Ever since I got back into messing with cars I’ve heard of this show held at the Alameda Fairgrounds call the Good Guys Car Show. This event is more geared towards the Hot Rod enthusiast and classic cars, mostly Hot Rods and man they have some awesome attendees. Anyone of the entrants would be eye catcher on the street so the level of work and craftsmanship is very high.

One area that always catches my attention is the detail and work put into the motor and motor bay. Since mine has areas caked in oil it amazes me to see the motors there with not even one drop. I’m sure a lot of them are occasional drivers and rightfully so.

I decided to lug around my big DSLR and glass this time. I thought the event warrant the pain in the shoulder I’d have later on in the evening.  Below are a few photos, you can see more at my photo gallery site Full photo gallery.

One cool chance meeting was with a couple from the Bay Area that owned a Thunderbird the same year as mine, repainted white with a blue pearl and has the hard top. It was great to actually look into the interior and see what mine should look like. I know my upholstery has been reworked during the years as none of it matched what I saw today, no surprises though.

I started removing the necessary parts that blocked access to the waterpump removal. What was odd the none of the bolts were torqued down or tightened. I was able to remove all of them with very little pressure. If it wasn’t for all the sealant used it would have been leaking like crazy.

At the same time I was able to examine the alternator but still could not find any marking indicating what model it was or how much current is was capable of delivering. I may have to get another alternator that I know what the specs are and not use this perfectly good alternator. One note, it is the single wire model which probably means it is a newer build.

As it turns out one of the bypass hoses for the waterpump has a small hole due to using a small pointy object to remove it from the barbed fitting. I had purchased a short leng5h of rubber hose not realizing the original hose is preformed. 

I can’t even remember the last time I was at Kingdon Drags located in Lodi, California. I used to go there as a kid watching the cars race. Today was part of the Memorial Day races. They have races there 4 times a year. This is one of the few venues where the spectators are damn near next to the cars when they launch. I was able to get some good video as well as photos because of this.

The Alpine R Series wasn’t getting enough power from the Alpine MV500 500 watt amp. I installed a Quantum 2000 watt amp and with the trunk volume it shakes the garage. This is with a single subwoofer. 

I had converted the third car garage into a room/studio. The motorcycles typically stayed in this spot but was a pain to get out since the garage door was sealed shut and a wall put in place.

I asked my son to help me (he did all the work) remove the wall and haul the material to the dump. My son is a one man wrecking crew. It’s best to just stay out of the way and help by cleaning up 🙂

Took Josie out for a quick photo shoot using the Fuji X100s. Used a pair of Canon Remote strobes. Threw one inside of the car and the other laying on the ground pointing upwards in a 45 degree angle.

I Actuallt wanted to take a photos at the area behind the Chevron station down the street but there was a funeral going on. The temperature stayed at 180F during the up and back ride down the street. I poured in another bottle of Water Wetter yesterday. Hopefully it made some type of difference. 

This evening I had a locksmith (Mike) come over and try to make a door key. The standard ignition key is supposed to open both doors. Somewhere during the lifetime of Josie one of the owners must have replaced the ignition switch because it no longer opened the doors.

After trying for over an hour Mike was able to get the passenger door working with a key that he made. Curiously enough it also worked on the ignition which probably means the drivers door has a problem. I more than likely be taking off the drivers door this weekend.

EDIT: 20160423

Mike the locksmith came back over to try and solve the driver door problem. He spent at least another 2 hours messing with it. In the end he was unable to open the drivers door with a key. In fact he accidentally disengage the lock connecting rod inside of the door! This means I will definitely have to remove the panel. Chit.

So this is my story..

Ever since I’ve had “Josie” I had to place a piece of cardboard or a drip pan down below. I realize a car of this age would have leaks and some are acceptable until it can be evaluated  and repaired.

One leak that bothered me was the coolant leak. My original “Pro Cool” leaked at several different places under the car. Most at the location directly under the radiator or more specific under a motor frame directly below the radiator.

The leak would appear every time I went for a ride  regardless of the distance and length of time it took to travel. It was as if the leak wasn’t tied to the engines changing conditions.

I had removed the radiator twice. Each time swearing it was a faulty new radiator causing me all this grief. Each time I pulled it out I carefully inspected the lower and the surrounding areas. Getting pissed off I never found a leak or anything that resembled it could cause a leak over temperature and pressure.

The next was to use a dye and black light. This would let me trace the leak to the exact source(s). When the dye arrived I immediately pour some onto the radiator inlet port.  I decided to wait overnight in case the leak was located in the radiator only. I figured it wouldn’t be draw into the motor if the water pump was operating.

When i checked it out the next morning there was the puddles of coolant on the floor pan. I tried the glasses and black light combo and there was no dye to be found! Now this was baffling as hell as it indicated my leak was not from the radiator.  I rechecked the water pump hose fittings, weep hole, all the freeze/core plugs, thermostat and hoses.

For whatever reason I went ahead and replaced all the hoses again and actually changed the upper radiator hose with a braided model.