Project Chronicle

Today, we closed on a new house in Maryland. We're moving from Rhode Island to the land of crab cakes and lacrosse next month, and we're pumped. But I'm also ramming through a ton of project work and draining the bank account to avoid having to find new shops to work on time-consuming projects I've let slide. Here's where everything stands:

2003 Volkswagen Eurovan: just replaced tired Bilsteins with new Konis. Needs front headliner replaced and some small rust spots sanded down and painted. Will make the move in August as a pack mule. 

2002 Mercedes-Benz E55: will make the move to Maryland after a (massive) evaporator replacement for the A/C to not lose refrigerant over a few weeks. Due to the LX450 project being way behind schedule, the E55 is the newest car I own, and needs to be comfortable to use on occasion for longer slogs than down to the grocery store. Otherwise, it's just needed sway bar bushings and has been a wonderful car. 

1995 Audi S6 Avant: will also board the transporter to MD after being a new blower motor and (also) repairing the A/C back into reliable use. Will also do a preventative transmission and differential flush. This car will also require a short stint at the bodyshop to repair small rust spots on both A-pillars. 

1999 Porsche 911: The 911 will remain in RI for the month of August to replace the right-bank timing chain tensioner (or possibly just the pads). This is probably a nothing-burger issue - some chain noise at cold startup - but I want to nip it in the bud with a shop that I know and trust.

1997 Lexus LX450: engine rebuild mid-way done. Not sure of timeline. Still needs visit to bodyshop, A/V improvements, etc. - this one did not go as planned. It will also stay in RI and hopefully is en route to bodyshop around Labor Day. 

1987 BMW 325is: Functionally ready to go but trying like hell to find a suitable A/C compressor to replace the leaking one. Will make the trip to MD in early August regardless. 

1989 Isuzu Trooper RS: this rig was staying behind for some minor projects but now has a headgasket leak so will be in RI indefinitely. This truck does not spend much time with me, it seems. Hoping it's in MD by December. 

1986 Mecedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16: almost ready for paint. Will go to mechanic for punch list work after Labor Day. Not getting painted before then - but sitting in primer and ready to go. I didn't expect this one to go to plan - it never has - so right now hoping for it to come home by December. 

So, there you have it. This is a massive undertaking to get these vehicles buttoned up and ready for transport. Not easy but it's better than starting over with new shops and a host of nuisance projects to fix. 

The list of projects I'm attempting to get done before we move to Maryland in a little over a month has me feeling overwhelmed, to say the least. Nothing is done to the level that I'd like it to be, and given I will be starting over with establishing new shop relationships, I'm feverishly trying to get as much done in the time I have left in Rhode Island as possible. 

Sadly, the LX450 will likely not be making the trip down with us, as backlogs in the machine shop delayed the project by several weeks. At this point, Jay Gaston is putting the engine back together when his schedule allows, which is not easy considering his full-time work is in full swing as boaters race to get their vessels back in the water.

He's been cleaning all of the removed components and painting the engine before putting it back together. While this adds time, it also makes sense to do before re-assembly, especially since we hope to not be taking this engine back apart again any time soon. 

I have been attempting to check off some long-standing to do's, and one of them was installing period-correct audio components in the 1989 Isuzu Trooper RS. I had snagged an old Blaupunkt and have long had a vintage K40 CB radio to install and finally found time to get to Sights & Sounds in Wakefield, RI for the install.

First, the Blaupunkt I got out of a junkyard was no good. Fortunately, Scott - the owner of Sights & Sounds - reached into his deep inventory of NOS equipment and found an awesome JVC cassette deck with perfect backlighting to match the neon green glow of the Trooper gauges. It works beautifully and the stock speakers still sound surprisingly good.

The K40 CB I rescued out of a junked Mercedes eons ago powered up as expected, and Scott drilled a small hole in the drip rail to mount the whip antenna securely. The unit itself mounted neatly under the glove box on the passenger side.

All told, for a very modest investment, the Trooper has a tidy audio setup that matches the cabin perfectly and gives some classic 90s audio equipment a new lease on life in a truck that came back to life itself just last year. 

To say I am tired of seeing my Cosworth in primer is an understatement, but it is (sadly) par for the course with a complete respray of a car that has been painted poorly many times before. 

Right now, the hood is off for some detail work. The remnants of the hood pad have to be scraped off, and then the hood gets primered and painted before the replacement goes on. The side skirts and fender flares all need to be coated in primer and prepped for paint. And once that's done, we will likely be tossed out of the rotation again before the actual paint work begins.

There's a very big part of me that is done with the bodywork stage on this car. Frankly, I just to backburner it for a while, but that can't happen. This project will be more or less done in 2023, come hell or high water. 

The maintenance book of my 1999 Porsche 911 has a handful of stamps in it from various service facilities. One of the more notable ones was Road Scholars, which is one of the foremost Porsche restoration facilities in the country, if not the world. Since seeing this, I've been meaning to call them and ask if they can share any service records they may have on file. 

I finally got a hold of the service manager, and he willingly shared the redacted records. There's nothing too exciting - a full brake job, an oil change - but the third record is the most helpful as it's the invoice for a pre-purchase inspection. 

