Today was yet another snow day here in Conway….4th day in 3 weeks we have had to close due to weather. That's the most snow days we have had in a season in 20 years. Good news is, power was still on so the welder and the air compressor worked and I made good use of the day. Got the driver's side belt line seam in etch primer and moved on to start welding up the passenger side. Wished I'd done the driver's side the same way. On this side, I welded a little, ground the welds then welded some more to make it easier to keep the profile. No double most of you who actually know how to do this are thinking, "well yeah, dummy, no duh." LOL But, sometimes it takes me a little while to figure out the right way to do this whole welding thing. LOL I was pretty pleased with how everything was working today. Guess I finally got the right heat setting and pretty close to the right wire speed for this section and ended up with what I'm pretty sure are the best string of welds of my life. I've come a long way from warping the stink out of my doors on my '64 Pontiac when I shaved the handles in '85. I didn't get the entire seam finished today, but by the end of the weekend I should have it finished and hopefully prepped for epoxy as soon as it warms up a bit.
Looking good Dave! And, thanks for the motivation. I used my recent snow days to get pretty much nothing done (at least car project related...)
Wow, you really are doing some great work! Glad your garage is big enough to work in during this crappy weather, will be glad to see the sun back! Are you going to replace the back window and if so who are you going to get it from, I'd heard there was someone in CA. making flat glass rear windows.
LOL. I haven't spent every single snow day in the shop, or even all day on the days I have. I spent one day with my wife planning a trip. On the days I have been out in the shop, I've tried to be careful and not hang out there for the whole day and evening since the rest of the family has been home, too. Mostly have spent the afternoons, but then back in the house by dinner and the rest of the evening with the fam. Excellent! Hopefully we can connect somewhere in the area soon. Thanks about the dash. Ron Myers out of Tulsa did that for me. He did a fantastic job…and has pinstriped most everything I own. LOL He drove over a few years ago and spent 12 hours pin striping stuff in my office. Last year at the Stray Kat, I had him stripe my wife's mixer. She said since I had so much striped, she wanted some, too. LOL Yes, I will be replacing the back window, that's what started this whole round. I picked the flattest window out of a stack that Arkiehotrods has…it is way flatter than the one that was in there. Amazing how much variation there was between them all.
Very cool Dave - I did not realize you had a thread going. If you don't mind, I am going to add undorkifying to my vocabulary. Can't wait to see the results.
LOL Feel free Dan. Sometimes there just isn't a word that adequately describes the situation at hand and a made up word in necessary. Hopefully, you will get to see the results in a few weeks at the SK if I can keep the ball rolling….and keep it from rolling any further down hill for the time being. LOL
you need to get 1stgrumpy to come from Clarksville and then the two of you head to drdave's orthodontic clinic and check it out. then back to Russellville for some CJ's Burgers!
The office is worth a drive, when we were visiting Sarah's parents in little Rock we drove up to see it and were not disappointed. Your casualy less dorky merc's looking good dr dave
Progress being made, but not much to show. Got the rest of the beltline seams welded up, ground and in self-etch. Removed the side windows and all the glass run. Sent the vent windows to Carson Hobson at Street Rod Glass in Riverside, CA for new glass, rubber and glass run. I could have rebuilt them myself, but I'm certain setting that glass is no easy task, so for the sake of time and my sanity, I just sent them to him and they will arrive back ready to bolt in. He is also setting me up with all the rest of the glass run, setting tape for the door windows and mounting rubber for the 1/4 windows. All the glass channels are cleaned up and painted and I finally shot the epoxy last night on the rest. I picked up a 3M hvlp gravity feed gun a while back. It was a package deal and came with like 50 disposable cup liners and lids as well as 12 or so disposable tips. The tip are cleanable and don't need to be chucked after each use. This was my first experience with a hvlp gun (it's been a while since I painted ) and I really liked it. Love the gun and it took all of a minute and a half to clean. Ching! Should be able to start filler tomorrow morning (Tuesday morning I'm off and am in the office 1-7), finally. I feel like I'm running a little behind, but except for last night, I haven't worked any evenings, trying to make sure I'm not using too much family time on the project. Probably going to have to change that, though, shortly…fortunately, my wife is patient and for short spurts is OK with a few late nights. Here it is last night with epoxy still drying: The last couple of weeks I have been working with Rik Hoving and working out the big final plan for the car, which of course, is still several years down the road. But, I love to plan project, so there you go. Mick had posted a picture of Mercury Charlie's Nadine on another thread and that got the ball rolling. Without revealing too much right now, I'll post this teaser of what he has started and say my original plan of a pretty dead on Hirohata clone is out the window... I'm real excited by what he has come up with and have to say, you really can not afford not to talk to Rik about your project and have him help you plot it out. He has thought of everything all the way down to plotting full size templates to use for patterns. It is all I can do right now to keep my eye on the ball and get this thing back together and on the road instead of blowing it completely apart and starting down the road to the final plan. I am, however, on the hunt for a set of '55 Lincoln tail lights…and ideally, rear fender sections. If any of you have a line on a set, give me a shout!
