Attacking the Rear Floor

With the trunk nearly complete, the next stop was the rear floors. This area had the most rust damage and some of the most complex shapes to duplicate. The area in the corner where a set of body mounts is located offered a few challenges when it came to removing the old sheet metal. There was little room for even a small rotary cutter, and a spot weld cutter wouldn't work at all, so it was time to break out the air chisel. It flies through the sheet metal but has little effect on spot welds. it took a long afternoon just to remove the old material. Now I have to grind what's left of the spot welds and then treat the remaining areas for rust before installing the new metal.

Once again there will be much partial salvaging and hand forming to make functional equivalents of the original parts.

Speaking of that, last Friday I attended the Pate swap meet at Texas Motor Speedway with a long list of parts and pieces I wanted for my project. As usual, there were almost no Chrysler parts and only '68 and newer muscle Mopars had a few things available.

There was one vendor who offered nearly every sheet metal reproduction part for several years of Chevelles. I saw complete floor pans for less than $500, that appeared to be stamped with factory tooling. The four pathetic little pieces I found for my floors cost about the same and are nothing like the originals and will require hours of modifications. It's indeed a challenge to restore rare Chrysler cars, but at least my Plymouth won't be just another me-too car if and when it ever gets on the road.

Just a little more cleanup and I'll have one side ready for new metal. I still have some planning and testing to figure out how to make the inner rocker panel.

Dash Paint

The weather wasn't conducive to keeping the garage doors open to work on the back of the car, so as a fill in job I cleaned and prepped the top of the dashboard. I picked up a can of semi-flat black from Lowes, but as you can see, it's too shiny. I'll have to order another brand that's said to be very close to OEM by someone who has restored a '56 Plymouth, but in the meantime the surface is protected from rust and the part will go into storage and out of the way until needed.

I didn't paint the shifter pushbutton housing as I'm still trying to locate parts for the modified TorquFlite setup that I want to adapt. If anyone knows where I can obtain a foot or two of 1/2" square, stainless steel thinwall tubing, please let me know. The places I've contacted won't even respond to my request. I imagine they are only interested in big orders.

Trunk Progress

Trunk floor replacement is far enough along for me to move on to another major sheet metal challenge. I think it will be the back seat floor, but I'll have to evaluate it some more...that means procrastinate. I've never tried a major repair project like this one, so I want to be sure I work things in the logical sequence.

I found another source for patch panels, so I'm holding off some repairs waiting for a response to learn if they have any formed parts that will make my job easier. In the meantime, I ordered some 20 gauge sheet metal for the exterior patches I know I will have to fabricate. I would have liked to order a full 4' X 8' sheet for the reasonable $59 they quoted, but the freight bill would be over $150, so I ordered two smaller pieces that can ship via UPS.

The tail panel and most of the trunk floor are tacked in place and ready to finish welding. I'll do some of that when I have easy access while replacing the lower portion of the quarter panels.

 

It was fun doing this corner! After removing the fuel filler sheet metal, I had to form several pieces and scab on a body mount cup salvaged from the Big M trunk floor. By the time I get to sealing the bottom of the car, I know I'll be using a lot of seam sealer in this area.

Repaired Wiper Bezels

The wiper bezels I repaired with Muggyweld are ready to send off to be replated.

 

You can still see tooling scratches, but the parts will receive a final finish and then be flash-plated with copper before they are chromed. That should make them look quite nice.

I would estimate I have at least 6-7 hours of work on each one to get them to this point, so I now understand why many shops won't attempt to repair pot metal, and if they do, they charge a pretty penny. That said, it was fun doing the repair, but would have been more fun if I had the proper equipment to achieve the final finish. If I had many more parts to repair, I'd look for more appropriate tools.

Overall, I'll give Muggyweld a C+ rating for use by a novice. The instructions and their YouTube videos lack information, so the learning process becomes expensive when a mistake is made and you have to grind away excessive material. A few feet of alloy rod and a small bottle of flux are all you receive in the kit, so the markup has to be at least $50. On the plus side, the applied material is easy to work, and errors are easily corrected if you do screw up.

If the strong winds ever stop, the next step is attaching the tailpanel. Yes, I could weld inside, but I much prefer working outside when possible, especially when grinding down the welds, so I'll wait for better weather.

New Springs 'n Things

I ordered and received a set of coil springs from Springs 'n Things in Pennsylvania. They have a good reputation, and once again they didn't fail me. The springs are American made, were half the price of those offered by other suppliers, and arrived three days after I ordered them.

Kanter sent the frontend rebuild kit, and sad to say that all the parts were made in China or Taiwan.  The only missing part was the center link. After sending in the order they called and informed me that I'd have to send in the old part first. Another company is priced exactly the same, and will send the new one if I pay a core charge first, so I might buy from them only because the unstated Kanter policy was annoying.

Now that most of the steering and suspension parts are here, I'll have to decide which front disc brake conversion kit to use so I can get the front end back under the frame.

Quiet Day and a Talented Lady

It's a quiet Sunday and I decided to watch the race from Martinsville, so with no car progress to report, I'll just post this YouTube video of a remarkable young Dutch trumpet player for you to enjoy.

Tools!

FedEx and UPS have been busy again, so I now have tools and can get back to my sheet metal work.

After I trim a couple of pieces, I'll take on the first major amputation and repair with new parts and material. First on the list is the tail panel. The '55 part is now cut down to the point where it shares contours with the '56. Fortunately the part from the '56 was in good shape in the salvaged areas, so no problems there.

Weather permitting, I should soon have some new photos to post.

Muggyweld

While waiting for FedEx to deliver my replacement tools, I’ve been playing around with one of the yet untried restoration challenges.

