Outstanding. You've accomplished a lot in a short period of time. That first drive is a blast, congratulations.
Thank you.I started working on the inside of the trunk lid today,cut some of the support out so I can get at the (not bad) surface rust.I am hoping to get this done pretty quick so I can start putting taillights in the car.I also put the other seat in the car and started PORing the ceiling.(messy job!)
^^^^Did you drive half an hour with that gas tank? It reminds me of one of my old "tanks." Hope it was full!!
It holds 3 gallons,it was full.I got the trunk lid pretty well done today,just have to weld the center back in tomorrow.I will have to make a couple of little sheet metal pieces to do that.
Well,I got the trunk lid back together and to my surprise it still fits the car pretty well! I am hoping to get the upper taillights in and wired over the weekend. I need to find headlight buckets etc for this car as I have none of that at all.
I don't think the head light buckets are special to 49-51 at all. If I remember correct I used a pair of 57 Car housings with no problem. Remember, that's been 10 years ago. You might want to double check that info. The Wizzard
Started out to do body work this morning.It rained from about 11 am until now.I spent the rest of the day building taillights.the box of pieces I had were all pretty rough.The housings were all rusted,trim rings badly pitted etc.I ground out rust,made little patch panels and soldered them in place,dissassembled and cleaned up the sockets , belt sanded as much pitting from the trim pieces as I could etc.I have 4 functional taillights now but I am not sure they were worth the trouble! One of the nice glass lenses was broken in half,glued it back together with clear epoxy and it is in and working . The top housing in the second picture required considerable repair.It was the first one I did,I tried welding it then decided soldering was probably better in this case.Not very pretty but it is solid and functional."good enough for who its for" my father would have said.
Being the car has to live outside I have been having an ongoing problem with repairing a body part,priming and rattle can painting it and having surface rust show up a week later.Finally scuffed the whole thing with 100 grit wet,wiped it down with lacquer thinner and a clean T shirt,got out the primer gun and painted the whole damn thing rustoleum semi gloss black.I can be pretty sure now that when I fix an area and recoat it with that it wont rust next week. Mocked up the taillights today,seems to look OK to me.
Spent the day making a trunk latch.It is a simple mechanical latch operated by a choke cable.What ate up all the time was getting it fiddled to where it works right.I started out with this.It was covered with rust and I assumed it was home made.I cleaned it off and it had a part number in it?? I thought that with some modification it would work as a latch arm.I drilled a hole in the lower slot and made a bushing to fit it and cut a piece of 3\16" plate to bolt to the trunk lid and accept the latch pin.That came out well enough.About 3 hours of "file and fit" got this.It seems to work fine.
Well,I started stripping the hood today.I had already fixed the rust in the front of it and cleaned and PORd the inside a while back.About 2 hours with a flap wheel and I can see most of the metal now.Doesnt look too bad.I am definitely going to take PNBs advice on the peak!
Got the taillight to body rubber gaskets today.I have the taillights in and working now and the temp gas tank relocated to the trunk and mounted.I ran the car across the road today and drove it down the paved road to Lake Ashby.It seems to work quite well.Goes in a straight line,steers and stops.I really do have to do something with the exhaust pipes! They end right behind the trans crossmember! Little loud inside.
Finally did something I can take a picture of! I put the rear window in today.It had the weatherstrip and trim on it.It also has primer all over it.The trim cleaned right up,appears to be stainless? The window is going to get the razor blade treatment,I tried lacquer thinner and it doesnt touch it.The window fit right in after I carefully cleaned the recess in the body and put a little dish soap around the edge of the rubber.Being suspicious I put a layer of "Window Weld" in the back of the recess.This will prevent leaks and,hopefully prevent the rear glass from blowing out of the body at speed! Yes,that did happen to me once.
1950 headlight buckets are different from 51 and are not interchangeable. My Crestliner had 1951 headlights and bumpers when I got it . The headlight doors are noticeably different and must match the buckets.
