Technical 354 Hemi Build Thread (Again)

Don't worry guys, we'll be painting the radiator after we get everything fitted right.

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One more short one. I’d like to turn the idle up a tad, but we’ll take care of that when we tune the carb tomorrow and fiddle with the timing. We also might take it across the road and do some laps in the big church parking lot.


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Hemi sounds great and the car is looking awesome.

 

Here’s the real maiden voyage. Dad took the video so you might see a hand cameo, but you get the idea.


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Hey y'all. Lately we've been working on putting the front end together, and we're having a tough time getting everything to fit just right. We're trying to start from the top with the hood and side panels and work our way down, but it seems like every time we move something, it jacks up the other side. For example, the gap between the top of the side panel and the hood on the driver's side is about an inch wide, but on the passenger's side it's touching the rubber bumper on the side panel, right where it should be. We have bolts in the fenders and inner fenders, but they aren't tight so we can move everything around. We're getting pretty frustrated though, tensions were high in the garage today. Dad has a guy coming to take a look at it on Monday, but we don't know how helpful he will be. If any of you guys have anything to offer that might help us get this done, we'd sure appreciate it.

 

If you ever go over to "The Ford Barn", there was a thread on there a week or two ago started by a guy with the same problems you are having. IIRC, there were quite a few posts from guys that appeared to be quite helpful. You might want to go over there and look it up.

 

You wouldn't happen to remember the title of the post would you? I checked over there but I'm having a hard time finding it. I'll keep looking though.

 

Whenever I get frustrated I take a break and do something completely different and then go back to what I'm doing no matter how long it takes to clear my head.

I've never worked on a car like yours before but,
When I used to hang panels I would start with the fenders and gap to the doors then hood. Assuming the doors are right first.


Your doing a great job. It will work out.

 

The cowl says where it all goes.
A little crooked in the frame especially the horns messes up the whole world as far as alignment goes.

Ever play the bop it game?
That's about the same thing

 

Here's a link to the thread on "The Ford Barn" I mentioned. There is a reference in it that refers to a procedure used by "Kube". a member over there that has probably worked on more of these than most of us have seen. I would check that out.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=248430&highlight=alignment

 

Thanks for that, looks like some great info. I'll email it to dad also since he's at home with the car.

 

Well this is about as good as it’s going to get I think. Dad’s having the hood painted now, there were a couple of spots were the paint was starting to lift. We’ve also got new running boards from Bob Drake to go on. Next time my brother and I are home from school, we’ll attach those as well as the rear fenders, bumpers, and the chrome.


Man, that was a real pain in the ass.


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There is nothing more powerful than persistence .

 

Yep, it's taken us a long time but we're so close now. Wiring is also next, got the kit from Kwik Wire so here's hoping it's not too bad.

 

The car is legal now! Registered and has a license plate. Dad sent these the other day after he took it our for its first lawful cruise. Said it's so quick that it felt like driving a slot car. I'll be home tomorrow and you bet the first thing I'm going to do is jump in and ride around, hood or no hood.

 

I can just picture those tires smokin!

 

Got the driver’s side running board on. As I said earlier, these are new and they took a little bit of coaxing. After this we are going to wash the car off and clay bar it, then buff it. Does anyone have any tips on buffing old lacquer? We’ve got a buffer from the paint shop, as well as the compound they recommended. We’re going to start with the trunk lid in case we make a mistake, so we can have it fixed if necessary.

 

Keep the buffing pad clean. We had a thingy that had a handle like a pistol grip that had rolling "Stars" attached I think 4-5 of them. You wound up the buffer and applied this tool and the stars spun and flicked out the old compound and the pad was all nice and fluffy again with the old used compound removed.

The old "buffed" compound would get hard and stiff after a bunch of passes and if you did it many times you could see the difference in the finish the harder compound seemed to make for more swirl marks.

 

Awesome work here! Love the Hemi!

 

Thanks!, we'll make sure it stays clean. Hopefully it doesn't need to much work, the paint is still fairly shiny but there are a few scuffs we'd like to get rid of.

 

Thanks! I checked out your build thread, that car is looking sweet.

 

If you don't have one of those star tools an old screwdriver dragged across the spinning pad will get rid of the old compound it just takes awhile longer.

 

Took it out for a spin today, looks pretty good I think...



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DAM!!!! Looks fantastic.

 

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Very nice !!

 

Drove it to the gym tonight, thing cruises!








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....damn, thats nice..........

.

 

Sounds GREAT. Open it up and manually shifting gears just like the good old days.

 

Very nice.