Summer Update

Apparently I'm not very good at keeping up with my blog so, I thought I should give an update to what I've been working on this summer.

The interior is pretty much done, there are still a couple of switches I haven't been able to take out but I'm hoping that when I get her media blasted I'll be able to get into them. They are just so rust welded right now, that I can't even see what size they are... seems to be the story of this old girl!

The exterior is another story.  I have the front end taken apart, the exhaust removed from the engine, and I am one bolt away from removing the engine from the transmission so I can take the engine out. The doors are out, but I still have to get one of the hinges for the passenger door. Her bed has become the storage for all of her "big" parts.

I still have a long way to go, but I can see the end of the deconstruction... I think!

I'll try to get some pictures loaded in the next day or two to show how much different looking she is now.

Changed my mind

Once again I've changed my mind. I've decided that I would like to keep Diane as original as possible, so I won't be making the trip out to Troutdale to look at the 235 engine. I would rather hire a mechanic to look at her current one to see if they can get her started before I jump ship. We'll see what the future brings, hopefully a mechanic that can see the problem quickly and be able to get her started. In the meantime though I'm going to continue removing parts while looking for someone that can media blast her and get her ready for paint and everything else I'm sure she will need.

Progress

Rob came up on Friday and helped me accomplish a lot of tasks that have been giving me some trouble. With Buster supervising us, we were able to remove the heater, the knob for the lights, the doors, and the front shocks. The heater ended up being much easier than I had originally thought it would be. I thought there was three screws on each side holding it to the sidewall, but luckily there were only one the front side, and the back was held up with tabs that Rob was able to pull the heater away from. The knob for the lights was also much easier to pull out, Rob noticed a little piece of metal sticking out from the unit, he pushed it and out came the knob separated from the rest of the unit. The doors came off without too much trouble, and now the cab is really beginning to look bare.

In a couple of weeks Rob and I are going to drive to Troutdale to go look at a 235 and 4 speed transmission from a 1950 suburban that's for sale. I've been told it runs, so hopefully it does. If so I will probably buy it to drop into Diane since I have yet to get her original engine to start.

Until then I'm planning on finishing off the cab,  then maybe even removing the engine and transmission. Getting me that much closer to starting the process of sending parts off to get media blasted.

Photos

As promised here are some photos of where she's at today. Since these photos I have done a bit more work, I have disassembled the front end into pieces for easier storage. I have also removed the hood with the help of Margaret, and I have gotten most of the firewall padding removed. I am still working on finishing up the dash, only a couple things left to remove before it's done. The heater, under the dash, though is giving me a really hard time. There are a couple of screws that I just can't seem to get the right angle on, although I hope to have it out in the next day or two. As far as the engine bay, or opening now, I am beginning to work on getting it cleaned up so I can remove the engine and get the whole thing ready to load up on a trailer to get it power washed.
As you can see though I have found some new rust spots, they are located on the cab, where the fenders met with it. I'm sure I'll be able to find someone who can weld in some new sheet metal.

Progress

I've finally made a little progress after not being able to work on Diane for the past couple of months. From the rain and cold weather, our trip to Jamaica, and everything else that's been going on since the end of February, I haven't been able to get out to the garage for more that a few minutes to work on her. But things have finally settled down a little, this past weekend I made decision to go ahead and pull the front end off so I could gain better access to the engine and engine compartment as well as the mounds of dirt still in the body. Needless to say the garage floor has become the new home for the hood, grill, both inner and outer fenders, and I'm sure the list will continue to grow. I'll post pictures in the next couple of days of what she's looking like now.

Empty Dash

I was able to work on the dash this past weekend when we had great weather outside. Pretty much everything is removed from the dash, all of the gauges, pulleys, and remaining trim. I just need to finish disconnecting the gauges from the wires then start pulling the wires and remove the heater so I can remove the firewall padding, then I think she'll be about ready to have the cab removed and sand blasted to see how bad the sheet metal is. I'll get some pictures posted over the next couple of days.

Cab work

I've been able to get out and work on Diane for an hour or two the past couple of nights. The rest of the headliner is gone except what I'll need to sand away. Unfortunately it looks like there was a bit of decaying under the windshield, I'm hoping it's nothing too serious and that once I get her sand blasted I won't have to replace any of the window framing. I removed the seat and gas tank to find tons and tons of dirt, garbage, and bugs. Everything is all cleaned up and looking much better. I've included a few of pictures of the progress.

More Progress

Well I was able to get out and do some work this weekend. I removed the back windows without any problems. Then I moved into the cab and removed the old rotten and decayed headliner. I was able to scrap most of the glue residue off as well. Next I'm going to get out the sand paper and work on getting the rust and little bit of glue residue.

I tried to loosen the exhaust again without any luck. I sprayed it with more liquid wrench so we'll see. I also tried working on some of the inner fender bolts that have been giving me a hard time. Of course no luck, but I sprayed them again so only time will tell.

Next time I get the chance to work on her I'm going to clean out the cab a bit more, maybe remove the seat frame and gas tank. Once I get everything out, I'm hoping to get everything vacuumed out and start on the cleaning.

