Projects from THE COMPOUND!

[DRIVEN]

I've found it helpful for myself to put all my home projects in one build thread to keep track of a general timeline. I originally started one on another site many years ago but deleted and moved it to another due to ease of posting. I'll just cut, paste and edit what's gone on up till now. Stay tuned. My interests are wide and varied.

[DRIVEN]

Some pics of my place that I refer to as "The Compound". It consists of my house, a 24X48 pole barn that I call the paint shop, and a 2 story 30X36 with man cave upstairs that sits on an acre. I grew up here and bought the house from my parents about 12 years ago. Nothing fancy but it works well. Let me start by saying these are projects that were group efforts by my brother (a body man), our dad, and myself. Most I was involved in -- some I wasn't.







This is just to show some of the projects that have come and gone. I will probably add some as we locate and scan pre-digital pics.
This one was all done by our dad in the 2 car garage in the mid 70's. Now belongs to my brother and looks much the same. 327, TH350, 9", disc brakes. My mom painted the mural on the spare -- it was the '70s, after all.

Our dad's 1964 El Camino. My brother did body and paint (pearl white) and my dad and I did F-body suspension and brakes and a Paxton supercharged LT1. Before paint:

After:


My buddy Jerod's Softtail painted by my brother. It was purchased as a basket-case and I spent many hours with Jerod building it. We helped each other out on our days off. I was building the gray '36 pickup at the same time. Jerod is freakin' awesome! He's talking about redoing it rat-style but has an addition on his house to finish up first.

My old sandrail. Almost completely scratch built from hand-me-down parts. Look close and you'll see that only the hoops were reused on the frame. The cage portion was actually exhaust tubing and I replaced almost everything with proper cage pipe. A '71 bus and '72 bug were sacrificed to complete it. I used the money from the sale to buy my Cutlass from my Grandpa.


Mid build:

Nothing fancy but dead reliable. 1600DP with bus transaxle on IRS clip with swingaxle torsion bars.

Gauge cluster made from 2 VW valve covers.

This pretty much made it worth the effort.

[DRIVEN]

My buddy Greg's 1968 Firebird. I did a 4-speed swap and disc brake conversion. My brother painted it.


My brother's 1965 Rambler Classic 770. Low miler that needed new crossmember, tune up and paint. This car was sweet. It had like, 12 ashtrays.


My 1964 Rambler American 330. I did a Chevy 283 then 327 swap and it has 2 different 4 speeds then a 5 speed. With a Chrysler rear end and 2.79 gears it wanted to go about 300mph. That's original paint.

[510freak]

Very nice.
Lovin the early american muscle and the flamed fridge

[DRIVEN]

My 1936 Chevy pickup. Got the body from my buddy Jerod. At one time it was mounted on a school bus frame with a tow hook and used as a yard goat in a Boise wrecking yard. I put it on a Toyota frame and rebuilt the 283 and powerglide from my dad's '64 El Camino. Last picture is in my driveway next to Jerod's '38. I kinda miss this one.





After shot of engine compartment on a '65 bug. My brother painted it and I pulled, sealed and detailed the engine.

My brother's 1968 Datsun 520 pickup. He got it for a case of beer and gave it the works. This was taken at a Canby 2008.

[DRIVEN]

Almost forgot the crown jewel. My brother's 1949 Frigidaire.

...and my Kelvinator for the other shop. Haven't decided on a paint scheme yet. Flat black with Kawasaki green pinsripes? Guessing early 40's.

Got this one from my grandfather's garage after he passed away.


More on these later...

[510freak]

Nice rides, grew up around mostly 30's to mid 70's tin when i was younger

[DRIVEN]

I picked up this wagon. Got it running and stopping. Picked up some missing pieces. Once I bought the mustard wagon, I sold the blue one to a guy in Vancouver. Sadly, it changed hands a couple times before being parted out.

My Goldwing has been another long term project. The before isn't really mine but it looked identical (I can't locate my pics).


Doing the spoke wheel conversion:


My brother's Datsun 521 pickup. Got this one for free. Again, I did the mechanicals and he did the body and paint:





After he sold that he picked up a pair of Volvo 145s. One was traded for a '64 Bug and this is his current daily driver:

That's original paint at 335,000 miles.

He also just picked up a '72 Westfalia that had been parked for 8 years. We got it running, fixed the brakes, de-hippyed the wiring and rebuilt the shift linkage. He's working on the interior now and will be camping in it this summer. This is when he picked it up. No current pics. Mostly the same but cleaner.

[DRIVEN]

More El Camino sickness:
My '66 got a 400/MY6 transplant about a year ago. It pulls like a diesel now and the overdrive keeps the mpg close to 20. My wife's grandpa bought it new and the original 327/Muncie are safely stored away.




Last fall my dad picked up an '82. Did an engine replacement and some general repairs. Cant seem to find any pictures now. It was sold a few weeks ago. None of us miss that one <_< .


