Sam the 52 Chevy

[mini]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/SamThe52/176277595796016?v=wall

Sams own FB page...be sure to like!

[Roscoe]

Took me 45 minutes this morning to get my facebook lined out.... but I finally got it done and "liked" Sam's page...

[mini]

Ran Sam for a while tonight.  He sure sounded good...

[mini]

Ok...recent updates on Sam.

First, a photo.  When I was headed back from the now (in)famous Roscoe, Mini, Newsman, and NewLife101 meetup, I stopped to take some pictures of a old building I discovered.





It has that haunted look about it, for sure!  I stopped, asked for permission to get closer to the buildings, and had the owner show up to talk to me.  He then took me on a tour through all the buildings, and let me take lots of pictures.  When Sam gets running (and Rusty shows up for a visit...HINT HINT!) we have a great photo opportunity here.

Now on to Sam:

Sam decided he wanted to be cantankerous with his springs.  Unfortunately for me (and my pocketbook), this has been a trial and error type experience, combined with cold weather, and under the weather days.  But finally, we got some things done on the springs.

Pa using his metal working skills (hammer...lol)  to form a bracket.


Here is Pa drilling on a bracket to hold the newly made springs together.



Here Pa is trying to get the shock back on one side. 

This also leads us to a discussion about Sams spirit.  The crusty ol' farmer in him likes to teach others the art of cussing.  Work on him long, and you will understand...lol

More later!

[The Purple Fuzzy]

So, are you helping Pa do all this work or just watching?

[mini]

Im helping, but Pa wont take pictures...lol

[chelleebelle]

Next time I'll have to be available to take pictures! 

[mini]

Got a lot of work done on Sam today.  After weeks of fussing with the drivers side spring, putting it on, taking it off, fussing with it, and putting it back on just to take it back off, we got it finished.  All that hard work paid off though!  We had the passengers side spring off, fixed, and replaced in about 2 hours!  After that, I put a little gas in his temporary tank, and drove him (until he ran out of gas).

Heres a picture I took of him today:



It reminded me of something...I got to looking and found the first picture I ever saw of Sam, taken by Roscoe:



Now a few piddly things, and a gas tank, and he will be running down the road.

[mini]

I got a box at work yesterday:





Sam's new gas tank!  And the sending unit!  Tomorrow, he should be running with his NEW gas tank installed! 

This will give me a great chance to see how he drives and handles.  I am VERY excited.

[Roscoe]

  Didja ever get his brakes adjusted?
And Rusty has a bad coil pack. It ain't but around $20, but it's too cold to get out and fix him because I'm outta gas for the shop heater..

[mini]

You wouldnt happen to have a kerosene heater would you?

[Roscoe]

You wouldnt happen to have a kerosene heater would you?

Nope. Ain't had one in years....got a propane heater that works great when I've got gas for it. but I've already raided the BBQ grille and stole its tank last cold snap.....

[mini]

Today has been a GREAT day to work on Sam.  We finally got everything plumbed right, and Sam has his new gas tank in!

Pa decided to climb in Sam's cab and get to work...lol


Heres the new hoses going to the filler neck and vent line:


Resistor:


His new gas tank all in:

[mini]

Ok, a little more story.

After getting his gas tank in the other night, buttoning him back up, I started him and he had a whopper of a oil leak going on.  I managed to get him around to the front of the garage, and had to park Sam.  He was spitting up oil something fierce. 

Tonight, I stopped by, figuring it would be a simple thing to tighten the hoses to get his oil leak stopped.  When we pulled out the connections, I happened to notice the problem.  The main valve running into the engine block had a crack in it!  Luckily Pa had another one handy, we swapped them out, and Sam ran like a charm.

Tomorrow, I will hook up his choke, and he should be starting without assistance.

Then...driving him down the road!

[Roscoe]

Ok, a little more story.

After getting his gas tank in the other night, buttoning him back up, I started him and he had a whopper of a oil leak going on.  I managed to get him around to the front of the garage, and had to park Sam.  He was spitting up oil something fierce. 

Tonight, I stopped by, figuring it would be a simple thing to tighten the hoses to get his oil leak stopped.  When we pulled out the connections, I happened to notice the problem.  The main valve running into the engine block had a crack in it!  Luckily Pa had another one handy, we swapped them out, and Sam ran like a charm.

Tomorrow, I will hook up his choke, and he should be starting without assistance.

Then...driving him down the road!

[mini]

This is one of those posts that I have been thinking about for a while.

I really think my dad is either the worlds greatest comedian, has a assorted language that makes sense only to him and a few folks around him, or a combination of both.

