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?!