Seats and Little Stuff

Seats and door panels went into the upholstery shop yesterday. I had a difficult time deciding what color vinyl to use, as there was nothing that perfectly matched the OEM exterior paint shade that I'm also using on the dash.  After considering dozens of samples, I decided to go with a medium tan that matches the fabric nicely and also the leather that will be used on the steering wheel wrap. It should also look good with the bright, stainless steel window frames and gold/brass trim.

The dash is ready for paint, and I'll try to accomplish that this weekend. If the weather improves, I might also push the car outside and paint the door jams and firewall, since they are all the same color.

Ordered windshield wiper blades and a few trim pieces for the interior.

I was lucky to run across a dealer script from Eastside Chrysler Plymouth in Aurora, CO. It was the dealer I used for repairs when I was stationed at Lowry AFB, and is the dealership where the main character in my novel would have bought his '56 Fury, since it was not far from the base. It seems appropriate to put it on my car...if it ever gets on the road.

The redesigned park lever and shifter cable arrangement is getting closer to reality. The cardboard mockup works okay, and now I only have to make a bell crank and a bracket to mount it to the transmission case so I can test the operation. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, as I'd really like to keep the pushbutton shifter!

Still haven't decided on the gauges. I really hate spending that much, but will have to decide soon.

Before the Rain

Heavy rains predicted for the next week, so with perfect temps the last few days  I concentrated on doing things that I prefer to work on outside. Solvent cleaned and wire brushed bolts, brackets, and misc small parts.

Finished rust removal and surface prep, repairing, and tack-welding one fender.


Added filler rings in all gauge mounting holes and eliminated the dash speaker grille since it matched the speedometer dimensions and now I'll be using a smaller gauge. Instead of going through the trouble of modifying the grille, I decided to get rid of it. I'm modifying the dash more than originally planned, but since duplicating the OEM gauge design is too expensive, I'll concentrate on making it more attractive and functional. However, though no longer symmetrical it should still look somewhat original.




Engine is ready to assemble, so I'll have an indoor job to work on until the weather clears again. Had to clean lots of rust and scale from the water jacket.


Everything scheduled for the upholstery shop is ready to go. Just waiting for word to take it in.

Photo Posting Problems Continue

I still can't post photos using the blog JPG download feature, but will try adding a couple by inserting a PDF file.

Got a quote from the gauge manufacturer, but it was a shock. Three years ago I bought a five-gauge set for just over $600, but this time they want nearly $1,900 for a set! There was to be more custom design to better match the OEM style, but just the standard gauges were double the previous price.

I'm about ready to begin assembling the engine, so I'm cleaning, prepping and painting all the little stuff. The pan had a sharp dent, so had to beat it out and weld to be sure there were no pinholes to leak.

A week to go before I'm scheduled to bring the seats in to be reupholstered, and I'm still debating a color change for some of the vinyl!

 A quick mockup to see if the button force will be excessive gives me hope. I'd really like to make that mod a success. Also redesigning the park lever hardware to see if I can better fit it behind the dash.

America Also has it's Talented Youngsters..Lennon and Maisy

Another Dutch Musical Wonder!-Amira Willighagen

Just another 9-year old with a bit of talent.

Picked up the transmission

True to his word that it would be two weeks, my transmission builder called me to pick it up yesterday. To my pleasant surprise, the bill was $200 less than the estimate, and that included having to send the converter to TN to have it rebuilt as there were no rebuilt parts stocked in the DFW area. He said that mechanically the internals were in excellent condition and only the clutches were toast.

The shift detent spring was replaced and now you only have to gently nudge it with one finger to make it shift. I hope the pushbutton detent will be enough to hold it in gear! Maybe I'll still have to go with a floor shifter and change the detent spring back, but it's fun to experiment with a way to use the original PowerFlite pod with five TorqueFlite buttons and a park lever.

There is some progress in other areas as I started replacing rusted sheet metal on the fenders while waiting for parts to arrive. The old NOS patch panels fit perfectly.

I've also been working with the engineer at New Vintage USA, the gauge manufacturer I've used in the past. The only serious problem is the speedometer. The '56 speedometer is larger than anyone in the aftermarket offers, so what I want would have to be custom made, which means paying for CAD time and tooling. Not sure which way I want to go yet. Once they develop the tooling, other '55-'56 Mopar owners would have a source for a modern big gauge for their modified cars. My bet is that Dodge and Desoto speedometers are the same size as the Plymouth version, and would only need a face with different artwork to make them look OEM.

I'll also have to modify the dash to fit the new gauges, but nothing too radical. The difficult part will be making everything appear factory designed and built.

Upholstery

I visited the upholstery shop this morning and tentatively checked the vinyl colors. One problem I discovered was that no currently produced material perfectly matches the dash color. The choices I have are to find a better matching obsolete material from the warehouse stock, and hoping there is enough for the job, or changing the dash color to more closely match a currently available vinyl so we can use a current product.

We found several current samples that would look fine with the stock exterior color, so using that shade on the interior metal might be a better solution. He said that it would be about two weeks before he will be ready to start my job, so I have that long to make a decision about paint.

Speaking of two weeks, my transmission should be ready any day if that shop's schedule didn't change. I told him the date wasn't critical, and that he could delay mine if someone came in with a transmission problem and was desperate for repair.

Blogger Problems

I've been trying to post pictures for days, but since upgrading to Windows 10 the Blogger program is flaky and when I download the picture it locks up the program.  Windows 10 is great in many ways, but blogger.com has posted a notice that it does not support 10 and that problems can be expected.

The help forum suggestions don't fix anything, so it may be awhile before they update their software and I can get back to posting.