Page 3 of 7

Re: new '66 Toronado owner from Germany

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 11:40 pm
by DrK
I just wanted to say I totally envy you your talent, ambition, spare time and determination to bring this beautiful Toro back to showroom condition.
I'm learning to do more and more for my 1970 Toronado GT, but I can barely put a chicken on a rotisserie let alone a two-ton-plus Toro :D
It must be very satisfying work, almost like meditation, to carefully restore and refurbish what was a work of automotive art a half-century ago.
Please post more as you proceed; I love to look and learn from a master.
Greg "Dr K" Kennedy

Re: new '66 Toronado owner from Germany

Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 3:01 am
by harascho
Thx for the honor... that helps a lot...
But to tell the truth the so called "master" ran into a little crisis. Too many parts...too many tasks...a lot of work still on the list... sloooooow progress.......but I am getting closer..little by little.. step by step

again the encouraging words give me the needed kick to proceed the restoration

my personal goals: get it in paint this year; drive the summer next year...

Harald

Re: new '66 Toronado owner from Germany

Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 7:17 am
by NRGF
Harald, you are doing a fantastic job, its really great to see, please keep posting the pictures.
When you are finished I have a 1969 in need of similar treatment and I am not so far away in the Netherlands.
Regards. Neil

Re: new '66 Toronado owner from Germany

Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2014 9:46 am
by harascho
some before and after pics...

Re: new '66 Toronado owner from Germany

Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2014 9:49 am
by harascho
firewall..after disassembly and after some ellbow grease.... :D

Re: new '66 Toronado owner from Germany

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 12:05 am
by harascho
it's been a while that I updated this thread....here we are..
Almost there…or one weird test drive..;-)

It seems after two years, some good days, some bad ones my ’66 Toronado is coming together.
Assembly is almost complete except some parts I have to look out for the next year. I could use a new rear bumper and new trim around the front and rear window..and yes some small stuff here and there, I don’t have the original jack for example.

Today the Toronado got it’s first car wash, still without the drain tubes in the back, so two buckets had to do the job. After the dust was washed away it started looking real good. The sun was coming out behind the clouds so I thought let’s make a test drive and take some pics.
My daughter and her boyfriend were joining me.
So the party of three was heading for a nice place to shoot some pics, the old guy, me, driving nervous as one could get after two years of work under his ass.. and the car without insurance and not registered….

First thing one of us saw were the headlights half full with water…” Oh, California car, it still doesn’t like rain” was my first thought. But that was a simple one. To have it registered in Germany the old sealed beam headlights have to be replaced by new ones with replaceable bulbs. I couldn’t install the back cover of the new lights because of the limited space….now I have to think of something to keep the water out of them…

Next were the pictures I wanted to take of that clean freshly assembled Toronado with the sun shining and a bright blue sky…
I opened the hood and took out the camera… after some pics the battery of the camera was was flat and on top of that I realized I didn’t even had the memory card in it’s slot…. That’s about all of it for the pics….;-)

Looking around in the engine bay I saw oil dripping out of the right snorkel of the air cleaner housing… “What the hell is that…” I thought….. Felix, my daughters boyfriend asked “Does it have an oil bath air cleaner?” I thought out loud “ Now it may have…..”

We went home and I started digging into that problem. The oil is coming out of the closed crankcase ventilation system, it was soaked into the air cleaner through the filter in the right valve cover. I started the engine without that filter and except a little oil smoke nothing left that filter. Also the engine oil filler neck and cap were clean and bone dry.
I removed the left valve cover to check the drain holes… clean…. I squirted some oil in each drain hole with a syringe, nothing blocked, I could even here the oil drippin’ in the pan.

My next step will be to recheck timing, dwell and vac and give the carb a short runover of it’s settings.
I was told from the last owner of the car that the engine had been overhauled and as I pulled the manifold and oil pan I could see new pistons, cam. and valvetrain. Me testdrives before I tore the Toronado apart didn’t show any oil in the air cleaner… we will see…. If anyone got some ideas to point me in a certain direction pls. do so.

Harald

Re: new '66 Toronado owner from Germany

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 12:08 am
by harascho
Hi there, short update on the Toronado.
After the first test drive and some efforts trying to dial the carb in I went back a step and decided to give the carb a thorough overhaul first. I ordered Cliff Ruggles book and an overhaul kit together with a bushing kit for the worn primary shaft.

When tearing apart the carb I noticed that there is significant air horn and main body wrappage. What the heck is with that Quadrajet ??...

ok.. breath in and breath out and think.....
With the help of some sources on the internet I built a jig to straighten the carb parts. With some heat cycles and careful tightening of the fasteners I was able to get that thing straight again.

Next were the overhaul and bushing kit. So far everything went fine and the carb is back on the engine. Tomorrow will be the day...... I'll let you know what happens..

Re: new '66 Toronado owner from Germany

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 12:09 am
by harascho
The Toronado runs, is registered and is a fun to drive.
Major drawback might be that I have to remove the engine / gearbox again after the first season. The engine was overhauled, I checked while the oil pan, valve covers and intake were off. New timing gear, new pistons, camshaft, lifters and valvetrain.
Now I have some low oil pressure issues (>40 PSI when cold at about 2000rpm, hot idling in P 8,5 PSI, hot idling in D 7PSI) I use Castrol Classic 20W50 oil. Those numbers could still be ok but I had to learn that I am missing one oil baffle, the one that keeps the oil in the sump area when braking. So now every time I brake harder the oil light lights up for a few seconds.
Next point is oil consumption. Not quite sure but is seems the fresh engine uses / burns a lot of oil and that with new valve stem seals. After ideling a while when you blib the throttle there is a lot more smoke out of the exhaust, although not blueish....
So could be kind of normal for a rebuild engine, the last owner didn't complete the restoration so he didn't put a lot of miles on the rebuild engine.... I will watch this closely. See some pics of the engine and the missing baffle...

Harald

Re: new '66 Toronado owner from Germany

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 12:12 am
by harascho
some more pics

Re: new '66 Toronado owner from Germany

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 12:13 am
by harascho
more