Projects Flashback50 front end redesign and implementation

with the headlite 2 inchs more back and body work done. you need to look at a stocker to see the work.

 

Thanks Andy, but I can't take credit for the actual fabrication work. Most of the front end metal forming is via Kerry Hopperstad and Wayne Young at Hopperstads rod and custom shop. As I said at the beginning of the thread, I am an old 'glass man' and never really got used to working with a torch and welder. I am very comfortable with the electrical/electronic stuff and still reasonably good with a sketch pad and charcoal art stuff but a complete numbskull when it comes to metal forming and finishing. Bob

 

Hi Plymouth 52, That is a really clean front end you have. Did you custom form the headlight hoods? Nice flowing curves, no valleys, bold nose,,,, that's what I am hoping for when we get done with the Flashback 50 hoods. Bob

 

Thanks for all the interest guys. Here is a picture of the 'closed up' front air shroud and fitting of the bezels into the Merc rims. We decided to use threaded tabs and screw mount the bezels so that they could be removed for alignment and replacement of the headlights, instead of dropping the buckets for all maintenance. Bob

 

Very nice build you have going Bob. Thanks for sharing it! Great pictures and info.

 

This is turning out so bitchin' I can hardly wait to see your next update!

My '27 T Roadster build: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

We closed up details in the trunk area this past week. While bench testing the remote door popper transmitters and receivers I found out that it was actually an 8 channel operator so I have added a trunk popper and a 'show mode' relay to the system. We added a channel to protect the latch pull cables (one from the new trunk latch popper solenoid and one from mechanical emergency release) that will merge just past the battery box in the passenger side rear quarter space. This space is covered by upholstered panel but the release cables would be exposed and possibly compromised by 'stuff' in the trunk shifting around so we decided on a protective channel.

While there we added a support bracket for the under trunk light (one of the lights described in a different post with a tilt switch and solid state relay so that additional lighting could be added if desired later. The light showing in the following picture is actually the under hood light (we have also added a bracket for mounting of that light) which has the same 'footprint' as the trunk light so we were using it for 'fitting' purposes.

We are hoping to close up the remaining details this week and get started with the fill and prime processes. The hood will get some final cosmetic work and then go back for ecoat dip processing since there are now several 'enclosed areas that would be hard to properly passivate and prime with spray equipment. That's the update for this past week. Bob

 

Hood is back on for final alignment of latch and working out details for safety hook release.

We decided to use a floating prop rod which will be stored on the passenger side inner fender upper ledge, easily within reach when opening hood. Hole was drilled between plunger/safety hook mounting plate and center ridge of hood brace. Wayne fitted a hard rubber grommet to the hole for paint protection and 'better feel' of the rod positioning.


Since mechanism is mounted flush we will put a hole I the vertical lip of the front crossbrace (drill center marked on yellow tape). With the latch released and hood sprung up to the safety position we will be able to push a spring loaded transfer button bult to fit the hole and extend reach to the safety hook extension. This under-view will give a better idea of how that will all play out.

There will be a piece of straight angle steel extending on down from the safety hook and becoming the transfer point for push button plunger which is built into the vertical wall of the cross brace. As we worked this out yesterday it almost seemed that I could stick a finger through the hole and reach the hook extension to release the hood with my finger. However, my fingers are probably shrinking along with the rest of my body (some parts of being old really suck) so it seems safer to design and install the button now, and make life easier for all. Best regards to all. Bob

 

This will be the last update for a month or so as the car is headed back to Andy's shop (SuicideAxle.com) for tweaking of the contours and blend lines, e-coating of the hood, detailing of the grille surround in prep for construction of the rim (approximately 1/2 inch bead on edge that will cover the surround edge) that will be chromed to form the dress piece for the grille surround, and filling and priming of the remaining 'raw' areas.
In the past week or so, Wayne and Kerry have closed up the hood trim trough and extended the peak of the metal from the nose back to about 6 inches prior to the firewall end of the hood.

Wayne has fit the extension to the hood latch safety hook

Wayne also spotted and drilled the hole in the cross brace vertical wall that lines up with the hook extension. Larry Alex (Alex Machine) will be custom building a push button assembly that will 'operate' the hook extension to release it from the grab ledge when opening the hood.


Wayne also arranged the prop rod storage on the inner fender upper ledge as noted in my last update.

 

Thanks again to all of you for your interest. The car is moving along and starting to come together in a more 'visible' manner. Andy has done his magic and the front end is getting very interesting. A few things left to do with the hood before it comes back off and goes up the road for the e-coating.


Larry (Alex Machine) has created a great pushbutton mechanism for the hood safety latch release and today we had the chance to test it for fit and function.

Here is a composite of the button mechanism itself and some details.

Andy has filled, primed a few layers and has the radiator-bridge shroud ready for final paint.

We did some work on the 'under dash' hangers and wiring provisions today as well. Next update will most likely be when the hood comes back and final trim fitting is underway.

Regards to all, Bob

 

Looks amazing! By the way, I found a set of 16" Hollywood Flippers, thank you!

My '27 T Roadster build: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

Well,,,,, after holiday break and a few near disasters we are getting back into the swing of things. The hood has been cleaned up and primed and it is time to start putting things back together so I was reminded that the wiring under the dash would be a lot easier to do before the dash was put back on and 'got busy' with closing up details for the new switch arrangement and instrument cluster support circuits (subject of another post put up recently). The fuse panel identified the current wiring as PPPI and it did not take a lot of searching (they have an excellent support site) to find the harness instruction manual that matched the harness in the car. It took several hours to untangle the spaghetti bundles and get the wiring divided up into more sensible groups after which I got busy with the new switches and re-wiring of some of the more tattered stuff. The picture below are 1. final cleanup of the fuse panel area with wiper and headlight switch taped up and waiting for installation to the dash. 2. area over column showing wiring divided up in functional bundles. 3. column and instrument cluster connectors and temperature sensor (blue box) for AC. 4. center area showing the new remote receiver with door poppers and ground distribution strip (I ran additional power and ground wires from battery to support the electronic devices with 'clean power'). 5. passenger side panels including the Accel DFI, instrument cluster support panel with lamp dimmer load resistor, voltage reducer and gauge translators as well as power distribution and fuse holder bar, and a 'valet' driver which will work off the fourth direct channel of the remote allowing toggle or timed power control for show mode lighting or other needs. I managed to locate and reconnect everything except the overdrive switch. I have not yet found the wire entry from the engine compartment but the switch will be in an easy place to access when I do find the wire. I rearranged a couple of the wires in the harnesses to the trunk and have provided the command wire for the trunk popper relay in one of the existing harnesses. I have re-strung the passenger side harness to get the additional power and ground wires for clean power from the battery (in the trunk) to the electronic devices in and under the dash. PPPI harness has rear speaker wires but they are only 20 gauge, which at 15 foot (approximate run) will offer about 18% loss which is a bit much offset from the front so I am contemplating running another harness from package deck up the passenger side with some 12 gauge speaker wires and a couple of 16 gauge spares for future use. I am sure that there are going to be some things to rethink when the dash is in place but that is not too far off. Regards, to all. Bob Bertolasi

 

This quick post is for those of you that have been following the electrical/electronic part of this project. I have finally found the right instrument lights to finish up the refurbishing of the instrument cluster and clock. I had secured a different headlight switch with an 11 ohm dimmer rheostat and have provided a 'load resistor' of 25 ohms to give a dimming range of 9 volts to 14.5 volts (engine running and battery fully charged). The next task was to remove the aged light filter (was probably orange when new) which was a mottled yellow mess and replace it with a translucent white filter (from a plastic container of the correct size) and then to 'clean' up all the panel graphics and indicator marks. The special lights arrived today and I have just finished a quick test for uniformity and color and am very satisfied with the results (attached below). I am now installing all the controls in the dash and will be putting the instrument cluster and clock back in when I am sure that all the rest is done under the dash. Bob

 

Interesting situation. The 2.5 inch Y and 2.5 inch to 2 inch adaptors would not fit in the available space but that is all you can buy from the aftermarket AC equipment suppliers. A quick trip to Menards, and some PVC fittings and glue solved the problem. Two 45° 1¼ inch elbows, sawed on the mold seam and outside halves glued together resolved the issue, in style, with space to spare. From the Siroco heater the two runs are driver and passenger side directed with the 'Y' in each run splitting the air flow to defroster (90° takeoff) and dash vent (135° takeoff) making a natural 'choke' for the defroster path to help with the air balancing for this aftermarket solution.

 

One of many concerns as we start to re-install the dash and door components. As I was building up the remote receiver panel and putting the new relays on it I made a note that I needed to protect these new relays against the popper solenoid transients so that they would last longer and perform more reliably than the previous. Got to that part of the project yesterday and rummaged around the basement for some high current diodes. I found some MR760, 6amp general purpose rectifier diodes and they would seem to be perfect for this purpose (see data sheet attached). Easily handle 30 amp surges which is just about what the solenoids are going to generate. With the relay on the high side when the contacts try to 'break' the circuit (turn off the solenoid) the stored energy in the solenoid will force the current to keep flowing and build up the voltage till an arc is formed across the contacts (this sometimes can weld the contacts together but even if that doesn't happen the arc eats away at the contact surface till most of the surface is oxidized and there is little left to make contact with). By putting a rectifier diode across the relay coil (that requires predetermining which lead will be hot and which will be ground) the surge energy is 'commuted' around the coil and does not affect the contacts of the relay. I am attaching a couple of photos of the surge suppressing diodes inserted into the leads of the solenoids which I have fitted into 14ga. bullet connectors with the solenoid wires and then covered with heat shrink to prevent possibilities of shorting to the door metal. I chose the use the male bullet for the solenoid hot lead so that the delivering wires would be organized with female (fully insulated) bullets for the hot to prevent shorts when working on the doors or replacing components. Regards, Bob

 

Lookin good!

