Shop equipment maintenance, repairs and upgrades

My shop equipment requires regular work. I might as well document it here since it is usually what is keeping me from making enough progress to update my build threads 

This is my Clausing 4913. It is 1hp, 10 inch swing and 36 inches between centers

12 years ago the factory I worked at downsized and consolidated the machine shop and offered it to me for scrap value. I gave $50 for it. 

I used to hate this machine.  Compared to what I used every day at work it was laughable.  Like wanting a Jeep and getting a power wheels..... or asking for a new Powell Peralta skateboard with independent trucks and slime ball wheels for your 16th birthday and receiving a plastic Variflex from ToysRus instead.(yeah, I grew up in the 80's) 

I replaced the incredibly worn cross slide lead screw and nut after a while and it became slightly more useable but wired for 120v in my garage it lacked the torque to do any work of note. After a while the factory I worked at went away and it became my only lathe.  

Over the years I have tuned it up, rewired it to 240v, replaced some bad bearings and done my best with it. I am consistently shocked at how accurate this little thing can be. It is also my most used tool in the shop.  

My feelings towards it have turned to fondness over the last 9 years of daily use.  Even though I am shopping for a replacement in the 15" swing range I am gonna keep this lil' dude in as good operating shape as I can. 

I have 3 and 4 jaw chucks for it but have been dreaming about a collet chuck setup for a while now.  After seeing some surprisingly positive reviews for the Bostar unit I bought one. It even came with a 1.75-8 backing plate 

5C collet set sold separately. 

I threaded the backplate on and turned it true

And attempted to dial in the scroll chuck

I was only able to get it to within one and a half thousands and it stopped moving.  I need to turn the centering spigot on the backplate down a touch more since I ran out of adjustment.  That means the bore on the back of the chuck isn't exactly true to the collet flange.  Acceptable for such an inexpensive tool IMO. Tomorrow morning I will put a bit more work into it to see if i can get it down to a few tenths.

But as i left the shop tonight i did throw some stock into it to see how it held

I think I am going to enjoy this new capability. 

Next up on the lathe is to replace the bearings in the drop gears to the quick change box. They have a fair bit of run out which makes some unpleasant noise. 

I also have a few items in the mail for more service jobs. 

Your reward for reading through this boring stuff is some shots of what I have been finishing up this week

This 67 Fiat Abarth OT2000 America had a rotten coolant expansion tank, a mess of coolant lines to the front radiator and no thermostat.  It now has a custom alloy tank, a bespoke thermostat and -12 AN lines to the rad and back. It has a 180hp twin cam in a 1500lb fiat 850 coupe body that has been flared beyond reason. I love this car. 

More future work includes repairs to the mill, workbench extension and other stuff.

That's cool. I hope to have room for a lathe and a mill some day.

The spare tire "bumper" on that Fiat is awesome! 

Love the Fiat , 

I had a pile  of rusty double bubbles  years ago.......

With a fresh set of eyes this morning I spotted an issue.  The backplate wasn't seating in the shoulder of the spindle.  The counterbore on the backplate wasn't large enough to allow it to thread on fully.

So I opened it up and got all the engagement I needed. Then recut the face surface and tried again 

That is more like it. Two tenths is pretty stellar. I am well pleased with this result. 

And what i worked on this morning 

Some minor electrical fettling on this Lancia Flaminia Superleggera.  This is a touring bodied example.  I love this car.  It returns to its owner tomorrow. 

And some adjustment of the steering box and idler on this 67 Maserati Ghibli.  In case anyone is wondering,  the unobtainable non power steering box for this car is just a Jaguar 3.8s unit and pretty easy to find

I also had to setup the carb linkage on this gem of a quad cam 4.7l V8

In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :

Pretty much everything in the front suspension of that era Maserati interchanges with Jaguar sedans. They both bought the parts from the Alford & Alders catalog. That said, I have never seen a Jag 3.8 (S or Mk2) that had non assisted steering. I think the dealers in my area simply never ordered any. Very few manual gearboxes either.

This is going to be (already is, really) a fantastic thread.

Jesse Ransom said:

This is going to be (already is, really) a fantastic thread.

