Due to my relocation away from SC last summer, I've elected to leave this vehicle and about $3000 in brand spanking new parts and professionally refurbed Leycock Blue Label OD. It was a dificult and painful decision, but it was necessary... Interested parties should call Bonnie Wright (803) in Rock Hill, SC. (listed under Kenneth)

This will make somebody an excellent "project car" and has a lot of the elbow grease allready invested. Paint the motorspace and the trunk and reassemble! As the wheels are not on it, and the "lump" is out on a 2 ton capacity crane with leveller, care will be necessary for transporting....! Purchase records and an Exel data base reflecting parts ordered & recieved, and from which distrubtor should also be available from Ms Wright.

My efforts and expenditures were very organized and documented; this along with the photos found on PhotoBucket.com will be helpful in the future reassembly. My journal here and many photos of my efforts are accessible through PHOTO Bucket web site under My Red Baron is Making Me Barren. You will agree that a lot of personal effort and financial was put into this car. As one will have to reassemble the vehicle, I feel that you should be able to haggle the price as you will be providing most of the labor and time.

Interested parties should know that this vehicle initially bought for $3500. The seller had some issues with standards of care and maintenance, as you will read in my journal entries. I aspired to "raise the bar" so that I wouldn't be embarrassed to open the hood or experience frequent breaksdowns 60 miles from home; as this was the condition that the vehicle was sold in....

There is no price on the many hours and dedicated efforts on my behalf, as I got the experience and joy of learning, which all LBC owners learn to experience, expect and enjoy.

A lot of the brand new parts have not been assembled to the vehicle as I had anticipated painting under the hood and the inside of the trunk. Sadly this relocation occurred before I could address and complete this; though the paint gun can be found on the passenger floor. So you will probably find it still on blocks in the open carport (Top is on and windows were closed!)and the parts I took off are labeled and bagged in the trunk, and the new parts are probably still in the shed. This will include new tires for the front, as the rear were replaced with less than 5,000 miles on them. Both sets and the spare, all personally refurbed wired wheels with spinoffs, can be found in the shed as well.

Talk about redundant effort and obstacles that try one's soul! Today while the weather bids to be cooler for a while, and practically no humidity, I've decided to get back into the open car port and take on the task of refurbing my fluid lines again... For the 3d time! I suppose if it wasn't such a tedious and PITA and require so much "elbow grease" I wouldn't mind it so much. I hate spending a whole day on one "pipe"... I can't afford to buy new ones, so I have no other option.

As usual I'm grateful for any advice that might be imparted in refurbing my "B". My neighbor tells me that this JASCO product "phosphotizes". He tells me that essentially it seals what rust there is, in place, and it occurs to me that this would narrow and impede the required "designed" flow of the system that the pipe is connected to.

I suppose I might be viewed as being "anal" where these lines are concerned. Not trying to be; rather want to avoid a complication that would mean doing them all over for the FOURTH time.

Today, I was able to clean the exterior of the front right brake line. Using "Freeze Off", a rust remover, coarse steel wool, lots of elbow grease, followed by the "Chrome Cleaner" and more elbow grease. Once I finished with this, I used a rag to cover the whole line with polyeurethane. A previous time I'd put the "poly" on it I used a brush and it went on too thick and looked the same before I started. This time, using the rag, it went on thinner and one can see the "shine". (I guess 3d time is a charm" As usual, the "before and after" photo can be viewd at my photobucket site (see my "Home page" for the link.

Next I worked on the the long fuel line. Using the same technique and got most of it done by supper time. I got 99% of it done before I had to deal with the knurling nut that rusted about a foot from the end. I will finish this tomorrow. It too looks 100% better with that part that has the thin coat of "poly" on it. Since all fluid lines are off the vehicle, I have enough to keep me occupied for the duration of the cool weather we expect to experience through next Monday. At the rate things are progressing here, I will be lucky to see it done by then!

Where the weather is due to be cooler, my mind is looking in the direction of prepping to paint the motor space. Where my finances are diminished, I'm probably not going to be able to accomplish this before November and that is a real optimistic date. I've boughten the Spray Paint Gun and an air pressure guage from WalMart and have coordinated with my neighbor to use his compressor. I've found a friend at Pro Paint here in Rock Hill, and he kindly came by my house and assessed what I was going to need to prep and paint. I will be spending something in the vicinity of $250 before the project is accomplished. This doesn't count what it will cost to enclose the carport and provide lighting and venting with fans... My neighbors are going to "freak out"! LOL!

I hate to admit it; but I haven't done anything with my "B" since early May. Bonnie has since retired (in early January). She has had 3 surgical procedures between February and March, requiring my immediate attention during her long term rehab. Consequently I've had to put the "B" on the back burner for too long.

The onset of the hot weather here in SC has only further exacerbated my frustration. Having experienced two earlier episodes of heat injury, I’m know I'm too vulnerable to experience a third. Money has since gotten tight. In view of things that happen locally, or that “trick down effect“, which is impending (“Obamonomics”), I feel powerless to move forward for a while yet. The car has been in a "parts" status for far too long! I've got so much money tied up in parts and refurbishment, and it seems like everything is working against any design to get it back together. The parts I’ve kept in our living room have since made their way to my shed. This seems to be the only thing that has “changed” since May. Every time I go to our carport, I see that nothing has changed!

