The “2nd Best” ‘60 Chevy wagon build…

Roger, great work, you two guys are really haul'in on it. Can't wait to see the interior.

 

Thanks Roger , I always enjoy your updates .I think folks got quiet because you were busy with life things, but as you see they are following as I have been.

 

Hey Roger:

Just because some of us don't comment every time does not mean that we are not following this with breathless anticipation because we are.

BB

 

x2

well said, bob.

 

Thanx for ALL the comments...

I know that "silence is golden" but after a while I wonder if there are still readers...!!!

R-

 

It is one of my favorites!

 

Update # 14…

"Anyone notice we skipped thirteen…??? No, I’m not superstitious…or anything like that…I don’t believe in triskaidekaphobia (look that up in your Funk & Wagnell’s…!!!). OK hold on, OK, OK, I’ll admit it, I am…just a little bit…and I have a very valid reason for that. Ask me about it in person some time." WELL Glory be! Seeing this is page 13 (!) of the build thread I shall post an ancient artifact (the true origins of tarot cards are unknown) that depicts the unlucky number 13:

 

tris·kai·dek·a·pho·bi·a
ˌtriskīˌdekəˈfōbēə,ˌtriskə-/
noun
noun: triskaidekaphobia

1. 1.
   extreme superstition regarding the number thirteen.
   
   
   
   

Who's afraid of a number? HRP

 

Hey Slammed, thanx for posting that "card"...but on my monitor, I'm only up to page 7...I have about 35-40 posts on a page...

FWIW, HRP, I had my worse day ever on Friday, March the 13th, 1952...I stay home on that day every year it comes around. It's not so much as the fear of the number itself, it's the fear of what's happened on that 13th day.

R-

 

MY monitor shows page 13. When I posted the card (look up tarot card zero) it was post 7,313. I almost 'retired' and went to start a FNG account. Just to leave that 13 as a good luck charm. There's so much more to life that what ya see........ PS as a side note next month 12-13-'13 is a Friday & 12 days before X-Mas. Ho-Ho-Ho stocking stuffer's.

 

Sounds crazy, but I wish you had pics of the tranny cooler and lines. Got a pretty cool brother there, Roger.

 

Sorry Brer, didn't shoot any...thot it was a non-photo op anyway, figured everyone would know what a tranny cooler looked like mounted up...kinda hard to shoot pix of it now thru the grille... Yeah, Dan's a big help to me.

Slammed, all them 13's is really strange...I can only hope that 13 IS on this thread is a good luck charm...but next month, on that particular Friday the 13th, I think I'll stay in bed...

R-

 

Very Nice work - please keep the updates coming. That dash and wheel look really sharp. I like your color choice too. These two door wagons are really cool.
Thanks for keeping us up on what you and Dan are up to.

 

Roger,

Come on over to mi casa on 12/13. I've been having a party on every Friday the 13th for about 15 years now (well, except for the night before my mother's funeral).

Friday the 13th is just an excuse.

It's always a good time. My close circle of hot rodders and bikers are invited.

You can be "in the circle" this year. Or any other year for that matter.




now back to the wagon build...

 

Me 2. Next time I'm at gramps house I'll try to stop by.

Thanks for the idea on the door panels!! I'm gonna try to do that on my Biscayne since the originals are junk. Will you have the engine runnin this weekend and the car moving under its own power?? I love the '61 wheel on it, among many other subtle details you and Dan put into your cars. Looks great man Kevin

Also congrats on the HRM feature!

 

Awesome work Roger and Dan, I have learned so much following your threads!!

I remember when we were getting close to the end of our Cobra build we used to joke that the parts store kept a parking spot next to the door just for us lol!!

Keep the great posts coming!!

I can't wait for the sedanette build!!!

Bill

 

Thanx Landmule...
Atch, thanx for the invite,but I'll pass...
Kev, stop on by...
billandlori, yeah, building a car these days is not as 'cheap' as it used to be...and we're getting closer to pulling the sedanet out of the shed...!!!

R-

 

Thanx for all the numbers, slammed...

R-

 

Roger that 10-4! (zing). Now if only the winning lootery err-uh lottery (yeah, thats the ticket! -zing again-) would materialize. Carry on the build!

 

Great looking wagon!

 

Update # 16

Well, THAT sure as hell wasn’t fun…!!! Nor was it welcome…!!! It WAS a real pain in the butt…and that’s where I carry my wallet and it’s feeling like an empty stomach that needs feeding. What the hell am I talking about…???

Have you noticed it’s been well over a month since I updated this thread (November 17th)…??? Things were going real good until my computer decided it didn’t want to turn on one morning. I called my computer guru and he said he thot it was the CPU and he’d come over and replace it…it didn’t help any. Then he decided it was the Mother board…so we went and bought a new one and more RAM…it took a week before he finally called and said the processor had died. A new processor runs close to $300 and asked what I wanted to do? After several weeks of being without a computer –mine took the big dump on December 11th- it’s a real loss when you come to depend on that electronic thingie every day to keep you grounded. I decided a new computer was only $200 more than a new $300 processor and a new one would be better/faster/more memory/etc. than my old one ( and it was only two years old)…!!!

Fortunately, my “computer guru” had me buy and use a “back-up” unit two years ago so nothing was lost (not even one picture), except some time…however, just the other day my son told me to purchase a year of Carbonite as added ‘back-up protection.’ You really don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it…or lose the use of it…!!! Well, the day before Christmas I spent the money and bought a new computer…money I could’ve used for the wagon…no matter now, the computer is paid for and I’m “back-up and running” again.

Okay everyone, now that’s out of the way, let me say thanx for all the positive encouragement you’ve posted on the thread…we’ll continue this little “saga”…so, let’s call this one:

It runs, it’s loud…!!!

And it sounds really healthy…but I’m getting ahead of myself…

Let me back up some…I took the rear quarter glass up to the tinters and had them put on a 37% dark tint…looks really good. I then added the rear quarter rubber we got from Ecklers around the glass - it was a tight fit…then let them sit on my living room couch until the rubber warmed up a bit…cuz that’s about the only thing that’s been sitting on my couch lately…!!!


Look good dark, eh…???

Once the garage was warmed up, I then proceeded to install them. It certainly wasn’t that easy with the new rubber on it and I had to fight them in, but got it done…the new rubber was a bit thicker than the old dry rubber (not sure I would call the old stuff rubber any longer as it was hard as the proverbial rock) so I had to build my own glass ‘retainers’ out of metal…that added to the time it took to put them in…


…but once in, they look good with the new stainless surrounding them.

When that was done, I took the driveshaft up to the “The Driveshaft Doctors” to have it cut and balanced, had them remove 1 ¾” of it and install the T-400 yoke…got it back in three days - now THAT’S service. After they shortened it, they added three new U-joints and then they spun it up on their machine and put a good balance on it. While they were at it, they sanded it and shot it black. Going rate for all that: $150.00.

Below is an ‘after’ shot…I pulled a used carrier bearing out of a junk yard car and it turned out to be in good shape, so we’re using that for the time being…we may have to replace it later, after we put a few miles on it, but at least there’s only six bolts to remove in order to do that…!!! Besides, carrier bearings are not cheap…!!!


It’s in now, bolted in and all we have to do is run a vacuum line to the modulater and fire the engine…

Once we found the radiator hoses (got to browse around in the back of an auto parts store looking for the correct sizes and bends), put ‘em on and put fluid in the engine, we found we had some minor issues: the chromed O-ring type thermostat housing leaked like a sieve. After all, the engine has been sitting for about four years. Word of caution: don’t ever use one of those gaskets that come with sticky already on one side of them. They’ll STILL leak. I glued up one side with some engine gasket-type silicone and bolted the housing on…guess what, a day later the manifold had anti-freeze on top of it even tho the silicone gasket material was hard. When I pulled it apart, I found the gasket was soaked thru…the sticky on one side had let anti-freeze soak thru and the gasket was literally leaking anti-freeze out the unsealed sides. I had to go to the “REAL” auto parts store and bought a new 180 thermostat and a gasket. That “REAL” store is a race car parts store in Denver and I bought a good FelPro gasket…none of the “parts stores” out here in Aurora carry those.

