‘60 V-200 White Lightning!
I figured it was time for an update, although I can't say that much has been accomplished to White Lightning. More in preparation for its next workspace location. I should probably mention that I own a house that has no garage (yet) and I manage to work on my fleet either outdoors or in a tiny cramped Harbor Freight 10x17 tent. Since I am an architect, the design keeps changing for the dream garage which I will hopefully one day be able to afford, but a 1.5 or 2 car detached garage will likely be built in the next two years if things keep going well in my business, and that is probably where White Lightning will cease being "rusty Lightning" and get finally painted. But enough dreaming, back to reality.
There is a tight spot behind my garden shed clear of prying eyes where White Lightning will be moved, rolled on her side, and have the rear subframe and trunk floor completely re-fabricated and installed before I then take the V-100's 7.25 axle and new springs (not the usually tired and flat springs we tend to see on these early A's) and finally get an axle bolted to the car. Then it'll be on to brakes, engine bay, and interior as I've mentioned earlier in the above "dissertation." So in preparation for V-200's move from the back corner of my lot to the area behind the shed, I needed to get a parts vehicle that was occupying that space "processed" and gone. It was a 2000 Jeep Cherokee XJ with a blown engine that I bought for parts for my two winter daily drivers (both '98 Cherokee XJs). Yes, I like MoPar sixes! I gutted the interior and boxed everything up, cut off the roof, and cut the truck in half just behind the transfer case. The rear floor pan (once I cut out the sills, C-D pillars and B-pillars and rear doors) and axle was re-purposed as a dolly for the V-200 which, as mentioned before, has very rusty rear sub-frame rails and no rear axle. So this was rolled under White Lightning, and for the time being, the V-200 has a Corporate 8.25" rear axle, which I believe somebody else on this forum has actually installed on their
A-body. I told myself that I couldn't buy the V-100 from Craigslist until I got rid of the silver XJ. Well, that turned out to only become a half truth. When the day arrived to pick up the V-100, the XJ was only half dismantled, consisting of the very greasy front half that also contained the blown 4.0 engine. It would take me another month to completely strip that part of the truck, but as of last weekend, I can say it is 100% done. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what a blown 4.0 looks like so I started by removing the head. I was expecting a detached piston/broken rod. I found piston #2 completely missing but the rod and wrist pin just still in place in the cylinder, not bent or broken. The piston was another story. Broken into tiny bits that made their way into the crankcase and sump and ultimately stopped the crank. Yeah, it was ugly! So the old silver XJ is finally gone and White Lightning's place of re-birth is ready!
But before that was to happen, the stuck front wheel needed to be freed up. The flat and nasty tire, the same one that was on the car when I got it from Rich 23 years ago, was still there, only much more flat and much more nasty.
Two of the four lug nuts snapped upon removal, and it was discovered that the seized wheel was not from a stuck spindle but old brakes that had not been removed when I initially dismantled the car 20 years ago and had fused to the drum. Easy. I took a prybar, pulled the drum, and removed the shoes and hardware. I had never seen springs as hold-down nails before, but I imagine this system works well as long as said springs don't get too rusty and break! I took the front wheel and drum off the V-100, and swapped it and now, White Lightning is a free roller for the first time in 20 years!
I figured it was time for an update, although I can't say that much has been accomplished to White Lightning. More in preparation for its next workspace location. I should probably mention that I own a house that has no garage (yet) and I manage to work on my fleet either outdoors or in a tiny cramped Harbor Freight 10x17 tent. Since I am an architect, the design keeps changing for the dream garage which I will hopefully one day be able to afford, but a 1.5 or 2 car detached garage will likely be built in the next two years if things keep going well in my business, and that is probably where White Lightning will cease being "rusty Lightning" and get finally painted. But enough dreaming, back to reality.
There is a tight spot behind my garden shed clear of prying eyes where White Lightning will be moved, rolled on her side, and have the rear subframe and trunk floor completely re-fabricated and installed before I then take the V-100's 7.25 axle and new springs (not the usually tired and flat springs we tend to see on these early A's) and finally get an axle bolted to the car. Then it'll be on to brakes, engine bay, and interior as I've mentioned earlier in the above "dissertation." So in preparation for V-200's move from the back corner of my lot to the area behind the shed, I needed to get a parts vehicle that was occupying that space "processed" and gone. It was a 2000 Jeep Cherokee XJ with a blown engine that I bought for parts for my two winter daily drivers (both '98 Cherokee XJs). Yes, I like MoPar sixes! I gutted the interior and boxed everything up, cut off the roof, and cut the truck in half just behind the transfer case. The rear floor pan (once I cut out the sills, C-D pillars and B-pillars and rear doors) and axle was re-purposed as a dolly for the V-200 which, as mentioned before, has very rusty rear sub-frame rails and no rear axle. So this was rolled under White Lightning, and for the time being, the V-200 has a Corporate 8.25" rear axle, which I believe somebody else on this forum has actually installed on their
A-body. I told myself that I couldn't buy the V-100 from Craigslist until I got rid of the silver XJ. Well, that turned out to only become a half truth. When the day arrived to pick up the V-100, the XJ was only half dismantled, consisting of the very greasy front half that also contained the blown 4.0 engine. It would take me another month to completely strip that part of the truck, but as of last weekend, I can say it is 100% done. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what a blown 4.0 looks like so I started by removing the head. I was expecting a detached piston/broken rod. I found piston #2 completely missing but the rod and wrist pin just still in place in the cylinder, not bent or broken. The piston was another story. Broken into tiny bits that made their way into the crankcase and sump and ultimately stopped the crank. Yeah, it was ugly! So the old silver XJ is finally gone and White Lightning's place of re-birth is ready!
But before that was to happen, the stuck front wheel needed to be freed up. The flat and nasty tire, the same one that was on the car when I got it from Rich 23 years ago, was still there, only much more flat and much more nasty.
