Chassis is done

I got another quart and pint of Por15. I couldn't find the foam brushes at the home store closer to the house, so I got these "chip brushes" instead. Chip brushes as I know them are used to brush the chips of aluminum or steel or whatever from machinery like lathes, mills, and presses. I don't know how many machine shops get these there. Perhaps chip brush is just the term for any inexpensive brush not really meant for painting. They actually work better than the foam brushes because they are more durable; they last until you have to stop. It's only like $6-7 for a pack of 15, so when a session is over you just chuck the used brush. I was able to do about 2 hours more during the week. You get used to the gloves after awhile.

Saturday morning (today) I got to work again. I only had about half a day available, as we are leaving on vacation tomorrow. It was a brutally humid and hot day. I don't know how hot it was and I don't want to. I was going to do this anyway. I still had the front of the chassis to do. I set up a box fan and got to it in the shade of the garage. After all of the top was done, I got out the engine hoist and rigged it up. Just getting that thing set up was exhausting. I raised the chassis onto it's side like so:

I had planned to flip it completely over, but when I got it on it's side, I decided just to leave it like that. I could get to the top rail by standing, and the lower rail by sitting. Very comfy. You can see the places I still need to do on the undersides. It was actually quiet stable like this, and the trans and rearend didn't leak out the vents. I kept the hoist hooked up as a safety. You can see the shade from the house starting to come onto the chassis. As the day gets later the shade moves out farther, I was hoping to use that to work in. I got a new brush and want at it.

I was hoping to get as much done as I could today. It would be nice to have it all done today just because it would be a nice milestone to reach before we left. I worked diligently but quickly to some '60's-'70's music. The neighbors now know that I know all the lyrics to Mountain's "Mississippi Queen", among others.

Almost without warning, a disaster: RAIN. I was panicked that all the new Por15 was getting ruined with water spots, or who knows what. By this time I had the upper 2 tires off, so I couldn't just push it over and roll it in. I tried shuffling the chassis into the garage as it was by alternately raising and lowering it on the hoist, moving the hoist a little each time. No good. The chassis was too heavy, and it was taking too long. Soon the rain was coming down pretty heavy. Not a cloudburst, but pretty heavy. I scrambled for a tarp, but by the time I got it, it was clear that the chassis was covered in water beads. Putting the tarp on now seemed like too little too late. The neighbors now also know my vocabulary of words-of-frustration.

All those little bumps you may see on top are the water beads. With nothing else to do, I just left it. Almost like magic, 15 minutes later the rain stopped, and the sun began to poke out. I got out there and kept going. I was running out of time. Most of the parts I still needed to do really hadn't gotten wet, since they were hard to get to areas. Soon I had beat the shade and was out in the sun, but I didn't care. When I was done on this side, I put the 2 tires back on and just pushed it over until it was right side up. I hooked the hoist up to the other side, and raised it up onto that side. There was actually little left to do at that point. I probably did 75% while it was upright, and another 20% while it was on the first side, so there was only like 5% that I couldn't get to the first two times.

By the time I was done, I had just finished off the quart can. Perfect. I still have the pint for other parts and touch-ups. The water actually doesn't seem to have affected the Por15, so all that worry for nothing. Hoist disassembled; another sweat-dripping wrestling match. I flopped the chassis down, and rolled it into the garage. Done, and all before vacation.

It cost maybe $100 for the Por15, and took about 15 hours to paint the chassis. It was a lot of work. Easy work, but a lot of work. But it looks fantastic. Totally worth it. Of course everything that looks fantastic and is totally worth it is a lot of work.

Some of the front brake parts look useable as is. Next time hopefully we'll start on the brakes and suspension rebuild.

It will be good to have a week away to think about things. Thanks for tuning in, see ya soon.

