Topic: What did you do to your non-motorcycle vehicle today?

[dave500]

been putting of wifes hyundai rocker cover leak for a while,not bad but smells oily fumy in the garage when she gets home as its weeping onto the hot exhaust manifold,not a hard job,40 bucks for gasket kit with four new spark tube seals and the two half moon end cover rubbers plus oil filler cap rubber ring,a little dab of three bond on the half moons and the cam bearing cap curved area,all good.

[Terry in Australia]

Good stuff Dave, I take it you don't have any kids? My youngest boy still lives at home, and loves doing mechanical stuff so he's done the cam covers on both Hyundais for me, plus he does the oil changes too. The old green 1997 model Excel is just about dead now though, I followed the wife up the street yesterday and it was pumping blue smoke out of the exhaust. Probably the fact that it'd only had 2 oil changes in 101,000 Km before I bought it didn't help.

[Stev-o]

Stev-o,I had a 69' Mercury Cougar

Sounds like a nice car!  Bet you wish you still had it. 

I'd love to get another one someday. 

Hey ya go Bill, no time better than the present time!

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/d/rio-linda-1969-cougar-xr7possible-trade/7424743789.html

Seems reasonably priced and not too far from you!  Call him!!

The one I had also had the horn built into the inside edge of the steering wheel:just squeeze the wheel a little to hard...

The horn you describing is referred to a "Rim Blow Horn"!  Odd name for sure. 

[dave500]

we had those squeeze rim horns on the early 70s aussie gt falcons.

[Gurp]

Traded my 70 C20 project for a 53 Chevy 210 project.
4 door car sitting on a 81 Malibu chassis and drivetrain.

[grcamna2]

I have a hope to someday get that particular 1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 351W 4bbl(I had the car half restored and my Grandmother contributed $ to me for some of it:it's got special signifigance)back from whom that man sold it to in 1982'.This was on Martha's Vineyard Island so it's remotely possible that it may still be on the island.

I would CERTAINLY settle for a 1968 Cougar XR7 GT-E model with factory sunroof and the 427 side oiler engine:a 'survivor'.That car would Definitely sweeten the bad memories of the past. 

[Gurp]

First snowfall of the year today.... Ole lady puts her AWD Commander in the ditch.
I had to go pull it out.

[Don R]

 I pulled the rear wheels, brakes, axles and third member out of the Firebird. I have another 3rd member with low mile 3:89 gears, I'm swapping from the 3:50's in the car now and using new bearings with a billet yoke for 1350 u joints.
 My 20 ton harbor freight press has officially paid for itself a couple times over. A good stock of pipe and tubing comes in handy.
 Hot Rod Mag. has a good article about the Gear Vendors OD. Theirs is behind a turbo 400 also. If you are going 55, shift into OD and maintain rpm you will be going 79mph. Or something like that. I can have the 3:89's acceleration and still use the Pontiac torque to cruise on.

[Bankerdanny]

Back in October my girlfriend and I picked up a 2004 GMC Envoy XUV with a 5.3 LS V8 to serve as a tow vehicle for a 23 foot camper we also bought. The truck was $1300 because it had a bad transmission, failed 3-4 clutches, a common issue for the 4L60E transmission.

I sourced a used trans that I was told was good for $125 and at the end of November began a transmission swap. I have pulled transmissions before and my research lead me to believe that it would probably take me 2 days.

Well, it took me 7 days stretched out over 6 weeks. But I finished the install Jan 2nd and gave it a thorough test drive yesterday. There are some miscellaneous small things that need fixing still, and I discovered that the frame is in bad shape rust wise and if I want to use it for more than one season a frame swap will be required, but the big one is done and the truck drives quite nicely.

I don't have pictures, but I am working on a YouTube video of the swap because I could not find any videos for the 5.3 V8 Envoy/Trailblazer, and there are some important differences between that and the base straight 6 that make pulling the trans out of a V8 truck MUCH harder. Once the video is up I'll add a link.

