Projects '52 Catalina Super DeLuxe Custom Build

Oh nice, thanks for sending those Grotes over. I had never seen this style upgraded with LED. I like that, a lot actually.

 

I have been following this build from the beginning and have enjoyed your progress.
I, like many here, have some mods that are not exactly HAMB friendly.
But, please remember where you are, this is the HAMB!
There is absolutely nothing, not even close, to HAMB friendly, about those headlights.
Tim

 

Loving the level stance after cutting off some of the original front coils. I looked at buying new 2” drop coils and they are 300+ from Eaton Detroit Springs and are on a few weeks order to get them made. I may go that route later, but for now, this gets me on the road without my front end pointing to the sky.

Front end suspension kit was installed. New tie rod ends, bushings, idler arm etc. excited to have that all buttoned up for some tighter handling.

New headlights are in!

 

I finally drove the Chieftain home from the Speedshop. I’m not gonna lie, I was terrified a bit haha. First time driving the car and I immediately got on the freeway to get home going 65mph. I had only tested the brakes leaving the parking lot and getting up to the stoplight before bringing it up to speed. Man I was nervous more than excited. Car seemed to handle and brake well. I stopped and got gas to fill up the tank. Unfortunately, when I hit bumps the rear end bottoms out. I think I need to put in adjustable air-shocks to prevent this instead of my gas shocks currently. The interior is just a tin can right now so it was loud as hell. Everything seemed to be in working order. So, I get home, back the car infront of the garage to wash off any salt and take a peek in the hood. I thought there was maybe a little leak from the fuel pump filter so I reach in to tamper with it and must have bumped the lower radiator hose which popped off and sprayed fluid EVERYWHERE. I dumped it all in my driveway (thankful not my garage) and got sprayed myself. Somehow it was just warm and not hot enough to harm me. It scared the heck out of me. Gathered my wits washed everything I could with light pressure in the engine compartment especially radiator fins and I backed it into the garage and resecured the hose tightly and filled it back up. Eager to get moving forward not backward in progress. So that was eventful.
Pulling off the freeway and waiting at a light.

12V Wiring is looking good.

Next day, the crud coming out eventually stopped. I mean it wasn’t the cleanest engine internally when I installed it so hopefully its just getting rid of moisture and carbon build up.

 

Moments before I dumped the radiator: I wish I moved the camera over another inch to see how the hose was connected at the bottom of the radiator.

 

Good job! Glad you didn’t get burnt with with the anti-freeze!

 

Glad that hose didn’t cut loose while you were driving home!

 

Yeah seriously, it was kind of a blessing in disguise because if not then, when? I'm so lucky to have made it home. Used up some serious Chief Carma.

 

well done! i'm glad lady luck was with you. Cool car!

 

Now thats something you dont see every day , very cool love it

 

Alright it has been a little while and I have been working on the Catalina just not anything really worth posting about. Rerouting some wires, welded a floor hole, and patched some holes in the firewall from original parts that are now gone. I wired up the radiator fan and when I unbolted the negative battery cable this $25 piece of junk from NAPA split so that was frustrating


Other than that, it was all systems go and gotter on the road. It was like 70-80F and sunny all weekend in Minnesota so the car was out for its first drives after 13 months in the garage undergoing reconstructive surgery.

My welding and hotrod guru driving the car


The Catalina with the Mini Moons installed now that I think I’m done taking the wheels off for bit. I want to add beauty rings. The white also needs to be scrubbed bright. I think it still has the factory protective coating on them.


I was quite happy with the drive. Pretty smooth running and coasts over bumps and cracks. The inside is still a tincan so completing that will help with engine and road noise


I had her up to 75mph and was running 2500 rpm so quite low and comfortable.

I have a list of things Now that its driving i want to get to including getting the stainless trim on. I thought I could drive it without for the season until I paint but its pretty bad looking. Gonna put it on.

Gauges were working great. Running about 10psi per 1000rpm so thats good.


