Shop Update 8/19/09

Hi everyone! It's been a little while since we've gotten around to writing a new blog....that's because we've been quite busy on several fronts. This is a good thing! Time to post a little shop update -
We recently completed the repair work on the little '64 MG that we were working on. It was finished in time to attend "British Car Day" at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix last month. We also completed the initial build-up of the '72 Morgan 4/4. The engine starts and the car moves 9and stops) under its own power. We trailered it over to our friends at Portage Trim in Revenna, OH to have the interior work done. We expect it back in early September at which time we will complete final assembly and testing. This is a beautiful little car. The paint job turned out extremely well....more to come on this little beauty in the near future.
We have also focused some major effort on completing the wiring and interior structures for the '46 Chevy Panel Truck. It is due to be sent to the woodworking shop for some finish work on some interior components and will then be sent to the Trim shop for the interior upholstery.
We've also made a major push on the 1938 HRG Coupe. It is our goal to have the coupe running and mechanically functional by the end of the year. Because this in a one of a kind vehicle, we've had to do a significant amount of fabrication, fitting and refitting to achieve a "period correct" look and functionality for the car. We've hand fabricated the exhaust system, thermostat housing, Fuel delivery system, kick panels, foot boards and transmission tunnel. We still have some interior work to do as well as the sunroof, side curtains and electrical system. There is a long way to go but we're making very good progress.
Finally, there is the 1962 Ferarri 250GT Lusso. We received the car back from it's alkaline dip. It has been fully prepped and primed and is currently undergoing some minor bodywork. We should be ready to start on the assembly of this drop dead sexy car in the near future.
Stay tuned for more updates!

Of Rods and Rain

The annual Goodguys Columbus PPG Nationals is a short three hour trip from our Western PA. Home base and attracts thousands of the nations fines hot rods, customs and street machines. This year's edition was no exception as the Columbus Expo Center Fairgrounds (and surrounding hotel parking lots!) were packed with an outstanding collection of cars.
My girlfriend Linda and I arrived at our hotel about 10 miles north of the fairgrounds on Friday afternoon and unloaded my '23 T Roadster for the trip down I-71 to meet up with my good friend Gerry and her '51 Chevy Pickup and get our registration credentials. Later, as we all returned to the hotel complex we found hundreds of people lining the street, sipping on a cold beverage and watching the “cruise” as the cars ran up and down the street.
Saturday dawned warm but cloudy with a definite threat of rain. After some breakfast we headed to the show and found a nice place to park. Fortunately, we packed a cooler, pop-up canopy, chairs and my car cover in Gerry's truck (since T-Buckets have virtually no storage space)......because by 11:30 the “scattered showers” had turned into a steady rain. This didn't deter the spirit of the crowd or our determination to have a good time. We parked ourselves under the canopy and enjoyed a couple of beverages ourselves. Eventually Gerry's boyfriend, Dave arrived having ridden his motorcycle from Pittsburgh that morning (the last 70 miles in the rain). By this time we were getting a little damp and everyone was hungry......so we piled into the cab of the truck and set out in search of umbrellas and a decent place to eat. Meanwhile....the steady rain turned into a major monsoon complete with flood warnings. After waiting out the worst of it we returned to the fairgrounds to find the T still high and dry under it's tarp in the parking lot. So far, so good.
By now the rain had pretty much stopped, so we decided to attend the awards ceremony to see the “Street Machine of the Year” and “Street Rod of the Year” crowned. Western Pennsylvania was well represented in the Street machine finals by the guys at RPM out of Warrendale, PA with the '69 Trans am they built for Bryan Frank. In addition, Bill Steele's recently crowned “Hot Rod of the Year” 1930 Model A coupe was on hand for the crowd to admire.
The ride back to the hotel was a little damp as the rain started again (and can be a real adventure with the big rear tires on the T) but it subsided shortly after we got on the interstate and held off long enough for me to get the car back in the trailer.
Sunday was bright and sunny, so we headed to the fairgrounds for one final day of hot rod fun. Although the parking lot wasn't nearly as full as Friday or Saturday, there was still a nice crowd. We hung out for a while before getting ready for our ride home. All and all, it was a great time with great friends and lots of cool cars. Definitely a worthwhile trip!
Here's a shot of our cars on Sunday morning.

