Projects At 69 my first A coupe project!

That looks really good, it’s definitely a nerve racking process.

 

Been away from the shop for a few days due to the unusual cold weather and trying to get the shoulder working again. Managed to get the trunk down from storage and buffed yesterday. Mounted the hinges and mounted it on the car. Spent the rest of the afternoon working on a support to hold the trunk over so I can refuel without compromise. I used a chunk of 3/8 tube, installed a shoulder bolt in one end that will be bolted to the bottom corner of the rear pan. it will lay out of sight along the base and will be lifted when required. The trunk has a 12/32 insert near the bottom edge of the trunk so I made up a small receiver tube with a 12/32 bolt welded in the end. It will be inserted here and will provide a receiver for the rod which I had welded a 5/16 bolt to. A little finish work and the end will be tapered to slip into the tube providing a secure connection that should withstand those surprise wind gusts while the trunk is open.
Left the shop without pics but I will update this post later today.

 

Lost my hard drive yesterday so it may be a while before l am able to post much as I am now reduced to using my Android!

 

New lap top will be here Wed.
In the meantime I finished the trunk. The bumpers ended up to short so I made a couple adjustable ones using a button bolt recessed into a rubber grommet. Added some nuts for adjustment. They seem to do the job. Couldn't locate my trunk handle.....is that surprise? Did find one from 37 flat back sedan and it fits so I now have a V8 logo handle!



Put the rear glass in. Now I need to get to work on the windshield. Gaskets arrived this week so no more reason to put it off.
Had to pull off the right spindle as it was not bent enough allowing the drag link to rub. After that I had to redo the front alignment. I used my laser level clamped to the rear drum to shoot a straight line past the front drums. A little measuring and adjusting and we have it close enough to get the car to the alignment shop.

 

like the rubber bumper stops, looked for them on ebay... couldn't find them,
but for $20.xx i got [8] 1"x 1/2" with a molded in 3/8" long 10-24 stud...
thanks for the tip walt...

 

Glad I could be of help Smitty. Got my new laptop yesterday. Boy, things are certainly different compared to my old 2016 version! 20 minutes and everything was restored to the new unit and working. Pretty impressive.
Waiting on the glass company to do the windshield. Dropped off the template yesterday.
Want to get working on the doors this week. Still waiting for parts.
More to come soon.

 

Still waiting on the glass.....so I painted the rear rims black to match the fronts. Then I ran them down to my buddies shop and spun them up. These are L78-15's from Coker that the PO had purchased. Not happy with the balance at all but it is what it is. 2 3/4 and 4 1/2 on the first spin got my attention. The second was just about the same. I may run them in and then take them to my old store where they have a road force Hunter to see if indexing will help.
Picked up some inexpensive black rug from Wallly world. I am going to cover the rear buulkhead with it and see if it will look good/functional for the floor. More on that to come...

 

The boys at the glass shop called, finally got to my glass yesterday. Ran down and picked it up. $70, I didn't think that was too bad.

Pulled the frame apart and punched the holes into the hinge gasket. The gasket seems to be fairly thick. I am concerned now that it will cause some interference with the window closing and not hitting the cowl. Rather than gluing it in place I dry set it, holding it in place with some strings just in case there is a fitment issue. This is the profile of that seal


And tied to the hinge


I am using cloth electrical tape which I had to order for the glass gasket. That came yesterday so I will be trying to get this glass install done soon.
In the meantime, I cut the template for the bulkhead carpet. Now I have to roll out the carpet and cut it to size. Should get that done in the next few days.

Weather is improving quickly, and it is to be in the high 60's this coming week so I think it is time to roll this outside and fire it up. Last Monday we had a freak day where the temps ran up to a humid 70 and the engine was dripping condensation onto the floor......time to dry it out!

 

I decided not to put carpet on that bulkhead. It will look better with tuck and roll on it when I get to that point. Laid the carpet down on the floor and cut all the holes for the seat brackets. Installed the seat next, nothing very exciting there. Yesterday I worked on installing the glass in the windshield. I ordered cloth electricians tape to set the glass and surprisingly it worked out quite well. Today I will try to get that installed. I pulled the ps door out of storage and buffed that out. Now I need the window felts. The first set was shipped on the 29th but they have never shown up. Now I need to find someone that just sells the felts as I do not need the whole kit. Meanwhile, I ordered all the usual hardware for the doors which may be here this week.
And now it is raining most of the week which will preclude me from pushing it outside to fire it up. Possibly Thursday may be clear enough, got my fingers crossed.

