Another Short Break

Still accomplishing several little things that take time, but don't show progress. I have a few more hours of work inside and then I'll pull the car outside again so I can grind welds and do some painting underneath. With thunderstorms forecast for the next two days, that might not happen until next week.
We're also hosting a pool party to celebrate a couple of birthdays his weekend, so car projects will take a back seat to party prep, grass cutting and back yard cleaning.

1956 Plymouth Radio Ads & Ads from Magazines

Don't you just love the corny simplistic ads from the decade?

1956 Plymouth TV Ad: Jet Age Styling

Completed some odds and ends, but no notable progress. The bottom rear corner of the door cutouts is a complicated shape to duplicate, so naturally, both sides were rusted out. I have them roughly shaped and tacked in place, but still lots of work to do, so pictures will have to wait.

Since today is Sunday and the thermometer is supposed to break 100F for the first time this year, I'll take it easy and watch the NASCAR race from New Hampshire. In the meantime, here are a couple of TV ads for the '56 Plymouth.

A Foundation to Build on

After many more months than originally planned, I finally have a foundation to begin building on. The floor and trunk are patched, sealed and primed, and all body mounts repaired or reinforced. Not at all pretty, but everything should be functional and solid. It would have been so much easier, and the results more attractive if factory correct sheet metal had been available, or even rust free salvaged parts. But then it's a '56 Plymouth, so why would I expect such foolishness!

 

I did find something interesting that I hadn't paid attention to before. I knew there was a small diameter hole in the middle of the roof, but thought it had been drilled for some reason and didn't examine it closely. Well, today I checked it out and it looks like a bullet hole! The edges are pushed up from being punctured, not drilled, and the diameter is .260, so it appears to have been made with a .22 or .25. My first car was a '41 Chevy that I grew to hate enough that when the engine died, I parked it behind some trees on the farm and every time I walked by, I shot it with whatever gun I was carrying. As many holes and dents it eventually ended up with, none were made from inside the car.

Floor Welding Complete

All the floor sheet metal that needed replacement is welded in place. Only the right rocker remains to have some work done. I rolled the body outside and sanded all the interior welds and primed the bare replacement panel surfaces to keep the surface rust at bay. Next I'll sand the welds on the underside, which means moving the car outside again. Rolling it out takes only a minute, but moving it back inside by myself is not easy because of the drainage slope and the 1-1/2" step the lousy cement finishers left at the doorway. I might have to set up my electric winch to help pull it back inside.

Now is the time I wish I had a rotisserie. The welding operation on the underside was time consuming and tiring, but not especially difficult. Painting will be another matter. I've hit the bare and rusting spots with a spray can of Rustoleum Rust Reformer, but I'm not looking forward to painting a large area. Before I do that, I have to apply seam sealer on all the joints and welded areas and prime over that.

Looking ahead, I'm anxious to get the body work done so I can work on the mechanical and trim...my favorite jobs. I think I've got most of the mechanical changes identified, but still have some unsolved problems. Exhaust manifolds, or headers, will be an issue. The performance of stock exhaust manifolds will kill the increased power from the new intake, so I have to find a better way to scavenge the burned gasses. Naturally, no one makes headers for Poly engines in body-on-frame cars, so a custom exhaust seems to be in the cards.

I really hate headers because of the noise and heat generated under the hood, but except for stock, I don't see any other choice for now. If I do have to have custom headers made, I'm thinking about configuring them similar to the MaxWedge design, where they turn upward from the ports and sweep down behind the engine on both sides. With much smaller diameter pipes, I think it would work well and cause the least amount of interference with the '56 frame and steering parts. The visual would be nice, but practicality might have to prevail over looks, and require the use of stock manifolds.

More Parts on Order

I managed to sneak in about an hour of welding yesterday but life's other duties caught me again. so, as the car sits for a while I've been checking out websites and catalogs for parts I'm going to need before too long. The last remaining steering part was the drag link, and I'm waiting for word from Vintage Auto Parts Inc. to see if they have one in their warehouse. It's been over a day, so I might be out of luck and will have to go to Kanter again.

I also talked to Roger at AAJ Brakes and after discussing my needs I ordered their Superkit, which contains all the parts needed to convert my front drums to disc brakes. He will be able to provide all Mopar designs, including rotors and calipers that are the equivalent to a '74 Charger setup. The only non-Chrysler part will be the flex hoses. I'm not a fanatic about everything being Mopar, but it makes things easier to remember if replacements are needed.

