55.2-59 1958 Saab story

[gottattooz]

I took the cardboard template and transferred the shape to metal. With the metal in place, I used the old piece of the firewall that I had cut out to locate where the hood hinges go. I center punched and drilled the hinge bracket mount holes. Then I found 2 3/16" brackets and bought some nut-serts from summit racing. Your can see how much thicker my brackets are than the stock brackets.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

And here's the hood hinge mount brackets in place on the new firewall panel.

-Josh

[dsraven]

man that sucks about the trans fluid everywhere.
making good progress though. it must suck having to work around that hoist.....I wish I had that problem.

[gottattooz]

Yeah the 2 post lift definitely makes things easier. I'm very fortunate to have the shop and the equipment at my disposal to play around and try things I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

-Josh

[6DoF]

i was wondering what you were going to do for hinges, and that worked out Perfect!

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by 6DoF

i was wondering what you were going to do for hinges, and that worked out Perfect!

Yeah, I'm very lucky that things landed where they did. I was already thinking about get a 90s Buick LeSabre hood hinge kit out of the junkyard and trying to make that work, but this is much easier and straight forward.

-Josh

[Father&son56project]

Awesome work, and fantastic details & pics. I can't believe how fast you are progressing. Watching you and the other members problem solve your way through this build is a blast!

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by Father&son56project

Awesome work, and fantastic details & pics. I can't believe how fast you are progressing. Watching you and the other members problem solve your way through this build is a blast!

I learned a lot from the Jeep/TrailBlazer project I did. On that one, I drilled out all the spot welds and systematically removed one panel at a time because I wasn't sure what I would need to put back or get rid of. On this project, I went straight to the sawzall and cutting wheels. That alone saved me weeks of tedious work. It definitely has its own challenges, and I really do appreciate the input from other members, whether it be a different perspective or from their own experience. Admittedly, I've cherry picked ideas from other builds on the forum, and I think that's the greatest asset here : information.

-Josh

[dsraven]

you got that right about the info thing. there are a lot of guys on here who have a wealth of information to share and don't mind the sharing part. it's a give and take thing but some guys give a lot more than they get back. thats awesome.

from experience, be real careful with those thin zip discs, or any zip disc for that matter. I have some shards still embedded in my hand from having one blow up on me. I have had several mishaps with disc disintegration and have the scars to prove it. a buddy of mine had one blow apart and severed his brachial artery (in the arm). if he wasn't a medic in a previous job he wouldn't have known what to do and would have bled out before the ambulance arrived. I try to use the metal cutting blades from lennox now. they stay together, last quite a while and don't get smaller as they wear out. lennox metal max. for the recip I try to find the ones I used to use as a firefighter doing vehicle extrication cutting the cars apart to get victims out after a car wreck. they were hilti or lennox fire and rescue blades. that with a spray bottle of water/dish soap mix to cool the blade and also help lubricate. Diablo carbide-tipped metal cutting reciprocating blade is a winner too, especially for the advanced steel used in newer cars, boron etc.

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by dsraven

from experience, be real careful with those thin zip discs, or any zip disc for that matter. I have some shards still embedded in my hand from having one blow up on me. I have had several mishaps with disc disintegration and have the scars to prove it. a buddy of mine had one blow apart and severed his brachial artery (in the arm). if he wasn't a medic in a previous job he wouldn't have known what to do and would have bled out before the ambulance arrived. I try to use the metal cutting blades from lennox now. they stay together, last quite a while and don't get smaller as they wear out. lennox metal max. for the recip I try to find the ones I used to use as a firefighter doing vehicle extrication cutting the cars apart to get victims out after a car wreck. they were hilti or lennox fire and rescue blades. that with a spray bottle of water/dish soap mix to cool the blade and also help lubricate. Diablo carbide-tipped metal cutting reciprocating blade is a winner too, especially for the advanced steel used in newer cars, boron etc.

Way ahead of you. Those fiber discs bounce off the face shield all the time. It sucks wearing a welding jacket when it's hot out, but it's better than getting stitches.

-Josh

[dsraven]

I have a face shield like that one. I can't count the number of times I have had grinding slag bits bounce off my chest and go behind the shield and into my eye. I even wear safety glasses under it and it still has happened. I upgraded the shield to one of those Uvex Bionic shields. its better but I still wear safety glasses. I also invested in a bump cap. I have a long forehead (some would say I am bald) and the skin up there is really thin. I got tired of always having something in the healing stages up top so the bump cap gets put on when I am working. I don't even notice it anymore. it's hard to fit the hearing protection on anymore. I use the roll up ones but usually also try to fit the muffs on too as they have a lot better protection. grinding is really hard on the hearing.

[dsraven]

I have a set of sleeves for welding, plus an apron.

[BIGglaSS]

Cool project. My favorite metal cutting tool = plasma cutter. I feel like Luke Skywalker with a light saber.

