57 Chevy Wagon - Californa Dreamin'

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Lookin' like good progress!

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looks nice!

Thanks, guys!

Picked up the parts HRE painted for me. Everything looked great. Then later that day, took the coil covers to a top notch pinstriper to have the Chevrolet script highlighted with a darker gray metallic. Should look nice. He said he hoped to be finished with them by Monday. I was especially pleased with the grille bar. It presents much better in body color than the spray chrome.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I've trial assembled the inner fender panels and core support. Currently working out the a/c, heater and trans cooler lines. As usual, didn't have all the fittings I needed in my "extras" box so had to place an order to cover what I was missing. If you look closely at the lower left corner of the fan shroud, you can see where I mounted the little enclosure with the relays, etc.

I did run into an issue with the core support. The cone shaped air filter mounted directly to the FITech intake was just a tad too long and hit the puller fans. So what I plan to do is come out of the throttle body with an EPDM 90 and some polished aluminum tubing to relocate the filter. The parts for that should be here tomorrow so I'll see what I need in the way of mounting hardware. Probably better to have the air intake away from the radiator heat anyway. A lot of guys swear by cold air boxes, but on a beater I'm not sure you'd know the difference.

I also got the passenger side seat and three point safety belt bolted in. Still need to install the kick panels but will wait to see if any smoke comes out when I hook the battery up. Kathy seemed happy she wouldn't have to sit on the floor.

[mongocanfly]

Beater..???...did I miss something?....HAHA..
Still looks great Vic..
As far as cold air intake goes..on my C30, with air filter underhood,,we dynoed it with the hood closed...then opened the hood, and the hp jumped by over 10hp..

[Ol Blue K20]

It looks good Vic, it's coming together nicely. Beater! That's funny.

[Low Elco]

Getting so close!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Beater..???...did I miss something?....HAHA..
Still looks great Vic..
As far as cold air intake goes..on my C30, with air filter underhood,,we dynoed it with the hood closed...then opened the hood, and the hp jumped by over 10hp..

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

It looks good Vic, it's coming together nicely. Beater! That's funny.

Thanks guys! I think the Hollander book lists beater as interchanging with daily driver or something to that effect.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Getting so close!

Yep, the list is getting shorter - but there's still a list.

Trial assembling parts is ongoing. Got the coil covers back from the pinstriper on Saturday. He did a nice job and fast too. I have all the lines for the a/c and heater, both flexible and hard lines, ready to go to Independence Hydraulics for crimping and flaring. Just waiting on one more fitting to arrive. I've also been working on the radiator hoses, horns and cruise control setup. Still have to figure out the best location for the Leed vacuum pump. 10 lbs of poop in a 5 lb bag.

Spent the better part of a day and a half getting the grille bar to fit the way I wanted. The factory fit on the grille surround, splash pan and etc. is pretty sloppy. To get all the parts to bolt up, you have to leave all the bolts and screws loose until everything is in place, then gradually draw up the fasteners. No idea how all this will play out when the fenders, hood and bumper go on. I've arranged for Sean from Hot Rod Express to be here Saturday, April 3rd to help me with that task.

[Low Elco]

Saw that on Mark's page. Dark gray looks good on them!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Saw that on Mark's page. Dark gray looks good on them!

Mark said you're his #1 salesman.

[Vic1947]

Spent the better part of the day getting the Dakota Digital cruise set up. Ended up mounting the control unit on the passenger side inner fender. I'll have to see how hot it gets since it's only about 4" from the headers at the closest point. May have to build an aluminum heat shield. There weren't a lot of options for placement. I was hoping to route the cable next to the throttle cable, but there was no way to make it work right. I tried flipping the bracket over and adjusting the bracket position, but to no avail. So I shuffled over to the mill and whittled out a bracket that positions the cable in a more advantageous spot. Still have to do the wiring.

We went to the World of Wheels AutoRama yesterday which gave my motivation a little boost. The Magic Dragon cruise down at the Lake of the Ozarks is the first week in May. It will be a stretch to get it running and tested by then, but I work better with a deadline.

[Russell Ashley]

That thing is beautiful. If it were mine I'd be so worried about it that I wouldn't be comfortable driving it.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

That thing is beautiful. If it were mine I'd be so worried about it that I wouldn't be comfortable driving it.

Thanks, Russell. I plan to have it appraised, insure it for agreed upon value, make sure the policy has roadside assistance and then drive in as carefree a manner as possible. I've been preparing myself for the inevitable chips, scratches and dings that come with a road warrior by repeating' "It's just metal and paint and it can be fixed." So when it's done, Kathy and I plan to see the USA in our Chevrolet until we're no longer able to do so.

[Ol Blue K20]

Keep plugging away Vic! It's coming along great!

[Low Elco]

Looks great! Excited for you this Saturday!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Keep plugging away Vic! It's coming along great!

Thanks, Dale. I'm beginning to think there's some light at the end of the tunnel.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Looks great! Excited for you this Saturday!

Hey Chip, me too! I sent Sean a text today with a photo of the car lifted off the ground as he requested. I've been marking off little items on the punch list to keep me occupied.

[mongocanfly]

What a bueat..!!!

[knomadd]

Oh man, she's looking good!!!

[HAULIN' IT]

That is one classy lookin' ride! Lorne

[Ol Blue K20]

It won't be long before you drive it to Cali and visit. I love it....

