57 Chevy Wagon - Californa Dreamin'

[Vic1947]

Got a bit sidetracked from the wiring and finished the three point seat belt mounts and a few other things. Then removed the passenger side rear door panel and cut the opening for the speaker. Before it went to the trim shop, I'd cut the hole in the inner door panel and installed the rivet nuts that hold the speaker and grille. For some reason, they covered right over the hole and the screws, so it was up to me to finish it out. Had to remove/install the door panel several times to get it all lined up. In retrospect, it probably saved me a few hundred bucks by doing it myself, plus the finished product is just like I wanted.

Here's some progress photos. Still have to do the driver side door. I picked up the box that the stereo and a/c controls fit in today. They'd forgotten to do the french seams along the corners as requested, so they kept it thru the weekend for a do-over. Will post pics of the assembled unit in a few days. Inching ever so slowly toward some tunes, Rick.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looks good Vic.

[jlsanborn]

Howdy, Vic!
I have a ton of catching up to do. Life is starting to taste a little like lemonade, and the hobby is ratcheting up. I soooo look forward to reading through this. Your work has inspired me for life, and I'm proud to have a touch of your hands on my truck!!!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looks good Vic.

Thanks, Dale!

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Howdy, Vic!
I have a ton of catching up to do. Life is starting to taste a little like lemonade, and the hobby is ratcheting up. I soooo look forward to reading through this. Your work has inspired me for life, and I'm proud to have a touch of your hands on my truck!!!

Hey John, been following along your recent posts on your thread. Glad to see you're easing back into the saddle. I'm so envious of your garage - I keep thinking how nice it would be to have that two post lift and all that room. Looking forward to progress reports and the lowdown on the machine shop saga. Take care!

I'm starting to think old age is really creeping up on me. When I went to pick up the front box for the stereo, etc. I had to have them make another run at it because they hadn't put in the french seams like I wanted. After I got it back home, I realized I'd forgotten my plan for the stereo surround. I had them trim the edges when they should have been wrapped. Had to call them and confess, but they fixed it right up. I test fit the box and the console to make sure they would mate up with the newly installed carpet. Had to trim the carpet and remove some of the pad, but it looks like they'll fit together nicely. As you can tell, I keep drifting away from the wiring but sooner or later I'll have to face it.

[Vic1947]

Since my last post, I've been wandering aimlessly thru the various tasks that remain. I had a bit of a hiccup on the interior door handles. The ones I bought over a year and a half ago were for a pre-'49 GM car and didn't fit... surprise! So I had to order a couple more sets. Upon installing the first one, I found out the padding on the door panel was so thick it wouldn't let the handle retract after opening the door. So I had to build a fixture to hold the tapered piece so I could shave 1/8" off of it. Did all of them and they now work great.

I also installed the rear bumper which took me about three days. No matter what I did, I couldn't adjust it forward enough to look right. The RS chassis is slotted for 1/2" bolts instead of the 9/16" OEM bolts but that wasn't nearly enough to make up what I needed. Ended up taking the OEM brackets off and hogging them out another 1/2" to move the bumper forward the amount I needed. Had to use the porta-power and shim stock to get the necessary clearance on the passenger side as well. All in all, a bit of a goat rodeo.

HRE had trial assembled the rear bumper prior to blowing everything apart for paint, but no pictures exist to see how it fit at that time. I don't think the body could be that far off when they reassembled it. In the end you just have to chalk it up to "one of those things". All the lights are wired up with Weather-Pak connectors and all that's left to do is mount the license plate and the backup camera. Hate having to drill a hole thru the brand new bumper but it's for a good cause - cause I need all the help I can get when backing up.

[mongocanfly]

Looking great Vic..!!

[Ol Blue K20]

I drool everytime I see it. It's looking great!

[Vic1947]

Thanks guys!

Made it down to Quality Finishing this morning with all my aluminum panels and pieces. They will clear anodize all of them. Said they have about a week backlog which isn't too bad.

Back at the ranch, I got the rear seatbelts and seat installed. Sounds easy when you say it fast, but like many other pieces it took some finesse. When they upholstered the seats, they were working without the car, so it's hard to blame them for the hiccups. The hinges for the rear seat back were on upside down and most of the trim around the border wasn't aligned correctly. In order to fit the hinges upside down, they had to drill four holes in the bottom trim piece. Fortunately, when I removed everything to correct the hinge position, I was able to reassemble it and cover up the holes.

