55 Wagon Progress

[MP&C]

Had a late start in the shop tonight as I had to go look at a school bus. Yeah, week and a half to go until the end of school.

Looks like something gave the spot mirror a nice push..








The mirror mount looks like it's no longer straight....





OK, so we found it hard to fathom something hitting the mirror that high in the air as the bus was driving into it, so the other possibility was something backed into this one.. A quick search of the buses parked close by revealed this one with some nice shiny metal showing...








A quick test drive showed that the mirror didn't vibrate/move around that much so we're going to address this after school is out so this one can still be used for the next couple weeks..


Back at the shop, time to weld in the seat retainer brackets...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Gj...ature=youtu.be








....and then started the next shoulder harness anchor bracket....

[MP&C]

Pilot hole drilled for the passenger B-Pillar.....





The center point is spring loaded, but they seem to locate better using a pilot hole vs. just a punch...














The plug weld holes drilled for the anchor and paint cleaned off in prep for welding..





Apprentice E worked on smoothing off the plug welds from last week..








Welding in the anchor .....








For the lower anchor point, which will hold both the retractor and the lap belt, we used some 14 ga that will be plug welded to the back side of the inner quarter panel just behind the B Pillar.. A 1/2" lock nut is welded to the back side, and a spacer added to the front side to keep the lap belt off the side wall.

















Or the motion picture version.... Thanks to duallyjam for stepping in for hand model duties in the video...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4na-...ature=youtu.be

[oldman3]

Robert, just more nice work...Jim

[duallyjams]

First let me say thanks for the invite to hang out in your shop for the day and it's probably a good thing I don't live closer as I would never leave.

The craftsman ship on the 55 is just as described in this thread but seeing it in person puts it on a whole nother level.

[Bomp]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

First let me say thanks for the invite to hang out in your shop for the day and it's probably a good thing I don't live closer as I would never leave.

The craftsman ship on the 55 is just as described in this thread but seeing it in person puts it on a whole nother level.

You are the luckiest man alive,

[MP&C]

You guys are too much! James, stop by anytime..

[MP&C]

Tonight we have both seat belt retractor anchor plates welded and waiting for apprentice E to media blast and epoxy prime..








Next, we have the side filler panels to either side of the fold down rear seat that don't fit with those pesky wheel tubs in the way...








So we plan to make new ones, with a relief to fit snugly to the wheel tubs at the bottom end.. We used the Baileigh MH19 hammer and the shrinking dies to shape a piece of 14 gauge cold rolled to fit the wheel tub. Glad I didn't have to do all that shrinking by hand.














A flat piece from the top section will be welded to this piece, and then foam will be glued to the assembly and upholstered to match the seat..

[MP&C]

To catch up on the wagon, the seat belt retractor anchor bracket will be located inside the quarter panel, here we are laying out for the plug weld holes that hold it in place...





Holes piloted, then use the burnishing brush to remove the paint from the weld area...








Then the holes are enlarged for plug weld size, I use a letter A and plenty of heat.





Back to our rear seat back modification, some 14 gauge steel is shrunk in the Baileigh MH19 to fit the driver's wheel well..





After some cleanup on the Tommasini cast wheeling machine...








Meanwhile, Mike has media blasted the anchor brackets and is here spraying them with SPI epoxy primer...











The 14 gauge is then held to the wheel wells and marked a line parallel to the seat frame. We'll use this line to start the transition to flat, using a linear stretch die in the MH19.











Linear stretch die also used to add this detail to blend into the bottom part...








Tacked together and fitted....





Tig welded....





This should JUST hide the wheel well, but doesn't look like the foam will be all that thick at the bottom...





Weld dressed and another fit, I was going to trim the sides but we'll be adding some stiffener beads to the flat area, so we'll wait until after that process to trim the sides.

[oldman3]

Excellent detail as always...Jim

[MP&C]

Thanks Jim!


Saturday Mike worked on the 55, with the seat belt retractor anchor plates now epoxied and cured for a week, they're ready to weld inside the quarters. He clamped them in place, scribed all the holes, removed them and cleaned paint off the hole locations....





clamped in, ready to plug weld.....











then he dressed the plug welds on the anchor plates as well as a few remaining ones on the drivers bucket seat pan. next on the list is to fabricate some arm rests for the rear seat area that will also serve to enclose the seat belt retractors.

[MP&C]

With the Biederman fenders out of the building, its time to work on the 55's rear seat bolsters. Time to assemble the parts for the passenger side..





TIG welded together...



....and cleaned up....



Back to the drivers side, all the edges will be tipped forward to eliminate the possibility of sharp edges cutting through the upholstery..





This is the edge adjacent to the center fold down seat, so we wanted it nice and straight..



To better check that we were straight across the uneven surfaces, we used the laser again...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3TwP6NaCKU

Seats mocked up again.....



.....and laser used to get a straight edge on the outside..



for more edge tipping....







Hopefully we can finish this up in the morning and start cutting out the foam pad..