[Vic1947]

Thanks everyone! Minor setback, though. Sean called Thursday afternoon and said he had a schedule conflict and asked to postpone installing the front end sheetmetal until next Saturday. I'm still working on the punch list so it's okay but I was really looking forward to seeing it complete. Still need to bleed the brakes, fill the radiator and test the fuel system. At that point, it will be time to bust it off.

[nsb29]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Thanks, Russell. I plan to have it appraised, insure it for agreed upon value, make sure the policy has roadside assistance and then drive in as carefree a manner as possible. I've been preparing myself for the inevitable chips, scratches and dings that come with a road warrior by repeating' "It's just metal and paint and it can be fixed." So when it's done, Kathy and I plan to see the USA in our Chevrolet until we're no longer able to do so.

Maybe I will see you out there my wife and I plan to do the same with our 65C 10 I am pretty much down to wheels in moldings. that’s a beautiful car that first scratch is really going to hurt LOL

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by nsb29

Maybe I will see you out there my wife and I plan to do the same with our 65C 10 I am pretty much down to wheels in moldings. that’s a beautiful car that first scratch is really going to hurt LOL

You're a long way from me, but ya never know, we may bump into each other somewhere. As for the dings, I already have a couple of chips in it I had to touch up so I'm building up my immunity to the pain.

I fab'd up a radiator hose splice with a bung for the steam tube. Rolled a couple of beads in it with my homemade tool. I was able to find a couple of Dayco hoses that worked perfectly to connect the thermostat housing to the radiator with the splice in between. I used a handy dandy eBay tool to pull about 24" of vacuum on the cooling system. It has a shutoff valve so you can test for leaks before adding the coolant. Let it set for about 15 minutes with no loss of vacuum, so I connected the pickup tube and let it draw in the antifreeze. No runs, no drips, no errors.

Not as lucky with the fuel system. Put in 5 gallons of premium and fired up the fuel pump and had leaks in a couple of places. Was unable to tighten the tube nuts enough to get the leaks stopped. In order to remove the tubing for repair, I had to take the left rear wheel off. (It never ends.) Once the tubing was out I realized the seam on the inside of the tubing was the problem. Tried to burnish it to remove the defect, but was unsuccessful. So tomorrow, I'm headed down to HRE to pick up some Aeroquip stainless braided hose to replace the tubing. I'm not a big fan of braided lines, but it's the most time saving and effective solution at this point. Two steps forward, one back - as usual.

[Low Elco]

Well, at least this morning's work went well! It's installed and everything's welded up. Thanks again for saving my hide!

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking good Vic! Keep plugging away at it.....

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Well, at least this morning's work went well! It's installed and everything's welded up. Thanks again for saving my hide!

Glad I could help, Chip.

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looking good Vic! Keep plugging away at it.....

Thanks, Dale!

Sean from Hot Rod Express made it to the house yesterday morning and put in six hours helping me hang front end sheetmetal. Took longer than it should have thanks to yours truly. One of my backup pieces for the cover panel was holding the driver side fender up and not letting it slip down over the inner fenderwell. By the time we realized what was happening, we'd spent a bunch of time trying to adjust the fender without a lot of success. Finally removed the fender and fixed the problem which made all the difference in how it fit. All the gaps (doors, cowl and hood) look good. Now the real test is getting the chrome grille surround to line up. It was adjusted pretty well before the car came apart for paint, but now it's giving me a bit of grief. I need to back off all the filler panel screws adjacent to the chrome pieces and see if that changes how the fender and the chrome piece fit. Not a lot of wiggle room, so plan B will be to use shims or trim pieces as needed.

The Eddie Motorsports hood brace just barely dinged the core support in two places. It comes to a point at those spots, so I had to remove the entire brace and mill .040" off the high spots. It now has enough clearance to keep from chipping the paint. Too late for me, though, as I now have some touching up to do. Sean offered to stay and help with the front bumper, but I declined. It was 5pm and I told him I was too tired. When I run out of steam is when I make unforced errors. He said he was happy to return when I'm ready. Need to get the rest of the grille pieces and the headlights in and wired before then.

But it's looking a lot more like a real car. Longer than I remembered.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Glad I could help, Chip.

Thanks, Dale!

Sean from Hot Rod Express made it to the house yesterday morning and put in six hours helping me hang front end sheetmetal. Took longer than it should have thanks to yours truly. One of my backup pieces for the cover panel was holding the driver side fender up and not letting it slip down over the inner fenderwell. By the time we realized what was happening, we'd spent a bunch of time trying to adjust the fender without a lot of success. Finally removed the fender and fixed the problem which made all the difference in how it fit. All the gaps (doors, cowl and hood) look good. Now the real test is getting the chrome grille surround to line up. It was adjusted pretty well before the car came apart for paint, but now it's giving me a bit of grief. I need to back off all the filler panel screws adjacent to the chrome pieces and see if that changes how the fender and the chrome piece fit. Not a lot of wiggle room, so plan B will be to use shims or trim pieces as needed.

The Eddie Motorsports hood brace just barely dinged the core support in two places. It comes to a point at those spots, so I had to remove the entire brace and mill .040" off the high spots. It now has enough clearance to keep from chipping the paint. Too late for me, though, as I now have some touching up to do. Sean offered to stay and help with the front bumper, but I declined. It was 5pm and I told him I was too tired. When I run out of steam is when I make unforced errors. He said he was happy to return when I'm ready. Need to get the rest of the grille pieces and the headlights in and wired before then.

But it's looking a lot more like a real car. Longer than I remembered.

OMG! It looks fantastic!

[Low Elco]

Looks Awesome! Congratulations!