Matter of fact, I went to Advance Auto Parts first to get the thermostat…their “computer” only showed 195 degree thermostats for the big block Chevy…the man fingering the computer told me “they don’t make 180 degree thermostats any more,” which is complete BS…!!! Not only that, but he didn’t even have a Chevy thermostat gasket in stock…!!! How in hell can an auto parts store sell a thermostat and not even have a gasket to put it on…??? Here’s another one: that same auto parts store ordered shocks for us for the wagon. After we got them home, we opened the boxes…guess what…??? There were no nuts, washers and no new rubbers in the boxes. I took them back and asked where these parts were…??? Computer fingers told me: “Oh, new shocks don’t come with washers and rubbers anymore, you have to use your old ones…!!!” What…??? I gave them back their shocks and got my money back. Auto Parts stores are NOT auto parts stores any more, they are only chemicals/cleaning/waxing suppliers and nearly anyone can run a computer.

After I hooked up the fuel lines and poured gas into the tank, we found the fuel pump leaking around the upper seal. Time to change that…so I did. That took better than an hour, what a bitch it is trying to keep that rod up out of the way in order to slip in the pump…I still have not found any secret to doing that easily. FWIW, this engine does not have a bolt in the front of the block to hold the rod up so that made it even more difficult…anybody got any secrets they want to share with me…??? I ended up using a hack saw blade to hold the rod up and then slipped the pump in…I really didn’t know if the rod was in the correct position until we fired the engine.

When that was done, I’d bent up a new metal line from the pump to the carb, put it on the outside of the alternator, out in the wind…hopefully that’ll keep the crappy-excuse-for-fuel a bit cooler. Once that was done, I moved over to the linkage. I’m using the stock foot feed and stock thru-the-firewall linkage. I rounded up all the old style linkage rods I could find hoping that one would be long enuff. I did, added the proper adjustments and cotter pins…works well now. I was all done, I put the air cleaner on it…and it didn’t fit over the carb…awww hell, one more problem to be solved…!!! It’s always the little things that shouldn’t be a problem that end up being the problem…!!! Seems the fuel line into the carb was holding the bottom of the air cleaner up off the carb…and the linkage was contacting the bottom as well. I found a banjo type fitting for the Edelbrock fuel inlet and aimed that down, redid my metal line and finally cleared the bottom of the air cleaner…took the linkage off and put in a couple more bends…it cleared. By this time, Dan had all the plugs in place and the wires run correctly…it was time to fire it up…!!!

So we did…I poured five gallons of gas into the tank, checked all my fittings for leaks (none) and hooked up the battery...it fired almost immediately…it’s loud without exhaust and sounds healthy. With that done…and now running…we celebrated by going to the upholstery supply place in Denver and ordering carpet. We decided on molded carpet and picked out a “Light Saddle” color in the old loop style…”One piece or two piece carpet?” the man asked. “Two piece is factory, besides it’s cheaper,” So we ordered it on a Monday.

In between ordering the carpet and it arriving, I cut and fitted some more plastic panel and got all the door panels made and clips put in…


There’s the last of the panels I had to cut and fit…

On Friday, as Dan and I came home after doing some running around chasing parts, we find this box sitting on my doorstep…can’t be carpet already…??? Yep, it arrived at my doorstep on Friday of the same week…talk about quick…!!! THAT’S some great service.



Naturally we couldn’t wait to tear open the box and see if “my” color sense was accurate as I think it is…I picked out all the colors for the car. We pulled it out of the box and laid it in the car so the wrinkles would disappear before we got around to putting it in.


Whatchu think…??? Did I do good on the colors…???

…and picking colors from four or five different suppliers, then trying to match colors of material from the local upholstery supplier is not as easy as you may think…!!! No, that carpet isn’t glued down yet… we need to go buy some jute for beneath the carpet and glue that down first…then we can fit the carpet, cut holes for the seat bolts and cut holes for the seat belts…then we can put the seat in and take the car to the upholsterer so he can put in the headliner in when it gets here.

