Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks Clarance.

Once I got the headlight buckets out I reached my hand up into the eyebrow area expecting to find lumps of Bondo! But I lucked out. It was dirty but totally solid.

When I put them back in I'm gonna (blindly) hand sand in there, wipe clean and (again) blindly spray Rust Reformer in there. Couldn't hurt, I figure. I'm also contemplating scrubbing the remnants of undercoating out of the wheel well and using the Rstu Reformer/re-Undercoating.

[Kim57]

The parts are coming out real nice.
Kim

[Baldeagle SR]

I read your hole thread the other night. It is amasing what a little money and a hole bunch of elbo grease can do,
Where did you get your mileage numbers from on your speedometer? Mine are bad too. Thanks Rich

[Dan in Pasadena]

Hi Rich,

I think I got them from Tucker's. if I remember the website is tuckersparts.com.
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[Clarance J]

Hello Dan. Have you said or decided what color your 55 is going to be finished in? Looking forward to the finished product.

[Dan in Pasadena]

No, I go around and around thinking about color. Originally I fully intended to use red. Trite, but for a reason...a lot of people like red, myself included. Later I thought orange. I THINK I've moved on from it though.

I only started with green primer was cause EVERYONE had flat black, gray or red oxide. I liked it, the interior was terrible so I decided to echo the green primer. Now? I've thought of the little Fiat 500 light green. A stock green. But long term? Who knows.
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[Dan in Pasadena]

Just as an aside, I scored a used Lokar 16" floor shifter for my TH350 today for less than half the $235 Summit & Jegs has them for.

It'll go in soon IF its not too involved an installation. I already have a new tranny cover. Mine's thrashed.
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[Dan in Pasadena]

Oops, I was wrong. The Lokar shifter is a 23" - all the better.

Dropped into The Truck Shop in Orange, CA today....and of course I ended up picking up "a few more things" than I planned.

Then I came home and actually got a few things done!

Reinstalled the grill and apron beneath it (I guess its called), installed new headlight sockets, grommets and headlight-bucket-to-fender gaskets. I also bought new signal housings & lenses. Mine were rusted out after 58 years. The lenses were cloudy and basically fell apart when I removed them.

So the front end - with the exception of the hood latch panel that will be mounted tomorrow - is all back together. If I can find more of the Rustoleum satin Oregano I will spray the hood and possibly the front fenders.

Pic's coming shortly.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Here it is before this afternoon's work:


AFTER this afternoon's work:


The chrome paint looks a bit better in the photo than it does in person.

[hsdropout]

Looks good Dan, Before looks kinda sad and after.....it looks happy.
These old trucks are kinda like dogs..........you just gotta give them a little love and they are happy.
Good score on the Lokar shifter. It should work well.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by hsdropout

Looks good Dan, Before looks kinda sad and after.....it looks happy.
These old trucks are kinda like dogs..........you just gotta give them a little love and they are happy.
Good score on the Lokar shifter. It should work well.

Thanks for the compliment.

Yeah, these trucks needed some "scratching behind the ears" every once in awhile.:lol

I can't wait to get the Lokar in. I had one in my old '46 and it worked SO nice. The shifter I have now - whatever it is; maybe an old Hurst or maybe a Pep Boys special, has definitely seen better days. Plus the transmission cover is all jury rigged.

I have a new one and ran a bead of silicone around the underside to act as a seal for it. I MAY get time to install the whole thing tomorrow.

[Kim57]

The grille looks good in there.
Kim

[Daze57]

your doin a great job dan keep up he good work !

[dubie]

damn dude, that cheap chrome paint looks pretty damn good!! I just might have to try it on some pieces. Was that Tremclad paint?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by dubie

damn dude, that cheap chrome paint looks pretty damn good!! I just might have to try it on some pieces. Was that Tremclad paint?

Tremclad? What's that? Seriously, I've heard a lot about it but we don't have it in SoCal...that I know of. It was Rustoleum - which I've HEARD (?) is the same thing??