Off Topic- Good news, bad news

Good news: I'd like to do a special shout-out: please help me congratulate a friend, and probably our biggest EV blog fan Kieran; he got a very high grade and easily passed his Regents exam! Good going bro! I am glad to see that some hard work is paying off. Also it is on or near his birthday, so that is very cool too. I hope you have a fun and relaxing summer, you deserve it.

Bad news: Many of you will soon find out about my recent employment bump-in-the-road. Basically, I am fired.

I am not sure how this will affect the EV project. I can keep working on it for awhile, since I already have a lot of things paid for and in place (more Por15 came already). But I had planned to use this as a commuter vehicle, and EV's usually have a limited range. So if my next day job (ugh) is too far away, the vehicle would be kind of pointless for me.

I could keep going and finish the project and hope to sell it when it is done. This might be a way to start doing EV conversions as a full time business, which I secretly hoped would happen. I don't want to get too much into a "maybe-someone-will-buy-this" business idea, especially since it would still require a substantial financial investment to buy the electrical components. I flat-out would not spend the money I need to on this without another day job.

If it comes down to it, I could just sell off the truck itself and do something else, it is still pretty much all together. This would be a very disappointing end to what I thought was an extremely cool thing. I mean very disappointing.

I will be cashing in our winning scratch-offs today and reinvesting that in some Mega-Millions tickets.

Other than that, I am open to suggestions.

Edit: I had an astounding 63 visits yesterday, more than 3 times any other day. I'm not sure what was so interesting, but thanks to everyone that tunes in. Way cool. More drama now though, right?

Steering box swap

I finally took the power steering box off. I'll show putting the manual box on even though I'll take if off quick to Por15 the chassis underneath. I apologize in advance for the poor photos; my camera doesn't take close-ups well, or I just don't know how to work it properly. I'll have to check the camera manual soon.

Remove the pitman arm from the center link. The pitman arm is the arm that connects from the bottom of the steering box to the steering cross link. It changes the rotation of the steering into the side-to-side motion of the front wheels. I have a matching pitman arm on the replacement box. If you don't have the pitman, you'd remove the pitman from the box, and attach it to the new box. This is a little more work.

First remove the stud nut. I used a little heat from a propane torch to expand the metal of the arm from the stud. Then I hammered a pickle fork separator into the joint. This worked easily with the help from the torch.

Incidentally, I once did this for a friend, and we didn't have a separator tool available, but I had an idea. I heated the pitman arm end up the same way, with a torch. Then I took an ice cube and set it on the end of the stud that goes through. The center link stud compressed from the localized cooling and literally dropped right out! No hammering. It was neat. Isn't science wonderful?

The box unbolts by 3 long bolts that go from the outside of the frame, through the frame, through the inner frame rail, and into tapped holes in the steering box. This is a pretty simple remove and replace. But I have one more trick to show you.

The threaded holes in the manual box were loaded with dirt and gungo. You should never jam bolts into threads like that. You're better than that. Normally I'd run a tap through the holes to clean them out nicey-nice. I suspected these were metric threads, and I don't have any metric taps. So I just made thread-cleaning bolts.

Clean the bolt threads with a wire wheel. Secure a bolt in a vise. Then fire up an air-powered cutoff wheel, and cut a groove into the threads, along the axis of the bolt, starting at the end. In a pinch, you could use a hacksaw, but it's a little more difficult. I have done it this way. I love my pneumatic cutoff wheel.

It only has to be like an inch long. Do this to all the bolts, one groove each is fine. Man, these crap photos are BUGGIN' ME!

Now when you thread the bolts into the cloggy steering box threads, the dirt gets scraped into the slot in the bolt, just like it's the flute in a tap. You can insert and remove the bolt a couple of times, cleaning out the groove in the bolt each time, to get all the dirt out. This usually works great, and the bolt will not be appreciably weakened by the small groove.

Class dismissed. Maybe I'll redo the photos if I have time.

Por15 update...so this doesn't come off, right?

Alright, maybe I got more on me than I thought. I didn't see these parts.