 

Wow! Great update!

My '27 T Roadster build: www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

Finally, things are starting to come together. Spent some time with Andy and his crew this week as they are reworking the 55 Pontiac side trim (working dings out, polishing, straightening (shipper did not properly package and the tips of the quarter strips were bent in handling)). I started the fitting of dash controls and got most of the switches/controls setup as well as the 'power tray'. The power tray, subject of a technical post, provides either four USB plugins, or two USB and one cigarette lighter socket (for laptop power blocks). I am finding a few miscellaneous lock washers and spacers to finish up the dash switches and controls and hope to have that done, radio test fit, and instrument cluster test fit by end of next visit.

 

One of those 'whish I had asked' situations upped and bit me in the ass. After searching for months, I found what appears to be the sole remaining set of 55 Pontiac side trim (CTC Ranch in Texas - an old car parts yard) in the US, and paid a significant sum for the trim and shipping.

The ends were in great shape per the pictures that they took for me.

HOWEVER,,,,, I did not ask if they were going to put the long pieces in PVC tubing AND they didn't! The trim was taped to a board and wrapped with newspaper and tape. The trim shifted in handling and got here with both end tips bent almost 60 degrees (picture below).

We did the dance and they took the trim back and had a local shop 'straighten it' but this is what I got back

One piece reasonable and the other a mess.

Here again, Andy and his guys came to the rescue. Bob Maddox, Andy's trim master took the trim from Larry Alex (Alex machine - local shop that we had shorten the trim to proper fit), and, as if it were his own, worked it over till not only were all the dings and scratches gone, but so was the twisted mess of the tail ends that were sent back to me. Last Thursday they surprised me with completely finished trim, installed, and ready to be pulled for painting. It has, however, been a nerve wracking situation for quite some time.




(sorry about the water spots on the camera lens - I got sprayed!)
I am breathing much easier this week and looking forward to getting some color on the body now,,, it's getting closer! Regards, Bob Bertolasi

 

Hey Bob, can you give me a little instruction on how you cleaned up your gauge face? When I was much younger I "helped" my dad by wiping the dust off of a gauge face and took a significant amount of the markings off of it. I don't want to do that again!

My '27 T Roadster build: www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

No problem Eric. After disassembly, I used an air can (dry clean air) to blow off loose crud. The I used a 50/50 mix of rubbing alcohol and water with cotton ball stroking very lightly to get 'soft' layer of sediment/mold/condensation off (watch out to not 'snag' the gauge needles if you have left them in place). Next, same mix but cotton swabs to zero in on the 'stubborn areas' and finally re-wiped all with cotton balls and mix and then dry cotton balls. There were a few areas around the gauge lables (fuel, oil, etc) that I didn't want to get any more aggressive so some residue left, but way better than what I started with. Regards, Bob

 

Awesome! Thanks for the tips!

My '27 T Roadster build: www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

We discussed the grille surround yesterday and it is close enough that we are starting to consider who to use for chrome plating. Since the surround is formed from dead soft sheet steel and welded in sections we will need a plater that is skilled in copper fill for skin flatness and pit elimination. Any of you in the Midwest familiar with a good chrome house? We are looking in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Iowa, and Minnesota. Trying to avoid a second mortgage on my house to pay for the chrome, you know what I mean! Thanks, Bob

 

That looks killer!

 

Sorry about the absence for last several weeks. We have been taking care of a lot of details and trying to close in on the final decisions prior to painting. I am getting wore out at PhotoShopping as I have been running various scenarios for the transition from Graystone Metallic to Mineral White Metallic at the rear quarter where the Pontiac side trim ends. Here are a few of the options that have been investigated and the best I can say is that it seems we will settle on scallops with silver pinstripe edges and custom made spears (another detail that I have been attending to).
I cannot get the avi to attach so you can try this direct link.

http://s1291.photobucket.com/user/RBertolasi/media/painttransitionconcepts_zps4938bc3b.mp4.html

I have ordered and received the glass needed to replace all the frosted and fractured stuff, luckily the full rear quarter windows and back window were in good shape. Trying to get my head around the sound dampening issue. It seems that some use the lower cost stuff (peel and seal for example) on the floor pans while electing for the high temperature materials (like B-Quiet) for the overhead and door panels. If any of you have had really good experiences with a particular brand I would appreciate your input. Best regards to all. Bob Bertolasi

 

Some progress for the last couple of weeks. I gave up on trying to find spears that would fit and were commercially available. Andy and Kerry referred me to Mark Morgan, one of Rockford's great talents, and he quickly designed a spear to match my hand waving, then setup the NC program to make them in pairs and proceeded to get the work done in record time. I picked up the spear plates on Monday and got them directly to Larry for cutout and trimming operations. They should be finished in a day or so and ready to 'fit' to the car and then do final polishing. In the meantime I have done a few more Photoshop exercises to work out the paint separation with pinstripes which was our final decision. That decision left a few details to work out such as whether to merge the pinstripes with the spear tips or take the pinstripes around the tips and how to handle the pinstripes from the side trim forward, around the cowling. We are all in agreement as to what and how to do this now and Andy is waiting for me to deliver templates to make the vinyl masking sheets with for the scallops at the rear quarter. Following are some images of the work for the past couple of weeks. Regards, Bob

 

Last week was productive. The pace is picking up while we wait for the grille surround to come back from the chrome plating house.
I finished a template for the spear locating and mounting while Larry cut and trimmed the spears from the machining plates.

I polished one of the spears to make sure that we could get a suitable finish and not have to send them out for chrome plating. We took the spears to Andy and while there checked the template against the car to be sure that I had properly proportioned the layout and that he could go ahead and get the masking templates made.

Andy had not yet polished out the white but it is all on and ready for the next step

We took note of the amount of 'bend' that will have to be put into the tail end of the spears (each is different) so that they properly conform to the roll of the sheet metal at the rear quarter.

Larry has finished up the trunk latch operator mechanism / assembly. We had discussed several possible solutions but Larry, as he always does, worked to the most reliable, easy to install and adjust solution. He used some very tough but slick plastic for the merging assembly and setup the transfer so that the solenoid over-stroke (about three times the movement of the trunk latch when actuating) would be absorbed with a spring, the emergency (manual release) would not be binding the solenoid movement, and all could fit comfortably in the protective channel that we have built into the inner trunk lip.




The cable clamps are designed so that the bottom slides on the plastic ledge and they cannot turn (held into position by spacing of cable guides through end of bracket. I am looking for a lower power solenoid as the one I had available is a 60W and I can get by comfortably with 20W. Changing solenoids will not change the mechanism except for possible spring constant (K) adjustment.

That's it for this week. Best regards to all, Bob

 

Andy (Suicideaxle.com) really pointed me in the right direction for the chrome plating. Steve (Chrome Shop in Menasha, WI) worked his magic on the grille surround that, due to some fabrication issues, had a lot of seams and weld pits to be dealt with. We picked up the parts last week and I am posting a few images of them before I take them to Andy for final fitting. Steve also did the frame for the license plate inset area and both parts are, to my eyes, beautiful. Following are a few of the images I made for the record, using our vertical blinds for flatness reference and diffuse lighting.





NOTE: Steve's pricing was very reasonable and I did not have to mortgage the house.
Regards to all. Bob Bertolasi

 

I haven't checked out this thread in awhile. Wow, things are looking good. Thanks for taking the time to really detail the process for us.

You could probably sell those trunk latch mechanisms as a kit, and I'd bet you could sell a lot of those spears.

 

Best regards to all of you and I really appreciate the pm's, emails, and posts. We have made it to the final polishing out of the paint and closing up of lots of details so I thought I would make another update.
First, Larry worked us through creation of a new latch plate that would fit in the 50 pillar and handle the latch mechanism of the 49 doors. Following two pictures are of the first test (critical contact surfaces relational locations) and final mockup test for full form latch plate. The final form had only a few details left (a bit too thick and re-sizing of the nut plate (fits inside the pillar and allows adjustment of the latch plate position).


The final (metal) plates are now being machined. In the meantime, Andy has been busy putting on the paint, pinstriping the boundries, and sealing all with a final coat of clear. We have finally been able to see the real spears alongside the real side trim and fit to 'real position'. I took a couple of shots of the paint job without the trim pieces and some with the trim. The paint polish is making it difficult to get good 'clean' pictures because of all the reflections but I worked several angles to make the scheme as clear as possible.





I have ordered the sound deadening material (decided on B-Quiet) and I am getting the rest of the wiring work figured out so that we are ready to get busy on the car as soon as it comes back to it's garage in Rockford. Sheldon Cunningham will be working with Lois (my wife) to create the new interior arrangement while Larry finishes up the speaker panels for the doors and package deck. Larry has worked out a bracket to hold the backup lights and license plate (composite view shown previously) and cross-beam the backup lights for best area of illumination. We have located the side mirrors (Freedom Street Rods - California casual style) and Andy has painted them up so they will be mounted when the car comes back. I have the new glass pieces (some of the old glass was cracked and some crazed) and rubber seals for all, so we will be putting a lot of effort into trying to get the car back on the road so we can get it into a couple of local shows before it gets stored for the winter.
Regards, Bob