Steve49841

Guess I got lucky...I managed to re-torque the old head bolts without breaking anything. The oil leak is stopped for now but I know if it starts again I will be looking at a new head gasket. Thanks for all the input

My car has developed an oil leak between the block and head directly above the oil filter. I'm guessing it's coming from the cam shaft oil supply galley/line. Has anyone else had this problem and how did you fix it. I'm going to re-torque the head bolts but other then that I'm probably headed for a new head gasket....oh goodie.

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like a caliper rebuild or replace is in my future. I did exercise the park brake and rotated the tires front to back and the car stops a bit straighter but I think there is still room for improvement.

The car is a 1972, the previous owner replaced brake hoses, pads and shoes. The left front pad is showing more wear then the right. I have flushed the system with fresh dot4, removed the front pads and exercised the caliper pistons in and out and it still pulls left. So...assuming the problem is insufficient hydraulic pressure to the right front brake pad would you place your money on the brake fail indicator switch, a caliper problem, air in the system or something else...

This will not end well If you are looking for return on investment. You don't need a roll bar and fuel cell to do autocross, HPDE's or track days. If your main goal is to recover what you put in this thing return it to stock, add strut bars and have fun.

Thanks Carl, great pics and write up. When I started this thread I really thought I would end upwith a mid rise scissors lift but now I'm not so sure. There are a lot of variables when selecting a lift with respect to under car access, storage space and so on. And I honestly had never thought about using the lift as a work table, that's a great idea.

I have lift envy.... and shop envy....very nice. I'm beginning to think what I really need is a bigger shop building so I could have two of everything. Hey it is Christmas...and I have been good this year.

Kurbycar said what I've been thinking. It isn't that anyone wants to pour water on someone's enthusiasm but there is a reality to owning one of these cars. If you look at the adds you will see a lot of them sound the same with sentences like "started the project xx years ago and lost interest" "ran out of money" "my life changed". This is a long drawn out difficult and expensive undertaking, proceed with caution

I've used POR-15 and it works fine, but because there are spots that are rusted through the idea is to bond a doubler under the kick plate to seal and strengthen the rocker panel. The plan is to fab a 30" long piece by bending two 90's it to match the shape of the top surface of the rocker panel, bond it with structural adhesive and cover it with the kick panel.

Good point...on cars that rusted from inside the rocker panel. As luck would have it this car received a Ziebart treatment when new and the corrosion is external from moisture getting under the weather seal and kick plate. In my original post I asked if anyone has used structural adhesive and it looks like the answer is no. I guess the only way to find out if it will work is to try it and see what happens.

From what I've read a clean bonding surface would be an issue although acrylics seem to be more forgiving. I've seen video of panel bonding where a thin bead of adhesive is used on the lip of the part but that's not what I'm thinking about. When I go over the possibilities there are three choices. One, I can clean up the area and patch it with body putty, put the kick plate back on and call it a day, not good. Or...two...I cut out and re-weld both rocker panels, a very big job which might happen eventually anyway. Or...three...I fab up a cover piece the same size and shape as the kick plate from 22 gauge steel and bond it to the sill and place the kick plate over that. 75% of the surface would be bonded to good metal and the adhesive would encapsulate the remaining corrosion. When you think about it what's the worst that could happen if the patch fails...it's back to option two. But maybe with the right adhesive the repair holds, the sill is strengthened and the surface rust is stopped. Think of the possibilities....

I have corrosion under the door kick and scuff plate areas on a car I'm preserving. Recently I've been reading articles on metal bonding vs welding and was wondering if anyone has tried fabing up a sheet metal piece to fit under the kick plate and use a structural bonding adhesive as opposed to welding it to the top of the door sill. In my case the rocker panels look good inside and out as the result of being rust proofed when new. The rust appears to be a top down problem at the pinch weld and under the door weather seal/kick/scuff plates only.

I'm finding the Bend Pak BL3500 for $1035 shipped at Auto Body Tool Mart this morning, which is an attractive price. $500 Bucks more buys a cheap scissors lift but I'm finding this style clogs up the middle/underside of the car so I think I've talked myself out of going that route. The EZ lift looks like a nice piece but at almost twice the money of the Bend Pak it's not that nice. And I like that the Bend Pak has 3" ground clearance in the down position so my Datsun Roadster race car will roll over it. Hummm....looks like the BL3500 is leading the race at this point. Thanks for all the input.

I'm tired of crawling around positioning a floor jack when I need to get the car up in the air so it's time to look at a lift. My "shop" is a regular 3 car detached garage that doesn't have room for a two post. At this point I think it's going to come down to some brand of scissors lift and I'm interested in hearing what everyone else is using.

The booster arrived today and it's correct so everything looks good. I have a month to get the $30.00 core refund so with return freight I will be about $100.00 bucks all in...I'm a very happy guy.