Thank you everybody for the somments and complements. swade41, that has crossed my mind a time or two. 55Hydramatic, it is tormenting me to tears. I sooo want to get to work on it, so I have been cleaning up the interior window garnish for the last few days. I am taking all of the surface rust and old paint off with a wire wheel on the bench grinder and plan to acid etch all of it and shoot it in flat balck urethane primer and then in Metallic Black basecoat/clearcoat. If I get any new pictures or updates, I will let yall know.
Looking GOOD Phil!! I don't think you will have any trouble getting it away from Grandpa, but you may have a hard time keeping me out of it!!
55Hydramatic, That would really suck to have to wait 4 months just to get the dang thing. Dad, it's all god if you want to drive it. Just remember, I will be following you in yours.
Oh it did suck!!! But it was way cool when I finally got it! So when are you getting your 57' back to Iowa?
I am not sure. We are having difficulties getting ahold of the guy that we are hoping can haul it. On the upside, Grandpa and a few of his friends got the fenders and hood back on it with only one scratch on the right front door. It's too bad it's clear down to the primer. Otherwise, I could just buff it out. When I get some good pictures of it with the front end back together, I will sure post them. -Philroy
Long weekend. We had a lot of fun going to the Run Whatcha Brung 2012 at the Cordova Dragstrip in Illinois. Took the yellow 57 and had a blast. Not very many cars, but it's only their 2nd year. i checked my Email and had some pictures from Grandma I thought I would share with you. Let me know what ya think.
Thank ya guys. I have no updates to report, other than it didn't get on the last transport up here. The guy is planning on picking it up on his way back to California. He will then drop it off on his way back through to Michigan. He bought a house in California but is divorced and one of his kids is still living with her mother here in town. He comes back through to see her and is going to drop it off while he is here. That means I will hopefully have it in two weeks or so. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Well, I finally got her back. She came in on the transport the other night. I have been busy trying to get the brakes to work. Now, I am just waiting for the parts store to open up in the morning. I am sorry I didn't get on here sooner, but I have been working on the car. I am waiting for my front wheel bearing dust seals to come in. Then, I can pack the wheel bearings and put the hubs/drums back on and bleed the brakes. We replaced a couple of brake lines that were smashed. Hopefully tomorrow night, we will have packed front bearings and working brakes. I was at first dissappsointed with how poorly of a job the guy did on the paint. But, once I washed the crud off and got the paint clean, I am tickled shitless. He did a very nice job. Lots of orange peel, though. He painted the fenders, hood, and trunk lid off of the car. The whole right fender might need to be re-clear coated because it's purdy dry. At least I have to take the fender off anyways. I am going to start there wet sanding and buffing with the mindset that that's the worst of it, and if I can make it look decent, then I can make the rest of the car look awesome. He said he put 3 coats of clear on, so hopefully there is enough there to sand a lot off. The girlfriend came by and seen it and fell in love. But, she said that she would only ride in it if I put in a seatbelt for her. So, I will install 1 belt in the middle of the drivers seat just for her. That-a-ways she is within arms reach. Buckets and consoles are soooo unhandy if a feller wants to swap a little spit with his lady friend. Anyways, I found dad's old set of rocket wheels for the front. Now, I just need to come up with a set of wheels for the back and I am set. Well, that and tires. I ordered a new aluminum radiator today and it will be here next week. The rearend is leaking out of the front where the yoke is. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this??? I would greatly appreciate any help. I better get back to work. I just realized I hadn't put anything on here yet and figured I ought to do so. Thanks to everybody for the words of encouragement. -Philroy
Don't get too carried away sanding the clear...even IF it looks dry. It won't take much sanding and polishing to make it look good and the last thing you want to do is go thru the clear into the paint. 3 coats of clear is not that thick... Pinion bearing/seal is gone. in your rearend..you'll have to pull the yoke, pull the pinion bearing and replace it...it's not that hard a job but you'll need an impact and a bearing puller...better leave that one to the pros. R-
Ive always loved 57s just like you. I bought mine after seeing an ad on egay. I called the guy and he was here in the same town so transport was easy. Ive owned the car now for 8 years. It has been painted 3 different times, had 8 different motors and 2 different trans. Its in the driveway now waiting on another motor swap. 4 doors are cool and I love mine! Its awesome seeing a young guy like yourself enjoying and building an old car. Keep up the good work and drive the piss out of it!
