Sometimes you don’t know enough to even ask a good question. By him dumping all this info you are gaining enough information to know what question to ask next. I’m enjoying reading it as well
There is an epoxy product sold to saturate rotten wood or punky wood, on Victorian houses, where the level of effort to replace all of the ginger bread detailing with new wood, would be prohibitive.
I'll have to look into that epoxy it might save that pice enough to get it out. Thanks. If, as Dumprat says you have to use vacuum that sucks. Yes, Tim it is a lot to take in in a short time. I have to get the information while it is there and people are willing to share it. I can absorb it as I'm working on it. It starts making sense while I'm taking things apart and actually have it in my hands. The problem is that I'm thinking about it ALL the time. Also that there are alternatives. lots of them. There is wood, there is steel, and there is everything in between. The bent frame horn got straightened today, the new spring bushings and bolts came, and I think I found the one missing piece of sheet metal. I'm following up on it now.
I have seen one that can be pressurised used too, so may not have to have a vacuum chamber necessarily. Put the resin on and then into the chamber. May not be as efficient though, and probably more cumbersome. It may just be that you use what you have.
I'll be there tomorrow and look more closely. I think this one piece is the only one in that condition. All I have to do is get it out in good enough shape to make a pattern. I can get a lot of the information I need from it before I try to remove it. The other one is a mirror image. The flywheel my friend brought to the Inliner meeting today was cracked worse than the one I have. Will probably drill one if the 11" ones for the smaller clutch.
I went over and read through your conversasion with Mike. Great reading! Wish I could get on to comment! If you cannot get enough of that sill out for your pattern, I can make you a cardboard pattern and role it up and send to you.
Thanks. It's the A pillar in the passenger side in the cowl. I'm going down tomorrow and will get more measurements and pictures. I'll see what it takes to get that piece out. Try again to join the Rusty Bowtie site. Your comments there would be a help. It' sort of funny that he can't post here and you can't post there. It's a good thing I have two ears!
Dumb question, but did you take the bolts out of the windshield support? It has been a long time, but I am pretty sure that there are two flat head bolts through the pillar to the plate that stiffens the windshield mounting.
The last time I was there I started soaking the windshield bolts withe penetrating oil. There are3 bolts through the windshield side brackets and through the cowl. The closest wood in the A pillars. They end at the dash cross steel piece. I'm also trying to remove the cowl lights. My windshield brackets are both rusted off a couple of inches above the bolts. I have another set. I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with the windshield yet. It will depend on how I fit inside the car.
I went out and got a couple of pics. These are with the cowl upside down. Three bolt for the windshield, two for the pillar, and one for the dash.
This morning I tried to take more of the front axle apart. I wanted to get the tie rod off. That didn't happen. I went down to the other shop and sorted wood for a coupe of hours. I found places for most of what I have but found that I don't have as much as I thought. The right sill is missing 6"- 8' inches at the back of the cowl. The left side is missing a little more than 1/2 of the sill. I was able to set the back together on the frame. A lot of the wood I have is the boards for the floor of the trunk. I've seen flatbed trucks with less wood. I have some of the seat but am missing what ever ties the seat and body together. Much was crumbling in my hands as I tried to fit things together. At this point I really can't see me fixing it. On the bright side the bent frame horn is straight and the front crossmember is held in with a couple of bolts. Don't seem to be able to post pictures.
Pictures from today. I think I have my other camera working now. I'll try it next time. This is from the left rear & it's all I have of the left sill. It ends in the seat area. The piece clamped up front is the front end of the cowl. This is the other end. The two pieces come from the cowl. The large hole in the frame is where the steering box mounts with the spring mount below it. The '26 front crossmember sitting in place after straightening the right frame horn. From the left rear corner showing the back piece that is the end of the body with metal removed. Also trunk floor decking. I have all of that. Quarter brace sticking up. Right rear corner with joint and corner space where long S piece in the quarter fits. Also the L bracket that screws to front side of S piece, The hole in sill in front of L bracket is the rear body mount. Frame will be extended to and across the end of the body. This is the missing piece from the right sill.The door and cowl meet right at the end of the large sill piece. Another angle of the same spot. Cowl and door meet at the end of big piece, There would be a notch there for the A pillar. The back is straight so I can splice them together. for pattern. Along the right sill showing trunk decking. body contour, notch for quarter brace, hole for mid body mount and B pillar notch. looking toward right rear. Frame will match this contour which is body contour. There was a body mount outside the frame but old sill hole will now sit on frame rail for new hole. Front to rear showing height of trunk floor and quarter brace sticking up.
I went back today for a while and picked up the metal sill to measure. I didn't take measurements yesterday but will soon It's time to start drawing, tracing. and writing down measurements. I know there is at least one more wood piece because the other back quarter brace is in some of my early pictures. I'm also sure the other L bracket and some trunk hinges are here. I was sorta bummed yesterday. There is a thing I call the Apolo 13 Syndrome. "We have to make this fit that using only this." It may come from making so many repairs in the field or roadside where you are stuck with what's at hand. I am not limited to the little bag of stuff I had with me yesterday. I have lots of stuff, my friends have lots of stuff, and I can even buy new stuff. So it's not as bad as I thought it was. Some plans may change but I can move this to the next step and give the steel guys enough to occupy them for a while. I have misplaced the rear mount for the right front spring. We'll need that pretty soon. It's here somewhere. If I can get the sub floor done I'll have time to assemble a lot of the loose pieces in my shop so I won't be tripping on them while looking for the lost parts.
Hang in there! Sometimes it gets overwhelming! But today or tomorrow you'll see a bright spot! Like that dance, two steps forward, one back. Two steps forward! Sometimes I could swear that a lot of these parts have legs, or know how to burrow in amongst other stuff! A couple of years ago, I was rebuilding a tractor engine. I had a replacement hydraulic pump that I wanted to use, could I find it......No! I had to clean up the one that came off to put in place to hold the timing gears correct. A while later, I found the correct pump within 6" of where I had been looking. But it was 6" different verticaly! Two layers down! Yesterday I got to the table saw and blocked out some pieces (that I had glued up way back when) that will be the patterns for the piece of sill over the top of the kick up. I also found that I do have a couple boards of Northern Ash. (must have picked these up just before putting everything away 20 some years ago.)
Thanks for the encouragement. I figured out a couple of things and I realize that sometimes discouragement is progress. Today I'm worrying about something I didn't know was a problem yesterday. Things are moving on other fronts, tying up loose ends related to the overall build. I'm glad you are moving on your stuff too. I may have located a parts stash near here.
I hope that you can get into that parts stash! If nothing else than looking and sticking the info in your brain for later! I got back out to the shop yesterday and blocked out some more wood for patterns. Found some more wood that I had glued up years ago,(5" x 5" x 48" pine) so started cutting it up. One half of it got a new tail end piece blocked out of it. I started bringing the piece for the big blocks behind the seat down to size, but realized that I was going from dimensions on cardboard directly to the N Ash. (bo-bo waiting to happen) So I also blocked out a piece of pine for that pattern. Both of these pieces are long enough to make two blocks each. I will cut as many notches and angles as I can before cutting in half. Found another Ash chunk that when I turned it over, the pieces from the B pillar to the big block were marked out on it. (tried to get a pic, but didn't show up) Here again, I have the cardboard 2D patterns, but have not found 3D wood patterns, so will be blocking out some more of that 5 x 5 pine. I have not worked in wood so long, that I do not trust myself to go directly to the GOOD wood! I took some pics, One shows why I have no room in the shop, you can see my bandsaw and planer. It is so close between the tire and bandsaw that I catch my coat on the bandsaw table as I go by. (I know, take the coat off and also lose a little weight!) Also the are several Items that come in handy. The 1 x 4;s with the hinge is for putting the long scarfs on the sills. The universal jig works great for putting tenons on the ends of boards (just make sure that the board is vertical and held tight.) The 'nose ring' is the cheep thickness gauge (very accurate)
GG2, Thanks for all of this. With each of your posts I learn more and feel more confident. As with all we do being able to break it down into steps helps a lot. As long as the steps we take are ones that actually move in the right way. I'm still pondering getting that lower outside line I need as it becomes 3D over and back down at the kickup. With the '26 crossmember in place using the top front hole in the frame and the front hole in the crossmember the measurement is 26" from the center of rear motor mount hole to the front of the slotted radiator mount hole. You gave me a 26 3/8" to the center of the radiator mount hole. Since the second holes in the frame don't line up and the other big stamped crossmember doesn't match the frame holes I'm thinking I need to move the crossmember forward to get the 26 3/8" length. I want the hood to be right. I will probably build my front engine mounts from the front crossmember and rear mount will be from the transmission.further back. I don't plan to use the rear mount crossmember for engine mounting. Maybe for pedals and master cylinder. brackets. Glad you showed your work space. Here's my mess. Following the deaths of two friends, brothers, in the last few months I accumulated a lot of stuff "too good to throw away". Moving the frame out resulted in more things being put somewhere " for the time being". Now I realize that my shop has evolved over the last decades of tool and equipment acquisitions and is now not useable. I need a major reorganization that will take several days at least in the first phase. If I can get the frame started I can grab enough time to make some changes and then be able to use my time for other than looking for something.