Diagnose Overheating Problems in the Mercedes-Benz 300SL

The issue of overheating is not an uncommon problem when first starting and test driving a newly restored/rebuilt 300SL Gullwing or Roadster. Since there are a number of possible causes and solutions to the condition, we thought we'd list a comprehensive approach that can be taken to diagnose and correct overheating.

First, check the obvious items common to all cars.

• Is the radiator full of anti-freeze/water?
• Is the thermostat stuck? If it is not new and has been sitting around for a number of years, this is a common problem.
• Has the radiator been cleaned and pressure tested? Any leaks?
• What's the condition of the radiator cap? Does it hold pressure?
• Is the fan belt slipping? It should have 1/4” to 1/2” of play....any more and it is probably slipping.
• Has the fan been installed correctly? We have seen occasions where electric fans are installed backwards....which doesn't help the cooling at all. Is there a shroud around the fan?
• Is the water pump new? Has it been rebuilt?
• Have you checked the timing? Retarded timing will cause the car to run poorly and run hot. Certainly worth a double check.
• Is the engine running too lean....a lean running engine will also run hot.
  

The next possibility is a little more serious

• Is there any oil or exhaust gas bubbles present in the coolant? This would indicate a blown head gasket (best case) or possibly a crack cylinder head or engine block (worst case). Often the case with a rebuilt engine; no one checked the mating surface of the cylinder head. Aluminum heads quite often warp when engines over heat. Steel cylinder heads will also warp to a much lesser degree, but enough to cause problems.

The following items are more specific to the 300SL

• Has the water pump been topped off with 90 weight gear oil?
• Has the fuel injection pump been recalibrated? You cannot rebuild the engine on these cars without recalibrating the fuel injection pump.....it's like putting old wine in a new wine sack. The pump has wear on it and has, in a way, recalibrated itself to the old motor. It especially may be running lean/hot.
• Check to make sure there is oil in the injection pump.
• Check the spark plugs. We recommend NGK BP6ES or possibly one range cooler.
• Try one of the many “Water Wetter” products that are on the market.
• Did you use “break in “ oil to break in the engine? What grade of oil are you using now? Is there enough oil in the crankcase? (these take 15 Quarts of oil).

As you can seen, there are quite a number of conditions that can lead to your engine running hot. Start with the simplest, easiest to implement (changing one thing at a time)....and see if you get any improvement. As always...at your service!

Keeping up appearances

Been a while since we've posted a blog....but it's been busy!

During the past month we've made some appearances at local car events, includung GTO night at the Wexford Starlite Car Cruise as well as Carfest at the BeaveRun Motorsports Complex. We spoke with a number of people at each of these events. Thanks to everyone who stopped by.

Our next big appearance will be on Saturday/Sunday, July 18/19 at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix in Pittsburgh's Schenley Park. If you've a car lover and have never been to this event, you are truly missing out. Watching the vintage racers make their way around the Schenley Park racecource is in itself a treat, but combined with the car shows and other events and it's almost a religious experience. BMW is the marque of the year this year, but that won't stop hundreds of cars of every sort of marque from being on display. British cars - Lotus's, Rolls-Royce's, Triumph, Jaguar, Austin, MG and more. Italian cars - can you say Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa-Romeo to name a few...German cars - Mercedes=Benz, Porche, Audo, BMW, Volkswagen and more.....and then there are the American cars and hot rod.

Best of all, it's FREE (small donation for parking). If you can make it to the Pittsburgh area in mid-July, we encourage you to "come on down".

We'll have our dislay in the vendor area. We look forward to seeing you.

