Time has come...

I took the Lifeliner back to my mechanic to re-tighten the exhaust manifold bolts and they needed to be tightened. After putting less than 200 miles on her it took almost three turns of the bolts to get them back to specs. He noticed the right rear bolts were the worse.

He will also remove one door at a time and begin the process of replacing the bad metal along the bottom of doors. This continues to haunt me just like a nameless person on this site, so time to get it taken care of properly. As one door gets done another will be removed and repaired. Once completed he will remove all the chrome and it will go to Maaco for another paint job. I like the work Maaco has done so far.

Rest assured, you will be kept informed.

:beatdeadhorse5:
 
exhaust manifolds

richard, have your mechanic have the manifold milled a small amount (35 thousanths) or so and this will cure your problem. had same thing happen to me and after numerous tightening sessions and manifold replacement it was cured with a mill job. also have him put locktite anti seize and this should cure the problem forever. im sure you already know this but just saying in case this would be helpfull. good luck!! also use good metal gaskets. learned my lesson on this subject the hard way. also while you have manifold off if you clean them out by honing the inside of the manifold and gasket match it will improve flow and likewise fuel mileage and power. ps. who wants snow, i like it in pictures only...love 75 degrees in january!!
 
richard, have your mechanic have the manifold milled a small amount (35 thousanths) or so and this will cure your problem. had same thing happen to me and after numerous tightening sessions and manifold replacement it was cured with a mill job. also have him put locktite anti seize and this should cure the problem forever. im sure you already know this but just saying in case this would be helpfull. good luck!! also use good metal gaskets. learned my lesson on this subject the hard way. also while you have manifold off if you clean them out by honing the inside of the manifold and gasket match it will improve flow and likewise fuel mileage and power. ps. who wants snow, i like it in pictures only...love 75 degrees in january!!

He has been told to have them milled many many times. Just like with having the paint done right the first 3 times in the last few years its been done.
 
He has been told to have them milled many many times. Just like with having the paint done right the first 3 times in the last few years its been done.

FYI, they have been milled but still did not cure the problem. Also at times when you are short of funds you make due with what you have. Hindsight is 20/20 and had I known then what I know now, it made more sense to do it right the first time. But sometimes we are not able to do that.
 
know what you mean

i know what you mean about funds. im cheap according to some of my car friends but when you only are able to spend a certain amount then you spend what you have to rectify the problem the way you can. if i could spend what i wanted on cars i would just have it done by somebody else and throw money at it till it was fixed. i cant do that. ive painted my 71 chev. cheyanne super 4 times in 16 years and could have spent 6500 the first time and got a 6500 paint job but ive spent 1550 or so 3 times because thats all i could spend. im proud of my frugal car spending ways and doing what i can myself to save to spend on other repairs. plus i enjoy tinkering with my stuff. try the locktite if you havent as it DOES work. alco use are studs as i did and hopefully you get it fixed cheap enough. good luck sir!
 
the key is to be happy with a 1500 job. some things you can skimp on some things you can't the wisdom is in knowing which witch is which. now to be honest. your paint job was serviceable I would not do it all again. take the worse door off first. strip it of glass and hardware. sand blast the jam, fix the rust, repaint the jam put in new bushings if you need to and repaint what you need to. some you will get by doing only from the molding down. but painting the whole shell or half is about the same work. the problem is you have been fixing on the outside for damage on the in. you can do one door at a time you have a soled color. just get with the man and agree on a plan. you get the 5 doors done I'm betting living with the rest of the car is simple. then when you get it done you have your 6000 dollar job. for a lot less the shop still gets to make a living and everyone is happy.
 
Keep us posted on your progress Richard, i'm glad to hear you're addressing things you've wanted to take care of for a while now. I always look forward to looking over your Lifeliner, it's always a treat to see!
 
Not that any time of year is better for this....

Richard- sounds like you've got a good grip on the situation and are planning on hitting it head-on. I think you should mentally just say the rig has been taken off the road indefinitely. When you add up the love, time, sweat, and money that's in these cars, it's amazing.