Began painting the chassis...with Por15

In a perfect world, I would take the chassis completely apart, have every part sandblasted, then prime and paint each part, before reassembling them with all new hardware. However, I am not doing a restoration, so I didn't do that. But I do want to refresh the chassis, and make it nicer than most. The chassis is solid, with surface rust on it. I don't want to sandblast it all, since that's time consuming and expensive, but just painting over the rust is not going to last for long.

I had this small can of Por15 I had bought at a swap meet probably 10-15 years ago. Never did try the stuff. I began by wire brushing some of the frame and suspension parts. I stirred the Por15 for a long time, then I began applying it. It is a rust converter. This is a coating that is similar to paint, but it has chemicals in it that react with the rust on metal, turning the rust into an inert, hard, um, substance. This stuff is well known in the hobby for just this kind of use. It supposedly works best on lightly rusted metal. Bingo!

No, I do not know what became of Por's 1-14.
I will be honest and admit that I soon pooped out on the wire brushing part. Borrrring.
I painted the stuff on with inexpensive foam brushes. It was actually kind of fun, and as I say, I just sort of kept going, only wire brushing very scaly areas, or to get dirt off.

I wore latex gloves, as this stuff reportedly will not come off skin until it wears off. Nonetheless, I did get some on me, as well as some on my wife and daughter (don't ask). Anyway, I put on some Creedence Clearwater Revival, and soon got into a bit of a groove. It is kind of difficult to do an assembled chassis, but I am putting it on literally everything that's attached, so no need to be overly neat about it. It dries in just a few hours.

I just kept going until I finished the entire pint, and I had used 11 of my 12 brushes by then also.

As you can see by looking at the pictures, I got somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of the frame done. It is hard to estimate, since I didn't get a lot of the inside of the frame rails done, and I want to do all that too. I still have to do the front suspension, and there is more to that then the rear. Finally, I am going to flip the entire chassis upside down to do the complete underside! I did about 3 hours today, so I am estimating 10-12 hours for the chassis painting.

As soon as I had begun this today, I was wondering if I should bother with it at all. I would bet that 99% of the people that do an electric conversion don't bother. It is a lot of work, and it will not make the truck run any better. But hopefully it will be worthwhile, when people ask to see the electrical parts, and they see an immaculate detailed and painted chassis. I may be off on my own here, but this is going to be so cool.

I don't know if I'll have any more for your this weekend, as I have to order more Por15. Hopefully more next weekend.

Related- The next race car

I've been interested in many facets of cars over the years. I was very close to going dirt circle track racing more than once. But I feel like I will always be a drag racer. I'm taking a brief hiatus right now, and I plan to sell the Altered when I can; I doubt it would sell with the economy like it is. I do want to build another drag car. But what to build?
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I know some parameters; mainly, build a 10.50 car. In other words, a car that will run mid-ten seconds or slower (the altered I have now runs low 9's, almost in the 8's). This eliminates A LOT of regulations and hassles (and expense). I really want to get a door-car; a full-bodied car that is easy to get in and out of. But they are kind of big and heavy, I don't like that.
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Lately, I have been thinking about a more nostalgic and slower altered. In the photo is the Burkholder Brothers Fiat altered from the late '60's. I could do something like this, carbureted instead of supercharged of course. I could have opening doors, and a big wide cage inside; build it like a door-car. Full windows, as required, and make the door windows roll up and down so I don't cook like a chicken in a pot in there. I know small wheelbase cars are squirrely to drive, but somehow I got the Vega I used to own down the track, and that was short too. How did I do it? It was a 10-second car! Slow it down, and it's easier to drive. More competitive too. I did some good racing in the Vega. With the altered I have now, things happen very fast.

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So that's this week's car-I-want-to-build. Next week it'll be something else, I'm sure.