[dsraven]

Josh, with your quick progress and suddenly no posts, I gotta think you finished and are driving. hope it's all good.

[gottattooz]

I wish. I definitely would have told you. I've had a few set backs with my other cars. I was driving the Jeep trailblazer on the interstate Monday night and the trans oil cooler hose slipped off and I got stranded on the side of the road. I got towed home a few hours later.

Tuesday I headed to summit racing to get trans fluid and a new filter for the Jeep, and my station wagon was acting weird. I ended up having to replace the spark plug wires because #3 was arcing through the boot to the header bolt.

I got the Jeep up and running today. I also ordered a visor for the panel truck to go above the windshield. My plan is to try to mount the windshield wiper transmission above the windshield and hide it with the visor. I can't move forward with the panel truck until I sort out the defrost and wiper situation. Once I get those two things in order, it'll be off to the sheet metal super store to buy materials to fill in the gaps in the body and floor and brace the floor.

-Josh

[dsraven]

ah man that sucks. I suppose the underside of the jeep is flithy and stinky now too.

[dsraven]

here's a link to the old car manuals project which shows the install procedure for the visor. maybe help you see what room you may have left or at least show the way the old visrs were supposed to be installed.
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com...cpctai206.html

curious what your jeelazer looks like (or whatever you call it, lol)

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by dsraven

here's a link to the old car manuals project which shows the install procedure for the visor. maybe help you see what room you may have left or at least show the way the old visrs were supposed to be installed.
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com...cpctai206.html

curious what your jeelazer looks like (or whatever you call it, lol)

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=768482

Here's the link to the Jeep build

-Josh

[dsraven]

yikes, that jeep build was a lot of work in a short time. looks good though.

[gottattooz]

Not a whole lot of progress. Still trying to figure out the wiper situation. I decided for the defrost to use the factory dash panel, because it sticks out enough to blow on the glass at the correct angle. I trimmed it so it wouldn't stick out past the windshield channel. I also removed the dash board cover because it keeps catching on the window crank stems when I lift and lower the body onto the Saab.

-Josh

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by 6DoF

you are nuckin futz and i'm highly entertained by it!

i just read thru your build, i'm in agreement with 6dof, very entertaining build!
i have a soft spot for panels, i had a 59 lwb 1t panel when i moved to mi from nc. had to choose between the 2 truks when i moved. i look forward to seeing updates and to see it driving.

i'm strangely attracted to your dad's truck. can't quite put my finger on the attraction.

unless you need wipers for inspection, use rain-x. 58truk has stock electric wipers, but the arms are so short that i have to scrunch down to see thru them. i kept the arms on for a couple years without ever using them, i run with 1 wiper arm under my seat now. i drive all the time in rain without needing wipers, granted if i don't drive on red clay roads that you have down there

funny that you run over to summit racing for parts. i was traveling up I75 and stopped for gas, i looked up and saw the summit warehouse across the street. only 1 summit that i know of

[dsraven]

hey Josh, any time for work on the truck? updates?

[gottattooz]

Sadly, no. I got my old account back at work which is second shift. By the time I get off work, it's too late to make noise in the garage. I planned on tackling the wipers over the weekend but the transmission went out on the Jeep. I went to Madkidd's house and we fine tuned the accuracy of the speedometer and adjusted the timing and idle because it would stall in low speed situations, mostly in parking lots and at stop lights.

A few weeks ago, I was heading home in the Jeep and the transcooler hose clamp broke and it spit out most of the transmission fluid on the interstate. I had it towed home, changed the filter and trans fluid. I don't know if the adage is true about transmission service by either change the filter at the proper intervals or don't change it at all because the dirt is the only thing holding it together. After the fluid and filter change (and 3 new hose clamps on each hose to the cooler), it shifted much better.

Coming home Saturday, I had to accelerate a little aggressively to merge into traffic. As it hit third gear, there was a huge 'bang' and it felt like it slipped into neutral. When I let off the gas, it caught and I carried on. Shortly after that incident, I made a left at a traffic light and as I accelerated out of the turn, it happened again. I pulled into a neighborhood and found out I lost all forward gears. I had reverse, and I seriously considered driving backwards the 1.5 miles I had to go home. Unfortunately the road I turned off of was a very busy pass through with no shoulder or room for error. We towed it home with a strap and I ordered a 2wd trans from mad dog transmissions. I'm getting out of the awd business. Hopefully it'll get better mileage as a 2wd and that's be the last original untouched piece of the original trailblazer drive train to be replaced or rebuilt.

-Josh

[dsraven]

man, that sucks.
good to hear you still moving forward.

[dsraven]

dont forget to install a trans cooler line filter or replace the cooler/rad. otherwise the crap from the old trans flushes back into your new trans and takes it out.