Casey Family Build Thread (coupe)

[xlr8or]

Sorry but it turns out I'm going to have to miss this one.

Just found out I'm flying out early tomorrow to Phoenix and then Monday I have a 6:00 AM flight to Canada where I'll be all week so too much to get done between now and then.

I guess Julie will have to do all the sanding.

[MRSQSL]

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

[cobrajj]

Julie: So it's 9:00 am this Sunday Oct 4th then?

[QSL]

October 4th, 9am. Breakfast served thanks to Pedalmasher!!! You don't want to miss it! Cant wait to see all our friends again. Its been too long!

[xlr8or]

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

Sad but true.

Trust me I'd rather be in your garage than going to Canada next week.
Work has been an absolute killer this month. Averaging about 70 hours a week. Hoping next month will lighten up a bit.

[QSL]

Julie has been in tears since the news. Don't know if I am going to be able to pull her out. We were looking forward to seeing you. Plus now she needs to sand...

[Pedalmasher]

Julie wins the "Best Wife Ever" award for her comment to Mike mid-way through the engine thrash yesterday - "we need to buy some more tools"

DV

[crossle45f33cf]

Wow!
I need some of what she's got in a bottle so I can rub it all over my wife.
Actually my wife is pretty good.
She says I can buy anything I want as long as I use "my" money.
Oh, yeah, and it can't have anything to do with another woman.
So many rules...

[jayguy]

Ok, it's been over 12 hours since the day ended, where is the narrative, the pictures, any video? What happened? Those of us who weren't there would like to know.


Jay

[MRSQSL]

I know this is the Coupe thread, but I have to mention some happenings from the previous day with the roadster. We were at Serpents in the Garden and parked right next to Dan. It was a beautiful day in the arboretum. Things were going along just fine until Dan was chatting with some people and I noticed a female peacock (peahen, I believe) sauntering over to Dan's vehicle. I watched for a bit and was shocked when it meandered up to his fender and bashed it's little pointy beak into the paint job. I shrieked. Dan came running. Peahen took one more stab at the car before running away. I didn't see any damage, but those little things are insane. A bit later a bridal party was passing by and stopped to ask if they could take pictures with the cars. Sure. I had my back to Scoopy, but could tell bad things were happening by the expression on Mike's face. I turned to find the bride had invited herself up ONTO the hood of our car and was leaning back waiting for her picture to be snapped. Then they wandered over to Dan's car and proceeded to put their hands on the windshield. Eeeep! The bride asked if she could sit inside. Before Dan could answer, the husband was firmly implanted behind the wheel. More leaning on paint and other various pieces and parts of the car. ARGH!!!!!!

Derrick was first to arrive Sunday morning with his "tools". He had brought an insanely sharp knife to better prepare breakfast with. He made some absolutely delicious sandwiches and didn't chop off any fingers in the process. I felt a little useless standing around observing, but he didn't seem to need my help. Thank you!!!!!!

Others arrived, breakfast was consumed and work commenced. The removal of the engine appeared to go quite smoothly. I didn't see the actual moment of extraction as I was in the house for some reason (really, I wasn't hiding this time). When I walked out, the engine was on the ground and Mike was fighting to get the transmission unmated. I guess there's a little pin or something that was being stubborn.

The little metal bar where the bell housing sits and the starter wants to sit was too close so Dan jumped at the chance to notch the bar. It would've taken him just a few minutes to weld the little piece in after, but the welding helmet had dead batteries. I searched high and low, but could not find anything the right size. After several calls, I located ONE battery and hoped to find the other in a neighboring store. Off I went. I got a call part way down the road asking me to stop at the auto parts store and get some sort of strange sounding tool. I told Mike to text me. My brilliant plan was to show the text to whatever intelligent looking man I saw at the store and let him lead me to the item in question. I realized most of the people at these parts stores are less intelligent than the average human (not all - don't yell at me), but most. I was a little relieved when Mike texted back and told me not to worry after all. They'd found something. Yay! I was already at the Auto Zone, though, so he told me to get some transmission fluid. Sounds like it'd be easy to find, but it wasn't. Then there were options. I started reading off things like DexMerc and Dextron (maybe). Mike specified and I began the process of unloading the bottles from the very tippy top shelf. I had two to go and was essentially jumping from tippy toe stance when a very, very tall man approached. He offered to help. I thanked him profusely. He asked me why I didn't just buy the large bottles on the bottom shelf. What? Oh. Well, apparently because I'm an idiot (retract mental statement about intelligent life in auto parts stores). He helped me put it all back and I asked about the battery. Nope. Didn't have one. The line was incredibly long and didn't move. I eventually took my turn and headed off to Radio Shack (not terribly close by) to get the last battery. Got home and was super extra thrilled when I tried handing them to Dan and he told me he had welded blind. He didn't need them. Sigh.

