Projects Old Rusty . . . a Father/Son '51 Chevy

Thank God I love the process so much; sometimes the journey is where it's at. Approx. 900 more hours to go!

Thanks for the kind words. Don't want to get into a HAMB philosophy discourse, but the truth is that there is a Grand Paradox going on here. I feel a responsibility to Ryan and his core group (the Traditionalists) because it is his show, his rules, his vision. The paradox comes from their (Ryan & Co.) generosity of spirit in stretching the boundaries. They say "traditional only", and then allow a whole lot more. Paradox. So yes, you are correct, a lot more goes on here than traditional rod & customs. But the HAMB is still not the place to document an EFI build, in my opinion. Let's be grateful that they have stretched the boundaries, but let's be respectful. You might say that the EFI line is an arbitrary boundary line; you say it's OK, cross it! But I say I respectfully disagree. I see a line there and my friend Rod does, too, and I thank him for cautioning me as I was stepping over it.

Thanks!

President Bonehead himself!!

Thanks, appreciate it.

Hard for me to say since the car has not even been on the ground, let alone the road. But from an install point of view, I would say "well engineered, good quality."

Thanks. Got to tell you that my maternal grandfather was Cloyd Stephen Shonter, born 1888 in Huntingdon, PA. Had 8 children, 19 grandchildren, and 23 gr-grandchildren (before he died in 1987), and they alll called him "Cubby".

 

Some progress to report:<O</O
Drillled mounting holes and cut out center hole for Lokar floor-mount gas pedal.<O</O

 

Edit: OT street rod stuff

 

Welded a steel sleeve in toeboard to route e-brake cable housing through.

<O</O

 

Installed e-brake cable housings on rear brakes and am in the process of figuring out how to route cable to front while keeping clear of exhaust and driveshaft.
<O</O

 

Got an electric wiper kit from Specialty Power Windows. Removed the transmissions from the original factory trans. housings and drilled a larger hole for the new transmissions.
<O</O

 

I am extremely disappointed in myself for screwing up my first attempt at spraying clearcoat. Specs say 8-10 psi for HVLP, but I could not get it to spray at all lower than about 20 psi. Turns out that I forgot to adjust (lower) the volume to account for the lower pressure. As a result, the 1<SUP>st</SUP> coat of clear on the cowl was a disaster: scattered heavy droplets with intermittent runs. <O</O

 

Sanded the droplet mountains down with 500 grit and shot 2<SUP>nd</SUP> coat of clear at 10 psi. With proper volume setting, it sprayed beautifully, but it might be too late to salvage this cowl paint job. The clear now has a heavy orange peel, and the firewall shows vertical runs of what looks like blue paint. Very discouraging. Inner fenders, dash, and cowl have been my test canvas for teaching myself to paint, and right now I’d give myself a D- if I was handing out grades. Part of me is ready to paint the cowl flat black and call it a day, but the dash must be corrected, so what the hell, let’s just re-do it all.



<O</O

 

You know...I kind of like the effect on the firewall, probably not on the dash though. You might consider keeping the firewall that way until all the test fits etc. are about done.

 

I'm inclined to agree with you. Looks better than flat black as is. Really, it is only vertical surfaces that suffered. Top of dash and cowl look OK. I'm so ready to move on and get this sucker running.

 

More small steps. Cut out new gaskets for wiper transmission housings.

 

Finished E-brake install.

 

Glad to see more progress! If it were me, I wouldn't sweat the firewall! It's all part of the learning process and it's only made you more prepared for spraying the stuff that really counts! Oh and the Cubby nickname is something I got as a young kid...it really stuck and 20 years later I hardly answer to my real name when people use it!

 

I don't think the firewall would bother me either. It really will not show after you have the engine and inner fenders in.

Keep going, you're making progress!

 

Hey Brerhair your moving right along . Who did you buy the E Brake kit from ? Was it expensive ? I thought that I would just use the Caprice assembly but that looks more compact and complete . Good Work !! Andy..

 

GO man Go!!! I love everything about this build. I can't wait for the day when me and Memphis can get started on a project. Inspiring!!!


Make sure you come to the Iron Lords Auto Fair After Party on April 21st. Bring the family!

 

Wow! good work man! Just read the whole thread! Keep up the great work! Jay

 

great idea with the conduit! I ran my cables to the trunk and have felt like it needed something done a little different and now I know what

keep diggin bro its looking good!!!

 

I'm just now getting around to looking through this thread. You guys really saved that car!

 

My sentiments exactly.

There you go, it's unanimous.

Lokar, but I bought it from my local hot rod dealer cheaper than from Lokar direct. $ 355 incl. cables. Lokar stuff is well engineered and good quality, but a tad pricey.

Thanks JJ. The girls and Mama are less than interested, but hopefully I can get Billy free from his home boys.

Thanks Jay.

Thanks Del, can't wait to see your chopped baby next month.

Piece of cake after seeing the Canadian crowd. Thanks!

 

Working on electric wipers, pics soon.

 

subscribed, love the fact that u put out where u buy things and how to install it, hav a 49 coupe myself in boxes and i will use your thread as a guideline when i`ll be putting mine together ceep up the good work brerhair

 

I always like the updates.

 

This is an excellent thread! I only wish my Father & I could have bonded on a project together. Don't sweat the paint so much. You probably won't want to hear this, but metallic blue is a bitch to match. So, every panel you are painting will be slightly different in color. Just think of everything as an assembly coat. When it is all finished, and assembled you can carefully mask it off, and shoot all of it at once. You are learning, and should be very proud of what you and your son have accomplished. The more you learn and practice the better your finished paint job will be.

 

whewwww... i just scrolled through this whole thread... again
a couple of things came back to me..
first.. the name old rusty fits perfectly
second.. you really do hate sand blasting
third.. i'm sure glad you're taking tons of pictures, that's sure to help me when i get to putting mine back together...
do you still think you'll have it back on the road this year???

 

Dang man, your English is excellent. Sort of had in mind all along a How-To for rank amateurs (by a rank amateur.) Thanks.

Glad to hear that this blue is not easy, although it's the clear coat I've mostly struggled with. Great advice, thanks!

See How-To thing above. Jim, the way I figure it is we've got somewhere around 900 to 1,000 hrs. left. Lately I've been getting in about 15 hrs/week (in the garage). Just to get it on the ground , fired up, and driving around (not legal) is probably about 400 hrs., so at this rate that would be mid-Sept. So yes! Back in our neighborhood, illegally cruising, but probably won't be "finished" until July 2013. And that's if we can keep up this pace. At least we can see the finish line from here!

 

Wipers. Got an electric kit from Specialty Power Windows. Need to give a shout out to Jon Sage at Charlotte Rod & Custom 704-599-0232. He's helping steer me through the many options for certain components, and he's all about saving you money where possible.

Rather than give a step-by-step, I'll just post pics and you can holler if you have questions.

Transmission support brackets.



Under dash, center of cowl:

 

Motor mock-up. Welded "support bracket" (actually the access panel) to original factory wiper bracket. This is ass-backward from how SPW intended it to mount. Access panel is on opposite side of motor, but this made installation of motor much easier and takes up less space.



No pic, but had to cut the transmission housing stem (under cowl) and the stem outside the cowl in order for new transmissions to fit:

 

You flare the ends of 3/8" aluminum tube. Flare fits in notch at bottom of new transmission:


Alum. tubing sent by SPW was not long enough to link left and rt. trans., so got a longer steel tube from local auto parts (greenish tube)

 

Little tube bender. For large bend in steel tube I heated tube and bent it around the Corvette power steering pump pulley.



Single flare tool: