Projects Club Coupe+Business Coupe= 3 window :>)

fingers crossed for you

 

What's wrong with the attached picture?( other than it's too dark,grin)
Hint....the back window is missing! When the glass guy dropped by Ed's to remove it for the headliner to be added, he pushed in a little too hard from the outside and the glass sailed past the package tray and landed upside down on the tranny tunnel. CRASH. Well, it just so happens that I am planning on driving the coupe up to Loveland Friday morning for the GoodGuys weekend. Panick! Get a new window on order and ship it two day air for a last minit Thursday install. Wish me luck! smile

 

Don't know how I missed this thread till today...I'm a bit smitten by business coupes...read this all the way through and I'm almost without words to tell you how incredible this project has turned out. You sir are an artist.

 

what did u do for carpet and belts

 

Grey carpet....looking for the right color red belts! The grey carper looks great.

 

great job

 

200 mile report card.....
I drove from Parker to Loveland and return over the weekend to attend the Goodguys event.

Before I could make it out of town I cracked both windshields because I had over tightened the center stainless strip. I was trying to get it to seat against the rubber without a gap. As such, I will have to reform the curved ends to seat without so much tension. + buy new glass. argh!

Petesmess followed me up and let me know she drove straight without crabbing and that nothing leaked or smoked. whewie. A bit of relief. Settled in at about 65mph and cruised comfortably with the windows down as I haven't charged the A/C yet. I did try the radio and quite frankly it is a piece of junk. I had the original reworked with modern insides but it doesn't tune in worth doodley squat. I will have to do something different.

Spent Friday afternoon chilling out at the fairgrounds and then Pete and I drove downtown for a little tour and dinner. The brakes seemed to be "on" all the time and the situation became worse as I drove more. I believe they are pre loaded and I need to adjust the the gap between the booster and master cylinder via the engagement pin/actuator. This is a nightmare as putting the set up behind the dash left me zero access. I will have to remove the dash, repair and replace. Oh well... I made the call and will have to live with it. YOU CAN BET I WILL NOT MAKE THIS DESIGN MISTAKE AGAIN! grin.

No issues Saturday other than getting up for a 4:30 am get in line at the fairgrounds move. YAWN. zzzzzzzz. Got a great parking spot and enjoyed the day.

Sunday am and I got up got dressed and checked fluid levels before the drive home. Oil was down a little but not worry-some. I headed to the Interstate and was mortified with the vibration as I accelerated onto I25. I pulled over immediately and checked suspension , rear end and general well being without finding any tell tale issues. I climbed back in and decided to get her up to 65mph quickly as I had zero issues on the trip up at this speed. Sure enough... smoothed out and ran fine at speed all the way home. ( still no radio) lol

Once off the interstate ,I kept it very slow and eased on home without a problem. While worried to death and concerned with the vibration, I had committed to install a whole house fan for the Mrs. as her mom was coming and the old fan needed replacement.

It took most of the day before I was able to get back to the coupe and get her up on the lift for a look see. The rear end shackle nuts were not only loose but one nut was gone. Obviously, the subsequent rear end housing rotation was causing the huge vibration. While looking around underneath the car for general inspection, I noticed tire rub on both rear inner sidewalls. Not bad, but this shouldnt be there and I had not had any previous issues. Well , I had also not loaded the trunk down or had a large passenger in the car. Pete and Nick were over last night for a survey of the issues and we ended up spending a few hours on the tire rubbing resolution. The first thing was to remove the one inch spacers used between the axle and springs to lower the car. This will give me more body height and reduced the probability of wear on the upper inner fenderwell arch. Still not convinced that this alone will fix the issue, Pete donated 1/4 inch back spacers to the problems resolution. While we were still hanging out under the rear, it was decided that the lower shock mount plate may not be rigid enough and it is flexing which may allow the u bolt nuts to loosen. Nick and I used my horizontal cut off bandsaw to generate a set of 1/4 inch stiffening plates. We then used my Roper ball screw punch to easily get the 1/2 holes needed for the u-bolts. I bead blasted, primed and painted the parts which are still hanging in the paint booth. Tonight will be re-assembly and torque with a final just in case self locking jamb nut on each u-bolt stud. That should put this to rest permanently.

Then for the dreaded dash removal and front brake fix. Such is the debug process on a new build!

Best regards,
George

 

Thank you for the report George. I think it is inevitable that certain small issues show up during a test run, and by the sound of things, you'll have this car sorted out in no time!

 

Power brakes often need a pedal return spring.
The weight of the pedal is sometimes enough to create a small amount of pressure on the booster pin, and this way make the brakes to drag.
Could be worth checking before you tear down the dash.

 

Thanks Staleg! Where there is a will , there is a way. I was able to avoid pulling the dash by going through the glove box and removing my Tach and radio. It was fast and gave me plenty of access. I did find an AC vent hose SQUISHED Flat between the radio and the master cylinder. A big Oops on that! There was in fact pre-load and the pin was adjustable so it wasn't hard to fix. The rotors were crispy blue with high and low spots and not worth trying to fix by re surfacing as they will never be right. A completely new set with bearings and seals was less than $120 + shipping. Better get this part done right! smile. I like the spring idea for a pedal return. Finding the right one thats strong enough without being too much would be the key.

Btw...I will leave the radio out and use a radio delete plate as the access is so nice. I reported above that the reworked factory radio performance was awful. I'll put a new one in the trunk with a remote!.

Regards,
George

 

Geo, I saw you and your car ONLY once the whole weekend...and that was when you headed out the gate on Saturday ...I walked that whole place several times cuz I wanted to see your car and Ed's upholstery job...

BTW, getting up at 4:30 AM to get a "prime parking spot" is not any way to have "fun with cars"...obviously your prime parking spot wasn't the greatest cuz I don't miss much.
I'm always "fashionably late" and I always make my own 'great' parking spot...

I really expected your car to be in the winner's circle on Sunday, but no...oh well, hope to see it at the Sonic soon...

Having a completely "new" car always has its problems no matter how careful you build it...glad to hear it wasn't major...

R-

 

Thanks.... We had a great time socializing, people watching and taking naps.
hahahah .
I will have the coupe back together over the weekend and ready for Pueblo next weekend. I have high hopes to also have the hood mascot and badge back in time to not have empty holes.
regards,
George

 

I dont have issues with holes in my hood....

 

You're welcome!
I've heard a lot about bad retro reworked radios too.

My solution was to buy a NOS AC Delco FM stereo radio on Ebay for 20 USD. The radio (intended for a 1982 Chevy Citation)was even packed in its original package.
I equipped it with older GM knobs (cheap from Ebay as well) and painted the pushbuttons ivory and the black plastic in silver. This gave the radio the correct, old look.

I trust the US made AC delco radios a lot more than much of the cheap modern stuff, and even if it's made in the 80's it's still new, as long as it has been stored under proper conditions.

 

I'm getting out of rat rods and building a leadsled..I'm looking for parts for my 1941 Desoto 3 window.. Anybody have any ideas where I can find the parts that I need?.. Any help would be greatly appreciated...

 

George,
Great job on this!I can,t help but wonder how this car would look with skirts,lose the rake by dropping the rear and wide whites with caddy caps.It,d make a great taildragger as well.Really like the roof and doors.It looks fantastic Johnny

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If you like that stuff it would be great! Thats why there are 30 million different style cars in the "hot rodding world"

How you doin George? I saw Dutch and his son at Rhinebeck when they stopped by my spot.

Pat

 

Yep! Agreed Pat.

 

nice car!

 

Holy crimeney! I was just thinking of George and did a google search for this car when I stumbled across this thread. Very cool to watch the transformation as it left our shop. Glad to see it in such detail too, thanks!

Marty

 

Marty you just found this? Glad
To see you are still around. I got off FB a few weeks ago and don't miss it
See ya at Rhinebeck and say hello to your dad

Pat

 

Yes, I didnt know this thread was here, George sent us updates via email and phone calls, but not with so much detail.

Pop and I will be coming to Rhinebeck, we will see you then!

 

six years later....... retirement, moving home , being out of control busy with anything but cars has had me just ignoring the piled up new shop as well as my 48 and other projects. The 48 was covered in a layer of dust, low tires and a had a dead battery ...she was so sad. I aired the tires up, gave her a bath and replaced the battery. She started right up. way cool. Took for an illegal spin with an expired tag and got so excited. Came back and the smell of oil burning wasn't what I was expecting. Hmmm, valve cover leaks, I socket on an extension, snug up and what a pleasant relief. I hate changing Hemi VALVE COVER GASKETS. A real PITA.
I backed into the shop and the brake pedal went straight to the floor. This is a very old issue and I have chased it by repeatedly bleeding the lines, making sure the shoes were not reversed on the 9 inch rear end and putting lione pressure retention valves in . I must admit that I have really been frustrated with myself. The fact that I had never fixed it and just tolerated the problem is embarrassing. I was complaining to two friends, ( Ron Jones and Jerry Johns) about my struggles and they offered to come help me with diagnosis and repair. I had her up on jack stands with rear hubs off, plenty of additional fluid and was happy to have someone else look at it.
Jerry brought a vacuum unit and after inspection of the shoes decided power bleeding was the answer.
Long story short...that's not the issue.
I have replaced two master cylinders and the proportioning valve so that couldn't be it.. Jerry started tracing the routing and says to me, you've swapped the lines under the floor board. I'm like, no way..... years of nonsense and I had front and rear brake lines swapped. So go ahead and feel free to laugh at me. I'm good for it! The brake lines have been swapped , the sytem bled for the last time and she stops both forward and reverse. ITS A MIRICLE. Life is to short to not be able to laugh at yourself.

ENJOY THE HUMOR!

 

Glad to see you are still above ground. Fix those brakes.

Pat