My brake/fuel lines have been off long enough now, that I'm fearful of putting them back on. I'm suspicious that with out any thing in them to keep them from oxidizing on the inside, that putting them back on will only mean taking them off again as a result of brake/fuel filter problems or worse. I anticipate replacing them in November at this time... This will necessitate another trip to Gordon’s B-Hive in Clemson at that time.

On my ambition to paint the blue motor space of my “B”: Talking to a professional paint distributor from "ProPaint" who came to my house and assessed and advised me on my task, he suggested (back in June) not to paint 'til cold weather, to avoid high humidity affecting the paint job. I've gotten the paint gun and made arrangements with my neighbor and his compressor, but the weather won't "cooperate" until fall... Paint and materials will be another $250 minimum. I’ve yet to remove the old “blue” paint from the motor space and this won’t happen ‘til I know that I can immediately paint after its removal to prohibit oxidization in the motor space.

The “dream” hasn’t died, but it sure is getting “clouded”….

Sunday from 10am to 8PM was spent taking out, dismantling and cleaning the steering rack. My ambition, weather permitting, is to completely clean, grease, install two new "boots" and paint the steering rack prior to reinstallation.

Disassembly from the car required a loaner of a "Ball Joint Separator" from AutoZone. Paid the $16 deposit and three taps with the hammer and the passenger side came out.

Initial inspection showed that the driver's side Tie Rod End was not OEM. Upon returning the "separator" to AZ, I inquired about new "ends" for the vehicle. None were in stock or "available" for order. I asked about for a '75 TR6 and the picture that came up matched what was pulled from the driver's side of The
Red Baron. It was priced at $51 and change! Returning home, I priced it with MOSS and a pair of OEM Tie Rod Ends were priced at $18 and change... I will stick with these that I have.

Pics of the cleaned elements can be viewed at photobucket through the link on my home page.

Having been busy providing medical support and taking care of Bonnie, and wanting to return the alignment tool provided by Jack, Ken and I went to Blowing Rock, NC and visited Jack.

This was Ken's first visit to Jack's 5000 sqft facility on the Blue Ridge. Ken provided the photosthat can be viewed at photobucket.com:


http://s842.photobucket.com/albums/zz347/fasurveyor/1%20My%20Red%20Baron%20is%20Making%20Me%20Barren/Visiting%20Jack%20Austins%20Facility/

I discussed with Jack about 2 projects that I anticipated immediate action on. 1) the steering rack refurb to replace the boots; and 2)replacing the bushings in the front suspension. We spent an hour there; that Jack generously took out of his time and explained what should be done, using like assemblys at his facility.

The remainder of the day was spent visiting "Little Switzerland" NC then returning to Rock Hill.

Yesterday we were expecting and got wet weather; by the afternoon. I'd figured with Ken's help, we could get the clutch redone by noon. We got done with 3 minutes to spare.

In redoing the clutch, I took advantage of the opportunity to check out a couple of issues I'd missed the first time around. First, after separating the tranny from the motor backplate, I looked for and found the "1|4" mark on the outermost periphery of the flywheel. This I took a pic of so to satisfy myself that I'd looked for and found it.

The parts I'd ordered from Gordon's B-Hive had come in and they were installed. He'd sent me the 1 in Pilot/Spigot Bushing and new bolts to secure the clutch coverplate to the flywheel. The Pilot bushing went in by greasing inner and outer surfaces, then tapping in with a 7 lb hammer. The bushing was set just beyond flush to the flywheel. The new bolts for re-attaching the clutch coverplate were put in to spec in progressive stages. Initially set to 0.025 in, then to 0.015 then to 0.005; using the gapper for the points/plugs. After these were set to well within the spec of 0.015, we then proceeded to torque to the 27.5lbs/ft. All bolts went to torque. This is notable due to one of the bolts that wouldn't torque from the original assembly. Purchasing new bolts eliminated having to "chase the bosses" as per the advice of Jack Austin, if in fact it was the flywheel that would've had the stripped threads.

Next we initially had some issue inserting the splined shaft from the tranny into the Pilot bushing inside the crank end. Eventually we overcame this by immobilizing the motor on bricks at the approx same level as the spline shaft from the tranny; then "dogged" it into the Pilot bushing by lifting the tranny and rotating it against the bushing. Eventually we managed to insert it fully.

Next new bolts were purchased to re-attach the tranny to the motor backplate. These went a lot smoother into and through the tranny necks than our original assembly. For note, I insisted that we start with the bolts through the engine restraint clamp at the bottom. These were the last to be dealt with the first time, and they proved to be very difficult then.

As usual the photograph history of the task can be seen by going through the link on my home page.

Also ordered from Gordon's B-Hive, were bushings for the front end suspension. Ken and I discussed ways to get this done. It would appear that keeping the suspension attached to the car would work for installing these; considering something needs to be "fixed" to the vehicle, thereby providing some axis of support when dealing with the springs on either side. After these are installed, I will disassemble the major cross member below the engine bay, and clean and repaint all of these subassemblys. Another "might as well" while doing those things that would require major reinstallation...