Antti and rmonty thank you for the kind words.Manyolcars thank you for the information.I spent most of the day piecing together an exhaust system on the ford.I HATE exhaust system work! I must have crawled in and out from under that car 50 times,but with any luck I will mount mufflers and tail pipes tomorrow.That car is pretty low,I was thinking about running the pipes out through the rolled pan.Any opinions or information about that?
So today I started fitting the windshield.The new windshield was wrapped in bubble wrap with the original invoice from the glass shop.It had gotten wet,but I could still read "A1 auto glass Chicago Ill" and a date in 1987.Thing is the glass didnt fit in the body!I have installed a bunch of car glass,but never had anything like this happen! I thought on it awhile and ended up belt sanding the glass on a 1"X42" belt sander until it did fit.I have never done this before so the anal tension factor was pretty high! All came out OK.I also have half the original windshield.It is cracked.The cracks start where someone installed the glass without grinding the welds in the channel where the chop was done------What a ( deleted slur) that was ! I wonder if I can bevel the edges of the glass in the center-they are a bit long anyhow-and use a clear sealant to seal them together? Also is there any reason I cant use window weld on the rest of the windshield and then use an appropriate outer trim.I am not asking how anyone thinks that would look,I need to know if it is technically workable.I could use some help here .Thanks.
Are we trying to make this a Glue In? As for the center seam it needs to be mitered for a flush tight fit to each piece and a polished finish, not rough ground. Then go to a Custom Aquarieum shop. One that builds tanks. They have a 2 part adhesive use for Acrillic. It's Killer shit and dries transparent. It will seal to the membrane between the 2 plies of the windshield as well as the glass for a water tight seal. It's a one shot deal so don't miss when installing. I'd have one side totally in place before setting the second side in with the seam glue. The Wizzard
That was exactly what I needed to know.I am trying to glue in the windshield and wasnt sure if that would work and what I should use on the center joint.Thank you!
That glass looks pretty tight on the perimeter. If your going to Glue it in you should have between 1/8" and 3/16" space for body flex. The Wizzard
And that was the other thing I was concerned about.Thank you as always for your help,it is greatly appreciated.
Well,I finally had both sides of the windshield clearanced and was making final checks .I had them sitting on a folded moving blanket on the bench outside the garage.I picked up the passenger side and it cracked--------some days you just cant win.Oh well,its flat glass so I can get another cut cheap enough (and the right size).I am sure curious about what I did wrong.
I freely admit I messed up the ID on this one, but I was in the garage on the weekend and tossed a '41 wheel on my '51 steering shaft. Same size. The '41 is keyed, the '51 is splined.
I have the same full tailpan on my car, and 3" lowering blocks in the rear. I was thinking about running the exhaust though the tailpan, but the crossmember would have caused some problems, and it turned out that they tucked under the tailpan with no modification. Nice and easy...
Thank you for the pic , thats a big help.I see what you mean.My pan goes way under the car.I actually had to remove the rear crossmember to get the body off! I fixed all that while I had it apart.I was worried about ground clearance between the pipes and the ground.If you have 3" blocks I will probably be OK once I get real tires on the car instead of the "O" rings that are on it right now.
Bamamav I had thought about that and may yet do it that way,I will find out pretty quick here. I got the other half of the windsheild in undamaged and should have the replacement for the other side in a couple of days.I made up some choke linkage today . I am using a choke on the front carb only which seems to work fine.
I got the mufflers on the car today,tailpipes next-those will take some doing! I made a gadget to both replace the grille support bar and stiffen up the front clip.The part you cant see is a piece of 1\4" X 1 1\4" flat with a piece of 1" square tubing about 10" long welded to it in the shape of a letter "T".This supports the apron.It is bolted to the original rad support bolt hole in the crossmember.The bolt head you can see on the apron goes through it.The other piece is the "Y" shaped piece that supports the hood mount.It is welded to the lower brace.Really stiffened up the front structure!
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