The Resurrection of Foam Car - 63 T6B

[Phil Planck]

Got the safety wire on, trying to do it like it's supposed to be done:





Grease wheel bearings, installed seals and got driver's side drum installed:



Ran into a snag on passenger side. I had checked the inner bearing fit on the drivers side, and it is very snug, and had to be pressed on. Did not check passenger side - should have. It is much tighter and went on cocked. Was jammed on and had to destroy seal to remove drum, then use a puller to get the bearing off. Should have got the special washers, assuming those would have saved the seal. Tried to install by hand and jammed again and had to use puller to get it off. Will do some measuring to see what the issue is. No signs of burrs on the stub.

Phil

[Jack Staggs]

We often have to dress spindles for proper inner bearing fit, usually on A or preA, occasionally on B/C. We dress them down with emery cloth in 1" width strips, using "shoe shine boy" action, testing repeatedly with thick grease on the shaft. Push the bearing on lightly by hand until binding occurs, then rock the bearing around. As you get closer to a good fit, you will notice that the bearing will not rock in a certain direction, but has play in others. Concentrate sanding in noted tight areas. Usually takes about 20 minutes or so per side to achieve a easy hand fit and removal. I seriously doubt that the special washer that you referred to would help, as the seal slips out of the drum much easier than a bound bearing.

[Phil Planck]

Thanks Jack
Gives me something to do tomorrow besides picking up another seal. Thought I had some more laying around but cant find em. My only other experience doing this was on the PreA and never had a problem. If I understand you correctly, the bearing can be removed by hand when finally fitted. What keeps the inner race from turning in that case?

Phil

[Jack Staggs]

What keeps the outer race from turning Watson?

[Phil Planck]

175 F to expand the drum diameter so it could be pressed in.

Oh, the outer, inner race, you mean. Well, I have always wondered about that also. Good point.

After more wondering - must be friction and pressure.

[bbspdstr]

Rolls of emery cloth tape are available at most FLAPS. I keep 80 and 120 grits on hand for many uses. The correction of the spindles to accept the new bearings is nuts and it should be the other way around.

The "shoe shine" method, while commonly practiced now, can take the bearing ever-so-slightly off of center. Not a huge problem when talking of a thousandth or so, but the "old days" produced bearings of the correct dimension, right out of the box. This says manufacturing is now merely concerned with "close enough" and all that's missing is the admonition of "some assembly required" and "kids....don't try this at home."

Anyway, "shoe shine" your spindles from every angle, especially the unnatural position of sole and sides. Check often.

I have had rear drum splines replaced and not fit onto worn axle splines and had to the tedious task of filing the new to fit the old......and people wonder why it takes so long and costs so much?

Repro anything seems to need continuing labor to work or fit (if at all), from bearings to sheet metal to glass to trim to rubber...and increases in prices aren't often matched by increases in quality. I guess those like me in the hobby/business for a long time were 'spoiled' and I'll admit to becoming a curmudgeon as I realize that doing what I have done professionally for 45 years isn't getting easier.

I can only say that the enthusiasm and interest of kindred spirits as shown here (and elsewhere).... that is still going strong.... makes it all worthwhile.

Thanks for reading,
Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Thanks Bruce
Since the fault is in the bearing I decided to "correct" the bearing. First I tried the 2 old ones and they both slid on. Using the same technique as on the axle tube, I found a socket slightly smaller than the bearing bore and wrapped some emery around it. Still too small, so wrapped a strip of masking tape under the emery. Fit nicely and turned until it got loose. Tested on the spindle and still too tight. Put another strip of masking tape on and could not get the setup into the bore. Cut a strip of paper instead of the masking tape and that fit. When loose, retested and still tight. Went back to the second piece of tape and turned until loose. Test - still tight. Put a fresh piece of emery on and turned again till loose. Tested and it slid on. I figured this would make the repair more centered than polishing the spindle.

Here is the bearing clamped in the vice. The inner race protruded far enough to grab it with the soft jaws.




Phil

[bbspdstr]

Nice alternate method. May I use that my next bearing challenge? Wrong size race ID but still close to Rockwell and tough to move quickly or easily even a tiny bit with a ream.
What does Jack think of this method of internal 'sanding'?

-Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Bruce - Drum went on like it should this time. Had to get a new seal. Local flaps had one - lucked out. My 2016 flat rate manual for 356 B does not allow a lot of time for this bearing install - so, if using the bearing "correction" method for production shops I would recommend doing this before installing spindle so it can be close to the vise for checking, rather than walking from vise to car each check.

