Monsoon Season and Avoiding the WuFlu

I hope everyone has successfully avoided a visit from the nasty pandemic virus. So far, no one I know has been hit by it, but it struck a local nursing home and a resident facility for the mentally challenged. There are multiple cases in both places and the entire county is now under stay-home orders.

We had already been voluntarily staying home for two weeks and I thought I'd be able to find a lot of time to work on the car, but no such luck. I got back to work preparing the remaining sheet metal for paint, but it only lasted a day or two until heavy rains pounded the area for the better part of a week. My gauge registered over five inches in a three-day period and eventually totaled over seven inches in a week, so much of my yard is still under water and I can't even cut the grass, and boy does it need cutting! .Of course, the horrible humidity put a stop to body work, and the latest forecast doesn't look encouraging until several days into April.

When the rain finally quit and brisk winds dried out the air somewhat, I got back to sanding and priming but non-essential stores have been ordered to close due to the virus, and I needed some like 80-grit sandpaper and spot putty. With no local source to buy from, I had to order online. Amazon Prime has always been good about getting things to me in a very short time, but then I discovered that they were delaying shipment of things they deemed to be non-essential.  The day I placed the order, they said everything would be here within 48 hours, but when the order didn't arrive by the time quoted, I was notified that it would be another two days. It actually took a week, so there was very little body work going on.

I did manage to get the rear gravel shields ready for paint, and the front one is getting close, so I guess I'm one step closer to having the exterior parts all one color.

Back to Body Work

A brief return of summerlike weather arrived late last week, so I took advantage of temperatures in the 70s and 80's to accomplish some body work in preparation for priming and painting. The doors had already been primed with etching primer, but the fenders were still in need of  body filler and spot putty. Everything went quite well, so I was able to finish the driver's side fender and apply a coat of etching primer.

The passenger side fender still needs some Bondo and putty work, but I did get the bare metal sanded, treated with rust killer, and a coat of etching primer applied. One more nice day, and except for the hood I should have the remaining sheet metal ready for high-build primer. It won't take much sanding on the doors and the driver's side fender, but there is pitting on the one fender so it will probably need multiple coats of primer and quite a bit of sanding. At least I should have the rest of the front half sheet metal ready for painting by the time it gets nice and warm in late April or May.

Since the car has become too heavy for me to move it in and out of the garage alone, I'll see if I can set up a temporary paint booth inside. It shouldn't be a problem making an enclosure by draping plastic, but I'll have to see what I can do about ventilation. If we get a couple of windless mornings that are warm enough to paint, I can make a three-sided enclosure and leave the door-side open, but even without the usual spring storms, days are often windy here on the North Texas prairie. I always try to paint before 9:00 am.  I hope I can complete painting the exterior this spring so I can install the door glass and work on the interior. That's the type of work I really enjoy.

Custom Antenna Bases

With the arrival of spring weather, I'm not getting much play time. About all I've been able to accomplish is making custom antenna bases for the fin-mounted duals. They are not like the OEM parts, but it looks as if they will work okay. I tried them out on my parts car and they look okay, even if they are not as stylish as the real '56 parts.

It tool about eight hours to make the two parts, and all I have left to do is polish the ABS plastic on my buffer.

The ABS rod was the perfect diameter and it was nice to work with, even without real machine tools.  There are probably higher quality universal antennas to be had for a little more money, but like so many things I've chosen to make, they'll be good enough for my daily driver faux-Fury.

I suppose I should be concentrating on larger restoration tasks, but it's been too cold to paint and I'm busy with another one of my wife's studio projects, but warmer weather is on the way, so I'm sure that will give me more enthusiasm to put in longer hours.

Indoor Fun on Rainy Days

Winter weather returned with nearly three inches of rain, near freezing temperatures and strong northerly winds, so again I had to focus on things I could do inside the house.


I ordered a new $20 multimeter to replace the $10 multimeter I bought about thirty years ago, and it arrived yesterday. The old one still worked fine but it didn’t beep. Since all my continuity testing will be a one-man operation, I figured it would be worth twenty bucks to save a lot of time and effort when crawling around looking for wire terminations and just listen for the beep and not have to watch the meter face. I braved the cold for a short time and did accomplish a quick power isolation test. I didn’t find any shorts, so I can get busy continuity testing the circuits when warmer weather arrives tomorrow.

One of my indoor jobs was investigating an idea I had to make radio antennas to mount atop the tailfins in the stock factory location. The OEM parts I found online were priced from $150 for a set of well-worn parts, to $500 for a NOS set, and I cringed thinking about spending that much for something functionally unimportant. That said, I always liked the look of dual rear antennas and dual rearview mirrors on the fenders, so I’m looking for less expensive options.