The reason they couldn't get the hinges to go on properly was because the plywood back they made using my original as a pattern was cut wrong. I peeled back the material and used a coarse bit in my die grinder to get the clearance I needed to flip the hinge over into the proper position. After that, I was able to align the border trim and make it fit better.

I was a bit disappointed that the seams didn't line up better, but they're not off by that much, so I'll live with it I reckon. The seat belts help hide the worst of it and nobody looks at the back seat that closely anyway. Kathy is really amazed at how roomy it is back there and said it was big enough to take a nap in if I get her up too early when we finally get on the road.

.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking good!

[Vic1947]

The license plate frame arrived yesterday. It looked great, but needed to be recessed for the plate. Set it up on the mill and plunged about .090" into the backside and walked around the perimeter to where the plate would just fit down inside it. Now when it's tightened up against the bumper, there's no ugly gap showing along the top edge.

Carefully measured for the backup camera location and milled a window into the license plate for it to extend thru. The mounting plate for the camera came with double sided tape to hold it while drilling the holes for the fasteners. Put the LP in place with the camera sticking thru it. Gently stuck the camera to the bumper and removed the license plate. Marked the location of the mounting tabs, held my breath and pried the mount off the bumper surface. With the camera safely removed, I drilled a hole thru the bumper for the cable and then re-positioned the mount using my marks as a guide. Drilled four small holes for the mounting screws and the hard part was done.

All that was left to do was hook up the cable and reinstall the plate. The location may be a bit unusual, but I didn't want it perched somewhere it could get knocked off, broken or stick out like a sore thumb.

[Ol Blue K20]

Nice job on the camera and license plate frame....

[Low Elco]

Can't wait to see it!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Nice job on the camera and license plate frame....

Thanks, Dale!

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Can't wait to see it!

Good to see you Chip. Thanks for the coil cover assist. Thinking you got the worst end of the deal. Rebuilding a Q-Jet was lots easier in my book.

I'm still wiring although there are fewer loose ends than when I started. I've gotten sidetracked a little. Drove 200 miles (one way) with Kathy last Saturday to get our first dose of the vaccine. Hope it's worth it. Believe it will be, but if either of us ends up with da RONA down da roada I'll be plenty steamed. Also took a break to reassemble the core support/fans/shroud assembly. Only after tightening the last screw did I realize I'd left out the bolts that hold the support to the frame crossmember. Naturally, there was no way to get them in by removing just a panel or two. Had to completely tear it down, put in the bolts and reassemble everything. Always something.

I've been working on the connectors coming out of the back of the Alpine head unit. I have so little room inside the enclosure I built that I decided to snip any unused RCA plugs and whatnot. I think it will all fit and hopefully work when finalized. My brother in law, Rick and I bench tested it quite awhile back so I know it worked at that time. As long as I don't booger up the installation, it should be good to go.

[Low Elco]

Fellers, if you think this thing is cool in pictures, it's AWESOME in person. I thought it was cool when it was a beater! Truly a gorgeous piece. Thanks again for saving my skin (again).

[sduckworth13]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Fellers, if you think this thing is cool in pictures, it's AWESOME in person. I thought it was cool when it was a beater! Truly a gorgeous piece. Thanks again for saving my skin (again).

I have been lucky enough to see it in person and it really does look phenomenal. I can’t wait to see it all together.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Fellers, if you think this thing is cool in pictures, it's AWESOME in person. I thought it was cool when it was a beater! Truly a gorgeous piece. Thanks again for saving my skin (again).

Hey, Chip. Glad to be of assistance; in return you did me a solid with the coil covers so, many thanks for that!

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

I have been lucky enough to see it in person and it really does look phenomenal. I can’t wait to see it all together.

Thanks, Scott, I'm still hacking away at it.

Took a big step forward on the wiring. The Dakota Digital module is mounted with all the feed wires (except the cruise light) in place. Now I can connect the CAT5 cable to the dash and get it installed. Pretty sure when I do, I'll discover something I forgot and have to take it back out. Seems to be the way it goes.

I found out after the fact that the glove box door stop arm won't let the door close. Hits one of the Vintage Air ducts and refuses to go any further. So I took it off entirely and will do without it. No harm in doing so, just can't use the door as a shelf when it's open. We'll have the console for storage and cup holders anyway.

