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.

One Step Forward...Two Steps Back

The backup light housing with the lousy chrome plating will not be acceptable for even driver quality, so I've begun working on a replacement from my extra parts bin. It's terribly pitted, and will be a time consuming project. So far I have most of the old chrome ground off, but many of the pits are deep

I had planned to have my son help me install the rear window trim, but he injured his back just before they left Seattle to come here, so I don't want him to risk making it worse by climbing inside the car and contorting his back to wrestle with the trim. I had already been planning an alternative way to do the job alone, and that was to make an adjustable jig to hold and manipulate the trim and rubber, so I've been working on building that. I might get the jig done this weekend, but doubt I'll have time to try another trim install. If that doesn't work, I'm stumped.

I also discovered an minor interference problem with the driver's side motor mount. The tooling locator point on the block casting hits the edge of the mount saddle. At least it's in an area I can reach with a grinder. I wonder why I missed that when I installed the engine?

On the non-car problem list...I have to make another trip to East Texas to do more work on the house. My son went over and found the floors filthy, trash left on the counters, cabinets left open, windows smeared inside the house, back gate jammed open, lawn not mowed properly, gutter above the carport bent and twisted from being hit with something, and flower beds not cleaned as stated. I was there three weeks ago and the place was immaculate when I finished.

The Realtor who reported everything was fine is about to be fired, as is the lawn mowing crew.

More Cuban Cars

More fins, but the music isn't as good.

The Land that Time Forgot

There are only a couple of Forward Look cars in the video, but I enjoy seeing all American cars from that era still being driven daily. I realize that many of them are now powered by Volvo or Toyota, but the styling survives.

Not much progress here as I'm working on wiring diagrams and fit-checking small parts. I did find one thing that made me mad. One of the backup light housings that I had re-chromed is bubbling under the plating and has a crack near a mounting hole that they didn't repair. Repairing the pot metal crack in that area is dicey, so I'll look through my extra parts to see if I have a better one to plate.

My son and his wife are arriving today and will stay a week. Maybe together we can get that back glass trim installed!

Easter Sunday Update

Happy Easter Everyone!

Still doing small things as time permits. I’m preparing for the dashboard installation as much as I can. Wire routing is the most complicated, as I’m still not 100% certain where I’m going to locate all the power sources. As a result, a few of the wires will be left long enough to reach either under the hood, or under the console storage tray. I may have to finish the entire wiring diagram and decide all circuit locations before I make access difficult by installing the dash.

There was a partial box of Roadkill sound deadening material sitting in a box on the shelf, so I finished installing the remainder behind the rear seat area. With two full boxes left, it appears that I bought enough to easily finish doing the entire car. One less thing to worry about.

I need to take some more parts in to be chrome plated. The stock ’56 Fury A-post cover is half-chromed and half-painted to match the dash, and the upper headliner trim is all chrome. The ones I removed from the parts car are badly rusted, so I’m going to use those from the Belvedere and have them chromed. I got all the paint removed, so they are now ready to plate. I still have some miscellaneous parts to finish prepping and then I’ll take everything to the plating shop at the same time. They said they are very busy this time of year, so it may take quite a while to get them done. 

I cleaned, painted and mounted the plastic trim that holds the seat adjustment switches on the side of the bucket seats. The higher seat mounting will require more trim to hide the brackets, so I think I’ll just cover some sheet metal with carpet and then add something to break up the tall expanse of black. Maybe a Forward Look emblem or some kind of Plymouth nameplate.  

                                                                                                                  

One More Console Picture

I'm sure everyone is tired of seeing various stages of my console construction, but it finally looks somewhat finished. The tach panel and final trim can't be determined until the dash is in place. That might be my next focus, but everything is again determined by time.

For those who haven't followed the evolution of the shifting issue, the shifter mechanism is from a '66-'68? Mopar, model unknown. Mods to the shifter included lengthening the shaft, and making a properly contoured sheet metal adapter for the seal to mount on the driveshaft housing.

The switches on the tach panel are Vintage Air with stock '56 knobs. One switch shaft had to be cut to get the knob low enough to match the rest, but otherwise they fit perfectly.

Beautiful, Low Mileage Savoy

Geir Broen in Norway sent photos of the low mileage Savoy he found. There is something about much of it being in original condition that restorations can't duplicate. This one reminds me of my first Forward Look car, a '55 Savoy with a flathead six and manual transmission. About the only equipment difference is that did not have a radio delete. It was a great car and survived my dumb-kid tricks surprisingly well.

Here's Geir's description:

"The car came to Norway from Ohio a few years back. Purchased by an elderly lady, who a few years later realized she couldn't drive anymore, so there it sat until 2012. Someone then gave  it fresh paint, new chrome, and replaced hoses, brakes, and lots of other stuff needed after such a long storage, at least that's what I know. Has all the original paperwork, and that's interesting stuff to read !"

Beautiful car, Geir, thanks for sharing!

I had a few hours to devote to mine this weekend and continued working on the console. I made a plate to attach the shifter trim plate, and installed the wiring for the gear indicator light and the neutral safety switch. I'm getting anxious to assemble the rest of the console so at least something looks somewhat finished.

Good News-Bad News

The house maintenance and repair demands on my time have slowed somewhat...that's the good news. Bad news is I have to get all my tax info to the preparer in the next few days and there is still much to do.

The car has received little visible progress, so no photos.

When you choose to modify from stock, you save a lot of search time trying to locate good used parts, but designing, testing and fabricating replacements sometimes takes even longer. My limited time lately has been used to fab higher quality parts to replace the temporary mockups meant to determine if the design looked okay and functioned as hoped. Most of that work has been on interior pieces like the console and various brackets located behind the dash.

Maybe I'll be able to accomplish more by this time next week.

Update about Nothing

Contrary to rumors, my old body has not yet assumed room temperature, and neither did I win the lottery and move to Tahiti.

My absence had been due to the arrival of spring weather and out-of-state visitors. Weeding, trimming, digging, cleaning, planting, pruning, and repairing at two houses located three hours apart have sapped all the energy I've been able to muster, so nothing is happening on the Plymouth. Even the planned attempt to install the rear glass trim with the help of my son-in-law didn't happen. That task will now be postponed until next month when my son and his family come to visit from Washington state. He's anxious to work on the '56, as the last time he saw it was when he helped me strip it down to the frame. I think the fact that he will probably inherit it when I actually do assume room temperature has a little something to do with his interest!

Until he arrives, I will likely  have only a few minutes to play now and then, and will have to concentrate on accomplishing simple tasks. If we can get the cantankerous trim installed, I hope we'll have time left to hang some sheet metal. That process is a lot easier with a helper than having to rig something to support and align big parts for a one man operation.

In the meantime, updates will likely be few and far between.