View attachment 5372598

 

while you wait have the mrs. pick up all the stuff to make your favorite meal...
when the coupe fires up you can enjoy your favorite lunch... mmmmmmmm...

 

Mrs is going to make a spaghetti pie, one of my favorites! Now all I have to do is get this thing running.
Today I wrestled the windshield in. Surely a job that needed three hands but I used a clamp and a box to help and it worked out ok, Windshield is in finally.

I ordered a bunch of stuff from Snyders, No back orders and it should be here Thursday, That will let me rebuild my window regulators and get the glass installed in the doors. This afternoon I hung the ps door. Then I cut in the courtesy light switches in the door jamb.

These switches I removed from a Lincoln a very long time ago (1985) when I lived in Florida. About time I used them! They are a sealed unit, require a 3/8 hole and have a self grounding face screw so they are easily removed.


and installed in the door post

 

Buffed the ds door out yesterday and cleaned up the original door glass which were in great shape. Received a notice that UPS is bringing my Snyder order today. That has all of my door stuff to get the window tracks and regulators working and new hinge pins/hinge bolts. While waiting I think I will pour some gas in the tank and fire up the pumps to see if I have any leaks/issues. Fingers crossed!

 

go walt go !

 

Well, that did not go as planned! Does it ever?? Sticky float and missing gasket on the banjo fitting=lots of fuel everywhere but in the engine! And, no fuel pressure showing on the gauge, hmmmm where is all this water coming from on the floor???
Ok, easy fix on the banjo and the float fixed itself. Probably gummed up, cleared itself. Water leaking from the plug for the heater hose on the left head. Didn't have the right plug in there so I took a heater hose nipple and cut the end off, welded the hole shut, repaint, make a new seal....done.
Fired the engine again but am missing a cyl as it is not running as smooth as it did months ago. Still no fuel pressure showing on the gauge. I am using electric fuel pumps, yes two. Run one at a time. Having been stranded before along the road with dead pumps I figured I could run two to avoid such occurrences. I do not run both at the same time but rather have them wired to single pole double throw switch. One is a new Facet electronic cube pump 20 gph and up to 6 psi, the other an Airtex with very similar specs. Then I added an in line filter that has a return line fitting to the tank with a small orfice in the line to reduce flow returning to the tank. Then continuing on to the Holley regulator. Checked each pump, both are pumping fuel. Pulled the Holley gauge to ensure the thing is moving under pressure, it does. Fiddled with the regulator, no difference. Think I may have shot myself in the foot here with these two pumps. Never tried this before so building as I go. In theory it seemed like a good plan.
I am thinking that fuel is flowing back thru the off pump and consequently there is an open line hence no pressure. Today I will bridge the two and see if running both at the same time build pressure then from there I will isolate the two to avoid back feeding.
Snyder order came and my door handles are coming today so lots to do now.

 

I ran into the no fuel problem too. I bypassed my oil pressure shut off switch and the pump made all the right noise but maybe it didn't work. It was bought at the swap meet and inside the box was an old invoice. The pump was 30 years old. Turns out I had mounted the fuel regulator backwards. Had me stumped for a long time.

 

some fuel filters only work in one direction... i put a screw in ford brass filter onto my fuel pump.... nothin'... switched ends, bingo.

 

Yep checked the regulator, it is right. filters are in right, arrows pointing to the front. So I squeezed off that return line coming from the 3 port filter and found I had pressure at the gauge. I may have too large of a orifice in that line so I will look at that. Cranked the Olds over and she fired right up. Had a cyl not firing. As it turned out it was a separated wire. Easy fix. Ran it up to temp for a bit. Drove out into the yard, not idling good so I put it back in the garage. Got some oil leaks at the low valve cover corner. Easy fix I hope. Lost the temp gauge, was working and then died. If I ground the sender wire the gauge works so it appears the new Napa sender is junk (made in china)
UPS brought my regulator rebuild kits. Had to do some fine tuning on the parts to get them to fit correctly. The machining of the small parts involved was not the best but I made them work and got the first one completed this afternoon. Rain all day tomorrow so I can work in the shop most of the day. Hope to get the windows in the doors.