[Vic1947]

The right side duct coming out of the evaporator is right in the way of the glove box arm. I get within about 3/4" of the door being closed and it hits the duct. Didn't want to punch a hole in it so I figured I'd do without and just be careful. However, another forum member suggested using a cable. So I decided to go that route. I believe it will be safer with a travel limiter.

I picked up the stops at AutoZone and already had some 1/16" aircraft cable so it was just a matter of modifying the existing arm and closing up the rectangular hole in the dash. The end at the glove box door is held captive and the cable moves thru the hole very easily - not even any need for a retractor. I put a little piece of shrink tubing over the cable end next to the stop to keep any sharp edges from puncturing the plastic duct tubing. Works nice and smooth and closes correctly.

[Vic1947]

A bit more progress on the wiring front. The instrument cluster is in and the NAV/HVAC control/speaker enclosure is too. The console would be done also but for receiving incorrect cables from an eBay seller. Had to reorder, so it will be a few days before I can plug in connections for the parking brake, speakers and etc. l sure hope I didn't screw up anything. All circuits are fused but my BIL Rick says fuses are only there as a last resort to keep everything from burning to the ground ...maybe. Probably would be wise at this point to double check everything. I have a reoccurring case of CRS so perhaps even a written checklist.

[mongocanfly]

Could making your pedal extension a little longer solve the issue?....

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Could making your pedal extension a little longer solve the issue?....

I'm sure that would help, Greg. The issue is the alignment between the cable housing and the clevis that attaches to the arm. If I make the arm longer, I'd need to increase the thickness of the blocks under the pedal to keep everything lined up. Not that I couldn't - just that it took me awhile to machine all the parts in the first place. Very specific hole sizes, spacing and metric threads to boot.

OK, I know, I know... metric stuff is probably the root cause.

[mongocanfly]

Is this the piece you made?

[mongocanfly]

I know youd have to "adj" the cable bracket to keep it inline, but I was thinking if this piece were a little longer it would increase your pedal ratio without affecting pedal travel

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

I know youd have to "adj" the cable bracket to keep it inline, but I was thinking if this piece were a little longer it would increase your pedal ratio without affecting pedal travel

I agree it would increase the travel. However, I did read a suggestion on a Corvette forum I may try first. You can disassemble the pedal and reposition the splines to change the angle of the pedal. The net result of that is the top edge of the pedal is a bit further back which increases the distance to the carpet. Right now, the carpet is the limiting factor. The built in stop isn't in play because the angle of the arm relative to the pedal isn't quite right.

I need to sit down on a milk carton and see how the pedal feels, though. Don't want to get into a situation where your right foot is at an awkward angle when driving. Will keep you posted.

[Vic1947]

Latest news...

I removed the pedal assembly and took out the two screws holding the spline'd pillow block. Rotated the splines slightly and reinserted the shaft into the block then reinstalled the screws. As you can see from the before and after photos, the angle between the arm and the pedal increased from around 88 to 97 degrees. With the pedal back in place, this tipped the upper edge back away from the carpet relative to where it sat originally. The pedal angle doesn't seem awkward when sitting in the driving position.

The end result of this geometry experiment is that I now have full throttle opening with no compromise at idle. I will say this though - the pedal action seems a bit lazy. I have to push thru more of an arc to get WOT than I expected. Time will tell if it turns out to be a drive-ability issue.

[Vic1947]

After reviewing the throttle situation, I determined a possible cause for the lazy pedal action was the hole position in the throttle arm I was using. If I moved the cable stop to the second hole, it would give me a quicker throttle as well as reducing the amount of travel needed for WOT. So I relocated the cable stop this morning to the second hole in the throttle arm and tested the throttle action. I could tell it was quicker with shorter travel as well. However, it still felt somewhat lazy. As you can see in the photos below, the Teflon lined, braided steel hose from Lokar had collapsed with only slight tension applied. It's not really meant for this purpose in the first place, so I shouldn't be surprised. As the result, the Lokar braided steel throttle cable has a new home in the trash bin.

The FITech setup came with an OEM throttle cable, but the ends were not at all what I needed. It was, however, the right length and diameter, so I set about cannibalizing the Lokar ends and transferring them to the sturdier OEM cable. It's a plastic covered, spring wound assembly with a PTFE liner meant for this application. All back together and tested, it operates smoothly and quickly. After several days of dinking around with it, I think I finally have a long term solution.