Windshield

Well with the holidays, and our new foster dog, Diesel I haven't had the time to get out and work on Diane as much as I'd like too. Although I got to work on her for an hour or so this past weekend. I was able to finally remove the windshield, it was really easy once I cut through the moulding along the edge of the glass, then pop the glass out, and the moulding came off easy. The glass is really amazing looking... it's two pieces held together with what looks like double sided sticky plastic... all together its close to a 1/2" thick and very heavy, definitely not like windshields of today!

Once again time has slipped away...I was able to get the engine put back together...so much easier than taking it apart! Everything went back into place without any hiccups. But Margaret and I were out there this past weekend for a bit. I re-timed the engine, put the plugs back in and we tried her, of course as my luck would have it nothing. Margaret had talked with her dad and brother when her brother was here visiting a couple of weeks ago. Doug came up with the conclusion that the exhaust might be clogged making it so the engine couldn't breathe. I'm working on trying to loosen the bolts that hold the exhaust to the manifold. At first I was a bit skeptical about the idea because the last owner said he had replaced the exhaust...but then realized that he probably didn't check everything above where he welded in the new exhaust. So we'll see...hopefully I'll be able to remove the bolts in the next couple of days. But in the mean time I'm going to move onto working underneath her.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

So on Sunday Margaret agreed to help me with Diane...all we needed to do was replace the gasket in the middle of the engine between the cylinders and rocker arm assembly. Sounded easy. I knew it would be a pain, because the rocker arm assembly, is very heavy, covered in grease, and awkwardly shapped. But we thought we could handle it. So we started and were able to pull the rocker arm up and remove the old gasket without too many issues. We felt good, we were able to get it out in just a couple of minutes. We talked for a couple of minutes on how we could get the new gasket in and thought we had a good plan. First I would lift the rocker arm assembly onto the part where the radiator flows into the engine then I would lift from the rear so Margaret could slide the new gasket into place. In theory it sounded great, but in actuality not so good. We were able to get the new gasket slid into place but when I went to return the rocker arm assembly it pushed the gasket back. We tried this a few times and realized we weren't getting anywhere. We decided to try "plan B", I would basically try to lift the whole rocker arm straight up and hold it while Margaret put the gasket into place, then I would gently put the rocker arm back into place. Only when I was holding the rocker arm up about an inch or so above the engine, it slipped out of my hand and smashed Margaret's hand. She jumped back and I saw the blood...I thought the worst. When we got inside Margaret said she thought she had possibly broken her fingers. We decided to go to the ED, where she was taken back and they took X-rays...luckily nothing was broken! They put a splint on her finger and gave her a prescription for some muscle relaxers/pain medication. When we got home from the ED and picking up her prescription she said we needed to finish up the engine, that it needed to be done. So we went back out and I was able to lift the rocker arm up just long enough for her to get the gasket into place and I set it back down. We might have been off by a 1/16" but it was close enough for me! So now I just need to finish replacing all of the gaskets and then tighten all of the bolts to spec., reinstall everything and hope we were successful.

Oops!

So I had a little accident, I was trying to time the engine by myself which I have done in the past without any problems but low and behold this time I did. I was using a bamboo stick in my first cylinder to help me realize the placement of the piston, when as I was cranking it the stick got stuck and snapped. Oh shit! Needless to say there wasn't any way to get it out... I tried. So long story short... after freaking out for a couple of days I decided to take the engine apart (which has actually been easier than I thought it was going to be). Granted I did make a big mess when I disconnected the hose to the radiator. I'm glad I did take the engine apart though, the bamboo stick broke into a few small pieces, and I found a bunch of gunk piled up inside. Margaret and I ran to Chevs of the 40's to get a new set of gaskets for the engine when I put it back together. Hopefully we'll get a chance tomorrow or Monday to replace all of the gaskets and get the engine put back together. Then maybe even start it up?!

The New Distributor

So after much pain and agony! I was able to get the new distributor to fit. I had to run all over town to find a new nut and bolt set that would fit to replace the one I had to cut in half. The set is used to hold on a clamp with a plate off of it to hold the distributor down. Needless to say though, I think I got it in the right spot and it's all hooked up and ready to be fired!

Well we tried it....no luck. But there is a big spark now...so I just need to go through and retime the engine and try it again.

Bought the New Distributor

Picked up the "new" rebuilt distributor yesterday from Dan's Classic, in Portland. The distributor came in a box sealed inside of some thick plastic and it came with a new cap and rotor as well. Maybe it's a sign things are going to work!! This morning I removed the old distributor and now I'm working on removing the vacuum advance clip. Once I get it removed I should be able to transfer it over to the new distributor and then put the new distributor in and maybe I'll get lucky and won't need to re-time the engine. If so it shouldn't be too hard this time around since I have the hand crank for the engine now.

Not the Carb

So I got the carburetor rebuilt without too many hiccups. Rob came up on Friday afternoon to help me with Diane again, and we tried to get her to start, with of course, no luck. Let me just say I'm getting very frustrated! We tried messing with the timing of the distributor again and even tried flipping the wires 180 degrees. Nothing... then we tried testing the spark again...come to find out the spark has diminished to just about nothing again after the distributor. So I'm going to have to buy a new distributor and hope it'll fix all of my problems. Once I purchase it I'll have to retime the engine and then keep my fingers crossed as I step on the starter.

