Some Hoosier Profile parts showed up for the new wheeling machine.. Joe Andrews does some real nice work..
Getting things ready for the next round of SPI epoxy, here hanging the 9" rear on the multi-purpose rotisserie a-frame.. We had this bare spot after the last time we blocked, and had bumped it a bit with the flat body hammer. Doesn't look like it did much to rectify the issue, let's look further.... Looks like the rear end of the inside bracket is pushing a bit on the skin, no wonder the hammer didn't do much. Time to find the tool for the job, a pair of crimping pliers for stove pipe/ductwork..... That should give us some breathing room, and bumped it again with the hammer. Put the SPI in the paint shaker, should have tapped the lid a bit tighter.. More parts ready for spraying.... After 3 coats of epoxy.... Here's some of the "restraint" methods for painting the small parts.... Here clamps for the tie rod ends are held in a twisted loop.. I think the fenders should be good for wet sanding after this go round: .
Well after the weekend off for the Snowmaggedon, back at more parts prep for the next round of primer.. Kyle did some media blasting on the steering box and other parts while I blocked out the inside of the hood and the hood brace.. Then Kyle worked on degreasing and scuffing the trans...
I started some engine assembly this evening, getting the flex plate bolted on and torqued down, starter installed and checked for clearance, and checked clearances for the header.. Kyle blocked out the doors, it looks like our "adjustment" with the stovepipe crimper pliers did the trick to remove the high spot...
We worked Sunday this past weekend, Kyle got a few more pieces media blasted so we could get some epoxy sprayed.. Then, as I was spraying, Kyle gave the wagon a Scotchbrite scrub with some soapy water to neutralize the soda... Doors moved out of the way.....for now.. Sometimes the part has no holes for securing for paint....
Tonight's update, Headers installed using stainless socket heads.... Trans and driveshaft installed Exhaust installation... Steel donut gaskets.... Exhaust that will be heard but not seen.... Header clearance issues to the steering box... Header clearance tool for tube #3... Drum sander clearance for tube #2... looks like we have some touch up painting to do.. Much better...
Love your project , you are a true craftsman and with a great young man helping you while learning. I too used the SS header bolts and after being heated up from running and retiteing marked the top center and removed one at a time , drilled small hole , then safety wired with SS wire . Got tired of lose bolts and the wire looks ok . Blue
Working on another header clearance issue... Removed the factory carriage bolts, they will be replaced with some grade 8 hex head bolts, and to add more clearance we'll get rid of the nuts inside and use some locking heli-coils.. ....for much better clearance. More parts added....
Well the stainless lock nuts showed up today, so we pulled the third member, cleaned the mounting surfaces, installed a new gasket and torqued things down. We also had taken delivery of the Explorer brake kit that gives us shoes inside the rotor for the parking brake. So we have some Lincoln Versailles parts if anyone needs some... Went digging through the brake hose selection at the local Napa store, Guy Auto Parts. This should work for the rear, front hoses should be here Saturday. Now we need a bracket to anchor the hose end... We came up with this design using 16 gauge CRS, and planned to clamp it under the U-bolts... Now looking at it, I'm not sure I want the U-bolts off the axle housing, and may just cut the ears off and plug weld the bracket to the housing. Thoughts?
Epic. I have enjoyed this build so much. And I hate to comment here, (kind of like a blind man critiquing Michelangelo) but how about some finned rocker arm covers on that engine?
No, I agree with you. She's been ordering chrome with bowties as hard as she can. I've been sending them back whenever I can.
Hey Robert, I still look forward to seeing your posts nearly every day. You have done more for my metal fab capabilities in the past couple years than everything I learned by trial and error over the previous 45 years. Thank you again! As for the brake line bracket, go with you gut instinct. I wouldn't put anything under the U-Bolts either. If the bolts are as tight as they should be they'll crush that 16 gage CRS right out of the sandwich, IMHO.
Great work as ever, Robert. I thought you were getting a cast iron wheeling machine, what's with the new wheels?
