It was not a very good week. I am still stuck on the driver side rear axle. I have not gotten much help from the forum, and I am still waiting to hear back from Hurricane on my questions about what to do about it next. After working on it for a couple of hours myself and another with Phil, I think the problem may be with the rear wheel bearing being larger than the housing it is supposed to fit into. So I bought a digital caliper to measure the diameters of the hole and the bearing.
Just taking some quickie measurements seems to bear out my hypothesis, but it is very close, probably within the margin of operator error on my part. This week I will try to be a little more precise, but I may not be able to measure everything I need to. Phil will be driving through Kansas City next weekend on his way to Wichita and has volunteered to swing by Hurricane to exchange any parts, if we can figure out exactly what is wrong.
I may also bypass this problem for a while and work a little on the front end of the car's suspension.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
A Busy Week
I was able to spend a lot of time on the car this week, though it doesn't necessarily show it.
The first task was to install the brake caliper backing plates to the rear end housing. Seemed straight forward enough. However...
The plates came with two sets of bolts, neither of which would work properly. One set was already on the plates from the manufacturer, but were completely different from the install manual. The other set followed Hurricane's manual, but did not quite fit through the holes. And neither one had the correctly threaded nuts that were needed, a fine thread. In the end, after my first guidance from the other builders in the Hurricane Owners Forum, I opened up the holes a little bit and bought the right nuts at Napa.
The next step was to install the rear axles. Step one was to silicone the spacers in place and to apply some grease to the bearing. Having neither, it was off to the new Lowe's out in Arnold with a $10 coupon. Every little bit of savings helps. This was probably the high point of the week.
Back home, it was time to put the new goodies to use. I had bought some RTV silicone before in a toothpaste type tube that basically exploded the first time I tried to use it on the third member (differential) a few weeks ago. This time, I bought a bigger cylindrical tube that I can use in my caulk gun. Works much better. Too bad I have no idea how much to use. Guessing seems okay.
Next was the grease gun. I followed the directions for loading the grease tube into the gun, almost to a tee. Exactly to a tee would have been better. I neglected to tighten the screw that holds the lid down, so when I released the plunger, the grease blew right through that hole creating a giant, stinky, sloppy mess before I could re-engage the plunger in the safe position. It was almost fun to watch, just not to clean up afterwards.
From there, I got everything glued and lubed up and tried to install the axles.
No luck. The axles did not seem to fit. Ended up being another huge mess. The previous work of fitting the backing plates went by the wayside. Several hours were spent cursing and wondering if I even had the right parts. Eventually, I went to Harbor Freight to buy a bigger hammer. That seems to be a pretty good answer to a lot of problems.
Anyway, this morning, after two hours, and one broken ratchet wrench, I did manage to get the passenger side axle installed properly. Here is a picture (taken with new AA batteries, also from Lowe's)...
The driver side still is a huge problem. Just does not seem to be fitting. Here is a picture of the splined end of the axle shaft and another of the interior of the housing shaft looking at the third member.
It seems that I am about 5/8ths of an inch from getting it all the way in. I do get in far enough to engage the teeth enough to turn the axle with the drive shaft. But the bearing is not even close to being all the way into the housing. It will leak like crazy if I were to leave it like this. More pounding needs to be done, I guess. Anyway, I am going to leave it like this and take a few days off for R&R.
The first task was to install the brake caliper backing plates to the rear end housing. Seemed straight forward enough. However...
The plates came with two sets of bolts, neither of which would work properly. One set was already on the plates from the manufacturer, but were completely different from the install manual. The other set followed Hurricane's manual, but did not quite fit through the holes. And neither one had the correctly threaded nuts that were needed, a fine thread. In the end, after my first guidance from the other builders in the Hurricane Owners Forum, I opened up the holes a little bit and bought the right nuts at Napa.
The next step was to install the rear axles. Step one was to silicone the spacers in place and to apply some grease to the bearing. Having neither, it was off to the new Lowe's out in Arnold with a $10 coupon. Every little bit of savings helps. This was probably the high point of the week.
Back home, it was time to put the new goodies to use. I had bought some RTV silicone before in a toothpaste type tube that basically exploded the first time I tried to use it on the third member (differential) a few weeks ago. This time, I bought a bigger cylindrical tube that I can use in my caulk gun. Works much better. Too bad I have no idea how much to use. Guessing seems okay.
Next was the grease gun. I followed the directions for loading the grease tube into the gun, almost to a tee. Exactly to a tee would have been better. I neglected to tighten the screw that holds the lid down, so when I released the plunger, the grease blew right through that hole creating a giant, stinky, sloppy mess before I could re-engage the plunger in the safe position. It was almost fun to watch, just not to clean up afterwards.
From there, I got everything glued and lubed up and tried to install the axles.
No luck. The axles did not seem to fit. Ended up being another huge mess. The previous work of fitting the backing plates went by the wayside. Several hours were spent cursing and wondering if I even had the right parts. Eventually, I went to Harbor Freight to buy a bigger hammer. That seems to be a pretty good answer to a lot of problems.
Anyway, this morning, after two hours, and one broken ratchet wrench, I did manage to get the passenger side axle installed properly. Here is a picture (taken with new AA batteries, also from Lowe's)...
The driver side still is a huge problem. Just does not seem to be fitting. Here is a picture of the splined end of the axle shaft and another of the interior of the housing shaft looking at the third member.
It seems that I am about 5/8ths of an inch from getting it all the way in. I do get in far enough to engage the teeth enough to turn the axle with the drive shaft. But the bearing is not even close to being all the way into the housing. It will leak like crazy if I were to leave it like this. More pounding needs to be done, I guess. Anyway, I am going to leave it like this and take a few days off for R&R.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Working on the car again
I am working on the car again, although I am not 100%. We'll just have to see how it goes.
So today, I decided to finish up rustproofing the ring and pinion on the rear end that I had put on about a month ago. This time, I remembered to use the Metal Ready stuff to prepare the steel for the rustproofing POR15 paint. Then I went to get the remaining POR15 only to find that it was as hard as granite. In the last month or so of inactivity, it had set up in the can and no longer usable. So I had to quickly wash off all of the rust-starter that I had just applied. Doh!
Next, I did finally install the rear axle housing vent tube that had not been shipped with my original kit but came a little while ago. I also did receive the windshield wiper assembly, so now I am just waiting on the panhard bar as my last back-ordered item.
The final bit of news is that Hurricane Motorsports has indeed been sold and will stay in business. In fact, the new owner is going to keep both options available for the time being, turnkeys and complete kits. In fact, at least for a while, he is keeping the same prices. This is very good news in that the Hurricane brand will continue and that more new builders will be joining in the fun. This means more guys will be available on the forums with answers to the dumb questions I will be coming up with.
So today, I decided to finish up rustproofing the ring and pinion on the rear end that I had put on about a month ago. This time, I remembered to use the Metal Ready stuff to prepare the steel for the rustproofing POR15 paint. Then I went to get the remaining POR15 only to find that it was as hard as granite. In the last month or so of inactivity, it had set up in the can and no longer usable. So I had to quickly wash off all of the rust-starter that I had just applied. Doh!
Next, I did finally install the rear axle housing vent tube that had not been shipped with my original kit but came a little while ago. I also did receive the windshield wiper assembly, so now I am just waiting on the panhard bar as my last back-ordered item.
The final bit of news is that Hurricane Motorsports has indeed been sold and will stay in business. In fact, the new owner is going to keep both options available for the time being, turnkeys and complete kits. In fact, at least for a while, he is keeping the same prices. This is very good news in that the Hurricane brand will continue and that more new builders will be joining in the fun. This means more guys will be available on the forums with answers to the dumb questions I will be coming up with.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
No work getting done
Sorry folks, nothing to report. No work has gotten done as I am still suffering from the strained neck and arm. The physical therapist is pretty certain I did it when on my back painting the underside of the car with the rust proofing. Oh well. Probably just going to rest most of this coming week, finish my taxes and bowling league secretary duties, then go to San Diego for a vacation with Sue. So the car building will remain mostly idle.
On a very sad note, Oscar Cuniberti Canavan died this past week at 17. The son of a very dear estranged friend, he was a sweet kid who was enthusiastic about this car when we last chatted about it. I had really hoped he might be able to help me with the build this summer when he got back to St. Louis.
On a very sad note, Oscar Cuniberti Canavan died this past week at 17. The son of a very dear estranged friend, he was a sweet kid who was enthusiastic about this car when we last chatted about it. I had really hoped he might be able to help me with the build this summer when he got back to St. Louis.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Soreness and Busy-ness
I have not been able to do anything at all lately on the car. I've got what I think is a pulled muscle that has turned out to be pretty debilitating. And I have been very busy doing preparation for my baseball fantasy league draft this weekend, among other things. I am not exactly sure when I will get back to the car. The radiator did arrive this week.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
3rd Member
This week, I have painted the rear axle housing and attached the 3rd member. I have a limited slip differential with 3.20 gears. Here is a picture of the gears and of the joint where the driveshaft will connect, prior to me mating it to the rear axle housing.
To connect this to the axle housing, I had to use some black RTV silicon and the gasket pictured here.