Now IF the last thing we ordered (the headliner) is as good a match as I’m hoping, the whole interior will come together and it will be a home run…I think we’re close to being done and taking the car for a drive around the block…

I called the exhaust guy and told him what I needed and asked when could he do it…??? However, that part of the plan fell completely thru…my exhaust guy comes to my garage in his chopped off van that has his tubing bender, welder and racks of pipe mounted on the back…he drives into my garage, hooks up to my 220 and starts measuring and bending tubing, hanging and welding. Of course, I have to have the car in the air, up on stands and he rolls under and out to complete the system. Well, he gave me a time/date and then a few days later had to call and cancel because he tried to “catch” a transfer case falling out of a truck he was working on. Needless to say, he won’t be bending pipe for a while…so, we’re stuck –no exhaust, no drive…!!!

Thru no fault of our own, our goal to drive around the block before the first of the year is gone…hence this update…but, we’re not going to let grass grow under our feet…we’ve purchased jute padding for under the carpet and we’ll install that, then put the seats in and glue the carpet down and cut holes for the seat belts. When that’s done, I’ll toss some bondo at the places I welded in new sheet metal and spray some primer…and there’s a few more small things I need to take care of: build a shroud for the fan, get the wiper motor working and mounted, get the wipers added, find all the door handles for inside, new turn signal apparatus, battery shut-off, heater cables and make sure the heater works, find some defroster tubes, buy a new glove compartment…awww, the list is still long…but stay tuned, I’ll prolly show you the interior next…!!!

To be continued…

R-

 

Great work Roger!! The car is coming together real nice.

I feel your pain on the computer and the small parts!! We have just been through the same stuff. The clowns they have at some of the chain auto parts stores are ridiculous!!

Too bad about the exhaust, if you could borrow a set of used headers, you could clamp some temp muffs and go for a rip!!! The first run is always a lot of fun!!

Keep the great work going!!!

Bill

 

Try some of Fat Mat XXX Extreme (the 'bay $110) if you do not have anything on the floorboards. Yes, I read the money hits you had recently.

 

Hey Slammed, appreciate your offering but check out post #70 and post #201 in this thread...we insulated it twice (and will do it three times with the jute padding & carpet)...!!! Should be real quiet...

Thanx,
R-

 

Regarding the fuel pump rod; I've had some luck holding it up in place using a dab of heavy grease on the upper end. It usually holds long enough to get the fuel pump in position. You have a great build going here. I also enjoyed reading your Cadillac build earlier. Larry

 

Home stretch now Roger! Can't wait to see the interior. I've always wondered why Chevy has gone so long with such an aggravating design with that crazy pushrod. Surely they were aware of it in the first year or two and they've had a bazillion years since to come up with a clever solution that works every time. Guess it only ever mattered to them when it is assembled the first time in the factory....upside down or sideways no doubt so it's a non-issue....and never cared about the 60 times it will be replaced later in the car. :/


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Thanx Larry Eckhart, appreciate the compliment...on both builds...!!! I tried the dab of grease first cuz I'd heard that worked...but it didn't work for me and the engine was c-o-l-d...!!!

dr. dave...I can only imagine trying to work on new cars these days in my garage...I'm sure there's more difficult things on engines, what with computers and everything else that make them run...!!! Think I'll stick with my "old" stuff...

R-

 

I remember being at this part of the build with our wagon,,this is when every thing you do finally starts to make a huge impact.

I'm loving it,,looks great Roger. HRP

 

The last block I had that didn't have the hole to hold the fuel pump pushrod in place pissed me off so bad trying to use "the hacksaw blade method" that I drilled and tapped a hole in the front of the block to do the job.

No more blinding white rage while trying to install the fuel pump.

Just make sure you remove the masking plate and stuff a shop towel up into the cavity before you start. Don't use any oil on the drill either. The tool don't need it, and it'll just cause the swarf to stick to the block anyway. Cast iron makes fine powdery chips, so just suck them out with a shop vac and you're good to go.

You just about have to use some lube on the tap, but if you keep the shop vac on it and then rinse the newly tapped hole out good with MEK or lacquer thinner and blow it dry before you pull the shop towel plug out, you should be fine.

Shouldn't take more than ten or fifteen minutes to do, unless you gotta take the fender/rad support off for access.

 

Hi Roger.

I'm glad I found this thread, and I can't wait to see the car done. It looks great!

Craig