My grandpa died in fall 2010 and my dad inherited his '68. He purchased it in '69 or '70 and it remains relatively unchanged since then. It's another 327/4-speed car. Over the last year the interior has been rehabbed and I pulled and resealed the engine (I actually rebuilt it back in '96 or '97). Like the Cutlass I bought from him, there is no rust and it was really well cared for, just kind of neglected for the last couple years. It looks pretty good in the photo but there are some clearcoat issues. My brother finished the paint a couple weeks ago and it's almost done with assembly. I'll post pics when it's complete.



EDIT: Here's a couple after paint. Not done trimming it out yet.


Then here is a shot of a '65 El Camino. I did some minor tune-up (read "unfuck") stuff and my brother painted it. My dad did the interior. Can't find any before pics. It wasn't the nicest one to come through here but I think it was my favorite. Very understated and a nice cruiser. Those front bumper over riders are pretty rare too.


Next is a few photos of a '67 El Camino (notice a pattern?). It first had a 305 in it that I pulled, resealed and detailed, then it was painted by my brother, then I lowered it, then my dad and I did an LT1 swap on this one too. Dig the wiring shot. No aftermarket harness here.

[DRIVEN]

Some Z projects...
My 1970 series 1. Got full mechanical restoration and was painted in my grandma's shop over Thanksgiving break with no heat. This was one of my brother's first completes. Sorry about the boat trailer wheels. It was all I could afford at the time. It sold to a guy in Mukelteo in '03. Saw it on CL a few months ago asking twice what he paid.

Our dad got this 260 as a rolling shell. I built and installed a 350, my dad did all the interior and misc. stuff. My brother drove it to Walla Walla and painted it in the garage of the rental he was living in. I drove it back to Portland. Our dad was driving it while for sale when a lady ran a red and totaled it. He bought it back and it was sold as is. Last I heard it was in the Tigard area around 2001.



The last one was purchased in Texas basically as you see it. Our dad did some small fine tuning. It was built as a show level race car in the mid '80s (as if the paint and headlights didn't narrow it down for you). VERY detailed and customized. The builder made his own molds for the fiberglass body panels. The engine was dynoed in the 400hp range. Full cage and full interior. Was sold to a guy in Arkansas around 1998.



Yeah, that's gold plating on the alt and fan shroud.

[DRIVEN]

Very nice.
Lovin the early american muscle and the flamed fridge

Keep watching. I'm just getting started.

[510freak]

Sweet

[DRIVEN]

Found another one. Our dad's 1997 Roadking. Was red. He liked the color combo of an '07. My brother made it happen. He's been all over the country on it and it's been very reliable and still gets 50mpg. I replaced the rocker assemblies last year due to a ticking caused by worn shaft bushings. Still has original base gaskets and no leaks at over 70K miles. The Evo was a great engine.

[DRIVEN]

Here's a couple projects that came and went with no work done. Essentially flips.

1950 Studebaker pickup. There was almost 2 complete trucks here. Doubled my money.


1978 Chevy 4X4 Shorty. Running and driving but very rusty. I got it free -- pure profit.


I did an engine swap, wiring, full brake replacement and some suspension work on this '55.

[DRIVEN]

Some after shots of a '68 Mustang my brother painted last winter. It had been hit and "repaired" in the left front. Only problem is that it was 1" up and 1" swayed right so nothing even came close to fitting. He did a frame pull and replaced most of the front sheet metal. Horrible pictures but beautiful paint.


The lady picked it up and drove it home. Her husband started messing with the carb. It hasn't run since and has been parked outside. What a waste. That was 3 years ago.

[DRIVEN]

My oldest stuff-
First is my '35 Ford pickup. This was technically my first car. I drove it almost daily for 7 years.

One day, on my way home from work, a sweet 19yo girl in a Neon pulled out of a driveway to make an illegal left. After being thrown from the vehicle and spending 3 days in the hospital (scull fracture, etc, etc), this is what greeted me:

It's been 12 years of collecting parts and I hope to start rebuilding this summer. I currently have another frame, C4 front suspension, C3 rear suspension, LT1, T5, and all replacement body panels.

The second one is my '35 Ford sedan. It's been on hold for over 2 years now. It's got an 8" (from the pickup), a custom torsion bar front suspension, 4.6 DOHC and 4R70W from a Lincoln Mark VIII. I plan to run fenderless with a custom grill.

[DRIVEN]

This is one of my side projects. I picked up this '02 Jaguar S-type last week with a broken timing chain. Normally I avoid working on Euro-cars but this one is essentially a Ford. I bought it expecting to need to pull at least one head due to bent valves. This particular engine (4.0 V8) is prone to chain failure due to weak plastic secondary tensioners coming apart and it's a fairly common problem. The same engine was used in the Lincoln LS and latest generation Thunderbird. The general architecture is similar to the modular DOHC 4.6 and 5.4 but is about 7/8 scale. The other engine option for this car is the same Ford (Mazda) 3.0 V6 used in the Taurus, Escape, etc. So much for Jaguar's performance heritage . Once I got it apart I found that the exhaust cam had stopped between lobes and the engine has great compression.