Yesterday we took delivery on an 8' piece of pipe, 4-1/2" OD with 1/2" wall thickness. Will come in handy as the column for the pedestal planishing hammer build.. A bit more clearancing for the header tube. Perhaps this fine tuning will also add a few HP... Didn't show too much detail on the Explorer brake install last week, so let's see if we can do better today.. The "kit" was designed for the big bearing rear housing with the Torino ends. As luck would have it, the Lincoln Versailles used a big bearing early style, so we'll need to align and enlarge some holes.. Bolted in place using two opposite holes and the included metric bolts, we used the axle bearing as an alignment tool for the backing plates.. Then used a right angle drill for better access in drilling the holes.. This worked for all but one hole that was directly in line with the axle pad.. So we had ordered some shorty 1/2" bits, and still had to take another inch off the length and step the diameter for the drill chuck. Backed into a corner? No problem! And here's our final version on the brake hose anchor bracket, by popular demand! Then this will get epoxy primed along with the other bare brake parts and we'll just touch up the plug welds after welding in place..
That bracket looks good Robert. I've been able to "sharpen" a bit to get it to drill three sided holes in the past but I've never mastered the 6 sided hole bit, very impressive!....(-;
A step drill was used to open a hole the same size as across the flats. Then I found a triangular file that was the same width as the flat on the hex, and filed the top and bottom until the "radius" was now flat. Then used the corner of the file straight into the sides of the hole to mark the midpoint, and filed between the corners until the remaining flats appeared. Or something like that... With the new brake parts all prepped for paint, and the owner not too keen on blue Monroe shocks (I told her it was Ford blue just to instigate), time for some more Epoxy this evening.. Meanwhile Kyle worked on repairing the cross piece for my brother in law's press that we tore up the other night. seems the "peg" hanging down didn't have room for the long axle under, so I put it next to it. We cracked the weld around the peg and pushed it in pretty good. So to make sure he'd let us use it again, we got some replacement parts... The brake anchor brackets had been spread apart and a quick coat of SPI sprayed on the inside, then clamped closed with NNVG for the remaining spray session. Quite the clamping conglomeration... ....and the rest of the parts... After the shocks first coat of epoxy had flashed, they got two coats of the silver Imron...
Well soon after the 35 Chevy returned from GNRS, Cody had it blown apart again to tackle more items on the to-do list.. One of them being inner fenders, which he had asked if we would punch some louvers in those as well. He hand fabricated these parts, seen here: He had quite a bit of work in these and had suggested shipping them down, but we aren't that far apart so I suggested meeting in the middle to pass off the parts rather than trust them to shipping. So we guessed on Parole, MD as being close to a good midpoint, and picked the Double TT Diner to grab some breakfast and catch up on his trip to Pomona. Kyle and I arrived and had made about one lap through the parking lot when Cody pulled in, so this worked to be a good halfway point between Southern MD and Milford DE. Here's what we picked up.... This has a tighter radius than what we had done for the hood sides, so for the punch to better follow the contour, or sit perpendicular to the point of punch, we plan on a rotational fixture attached to the linear slide that the "trough" of the inner fender can be rolled from side to side.. More on that to come.. On the way home from Parole, we made a stop to look at an old fire truck that was slated for a total restoration. We did a quick survey of the truck and made some recommendations to the owner.. While we were there, also stumbled across another 35 Chevy. These 35's are coming out of the woodwork it seems.. Back in the shop, getting ready to re-assemble the rear. Test fitting the rear axle bearings, as the brake kit had come with some .250 thick spacers... My vernier depth gauge showed that the actual distance was .203, so some trimming was in order... With all the parts now test fitted, we took the rebuilt press parts back and gave them a trial run... With the press back in business, the only thing left to do there is to add it in the mix the next time we spray some epoxy, and I generously offered some of the leftover orange from the trailer wheel painting, but my brother-in-law seems a bit apprehensive. Brake line brackets were removed from the paint stand, and this is the first time I noticed these Vise Grips had a Gene Winfield fade paint job on them.. Brackets were plug welded to the housing, welds scuffed and touched up with some SPI epoxy.. Newly painted shocks were reinstalled, and rear brake parts all installed.. A bit closer....
The Jalopy Journal