It started the other day when we were working on the springs for Sam.  He had measured, cut, measured, cut, and the bracket was still too short.   It was at that moment of clarity when he realized his error, he stood there with his lips twisted, stared for a moment, and uttered the Pa(ism) of all Pa(ism)'s.

"Fuzzy."

It was at that moment, I realized that there were either a plethora of Pa(ism)'s that wouldn't mean a thing to anyone but those that work around him, or that he was mad at Fuzzbucket.  Since he didn't know Fuzzbucket, I realized he was speaking Pa.

With that said, here are a few Pa(ism)'s that I could nail down:

Fuzzy: Everything else has been tried, and nothing will work.   Only uttered when Pa has been the one to mess it up. 

Humm...:  When uttered while working on something, it means that 1) It aint quite working right or 2) It didn't work like intended or 3) we need to study on this a little more.

Let me think:  This means pretty much what it says, only its followed by a quality solution.  For as much tinkering as Pa does, he does not believe in southern engineering.  If a "Let me think" is uttered after you tell him a problem, it means that either 1) you have not explained it clearly, or 2) He knows how to get it done, but is trying to think about how to get it done.

Let me see:  I need to see the problem.  This is always followed by a "Get out of the way and let me do it," "Humm..." or worse yet, a "Fuzzy."
Hold the light:  This is a time honored tradition of working with Pa.  It also means, that while you hold the light, he will, at some point, fuss at you about where you hold the light, and at some point, take the light back and hold it himself.

Boy:  This is a complete sentence.  It means that either you have just scared the wadding out of him by honking the horn while he was under the hood of a truck, or snuck up on him while he was studying something, or that you were not working fast enough to satisfy him.

I cant ever find good help around here:  Means you have worked all day beside him, and did a good job.

There are more I will add to this list.  These are the ones that come to  mind right off.

[mini]

Picture of Sam from last night.

[Heather]

 

[mini]

As some of you are aware (Facebook) I had misplaced Sam's title.  Since he was not roadworthy, I was not ready to switch him over to my name.  Now that he is roadworthy (as of tonight), I was panicked...how could I get his title switched with no title?

I have tore this house apart trying to find his title.  Every boxed up bill, stack of papers, sorted, gone through, and with each one my anxiety mounted.  This house looked like a professional tornado went through it...finally, in a last ditch effort, I pulled out the drawer next to the computer, and sure enough, at the bottom of the drawer, on the floor, was Sam's title.  It had fallen down and was laying there in blessed peace...LOL  Now  I need to get this house straightened.

Now on to a Sam story.

Tonight, Pa fixed the choke cable on Sam, then, with plenty of daylight to spare, my daughter hopped in and we drove him to the back of the pasture.  He was having a grand ol time, then promptly gave up the ghost.  Not a lick of spark...I looked down and realized his battery cable came off.  I put that back on, and drove back to the house, no problems.

So then, I load my son up, and we decide to be brave.

I pull out to the road, look left and right, and drive about 1/8 of a mile to a dirt road, drive down the dirt road about a 1/4 of a mile, and then find a drive way to turn around in.  As I start to turn Sam around, to my absolute horror, I see oil.  On the road.  A line, all the way back up the road.

My heart sank.

Sams oil pressure was good, and no smoke, but I knew I was in trouble.  I got back to the main road, got back to Pa's, parked him quickly, and jumped out hollering for a flashlight.  I needed to see where the oil was coming from.

As I turned around to look at Sam, I see a huge puddle of oil forming under his...BED?!?!?!

I run over, and realized what had happened.  The oil that I had drained out of him at the first was in a bucket with a lid on it.  As I turned to go down the dirt road, the bucket spilled over and oil started leaking through the bed.  Sam got a good joke in on me!  LOL

*whew*

[mini]

I finally got to drive Sam on the road!

Here are a few pictures:


Me, enjoying Sam.


Sam, sitting pretty.  (Look for more poser shots soon.  He is able to be driven to places now!)


Sara, our little dog, wanted to go along, because Chelleebelle was riding.  She was happy as long as Chelleebelle was in the truck, but when Chelleebelle got out, she was upset.  Hence, the reason she was standing on my lap looking out...


Looking under the hood...


Sam's new sticker.  As soon as I put it on him, he swore off cussing...lol

[sunlight]

wow, that sticker looks old already...

[Lynx]

It's the aura of oldness Sam imparts.   

[mini]

Sam made it to work!  First trip to the "big city" for him.

[mini]

Heres a few more shots of Sam:

[mini]

There has been a lot of work done on Sam since I posted last.  While I try to sort out what needs to be updated on here, here are a few pictures:

After my good news about the much improved gas mileage, I decided to take a few minutes during lunch to snap a few photos of Sam today.

Enjoy...