Exhaust cam and broken chain and tensioner extracted.


Got it back together and my dad drove it for a couple months while it was for sale. Thought I would make good money but was happy to break even. It was a really nice driving car. Got 30mpg on a trip to Boise and back.

[DRIVEN]

A couple boats that came and went. The first trio came from the auction. The stars were aligned; right after the holidays, cold rainy day, poor attendance. I bought all three boats for $5 each. Including the 10% buyers fee, I still got change back from a twenty dollar bill. Cost more in fuel to get them home. All I did was hose them off and drain the water out. I sold the pair with motors for $600 and the pink one to a buddy for $50. Not too bad for a day's worth of shuffling. I even got to keep the pile of fishing/camping gear that was in them.
1959. Had probably 100 gallons of water in it. Solid but UGLY!

Another 1959. Appeared to have been a rental at some point. 35hp Lark. Could have been put back on the lake easily.

1965. Soft transom but very complete. 75hp Evinrude.


The next one was a 1978 Jetster I got at the same auction about a year later. Paid $10 for it with an 85hp Chrysler hanging on the back. While I was hitching it up to bring it home a guy came up and told me he was moving and needed to get rid of his stash of Chrysler outboard stuff. Picked up a complete 75hp and another disassembled 85 for free on the way home. I planned to restore it and keep it but got distracted. Sold all the motor stuff for $500 and the boat on the trailer for $250. It was really solid and well built but suffered from a bad repaint and a stalled "refurbish". It was originally heavy flake metallic gold on black. Discotastic! Wish I could have kept it. I'm told it's a fast hull design for what they were.

[DRIVEN]

Last time you saw pics of his daily driver '64 El Camino he was running a Paxton supercharger on his LT1. Recently (I suspect mostly out of boredom) he's been focusing more on fuel economy. The supercharger came off and he had acouple other PCMs flashed by my uncle. The final conclusion was that lowered compression and the automatic were holding him back. Since the current LT1 has had the pistons replaced with lower compression pieces to make it more blower-safe, it made more sense to just replace it rather than tear it down again. My dad is the master deal hunter! He came up with another LT1 that was claimed to be a low miler along with a harness for $200. I tore it down to reseal and detail it and found it was immaculate inside. I would estimate 30-50K miles on it. He listed the engine and transmission he's running and had it sold (took a deposit) to a guy who wanted to put it in his '40 Chevy. I pulled the engine and 4L60E, swapped a few parts and installed the new engine.



^^Ignore the missing A.I.R. plugs and the "filled" intake elbow. Suitable replacements are on order.^^
Here's part two of the process:



What? Why would anyone chose an S10 transmission? Aren't those super weak? Stick with me, there's a few reasons for this choice.
1. My dad drives like an old man 99.98% of the time.
2. This car will never see track time. Economy is the focus here.
3. The engine is bone stock and will likely remain as such.
4. The S10 version of the T-5 has a forward position shifter that is better suited for bench seats.
5. The s10 transmission is the only GM version of the T-5 that uses the standard front bolt pattern in the standard orientation. The early Fbody version is canted at a 17* angle. Later Fbody has a Ford front pattern.
6. The gear ratio is a great match to the 2.56 posi that he has in the car. Almost the ideal 10:1 compound first.
7. This particular T-5 is a relatively rare late-'93 model. It IS a WC not the weaker non WC that people say are weak. Never heard of it? Don't think it exists? Here's proof:

I pulled the input shaft out to have it machined down to the standard Saginaw/Muncie/T-10 dimensions and verified that it had the fiber lined blocker rings as opposed to the regular brass synchros. The Splines needed to be cut back about 1/4" and the end of the pilot was shortened 5/8" and the retainer was also shortened. I used an M-20 to match up all the dimensions.

By using a regular '86-up (one-piece seal) flywheel and 10.5" clutch set it is feasible to replace this transmission with any of the GM 4-speeds if the desire should arise. The only part that would need to be swapped out is the clutch disc. I contacted Otts Friction to see if they could build me a 14 spline clutch disc in 10.5". As it turned out, one is available but I'm not sure what the original application is. It's being shipped from their supplier in Minnesota and should be here on Thursday. I'll post up the final results. Hopefully all the parts will be in by the weekend so I can get it back on the road. Until then, the '64 goes in the bullpen.

I got a call from my dad this morning. I guess the '40 Chevy guy backed out of the deal and forfeited his deposit. It's for sale again for now but might end up in my brothers '36 Ford pickup.

[510freak]

Awesome

And great job on all of it

And the s-10 trans,hell of an idea.