I had to mount another support hook in the ceiling so I could suspend the hood from a rope. It only took an hour to get it close enough to install the bolts, and another three or four hours to make all the adjustments. I only have to fill and sand two small dings near the hood ornament mounting holes, and the body will be ready for primer, final prep and paint. I'm not sure if I want to mark the mounting locations so I can remove the hood before painting, or if I want to paint it while in place. If I was sure I would have help after painting, it would be easier to spray and color sand, but if doing it alone again, I'm scared that I might scratch or chip the new paint. Decisions, decisions!
Now, if I can get a paint booth built so I will be ready to spray if the weather ever decides to cooperate.
Hi, I sure got a rough time over at the Facebook site, the good news it doesn't matter it's just Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about asking you about your hood last week , I was putting my fenders and rad support in last week and the doors are off and because of the Dakota stub I have no fender mount reference. I have to fabricate a rad support mount but I need the fenders in the correct position. I think I'm close, at the cowl the fenders are even and parallel with the cowl, is that correct? I had to remove a lot of the inner fenders and the front of the Dakota frame, big job to fit the front sheet metal. THANKS,
Hi, Ray! Yes, I saw some of the snarky responses you received on Facebook and was glad to see you just ignored them.
ReplyDeleteAfter doing the adjustments on my car when installing the hood, I can believe your Dakota clip transplant is going to require some creative fabricating, especially for alignment of the radiator support.
I just studied my installation, and my overlay of the ’56 and the Dakota frames, and it will be almost impossible to take any measurements that would compare to your setup to mine. Without your doors installed to check gaps, the adjustability of the fender mounting holes might make it possible to have them slightly angled in relation to the firewall.
When I place a long straight-edge against the bottom of the fender and the outer rocker molding, they are parallel and even.
If you plan to use the original ’56 2-bolt plate to attach the radiator support to the Dakota frame, I think I would try to create temporary vertical adjustment where it attaches to the Dakota frame, and then weld it after everything is in place.
My plate is offset toward the passenger side almost as far as the engine offset, but considering the manufacturing tolerances of the era, yours might be different.
Please let me know if can help you with measurements, photos, or sketches that might clarify. You can use my GaryS1941@gmail.com address.
Well done Gary ! Must have been a struggle to install that big chunk of metal all by yourself..can't wait to see your machine painted ! Keep up the good work,you're doing great progress ! I'm still patching in sheet metal bits on my 55' wagon,had hoped I would be finished this spring,but no..not much left though.Little or no working on my old cars trough spring and summer,cause they are really short here,you know,so we must try and enjoy them the best we can..
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Geir
PS: would love to see some pictures of Ray's wagon too..are there any somewhere ? I'm not on Facebook though..
Geir, I have some of Ray's pictures, but my filing system is so bad, I'll have to look some more. In the meantime I'll post what I quickly found.
ReplyDelete