What I Did on My Lunch Hour

[Hotrodladycrusr]

Originally Posted by Vic Piano

Denise, I've got a garage full of Flathead "yard art" and you are welcome to dig through it. I'll also let the guys know that you are on the hunt for goodies. See you Saturday. Vic

Youa re such a sweetheart! I don't care what your wife says.
Tell the guys to come hungry as I'm bringing donuts and/or bagels.

[Vic Piano]

Donuts and/or bagels... You've stolen my heart...!

[Vic Piano]

Well, today was the day to pull the rear, etc. out of the '39 Zephyr. Dense, the Hot Rod Lady Cruiser was a little late getting to the party but, Mike, Don, John, Steve and Pete were all hear to lend a hand. I can't post any of the photos that we took because my computer crashed last week and the Wizards have not fixed it yet so, I'll try and do the best I can without pictorial assistance. We got the rear free while the car was up in the air on the lift. Once we knew we could roll it out from under the car I lowered the lift and we pulled the rear assembly out and away from the car. We put the car back in the air and using both a bottle jack to brace the bell housing and the transmission jack to lift the transmission (the '39 Zephyr transmission has to be removed from inside the car as the wishbone and cross member are in the way) we were able to free the transmission and check the clutch, pressure plate, etc. What we found, much to my chagrin was that the "noise" was in fact coming from the transmission. We pulled the side cover only to see that the cluster gear was missing several teeth. We stuck a magnet into the transmission case and started pulling out broken chunks... Oh well, stuff happens and you just have to deal with it. Now, it was time for pizza. Don and John had other obligations so they had to depart prior to our repast. Denise, Mike, Steve, Chuck and I climbed into my '39 CS and took off to get the pizza. It has been unseasonably cool (heck, its COLD) her for the last few days so, rather than dine alfresco, we decided to bring the pizza and soda back to the garage. All in all we had another fun day and we were all really glad to see Denise. Maybe the Wizards will have my computer back up and running in a few days, if so, I'll post some of the photos. Thanks again to all the guys and our special guest. Vic

[Vic Piano]

Denise, I just remembered, you forgot to pick up some "yard art"... Thanks for playing yesterday, hope to see you again soon, maybe we'll all take a road trip to the Motor City in the summer. Vic

[Vic Piano]

Yesterday, at lunch, I pulled the drums off the Zephyr rear axle and removed the brake shoes and related parts, also disconnected the parking (emergency) brake cables. Today, time permitting, I hope to remove the backing plates and start cleaning out the transmission to ready it for disassembly. The fun never ends...

[Hotrodladycrusr]

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Vic, thanks so much for the warm hospitality. I really enjoyed my visit and the pizza was so delicious, thanks! I'm happy to see the house coming along and that my guest room will be ready soon! Lol

As far as the old parts go keep'um for me and either bring them north when you come? Or mike can bring them or maybe I'll see if my parents are going to be in your neighborhood this winter.

[Vic Piano]

Denise, thank you for joining us for the Saturday garage playtime. I hope you're feeling better and planning on coming back soon. Vic

[Vic Piano]

Well, I'm still without my office computer, making it impossible to post photos, to embellish my verbiage, with regard to the '39 LZ's transmission troubles. Saturday Mike and Don came over and we completely disassembled the transmission, revealing several other potential problems. Consensus, to completely rebuild the unit. I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon cleaning 72 years worth of caked on grease, etc. off of the transmission case and related parts. I painted the case and shift cover. Later today I'll start amassing all the necessary components for the rebuild. The fun just never ends...

[Dave72dt]

Fix it right the first time. No sense in repeating the work when you know there are issues.