It was a bit of a problem when the toothpaste like tube of silicon that I was using burst open at the bottom. So the goo came out of just about everywhere except the little nozzle at the end. I made quite a mess of it all, but I think I got the gasket seated well enough. I won't really know until later when the axles and brakes are in and I am able to fill the whole housing up with the appropriate oil. Unfortunately, that will have to wait because I have found that I am missing a vent tube for the axle that did not ship with the rest of the parts. So I am waiting to hear back from Hurricane on them sending me one.
Here is a picture of everything assembled. I will paint the rest of the "pumpkin" and then get cracking on the brakes and axles.
To connect this to the axle housing, I had to use some black RTV silicon and the gasket pictured here.
It was a bit of a problem when the toothpaste like tube of silicon that I was using burst open at the bottom. So the goo came out of just about everywhere except the little nozzle at the end. I made quite a mess of it all, but I think I got the gasket seated well enough. I won't really know until later when the axles and brakes are in and I am able to fill the whole housing up with the appropriate oil. Unfortunately, that will have to wait because I have found that I am missing a vent tube for the axle that did not ship with the rest of the parts. So I am waiting to hear back from Hurricane on them sending me one.Here is a picture of everything assembled. I will paint the rest of the "pumpkin" and then get cracking on the brakes and axles.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
I'm finished...
With Chapter 3 that is!
After about 7 hours the last few days, I have managed to finish applying the rustproofing paint to all of the frame, and many of the loose parts, most of my garage floor, my favorite jeans, my new hat from the casino up near Quincy, and an old Apple sweatshirt. Somehow, I managed to avoid getting it on me, probably out of the terror that was instilled in the directions on the paint can that said if you get this stuff on you it will be permanent. "And we know what permanent means."
It came out okay. I am not a very good painter. The kind of patience that is required for this particular part of the build is generally only found in the comatose. I probably spread it on too thin, then too thick. Getting it into the crevices where the trunk, hood, and door hinges have moving pieces was probably a really bad idea. I will still have to go back and clean up some of the pieces where there are drips, or pieces of the brown paper that I was working on that have now become one with the metal. In the end, I can see where if I wasn't trying to be so frugal, this would have been a good thing to have had the factory do, or have sent it out to be powdercoated. Oh well, it wasn't that bad, and I did save several hundred bucks.
Here are a couple of before and after pics of the frame. Sorry the lighting is so bad.
Here is a picture of my mom getting into the act. She helped paint some of the disassembled parts.
I had let her borrow the lovely hat she was wearing in the picture fearing that some of the paint might get in her hair. Didn't happen. But afterwards, I traded that hat in to the NAPA autoparts store which was running a promotion this week where you could get a beautiful new Michael Waltrip hat in exchange for any old crummy one with any purchase. I made out like gold on that one.
I had to move the cockpit into my living room. It would not really fit anywhere else I had planned for storage. No poker games at my house for a while.
Next up is the rear axle assembly. It is encouraging to actually being to the point of putting things onto the car rather than just taking them off.
After about 7 hours the last few days, I have managed to finish applying the rustproofing paint to all of the frame, and many of the loose parts, most of my garage floor, my favorite jeans, my new hat from the casino up near Quincy, and an old Apple sweatshirt. Somehow, I managed to avoid getting it on me, probably out of the terror that was instilled in the directions on the paint can that said if you get this stuff on you it will be permanent. "And we know what permanent means."
It came out okay. I am not a very good painter. The kind of patience that is required for this particular part of the build is generally only found in the comatose. I probably spread it on too thin, then too thick. Getting it into the crevices where the trunk, hood, and door hinges have moving pieces was probably a really bad idea. I will still have to go back and clean up some of the pieces where there are drips, or pieces of the brown paper that I was working on that have now become one with the metal. In the end, I can see where if I wasn't trying to be so frugal, this would have been a good thing to have had the factory do, or have sent it out to be powdercoated. Oh well, it wasn't that bad, and I did save several hundred bucks.
Here are a couple of before and after pics of the frame. Sorry the lighting is so bad.
Here is a picture of my mom getting into the act. She helped paint some of the disassembled parts.
I had let her borrow the lovely hat she was wearing in the picture fearing that some of the paint might get in her hair. Didn't happen. But afterwards, I traded that hat in to the NAPA autoparts store which was running a promotion this week where you could get a beautiful new Michael Waltrip hat in exchange for any old crummy one with any purchase. I made out like gold on that one.
I had to move the cockpit into my living room. It would not really fit anywhere else I had planned for storage. No poker games at my house for a while.
Next up is the rear axle assembly. It is encouraging to actually being to the point of putting things onto the car rather than just taking them off.
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