getting turned off :(

btw, a friend on mine sold his, same shape, except with running original motor to a friend down the street for 10K, so you did a great job on the price, don't feel bad. the only bad thing about my friends was that mice had moved into the interior. it was the original color as well and always garaged. cars are cheap now, in case you didn't notice, hahaha.
 
#2,185 ·
#2,186 ·
my avatar is for sale and hasn't got much interest in the 16K i wanted. dropped to 13K still nothing. i have been offered 10K when it was on ebay.
How did you put it on Ebay? Did you start too high? I have found that with big ticket items on ebay it is best to start with a very low opening bid to get the ball rolling, then have a "reserve" at the number that is the lowest you will go. I will often even tell what the reserve is and explain that is what I would like to get but will consider less. Let the ball get rolling among those interested. I have seen where people put a big ticket item on there and start the bidding or put a buy it now at that high number, never getting a bite. But you could start it at $1000 with a $16k reserve and it goes up to $15k, if you didn't start it so low you would never know someone was willing to pay the $15k. :D

Brian
 
#2,189 ·
Started putting the new trans am fenders and bumper on my 78 yesterday, contemplating whether or not to go out there and finish it. Got the right side on with a few bolts and haven't touched the drivers side yet. It's just too damn hot outside for me to want to be out there. I'll get pics when I'm done today or tomorrow.
 
#2,192 · (Edited)
Just wanna throw this out there....... Spray in expanding foam insulation is not a good way of fixing rust. I have seen some weird things people have done over the years but this one beat them all. Someone used expanding foam spray to fill in the missing rusted section on a body mounting brace and then used bindi and undercoating to hide their "repair". Can't believe anyone would do something like this.
 

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#2,195 ·
Finally put some Epoxy on the roadster. At the rate I am going I will get this car repaired by mid May. :(

John L


Five minutes a day! :mwink: I got out and did some cleaning from all of my Christmas projects that have kept me from my car. I see a big empty space in the garage to put my trucks cab! WHOO HOOOO!

Brian
 
#2,196 ·
Five minutes a day! :mwink: I got out and did some cleaning from all of my Christmas projects that have kept me from my car. I see a big empty space in the garage to put my trucks cab! WHOO HOOOO!

Brian
That will be cool. After all these years I know it will be great to see her come back to life. It is so much more fun to build than repair. Get to it. :thumbup:

John L
 
#2,199 ·
Well I got a little merging of threads. :D Over at on the Trivia thread I posted a photo of this vacuum canister from the power brakes on my bosses 56 Plymouth. I asked him if I could have it for my Gran Sport and he said sure. You see my motor has a pretty radical cam and all I have is 10 inches of vacuum at idle, needing about 18 the power disc brakes can be an issue. I have never been happy with how this car stopped, needing lots of pedal pressure. Well at 1200 rpm I have about 23 inches so I figured if I had a canister to save that vacuum so when I stopped I could use it, hmmmmm. So I brought home the canister and I'll see if it will help.

It fits right in there behind the right headlamp.

Brian

 
#2,200 ·
Well I got a little merging of threads. :D Over at on the Trivia thread I posted a photo of this vacuum canister from the power brakes on my bosses 56 Plymouth. I asked him if I could have it for my Gran Sport and he said sure. You see my motor has a pretty radical cam and all I have is 10 inches of vacuum at idle, needing about 18 the power disc brakes can be an issue. I have never been happy with how this car stopped, needing lots of pedal pressure. Well at 1200 rpm I have about 23 inches so I figured if I had a canister to save that vacuum so when I stopped I could use it, hmmmmm. So I brought home the canister and I'll see if it will help.

It fits right in there behind the right headlamp.

Brian

Martin people around here are using electric vacumn pumps from a caviler ,seems to work good .I have Not tried this ,but lots of guys use them at the strip ,Paradise Drag Strip ,little plug .might work on your car.:D havent seen washer fluid holder like that in a while do you have the 3 corner bottle
 
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