Seems a guy in Spain has copied my build design. lol. Although his looks more like the upscale side of the family... Very nice... I specifically didn't want to do anything '57 Chevy cuz it was too recognizable IMHO, but this guy sure has integrated it and made it flow very nicely... The black/turquoise one is C6 based. The one below is XLR based.
Fenders are home from media blasting... Only a couple minor surprises... "Gee, I didn't know it was porous there....".
Probably would not had been much left of my 48 Plymouth coupe if it had made a trip to the media blaster. We still put 88,000 miles on it over 15 years (not many the last 3, have a new toy). The car is still road worthy, even though it started out as a pile of rust, and was not media blasted.
Finally back working on Boris... Ended up using a new external relay for the fog lights. I really wanted to use the relay already in the underhood panel, but it just became too convoluted and hacky... I just put a switch on the lower dash for on/off without the former regard to hi/low beams. The fogs can be on any time now. They do shut off with the car however. Next, I'm thinking about rewiring the low beams. Right now all 4 headlights are on for hi and low beams, but low beams are pretty dim while hi is pretty decent. I was thinking about using the hi beam filament in just the outer, upper headlights as a low beam, but I don't know the ramifications of essentially having that filament wired to both hi and low. Will I backfeed something I don't want to??
Raised the front of the nose 3/4". A little mudd to hide my mediocre welding skills. Some sanding next then make them red again. I think I'll just rattle can the underside black for now. Eventually, I need to think about inner fenders. Of course, it needs to be drivable for the summer. That might preclude the door work I have planned next.
On the headlights, GM has done Daytime Running Lights (DRL) for decades now using the high beam filaments in series rather than parallel. Just another possibility. Between various aftermarket bulbs it is probably easier to find the brightness you want without diving into the wiring.
Hmmm.... I kinda thought I'd wired the 1959 turn signals as DRLs. They are on when the key is on as well as the yellow LEDs in the headlights. She liked that so I left it that way...
WOW!!! I love that frankinstien !! You'll never have to worry about running into another one! Good for you brother!
Pretty sure these 6 yellow lights are wired to the DRL circuit... Car is just sitting there lights off and engine running.
No love on the replacement grill...Sounded really good that it had been inside for the last 30-40 years, but while it was nice and straight and the pot metal was in good shape it had a considerable booger on the upper left of the pot metal surround.. More sanding... I mudded my ****py door welds. We'll see you that sands out. My thought is that I can run it like that for the summer and see if I get any cracking. Better to find that out before paint.
Finally in red primer. There are still a few little flaws that I'll probably fix... But, no raw, cut edge is pretty nice...
I need to put a right angle flange on this piece where the blue tape is which will attach the forward area of the door sheet metal to the fibergl*** inner structure. Thought about using my tipping die but a test piece told me no way... I went and talked to my buddy that's probably forgotten more about building hot rods than I will ever know... First he told me the part I'm making is called a return... Second, he says "no problem", he walks over to the vise with a test piece and a hammer and VOILA!! Stupid simple... Now to see if I can do it too.
Might be time to invest in a stretching/shrinking tool. Bend the "L", stretch or shrink the flange to get the curve you need. Faster, easier, and more consistent then bending it any other way. I spent years contemplating buying that tool, but never bought it, I know how to do it the hard way. Was a friends shop, he had one, i couldn't believe how long I deprived myself of having one, but by then, I was past the need for it.
Funny you should say that because the same hot rod guy told me when I was building the COE and asked if he'd do some of the work "I'll show you how but it's your truck and you should be doing the work." The piece I was trying to make involved a shrinker/stretcher. So I hung my head and walked into HF for cheap s/s and learned to use them. On this piece, the right angle flange itself is curved like an S. The jaws would flatten that curve. You could shrink/stretch the flat, middle portion and get that curve, but it's blocked by the original flange. The original flange and curve needs to remain the same, it dictates the original 1959 door skin curve. First p*** with the hammer came out pretty good. Kinda had to learn how much to whack it and where.. I had trouble hitting the exact right spot so I ended up with the hammer on the line and hitting the hammer.
Took advantage of a warm, dry day here in NH and got some primer on the doors to blend into the rear quarters a little as well as hide my mul***ude of sins.. Back to the returns later this week....
The Jalopy Journal