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I have to get this electric truck project done so I can get build another drag car.

photo: unknown

Edit:

While I had this post sittin' in draft mode, waiting to be published on Wednesday morning, I remembered that I already made rather elaborate plans for a slower, T-bodied roadster dragster. In fact, the basic kit I was going to use was already on order from Speedway Motors in January, when I decided to build the EV. This would be similar to the Davis & Ingram "Jewel T" shown here, except with the rear wheels moved back about 10". I planned to reuse a lot of components from my current altered. Yes, I would still have the climbing-in-and-out of a non-door-car, but I would make the cage wide, and the slower speed potential would mean less safety gear is required; again, this makes the whole deal more manageable. I already have solutions worked out to solve all of my complaints about my current altered; things like a built-in glove box, helmet holder, removable sun-shade, etc. It was going to be cool. Darn, now I'm really itching to get back to drag racing.

I've GOT to get on with this EV!

photo: Bob Wagner

No progress again this week

Well, I didn't get much done again this week. I had some obligations, some people to help, etc. K & k gave me a party on Father's Day, that was fantastic.

I spent most of Saturday attempting to repair a torn CV boot on K's car. I really thought this would be pretty easy (see how simple it looks in the photo above?). Let me speed through this; Wrong boot new boot need tool Sears socket rain f-ed up sway bar end f-ed up ball joint no fixey. Basically, I spent the entire day on this and messed it up worse, and had to bring it to a repair place anyway. Now instead of just the boot, it needs the boot, a sway bar end, and a lower ball joint. Very discouraging. I hate working on new cars.

I did get up to Steve's place late Saturday, and saw his S10 conversion in person (also rained there). It is pretty cool, much as he has described it before. I liked the battery box construction, and took note of how the insulation and hold-downs were done. They were not as I had planned to do mine, so I'm glad I saw his, to see another method of doing it. It's also cool to see a full body, all metal S10 conversion in person, knowing that it has been successfully used for years. It's just more reassurance that this whole concept actually works. So that was important research really.

I hope I can get started on the chassis next weekend.

photo: Automedia.com

Related- Other EV's I'd like to make

I was on my way home tonight and I saw one of these babies. Ford Bronco. Late '60's to early '70's. I 'forget' about these because I'm more of a Chevy man at heart, and GM really didn't have a competing model to this at that time. The Chevy Blazer was humongous compared to this. This was more the size of a Jeep. These have a loyal following. They are cool for all the reasons early Jeeps are cool. I suppose the International Scout is similar (no photo, I just thought of it). My grandfather had a Scout, and he loved it. So anyway, a couple of more good candidates that are old enough to be cool conversions. I wouldn't really say I feel the burning urge to build these, but I could certainly envision it.

Besides, Hank Kimball on Green Acres tooled around in a gold colored one with cut-down side doors; it was his town assessor car. And he's cool, right?

photo of bronco: broncos.com

photo of hank: unknown

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Hey Kieran, if you're out there (and I think you are) good luck on your Regents test, bro!

Attention! The post following was drafted before this one, but published later. I can't re-order them, so you may have missed it! See below. Thank you.

Related- Cleaned out garage

It only took about an hour Monday night to get the garage cleaned out enough for now. I was able to roll the chassis in. I don't know why I feel this is important, since I will probably roll it back out to do the cleaning and painting. There's more room outside, it's easier to clean up after, etc. For one thing I just like having it out of the driveway. I don't want the yard to look like a junkyard, but more importantly I prefer to work out of sight, in secret, sort of. Ain't nobody's business what I'm doin', you know what I mean?


Another option that is nice is I can set up a box fan inside and work out of the summer heat. It actuallys stays pretty cool in there if I keep the door closed. It's not easy working is such tight confines, but I've done it before. A lot of times I have an idea or want to check something late at night, so I can just go downstairs and do it without going outside. I did this very frequently when I was building my last car. Also nice for winter working, or if it rains, obviously.