POR15 tank sealer showed up yesterday, so hope to get that done soon. Serious huntin season is starting up here, so progress may slow a bit.

I started surveying the wiring coming out of the battery and comparing to the shop manual diagram. Looks like just one hot wire to #3 on the fuse box per the manual, but my hot wire appears to go into the hole going to the dash. Then another heavy wire(same one? - got to get the meter out) comes out of that hole to the fuse #3. This is a black wire inside a plastic sheath. Has someone altered this setup or maybe the diagram is confusing me? I plan to replace wire and sheath, as evidence of overheating at one time with bare spots showing.

Phil

PS
Just remembered, I think I have Joe Leoni's wiring book. So that should get me straightened out.

[Jack Staggs]

It's certainly an alternative, but I worry about getting 100% of the grit out of the caged bearing. Beyond that, if replacement is needed in the future, the process will likely be needed once again.

[Phil Planck]

Good point about future replacement. I'll keep my eyes peeled for nos bearings for next caretaker. I degreased bearing before opening it up. Then ran it through the parts washer again afterwards. Then blew it out with air. Hope that was good enough.

[bbspdstr]

I would recommend Caswell's tank sealer. Epoxy, sticky, coats well, seals small (OK, tiny)holes, good experience since using it after cleaning a few few-year-old POR-15/Eastwood/Hirsch type white coatings that failed. I even put it new repro T-6 tanks after acid etching the new metal for 'tooth'.

As for wiring, my memory is that the thick red wire off of the battery goes to fuse #3 which is bridged to #2 and #4. Check Joe's diagram for the fuse block to see from there what comes and goes elsewhere. The next thicker red wire step is from the fuse to the #30 at the light switch, right? The only thick black wire I can think of is from #50 of the ignition switch (supplied by #30 from light switch to the ignition's #30-in) and gets the solenoid to do it's thing at the starter. Pre-Leoni drawings, I kept all this stuff in my head, now I'm spoiled.

Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Bruce
Your recommendation could be a better product, but so far what I have found on POR15 failures is not following their directions. If the tank is not properly prepped and dried, and not fully coated, failures can happen. Several of us on the 912 bbs have used it and are monitoring. So far so good.

My list to get done this year is getting pretty short, so I started collecting electrical items(battery ground strap, new clamp, etc.). Took a good look at the fuse box and something was amiss. No red wire going in to the headlight switch. Looking under the dash, headlight switch had been repaired and instead of red wires to it and ignition switch, they were blue. Started removing very old electrical tape and found the original wires soldered to blue wires. The original wires had no insulation on them - bare from ignition to headlight switch and so far, too fuse box. I have had to cut a lot of the plastic sheathing away to discover this and also assess further damage to adjacent wires. Will eventually get some pictures of the wiring mess, but it's hard enough working in that area, let alone taking pictures. Here is the headlight switch:







I have located a good A switch (8475) which looks like the T6 switch (8475/2) but has no 57 socket. I think I can make it work, but if someone wants to trade a T6 switch for an A let me know. Apparently it has something to do with how the flasher works in park mode.

We have had great, extended mild weather so spending a lot of time in the woods.

Phil

[Jack Staggs]

Phil, the 57 circuit illuminates the green lamp to the left of the blue high beam indicator light on T6 only cars, only when the parking lights are on. T6 cars with mechanical tach have these two lamps above the pointer, with the turn signal at the bottom of the dial. T6 cars with factory electric tach have all three at the bottom, with park light to the left of TS, and Hi beam on the right. Converted tachs may vary. T1/2/5 tachs have no TS light at the bottom, and use the light to the left of the high beam for TS, in red. I hope you have the correct tach... Redlines vary on different engines as well.
The 57 wire is red with a white tracer. It runs from the switch to the lamp. No connection at the fuse box. The problem with trading switches with someone is that often the rheostat for dimming the panel lights does not work correctly. It's not too much of a problem though, as most folks complain about the dim backlighting anyways, even at full strength (they must be accustomed to the video game brightness of modern cars.), because you can connect the panel lights to the 58 circuit which gives full brilliance, but no ability to dim. Big deal, huh?
Edit to add routing of 57

[Phil Planck]

Thanks for that detailed explanation Jack. Just went out and looked at the mechanical tach and it is as you described. I am going to use a C electric tach, which I used in the PreA after I installed Foam Cars engine in it. I have Ron LaDow's full flow filter. It is also as you described. The switch above works, just looks crappy and if that epoxy fails I will have more melted wires.

Phil