Unless I'm missing something... I don't see any flex connections in your rigid copper plumbing to compensate for engine movement via flexible motor mounts. Keep an eye out for work hardening/fatigue.
Thanks @bobbytnm! I'm definitely going to take my time on the wiring to try to keep from hooking up something wrong which I always manage to do. I'm going to take your advice on doing away with the plastic ends and going with heat shrink. I've never had any luck getting a good crimp with the plastic protectors on. @'28phonebooth that's a good point with the Filcoolator being rigidly mounted. Maybe I'll cut some of the copper line out at the backside of the engine where it'll be hidden by the breather and put in a section of rubber line so it can flex.
I got to thinking in keeping with the wagon tailgate and quarters that it might be cool if I could make a Sweptside emblem for the tailgate based off the '58 Sierra wagon emblem. I got this Sierra emblem as a template and the Dodge emblem in the picture is one I bought and is supposed to be here tomorrow. I traced this out tonight to get an idea of how long a piece of aluminum I would need and put an order in for some. The only other emblem I've made before was a 500 for my dad's Coronet 500 that was missing on one side that he wasn't willing to pay what people were asking for them. That was out of brass though and aluminum can act kind of funny with a bits in a pencil grinder but I figure it'll be fun to mess around with anyways.
For the pad of the accelerator pedal, you might consider having the raised surfaces covered in something like bedliner. It is more durable than paint and the grit in it will give you a more secure footing.
@pwschuh that's a good idea about the bedliner. I think I've even got some down at the shop so next good painting day I get I think I will use that on the pad itself.
For those that wonder what the rear quarter looked like on a 57 Dodge wagon, I have edited this picture as best I could. This is the passenger rear corner from behind the car, with the tail light removed. Through the tail light openings you can see the original 56 quarter. This was my son's parts car, and its the best picture I have of the rear quarter. Gene
You are a bad influence. I ordered two more breathers for my Hemi valve covers today. I told my wife it was all your fault. She said get off that damn HAMB and surf for porn, it's cheaper!
@gene-koning that looks like it would add another level of difficultly getting the wiring for the brake light run with all that extra sheet metal in there! I know exactly what you mean @Bandit Billy! Since I joined up here and have been looking at all the awesome stuff everybody is building I've been buying stuff I never even thought about!
I know I said I was going to stick to getting the truck running and wait on the bed and tailgate project, but I had to help my buddy work on his tractor all this past week and the aluminum I ordered for my Sweptside emblem show up yesterday so I figured I'd work on it this weekend and get back on the truck tomorrow. The Dodge emblem showed up the day after I ordered the aluminum based off my drawing and it was a good bit smaller than the Sierra emblem I used for the lettering so I scanned it and shrank it down a little to match. The Dodge emblem was 1/8" thick where the Sierra was 1/4" so I started by milling a pocket in the back of the 1/4" aluminum plate in the size of my new template. I superglued my template to the plate since that worked fairly well with Chrysler Firepower plate I made. It tried to lift a few times when I was milling but it helped after I brushed some more glue on top of the paper and let it soak through. I started out with a 1/4" end mill planning on going around and stepping down to a 3/16" then an 1/8" like I did on the Firepower plate but realized how much easier it would be to cut out most of it with a band saw since I was dropping out the whole shape instead of a pocket. I cut inside the letters that needed it and anywhere else that I thought it would be hard to get at with the band saw. Here it is after the saw. I thought for sure I'd end up snapping it off in one of the thin spots with it only being an 1/8" thick but I took it slow and got lucky. Here it is after scraping off the paper and cleaning it up some with a pencil grinder and hand filing. Still have a good bit of filing and sanding to do to get the shape right before I polish it up but it went smoother than I thought. I think they'll look good together on the wagon tailgate once I get it on the truck. Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot done this week towards getting the truck moving with this nice warm weather that's coming.
Great project and great thread. I was planning a similar 57 Ford wagon quarter conversion last year. Of course that never happened. Good on you for getting it done.
Great job! Don't forget to "dot" the i. I have cut similar things out with a scroll saw so I can appreciate the work you have in that
Great job on the badging! That font is not an easy one to do with a scroll saw let alone a freakin big ass band saw! You, my friend are a steely eyed badge master. I frickin' love this truck! Can't wait to see how the tailgate plays out.
Thanks for the comments everybody! @J. A. Miller and @ccain I was just thinking the other day that a scroll saw would be pretty handy for different projects. A buddy of mine said he can't hardly find metal cutting blades for scroll saws anymore but he also doesn't use the internet any. I haven't looked into much myself yet but I'm sure somebody still makes metal cutting blades for them.
