Air Force Pararescue Memorial Ceremony for TSgt Michael Flores

Only one of far too many to recall on Memorial Day.

Air Force Blue song (1960-63)

Car restoration is going slow and another emotional holiday has arrived. While searching for an appropriate video to express my feelings on Memorial Day I ran across this one that doesn't fit the holiday, but it made me think of how many friends have passed since we served together. Some lost in war, some from illness and accident, and some after living a long and full life.

Fifty eight years ago today, I had been in the Air Force for exactly three days. I was seventeen years old, scrawny, scared and homesick. Little did I know how much I would come to love the service and that I would spend over twenty-three years wearing the blue suit!

This video brought back fond memories of the aircraft we saw every day when I was assigned to my first operational unit at Hahn Air Base, West Germany in the fall of 1960.

Off to the Rebuilders

The shaft is shortened and the steering gearbox was shipped on Thursday to the Lares Corporation in Minnesota for rebuilding.

I haven't done much on the car as the wife wanted me to build a workbench with storage for her art supplies/ I'm nearly finished with it, but with temps in the high nineties and a brisk SW wind, I don't last very long working in the non-air conditioned part of my workshop. Cooler weather is coming next week.

We finally got our East Texas house in contract. There is a contingency clause, but at least we have earnest money and legal paperwork.

Next on my car to-do list is installing some of the basic power and ground wiring so I can determine wire bundle routing and fuse placement.

Since I will have two power buses...one under the hood, and the other inside the console...I must first determine the location of the under-hood fuse/relay block. That requires temporarily mounting the inner fender sheet metal. I worked on that project for a while, but I'm not going to permanently install any more sheet metal since I want easier access when I fabricate and route the brake and transmission cooling lines. I need to order more parts before I can do that.

Steering Plan

I called the Lares Corp. to get the info to ship my steering box for rebuilding. Naturally, since I talked to them two years ago the price has gone up more than a hundred dollars. It's now $377.99 and that covers a new bearing and seal kit and labor. If any parts are bad, they are extra, but at least they can still rebuild them. They didn't commit to a time frame until they see the box

I've decided that the simplest way to join the truck steering column to the '56 box is by using all splined connections. That makes it easier to align the steering wheel if that proves to be an issue, and it requires less machining than trying to make a combination of DD joints and splines.

Here's the way I plan to do it:

II

Quarter Windows and Steering Shafts

After leaving Air Force active duty, I worked for a custom home builder for a few years. The owner was the onsite foreman when it came to critical work, and laying-out and setting forms for the foundation was the one thing he insisted on doing himself. He said that a quarter inch error in the foundation would cause problems at every step of construction and he wanted it exactly right. I thought of him when I encountered a new problem that is related to an earlier one I discovered many months ago. At that time, I decided that a ¼ inch sheet metal misalignment on the passenger side was a factory error, and not repairable without major sheet metal work. Now that quarter inch problem came back to haunt me.

At the time, due to severe rust damage I had no way to check the exact placement of the inner rocker, so I had to make a best guess. Now, while trying to install the passenger quarter panel glass, I have minor interference where the guide track meets the aftermarket inner rocker near the door post. It’s only off by about 1/8 inch but it is next thing to inaccessible through access holes from above. I can’t insert a tool to cut the end of the rocker to clear, so I tapered the nylon guide on the end of the window, and then adhesive-bonded a “skid plate” on the top side of the rocker so the guide doesn’t catch the end when the window is lowered all the way.  It’s almost as hard to describe as it is to reach, but it is done and so far so good! At least the quarter window is installed and operating, though both sides will need serious adjusting after the doors are installed.

One other minor accomplishment was cutting the block to clear the motor mount. That proved to be a simple operation.

I also sand blasted and painted the steering box and shaft, as well as the truck shaft to which it will be mated. It’s time to start thinking about the best way to join the two pieces, so I’ll take it into the local machine shop to get their opinion. The machine shop is run by an old hot-rodder, so he might have some good advice.

I’m thinking a custom coupler with a Double-D on one end and splined on the other. I’ll also have to cut the steering wheel spline so it has infinite adjustment since I’ll be losing the factory setting.

Finally!

When is good enough, good enough? My long-running battle with the rear glass trim has made me ask that a thousand times, but I believe I am finally there!

There is still a small area where the seal is deformed as it tries to slip inside the cutout, and the edge of the trim doesn’t quite fit entirely inside the groove, but until I find a glass installer who could do a better fit, I’m as far as I can go. Once the car is on the road, if I want it better I can drive it to the installer and not depend on them coming to me.

Without the trim perfectly installed, I see three potential problems…appearance, water leak, and wind damage.

Since this car has always been intended to be a driver, appearance is subjective. There are other defects that would not be acceptable on a show car, but are fine for my use, so I’m not too worried about looks.

Water leakage could be a problem, but since it will be a fair weather car, I’m not too concerned about rain. Washing could be a problem if I run it through a car wash, or forget about the potential leak if hosing it down myself.

The chances of wind possibly ripping the trim off are unknown, so I used a generous shot of “The Right Stuff” to adhere the upper trim molding to the seal and to secure the stainless steel side plate that fits over the edge of the molding. Maybe not 100% trustworthy, but it shouldn’t be a problem at highway speeds.

At this point, I’m going to say good enough is good enough until something tells me different, but I won't take a close-up photo for now.

If at First You Don't Succeed....

...try,try again. That's the old saying meant to encourage one to persevere, but I wonder sometimes.

I modified the jig again, and it's much improved. I can now retain the trim where it fits over the seal as designed, but because of the non-matching size of the glass and seal, the stainless trim simply will not snap into place for a short distance on the passenger side. When pressure is applied to the seal, a portion slips inside the opening in the sheet metal and causes the rubber to deform so the trim will not fit. Because of the limited access to the problem area, I've not found a way to support the seal from inside to prevent this, and the tools I've made to guide the seal won't fit where they need to be.

A comment on the previous post suggested I invite helpers to a glass-installing party, but the sad reality is that when you reach my age and the age of my friends, the pool of mechanical competency and interest is shallow. Since I moved here, the number of car-guys I've met is also small, and I haven't been able to find a volunteer for even the simple jobs that require more than one set of hands. Instead, I rely on finding ways to do things alone. If I was looking for help with a golfing problem, volunteers would be a glut, but most men in their late seventies have no desire to crawl around someone else's car getting cuts, bruises and sore muscles.

I would gladly hire a professional to help, but the only one I know is the one who installed the glass, and he's not interested in doing anything more with my car. The fact is that when your preference is Mopar, you are pretty much alone when it comes to support in any way.

I suppose I'll eventually find a way to resolve this problem without removing the glass and seal and starting over, but it certainly is eating up the time I could use to make visible progress. With the hot Texas summer on the way, my plan to have the car on the road late this year is quickly fading.

Adjustable Jig...First Try

It may look like it belongs on the head of the Frankenstein monster to jump-start a cadaver brain, but it almost does the intended job.

The first iteration helped me insert about 90% of the trim length, and it went very nicely, but there is still one place where I can't get the trim to slip into and lock in the seal groove. Tomorrow, I'll try another tool modification to see if I can make it work. I really don't want to start re-shimming the glass, and if the jig won't work, since I have an extra molding, I'm going to consider grinding the edge off the stainless and attach it to the seal with trim adhesive.