Unfortunately, my rear mainseal may be leaking just a little. Common but I am planning on using the next few rainy days to do an oil change try and tighten the bolts a hair and see if it helps.

 

I had no idea that even the keys to the Catalina were a hit. The employee at my local Ace Hardware was so verbally stoked on the Briggs and Stratton keys, the other two employees came out from the back to all gawk at the keys?? I was like ok, weird, but maybe I should have known better ha. It wasn't until I was making this post did I realize I could have bought actual GM blanks for $13-$20 a piece or so online for spares. I guess I still can but these Taiwanese B10 keys were 2 for $8 so what are ya gonna do. They just sit in a basket inside my house anyway.

 

They still have the knock outs with key number too!! In the old days a Pontiac dealer could make you a new key from that number. You were supposed to knock it out and keep it so if you lost your keys the dealer could make new ones from the number.

 

Nice. Local hardware store carries B10 blanks for $1.50 a pop.

They're still surprisingly common, but yours there with the pear-shaped B11 (B10 is octagon) and the knockouts with the code on- rare.

Do they still unlock the doors?

 

OHHH, the more you know...Sweet! I had no clue that's what "knock out" was referring to. That is pretty cool. Which also makes sense when I was searching for these GM keys online and put in those number codes they didn't really turn up anything useful concerning the keys. Got the same results just searching B&S B10 keys.

PhilA, I have yet to try and lock the doors since they are all apart. You can see in my bin of door parts the lock knobs, but I am certainly going to try as soon as I get home today. For sure the 8914 works on the trunk.

 

Ignition key locks doors clockwise 90 degrees and unlocks counterclockwise 90 degrees. Didn’t realize I could lock my car ha. Had it at work and various places over the weekend unlocked. Trunk key is separate and works well.

 

Nice! Make it a bit harder for someone to walk off with it.

It's actually a fairly decent lock barrel; without the pin the door is actually fairly difficult to jemmy, too.

I had fun decoding the keys- I don't know what the 4-digit code for mine are, but I can give you the 5-digit cut code though!

Phil

 

Yesterday I picked up a $7 brake line and installed it from the proportioning valve to the front left disc brake. My original brake light switch was leaking from the switch and was nearly impossible to get the brake lights to illuminate. You can see where the brake fluid ate the paint on my steering column. Moved the wires up to the wilwood pvalve and they instanly came on at any pressure to the pedal. Need to bleed the system still but small success. Also, less stressful angle at the lower connection to the rubber brake line. I did straighten out my curvy brake line ha. The more I touched it the worse it got!

 

$125 on ebay I swooped up this ‘50-‘52 Buick branded hardtop NOS RH chrome flipper. So happy to get this even if its not for the driver side of my car that is actually broken. I’m hoping to take my RH flipper and salvage some parts over to the driver door. This thing is SO SNAPPY compared to my passenger doors flipper. On my driver door, I’m missing the two springs and spring housings so I crush that chrome flap like 30% of the time I shut my door. Look at that felt! Brand new!!

 

Well, my laziness and assumption caught me. The 1952 Buick NOS chrome flipper molding is about 3" too short for my door. I thought the GM part would be the same. All I had to do was go measure in my garage. I'll still be able to use the parts of the mechanism for my broken driver door and I'll sell the chrome off to anyone who needs such a specific part.


Another unfortunate thing was the rolled metal that kept my spring steady for door latching broke while swapping out the spring. Super disappointed in that. It appears the spring base will continue to just be kind of wedged in that corner so I don't believe it will be an issue but man I was pissed at myself when that snapped.




I was looking more into the felt on the flipper. It doesn't just slide out of the flipper. The metal is rolled onto it keeping it very snug. The more I handled the unit the more the felt disappeared.