Yes, metal cutting blades are out there. Our local big box stores don't seem to carry much of a selection but with the internet you can get them in a couple of days. Bosch and DeWalt still make them. I bought a bunch when our Sears store left the area a number of years ago.
That's good to know @J. A. Miller. I'll be looking in to that because there's been many times I think a scroll saw would be very handy. Here's a couple of pictures after sanding and buffing today. I was kind of messing around today with the hood ornament. I actually really like the simplicity of the fin ornament that's on it but the '51 Chrysler hood ornament has always been one of my favorites plus it was the first year of the Firepower. I had one hanging on the wall so I was curious what it might look like on the truck. The curve is pretty close and wouldn't take much grinding to get it matched up perfect but I'm not sure if it looks right with the style of the truck. I would also have to make a piece out of aluminum to blend in with it and cover up where the original was if I was to use this one. I definitely wouldn't drill any more holes in the hood for it. I'll probably just stick with the stock one but I just wanted to see what it would look like because I've always wanted to put one of these on something!
I love all the details, very tasteful! The hand crafted stuff is especially impressive. Just a thought on the tailgate, if it hasn't been mentioned.... maybe try pulling it back a bit to line right up with the curve on the quarter. Then lower it below the top edge of the bed sides. When you make up the side extensions to meet the quarters, you can notch them along the top, so the back corners of the bed are still visible. Might look a little odd, but you won't be hiding those bed rails either way. The bottom of the gate might need a slight trim to clear in that position too. Just some thoughts. Love the truck, keep up the progress!
Thanks @60Pioneer! I think that's exactly the way I'll probably end up doing the wagon tailgate. Let it go inside the bed some and just blend it somewhat to the side panels but leave the corners of the truck bed box exposed. Got the bracket made for the remote oil filter today. Decided to catch a couple of bolts on the tailshaft housing. The filter's up above the crossmembers and the exhaust so I think it's in a pretty safe spot. Looks like the hoses will take a pretty nice path with no sharp bends anywhere. These Socketless fittings ain't no joke to get the hoses pushed on! I think I'm going to have to take the adapter plate off the block because I just can't get a good push on them in the tight spot they're in. Run across some old Mopar vanity mirrors. A Dodge one and one with the Forward Look symbol. From what I've read Virgil Exner had nothing to do with the Sweptside pickups but they stole some of his fins so I guess it fits!
Are you sure that bracket is strong enough? Seriously, nice work and soooo much better than that wheel house location. And you can change it out without a huge mess everywhere.
@Bandit Billy haha yeah I don't think it's going to fall off! By the way I got one of those starter heat shields you mentioned in the other thread when I was trying to the remote set up straightened out. Looks like it's going to work really good. Thanks again for the tip.
Good idea to take the bracket off to complete the assembly of the hoses. Also... be sure to have a swivel connection on one end of each hose (you might have that already, I just couldn't tell from the pics).
I see what you mean @'28phonebooth for if I need to remove the hoses. As tight of a fit as they are, I sure don't think you'd be able to pull them off once they're seated.
We refer to that hood ornament as the flying cock ring... haha Id say run it man... Its better than the stock one for sure.
Hahaha I did not know that! I probably will mess around with making a piece of aluminum to blend in with it some time. I'm keeping an eye out for one that's in better condition than the one I've got since it's down to copper but most that come up for sale are pitted real bad.
Thanks Jeff I'm trying to keep knocking stuff out because I can't wait for that first drive! Got the brake lines all hooked back up today and the fuel line run from the tank. Also took the remote filter adapter plate off the block and got the hoses seated after searching some other threads and finding out a heat gun helps out a lot. I reckon next I'll dive into the wiring. I'm going to mount the three gauge cluster that I had on the engine run stand under the dash since the stock temp gauge doesn't have any numbers and the oil pressure is just an indicator light. It will also let me get rid of the tach that's mounted on the column right now. I don't think I'll hook up the oil pressure indicator light to the sending unit since it won't be needed with an actual oil pressure gauge. I was thinking I might hook up both the stock temp gauge and the new one to the same sending unit but got to wondering if that might affect the accuracy of the gauge. Should I just wire in the new gauge since I really don't need the old one?
You could hook up the oil pressure gauge and get used to how it reacts to engine speed and load. Then add warning light to see if it affects typical gauge readings. You can never have too much info concerning engine happiness.
That's a good point @pprather. A light right in front of me in the dash would probably catch my attention faster if I all the sudden lost oil pressure.
The Jalopy Journal
