Amazing how time flies by but at least I'm still working on it! Decided I wanted to eliminate the window wing and go with a single pane glass. Wanted to use the Nu Relic regulators but the drive motor sits under the vent wing window so no room for the single pane glass. Went with the Specialty regulator and it fit nice. I'm a big fan of bear claw latches and the installation in a Merc. straight forward. All the moldings are modified and I will have the exterior moldings chromed. Decided to make a flush mounted fender skirt now and decide after the car is painted if I'm going to keep them on the car. This is the final look of the car, waiting for some door solenoids and will then tear it back down and send to media blaster. I've finally learned my lesson and quit forecasting when I'll get done, too many other life events happen but I do enjoy working on it and will keep plugging away. Thanks for looking and stay cool!
Man, you have been busy! I can't even find time to change an exhaust gasket and fix a bent lake pipe bracket. LOL Looking good! You must be getting excited getting close to blasting and primer.
Thanks Mick, really wish I could have made it to Lead Sled this year but there's always 'next year"! Thanks Dr. Dave. I'm finding it harder to get time to work on the Merc. and I'm retired, I can only guess how hard it is for you. Hope (but don't promise) I'll be done for Stray Kat next year and look forward to seeing your "A".
Work on the Merc. has really slowed as we are dealing with some family health issues so it's become a project that I work on whenever there's spare time and it does help save my alleged sanity! Still have hopes to make next years lead aint dead show but that might be a stretch! Did get it back from the media blaster (as with everything else nowadays a week turned into a month!) and really happy with the workmanship and the fact there weren't any new rust areas. There were spots where they had to take off more than an inch thick bondo (someone bondo'd right over dents etc.) but I'm really amazed at how well the bondo held up as it was done at least 40 years ago! I've started on the body work, hood is finished and yes there is some bondo on it as a skim coat, my metal work isnt that good! Lots more body work to do so will stay busy for awhile, thanks for looking and hope you have a great day!
Nothing wrong with some bondo. No one sees it once it is covered up. I have never seen even a perfect car that didn’t have a skim coat of bondo. Glad to see you are making progress. Praying for the family health issues.
Thanks Jeff, I’ve taken sheet metal classes from Wray Schelin and there’s a guy that can make metal work perfect! Wish I had 1/10th his talent! Fortunately the family health issues aren’t life threatening, appreciate the thought. Hope to see you in Dewey!
Looking good!! Metal looks real nice after the blasting! I have no doubt you will have it in shape better than an inch or more of filler. Of course, I have seen pics of more than one high profile job from certain big name builders that folks rave over believing said builders are metal wizards with waaaay more than an inch of filler in them....I know you are going to be much better than that. Glad the health issues aren't life threatening and I hope things are on the mend soon!
Thanks Dr. Dave, I'm able to keep it to a skim coat but am amazed at how good of "sculptors" some people are and how well the old putty looked. I often hear stories of thick putty falling off etc. but this putty wasn't going anywhere. Don't know if anyone remembers "Black Magic" putty but it was popular when i was a kid and rapidly replacing leading. This putty was much better than Black Magic yet was at least 40 years old! Hope to see you soon, understand you've been really busy but any progress on the Model A? Sure like the looks of it.
no real progress on much of anything car wise. I'm neck deep in a house remodel at the moment, so there isn't much (none) garage time these days. LOL
Setbacks keep slowing me up but am making a little progress. While working the roof I discovered that the rear window frame twisted at some point, my guess is either when I put the body on its side to finish the bottom of the car or when the media blaster put it on his rotisserie. I had taken all the window bracing out prior to that, lesson learned the hard way. I had to pie cut and weld frame to get back to straight, glass back to fitting! Finished working the body and primed, painted the firewall but color is a little darker than I want. I will have someone else paint the car as that is definitely not my talent so hoping they can come up with a better color match . This is the color I'm trying to match. Getting there slow but sure, on to the fenders! Thanks for looking.
Looking too kool, great choice of color. Thank you for posting your update. I've been wondering how you were progressing. Keep the faith she is going to look too kool!
Man, that stinks about the setback with the rear window. Glad you were able to get it sorted back out without tooooo much trouble. That's a great color! Can't wait to see it shiny! Keep plugging!!
Thanks Mick, really looking forward to your get-together and catching up! Hoping for great weather! Thanks Dr. Dave, always appreciate your comments and hoping to see you in Dewey again!