Much agreement

TurnerX19 said:

In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :

Pretty much everything in the front suspension of that era Maserati interchanges with Jaguar sedans. They both bought the parts from the Alford & Alders catalog. That said, I have never seen a Jag 3.8 (S or Mk2) that had non assisted steering. I think the dealers in my area simply never ordered any. Very few manual gearboxes either.

I have a Mk2 manual box around here somewhere. I pulled the unit from the Maserati, saw the British bolts and started racking my brain for what larger British cars from the mid to late 60's didn't have rack and pinion. Looked at the 3.8s in a tech's bay and pulled out the parts manual and there it was!

We did install a speed compensating electric power assist column in this Ghibli. It was very necessary and feels better than I thought it would. Hopefully after the alignment today it will be what I hope. It was a little numb on center on the drive to the alignment shop, but it had zero toe.

A part came in. New cross slide nut with a piece of 1/2"-10 LH acme rod. The coachbuilder that used to work here would use my lathe on weekends and had a habit of over tightening the cross slide Gibbs and he managed to wear the nut enough that there is just over 50 thousands of slop in the hand wheel. I know I am supposed to make my own nut but there is a gentleman who makes and ships these cheaper than a quality acme tap would cost.  I will try to get to this job soonish but I'm not in too big of a hurry.

For now

My mill needs attention.  This is an 80's era Taiwanese import "bridgeport J head" clone. The spindle brake has always been weak. Now it bo longer functions and there is a rattle if the lever isn't in just the right position.  

Car of the day

Lancia Appia Berlina.  These are my favorite kinds of cars. The unloved, basic euro family sedans. Not worth enough to restore, too lackluster to modify. 

Being a pre Fiat Lancia it has all the complexity and ahead of their time advancements they were known for. All of the cost of a Ferrari restoration with absolutely none of the performance.  

This particular car has the 1.1 liter narrow angle V4 (think VW VR6 with 2 cylinders lopped off) with a 4 on the tree. The Lancia sliding pillar front suspension (scaled down version of the Aurelia)

Those taillights are terrible. The earlier models were prettier. This is the car that Ferrari took a lot of parts from for the 250 range of cars. Seat sliders, turn signal switches, that awesome turn and press ignition switch. 

What a dash!

Gah! Pillarless 4 door! So very cool. 

Sadly, the cost of an engine rebuild for one of these is 3 times the value of a running and driving example.  In my head I have visions of a turbo g10 3 cylinder propelling one.

First things first. Trust no one. Took off the drum switch and the motor. Then the head shell came off. 

Spring sitting in the step pulley? 

Looks like it came from here.

The bearings in this housing are pretty noisy.

So out they came. 6207-2Z. If anyone cares and doesn't already know the suffix on a bearing number has to do with the seals. A 6207 will have exposed bearings. A 6207-2RS will have a rubber seal on both sides and 2Z will have metal shields on both sides. There are even 1RS with a single seal but those are uncommon  

The brake shoes in the step pulley. The aluminum pulley seems more worn than the shoes. I could machine a bushing to hold them out further on the fulcrum end and get the range I need but since I am waiting for bearings I also ordered some thicker friction material and will just recline these. 

And you never just put new shoes in without turning the drum so....

New springs, bearings and friction material will arrive monday afternoon. How about another car while we wait?

Related to the last one too.

Lancia Appia GTE. This is the result of the basic Appia sedan after the coachbuilder Zagato got their hands on it. Their usual M.O. replace the factory bodywork with a hand formed aluminum coupe.

Not sure who designed it. Very limited production.  Some of the lines don't quite work but overall it is a nice diminutive coupe. Same drivetrain as the berlina but after a significant weight reduction it feels pretty sporty. 

The usual Nardi wheel and typical Zagato oversized gauge binnacle.

Super cool little car

Is the back half of that last little guy caged?  Was it raced or anything, or did they just come that way for some reason?

In reply to Mr_Asa :

I'm guessing there wasn't enough pieces of the car to do a restoration so they did a "race inspired" build. 