Carburetor Progress

I decided to rebuild the carburetor. Something I've never done or even thought of doing before, but have a feeling it might be the answer to all of my issues with Diane starting. Here's a couple of before pictures. I'm hoping that my suspicions are correct.

So I have completely dismantled the carburetor and begun to clean it all up. What a pain! Luckily it's a fairly simple thus far. There is a ton of carbon build up inside. Most of it is cleaning up fairly well though. I'm hoping to have it rebuilt and reinstalled either tomorrow or on Monday so I can try to fire her, Diane, up.

Well I got the carb. rebuilt today. Not too many hiccups. Replaced most everything inside and resealed all of the new gaskets and put anti seize on the bolts. I get it reattached tomorrow and try to start Diane again. Unfortunately it started to rain tonight and got chilly outside too fast for me to get it done tonight.

Some progress

It's been a few weeks since I've posted again. Between the hot weather and just being busy I haven't worked on Diane too much lately. But since I have had her for just over 6 months now I thought I should do a progress report. In the last 6 months I really have done a lot, even though she doesn't look like I have. First I guess I was able to remove the wheels without breaking or slicing off any of the nuts, and have put her up on blocks in the garage. I have replaced basically everything electrical in the engine bay, from the battery, cables, plugs, points, starter, and coil. I have gotten most of the major dents out of her, and have removed most of the trim, except for the couple of stubborn pieces. I've emptied the gas tank twice trying to remove any built up debris. Both side windows have also been removed, along with the steering wheel to help me gain access to the underside of the dash.

I know there are still a couple of things I'm missing from the list but, so far that really looks like I've done a fair amount. I realize that I have a much, much longer road ahead but at least I have a decent start. Thankfully I have a wife that is very accepting of how long it's going to take to rebuild Diane.

My current projects are working on rebuilding the carburetor, and removing the remaining trim ( the front grill, front window trim, and passenger side door handle). Then I'm not sure of exactly what I'll do next. If rebuilding the carb gets it so I can start Diane, then I'll probably purchase a newly converted generator, and then maybe start on converting the breaks so I can drive her onto a trailer to take her to get washed. If rebuilding the carb doesn't work then I'm thinking I might need to break down and by a new one and go from there. Although I'm sure it's fairly obvious I have a lot of work ahead of me. I'm going to try to get back into writing everything as it's happening unlike I've done here for the past couple of months.

I haven't worked on Diane too much during the past month, execpt for the occasional 10-15 minute interval here or there, where I continue to work on removing the trim. We've just had some many other things pop up...such as building a new deck in the back yard, a couple of painting projects, and helping our neighbor out with his truck, or the fact that it's been in the upper 90's to low 100's for the past 2 weeks, etc., etc.. But without fail I want to have the rest of the trim off by the end of the weekend. I really only have a few pieces left...the emblems, the grill, windshield trim, and the passenger door handle assembly. I think it should be managable, as long as it's not too hot.

Still haven't gotten the grill or the front window trim all the way off yet...hopefully it'll come though. I have been able to get most of the major dents out of the front fenders with the tools I had to buy! It sure is nice to be able to see some progress. I'm going to continue working on the trim this weekend to see if I can make any more progress.

So it's been awhile since I last posted... Diane is still about the same. I've been working on the timing still to see if she'll start, but of course I haven't had any luck yet. Since the engine is not cooperating with me I've been working on the trim, which for the most part has come off pretty easily except around the front window, and one of the bolts on the front grill. Another piece that's been giving me trouble is the passenger door handle and lock... my books make it look simple but after sitting for 59 years things are definitely a little bit more difficult.

I've come to the conclusion that I may just need to forget about getting her to start until I get everything else done. Which means I could go ahead and pull the engine and start on some of the body work. Since I don't have my fuel lines hooked up I decided to drain the gas tank again, only this time when I opened up the line nothing came out, so I had to dismantle it from the bottom of the tank in order to get it to flow.

New Coil

I went to Chevs of the 40's and purchased the new coil and installed it the other day.I was Finally able to get the spark I've been looking for! It's easily jumping 1/4" and its not intermittent like before. Margaret and I tried to start her, but nothing. I tried messing around with the choke thinking it might need to be adjusted but it didn't help. I'm thinking there might still be something wrong with the timing or my gaping. Next chance I get to work on her I'm going to continue adjusting her timing to see if it's still off a bit. Hopefully once I adjust it a bit she'll catch and all of my worries will be gone. If that doesn't work I'm at a loss... I've would have replaced everything within the ignition system. It that's the case then I'll pull the engine and let a professional look at it and try to fix her, so I can move onto other projects that need to be completed.

On a positive note though...I finally was able to cut the tacky turn signals off of the front fenders. After breaking one hacksaw, buying another, and lots of sweat...they both came off. She looks so much smoother already! Next to come off is her grill. Then I need to work on taking out the rest of her windows and continue to clean her up a bit so I can take her somewhere to get her power washed.