Robert: That picture of the motor came out HUGE and since you and I are painting our motors the same color, I first wondered how my motor made it to your posting.

I told my mechanic buddy who is doing my Lifeliner that I was thinking of scrapping the car a few times. He talks me into calming down and looking to the future. Some days I don't even want to think about it.

Moving forward! Good luck
Kev
 
FYI, they have been milled but still did not cure the problem. Also at times when you are short of funds you make due with what you have. Hindsight is 20/20 and had I known then what I know now, it made more sense to do it right the first time. But sometimes we are not able to do that.

Dont forget copper gaskets, it will also help. As for no funds I know exacty what you mean, Im sure Im more broke than you.
 
I told my mechanic buddy who is doing my Lifeliner that I was thinking of scrapping the car a few times. He talks me into calming down and looking to the future. Some days I don't even want to think about it.

Moving forward! Good luck
Kev

These cars can do that to you sometimes. I think I threaten to junk or sell a few of mine every other week. Ive came VERY close a couple times to scraping my 49. It had me so aggravated I slammed the door and broke the side window. You just need to step back, cool off and remember why you love them. Im still trying to learn that sometimes.
 
Ok fellow PCS members here's where I'm at today. The Lifeliner is being returned to me tomorrow minus the left rear door. My guy will tear it apart and do all the metal work both top and bottom of the door. Once done he'll re-install and take another door off and continue the process.

As someone stated I need to put the Lifeliner out of commission for a while to get the job done. I'm very pleased with the quality of paint from MACCO just frustrated with the continuing rusting due to my cheapness. As you can see that MACCO paint shines like crazy.

Once Joe is done then off to MACCO for a repaint thinking that will take place sometime late spring just in time for the PCS meet in Milwaukee.
 

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Richard, Just a heads up. If you like the quality of the paint from MACCO, see if there is a way to find out the name of the person that painted it, and try to get them again. Like everything else, there are good painters, and bad painters.
 
Why not just take the doors one at a time to Maaco and have them paint them one at a time, and then hang them back on the car. That way, the door can be painted on all sides after the repair. Even if the color is slightly off, then they can paint the entire outside to get the color match afterwards. No sense in having the doors repaired, if they are not going to be completely sealed against rust in the future. Do it right this time!
 
Why not just take the doors one at a time to Maaco and have them paint them one at a time, and then hang them back on the car. That way, the door can be painted on all sides after the repair. Even if the color is slightly off, then they can paint the entire outside to get the color match afterwards. No sense in having the doors repaired, if they are not going to be completely sealed against rust in the future. Do it right this time!

One hell of an idea Paul and will check into it. What is the recommended stuff to seal the inside panels. I thought that Flex-Seal would be excellent.
 
Joe doesn't paint? the key I have found is to get the jam sand blasted, make your repair, prime and paint then hang the door. go to the next one. are the inside of your doors white or orange? don't remember. Maco won't take the door back off to get the jams. you got it off let Joe repair and paint the door.
you love there paint have them mix a Gl for you and get the hardener they use. but let one guy do it all. or at lest have him do the jams while the door is off
 
Joe doesn't paint? the key I have found is to get the jam sand blasted, make your repair, prime and paint then hang the door. go to the next one. are the inside of your doors white or orange? don't remember. Maco won't take the door back off to get the jams. you got it off let Joe repair and paint the door.
you love there paint have them mix a Gl for you and get the hardener they use. but let one guy do it all. or at lest have him do the jams while the door is off

Joe does paint and painted the Lifeliner the first time for me. I will discuss with him about doing door jams one jam at a time. Lifeliner is solid orange from windows down.

:biker:
 
One hell of an idea Paul and will check into it. What is the recommended stuff to seal the inside panels. I thought that Flex-Seal would be excellent.

I would just recommend painting the inside. What ever you do dont use the Flex-seal. Ive used it on other items and it is not that great of a product. If you use an undercoating product, it can crack or come up and will trap the water in making it rust again. I have seen many cars that were undercoated more rusty because of this.
Also make sure you have good drain holes, you may want to even make them a little bigger, the better drainage the better.
 
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