[grcamna2]

Danny,how big of a job will a frame swap be;a full body-off chassis swap ?
You might possibly find another one that's been sitting w/o salt exposure and swap the drivetrain?
I imagine a frame swap is possible if you found a good one in around AZ. or CA. ?

[RAFster122s]

If you have a four post or two post lift the frame swap is a job but doable, without one it is a major undertaking. Epoxy paint the new frame after good cleanup and prep...

[Don R]

 Quite a few Toyota trucks are getting frame swaps. Some of them are still in warranty. My son in law's
 Toyota truck needed a new rear axle housing due to rust. Now the gears are whining, and they tell him it's not covered either.
 The axle housing in my 40 chevy is out of a 57 ford. It seems like someone missed something along the way.
 

[Don R]

 I got the third member for the Firebird close to done, the solid pinion bearing spacer is shimmed in the Daytona pinion bearing support, drag set for new bearings and the ring gear is installed on the posi, sitting in the carrier. I already blueprinted the posi so that part is done. Next up, the pinion depth needs checked, I'll use the old shim off this housing to start with and check the pattern.
  This is a used 3:89 Richmond gear I bought for the 40 coupe but didn't like the highway rpm. that car then got a blueprinted trac-loc 3:25 for a long road trip and it seemed so good I left it in.
  This third member is the ultimate stock ford part. N case, 31 spline, trac loc, Daytona bearing support. The same as a big block Mach 1 but probably was in a phone company van. Now it has a billet yoke for a 1350 solid U joint too.
  If I ever hurt this, it's because I re-built it wrong. 

[RAFster122s]

Quite a few Toyota trucks are getting frame swaps. Some of them are still in warranty. My son in law's
 Toyota truck needed a new rear axle housing due to rust. Now the gears are whining, and they tell him it's not covered either.
 The axle housing in my 40 chevy is out of a 57 ford. It seems like someone missed something along the way.
 

Don, how old are these Toyota trucks & suvs  that are getting factory warranty frame swaps?

[Bankerdanny]

Danny,how big of a job will a frame swap be;a full body-off chassis swap ?
You might possibly find another one that's been sitting w/o salt exposure and swap the drivetrain?
I imagine a frame swap is possible if you found a good one in around AZ. or CA. ?

It probably won't be any harder than the transmission swap was. If I just had a garden variety 3 row Envoy then buying another one that just needed a drivetrain would be the way to go, but the XUV is a 2 year only model where the roof over the cargo portion slides forward making that section like a small pickup bed with really high sides. The body is in pretty good shape for an upper Midwest car with 170k miles. The condition of the frame is surprising given that the underside of the body is in decent shape.

Here is a video. Mine is the same year, but not as nice.

[Bankerdanny]

If you have a four post or two post lift the frame swap is a job but doable, without one it is a major undertaking. Epoxy paint the new frame after good cleanup and prep...

Yes, that is definitely the challenge here. I have some thoughts about how to get the body off. The other issue is that I have to do it twice, the donor vehicle AND my vehicle.

[Don R]

 I've had the body on and off of my Firebird a couple times using two floor jacks, some jack stands, 8' 4x3's and some misc. cribbing.
 I drilled a 4x4 for a piece of steel tubing that fits into the top of my floor jack. I inserted it part way into the wood and bolted it in place. Now the tube drops in the hole after the pad is removed. It just extended the reach of the jack a bit and the wood has a drilled hole that fits over the rear end's drain fitting.
 I saw some TV car builders using adjustable pipe stands to hold a 4x4 truck up. That was surprising.

[grcamna2]

Danny,how big of a job will a frame swap be;a full body-off chassis swap ?
You might possibly find another one that's been sitting w/o salt exposure and swap the drivetrain?
I imagine a frame swap is possible if you found a good one in around AZ. or CA. ?