The block plate, flex plate and torque converter were mounted. Everyone was waiting for me to get back for the installation (guess you have to pour that trans fluid in the torque converter or something). What they didn't realize was that I hadn't had a chance to rivet in the firewall because Mike sent me on the wild battery goose chase of 2015. I assumed I could do this quickly and then progress could continue. What I didn't count on was a firmly clogged silicone tube. Scott kept telling me I should cut the end more, but I was positive I could jab the pokey rod thing in enough to get silicone out. I finally admitted he was right and found a cutting tool. That didn't work either though. Dan told me to put a screw in it and then pull the screw out. Tried. Didn't work. Cut essentially the entire end off. Nope. I ended up getting a fresh tube. That worked (with Scott's help because I didn't realize you had to poke the pokey thing in the hole when it's new too). I applied silicone and Frank lifted up the body while I slid the firewall back in place. That didn't go smoothly, but Scott also helped so success was once again in my grasp. Let's just say everything was a problem as my simple little job continued. Of course everyone was standing around watching and I was extremely nervous and self conscious so it made everything ten times harder. I couldn't find the tip for the new riveter, but Mike eventually did. I couldn't attach any of the riveters to the air line, but several people helped with that. Frank was nice enough to hand me rivets as needed. Caleb was kind enough to give me a hard time (I hope I didn't just butcher your name - please correct me as I'm TERRIBLE with names). He also helped me unload the billions of gallons of trans fluid out of the Jeep which I greatly appreciated. Anyway, the firewall eventually found it's permanent home and engine re-entry could begin.

This part I hid from. I stood behind the car or way in front of the car or super far off to the side. All of it made me nervous and it sounded as if the engine was disobeying direct orders to get back inside. A leveler isn't possible and the lift was helpful, but the carpet under the lift wasn't. I was told I would need to lay under the engine and balance the front while angling the trans with my feet. Thanks guys. Love you too. Somehow they managed to get it in (despite my refusal to help in any way, shape or form). If Mike posts pictures, you can see everyone working away like busy little bees. Poor Jim about broke his back trying to get a dropped tool which was then immediately dropped again. You know that rule, tool has to fall in the most inconvenient of spots repeatedly.

So the engine was in and I think the mounts were tightened, but then the trans mount wouldn't go back. I saw a crowbar and a gaggle of men and much discussion. I don't know how they eventually forced it in, but I know it involved brute strength, ingenuity and unbolting the shifter. I think this is the point when the pizza arrived. It's all sort of a blur after that. Mmmmmm...food.

In the end, I have an engine and trans that are no longer mocked up. I can't wait to start playing. I tried to trap people in the garage so they'd work until it was running, but people "claimed" to have other obligations. Whatever. I'm going to take off the timing bracket dealio so I can have Steve paint it for me. Then I can being the application of the engine compartment bling. The only thing I know for sure is that the water pump will go first. Not entirely 100% certain I know what the water pump looks like, but I have a picture in my head. If I can't find a part that looks like that mental drawing, I'll google.

I'm sure I'm leaving out tons of fun facts...like how this was the first rain in a long, long time so nobody could drive their roadster. Or how Starbucks claims their travel companion thing holds 12 cups of coffee, but those are some small stinking cups. I started asking around about what people do for a living and was fascinated. Quite a variety pack of jobs - Air Force pilot, computer security geek... I'm most jealous of the retired folks. I'm ready to retire. I digress. Sorry.

It was actually a great day and I loved everyone that showed up. Thank you all. We will definitely have to have a first start party (maybe without the crazy zombie apocalypse video like with Scoopy's first start). Sorry for anything I left out, anyone I offended, or any name I got wrong. If anyone is brave enough to post pictures, my warning still stands. Don't try any of this at home. We are not showing the safe way to do anything. Safety police don't need to message me.

[MRSQSL]

Oh and thank you for the "best wife ever" award. I think Mike would strongly disagree, but that's because he has to live with me. I can be oodles of obnoxiousness. As for other wives, you have to get them to do some little task and give them the wrong tools for the job. I've said this before. It will work. Once you tell them there is a tool for whatever they just suffered through, you have a free pass to go buy it. Do this often enough and you will have tools galore. OR you can buy lots of diamonds and flowers and shoes and candies along with a tool or twelve.

[dspellman]

A bit later a bridal party was passing by and stopped to ask if they could take pictures with the cars. Sure. I had my back to Scoopy, but could tell bad things were happening by the expression on Mike's face. I turned to find the bride had invited herself up ONTO the hood of our car and was leaning back waiting for her picture to be snapped. Then they wandered over to Dan's car and proceeded to put their hands on the windshield. Eeeep! The bride asked if she could sit inside. Before Dan could answer, the husband was firmly implanted behind the wheel. More leaning on paint and other various pieces and parts of the car. ARGH!!!!!!

I've been a wedding photographer since 1974 and have something well over 2000 weddings under my belt. I've learned that even though brides (and especially grooms) gravitate to cool cars ("Years from now no one will know we didn't actually OWN that Bugatti"), it's MY insurance company who will be presented with the claim for the 6' long scratch on the hood of the Bentley. And that if I ever want to work the Beverly Wilshire again, it's up to me to keep the bride in the beaded gown *well* away from the "cute" La Ferrari FXX owned by the grandson of Middle Eastern royalty and parked temptingly right at the front stairs. I've been gifted a tranquilizer dart gun by a local (*ahem*) zoo, and I will use it.

On the other hand, when the bridesmaids come oozing out of the ballroom carrying a bottle of tequila, salt and limes, I know to be half a block away and setting up my alibi before they start doing body shots draped across the car. There's usually a body (car?) guard near these cars (you can tell -- he has a squirt bottle of Meguiar's in one hand and a rag made of Norwegian Elkhound nose hair in the other lest a stray mote drift onto the paint). It's his job. And a thankless, gruesome job it can be. Nothing scarier than a lacquered (and liquored) bridesmaid falling out of her Vera Wang and off of her Louboutins, in high dudgeon over being denied her way.

Sometimes it's just smarter to drive the FIT.

[cobrajj]

Some pictures from yesterday.

[bwdziol]

And she say's she still can't reach the pedals.





Dan Z

[Courtnie Provencher]

Congrats on the completion of your roadster!
Can't wait to follow the build of your coupe.
Best of luck, let us know if you need anything

-Courtnie FFR Tech Support

[QSL]

Thanks Courtnie! We finished the roadster a couple years ago and have been blessed with a couple nice HB awards! Here is a link to that build thread... http://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-fact...ld-thread.html

We hope to not disappoint with the coupe.

Here is a shot from Serpents last weekend that Dan organizes. Its an amazing event and a real treat to attend!

IMG_1354.jpeg

[QSL]

Couple pics from the weekend party. I can't thank you guys enough for the support and help. I love this community!

IMG_1371.jpegIMG_1383.jpeg

[Courtnie Provencher]

Well it is an absolutely beautiful car! You deserve the awards you have won

[ticopow]

Well look at that, the pictures made me look like I knew what I was doing and you did get my name correct, and spelled correctly as well!
I did have a lot of fun, the food was good, and anytime you guys are working on the car and need/want a hand give me a call and Ill be there

[Rodster]

Mr and Mrs QSL -- Nice progress on Coupey. The 4-post lift must make things go much better. I need to borrow that when I have my engine install party -- SOON --

[MRSQSL]

David - Love your wedding photography stories. You have a way with words.
Jim - Thanks for posting the pics (and for all your help)!!
Dan - I'm not photogenic. Grrrrr...
Courtnie - Thank you!!
Caleb - You are going to be sorry for offering help. We will take you up on it.
Wayne - You can borrow the lift if you can get Coupey off of it. Car is sort of stubborn, so good luck with that. Hee, hee. Are we going to have a competition to see who can get their engine started first?

[MRSQSL]

Believe it or not, I did do a little work on the Coupe last week. "Little" is the key. I had grand plans, so I raced out to the garage Monday after work. I took off the thingy. Which thingy? The thingy that has something to do with timing. It's not the balancer, but it's the little pointy bracket thing that maybe indicates something on the balancer? Anyway, I took it off and painted it red. Mike seemed horrified with my color selection, but I think the red will look nice with the shocks and the starter. Anyway, my next step was to get the water pump. Apparently we have two. I started randomly bringing parts to Mike (once he got home) and asking him "what's this". I was hoping he was going to say water pump to something, but he didn't. I finally admitted that's what I was looking for. He told me we had two and he thought one was in the "pantry". I found it!!!!! Then he came out and found the other. They didn't look terribly similar and he stared and touched and compared before announcing I needed to use the one that came with the March pulley system. Okay. Whatever. He seemed disappointed because that one felt lighter and cheaply made. I didn't understand why I couldn't use whichever I wanted, but he mumbled something technical about pulleys. Okay, I'll just slip this one on then. He giggled at me. Apparently I needed to pull off the balancer and the timing cover to replace this one. Ummmm..okay. I'll just do that. I stared at the front of the engine for quite some time before going back inside to ask Mike how to get the balancer off. How was I supposed to know you needed a special tool? So he said he thought we had one at work and he'd bring it home. Great! He brought it home. It's still sitting in my office. I have no idea what this metal legged contraption is nor how to use it. I guess I need to google. Maybe I'll find a You Tube video. At the moment, I'm completely clueless. I showed it to a co-worker and explained I knew what car part you were supposed to stick it on or near, but I had no clue how to actually make anything productive happen. She studied it for a minute and announced it looked like a gynecological tool and went back to work. Yikes! I hope we don't have the same doctor!!!!!!

[ticopow]

Try this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9LNht9EqEM
and then this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex_yJ_V5UH8

Does that look right?

[MRSQSL]

Okay, I like where you are going with this, but the tool he brought home doesn't look like that. It has moving parts (like spider legs). Maybe he didn't bring me the right thing. I think he's trying to make my job harder so I go out and buy him a new tool...sneaky jerkface.

[bwdziol]

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, If you pull the balancer from the OUTER ring you will BRAKEEE . The tool MUST bolt to the hole that mount the pulley. Yes that's another tool to buy.
So now all of a sudden painting windows isn't that bad.

Dan Z

[Pedalmasher]

I have the correct crank balancer removal tool, but it's all the way here in Anaheim...

[QSL]

Shhhhhhhhhhhh

[MRSQSL]

Well someone needs to tell me in English (for dummies) what I'm supposed to be doing. I don't want to break anything and I don't particularly want to buy a specialized tool if it isn't ever going to be used again. I know how Mike thinks. I'll agree to buy the tool and then discover there isn't a good place to store it so we need another tool box or a bigger blingier one. This has been his master plan all along. And yeah, suddenly painting windows sounds like fun. Sigh.

[ticopow]

Yeah... I think for your husbands sake you might just need to buy another tool... who knows how many times you will need to pull it?

[MRSQSL]

Yeah... I think for your husbands sake you might just need to buy another tool... who knows how many times you will need to pull it?

I used to like you.

[ticopow]

well... you could always rent the tool, but don't tell your hubby I said that, I want him to like me too...

[MRSQSL]

The thing he brought me looks kind of like this. http://www.freedomracing.com/harmoni...38416-b-u.html Is that the wrong thing?

[SoCalMike]

That looks really painful... What you ladies must endure! Don't use that, it will tear up your balancer. Let Mike buy another tool or come borrow mine.

Mike

[ticopow]

The thing he brought me looks kind of like this. http://www.freedomracing.com/harmoni...38416-b-u.html Is that the wrong thing?

I think that "could" work... but it isn't the right tool for the job. It might damage the balancer if you use it.

[MRSQSL]

Thanks guys!!! Mike officially has my permission to buy the correct tool (and any other reasonably useful tools - especially if they are purple).

[xlr8or]

Julie it's a simple process. The tool should have a Y shaped piece with slots in each leg and a big bolt in the middle. You remove the center bolt from the balancer, attach the tool with bolts to the balancer pulley mount holes, then turn the big bolt in the middle to push against the crankshaft. As you turn that in the other bolts pull the balancer off.

[frankeeski]

Julie, I have the...........................Wait this isn't going to sound right. Let me try and start again. The puller I have will work, you can borrow it.

[MRSQSL]

Tee hee. Thanks! Mike thinks he has the right thing at work. If not, I'll be begging for a loan. It sounds easy enough, but I'm pretty sure it'll be a problem to get the bolt off the balancer and then turning the big bolt against the crankshaft sounds tough too. Should be interesting. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

[Timb]

Depending in what the base of the center bolt if the puller looks lime you may want to leave the crank bolt loosely threaded in so the puller doesn't booger the crank threads

[CraigS]

Depending in what the base of the center bolt if the puller looks lime you may want to leave the crank bolt loosely threaded in so the puller doesn't booger the crank threads

That is how I do it. My puller has a relatively small end on the main bolt so I loosen the crank bolt maybe 1/4 inch, pull the hub until it hits the bolt, loosen the puller, back the crank bolt out another 1/4 inch, etc.