The Limits of the F150

Let me tell you about my weekend/truck/life....   So last weekend was to be a blast.  I had a long weekend and I had set up a number of things that I planned on knocking out while I had the time and energy to do so.  First things first, I had to go over and finish the job of painting my Aunt's shed/garage.  She is the reason I have the opportunity to work on the Triumph so as part of my payment to her I agreed to paint her shed.  Some further background on the weekend was I was planning to spend it doing brakes.  I know that the Jetta needs new pads (has anyone seen the 2011 Jetta, barf), and the truck was making some noise in the back end and I was going to check it out.  Well I figured that I would just try to push the truck one more so I could pick up my paint supplies and I would trouble shoot it at home.  Well guess what, the truck made it to the job but couldn't make it home.  That pesky noise had compounded itself into a full blown non-moving-down-the-road-anymore problem.  So I muscled the car back into my aunts driveway, jacked it up and spun the back wheels to discover that the sound was actually on the passenger side.  I pulled the tire and the drum and all the brake parts hit the ground.  I was somewhere between laughing and crying.  I had two options, tow the POS or fix it in place.  This was my first experience with drum brakes and it was to be an ugly one.

So I had to make three trips to get all the appropriate parts I needed only to run out of daylight, and I had to call in John O from the reserves with the right tools.  WARNING, anyone doing drum brakes save yourself the bloody knuckles and the inherent shit fits and go and get the right tools to land the springs before you even start.  That being said I am now a drum brake expert.  Here are some more excellent photos:

If anyone notices those are the drivers side drum brakes and the passenger side going from top to bottom.  The passenger side is my first attempt at the rebuild and if you have a keen eye you can see that I have the lead and lagging shoes backwards.......  I got it figured out eventually that was my first time.    Whew.  On a good note I made a tool upgrade on the Triumph.   I bought a Ryobi Corner Cat DA Orbital Sander.  The thing kicks significant amounts of oxidation butt and I am very pleased with the progress that is being made on the body work.  Drivers door is done and I have moved to the trunk:

That is all for now.  Over and out -NA
 PS shout out to my main man Alex and his new dirt bike...........fail.

The Restart

Alright, so I am apparently not that good at keeping up with blogging.  Here is a much belated attempt after close to two months of absence.  I have a bunch of work on the Triumph to report but not 2 months worth.  Regardless I am going to post some teaser pictures here tonight and follow up in greater detail.  Big things coming up.  PRM at Carson City 9/29, Pitt vs. FLA Int. on 10/2.  Other than that life is exceeding busy, and as far as I can tell since the beach trip over labor day, it has been exceedingly good with a couple of challenges thrown in to keep things interesting.  That is all for now.  Enjoy the photographs.  Over and out.
-NA

                                                                          The Bonnet

                                                                           The Engine

                                                                           The Setup

                                                                       The Primer Test

The Fleet

1979 Triumph Spitfire.

As promised, here are the photos of the Triumph and other past and present members of the fleet.  I am going to be busy writing a report for my grad class this week, so I wanted to get these up with the hopes of maybe posting again before the week is over.  First things first the Triumph.  As you can see the Spitfire is in good shape, but most decidedly in pieces.  Its going to take a lot of work, but I think the thrill of getting it to where it can be is totally worth it.  I also included several other members of the family.  All are current except for the Dodge, may she rest in peace wherever she is.  Enjoy and I'll have more later.  Over and out.  -NA

The Dodge, RIP

???  Outgoing (probably)

Ford F-150 (her name is pending)

 

The Jetter

The Beginning

This is the start of my blogging experience.  It's something that I've wanted to do for awhile and I decided to get on it.  The title comes from the reason I decided to start a blog.  I am currently trying to rehabilitate a 1979 Triumph Spitfire that belonged to my Uncle Mike.  The car and its parts appear to be in pretty good shape, and I'd like to catalog the process of bringing it back and maybe documenting what I learn along the way.  I'm not a hard-core motor head, but I like machines and I love projects so here we go.
My next post will included photos of the project in its current state and a plan of action.  I think I'll be able to really turn up the gain on this now that the summer term is drawing to a close.
On a side note and a happy note.  I recently added a new ship to the fleet.  My "new" 1995 F-150.  She's a hard running lady and I am so glad to have a pickup truck again.
That's all for now.  Over and out.  -NA