[Vic Piano]

Well today was another fun day in the garage. Mike, Don, John, Steve and Rich came over to play. Steve drove his '46 Club Coupe over to swap out the front brake shoes so, while he, Mike and John worked on the '46 I got busy dismantling the Zephyr's rear end with some help from Don and Rich. Mike had driven his ’41 Business Coup over and it developed a leak in a heater hose on the trip so we spent a few minutes under the hood of the ’41. My computer is still not up to speed so once again I am without benefit of photos to enhance. Mike also took an inventory of what parts we'll need to replace in the LZ's transmission. I was able to free the dog bones from the rear shocks (thanks to a very handy tool that Bill Wzorek loaned to Steve) and I started working on prepping the Columbia rear to install once we rebuild the transmission. For the first time in a long time, we didn’t go for Pizza but we all had fun… As always, thanks to all my friends for coming out to play. Vic

[Hotrodladycrusr]

No PIZZA??? What is this world coming to???

[Vic Piano]

Originally Posted by Hotrodladycrusr

No PIZZA??? What is this world coming to???

I'm on a diet to get slim & trim for my daughter's wedding, the end of March however that is not the reason we skipped pizza... We were all just having too much fun playing in the old Ford/Lincoln grease. LOL

[John Kennedy]

Speaking of pizza, are those rear bones the same as '36 Ford?

[Vic Piano]

Originally Posted by John Kennedy

Speaking of pizza, are those rear bones the same as '36 Ford?

I'm not sure about that (don't have a '36 Ford) however, I can tell you that the "dog bones" on the Zephyr are longer than the ones on our '39 Ford and the Zephyr bones have the threaded rods on the same side, different from others I've seen. Vic

[Henry/Kokomo]

Vic - If you need to replace the dogbones, I have an NOS pair that are too long for my '46. Measure up what you have and I'll see if the ones I have will help - if you're interested or in need. Henry

[Vic Piano]

Henry, thanks for the offer, the dog bones for the rear of the Zephyr measure six and a half inches and the threaded/tapered shafts are on the same side, not opposite sides. Please let me know if your parts are the same way. Thanks,

Vic

[Vic Piano]

Road Trip!
Today we went on a road trip in search of cars & parts. Mike drove his '41 Business Coupe, with a friend along for the ride, over to my place. The three of us climbed into my '39 Convertible Sedan and took off for Sarasota to check out a non-Ford that Mike was interested in. The weather at 8:45 am was just cool enough to wear a long sleeved shirt and keep the top and windows up for the ride south. Once we got to Sarasota (aprox. 100 miles), I put the top down while Mike went for a test drive in the non-Ford. After a short deliberation Mike opted not to make the purchase so, after Mike treated us to lunch, we took of for St.Pete (where a friend of ours has a nice stash of parts) to look for a good main shaft for the '39 Zephyr transmission. I was lucky enough to find two that were in good to excellent condition. We left St.Pete and were headed to Oldsmar to help another friend but time was getting late and we all had other commitments so we headed back to my house.
I'll digress for a moment, my computer is back from the Wizards and I've been able to transfer photos of our exploits over the past several weekends to share with you. They are however in no chronological order but you'll get the gist of what has been going on.
Denise, the "Hot Rod Lady Cruiser" paid us a visit a few weeks ago when it was winter here in Tampa, along with Chuck and the usual group.












Hopefully we'll be able to start putting the transmission back together next weekend.

[Hotrodladycrusr]

She looks very happy in the back seat

I'll throw in a few of the many I took that day. I had a GREAT time that day. Sure wish I could have sayed longer. Actually wished I was retired and could hang out with you guys all winter long!

[Vic Piano]

Denise, you are welcome to hang out with us any time you like. Last Saturday Mike brought a friend of his over and we took a ride in the '39 CS to Sarasota and then to St. Pete where I picked up two main shafts for the '39 Zephyr transmission. The shafts were used but look to be in very good condition (see photo) and I got both for just $20.00. A little cleaning up and we'll assemble everything... Vic

[Vic Piano]

Yesterday I ordered the additional parts (we'll need to rebuild the Zephyr transmission) from Mac Van Pelt; they should be here in a few days. Tomorrow we'll continue cleaning the undercarriage (scrapping off 72 years worth of grease, oil, road grime, etc.) as well as prepping the Columbia with new brake lines. I'm hoping to have the Zephyr back on the road in time for the "Barner's Bash" from March 16th to 18th as I sure like to try out the Columbia on the ride up to Ocala from Tampa.