VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions What is the most challenging repair/rebuild you have ever done?

Just wondering how difficult some repairs, rebuilds, replacement parts, etc can be? I don't mean entire vehicle rebuilds, just the one task, or part of an entire rebuild, that you won't forget.

My experience is a bit limited, but I really enjoy the reward of having done it myself when it all works out.

Last week one of my daughters and I replaced the steering box on the 59 Apache. It probably took us 5 times longer than more experienced hands, but we got it done and all is well. As we were doing this job we were trying to decide how challenging some other things might be. We have rebuilt the heater, converted to alternator, replaced the whole interior, rewired front to back, put in a wiper motor, some body work, and quite a few other things. All of them were challenging to our novice brains. Of course, the shop manual, assembly book and much advice from people more experienced helped out tremedously!

So, I thought I'd ask what your experiences have been. Let us know which one's really got to you.

Jim & daughters,

My worst experience was with welding. I was welding a seam which I thought was all steel. With mask on I hit lead and super heated it. The fumes almost did me in. My joints ached for weeks. Lead poisoning???

Just working with your daughter has to be one of the most rewarding things you can do. Congratulations!

I supervised my wife in changing a rocker arm on her first car forty years ago, and she helped me rebuild the four carburetors on the Corvair engine in my VW van. Not difficult, but rewarding.

She didn't have anything to do with my forgetting to install the T.O. bearing on that same Corvair/VW, not just once, but twice. Anything worth doing is worth doing twice for most people, but for me it must be that anything worth doing twice is worth doing four times. Of course, that wasn't the only two times the engine and trans had to come apart; I could pass anything except a transmission shop.

My most challenging repair was restoring my relationship with my first wife. To quote Dr. Phil "Just Kidding"! Recently it was restoring a '31 Chevrolet chassis. It required repairing or replacing (or both) every item. The most difficult single task was freeing and refurbishing the brake centralizer bolts. It took hours of heating and quenching and pushing to get the bolts out with out distroying them or the bushings. Since centralization of the shoes is so critical to proper braking it is an important task. In most cases the centralizer bolts are frozen. That may be one reason that people think the the old Chevys with mechanical brakes will not stop. They don't have them operating properly! Oh, ya least you think otherwise I have been married to only one woman for a couple of days short of 41 years so the repair was successful.

I'm struggling with a tough one right now. I'm spending a whole lot of time on trying to straighten out my rear fenders. They where "repaired" back in the 40's and the body guy hammered them out of shape. '32 rear fenders have a "flat spot" across the back and it was hammered curved to resemble a motorcycle fender!

Because of all that reshaping I have to heat and shrink and it's ruining the metal.

It may be time for metal replacements. ($)!

Right now I am trying to install the vent window "pivot" rivets with out damaging the die cast eye on the vent window assembly and NOS vent window frames on my 62 Biscayne. The rivets are made of stainless and very hard! I will figure out some sort of tooling. But after 12 years we are closing in on the entire car. The second most challenging part was keeping the cost of this entire over budget project away from my wife for 12 years!
John

John:
This is an interesting topic!
I can handle lots of mechanical stuff within reason but electrical stuff gives me fits. I took the 'best' parts of three generators and tried to make one good one. When that didn't work, I had a local shop do it and it was the best $50 I ever spent!

Sometimes you just have to know when to fold 'em!

Coach

There could be several, but these three come to mind, Gas welding the replacement lower quarters on a 51 HT with with the inside panels and pillars in place, next replaceing the vent rubber around the vent windows on a 57 Chevrolet truck, I ended up using Gojo hand cleaner to get the rubbers slippery enough to make the curves.

But the very, very,worst ever was a Wireing and timing of all the the solenoids, limit switches, motor screws on a 1957 F0RD Retractable hard top, before we could do a frame off restoration and we never did have a decent shop manual, that car, if you want to call it a car,came from Alabama as a basket case. I did this as a favor (lots of brownie points!) for one of my bosses, in 1989, another engineer and I worked on it in our "spare" time for 3 weeks solid. My boss at the time was a fine body repair and auto paint guy. He also cut and sewed all the interior.

By the way it was a knockout of a car once it was finished in red and Ivory, whatever F0Rd calls the color.

The most challenging thing I ever tackled was rebuilding a 1922 American LaFrance engine. Everything on that engine was either large, heavy or both. Finding parts was the hardest part of the whole project. I had the help of an older man who had rebuilt engines back in the 30's and 40's and he helped tremendously with encouragement and his knowledge. It would not have gotten done without him. Thanks Jay!

disassembly and reassembly of midyear corvertte hardtop. mike

This is really interesting. It appears that the most expected difficulties such as engine rebuilds are not on anyone's short list. Of coure, you expect that job to be challenging, so no surprise I guess.

But, the vent windows and rubber, body work goofs, interior motors, electrical and some of the more routine things get us when we least expect it.

Nice to know we aren't alone with these things.`

The most difficult?

All of them and everything I tried to do...

Gator, Just don't try so hard, after all, working on old cars is just burning piles of money and a lot of time,looseing skin, bones and buckets of sweat & blood...... that is what makes it so dad-gum much fun!
:cool2: