57 Chevy Wagon - Californa Dreamin'

[JayMc46]

You have been hard at it. It sure is looking good.

[Ol Blue K20]

It's looking better with every update. Keep it up!!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by JayMc46

You have been hard at it. It sure is looking good.

Thanks, Jay!

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

It's looking better with every update. Keep it up!!

Will do, Dale, thanks!

One of the members on the TriFive forum suggested that I pre assemble the air ducts, headlight buckets, headlight bezels and grille surround moldings before going too much further. Good idea as it turns out. Nothing wants to fit. Spent a lot of time with the hammer and dolly just to get the bezels halfway close. Most of the guys that eliminate the air ducts end up cutting the stock ones down, but the fit is so lousy on mine, I'm half inclined to fabricate the parts I need. Real Deal Steel sells them but you end up shelling out almost $150 for a pair. For just some scrap sheet metal and two days of cursing, I can have the exact same parts.

[knomadd]

Gotta love aftermarket sheet metal. I bought new fenders for the C10 so I didn't have to fix the rust in the factory ones, but the aftermarket stuff fit like such garbage, it'd be less work to just fix the factory parts. I wound up using the aftermarket fenders for a desk in my office.

I'm sure I'd have spent as much time working on them as you have if my factory stuff weren't as nice (decent is probably more like it) as they are. I feel your pain though. Keep it up, you're doing great!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Gotta love aftermarket sheet metal. I bought new fenders for the C10 so I didn't have to fix the rust in the factory ones, but the aftermarket stuff fit like such garbage, it'd be less work to just fix the factory parts. I wound up using the aftermarket fenders for a desk in my office.

I'm sure I'd have spent as much time working on them as you have if my factory stuff weren't as nice (decent is probably more like it) as they are. I feel your pain though. Keep it up, you're doing great!

Thanks, Duane! As you can see, I'm hard at work modifying OEM pieces to fit these fenders. Read on for more sheetmetal misery...

After making a couple of patterns, I decided to do what most of the Tri-Five guys have done and cut off the front section of the air duct. I tacked in a block off plate for the sake of appearance and to make it more rigid. Used brushable seam sealer to close up the gaps and painted it flat black. Had to grind off some of the lip on the fender and slot the mounting holes slightly to get the headlight bucket to fit. But it allowed me to test fit the headlight bezel and the grille surround trim. As they say down in Texas where we lived for many years, "Fit like a saddle on a sow." But they were close enough for starters.

[Vic1947]

You can see from the photo with the yellow arrows that I had some gaps to fill around both the grille surround and the headlight bezel. I taped off the parts and applied filler completely around the bezel and all along the grille surround. After the filler set up a little bit, I removed the shiny stuff and waited for the filler to harden completely. I sanded the excess down to the parting line and then re-taped all the edges and added some filler along the lips for backup. A bit more sanding and I had a nice base for the bezel and surround to seat up against. So the passenger side is done except for several coats of high build primer and blocking.

The last photo is the driver side. It has a much bigger step than the one I just finished, so I'll have to blend the filler further back on the fender. Stay tuned.

[sduckworth13]

Nice work Vic!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

Nice work Vic!

Thanks, Scott. The driver side headlight bucket area is pretty much done. I'll need to assemble the full front clip on the chassis to know what else I may need to adjust but the gaps and steps between the fender and the bezel / grille surround are as good as they're gonna get for now. I still need to apply the body schutz on the underside and scuff the hood (top, edges and bottom). It looks like we may have good weather by mid week, so I'd like to be ready to shoot some primer, etc.

[mongocanfly]

You got that fitting good..!

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking great, nice job on the fenders. You're definitely using a lot of patience. A lot more than I have....

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

You got that fitting good..!

Thanks, Greg!

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looking great, nice job on the fenders. You're definitely using a lot of patience. A lot more than I have....

Thanks, Dale, patience is about all we can exercise these days. The city has issued a stay at home order for the next 30 days, so working on a project car is about as good a time killer as I can think of. The hood is the last piece of the front clip needing prep. We're supposed to have a 70 degree day on Wednesday, so I'd like to get the rest of the parts in primer then if possible.

Today is the last day before the new rules go into effect, so Kathy and I made a quick trip to storage and emptied it out. Luckily, we had the place to ourselves. All my "stuff" is back under one roof but will need to be reorganized when I move the chassis from the upstairs garage into the basement workshop. Right now, it's all underfoot but that will just be temporary.

[swamp rat]

Yer a frekkin magician!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Yer a frekkin magician!

Thanks, Mike, although persistent old fart is perhaps a better description. Today was warm enough to lay down some primer. I was forced to stay just inside the garage door, though, because the wind was pretty gusty. I'm almost ready to transfer the chassis downstairs as I'm about out of stuff to primer.

I scored a Leed rotary vane vacuum pump off eBay the other day. Seller said it had been installed but never actually used. It had a little cosmetic damage to the canister, but I fixed that and will paint it silver to match the car. It's a hefty little booger. It may take some finesse to stash it in an out of the way place. I'm thinking under the driver side front fender. From what I understand, you can mount them almost anywhere with no loss of performance. It came with 6' of hose, so we'll see what works out.

[Vic1947]

Rolling chassis is back downstairs in the workshop. The next few days will be exhausting.

[regan wilson]

Very Nice!