My idea was to design a custom-shaped base to adapt a flat mounting, generic antenna to the narrow fin top. I had already purchased one stainless steel antenna that looked like a good candidate to modify, so I carved a base from a piece of heavy wall vinyl tubing to see if it could be made to look okay on a daily driver. I was pleased enough with the results to order a 12” piece of 1-1/4” diameter machinable black ABS rod from MSC Direct. It showed up today and I spent the morning laying out the dimensions on the raw material. Now it would be nice to own a mill as it’s going to take forever to cut and shape everything with hand tools. If I’m successful, I will have about fifty dollars invested in parts and material, but I won’t even attempt a guess at how many hours the job will take.

Buddy Holly - Everyday

Another year has passed since the day the music died in 1959. I won't repost my thoughts about that fateful day as I've done that on previous anniversaries, so if new readers are at all interested, they can refer back to those entries.

In the meantime, I'll just post this Buddy Holly favorite and hope the words forecast recent progress on my lifelong project Plymouth.

I spent a few hours earlier this week finishing a few remaining wiring jobs. The battery ground cable is now bolted to the frame under the trunk and ready to attach to the battery when I purchase that.

Today was supposed to be sunny and warm like yesterday, but it clouded over and began to drizzle so I worked in the house creating continuity checklists. I actually began continuity and isolation tests yesterday, but when I soon found a short between battery-power and switched power circuits, I decided to first make a checklist to keep track of what I'm doing.

I also routed and tied in a few wires to the location where I'm placing the backup camera, but I won't cut a hole and install the camera until I finish painting the exterior.

The rear antenna cable is also waiting for me to locate the dual antennas. So far, everything I've found has been OEM NOS or used and is far too expensive for my non-stock '56. If I can't find reasonably priced aftermarket parts, I'll probably make new bases from casting resin to attach generic parts to the tops of the fins. No use putting lipstick on a pig!

Headlight Buckets Installed

Parts arrived for the headlight bucket and I completed the remaining part of that job. The clevis pins were a couple-hundredths longer than the OEM part, but they work fine. I needed one pin, but had to order a bag of 25 for about six dollars including tax. When it arrived by UPS the tiny bag was packed in a box big enough to hold hundreds of pins! Cost of shipping?...$8.90! To cap it off, the day after I finished repairing the bucket, I was looking in a box of small junk and found one of the stock pins!

The adjustment screw was a little bit more of a problem. I couldn’t find an aftermarket source for the nylon nuts  or brackets for the adjustment for the adjustment screws, so I ordered a pair of screws and nuts, then made a bracket to attach a modern screw assembly to the shell. The best fitting modern screw and nut was for a Jeep, but it required a different shaped bracket cutout to secure the nut. No big deal to make the bracket, but because the Jeep nut was shaped differently than the original, the
nut centerline was off by three hundredths, so I had to file the slots in the light retainer ring about that much deeper to allow the screw to turn freely enough to adjust the bulb position. I also had to shorten the screw about a half-inch to fit inside the shallower bucket, but that was simple enough. If not pretty, at least it works!

The new welding helmet showed up a few days later, so was able to finish one of my wife’s projects and I'm ready to weld on the car again. Naturally, the day after it arrived, it went on sale for seven dollars less! My timing sucks when it comes to buying things.

 I had ordered a rebuild kit for the 4-bbl Edelbrock carb on my ’73 D100. The crappy alcohol-tainted gas sure gummed up the insides, so it took a lot of scrubbing and blowing to get it clean, but the old truck sure runs great now! It only had about four thousand miles since I installed it new about ten years ago, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.


After I took it for a test drive, I decided to track down the funny noise I always heard before the engine warmed up. It sounded like something rattling in the suspension, but it turned out to be the thermal fan clutch wobbling on the shaft. Glad I found that before it came apart and destroyed the radiator.

Now maybe I can get back to the car again.

Don't Like our Weather? Just wait a minute!

While I wait for the parts I have on order, I thought I'd share a North Texas weather report.

Last evening I locked up the shop in 71F weather. with a forecast of mid-30F temps and heavy rains with up to four inches of rain expected overnight. There were also tornado watches and flash flood warnings. This morning I got up to 34F with strong NW winds and a chance of mixed wintery precipitation. When the first light of dawn appeared about 7 am, I looked out the window and it was snowing so hard I could barely make out the neighbor's house across the street. An hour later, there were two inches of snow on the ground and it was 28F. A 43 degree drop in about 12 hours!

I love Texas, but the weather can often be interesting.

I did get a few things accomplished yesterday. I got all the front lights wired and protected with a corrugated sleeve, so now the front looks a little cleaner. The parts to repair the one headlight bucket have been shipped and that's about all I need for the front.

It's supposed to be in the 60s and 70s again next week, so if the parts arrive I might get back to work on the car for a few hours.

Lousy December, but Happy New Year!

Okay, I know I haven't been posting about my progress, but I've had reasons!

