Short Block Progress

Turned the heat on in the garage and started to assemble the engine. Except for the timing chain, I have the short block complete.

If it's warm enough tomorrow, there are a couple of small painting jobs I want to finish, so the rest of the engine assembly might have to wait until next year....

Christmas

Christmas activities have had priority, so the only work accomplished on the '56 was small parts cleaning, sketching some console designs, and finishing bolting the body to the frame. After a few minor tweaks to the front floor sheet metal, everything went surprisingly well.

Despite the flexible condition of the body from all the rust, while repairing and replacing panels, I managed to get everything aligned so that the thickest shim required was about 3/8". I'll take that and keep my fingers crossed that it didn't create any yet unseen problems.

Merry Christmas, and enjoy another Roy Orbison favorite.

Radio Mockup

The radio/GPS unit finally arrived after being in transit 11 days from North Carolina. Not at all typical for something ordered and shipped from Amazon.

I did a quick mockup and it looks like it fits okay. Final assembly will be reserved for a cold day this winter

Spent a half-day removing rust and priming some of the remaining sheet metal and small parts. Every time I open a box I find something else that needs restoration.

I also welded up the trim holes on one of the fenders. The method I'm going to use to attach side trim won't require the usual clips that are always among the first rust targets.

Did a bit more shimming and fitting body mounts and ran into a couple more interference issues. Since I don't want to cut out and weld the floor sheet metal, I'll use the "bigger hammer" method to adjust a couple of the homemade floor patches. Nothing will be visible after everything is put together, but I still hate doing things like that, even on a daily driver.

Lazy Day Puttering

With rain a couple hours away, I lost any ambition I might have had earlier this morning, so the only thing I managed to accomplish was to build a better mockup of the dash. Not as stock appearing as I had hoped, but I'm okay with it. I'm not even sure if I want to make the deeper gauge bezels that would look more like the OEM gauges.

Gauges and Body Mounts

Christmas lights and tree are up; finished some gift shopping, and the good weather is holding for one more day, so I was able to get back to the Plymouth for a short time.

The gauges arrived yesterday and they look very nice. I did a quick fit check on the dash and finished cutting the embossed trim plates so the dash can be assembled. The touch screen radio did not arrive as scheduled on the 10th, and is now estimated to arrive on the 15th. I guess the seasonal package load is responsible for the delay, so I think I'll save the dash-build for a cold weather project.

This picture is from the gauge fit check. Unfortunately, the embossed aluminum  is only 8 inches wide, so there will be a seam on each side. The holes under the gauges are for the upper A/C vents. The ignition switch will be on the steering column, so I had room to place the vents symmetrically.

I spent a couple of hours fitting and shimming the body mounts and discovered some interference problems between the aftermarket/homebuilt floor patches and the frame. Nothing that can't be fixed, but it will take some time to work it out.

I discovered another area of thin metal with pin hole rust-through on one of the fenders and decided to fabricate a patch. It required complex curves as it's located in the headlight area. Forming sheet metal is not my best skill, but I finally got it made, welded in and the welds ground down. I think I'll wait until it's on the car before I finish the welded joint with body filler, as it will be easier to shape when the fender isn't flexing.

Progress!

I took advantage of the perfect weather to roll the frame inside and get it situated under the body.

To get enough clearance to roll it under, I had to strap down the high part of the frame to the axle housing. I needed about four inches more clearance, and the 1,000 lb. rated straps were really straining to hold it down.

I had almost no issues as I was able to pry and shift the frame until the chassis mounts were somewhat aligned.

Time to lower the body. This took the longest as I had to constantly check for clearance and alignment. I sure could have used help with this operation.

The body is now sitting on the frame. Most mounting holes are aligned okay, but the two  on the floor behind the driver might require shifting for the pads to fit. This was the area that had concerned me as the rocker panel and floor were so rotted that their location was an educated guess. The parts car was just as bad, so I wasn't able to get a good measurement from it either. At most I might have to move the holes about .25 inches, and it will be close if I have to move or modify the cups to get clearance. No big problem.

The only other glitch so far involved the gas tank. The two bolts that support the rear of the tank had to be cut off. I had purposely left them long to help get nuts started on the bolts, but they hit the frame. If I could do it over, I'd move the gas tank a half-inch forward, but that won't be an issue unless I have to remove the tank. I would have to loosen four body mounts and jack the body about an inch to get access to the nuts and drop the straps. If that's my worst problem, I won't complain.

At least the frame is inside and out of the winter storms. I can now finish the front brakes and also get accurate measurements to verify the motor and transmission mount locations.

I'm worn out for the day, and have other things scheduled for tomorrow, so it might be awhile before I can finish installing the body mounts. I hope to do some more painting while the weather is nice next week and body mounts can wait a few days if necessary.

Catching up

The weather is beautiful, and though I’m itching to work on the car, I’m probably stuck with the Christmas decoration detail today. I’m not going to put up as many lights as usual, but it will still take four or five hours…and then there is the tree. I’m not quite at the “bah…humbug!” stage, but I can see it from here. In the meantime, I’ll catch up the news on this week’s progress.

Received an email notification this morning that New Vintage had shipped my gauges, but for some unknown reason they shipped to my old address. I called and he said he thought the box had not been picked up yet and that they would try to stop shipment. Fortunately they did, and now the delivery date is 12-9.

I finally got the body lifting rig set up and tested, so I’m ready to roll the frame under the body. Now if I can find someone to help get everything lined up and body mounts installed I’ll have a reason to get excited about progress again. However, when I need help, friends always seem to have something better to do. I’ll probably end up doing everything alone, just as I did with the truck. Because the floor and mounting points were so badly rusted, placing the new mounts accurately was  difficult, and it sure would be nice to have a second set of eyes and hands during the mating operation.

I received a few more parts yesterday, including the new Chrysler Power intake manifold and a set of their finned aluminum valve covers. They really look nice, and I’m trying to decide how to paint them to give them a stock appearance. All gold would look closer to stock, but the fins are begging to be trimmed in black.

Got email notification that the touch screen Nav/Radio has been shipped. It’s a Kenwood with a Garmin GPS and the usual media capabilities. It’s not top of the line, but I tried it out at Best Buy and liked the features for the price. It also has provisions for a backup camera, and after having it on my van, I’ll never own another car without one. It’s scheduled to arrive between 12-9 and 12-12 .

Prepped some more parts for paint, and since the temps are supposed to warm up to near 70 next week, I’ll try to get them painted before cold, windy and wet weather returns.

The upholstery shop called wanting me to clarify a couple of things, and said it was going to be tight getting everything done by Christmas, so I let him off the hook and said the middle of January is fine. Until I get the body bolted down, the engine assembly complete, and more sheet metal installed, I really don’t want any more parts to take up space in the shop, so I really don’t need the seats until February.