Last night I started writing up an order for all the seals, gaskets, weatherstrip and misc parts I'll need once body assembly begins. I'm ordering from Gary Goers and sometimes it takes quite a while to fill an order, so I'm trying to get a head start now.

Wilson Gillette - "The Girl From Ipanema"

Still catching up on household chores, so the Fury tribute is on hold for a few days.

I hope you don't mind my posting of another piece of great music performed by a gifted musician. This video is special to me as the performer is an old high school friend. Wilson Gillette was a star basketball player with the New Town Eagles when they were a powerhouse team in North Dakota high school sports. He also excelled in track and football, but I think his musical talent is what his friends will remember him for.

Like many of us, he's now retired to a warmer climate, but he still plays a mean steel. Please take a minute to enjoy the video and notice that Wilson is the sole performer in this rendition, and that he is playing all the accompanying instruments. Yes, he's always had a great sense of humor too.

Do the Twist!

Actually, I'm trying to undo the twist in the right side rocker panels. After checking everything with the information and tools available, I've decided that the approximately 1/4" misalignment was not due to an accident or rust weakened floors and rockers, but is the way it came out of the factory. No lasers, robots, and computer designed assembly jigs in the factories in those days, so there was a lot of hand manipulation to make things fit. I've found other places on the body with copious amounts of brazing to fill gaps and level the mating surfaces of joined panels, so I guess it's make do with what I have.

The goal was to first finish welding the floors and rockers so I could move the car outside to do all the  grinding, but now I first have to install the patch panel so I can tweak the parts to match, and fit check the door before I weld them in permanently. Sort of throws my plan off, but that's okay as it gives me a break by doing something different for a while. I've been a little nervous about this step, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Old sheet metal removed, surface rust killed, and difficult to reach surfaces painted with Rust-Oleum. The little Dremel rotary cutter worked slick for this job, but the abrasive discs are expensive and it took two of them to make these cuts.

New panel fit checked and adjusted to eliminate the rocker misalignment.  The bend radius of the outer rocker cap and the patch panel did not match and required some subtle massaging with a hammer.

As noted in an earlier post, the outer rockers are designed to be a cap that fits over the old sheet metal, so when installing them under the patch panel, some modification is required. It may be a few days before I weld this panel in place, as my wife's honey-do list keeps getting longer and the recent rains have the grass growing again.

Summer

Seems like only yesterday that I was delaying work on the car due to nasty, winter weather, but here it is already summer and the hot, muggy afternoons are what make me retreat into my air conditioned office.

I haven't taken any photos recently since all I've been doing is finishing welding the floors and patching small holes, so there really isn't anything to show. Mornings find me on my back under the car, with a welder and hammer, but about two hours is all this old body can take on that concrete floor, and then I have to get back on my feet until I work out the kinks.

While fit checking the outer body patch panels, I found some body misalignment in the right side rocker panel area. I can't see that it ever had collision damage, so I'm guessing the extreme rust on the floors and rockers allowed the body to flex. I think I've got it about fixed, but it's taken a lot of measuring and tweaking to get it there. Before I can weld the outer rocker in place, I'll have to fit check the door.

The welcome rain of the past few days and the accompanying high humidity have caused a bloom of surface rust to appear on all the parts that have yet to be prepped and primed, so I'll have to take of some of that problem before I can finish welding. I'll sure be glad to get the structure complete so I can prime and paint the interior and underbody and not have to fight the surface rust issue.

Now The Hard Work Begins

 I finished forming the last small floor sheet metal parts and they are tacked in place, but I didn't take any pictures at this point. The leather welding shirt arrived, and the gas bottle is refilled, so it's time to get off my butt and crawl under the car. I can now look forward to several days of welding and then I'll roll it out the door so I can grind welds without getting all that dust in the shop.

When I reach a point when my enthusiasm wanes, I look through all my car photos and try to visualize the end results of my loosely organized plan. This photo of an Imperial custom interior is something I'd love to replicate, and it does get me fired up to get to work even if I know it's unrealistic. The color combination would look so good with the Fury exterior colors. Well, I can dream, can't I?