They used to have a "Brite Metallic - Aluminum" which was REALLY nice. It wouldn't make anyone think it's chrome but still it was nice. I haven't found it in awhile. This is their metallic called "Chrome". FYI, after its dry and cured if you almost touch it, it leaves a mark. Just a head's up.

I've also noticed Rusto has different colors in different retailers. Home Cheapo and OSH don't carry their Semi Gloss Black - which I love. They also don't carry satin Oregano - the color I'm using on the truck. But Walmart does. Go figure

More to come dubie.

P.S. A big thanks for cluing me into The-Syndicate (Rob's) '55 on the HAMB. SUCH a nice (& friggin fast!) build. I will go with a Sid's 3" axle, drag link, yada, yada, and Super Sliders - the ones with multi leaves. I'm figuring about $1500 I have to set aside for all that. Sounds about right? Shooting for 5"-6" drop.

[dubie]

yep that sounds about right. Because of shipping costs, mine was a bit higher, around 2 grand all in but, I got exactly what I wanted.

Rustoleum and Tremclad are damn near the same product. I've used a lot of Rustoleum products in the past and they are great to work with. My new found favorite is the Krylon 2 in 1 primer and paint. It has a limited color pallet but their satin black is a PERFECT match for factory satin. And all it takes is 2 coats and the adhesion is amazing, especially for a rattle can

[waybad]

I like it!!!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

dubie - Good to know. I notice there aren't a lot of places that have much Krylon near me. Seems Rustoleum has a much bigger market share here.

Thanks waybad!

So I did some painting today:





Also got the hood latch & latch panel in today...and it WORKS!


I wish I could say the same for my doors. I'm gonna do a search and start a separate thread on it. But my passenger door won't open (WTF!) and the driver's won't latch! I did something wrong - obviously.

I also took her on a shake down run, 7 miles each way. On surface streets & back on the freeway. It pulls left if I have to brake hard and it jumps to neutral if I step on the gas hard....and of course there's plenty of hot air coming in through the assortment of holes in the firewall and floor.

But I have a "new" Lokar floor shifter and transmission cover in the garage I'll be installing (hopefully) this week. I think I'm gonna go ahead and pull the seat, wire wheel and "treat" the surface rust then put down Peel 'n Seal - except near where I have to fix the cancer later.

[dubie]

looks good brother! keep going, keep going......

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks Doob. My buddy with a nice '66 short fleet keeps buggin me to get going and now that I am he's my cheerleader!

Tomorrow is painting the doors and roof IF I can find more paint. I started with 3 cans and found 3 more at OSH - all they had. Neither my Home Depot or Lowe's carries the color.

Now....on to those friggin latches!

[mechanixman]

Hey Dan,
It's looking Great!
Real slick, now that the "face" is back on.
I'm sorry to hear that the paint wasn't the greatest. Albeit I didn't cover quite as much area with mine, I did the speaker grill/glove box door in my AD.
Do you know what's up with the steering?
-Nick

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by mechanixman

Hey Dan,
It's looking Great!
Real slick, now that the "face" is back on.
I'm sorry to hear that the paint wasn't the greatest. Albeit I didn't cover quite as much area with mine, I did the speaker grill/glove box door in my AD.
Do you know what's up with the steering?
-Nick

Thanks for the encouragement!

WHAT about the steering? Whose steering, mine or yours?

[mechanixman]

You were saying yours pulls left?
Right now mine doesn't pull at all! ha ha
My motor is locked up, I'm going to try to free it up tomorrow.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Oh, ha ha. Now I get you.

It probably pulls because the front drum brakes may not be adjusted the same.
I pulled the drums awhile ago to make sure the wheel cylinders weren't leaking. They not only weren't leaking they looked new. Everything in there did, including white lithium grease on the rub points between the shoes and backing plate. New rubber adjuster hole covers. All-in-all it looked like a very pro brake job SOMEONE paid for in the recent past.

I have a CPP disc brake kit for it but haven't installed it cause I THOUGHT I had to have a booster and can't due to a lack of vacuum with my cam. Now I'm gonna just run manual disc brakes up front.

[Number 9]

Lowe's for oregano satin.