It probably won't be any harder than the transmission swap was. If I just had a garden variety 3 row Envoy then buying another one that just needed a drivetrain would be the way to go, but the XUV is a 2 year only model where the roof over the cargo portion slides forward making that section like a small pickup bed with really high sides. The body is in pretty good shape for an upper Midwest car with 170k miles. The condition of the frame is surprising given that the underside of the body is in decent shape.

Here is a video. Mine is the same year, but not as nice.

Nice vehicle 
Do you plan to find a donor,or take the body off and repair your original frame.. ?

[RAFster122s]

Bill, from earlier post by Danny he intends to buy a second vehicle because he said he was going to have to pull the body from the donor and his...

[Bankerdanny]

Nice vehicle 
Do you plan to find a donor,or take the body off and repair your original frame.. ?

The frame is not salvageable. It is very heavily rusted and you couldn't weld repair plates or a replacement section to it.

Down near my sister's where I do my major repair work there is a long wheelbase Trailblazer (the Chevy version) in a neighbor's driveway on a couple flat tires. I bought a 70's Harley from him back in 2015, so I know him. The 3 row Trailblazer and Envoy used the same frame as the XUV. I'll talk to him when the weather is better because I am going to need to do this in the driveway. I'll also keep an eye out on Facebook Market and CraigsList. If I had known about the frame issue when I bought the transmission I would have asked the seller if it came out a 3 row version and maybe tried to get the frame too. Unfortunately I didn't save his contact information.

I have also seen a few XUV's at Copart, so buying one from them and swapping the drivetrain is an option. Finding a Tahoe or Silverado with a bad engine or trans is an option too since the 5.3/4L60E is the same combo found in the 1/2 ton versions of those.

[Bankerdanny]

I've had the body on and off of my Firebird a couple times using two floor jacks, some jack stands, 8' 4x3's and some misc. cribbing.
 I drilled a 4x4 for a piece of steel tubing that fits into the top of my floor jack. I inserted it part way into the wood and bolted it in place. Now the tube drops in the hole after the pad is removed. It just extended the reach of the jack a bit and the wood has a drilled hole that fits over the rear end's drain fitting.
 I saw some TV car builders using adjustable pipe stands to hold a 4x4 truck up. That was surprising.

Harbor Freight actually sells a cross beam attachment for their floor jacks that is a beam with a pad on each end. https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/jacks-jack-stands/steel-floor-jack-cross-beam-64051.html

I don't think it needs to be lifted a lot to roll the chassis out from under the body.

[Don R]

 That attachment could come in handy, I also need to lift the bed off my dually to replace the brake lines.

[ofreen]

That attachment could come in handy, I also need to lift the bed off my dually to replace the brake lines.

I bought this gantry crane from Harbor Fraught  (or Fright) 3 or 4 years ago when they were still doing their 25% off coupons for about $500 out the door.  They've gone up a little since then but it is nicely made and has replaced my folding shop crane for most engine pulling work.  It has come in handy for a bunch of other things too, like unloading heavy stuff from trailers.  I'll be using it to pull the bed off the '81 Toyota pickup one of these days.

https://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-telescoping-gantry-crane-41188.html

[grcamna2]

That attachment could come in handy, I also need to lift the bed off my dually to replace the brake lines.

I bought this gantry crane from Harbor Fraught  (or Fright) 3 or 4 years ago when they were still doing their 25% off coupons for about $500 out the door.  They've gone up a little since then but it is nicely made and has replaced my folding shop crane for most engine pulling work.  It has come in handy for a bunch of other things too, like unloading heavy stuff from trailers.  I'll be using it to pull the bed off the '81 Toyota pickup one of these days.

https://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-telescoping-gantry-crane-41188.html

That's a good deal for $500.

[Don R]

 I met a guy that had a big Gantry crane for diesel engines. He was moving it around and rolled one end off into the grease pit of his shop, the crane toppled onto his 260" wheelbase dragster and folded it like it was made from soda straws. He wanted my buddy and I to repair it, I pointed out a lot of previous poor chassis repair choices. Things like mitered corner welds on moly tube. He didn't want to fix it all the way, so we declined.