I have the truck in the other side of the garage, you can see how crowded it is on that side.
I HAVE to roll it out to do almost anything, it is very tight on that side. And yes, I have begun the dreaded "load stuff that you don't know what to do with into the project vehicle itself" deal. Ideally you are not using the project vehicle as a storage area. I will need those big cardboard pieces to put down when I do the chassis cleaning.


Here's a shot of the chassis, showing the factory motor mounts. You can see them with the bolts in them. I will try to make brackets to attach the electric motor to them. They're already there, why not use them?

See the big greasy spot on the left? That's good. Normally I'd say, yuck, you get filthy working around that. But boy does it keep the rust away! Give me an old car that had a major oil leak it's whole life anytime. You get it cleaned off, and it's like brand new metal underneath.

See that hosey-hose poking in on the right side? It's connected to the power steering box. We'll be rid of that soon enough. I'll get you yet, my pretty...and your little hose too!

Mickey approves of the work so far.

Diesel's not so sure.

Related- Other EV's I'd like to make

I am constantly thinking about potential EV projects.

My EV friend Steve (Hi Steve) was kind enough to take me to an area meeting of EV enthusiasts a while ago. While I was there, one car that really caught my eye was this Suzuki Samurai conversion. I liked it's small size, and it's utilitarian vibe. Very spartan, very World War II Jeep-ish. I just could not stop thinking about it, and wondering if I really wanted to build the Ford. I realized I do want to continue with the Ford; because the classic deal is more what I'm interested in long-term. So my mind may wander, but I still come back to the Ford.

In my mind-builds, I've been considering Jeeps. The Samurai was maybe too small for me. The newer Jeeps are probably too heavy and loaded with gadgets. Maybe an earlier one would do. So I did a little research on a Jeep I knew existed, but did not know a lot about.


The Jeep Surrey Gala was built beginning in 1959. It came in pink, light blue, and aqua green. The genesis for this was when a resort in Acapulco Mexico converted a fleet of 2-wheel-drive Jeeps for it's guests' use. Jeep later offered these as their own actual model. You can see it's an open-air runabout type of vehicle. The pink is a little feminine for me, but I'd roll in the blue or green.

Here is a shot of the Acapulco resort, with one of their Jeeps. Remember, they did this first, on their own.

I have always wanted to build a beach-buggy-type car. Something I would own if I lived near the beach. Something that is fun, and nimble, and not too serious. I've considered a resurrected '60's VW-based dune buggy, or more recently the early Jeep Wagon (no photo now, maybe we'll get to that one later). But since I don't live near the beach, and I don't know if I'd ever get to live near the beach, it's just a fun what-if, really.

Now I want to build a Jeep Surrey style beach bomber, but as an EV. I could build it with a full removable soft-top and doors for winter (?) use. Again, I like the industrial-ness of Jeeps. Door hinges exposed, hood latches on the outside, almost race-car like in their intentional crudeness. Perhaps instead of the stripes, I'd go with a tropical-patterned cloth top top and seats. Pastel, or sand-colored, or an island graphic paint scheme. Deep-sea fishing pole rack on the front bumper. Surfboard on the roof.

There's only one big problem. It doesn't fit my life. I just don't know how I'd feel about it in the winter, and driving to work, and such. Seems like it would be like wearing a straw sun-hat and white zinc oxide on my nose to work, in the winter; way out of place. It might be too whimsical for everyday use. It's more "Daytona Beach" than "Poughkeepsie, NY".

Of course, there's always this...

...the chicks dig it.

Photos of Jeeps: source unknown.

No progress...it's too hot

I console myself all winter with thoughts of the eventual warm summer. BAM, now it's 95-100 and I'm sweating my A off. I like it hot. But when it jumps 20 degrees to the nineties in one day, I don't have time to get acclimated. It's just too hot to do anything.

