I finished the body wood kit and chopped all the mouldings. I also finished up installing door latches and some body work. I gave it a second coat but didn’t like the results, so I wet sanded it and tried to polish out the scratches. Then I rubbed it down with some comet cleaner to try and dull it again. Kind of ended up with a cool look. I really only have a few small items to tend to and send the window templates down. I think I’m going to have a break from the car for a couple of months and finish it up in the spring.
Minor update, I had this old windshield frame, it wasn’t bad other than the bottom was rotted out. I made a new bottom channel, chopped it and cleaned it all up nicely. Made a template and just couldn’t get glass in there without cracking. So out of frustration I bought a new frame. Once chopped and fitted I made a template had my glass cut and it fits like a glove. I really wanted to save the old frame, but it’s just tweaked enough. I’m not sure if I should polish the aluminum or paint it. I’m leaning more towards trying to trying to polish it, though it might stick out as there isn’t much bling on this plain brown car. On a side note, all the rest of the glass is getting tempered and should be here next week. After the glass is in there isn’t much on the to do list.
Sort of, I made a piece the same shape as the M/C to get it out from the firewall bead. The inner assembly bracket for the pedals is fairly big, so once sandwiched it’s pretty firm. Seems ok so far.
Cool thanks for the reply. I’ve had more than one car with firewall mounted masters/pedals end up flexing the fire wall and cracking it. Once I thought it was the clutch going out so I finally brought it to the shop and they called be Back laughing that the the clutch was fine but that the fire wall was moving when I pushed the peda not the pedal itself moving. Granted that thing was pretty damn rusty but I’ve always been kinda paranoid about it after that
It’s something to keep an eye on, I had thought about beefing it up, but never came to fruition. I usually tend to keep adding metal even when not needed so took the less is more approach. Might bite me later. haha.
I've read through your build a couple of times... work is great! I don't think you need to pull it apart and have "pro" fix anything. You have a lot of great ideas for folks to "borrow" from. One thing did bug me as read through your build... all the great pics where you left the stickers on the tires! LOL, just one of my issues I need to work on...
Congrats on a job well done. I'm sure you and your family will look back fondly on these memories as the years pass. Be proud of this accomplishment. Now go put some miles on it...
Just found your thread today & read through the whole thing. You nailed it in all aspects. And double kudos to you for doing it yourself in your own garage. Very inspiring and thanks for sharing the journey.
Got my tempered glass back and installed. A bit of monkeying around for the rollup windows but they go up and down marginally well. The shifter position was bothering me so I found a old hurst Indy shifter on my shelf and modified it to fit. Apparently it’s quite a bit different than the comp plus so it took some welding and grinding to combine both. Heated it and bent it to get it better centred in the cab. Feels great now. Surprising I just used a propane torch and didn’t wreck the chrome heating it up, worked great. I had this shift knob for awhile. My buddy who got me into hot rods bought it for a hot rod I tried building that didn’t come to fruition like 10 years ago. Thought I’d try running it. I liked the all business hurst ball, but a few skulls here and there never hurt anyone. Sometimes I try to hard to separate myself from the rat rod crowd that I try not to keep the car low key without accessories, but I’ll let this slide.
Also wanted to say thanks to everyone for the positive comments and following along. I set out when I started to prove to myself that I could build something and follow through to the end. Not just be the guy who talks about what he wants to do, or living vicariously through everyone else’s builds. I also didn’t want to build a show car or a polished beauty. It’s pretty much how far I want to take it right now. A little rough around the edges but well built, over built and reliable. I sat in it today after finishing up some small stuff and thought I can’t believe I built this. Hope it’s an early spring. I’ll update the thread as we go and really get some miles on her. I’m sure I’ve said this earlier in the thread but the plan is taking it out to deuce days in Victoria, British Columbia, at the end of July. About 2000 miles round trip crossing the Rockies. Hopefully that happens. Fingers crossed, as I’m already registered for it. Should be an epic trip.
The Jalopy Journal