Still plugging away! One reason this keeps dragging on is that I change my mind about how something looks! Current example is the headlights. I was going to use the 53 Buick frames and leave them exposed but the more I looked at it I didn’t feel they flowed into the fender. Decided to french in the frames, added 1/2" to the buckets to get a deeper offset. My friend had really cleaned up these frames so starting to weld them really seemed wrong but he was ok with it! Finished body work and primed Really glad that's finally done, not my favorite thing to do in the Texas heat! Will rebuild engine and transmission next and put back in before sending to the paint shop, I know I'll scratch everything up if I wait to install after its painted! Thanks for looking and send a little cooler weather this way!
Man, you are about to gravy time now! Nice job on the headlights, I really like the flow with them molded in. Remind me what engine you are using? For some reason I'm thinking small block Ford?
Thanks Dr. Dave, really glad the body work is done- not my favorite thing to do! Regarding the engine I'm a ford in a ford and chevy in a chevy guy and I have no idea why! Have had good luck with both engines so that's not the reason. I have a 351W that I'm going to build, bought the entire drive train from a guy that had pulled it from a 78 cougar but had no idea if it ran, did say odometer had 88,000 miles on it when he pulled it. Originally I was going to use it to mock up mounts etc. and then get a crate motor but after pulling the pan and checking main bearings and seeing the cross hatches on the cylinder walls I decided it was at least worth trying to build it so have accumulated heads, cam, etc. (this was a smog engine) and hope to build a good motor. Keep hoping to see your Merc up and running but understand the time constraints you have, I'm retired and yet it still takes me forever to get anything done! Hope to see you on the road soon!
Many thanks Jeff, really looking forward to seeing your Merc. progress. Bet it's going to be a really good looking car!
Thanks! I am looking forward to seeing progress on my Merc too... More importantly, I am looking forward to getting enough other stuff done that I can start on it.
Haha! Don't hold your breath on my Merc being on the road anytime soon, although I do have a fresh engine on hand ready to go in, so steps are being made. LOL I hope retirement will give me more time in the shop, but I suspect it will be less if my wife and the to do list have any sway.
Are You thinking about retiring? I can guarantee your wife will see to it you have things to do and they won't include the Merc. Take care!
I've been thinking of retiring since I started. LOL Now, do I have a plan...not exactly. Ha. Not easy to get off the hamster wheel and just give two weeks notice when you own the business....and can be sued for patient abandonment. Sigh....
Really got lucky with the 351w, cylinder walls are like new, bearing clearances good. Will get vat treated and then assemble- was able to pick up performance heads, intake manifold, and cam at an auction. Will have local transmission shop rebuild fmx transmission. Getting closer!
Nothing is ever simple for me! My engine is turning into the engine from hell! Took it to a machine shop that has done our forklift cylinder heads for years and after not hearing anything for 2 months thought it might be a good idea to check on progress. Answer was "you need to come and get it, I can't keep any help and simply cant get to yours!". Really sad as this is a third generation business that has always done good work and when I picked up my block there must have been 50 other engines waiting to be worked on. Owner offered to call around and see if anyone else could do it and story was the same. I contacted one of the major shops and while they could do it the wait list was a minimum of 3 months to start on it but they recommended another shop that grinds their cranks and he only had a 30 day backlog. Now the $'s start to flow, he found one of the cylinders needed to be sleeved so here we go again! Hope to get it back before the end of the year. In the meantime I've got plenty of other things to do! Got the hood lined Installed Vintage Air unit, started wiring (kit from local house, very little detail instructions but wiring these is pretty straight forward and I prefer to support local businesses) Installed hydroboost unit, new MC will be installed later Local shop chromed my dash panel Ready for engine and transmission and then off to the paint shop! (I cannot paint!) Thanks for looking and wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!
Looking great! Sorry about all the troubles with the engine. That totally stinks. Hopefully the new shop will get it done half quickly. That dash looks fantastic!
This seems to be a theme across all skilled automotive trades, at least this shop was honest with you and had you come and pick it up. Some places will just keep it forever, keep making promises, or worse yet, "lose" stuff. I don't see that trend changing either. I'm trying to gather tools and skills to do everything in-house. At least I have control over it that way. Nice to see some progress on the ol' Merc again! Looks good.
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