Well, Sunday night we went to wetsanding on the right front fender because it's the worst. The whole right side it now wetsanded, buffed, and polished. I have all the stainless put back on the right side, too. It looks purdy good, even if I do say so myself. The new radiator came in on Wednesday. I got it put in and we had it running for probably a half an hour or so. We have been working on the brakes and actually have a small amount of brakes. I took it on a little trip around the yard today for probably 20 minutes, just driving in circles. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! Tomorrow we will get the brakes ironed out and maybe I can take it out on the highway for a little test run. It makes some noise in 1st gear but is quiet in 2nd and 3rd. Is this normal??? I will make sure the trans and rearend are topped off before I leave. And check the antifreeze and engine oil, too. Anyways, here are some pictures. Roger, sorry I didn't respond sooner to your emails. I forgot to check my email. A buddy of ours was a mechanic at a serice station for years. Hopefully he will be able to shine a little light on the rearend seal. Wyoruffneck, that's a sweet car you have there. I like the colors. I would like the thank everybody for all the help and encouragement, especially chevy57dude. Thanks to all. Please enjoy the pictures. -Philroy
That thing looks fantastic! Uh, scratch what I said about running the ratty old paint haha. What are you gonna use for an engine/trans/rearend? interior??
Thanks, Kevin. I think it does look a little better with this paintjob. It's got a 327/3-on-the-tree/stock rearend combo. It will probably wind up with a 4 speed if I can find one or a th350, but just a 3 speed for now. I might put a posi in it if I can find one cheap, but otherwise it will be basically as it is. I have an edelbrock aluminum highrise and a 650 double-pumper holley for it. Maybe electronic ignition. I am not sure. It will all depend on what the pocket-book will allow. The interior is basically done. It's all black diamond-tuck. I sent it to mexico and it's all new. I just have to get carpet and kick panels. Then the whole interior will be new. It will probably have bedliner for carpet and bedliner-ed cardboard kickpanels for the meantime. It will be simple, but getting it on the road is currently the most important aspect for me. I smashed my left hand in my truck door yesterday at the girlfriend's house. Then today, I was grinding on a bracket and the grinding wheel caught it and a burr caught my left middle finger and ripped a purdy good chunk-o-hide out of my finger. I could see the bone!!!! My left hand is basically useless, so tomorrow will be a short easy day. Yesterday, we got the brakes adjusted and I now have brakes. I drove it around the yard for probably half an hour. I am excited!!!! Anyways, thanks for all the positive vibes. -Philroy
Well, very little progress to report. I have been working on wetsanding and buffing the rest of the car. It's coming, but it's slow. I guess it's a good thing we have a long winter ahead of us to work on it... Extra long weekend, so hopefully I can make a little more headway on it.
Well, we have been working on installing the new front floorpans from Danchuk. We just got a new arc welder/tig welder/plasma cutter a few weeks ago. Plasma is the only way to go for this. We zipped the old pans out in a matter of minutes. We decided to use a body panel glue called FUSOR. It is available at NAPA stores. It is a strong epoxy glue and works wonders. No welding required. You just take and dress up the 2 pieces to be glued together, squirt the glue in, and hold them together until it dries. It is available in dry times of 10-45 minutes. I would reccommend the longer dry time. We also ordered these things called CLEKOS from Speedway. They work good for clamping the two pieces along the pinch weld. They are the little clamp deals in the picture. Anyways, here are some pictures of what we have been doing.
Well, we got the drivers side floor pan finished. It only took us about 2 hours to do, compared to the 4 or 5 it took to do the other one. Christmas was purdy good to me. A friend of ours gave me an old Muncie 4-speed trans. Now I gotta find a shifter... My parents got me a new carpet for it, and a complete door/trunk/glovebox/ignition lock set and a pair of chrome quarter panel side scripts. I only have pictures of the trans, but hopefully I can get some pictures off the rest of the stuff as I put it on.
Thanks for the compliments, fellas. Well, a lot has happened in the last few weeks. We got the 4 speed installed and the rear pinion seal changed. Now it no longer leaves puddles on the shop floor every time we move it. I have yet to drive it with the 4 speed, but I can hardly wait. The guy that gave it to me was able to locate a Hurst Competition Plus shifter for it, so I can't wait to bang through the gears with it. This last weekend dad and I painted the dash. It's not to bad for my first paintjob, even if I do say so myself. The middle part is silver and the rest is a dark charcoal metallic with big metalflake in the clearcoat. I just got my order from danchuk today with my window felt kit. Does anybody know how to install them??? They have me perplexed. Here are some pictures. Enjoy. -Philroy 1st picture: trans in the car 2nd: dash with basecoat 3rd: dash with metal flake and clearcoat
The Jalopy Journal