 

Got the ps door all done! Wasn't all that bad considering it was my first at putting an A door back together. Glass install appears to be kind of tight in some areas, The bottom of the window regulator gear is very close to the glass channel as it passes by but it clears. Installed the new handles. The deluxe door handle did not fit. The opening was not large enough to accommodate the splined shaft. Called Mikes and asked if this is typical. He stated that it was most likely the build up of the chrome and to use a rat file to remove it. While I certainly do not have an issue with doing that it still erks me that these new parts don't fit. Of course, it is made off shore. Enough said!
The ds door is another subject all together. I got the regulator installed and then the glass which was very tight due mostly to the fact that the existing channel on the bottom was swollen from years of exposure from the weather. Being a cheap SOB I figured I would give it a go to see if it would work. It did not! Got the window in there and then couldn't make it work as it would hit the regulator on the way up. No matter what I tried it was not going to cooperate. And, then it decided that it would not come back out either. Ended up cutting some of the channel off and finally got the glass out. Now I am waiting for a new channel to arrive from Snyders.
Somewhere along the way in the last 10 years I have lost the two door pull tops that go on the top of the door. Are these available or do I have to find some salvaged parts?

 

Not much to report today. My next parts order came yesterday so I can now get the ds door finished. Yesterday I removed all the header bolts that go into the water jacket. Several have had a small annoying leak so I pulled each out and added teflon this time around in an attempt to stop the small leaks. We will see how that goes when we fire this up again. Prior to this I have used Permatex but it has not done the job.
I am starting the registration process with dmv. The state has now changed the way they value your vehicle. I have to provide them with the Nada blue book value regardless of what I paid for the vehicle and they will tack on the 6% sales tax fee based on that report which varies from low book of 9 grand to a high book of 16 g's. Even though I have a signed bill of sale they disregard this document. I have many questions but you cannot go to the local office unless you make an appt. which takes up to three weeks. I may try to reach them by phone but I am not sure that will work either. What a joke!

 

Definitely not looking forward to the next step in the registration process. I had the man from the government come and stamp a number on my frame and rivet a tag onto my firewall. At the time, the body wasn't painted so I managed to convince him to leave me the tag to install after the paint was done. Now the paint is on, the tag is on, but I can't remember how to contact the man to prove I did it right. Getting closer, in any case.

 

Spent a good portion of the day fooling around with the ds door glass. Set the glass in the new channel from Snyder's. Pretty straight forward and I did not break the glass! However, the rebuilt window crank still hits the channel when rolling the glass up or down. Found another crank and cleaned it up. Missing one frame barrel nut so I improvised with some washers and a 1/4 nut and welded that onto the crank frame. Installed it in the door and it works fine, finally.
Hung the door on the car, adjusted the door latch and the door would not latch. Just missing the dog by a bit so I removed it and added a little bit of weld to the surface. Ground that down and reshaped it to fit. Still not enough so repeat, check, repeat, check again. Now the door latches. Added all the new hardware. Only thing left is to attach the foam rubber seal to the door top so I try to roll the window up and the crank gives up the ghost! Wouldn't you know it. Seems it works fine when the door is lying flat on the bench but not with it n the vertical position. Back to square one now with the crank. Have to pull it out and put a rebuild kit in it. We will see how that goes.

 

Thanks Jeff! It has been a long journey, but many are. Been following along on your amazing build. Ex '57 trooper car was my first real nice driver many years ago. Belonged to my barber. I bought it for 500 bucks. 312, 4 bbl 3 on the tree with a 411 gear. At that time, it seemed to be a handful and would really burn the rubber off. Exciting for a 17 year old! Perhaps too exciting as I (with three friends aboard) did a burn out coming off of a small corner from a stop sign to impress the three gals on the sidewalk, lost control, oversteered and hit a 63 Buick head on parked on the opposite side of the street. God, those were the days.
We junked the car, it was totaled

 

I have to say this thread gives me hope. I'm '63 and feel like I'm taking on quite a bit with my current '46, but ultimately starting from scratch and replacing everything is the better road to go, and possibly I'm afraid that bigger projects may be ahead. I hope I have a new shop with a lift in it by that time, I am tired of crawling on the floor, getting sand down my pants and shirt, poked by sharp stuff when I slide under the frame that's jacked up. At least starting with just moving a frame seems like light lifting...less disassembly and once the frame is on axles, most any engine hoist will do. At least it's easy to make sure everything is clean and protected so that it won't end up as yard art...I digress...