The first engine I did a complete rebuild on, as a teenager, was an Appia V4. It was carless when I built it, or the customer stuck my Dad for the bill, I don't remember that detail. Eventually it went into a GTE Zagato. I have seen a total of 3, and there are significant shape differences between them. I still have the factory shop manual too, 55 years later.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

I have a fair bit of seat time in an alloy bodied Fulvia Zagato with a hot 1.3. I'd love to see how that motor would propel the GTE

Bits arrived. 

Chiseled the old shoe lining off 

Sloppily epoxied the new material in place and carved off the excess

Sorted.  Pressed the new bearings in place and reassembled the back gear/step pulley gubbins and carefully aligned and bolted the head shell in place

It was at this point I realized I had forgotten the motor drive belt and when I did find it it was glazed to the point of me not being willing to reinstall.  I'll grab one locally in the morning. 

I didn't think to take any shots of something in the shop today. Let's see what is on the phone from recent times

How about a 57 Fiat Abarth 750 GT Zagato aka double bubble 

This example is running a warmed up 903cc. The rear wheels have been widened just enough  and it sits pretty nice. Joe and I kinda started the shop with these cars. This one has not been restored,  just a repaint on a shockingly solid original car

In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :

Is it reversed rotation or did it get the 850 transaxle with the conversion to 903? I once attempted to build one double bubble from two.....Completed car had almost no parts from the parts car because everything was asymetrical. Yes they both had 7 screws holding the instrument panel in, but there was no pattern to it, Just random! Love the green, I have never seen one in that color.

Reverse rotation. 

Double bubbles are indeed very crude and very hand built. Each one is so wildly different  

All the bits replaced minus the shoe linings.  

It is back together and running again. Back gear is now eerily quiet. The brake works amazing 

I remembered I had a new back gear timing belt in a drawer and it was in this bag with a few bearings.  Problem is I can't remember what they are for.

I know I bought them for a reason 4 years ago.  I am sure I will find out eventually. 

Car of the day today is a 72 Pantera that I had to do some clutch work on

Controversial opinion.  I don't like them. I want to,  but that awful cabin, the miserable driving position and negative headroom just ruin them. I'm only 6' tall and my head is uncomfortably jammed into the roof and the steering wheel between my knees.

The bore on my tail stock has never been the greatest.  60 odd years of use will do that. Some time back a large drill bit caught in the work and spun the chuck which put a nasty booger in the taper. Now he tools don't seat properly and are not very centered .

Last night a set of #2 morse taper reeamers landed in my mailbox.  A rougher and a finish reamer.

Easy enough to take a light cut with each for a great fit. Deepening the bore meant I had to cut "0.050 off the face of the quill shaft 

I see myself making a new one sometime in the near future.

Today's pain in my butt

Series one 4.2 car

I'm not sure there is another classic car that is this much of a nightmare to do even the simplest jobs on. 

The good news is that they are so popular that there are always 2 or 3 in the shop at any time.  Ow my back!

I worked on a whole bunch of E Types long ago. I don't miss them at all.

But those headlight covers....!  :)

In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :

I got to drive a mostly stock Pantera almost 20 years ago & flog on it a bit. I was surprised, and a bit disappointed, how much more it felt like a muscle car than a sportscar. 

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

Totally! 

They are also almost universally modified like muscle cars with flowmasters huge cams and really messy msd box installations with a giant autometer tach screwed to the top of the dash.  

We have a guy in the shop who is 5'6" 130lbs and even he is uncomfortable in them. 

I understand cutting out the floors and dropping them a few inches is the way to go, but with the cars getting so valuable that seems less than ideal. 

Especially when there are already a few awesome classic Italian muscle cars that already exist in that price range. Like the Ghibli I posted earlier.  That thing is awesome as is and doesn't require so much work to make it useable.

I'd go with an Iso if I wanted an Italian car with American power. Those things are so cool.

I too love the Pantera's, but I worry I'll hate being in one if I find one to try. It also doesn't help the few I've seen around here either are the 80s-90s versions with the body kits to chase after the Lambo crowd, or are on rims. Also, the club reccomends the frame strengthening kit.

Maybe toss the Cleveland engine for a Coyote 5.0? Keep the American Ford plant but really give it a new "European" injection?