#9 - Heart Transplant

Well I came into a bit of good luck for the old girl. I was surfing around EBAY and came across a 'new' engine and tranny. It seems there once was a doctor in Texas that was tearing his newly restored KB like mine into a hot rod. Cutting off the front end and inserting a corvette front end and crate motor. Well this little fairy tale meant good news for me. The exact motor, minus 35 years under a tree, to drop in mine. She has new rods, pistons, rings, bearings, valves, carb, water pump, fuel pump, clutch, exhaust, gaskets, seals, re-built starter, generator and transmission, for a whopping price of $600.00. I thought 'well I really want to keep her original', then I thought 'hey dumb ass, not only do you know absolutely nothing about re-building an engine, this will save you 6 months and 4 grand', then I thought again 'this is why I am doing this to learn' then I thought again 'your not a mechanic , you are good at winging things lets don't push it'. Like in the cartoons you have the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other, back an forth. In the meantime I watched it go off of EBAY without any bidding, thinking that who else would want this, and made the guy an offer less than what he was asking. So after a 500 mile roundtrip, her she lies at her new home on a pallet.



She has a different transmission. Not sure what the deal is, but I am guessing it is a 3 speed and mine was a 4 speed. However none of my stick shift or parking brake lever match up and I couldn't get the old ones. I will probably swap the two, but some more re-search will be needed. I also found on EBAY a new instrument panel in great shape with all of the working gauges for 25 bucks. To my surprise when it arrived it came with the wiring harness intact along with all the switches in great shape. This is a major coo, great cloth covered wire and the all but impossible to find switches.
I am hoping for a few days to maybe get the cab removed this weekend. I have pretty much everything stripped out. I am going out of town all next week. I have located a guy who will bead blast all of the body parts for 450 bucks, again more re-search is needed. But overall a good couple of weeks, but not much wrench turning.

#8 - The Texas 'Grinder' Massacre

Its been quite a productive last month. With the exception of a chance encounter with a wire cup brush spinning at 10,000 rpms and my nose. I spent extra money for a grinder with a variable speed. Used it everyday. Got used to it. Knew how it felt. Knew how to handle it safetly. Then the neighbors borrowed it without my knowledge. Put it back. Turned it on. Ouch. Blood. Cussing. More blood. More Cussing. Don't take me wrong, my neighbors are welcome to anything I own. But in there innocence, they turned the grinder up from about 3000 to 10,000 rpms and as soon as I touched the frame it jumped back on me. The deal with electric tools is that when things go bad, they go bad in a hurry. Drill presses, 1/2 hp drills, grinders etc. That is why they make safety equiptment. Luckily I was wearing my safety glasses and gloves. What is left of my safety glasses. I was laying on my back when it jumped down and I had no place to go. My wife said I cant post any pics, it will most definitely leave a scare. As she says "now Im not just pretty". But after three weeks it is healing nicely, if only some more and I could have ordered one of the Tom Cruise noses. Oh well...

In other news, I have removed the bed and completed the rear section of frame. I am ready to put the rear end, shocks, brake lines, and brakes on. I am waiting on leaf spring brackets which are being remade.










In the meantime I am removing doors, wiring harness, seats in preparation to take the cab off. I cant decide how to deal with it. I need to price out having it dipped. I cant reach many areas with a sandblaster or grinder. So I am thinking what to do. This is where the most of the serious rust is, I am afraid this will be my Achilles heel. Bondo and welding, cant me harder the mechanical. Yeah right.....