By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

One of the most frustrating things about do-it-yourself auto repair is dealing with vanishing parts. The only thing worse than turning a twenty-minute job into a two-day event by dropping that special nut, bolt or spring is to break the part outright due to sheer frustration or stupidity.

I’m well experienced with all forms of parts losing, but I seem to specialize in fumbling nuts and bolts into the depths of the most inaccessible places. With this in mind, I wasn’t surprised when during the process of replacing the eight too-lean jets on the four Weber carburetors on the Infamous Craigslist 1976 Ferrari Dino 308 GT4, I bumped one of the tops of the carburetors sitting on the edge of the air cleaner housing. I heard it go falling down into the engine bay with a succession of clanks and pings.

I figured it was no problem. After all, an air horn of a Weber DCNF is too big to lose, right? Read on…

Continue reading "How Is It Possible To Lose A Part This Big?" »

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

Sometimes it just plain amazes me how such an inexpensive tool can totally change my life. Today I’ve discovered a new best friend: the helping hands.

The love affair started with my last trip to Harbor Freight Tools (aka the store chock-to-the-ceiling with nifty tools and supplies priced so low you’ll buy things you’ll only use once). After filling my basket with a $2 rubber mallet, $4 set of cutoff wheels, $1 package of foam paint brushes, and $2 bag of fine steel wool, I noticed the end-cap rack filled with magnified helping hands units for a price equal to a McDonald’s milkshake. Although I had never used one, I’ve been told for years that it’s a must-have for any DYIer, so it was a no-brainer impulse buy.

Continue reading "What’s Your Favorite Cheap But Life-Changing Tool?" »

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

When I bought the Infamous Craigslist 1976 Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 last year I noticed its stereo didn’t work. Now that it’s back on the road and I’ve been driving it a bit, I decided to do a little digging into what might be the source of the issue.

Before you make some knee-jerk comment like “the Ferrari’s V8 should be enough music”, when you’re stuck in traffic or on a long trip even a supercar’s engine doesn’t cut it.

Diagnosing classic radio issues is so easy that an ADD-riddled journalist can do it. If you can hook-up a home stereo, you can generally get a car stereo working, because the same issues apply: one power wire (which usually goes to the fuse box) and one ground wire, plus a positive and ground running to each speaker. There’s also a big cable that goes to the antenna (and sometimes a wire to connect if the antenna goes up when the stereo is turned on). That’s it! Basically, the only catch is to make sure you unhook the battery cable so a live circuit doesn’t give you Don King hair.

Continue reading "Just A Few Wires And A Fuse Away From Sweet Music In The Ferrari" »

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

You’ve seen it frequently in Craigslist and eBay advertisements: “mechanic owned”. No matter what the make, model or age of the vehicle, those two little words are supposed to evoke confidence in the quality and completeness of the service history.

The only problem is that if you ask most mechanics, they’ll tell you that mechanic-owned cars are usually in more dire need of past-due maintenance than most urban public schools. As the saying goes, a cobbler’s kids wear no shoes…and when it comes to a mechanic’s car, its brake shoes are probably down to the rivets.

The crux of the issue is that anyone who spends all day doing something for someone else doesn’t want to continue doing the same monotonous task for himself. I can understand, because I once tried doing oil changes on just four of my cars in one day and by the end of the afternoon I was ready to set myself on fire.

Despite all I’ve just shared, it didn’t stop me from jumping at the opportunity to buy a 1979 Chevy K10 pickup from a friend who is a professional mechanic. As fate would have it, he had purchased the truck from another mutual friend who is one of the best professional mechanics I know.

Continue reading "The Perils of Buying a "Mechanic Owned" Vehicle" »

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

With the low-buck Maaco paint job done on the Sound Classics 1979 Chevy K10 project truck, it is time to turn our attention to finishing it all off with an interior upgrade. Let’s face it, the ripped-up Saddle Tan interior just isn’t going to cut it on a shiny black and silver 4X4.

In keeping with the guidelines set forth before the exterior restoration, the challenge remains to do this on the cheap-as-a-Trenton, NJ-hooker. Since there’s no budget for a professional upholsterer and I’ve never done any serious interior work in any of the previous Sound Classics projects, nobody is expecting a miracle.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Interior Restoration Made So Cheap And Easy, Even A Journalist Can Do It!" »

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

With all of the metal and rubber trim removed from the Sound Classics 1979 Chevy K10 project truck, it is time to commence sanding in preparation for its budget paint job. As described in the previous installment, this is the first time I’ve ever done full prep for a paint job.

The lucky guy I am, while looking for the rubber backing for my electric random orbital, I notice I actually own a pneumatic dual-action sander – something given to me so long ago by my father-in-law that I had totally forgotten that I owned it. The DA is the best tool for the job…and being the same size as my random orbital, the four packs of sanding discs I bought fit perfectly.

The object of sanding is to make the surfaces as clean and straight as possible…with just enough roughness for the paint to stick. The general rule of thumb is that a vehicle can have two layers of paint. Any additional layers won’t bond well. This truck came out of the factory with Carmine Red paint, but a layer of two-tone silver now covers it, so we’ll need to get at least down to the original paint layer, if not bare metal or at least original primer.

Continue reading "Like Sand Through The Hourglass, So Are The Days Spent Sanding" »

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

The restoration process on the 1979 Chevy K10 has officially begun. If you read the last installment, you know I already Photochopped a picture to establish what I want it to look like (black and silver two-tone), but now it’s time to get off the computer, get out the tools and implement the game plan.

The plan is pretty simple — something I’ve heard hundreds of times from other collectors: “just do the prep work yourself and then have Maaco spray it.” The premise actually makes sense. Maaco employs people who day-in and day-out use a steady hand to spray in the same quality booth as the high-price shops. Where they usually fail is in skimping on the bodywork and prep. So to get the best of both worlds, the collector does all the body work and prep and Maaco sprays. Sure, they also use cheap paint, but how much worse can it possibly be than 1979 Chevy OEM?

Okay, considering I’ve really never done serious bodywork or prep, there is some doubt to the results. It will either come out with a great bang-for-the-buck exterior or it will suck worse than Matt LeBlanc’s Friends spin-off.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "The 1979 Chevy K10 Starts Its Striptease" »