Beginning a few weeks ago it seemed like everything around the house began to self-destruct. First the dryer, followed by the water heater then the dishwasher and the ice machine plus  a continuing battle with the restricted flow in the hot water

When the wife got home, her car battery died and caused her to miss a doctor's appointment she had waited a month to get, and then my van battery had starting issues just before a HID headlight burned out. That was a quick way to spend over $700 replacing both.

Yesterday, I went to replace two patio floodlight bulbs and lost one of the lens screws. Yep, it was metric and I scrounged for an hour finding one that would work.

Since Christmas, it seems like every day I have to assemble some type of furniture or other junk my wife bought, or fix something she broke or wants to change in her studio.

When I finally got a chance to spend a few minutes on the car, the welding I had planned was put off because my helmet won't darken!

On the bright side, I hung the neon Forward Look sign my wife gave me for Christmas on the shop wall, and it looks great.

Also got the '55 parking lights installed using an adapter plate, but on another down side, I've been working on headlight buckets and don't have enough parts from the four I have to make two good ones. Naturally, while you can buy a pair of rebuild kits for a '55-'57 Chevy for about thirty bucks, I can't even find good used ones for the Plymouth that aren't gold plated.

I sure hope the new year puts an end to the kitchen appliance and car problems. None of the failed machines is economically repairable, and between buying new appliances and repairing cars, I'm spending my restoration funds on everything but the Plymouth!

Hoodwinked

I finally got serious about repairing the hood.

It had been dipped in citrus stripper along with the car body, but sitting without rust treatment for a few years, it acquired a moderate coat of surface rust. The dip treatment also revealed numerous pin holes that needed backing material welded in.

Naturally, the worst damage was hidden by structural bracing that is not accessible with any kind of tool, so I had to rely on pouring rust treatment between layers and then flushing the excess away.

I welded small strips of metal backing in areas I could reach, and then sprayed a coat of Rustoleum Rust Reformer over everything, but I’ll have to trust body putty to fill the remaining pin hole areas I couldn’t reach to weld.


I had considered using the hood from the Fury parts car, but suspected it would also have  pin holes hiding under the three layers of paint that would need to be dip-stripped to reach the inaccessible areas. As least a hood is a bolt-on part, so it could be replaced in the future if the Bondo patch doesn’t do the job on this one.

I set the reworked hood aside and started fabricating a pair of brackets to tie the inner fender to the outer fender. Like so many small things, the original brackets disappeared somewhere, but replacements are easy to make.

I also did some final tweaking and tightening on the doors and fenders and got them to fit a little better. I’m still not totally satisfied with the driver’s side door, but to make it better would require cutting and rewelding sheet metal to create more clearance, so I’ll live with what I have. I keep telling myself it’s intended to be a driver, not a restoration,.


Since the weather turned cold again, I’ve decided to stay in the house this week before Christmas and work on completing the wiring diagrams. I will also need to create continuity checklists so I can verify  circuit redesigns and workmanship. It will be a welcome change to do something different again.

Mostly Invisible Progress

Despite a lack of updates to show with pictures, I've actually been working quite diligently. All the little things that require time and attention aren't often visible or impressive, but they have to be done sometime and I've been taking care of them before attacking bigger issues.

I finished fabricating and installing the door latches on the driver's side and discovered a problem that didn't exist with the other door. There wasn't enough clearance for the panhead screws that hold the latch to the door frame and they interfered with the door closure. Like so many other times fit issues arise with the less-than-precise production process of the fifties, it was a buildup of tolerances. The width of the door opening at the top was about 1/8' less than the passenger side, and the door had a 3/16" bulge in the same area, and that was enough to cause a clearance problem. It was resolved by countersinking the screws along with the Neanderthal answer often used by desperate rebuilders..."If it won't fit, get a bigger hammer!"  A couple of good whacks with a mallet finished the fix.

Once the door was installed and adjusted, I was able to reinstall and adjust the fender. It required Jerry rigging an anchor bolt setup to attach the lower fender. The stock sheet metal had rusted out and I missed seeing it when repairing the area and before installing the inner rockers. I still have to make a bracket to secure the inner fender/splash shield, and that will be welded to the bottom edge of the fender as there is not enough room to use bolts.

Next opportunity was dragging the hood down from upstairs storage and doing repairs. Removing the surface rust with a wire brush revealed several places where the metal had thin areas and more-than-expected pin holes, so I spent half a day repairing them. I plugged and rust protected the worst areas , but still have to weld backing material in two more places that will be hard to access. I considered using the hood from the parts car, and though there were fewer pin holes it would have required stripping three coats of paint, so it was a toss-up.

Phil, who owns the nearly finished stock '56 Fury I mentioned several months ago, stopped by yesterday to get a few trim  parts from my parts car to replace the ones he was missing. His plan is to sell it when finished, but is having the same parts availability problems we all face when working on '56 models.

Since I have nothing to show from my car, I'll post a few of his as it was last spring at the Goodguys show. As usual, I was having camera problems that day so none of the front and full side pictures turned out.