[oldman3]

Robert, very nice detail on the edges...Jim

[MP&C]

Thanks Jim!


Here's the panel with all the edges tipped forward, clamped in place..





Some poster board templates were traced from the steel part, then trimmed out and transferred to the foam.





Used the electric bread knife from the kitchen (if anyone asks you haven't seen it...) to trim out the foam, makes short work of it...





roughed out...





Test fit for marking the profile...





trimmed /sculpted to size with the bread knife and 3" roloc. Use a worn disc on the sander, the fresh ones tend to grab..








This fills out the seat pretty nicely and hides that wheel tub that protrudes into the back side of the seat.

[MP&C]

Been a while for any updates, been driving around seeing the countryside. Happened across this nice v-dub today...






John, it was great finally getting to meet, you have some nice projects going on in your shop. Holler if you ever venture north!

[theastronaut]

It was great to finally meet you too! Appreciate you taking the time to stop by and hang out for awhile.

[MP&C]

After travelling the countryside, it was back to the grind, took delivery of the bus with the cracked hood this past Wednesday.





After removing headlights, I ground out the cracked areas, which relieved the tension and allowed the panels to lay flat again. Epoxy was used between the outer and inner layers, clamped, and let things set up.





After a couple layers added....





Left this to cure in the sun for a couple days, then back at it on Saturday.


Ground smooth and hopefully the last layer added...








Back on the wagon, we needed to close off the back side of the rear seat.. We have some square tubing to use but needed a radius bender. The upper part of the buffer stand looks like it may work. As I've told Mike, everything is a tool..





Add a welder and a piece of round stock for an anchor...





First test...





Four pieces needed...





All TIG welded together...

[oldman3]

Nice closure for the back seat, will have a few feet for storage...Jim

[MP&C]

Thanks Jim. The sides will have a wrap-around..

[Bomp]

Extra storage compartment or speaker area? hmmm
Diggin' the innovative bender.

[MP&C]

bass speaker, amp, ???

[MP&C]

Made a set of C-pillars for a 56 wagon, they weld into the window opening and separate the fixed rear wrap around window from the roll down window for the back seat..





This is where they locate...











Meanwhile apprentice E is prepping some bus parts for paint, here working on a back bumper...

[MP&C]

Yesterdays progress.... Apprentice E got the bus bumper end caps removed by drilling out the rivets, and then media blasted the caps so they will be ready for paint...





We needed some tooling for the next phase of the 55 wagon's interior fabrications, the radius we installed on the rear seat back framework will need to be duplicated onto the sheet metal covering. A trip to Hill Top welding had produced a suitable piece of 4" pipe. The Pexto shear has a t-slot along the front for it's support arms and we'll use this to bolt on a couple angle brackets to support this pipe along the front. A slight gap behind the pipe will allow us to use it as a fulcrum in adding a radius to our panel... Mike worked on adding some end caps to our radius die....

















Need a ground clamp for a standing piece of pipe? set it on a flanged piece of sheet metal, instant clamp location....





More to come on that....


Meanwhile, our sheet metal panel will also serve to cover the rear bass speaker. Not wanting a grille showing, we plan on using upholstery cloth to conceal the speaker. Rather than a big gaping hole that would more readily show the location regardless, some slots will better support the upholstery cloth. So lets make some nibbling tooling..


This punch will be approx. 3/8 diameter and is made of 4140 oil hardening stock so we can heat treat when complete for better tool life..




End is formed slightly concave to give a better cutting edge..





Bottom die gets a clearance hole for the 3/8 punch, then it gets bored from the bottom end using 1/2" bit to within about 1/8" of the top surface. This will allow better gravity flow of any chips passing through our bottom die..








Then we'll need an exit chute, so a 1/2" angled hole is drilled through the side and a 1/2" plug made to fill the remainder...





The plug bottom gets chamfered and welded into the bottom die, then a ball end die grinder is used to fine tune the exit chute...





A "shoe" is formed to hold down the workpiece, as otherwise the punch tends to lock onto the panel after the first punch and raise it in the air, thus preventing any material feed...





An action video....



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzh1...ature=youtu.be



Our test slot.... this may work yet!

[MP&C]

Today I got the pipe and brackets that Mike made up added to the front of the Pexto Shear. The top of the pipe is set up the same height as the surface of the shear, so no interference in using the shear. The pipe is 49" long so it can be used for a full sheet if we have enough oomph to bend it. Here the finished product:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm1blt_jX7k


Sometimes you get lucky, here's the radius from our 4" pipe as matched to our seat back...





Also made up some patch panels for my brother in law's El Camino. He brought some parts over that he had cut out, so we fabbed up some new parts, here's a sample...

[oldman3]

Robert, nice to see someone make their own tools, and know how to use them. Always happy to see your post, I learn something each time...Jim

[Andy4639]

Dang man! You have some mad skill! You sir are my hero!

That 55 wagon is un real.