I'm Such a Slug

The wife and boys went to NJ last weekend for to visit the extended family. Since I needed to conserve some vacation time for the rest of the year, I stayed home. Though I was waiting for a box from SpitBits to hopefully give me everything I need to put it all back together (I've said that before, I think), there was still much I could do. I had grand plans to do it. Needless to say, while I did accomplish some stuff, it was sporadic and not anywhere near what I wanted to get done.

I did finish putting in dedicated electrical service for my as yet un-boxed Hobart Handler 140 Wire-Feed MIG Welder. I got this on sale around Christmas time from Tractor Supply Company. It's normally $520 (~$500 from Amazon) from them but I was able to pick it up in-store for $450. The thing has great reviews no matter where you look, so hopefully it will be forgiving when I finally get around to welding with it. I'm sure I will document my first attempts and let you know!

Bottom breaker on the left. 20A should be enough when there isn't anything else running on it.

Cut the wall open and used a box that a pro installed for our portable generator tap.

I also purchased a 6-ton bench-press from Harbor Freight. I am not yet regretting this purchase, but I think I probably will in the long run. I don't have much room left in the garage and was afraid I wouldn't be able to fit their larger, 12-ton shop press, so I went with this one. Unfortunately, I think it's going to have too small of a working distance to get everything done. I purchased it primarily to re-bush all of the suspension parts; I was able to press out the bushings of the leaf spring from the '64, so hopefully this will be indicative of how it works for everything else.

The bench press.

While I haven't bought a whole lot of stuff from HF, this was the first time that I ran into quality control issues. Turns out I received too many of one type of bolt (too short), but none of the type that I needed to complete assembly of the press. Since I figured it would be much easier to run to my local True Value hardware store than to hike back over the Gold Star Bridge to hit HF and exchange it, I got two bolts, lock washers and flat washers for about $2. Cheaper than the gas and my time needed to return it, that's for sure.

On Tuesday I got my parts from SpitBits. Last night I did a bit of work, mostly within the clutch housing, replacing the worn out parts that I should have replaced in the first place. A new pin for the release fork (improved), its sleeve, and bushings along with that bolt that I mentioned in my last post which has now been made right along with its accompanying copper washer.

New and improved (top, with "cap") and old (obviously the bottom). Nice wear grooves.

I won't insult you with which one is new, but check out the wear on the old one! Nothing left of that one side.

Tonight the boys had a friend over so I was able to take advantage of them being occupied after dinner to do some work (does that make me a bad parent?). Essentially, I installed all of the new cooling/heating circuit with the exception of my new-to-me radiator and the heater, which I am cleaning up.  I don't have any pictures of the differences between the Mk1 and Mk2 heater units that I mentioned in my last post, but I will eventually. I haven't seen this documented elsewhere, so this is a curiosity to me.

Elbow mounted with the new temperature sending unit.

Shiny new water pump...makes me embarrassed for the rest of picture.

Nigel at SpitBits fixed my previous order and I received the correct heating circuit hoses. A quick dry-fit to see how it all comes together.

All routed up...and it fits, too! Awfully complicated, though. Note the (eh hem) original-style pipe clamps.

I also got the clutch re-installed. Decided not to go with a new one because it looked good with no abnormal wear or tear. In hindsight, I'm sure that when I installed my freshly rebuilt clutch slave cylinder, I pushed it in too far. This caused the release lever to come into contact with the spring retaining nuts, scoring it as it rotated. Heck, maybe that's why they made the release lever out of a soft metal!

Back in and torqued down. Gearbox to follow.

That was it for tonight. The weather is supposed to not be so hot here late tomorrow and into Sunday, which means that I will do family things tomorrow (taking the boys fishing, I think) and that will give me Sunday to do some work. I'm hoping to get the gearbox installed and then see what I want to do after that. Need to finish up the cooling/heating circuit, obviously, but I have to clean up and make new foam gaskets for the heater.

Regardless, I've made some progress and, though I was a slug, I don't feel so guilty now. Oh, and on a separate note, I got the bicycle back from it's first (after 5 years and 2000+ miles) professional maintenance and post-accident. No issues and she's as good as new!