Between Thunderstorms

A break in the thunderstorm pattern allowed me enough dry time to fit check the transmission crossmember. It needs some trimming and cutouts for the exhaust pipes, but it looks like the basic shape will work fine.

After the Rain

Three inches of rain helped our long term drought conditions, but made working outside a mess so I disassembled more of the Fury donor car and vacuumed the interior. Removing several pounds of dirt, rust, undercoating and acorn shells makes it a much nicer place to work. Removed stainless pieces from the inside quarter panels and polished everything. One more detailing job done.

Cut and welded the remaining passenger seat mounting brackets, so they are ready to drill and paint.

Transmission Mount Mockup

Measuring the location for the transmission mount makes me feel like a pilot flying on instruments the first time. A high degree of confidence in what the numbers say, but a nagging mistrust that could be expensive if something is misread.

I tried adapting a cross member from a Dodge truck, as well as the one removed from the Belvedere's forward location. Neither look simple to modify, so I'll have to build it from scratch.

 

Heavy rains last night and this morning, so it's doubtful I can do much outside today. I'll need more material, but last week I bought the last piece of 1/8" steel plate Lowes had in stock. It's either wait for them to restock, or drive to another store. Might check out Home Depot this weekend.

Motor Mounts are Installed

With rain forecast for the rest of the week, I thought it wise to finish the motor mount installation so the bare metal from cutting and grinding doesn't rust before I weld. It was windy again today, so welding was difficult as the gas kept blowing away from the weld. I finally finished, but the welds are not as pretty as they might have been if done indoors.

Because the saddles were cut from a truck donor and were mounted to the side frames, they aren't as tall as the ones I've seen in cars, so I had to scab on several pieces of 1/8" metal to reinforce the brackets. If the car had come with an engine and transmission installed so reference points were available, I could have removed the stock brackets and fabricated the modern brackets to look a lot neater. The way it is, I had to use the stock pads as attach points, and even then it was a guess.

I keep telling myself to quit worrying about neat in places not normally seen, but I hate doing things like that.

Finally!...Motor Mount Surgery

I ran out of excuses to delay cutting the motor mount pads and begin fabricating new saddle mounts. I took care of that today and will tack weld the parts in place for a fit check if weather permits tomorrow. With no original mounts, or even a transmission cross member to use as a reference point, the locations for new mounts are an educated guess. I also don't have a two or three groove crank pulley that will fit, so I'll install the mounts roughly an inch higher than I think I need to clear the frame. If necessary, I can lower them, but it would be difficult to make them higher.

Seat Mounting Brackets

Finished one set of seat mounting brackets so I can test fit the driver's seat. They fit quite well and should also work on the passenger's seat. The major difference is the offset hump that leaves a narrower area for the passenger seat. I may need to relocate some holes so they fall within the reinforced area under the floor.

Next I need to determine the seat fore-aft adjustment limits so the holes can be drilled in the floor. Once I do that, the seats can go out to be recovered.

Also looked at the possibility of using the stock Belvedere side trim from the bench seat. The seats sit much higher than in the donor car, so there is a large gap that needs to be covered. The contour is close to matching the Sebring seat, but would need some trimming and modifying to attach it to the seat and to allow for power seat adjustment. That's a worry for another day.

                               

4-11-15

Mylar spears arrived in the mail. They look nice despite the larger '58 texture. Wish I was at the point of installing final trim!

Spent the afternoon cutting and welding parts to mount the seats. Also decided to re-design the motor mount brackets to make them simpler. I'll need some more steel, but at least the size I need is in stock at Lowes.

Once the motor and seat mounts are done, I won't have any legitimate excuses to delay joining the body and frame...at least that I can think of for the moment. It's intimidating for a one man operation, but at least I'll be able to hang the body from the shop ceiling, roll the frame under, and lower it with an electric winch. When I installed the truck body and bed by myself, I had to jack and block it out behind the garage. Not fun without help.

Gold Side Spears

Ordered gold, textured Mylar material from Jim Rawa to use for the side spears. It has a '58 Fury texture, as '56 is not available. Due to the dimensions and the location of the fuel door within the spear, the material won't work on a stock '56. However, since I reduced the size of the stock spear and relocated the fuel filler, it should work fine for me.

Price is competitive with the paint alternative, and even with the incorrect texture it should appear closer to original than just using metallic gold paint.

Steel and Glass

Picked up some of the steel angle and plate that I need to install seats and fabricate motor mounts. Couldn't get 1/8" steel in anything other than a 4'x8' sheet, so I'll have to order online.

Picked up my side glass and they apparently gave me a discount because of the delay completing the job. Last week I made it clear I wasn't pleased with the two-week wait when three days was quoted. At $89 for two windows, it was about 50% off their quote and even less than the best online prices I found.

Stainless Steel...Day Three

Easter Sunday and another day to clean, sand, and polish. One more upper door frame shiny and ready to install fuzzies. Two hours yesterday and four hours today, and while the results are less than beautiful, they will do. I keep telling myself it's not a show car, but rather a resurrected from rust, finned, fun car, not a trophy-hunting trailer queen. Had I not taken on the project, by now the quarters, fenders and doors would be transplanted onto another '56, and the rest would have been crushed to make new Toyotas.

4-3-15

Another day of cleaning, straightening, and polishing stainless steel. This time it's interior door panel trim.

Determined configuration and what material was needed to mount seats. Glad I modified the floor shape to be flat, as it makes locating seats much simpler. Will try to find 3-1/2" angle and 1/8" plate steel locally to save shipping cost. Online price is reasonable, but shipping is obscene.

4-2-15

It's been over two weeks since the window frames went to the glass shop. I called three days ago and they said they would call the next morning to give me a status report, but they didn't...no surprise. I stopped there today and they promised the parts would be done before quitting time.

I installed the first fuzzy strip on one of the interior window frames. I used Arrow 606 wide crown staple, 3/8" long. Works much better than the stainless wire I first tried. I did have to do some drilling where the existing staple holes didn't line up with the gaps in the strip.

Designed new brackets to attach motor mount saddles to the frame. Now I have to find some 1/8" metal to fabricate the parts.

Front Gravel Pan

I can't imagine the reason there was a hole cut in the front gravel pan, and done so neatly with a torch! It's now patched and primed.