I had a 51 with 55 lincoln tail lights but I sold it. Sure had a nice look. The car has moved around and one of my friends had it waiting in the wings to do.
Jack, it's funny how things come full circle. My dad had always wanted '55 Lincoln tail lights on his in '57, but never got to it before he sold it. Now here I am hunting down a set for mine. He never understood why I've wanted '53's on mine even though that's what the Hirohata has. I guess I should have listened to him all along. LOL
I really like the way you are approaching this project, I think I really appreciate it because I'm a wing-it type builder and usually have to do things three times to get something to look the way I want it to! Looking forward to seeing the finished project!
LOL…me too. I figure I can afford to mess it up and redo it several times vs. pay shop rates to do it right the first time. Plus, then I would miss out on the fun of building it myself.
Thanks for the heads up, I wasn't aware of that. Fortunately at the moment, pretty much the whole interior is out, but I will pick up some real masking paper before it gets serious. Started blocking this morning and spreading filler. Going to have to take the week off next week, so I bet I'm going to end up in quite the scramble shortly.
Thanks so much! Now it's time to build up these girlie-man arms blocking, blocking and more blocking. LOL
Worst job ever IMO. I love doing things myself but I absolutely despise body work and I sell body filler for a living.
LOL! My favorite part of a project is the planning, the parts hunting and the roughing it in. I like body work fine, but it's hard for me to sometimes stick with all the sanding and not just calling it good enough and rushing it.
Getting to be crunch time. Took last week off with the family for spring break and now we are down to 1 month before the Stray Kat....no paint, no windows, no interior, no problem....maybe. LOL I have a coat of filler on and have started sanding. Hoping to have the filler finished by early next week and in high build by next weekend. I really need to get the top half painted before we head out for the Roundup, since when we get back it will only be a week and half until the SK....and I will still have to sew a headliner, insulate, do all the stainless around the windows, put in all the new glass and get the interior all back in. Not looking promising, but maybe it will happen.
"I just flew in from Cincinnati and boy are my arms tired!" LOL Got in about 6 or 7 hours of sanding and filling today. All the bigger sections are pretty much done and for the most "all" that's left is the piddly detail parts....the edges of the window openings, fine tuning the belt line, etc. I bet I vacuumed the car 35 times today. LOL The biggest hassle is that section at the back of the 1/4 windows and c pillar around the drip rail, but they are about 80% there at the moment. Hoping another full day at it tomorrow will have the filler pretty much done and ready to start hitting it with 180 and 220 on the way to high build.
Thanks Jeff and Tim. Jeff, I'm the same way. It always seems like there is a ton of time when I start a project....I pulled the back window out of the Merc in Oct. But, when there is a lot of time, lots of other things work their way into the schedule. I don't really get after it until my back is agains the wall. LOL
Sounds about right haha. I've been talking about a trip south this summer in the 46. If it happens we'll have to stop for some photos with the shop and see this slightly less dorky merc
That would be great Tim! Come on by Id love to see the 46 in person.....too bad we can't get it in the door and line it up with the front desk and get a pic.
Good news and bad news.... Good news is I got the top half of the car in primer yesterday. The bad news is I'm a solid week behind (probably more truth be told), so it won't be back together in time for the Stray Kat. But, I'm still plugging away and it will at least make it to the Custom Car Revival in Indy mid-June. I had debated on going ahead and just doing the whole car at once since I wouldn't make the SK, but decided I didn't want to risk missing Indy, so I'll paint the top half, get it all back together again, then work on the body work on the bottom which is easily done as a driver. That way, even if I don't get the bottom painted, I can still make the road trip to the show.
Looking great Dave! Are you still planning on being at the SK 500 even if you can't get the car there? I am planning on trying to make it this year if I can keep my car running.
The Jalopy Journal