Keeping up appearances

Now that summer has finally arrived here in Western PA. car show/cruise season is in full swing and we're gearing up to make some "personal" appearances at a few events. We've already turned up at the weekly Starlite Car Cruise and this coming Friday will be no exception as we'll be on hand for GTO/Pontiac night. We plan to hang out with Gerry Kerna's award winning '71 GTO. So if you're in the Western, PA area Friday evening feel free to stop by the cruise and say hi. On Saturday and Sunday we're planning to be on hand for the Carfest at the BeaveRun Motorsports Complex. This two day event will feature cruise cars, a special edition of the Flashlight Drags as well as Karting, track tours and much more. So far, the weatherman is predicting sun and upper 70's for the weekend.....perfect. Coming up at the end of the month is "Import Nite" at the Starlite Cruise where we'll be on hand with Bill's Maserati Quattroport....a really cool car.
Check back soon and we'll post an update of our July appearances as well as a progress report on the Morgan, '46 Chevy Truck, the HRG and Bill's Dodge Magnum.

Restoration Challenges – The HRG Frame

One of the more unique and rare cars in our shop is the “one of a kind” 1938 HRG Coupe. Built as a never produced prototype by HRG in England, it's body style is based on the MG Airline Coupe however it's hood and fenders are handsomely lengthened to produce a striking silhouette.
Because the car is a prototype, it has created several challenges for the restoration....first, documentation is hard to come by and second, not everything is “standard” when compared to other HRG models.
One of the more interesting challenges has been the amount of flex that is designed into the chassis. The frame was originally intended to be an integral part of the suspension and was designed with a great amount of flex. With the frame on stands, you can lift one corner several inches off the stand before a second corner begins to raise.
When combined with the quarter-elliptic springs used on the front end, the ultraflexy chassis was prone to stress cracks both in the front and at the cowl. We set out to address this issue during the restoration.
After significant research, we considered several options including adding legs and gussets to the frame, or the addition of a flitch plate to span the crack prone areas. Eventually we decided to employ a boxed frame solution by adding a reversed section of frame (same gauge/profile) to the forward engine compartment and ending under the cowl. This is accompanied by a set of legs/gussets at the front of the chassis and a special “C” notch section near the cowl to more evenly dissipate the stress over the upper and lower frame rails (rather than a straight cut-off which would create another stress/crack point).
The result is a frame that is stronger and stiffer than initially designed while retaining the overall look of the original and dimensions of the original. Ultimately, we'll have a safer, more enjoyable ride.
For more pictures of the HRG and other project, please visit our web site at www.hahnandwoodward.com

Cruzin' Season

Finally....after a long cold winter, the Spring/Summer car cruise season is here! Our shop is looking forward to participating in a number of events this year both as a vendor and as cruisers. Our first event will be the Wexford Starlite Cruise ( www.starlitecarcruise.com ). Starlite is a weekly car cruise held every Friday (weather permitting) on the campus of the Northway Christian Church in Wexford, PA. This cruise regularly attracts 1200 cars each week. The vehicles run the gamut form Street Rods and Muscle cars to Antiques, Customs, Tuners and Foreign cars with participants from all over Western PA, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia. Our shop is among many sponsors of the cruise and several of us volunteer to help with traffic control, etc.....along with bringing our own cars to the show. The first cruise is scheduled for Friday, May 22nd.....stop by and look us up.
We're also planning to attend the BeaveRun Carfest over the weekend of June 13/14. We plan to have a vendor display at this event which will be held at the BeaveRun Motorsports Complex( www.beaverun.com ). It will feature both a car show/cruise along with a special running of the Flashlight Drags (www.flashlightdrags.com) as well as tours of the road course and other festivities. For those attending the Happy Days Car Cruise in nearby Beaver Falls, why not make a day of it and cruise on over to BeaveRun Saturday afternoon and run the flashlight drags....you'll have a blast!
Finally, we'll have a vendor display at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix in July. More on this in a later blog....suffice to say, if you haven't attended this awesome event you are missing out on a ton of fun highlighted by the chance to watch vintage racers navigate the course through Pittsburgh's Schenley Park.
So if you're in our neck of the woods, stop by one of the events (either as a participant or a spectator) and ask around for one of the guys from Hahn and Woodward. We'd be happy to meet you.