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Spring Cleaning

This past weekend Dad, Charlie, and I were able to put in some time at TLG. Dad moved the trailer to his very helpful friend Rob’s house make room in the garage for us to work on our cars. I had been been storing a significant amount of parts on it before it was sold, […]

IT CAME FROM BELOW

Finally, underside work! Like rebuilding the engine, this is so much more interesting than normal trim and body work. Seeing the mechanical processes that operate an automobile is a privilege when compared to the usual drudgery of removing taillights or bumpers or quarter-windows. Also, I get a basic understanding of what makes the car tick. […]

VOILA!

Fini! Terminado! Finito! DONE! (Drums, please!) The motor is finished! Didn’t think I’d be saying this a whole year into the project.  I mean, how long can engine reassembly take? Ah well, I’ll just have to pick up the pace. My goal is to finish the whole project by the time school starts next year […]

Winter break… time at last

Oops. Sorry I haven’t posted much lately… between the play, finals, and what little is left over for my social life, there hasn’t been much time to work at the garage. Thank heavens it’s winter break now. Last weekend, we inserted the front oil seal into the timing chain cover. After warping the first two […]

Looks like we’re in for a brief hiatus

Jack will not have much time to devote to his car for the next few weeks because of the combination of his studies and the time commitment required of him on the fall play at school.  It appears to his parents that he’s got too much on his plate and something had to give.  To […]

Curse you, W. N. Woodruff!

Late in the nineteenth century, a Connecticut inventor named W.N. Woodruff invented the Woodruff Key, a way to mate parts to rotating shafts.  Mr. Woodruff came up with the ingenious idea of inserting a semi-circular key into a keyway cut longitudinally into a shaft so that a portion of the key protrudes as a tab […]

The Mustang MacGyver

Yesterday, I squeezed in some time at the garage to prepare for piston installation. Well, our plan was to get to pistons, but we ran into a couple problems (don’t we always?). Ollie tagged along to work on his Oscar the Grouch costumein the last few days before Halloween. The new bolts for the thrust […]

“Screw”-Ups and Equipment Failures

On Wednesday, Dad and I stopped by the house of our good friend and gearhead Rob to pick up his click torque wrench before heading to the garage. Years ago, Rob rebuilt a ’65 289 that he dopped into his ’84 Mustang.  Rob decided to join us at TLG with his two kids. Now that […]

Engine is in good hands…

Jack and I visited Wade and Jim at Hubbard Machine in Hayward to drop off Jack’s small block 302 engine for machining and balancing.  Hubbard’s was recommended to us by my friend and fellow car club member, Ed Archer, a vintage auto collector and racer who has been a Hubbard’s customer since it was run […]