I really just wanted to say in regard to this thread, it's never too late to get a boner! And the bigger problem is that it takes a fair amount of coin to find a boner you wanna start with! I'm not dropping $5k for a piece of yard art... I feel I still have more time than resorting to that. The older I get the more vulnerable I seem to be for lack/fear of time in regard to overspending. I don't need another project so will just be patient to find the right one as the base.

 

OK, messed with the ds window regulator again. Pulled out the one that I thought was working and rebuilt it. I will take you along on this effort since I am bored this morning and need something to do . For those who have not done this it is not very challenging, pretty simple so long as you get the new gear aligned properly. Here is the beginning. That spring needs to be removed. Take as much pressure off of it by winding the crank to the full up position and wrestle it off the tang.

The spring gets flipped over depending on which side you are working on.
Then drill out the OE rivets and remove the cover. This is what is hiding under the cover.

and laid out for a better look.

The rebuild kit I received from Snyders requires a 5/16 hole for the new gear shaft.


Drilled that out and inserted the new replacement parts. The new cover will align with the holes of the old cover unless you had a regulator with the older tab design. The latter requires drilling holes for the new cover and using new rivets. Tricky to get the parts and cover in alignment so there is no binding when cranking. Much prefer the rivet regulator body for sure. In this case I switched to a rivet body for this rebuild in as much as the tab piece was really worn out. Had to repair the piece for a missing threaded bung but that was not a big deal. Notice I welded a 5/16 nut with a few spacer washers to get the right height on the new piece.
The kit comes with new rivets however I have found that just tagging the cover with spot welds works much better which is my preferred method.

One last step. The gear shaft will normally protrude beyond the housing on the rear of the piece. This will interfere with the window passing by unless you are really lucky. I was not so you will have to grind that off before reinstalling the regulator in the door.

Now install the unit in the door, crank the arm down so that it appears low in the door. Insert the glass and slide it down to meet the arm, Lift the arm up over the edge of the glass channel and crank it up to the lower edge of the door. Now push the glass up to the same position. Remove the three bolts from the crank mechanism and rotate the window crank pushing the arm as far left as possible until it clears the window channel. Now slide the arm into the channel and crank the regulator back into position to allow the three bolts to be installed. That should do it. Now crank the glass up into the closed position to verify that everything clears and then clean your window as you should be done!
Hope this helps someone that has never done this.
Today I am going to adjust my clutch and start bleeding the brakes. More on that to come.

 

Update on the registration. A real catch 22 it seems. Vt has street rod certified inspection stations located around the state. Unfortunately, despite what their info stated, the one in our area has been closed for two years. Nearest one now is 45-50 miles away. The SR certification form signed by the inspector has to be sent in with your application for SR plates. However, one cannot drive to the inspection station as your vehicle is not registered so one has to rollback the car there and back and tie up the rollback for the duration while the inspector checks "every bolt and weld" as I was told in my conversation with the inspection facility yesterday. Right!
You could register the car with a normal registration and get the plates with 15 days allowed to get the car inspected but it won't pass normal inspection since VT has a bumper and fender law. So in this vein one could drive the car to the SR inspection garage, get it inspected, drive it home and refile for SR plates. Of course, this is like registering two cars from the money perspective.
As an alternative, VT has a temporary registration form. More money but gets you a ten day paper plate so you could ensure the car is road tested/worthy before heading out on the SR inspection ride. You can do the temporary as often as you need to.....more $$.
My friend has a garage 5 miles away from me and is a registered inspection station so being clever I have convinced him to ask for the SR certification add on. Should be simple enough, right? Would solve a lot of issues. We will see how the works out. In the meantime I may just do the temp plate so I can get this on the road to check it how all the systems go.
Frustrating to say the least.

 

I don't believe it is possible to get our cars legally on the road without some illegal behavior. The trick is in not getting caught.

 

Once they're registered the world is your oyster! The trick is getting them registered to begin with, at least with my experience in California. Once registered all you need to do is keep paying your registration and they'll keep sending your a new sticker. Re-registering one is problematic in this scenario though...

 

Yes, once registered one does not want to let it expire as in this state if you do then one starts fresh and gets to pay 6% tax again on the value as ascertained by kelly blue book. Bunch of crap really.