#ProjectSR76 Got A Spare?

We took a look at the spare tire on #ProjectSR76 and determined it might be on an original wheel but it was a 2003 or 1995 tire.   Of course that tire need to go but the damage on rim makes it useless.  So I’ve opted to go with out a spare, not unusual, as  Corvettes these days don’t come with them,  my C6 had no spare.

In this video I’m removing the bottom part of the clam shell.

 

 


 

 

Thanks for checking…oh…and yes the seat belt episode is coming up.

 

 

Tim

#ProjectSR76 – Stingray’s Spare Tire. Original?

Welcome back!

Thanks for checking on #ProjectSR76.

Spurred on by the original moisture barrier discovery, I decided to pull the spare tire. Would it be original tire and rim?

 


 

More coming up on seat belts. 

Tim Sweet

SR=Stingray
76 -1976

#PROJECTSR76 Door Panels Can We Save Them

Let me know if we can save #SR76’s door panels.

They don’t look as bad off as they did on – at least the passenger side.  The drivers side might be a different story.

 



 

I have completed the install/reconfiguration of the seat belts that is coming up and I discovered a leak near the cowl.

Thanks for checking in !!

Tim

SR=Stingray
76 -1976

 

 

#ProjectSR76 – Naming Projects

Welcome back the Average Guys Car Restoration.  

I started this blog, many years ago. First it started out as just sharing some car information, like Parking Lot Spotlight, pic of cars I’d see parked and AutoFactoids – usually facts on a specific car and even did a serices that give the development of the different engines.  You might still see these pop up from time to time.

But  about 15 years ago I started recording some of the work I was doing as I restored my 1970 Mustang.  You can still see those here on these pages (some of the videos have disappeared).  I kept it going with work I did on my 1984 C4 Corvette and some work I did on my C6 Corvette.  Then I went all out  with the restoration of my 1973 Mustang – #ProjectSportsRoof (#ProjectSR73).  It was tough in the beginning because YouTube was a not really thing yet and storing videos somewhere and retrieving them for display was not as smooth as it is today.

My  naming conventions (at least for the last Mustang and now the Stingray) came about based on  the car’s sub-model and my work in the USAF with the SR-71 Blackbird.  The 1973 Mustang wasn’t a Mach I nor a fastback, it was technically called a SportRoof.   The project started out as #ProjectSportsRoof but as I typed it over and over again, I toyed with shortening.  I eventually realized that SR73 would be cool as it sounded a bit like SR71.  Of course you when think about the SR71 you think of the Mach 3+ at which it could travel (actually it was closer to Mach 5) and everyone wants their muscle car to be fast!

As I was driving the Stingray home, I of course planned to record my work on it and need a name for the project.  If you wanted the video for #ProjectSR76 you’ll know I decided just that day.  You don’t need me too, but I’ll spell it out – SR is for Stingray and 76 is the year of the car.

That’s a little background.

Coming up next will be quick inspection of the undercarriage of #SR76.

Check back!!!

Tim

SR=Stingray
76 -1976

Guess what engine this is?

Guess what this is a pic of – you can guess, the engine or the car.

 

 

Drop the note in the comments.  

BY THE WAY – MY C3 SEARCH HAS ENDED…STAY TUNED!!!

Tim

 

Classic – Muscle Car Shopping – Primer Part I

If you are following a long you know I’m on the hunt for my next project car and boy are my fingers tired and I can’t get this thing off of me:

Maybe WD40?

It’s a lot of work when you search nationwide.  Setting up searches on different web sites and on those that don’t offer that feature you are continually recreating the same search.  Then there are emails with questions like, “Is it still available?’  and other questions that often get ignored.  Here’s an actual example: (Setup – the ad said make an offer)

12:24 PM Jun 06 (ME)

I’d consider $4K…thoughts?

12:46 PM Jun 06 (Seller)

6500 is what I’m looking to get

01:34 PM Jun 06 (ME)

Ok…a few more questions if you don’t mind. How’s the interior? I can tell from the pic but the tires seem to be good enough to get it on a trailer. Has it been driven recently or at least started? Thanks. Tim – Tucson AZ

10:23 PM Jun 07 (Seller)

The car runs and drives fine

06:57 AM Jun 08 (ME)

I’d like to take a look at it and hear it run. I’ll be up in Phx late Saturday afternoon.

NO RESPONSE.

That’s nothing but fun!   Just as fun are the sites that don’t know anything about the car and people listing  cars they don’t actually own. My a favorite phrase has become “I was told it runs great.” right up there with “ran when parked”.

I just got of the phone with an interesting site – consignment site of course.  That went something like this:

Me: Hi I had a couple of questions that I emailed about the car. Those weren’t answered but you sent me an invoice for purchasing the car.  Can you answer these questions?

Lady on the Phone:  No I can’t.

Me: Is there someone there that can? Or can I call back later to speak to someone?

Lady on the Phone: No it’s just me here.

Me:  Ok.  I have a question about payment.  The invoice says you are located in PA but you want me to “wire” money to an account in FL.  Is there another way I can make the payment?

Lady on the Phone: No.  I’ll just cancel the invoice. – CALL ENDED.

I’ve saved the best for last!

www.hotmusclecars.com has a lot of cars for sale. The problem is they allow anyone to post an ad and  many are scams. VERY ELABORATE SCAMS. (Found this problem with Facebook marketplace and Offerup as well). The same car is listed in 8-10 different cities and at different prices but the same pics. There aren’t that many tall pine trees in the middle of LA, CA.

For fun, I decided to chase one down. It was a Mach I for $6k, which is a stupid price for such car (1969). The car was listed in Los Angles and she was in FL. I sent the obligatory “Is it available?” email. Response said it was and the story.  It was her husband’s car and he died, and she had to move to Lakeside, FL with her two children.