I went out for a while and was able to kick enough empty beer cans and wine bottles out of the way and get the front axle in for disassembly. It's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow. I can be inside with a fire in the stove and a big hammer in my hand.
How does your new engine compare in length with the old 171? I would also think that the front crossmember needs to move forward to the 26 3/8 cl to cl. ( that dim was along the frame line, not a centerline dim. The engine was in the road) Do you want me to take another measurement from some where else to confirm? I am also glad that my shop isn't the only one in a mess, but yours looked like it cleaned up well! (I like your table!) Good luck tomorrow with the hammer!
I'll measure again along the frame rail and I'll compare the two engines. Just measuring the 153 there is plenty of room. I think I got that little lift table when I was working a Kragen. They had some great clearance sales and our employee discount was good for more off. I got a lot of good shop stuff some is still in boxes.
It was snowing hard when I cam out of the shop. Nice in there! I got the axle apart except for one king pin. I squirted it again and moved it with a pipe on the spindle and a hammer. I'll let it set till tomorrow. The other king pin is in great shape I think this is just dust that has settled in there. The drums good enough to turn. I have a tapered roller beating conversion kit. I think I have a set of shoes hiding somewhere and I saw cylinders on eBay. I need to soak all of the link connectors. [
You might have to move a few more empty beer cans and wine bottles out of the way to find that set of shoes Love seeing the progress on this Chevy!
They are in a green box somewhere near the blast cabinet. There are still a few dozen wine bottles but I'll be filling them with Prickly Pear wine very soon, 7 gallons worth.
I tastes like wine. This is my first batch. It is darker than rose' and lighter than a red, has a pretty full flavor and will make you goofy. Headed back to get the last king pin out and mark the axle for the new spring mounts. Also removal of the old ones. Still looking for some misplaced parts. I found three small wood pieces but they tell me nothing.
I got the other king pin out today and almost all of the axle parts cleaned and de-rusted . I ordered new wheel cylinders. The king pins & bushings are like new. All I need are the top and bottom dust caps.
That's unusual! But great for you! Should be easy to find soft plugs. Are you going to pre-paint as you go?
Yes, I'll try to have at least everything but the body painted as we go. I know there will be a lot of repainting and touch up but I don't want to totally disassemble it to paint. If I get it together once I'll be happy. It is to be a driver not a show thing. There will be a lot of can rattling in this build. I'm trying to find the best rattle can brand right now. I have lots of little parts ready. I ordered the front brake shoes this morning.
Hey, SixBall n GG2; Thanks for the thread. Good info n ideas on documentation. As you make the repairs n new pieces, would you mind all that much showing "how" you do it? I never got the knack for working w/wood, as I found out eons ago in shop classes, that I wasn't able to hide my mistakes by welding on more wood. Still haven't acquired that skill, come to think of it... ;( . Anyways, this thread is helpful for anyone working on something other than a ford. As for the epoxy to help in the rotted/punked wood, am still trying to remember the name of it, but IIRC, Tex Smith talked about it, & did an article or three on it. Was neat stuff, mixed clear, runny - like water, & soaked into damaged wood like water into a sponge, & after hardening could use the now-stronger "repaired" wood piece instead of replacing/recreating it. Thinking 1st article was in street rodder in 70's, also in Old Cars mag too. Product was not car-oriented. Saw it advertised for quite awhile, & displayed/sold at Street Rods Nats in 70s n 80s. I'll post name if I can find/remember it. FWIW. Marcus...
The Jalopy Journal