[mongocanfly]

very nice Vic..!!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by regan wilson

Very Nice!

Thanks, Regan. Super Street truck looks cool ...and hauls! Do they still have a strip in Tyler?

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

very nice Vic..!!

Thanks, Greg, fixing to see if I can assemble the Flowmaster universal stainless exhaust. Right now it looks like a pile of Legos for big boys.

[Scott2]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Thanks, Regan. Super Street truck looks cool ...and hauls! Do they still have a strip in Tyler?

Thanks, Greg, fixing to see if I can assemble the Flowmaster universal stainless exhaust. Right now it looks like a pile of Legos for big boys.

Nice exhaust kit! I'm sure you'll make it look great!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by regan wilson

Looks like fun Vic. As far as a Drag Strip around here? Our track Interstate 20 Dragway has been gone since the late 80's.

Years ago when we lived in Houston and ran a S/G car, we made plans to race at Tyler (I-20) but seemed like every time we did, it rained out. So I never got the chance to make a pass there. Went to a lot of tracks back then, some of which are no longer in operation... Porter, TX, the old Houston International down by LaMarque, Green Valley up by Fort Worth just to name a few. Made my last pass in 1984 if that tells you anything.

Originally Posted by Scott2

Nice exhaust kit! I'm sure you'll make it look great!

Thanks, Scott. I've gotten a bit sidetracked with small projects and have yet to start laying out the exhaust. Both the oil and trans dipsticks needed to be shortened, which is easier said than done. I guess the folks that designed the ones I have wanted you to be able to check the fluid levels without having to lean over the fender. The oil dipstick is now underneath the header tubes and requires that I pull the spark plug boot above it for access. The trans dipstick now sits just behind the cylinder head instead of snaking way over the top of the injector rail. Both are hardened steel which meant I had to drill the holes for the retaining pins with a carbide drill. But, it's finally done.

The dust shield for the flexplate is another issue I'm dealing with. The one they sent me is for a manual trans setup and won't clear the Mast Motorsports pan. Plus the holes meant for bolting it to the bell housing are not at all like what I have. I think the 4L70E trans that came from Performance Automatics is a hodgepodge of parts. The bell housing is most likely from a 5.3L Vortec truck. In fact, I had to machine a press-in mounting boss for the trans dipstick because there's no corresponding threaded hole in the 6.2L block.

You can see the difference between the dust shield I received and the pattern I made that follows the actual contours of the bell housing and oil pan. Moroso makes one a bit more generic than mine, so obviously others have had this problem. I made a quick trip to the metal store this afternoon to pick up some .090 aluminum sheet to use with my pattern. Had to call in the order and when I arrived, there were no vehicles in the parking lot. They had a phone number posted by the door where you pick up. Called it and they came out and loaded my stuff into the back without me having to get out. Weird ...but necessary I reckon. So tomorrow I can whittle out the dust cover and then there's no other excuse I can use for delaying the exhaust fabrication.

[Vic1947]

So here's the finished dust shield fab'd out of .090 sheet aluminum. I riveted a small tab to the top edge on the driver side. It hooks behind the block where it and the trans meet to help retain the cover on that side. You can see from the bottom photo that the profile hugs the pan, starter and bellhousing cover. The two holes in the bellhousing I'm using to attach the dust shield are humongous. The 7/16 bolts are way overkill but anything smaller would fall thru. And I'm too lazy to machine a couple of T-nuts for smaller fasteners. Gotta move on.

[regan wilson]

Looks like fun Vic. As far as a Drag Strip around here? Our track Interstate 20 Dragway has been gone since the late 80's.

[mongocanfly]

looks good Vic...

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

looks good Vic...

Thanks, Greg. With the dipsticks and dust shield finished, I got started on the exhaust. Spent more than a few minutes deciding where it would be best to locate the parts. In the end, it made the most sense to situate the mufflers about halfway back. The RS chassis has notches in it that allow you to tuck the components up out of the way.

The tube attached to the collector coming off the header needed a few more degrees of bend to line up the way I wanted. There are multiple ways to go about fixing it, one being to lop off the bend at the desired angle and weld a piece of straight pipe to it. Another is to slice the tubing in the middle of the bend leaving a small uncut strip at what will be the narrowest point. Then get everything situated the way you want and weld in a piece to fill the gap (which is what I did). Or you can get down and ugly with a rosebud which isn't my thing.

I've built some stainless headers and exhaust systems previously, so I have a nice little setup for purging the inside of the tubing with argon. This allows me to butt weld the tubing with little or no fill rod. But the main advantage is that it eliminates the "sugaring" that occurs on the backside of the weld that is normally exposed to the oxygen in the air. You can see from the photos below that on the inside of the tube there is intermittent 100% weld penetration (because I was moving a bit too fast) but none of the crust that forms when the molten metal oxidizes.

So the first leg is welded up back to the muffler. More later.

[Vic1947]

About halfway home - finished welding tubing on both sides back to the mufflers. Welded V-band clamps (red arrows) on both muffler inlet tubes and mocked up the H-pipe (yellow arrow). If I ever have to drop the trans for any reason, I can disconnect at the headers and mufflers, unplug the O2 sensors and remove the tubing as a unit. If you plan for the worst, you might escape it.

[mongocanfly]

that exhaust turned out really nice..