She said she had arranged to ship through eBay (which according to eBay – isn’t a thing). I told her I’d be fine buying through eBay and if there was a buy it now page I’ll pay through eBay as well. She said ok and sent me a link to a buy it now page. The problem was it wasn’t actually on eBay. The website looked just like eBay, but there was no VIN listed (that’s required by eBay) and no pictures. I told her that the listing wasn’t working and that I’d call eBay and let them know. She said “oh don’t call them. Just tell me what you want to see and I’ll add it to the page. ” As a former IT guy (20 years – in web development) red flags popped up. I did call eBay to let them know and they said “Yup” happens all the time. They recommend that if it looks odd call them with the item number. You can leave a number and they’ll call you back.

The search continues.

Thanks for checking in.

Tim

 

Average Guy’s Car Restoration – The May PetrolBox – Some Good Stuff

Welcome back to Average Guy’s Car Restoration. I’m still on the hunt for my C3 (I almost bought a 1971 Mach I – the price was right, but it has some ownership issues – they couldn’t prove who owned it!!)

Most of you know that I don’t have sponsors for Average Guy’s work.  But I do not mind plugging something I enjoy or a product that works great.

You’ve seen a couple of posts on PetrolBox before. It’s no surprise that I’d present another.

They have multiple levels.  This box is medium-priced.   Check them out at mypetrolbox.com. 

Enjoy the video.


I’ll have more coming up including bringing back some old favorites.

Thanks for watching.

Tim

Auto Factoid for April 14th –  Happy Birthday Jakob OV4 Birthday

Welcome to Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for April 14, 2020

 

April 14th, 1927  Jakob’s Birthday

Jakob’s parents were Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson, oh and Jakob was a car.  Specifically, the Volvo produced. 

 

It was produced in the Gothenburg factory as designated as OV4 and then properly named Jakob.

It was constructed of a wooden frame made of ash and beech wood.  The body was sheet metal and you could it only in dark blue.   I was powered by 28 hp inline 4 cylinder with side valves displacing 1,944 cc, with 275 produced from 1927 to 1929.

You could also get the truck version.

 

On a sad note!

William Ernest Carter bought his 1912 luxury Type CB Coupe de Ville Renault during his Grand Tour in Europe to ship back to the US. Unfortunately, he chose to book the car a place on the Titanic’s fateful trip.  The doomed car was powered by  12 CV, 2,614 cc L-head four-cylinder engine 12 French horsepower (about 40-50 hp today), four-speed manual transmission, solid front axle and live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, driveshaft brake and two-wheel mechanical brakes. It was almost 12 feet long –  wheelbase: 143″

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#AutoFactoids

#ProjectSportsRoof

#ProjectBeepBeep

Abandon Cars – 1930’s Chevy Truck

Now most of you know I love old abandon cars. This one is part of a display in the ghost town Pearce, AZ.

Pearce was a mining ghost town named for Cornishman James Pearce, miner and cattleman, who discovered gold nearby at what became the Commonwealth Mine in 1894. The Pearce Post Office was established on March 6, 1896. The railroad station opened in 1903. By 1919, Pearce had a population of 1,500. The town declined in the 1930s and became almost a ghost town in the late 1940s when the mine closed for the last time.

The Commonwealth Mine became one of Arizona’s major silver producers. Over 1,000,000 tons of ore were produced from 1895 to 1942. There are about 20 miles of underground workings.[11] The mine produced about $8 million worth of silver and $2.5 million in gold at a time when silver was priced around 50 cents an ounce, and gold was $20 an ounce.

They left a lot of mining equipment behind as well as this 1930’s Chevy flatbed truck.  This truck my be powered by a 3.2 l straight 6 (that’s 3178 cc or 193 cu in).  The bore and stroke would have been 3.31 in x 3.75 in and had 2 valves per cylinder and produced about 60 hp w/ 130 ft-lb of torque.  It was topped by a 1 bb Carter Carb.  All that massive power was delivered by a 3 speed transmission.

 


 

Thanks for reading.
Tim

ProjectBeepBeep – 68 Road Runner Valve Cover Gaskets Wrap Up

So you can grab a couple more tips for Valve Cover Gaskets installation and you get to hear BeepBeep running like a top….love that engine music!!!


Some great tips and one more project down for Bill and BeepBeep!!

Coming up next an update and #ProjectSportsRoof and BeepBeep gets tachy (get it?….not Tacky but Tachy!!!)

Thanks for reading.
Tim

 

68 Road Runner Gets it’s Beep Beep back!!

While trying to warn a real life coyote of his ‘rapid’ approach, Bill’s 1968 Road Runner (#ProjectBeepBeep) failed to  issue the famous BeepBeep, or was that just part the car’s instinctive DNA based response to coyotes in general? Either way Bill tackles the problem. Here’s a shot of the horn.   More coming up …

Project BeepBeep – ’68 Road Runner – Drum or Disc – The Decision

1968 Ply Road RunnerProject BeepBeep Welcome back to #ProjectBeepBeep.  Bill is looking at the brakes and gets some professional assistance to help him make a crucial decision.  You know if you’ve got a lot of GO…you need a lot STOP. It not an easy decision to alter a car’s originality, especially …

Project BeepBeep – 68 RoadRunner Dash Update

Welcome back to #ProjectBeepBeep.  Thanks for checking in on the progress of Bill’s 1968 Plymouth Road Runner. If you recall mixed in with some brake updates,  Bill mentioned that he had sent out the circuit board for a restored.  Here is an update on the status of the dash.     Next up an …