Beck TD, Part 50: New Shoes, and Two Shows

At the end of Part 49, in which I successfully completed a transmission rebuild, I mentioned that I could only test-drive Beck's new trans on the lift, because the wheels had no tires. That was because I had decided to replace all five tires, and there's no better time to strip and paint the wheels than when the tires are not in the way.

Beck's wheels sported probably a dozen coats of paint in various colors, and worse yet, the wheels had not been prepped properly, so the finish was rough, uneven and flaky. I had the old tires removed and properly recycled, and got to work in the sandblast cabinet. After blasting the first wheel and priming it, things were looking pretty good:

Beck TD, Part 49: Transmission Rebuild

"I'll always remember my first transmission rebuild..." said no romantic songwriter ever. But I suspect it's true, for the same reason you remember your first true love. The joys, the sorrows, and most of all the memory of your boneheaded mistakes stay with you.

But my first is done, and it works well! The story is one of perseverance over setbacks, which makes the eventual success even more sweet. After all the study detailed in Part 48, I was very confident that I could reassemble the trans in a couple of hours. So much so, I asked Troy Nace to help by removing Beck's interior while I was finishing the rebuild. He did so, and then he and I removed the problematic trans in the car. I was just sure that we'd be driving around by the end of the afternoon.