I'm waiting on the "roof-seal flipper to top" from Chevs of the 40s before unit before reinstalling. since mine were all torn up and falling apart. Hopefully they are the right part for the job. In the description is said Chevy hardtops 52-54 and I'm crossing my fingers they will work out on my 52. Pontiacs are so tough to find original parts for in this year. Also, for anyone else looking them, I pulled the trigger too soon. National Chevy Assoc. looks to have the same part for 1/2 the cost.

 

Also, anyone looking for 1950-52 Pontiac Hardtop Flipper Springs. Olds and Chev springs too. There is a limited reproduction run made in the USA on Ebay.

 

Confirmed. They were the EXACT same part in the same bag from NCA. Sliced off a little extra rubber hanging over the front end of the cars flipper and reinstalled with easy. Now the chrome flipper is super snappy and with firm closing and opening. Worth replacing the rubber seal and springs despite breaking that tab.

 

Floors prepped and ready for Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. I decided to skip the $56/quart POR-15 for the interior and get the $28 gallon of Rustoleum. I covered the galvanized with black spray pint first. I’m applying two coats of rust blocker and I’ll share the new look once both applied.

 

Wow, what a difference that makes. Sound deadening material from Noico coming soon! Need to have the metal above 60F to apply and it just getting to mid to high 60s by this weekend in MN.

 

Makes quite the change. It should be pretty quiet too, mine is when on the highway. The loudest source of noise is wind around the quarterlight windows, where the seals are bad.

Phil

 

Noico 80mil sound deadening installed. The floor pans were a breeze but applying the mat to the firewall was a chore. Just so many dodgy areas and weird cuts and things to go around. I forgot you should wear gloves while installing so I did get sliced up a bit from the aluminum foil but I just can't imagine doing this install with gloves. You need dexterity to handle the sheets. I used 60sqft and will be getting more for the doors and trunk.



Then I put the 150mil Noico Red Heat and Cool foam over the top. I had 36sqft so after I applied what I needed to the firewall I just kept going down the floor. This was way easier to install since you just peel and stick without having to roll the mat down like the 80mil. There are definitely spots where I doubled or even tripled up because of over layering. Maybe I got a little careless by the end but I'm hoping my carpet will smooth out any ridges and if not, I'll just go in adjust.



In all, I spent about 8 hours inside the car doing this install. 50% of the time was just spent on the fire wall. $150 in materials so far. If there was a time-lapse of me in the car working it would look like a dog spinning in circles chasing its tail.

 

Alright, I'm on to a part of the build that I thought wouldn't happen for much longer down the line but here I am installing audio! After sound deadening and before carpet to hide those wires. YES! I love this stuff. The last audio build I did was like 10 years ago in college in my Subaru.


I've never used these crimp connections before and I lov'em. This is 4ga wire from the battery to the Amp.



I've had this extra bulky fin protruding off my battery box since I installed it. It finally came in handy to mount the fuse block within 12" of the car battery. Glad I didn't grind it off earlier.



Pioneer GM-DX874 1200Watt 100RMS 4 Channel Amp. Just need to mock up the seat still to make sure it will fit there.

 

Wiring is well under way. Got to the point where I had to cut some holes for the 6x9s. I figured I'd wire everything and test it before I disconnected various wires to install the carpet over top. I'll still put some protective loom down on all the wires running under the carpet. I haven't decided where the front 6.5" round front speakers will go yet, so I gave them a lot of line to make it to the door panels just in case. Those are 2-way Pioneer TS-Z65F 110W RMS speakers.










Rear speakers are 3-way 6x9" Rockford Fosgate T1693 100W RMS Speakers.
I ran 8ga power and ground and RCA's to the trunk for a subwoofer, tbd.

I really want to get this wrapped up so I can install the carpet and seats and get cruising for the summer. It's been 90F+ for the last 6 days in MN and the garage is toasty, the work must go on!

 

So that sucks. Why MN why!? Guess I’ll just have to some silly vanity collector plates next year. Here are my ideas so far ha. Has to be 7 characters max.

 

Just tell them the '8' is a 'B'