1936 Airflow Progress

17 August 2006   In the body shop

 

01 Feb 2007

 

 

 

 

January 2006

 

12 March 2007   Engine Reassembled

 

 

12 Dec 2005 Car arrives in Santa Maria from Colorado. Placed into storage
25 Jan  Car moved to Art Foster's engine shop in Santa Maria for removal. Art's been in the area for over thirty years and has a local legacy in racing and a reputation for meticulous work. He supplied race cars for the 1960s race culture film Heart Like a Wheel.  It's great to have him working on this engine.
29 Jan  Engine disassembled; this thing is BIG Was about half a quart low on oil - didn't look bad either for being from 1951.  Blown head gasket found, and thermostat was rusted/frozen open all the way.
07 Feb  Block sent next door to Mid State Machine shop Magnaflux found no cracks.  Engine found to be in excellent condition - perfect for Restoration.
14 Feb  Generator & Starter taken to Century Electric here in Santa Maria for overhaul and conversion to 12V. Completed 19 March.
19 Mar  Radiator cleaned out and repainted here in Santa Maria.
06 Apr  Overdrive unit cleaned and reassembly begun

Left: Newly cleaned and reassembled transmission. Note small tag with date of 11-15-35.

 

 

Lower Left; Planetary gear, as found when disassembled. Very Nice inside

Below; Interior of OD gears. No damage at all. Cleaned and reassembled.

14 Apr  New U-Joints received from Kanter's (it's been a long search!)
12 May  Every time I hammer on the car,  the dashboard clock starts ticking again.
13 May  Front Seat removed.  What a PAIN that was! If the wooden floor panels hadn't been so crispy, it would never have come out. Ended up just yanking it out of place.
20 May Vacuum Advance received back from rebuild by Terrill Machine in Texas. 
11 June Got second rear quarter vent window open for the first time in 55 years. Both now work perfectly fine.  The rubber was rock hard and had bound the windows closed, it broke away in chunks.
26 June Removed interior door handles & panels. Still unable to get the rear quarter windows out because of rust holding set screws. (one is visible behind door in upper left)  
02 July

03 July

 Removed speedometer, more wooden floor panels, wiring harnesses, cables, interior firewall padding, interior pillar 'rope' tack strip, and firewall penetration gaskets.

Removed horns, regulators, wiring harnesses, brake & speedometer & ignition switch  cables, inner splash fender (L side), front bumper guards, headlight assemblies, and a number of bolts previously rusted in place.

Continuing to find dozens of walnut half shells, and the occasional complete one.

 

The dense cluster of cables behind the gauges is odd; several kinds of cables connected to one dash instrument; oil pressure tube, electric cable, heat tube; its a mess to work in.

 
05 July Removing wooden floor panels. Found the floor rails inside the doors to be rusted enough to warrant replacement.
06 July Completed removal of wooden floor panels. Curious design.  This was a high tech car in 1936, pushing the design envelope, but it still had wooden floor panels - easy access to subchassis items, but.....   
15 July I got the rear quarter windows out - the cranks were a rusty mess, but looking at my replacements, I could see how to get them out.  I got the battery box out, several seized bolts, small details on the doors, rest of the exterior trim, hood closing seal mounting screws, 

Glad THATs done.
16 July

On its way to XKs Unlimited in San Luis Obispo, CA
7 August Roof panel removed from body intact and cleaned with acid. Damage not as bad as it had originally looked

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Bumpers and guards delivered to plating shop near LA) for  rechroming.  

 

Gas tank has also been removed - it's full of gunk and quite heavy.

18 August Trunk floorpan reproduced and is being installed. Rear body panel below trunk lid also reproduced. Doors and rear fenders are off it now for the first time since November 23, 1936.

XKs Unlimited is doing excellent work.

30 August Car returned from media blaster today. Interior cleaned up very nicely, some perforation rust found in front of one rear wheel well. Running boards removed, and attachment points are 'okay', but will be replaced now.

New trunkpan welded in, and new drip rail around inside deck lid opening is completed. Trunklid has been tweaked to fit just right. Moving on to floor board insert rail replacement and windshield area.

29 Jan 2007 Door sills and running board attachment rusted areas have been replaced. Entire vehicle now epoxy primered. Undercarriage and frame have been media blasted and painted with black frame paint.  Rusted area under back seat has been replaced and primered.
01 Feb 2007

Engine bay painted.  The car is going to be painted 2001 Aston Martin Solent Silver,  and the interior will be dark gray. Original stitch patterns will be kept in upholstery, and otherwise interior will be kept original as possible.  Just the engine bay has been done at this point, to reinstall the engine...   

6 April 2007  

    SUCCESS !    Major  Milestone  Met, as  Straight 8 engine  #2253  was fired up on test stand  for the first time in 56 years.

  It is solid, quiet, and with no visible vibration.  Looks like all the effort and expense has paid off.

Engine has been balanced (with bell housing on) and blueprinted. This is now one NICE piece of machinery, better than when it left the factory.  Original NOS pistons and rings, straight from their 1930's parafin sealed boxes, brought it back to life.

Original starter (rebuilt to 12V),  original fuel pump (rebuilt to E85), original water pump (rebuilt w/modern bearing), original carberator (overhauled), original fuel & vacuum metal lines, original manifolds, original cylinder head, original distributor (converted to elec ign), original electric choke, original vacuum advance (rebuilt), original air filter, original heat shields, original harmonic dampener, original camshaft, original crankshaft (balanced), original oil pan and original oil pump.

Vintage NOS oil filter, vintage NOS autolite distributer cap, vintage NOS carb gaskets and vintage NOS thermostat.

The only 'new' things are internal high precision bearings, hard valve seats, valves, timing chain, gaskets & seals, spark plugs & wires, oil lines to/from filter, freeze plugs, water hoses, the fuel-pump-to-gas-line rubber tube, and of course the visible brass fitting on the thermostat housing (which is temporary).
1 May 2007

I had made a section of stainless  water pipe for the radiator to replace the original.

2 May 2007

After nine months at the body shop in San Luis Obispo, it comes home.  All rust removed and/or replaced, trunk floorpan replaced, roof insert panel repaired (given new mounting surfaces and holes fixed), rocker panels replaced, chassis media blasted and painted chassis black, entire body media blasted and epoxy primered, AND new fender skirts.  I got a good pair for a longer wheelbase car and had them take 1/4 inch off each side, and height, and they fit just fine. 

The engine has been reinstalled into the car - the front sits a lot lower now.

 

5 May 2007

It's back at the house and in the garage again.
4 June 2007 Reassembly has started. Reinstalled the accelerator linkage, horns, firewall pass through grommets & housings, new cowl vent drain lines, metal kick panels, wood inside the side windshield posts, simple things that can go back in, since the engine bay's painted.  I also ordered and received a custom exhaust system, complete with an original size single chamber muffler 40+ inches long.
8-28 July 2007

I got the floor panels sections cut to fit.  I used 5/8" marine grade plywood, and the panels fit very well.  Its starting to look like an interior again. I have stained the wood very dark brown, almost black on the inside surfaces. They'll be coated with polyurethane.  I have also remounted the battery box and its associated hardware, cut out the holes around the pedals.

The gas tank repair was done here in Santa Maria and is complete, and it's been painted.  I had the sending unit refurb'd and its installed as well. Had to make a new gasket out of cork.
8 Aug 2007  
All old brake lines have now been removed and new ones installed.  The front brakes have been revamped and actually WORK now. Turns out the shoes look essentially new and the front bearings almost like new.  However, we could not get the rear hubs off.  Not sure how I'm going to tackle that.....

It appears someone did a lot of brake work in 1951 before parking the thing. Better for me though.  I did replace the cylinders with new ones from NAPA (Yes they are still available!). Master cylinder was replaced with an overhauled one, and the power boost unit removed to be sent for refurb.
10 Aug 2007 Fuel tank has been reinstalled.  Old fuel lines removed and new ones installed.  I plan to reuse the old ones, but it will take a LOT of cleaning, as they are full of thick stringy black Goo. 
12 Aug 2007 I've been cleaning a lot of the original bolts to reuse, the ones with the DPDC logo on the top. Soaking them in mineral spirits for a couple of days did wonders for returning them to New look.
15 Aug 2007 Rechroming of the shifter and under dash handles are complete at Oregon Plating.  Turned out very well.

They'll be doing all the chrome work and there's a LOT to do. 
15 Aug 2007 Received back the temp gauge from Arkansas which needed the temp sensor reattached.  Looks good.
10 Sept 2007 Returned the car to the body shop to have the remainder of filler work completed. Repairs to the trunk lid have been completed and its back on, too. The exhaust system is installed. 
18 Oct 2007 All lead has now been replaced from the car. All contours have been restored and the car will be returning home next week, when I hope to install the wiring harnesses.
20 Mar 2008 Title has finally been received from State of California.
9 May 2008 A new pair of running boards has been located and bought.  They are original, but look brand new.  They'll really make the car POP.
20 May 2008 The car is back into the body shop for final sanding and painting.
   

 

Main Desk in the Gauges Lab.

It's nice to have such a selection.  I'll reuse the original speedometer of course (lower right) after cleaning it up. Original quad cluster is upper left.