I first heard of a product called Muggyweld some years ago. It’s a low melting-temp soldering/welding system with several advertised uses, but my interest was specifically to repair pitted pot metal parts.

The shop that re-chromed most of my ’56 parts also does pot metal repair, but what I had done by them was fairly expensive and the results were not show quality by any means. When I brought the parts to the shop I stated I only expected driver quality, so the less than perfect quality wasn’t an issue, but I was curious to learn for myself just what it takes to repair soft metals in the event I wanted to try performing the labor intensive part of the job myself.

After watching a YouTube video, I decided to experiment with Muggyweld, first to see if it’s something an amateur should attempt, and also to see if I could save a few bucks. My labor is cheap, but the kit is not, as I received an airtight plastic container with half a dozen alloy rods the size of standard welding rods, and a small bottle of flux that looks and flows like honey. The kit was $59 on Amazon.

I practiced on a couple of seriously pitted windshield wiper mounts before I attempt repairing the better set, and I’ll show you what I have accomplished so far.

The part on the left is one of my better parts, and it shows the typical pitting on sixty year old pot metal that’s been exposed to the elements most of its life.

The center part has been wire brushed and sanded to remove the peeling chrome, but I haven’t yet begun to grind out the corrosion. That operation involves the use of a Dremel tool with a variety of attachments, mainly tiny burs so the deep pits can be drilled out much like a dentist does teeth.

One side of the part on the right shows how much material had to be removed to get to clean base metal. As you can see, the surface is very rough. The other side has had Muggyweld added to build up the surface to the original level. I didn’t make an effort to fill in the few remaining voids, but rather wanted to see the effect of grinding and sanding the soft material with different types of tools.

Not sure if I can get the parts as defect free as the ones I had done at the plating shop, but I’ll give it a try.

 

High Quality Chinese Tools!

With the weather cooperating again, I thought by this time I'd have photos of new sheet metal tacked into place, but my Chinese tools thought differently.

First to go was the nearly new Ingersol Rand air shear. I bought it just before I began cutting patch panels, so I've not used it much, but the center blade broke off. Since I originally paid twice what the no-name shear cost I expected the quality to be better, but I guess expensive Chinese products are just as crappy as cheap Chinese products.

I located replacement cutting blades on line, but they were only $20 less than a new tool. I suppose I made another bad decision by ordering the new tool, but I'm hoping the first tool failure was a fluke, since user reviews were very good. If the new one goes belly-up I can use the first tool to cannibalize parts...unless the same thing breaks!

Next, I set up the Chinese bead roller to put some rigidity grooves in the trunk floor. The manual says 20 gauge is the heaviest it will form. The manual was right, but I had to try it on the 18 gauge required for the floor. When trying to form 18 gauge, the frame flexes and the die wheels will not track true. The set screws meant to secure the dies also slip if you set the dies too tight, which means you have to roll the panel through, then tighten the setting and roll it back again. It took three passes to form the panel and because of the flex, the repeats drifted off-line. I finally got them done, but pretty doesn't describe the results.

The day wasn't done yet, as I decided to use my Chinese bench grinder to clean up some welds on small panels. Despite being the most powerful and expensive model carried by Northern Tool, it's laughably gutless. I've learned how to baby it and still get some work done, but apparently its days are numbered also. The cast aluminum part-rest broke off at one wheel, so I can only use one side. Today the light switch broke and the plastic shield can no longer be adjusted, and keeps falling out of place. It's over a year old, so perhaps I'm expecting too much.

Not to be outdone by the more expensive tools, my pick hammer lost its head when the wood handle split. Not much of a crisis, but just one more little aggravation.

If I could buy North American made tools, I'd gladly do it, but almost none are made for the home owner and shade tree mechanic. Even professional and commercial grade tools made here are a rarity, and all are prohibitively expensive unless used on your regular job every day.

One piece of sheet metal stock had quite a bit of surface rust, so I used my dad's 1951 vintage Craftsman belt sander to clean it up quickly. That thing had thousands of hours of heavy use on his construction job, yet keeps on doing the job after more than sixty years, with only a couple of small parts replaced. I sure can't say the same for the modern crap.

3/17/14 Update

Almost another week gone with only meager progress to report. My wife’s honey-do list required several days of attention, plus winter made a brief but nasty return, and I didn’t feel like turning the heat on in the garage again.

After the temperature climbed into the fifties today I did make butcher paper patterns for the modified trunk floor, and then cut out replacement panels that will require some forming to make them fit. As I mentioned earlier, I have no intention of making them look stock. I’m only interested in function. The spare tire well will be eliminated and there will be only one main floor level, replacing the staggered-level of the original stamping. Installation will come after I first replace the tail panel.

The slightly raised trunk floor will provide additional clearance for non-stock fuel tank options. The ’55-’56 tanks are not being reproduced, so I’ll be using either a custom fuel cell or adapting a tank from another Mopar. I really don’t want to try and salvage an old '56 tank, plus I intend to eliminate the side filler door to clean things up a bit. Depending on which tank I choose, I’ll try to fit a fill pipe from a later model C-body behind the license plate, or possibly inside the trunk. If I resort to that option, I’ll have to rethink the battery location.

I’ve been researching everything needed to rebuild the front suspension and steering components. The old king pin suspension has a large number of parts to replace and after comparing individual prices from several sources, I think I’ll go with Kanter’s front end kit and their idler arm and center link. They appear to have everything I need, so dealing with one supplier should make it easier and they have a fairly good reputation.

Coil spring prices vary considerably on the sites I’ve visited, but I’ve purchased from ESPO Springs ‘n Things in the past and have been satisfied with both price and quality. They don’t list coil springs for a ’56 Plymouth in their online catalog, but I’ll give them a call first. I’m told they manufacture many parts they don’t bother to list.
If the slowly improving weather holds, I should make better progress this week.