With that in hand, it tells me that this 911 has undergone a pre-purchase inspection for each of the last three buyers (myself included), and in each case, no evidence has been found that would seemingly scare a buyer away. The record from Road Scholars noted the buyer at that time wanted detailed info on frequency of over-rev conditions along with any signs of camshaft deviation. I'm assuming nothing was found, as the next two records indicate that owner followed through on the purchase. 

The presence of a deep records file for vintage and sports cars (and any vehicle with a more demanding maintenance schedule than an Chevy Caprice) can add to the peace of mind of a recent purchase, or simply feel better about the grade of automobile you acquired years earlier. Next up? I'll be calling on Mercedes-Benz of Westwood to see what they're willing to turn over on my E55.

Great day in the morning: the block for the long-sidelined 1997 Lexus LX450 (fancy Land Cruiser) is done, and Jay Gaston of Jay's 4WD has already snagged it from R. Johnson & Sons Engine Repair in Warwick, RI. The head was previously cleaned up and refreshed by Johnson's and Jay had retrieved it; the block then had to go over to the machine shop due to corrosion found on the deck. Jay had viable concerns about the head mating with the block and the visible corrosion leading to future issues. 

The team at Johnson's asked me to track down some oversized pistons, rings, a full gasket set, main bearings, and rod bearings. We went with .020 oversized components, mostly from DNJ. Remember, this is not a power build but rather just a reliable, stock setup that will allow this engine to go another 250K (or more.) 

From here, Jay will reassemble the engine and also replace the timing chain and pan gasket while the engine is out of the truck. We also plan to install a three-inch lift kit and refresh any other wear items, including hoses and belts. I may also replace the new-ish but cheap aftermarket radiator with a genuine Koyo unit, so there may be more opportunities to make improvements while we're in the re-assembly phase. 

There's a point in every project where you begin to feel actual excitement that the end is approaching. For the 190E 2.3-16, I haven't felt anything approaching this in the last four years. From seeing it sitting outside my mechanic's shop for months at a time to waiting for my one-man-band body shop to get me into the garage rotation, it's been difficult to make significant progress at any one time. "Keeping the faith" has undoubtedly been critical to not ever giving up on this long-term project.  

Fortunately, we are in the home stretch for bodywork. The original body kit was actually bolted up to the car on the driver's side for checking fit and how flat the pieces laid on the body, but all I could think about was how good the car looks with its lower cladding installed (The kit was previously torn off by the junkyard employees when the Cossie was waiting for its day with the crusher.) 

The side skirts and door trim pieces are so integral to what the car "is" that even in temporary form, seeing them suspended against the body reminded me of how good this Cosworth will look when it's finally done. We'll prime the whole car next, block sand all of the panels, and then prime it once more before getting a proper paint job. 

Speaking of paint, my body guy grabbed the Smoke Silver paint and set about prepping it for application. That tells you just how close we're getting to finishing this major phase of work. 

I've been on the hunt for a V8 anything that was fast, comfortable, and just the right side of obnoxious. 

I started with the 1990 Audi V8 Quattro. A fine car plagued by some nagging issues I never remedied, and thus, never felt totally comfortable taking long distances. (Ironically, this car just sold on Bring A Trailer with a different owner than the one I sold it to, so it's still looking for its forever home.)  I loved the stealthy nature of the inconspicuous styling, but it was slightly too subdued. 

The Dodge Dakota R/T was another attempt to live that V8 life, and it went dramatically in the other direction. Loud, tawdry, and poorly screwed together, it was impossible not to wake up half the neighborhood on a cold start. I hustled this muscle truck all over Alabama and loved it, but in the end, I just couldn't see myself living with the pitiful domestic build quality for the long term. I actually just sold that truck for a fair - not great - price, but I was done with it. 

A big driver for buying the 2002 E55 AMG was because I knew the Dakota was going to leave and there'd be a V8-shaped hole in the garage. Thankfully, this car is checking all the boxes, with loads of luscious torque, completely stomp-on-it-and-go-RIGHT NOW acceleration, and plenty of comfortable in the spacious E-Class cabin. It's a car for all seasons that has a reputation for going 300,000 miles before needing a rebuild, and the dramatic styling still looks contemporary in modern traffic.

So far, I am very happy with the car, and glad to have found a V8-powered machine I'm not already itching to unload. 

The next phase of bodywork has begun on the 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth, and now we are truly counting down until we paint this long-term project. The bodywork phase has been arduous, with the rear quarters basically being rebuilt; the rockers being repaired at all four corners; and the front quarters inside the fenders have been patched up with new metal.

When you sand a car down, it reveals the battle scars and bruises it has encountered along the way. It's clear this 190E was completely repainted, poorly, at one point, and that it has been needlessly repaired with body filler to correct small dings and dents. Quite honestly, this poor car - despite having a history of only two owners and being well-maintained by the first caretaker - fell into cheap car territory wherein it was "freshened up" as cheaply as possible. 

This is not at all surprising for an older vehicle such as this, but it does highlight just how much work a bodyshop does to get a car prepped for paint. I'm going to take a day next week to sand down the primer that will soon be sprayed across the body, as you need to wet-sand the entire car afterwards in order to smooth it out and prep it for paint. It will be a learning experience, and hopefully shave a few bucks off the final bill as well.