I had a lot of other obligations this weekend, helping people with things mostly, plus some projects around the house. Considering this heat, I actually did get a lot of things accomplished. We woke to a power outage Sunday, probably caused by my own air conditioners knocking out the grid. It was just kind of an off weekend. The best I can tell you is I began cleaning out the garage so I can use it for doing work on the S10 chassis. Didn't even get that completed. Just too hot to keep at it.

I was at a drag race last year, late in the year, and it was hot. We were at Lebanon Valley. I hadn't checked the weather. But I should have known it was going to be hot because I had to load some stuff up before I left in the morning, and I was sweating good, and it was only like 5:30 am. I got up there, and made a time trial run. By the time I got back and got out of the car, and out of the racing suit, I was nearly delirious. I was sweating so bad, all I could do was sit in the shade and try to keep calm, and hope I didn't pass out. I drank everything I had. I had to withdraw from the race, and I just loaded up and hung around for awhile.

I decided I would never do that again. I've been to the races when it's too cold, and many times when it's too hot. When you're a racer, you figure, there's other guys doing it, I can do it too. You just like to be there, and you just want to race. But I do it for my enjoyment. If I'm dead from heat stroke, or a heart attack, how am I going to enjoy it? I ain't no kid anymore. I'll be honest and say it; I just can't hack it. I'm more selective now. The same with this project. I'm not going to be completely miserable while I'm doing it. So no real progress this week.

Photo: geomorph.sourceforge.net

Removed the ABS valve thing

Here are the brake parts still attached to the chassis. The ABS valve is on the left, master cylinder is in the middle, and power booster on the right. The power booster is what gives you "power" brakes. I'll be removing and discarding the ABS valve. I made a quick sketch of where each line goes from the ABS valve. I don't know why I did this, as I will not be reusing it and will not need this information. Old habit I guess. I make a lot of sketches and notes as I take a vehicle apart. Can't hurt.

No, the car in the background is not falling off a cliff, the picture is a little tilted.

Here I am about to loosen the lines from the ABS module. For disassembling any type of tube fitting, you should use a Line Wrench. This is like an open end wrench, but it wraps farther around the fitting for better grip. Look at how it wraps 3/4 of the way around the fitting instead of 1/2 way like an open end wrench would. This is 2 extra points of the hex it grabs. That matters. This wrench is less likely to slip and strip the hex, and it also prevents crushing the fitting, which can happen if you 'gorilla' them like I do. After you have broken them loose, you can switch to a regular open end wrench for faster work.

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Line wrenches come in a set of four or so. Get 'em. For every fitting you don't booger up, your brakes will thank you.

Here is the ABS valve, sittin' in the pan like a big fat ripe appendix. I wish I had dumped it at the scrapper, it's got to weigh 20 lbs (the valve, not my appendix). Is this really necessary? Do people really not know how to stop a car to the degree that this thing has to be on there? You should have seen the amount of wiring that was attached to this thing too. Pathetic and ridiculous. Pump and steer, people, pump and steer. Sounds like an ale and steak house, the Pump and Steer.

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I was considering putting in a combination valve from an earlier model S10 where the ABS valve was. But I am thinking that the brake bias will be permanently different than a stock truck. The estimated 1500 lb battery load will see to that. I think a simple solution will be to put a proportioning valve like that used on race cars on it. All you do is hook up the brakes, front and rears separated, and do a panic stop. Note whether the front or rear wheels lock up (go into a skid) first. Usually it will be the rears, but with the rear load this truck will have, it may be the fronts. Install the proportioning valve in the set that locks up first, and close the valve a little. This restricts the amount of fluid that can pass, delaying that set of brakes from locking up, until they all do at once or more nearly at once. Get it?

Here are the parts we will be reusing, the master cylinder and power booster. Now sitting on the previously mentioned small pile of parts. I believe that is the sun visors it is dripping on there.

A small task, but I have done enough ambitious projects to know that you get them done the way you eat an elephant: One little bite at a time. Plus now you know what a Line Wrench is.

Now I'm hungry.