55 Wagon Progress

[MP&C]

Didn't get as many pictures this weekend as I'd have liked. While I worked on some final details on the console, Jake made some cardboard templates of our rear armrests. These will also serve to hide the seat belt retractors for the front buckets, as well as the rear speakers.






Here Jake transferring the pattern to some 19 gauge cold rolled, cleaning up some of the lines as well...







I was welding in the front cross piece that Jake made to the console and had some underside welds to do. Sometimes we make it easier on ourselves, especially if we can't weld upside-down all too well..





Suspended from the door track...






The hinge at the rear now moved rearward, metal added for mounting the hinge and securing the "storage recess".

[oldman3]

Looks good...Jim

[Bomp]

Can't say it enough. Learn something every time I check in. Thanks for posting and showing how to do things right.

[MP&C]

Thanks Guys!


OK, here's our update for the past couple weeks..


We're working on getting the seats ready to go to the upholsterer, and these 2002 Monte Carlo seat belts just aren't cutting it...







This these belts are riveted to a bracket that stands off from the seat, and we'll need to stand off our replacement as well. So the rivets are removed and the new seat belt gets bolted to the same bracket using 1/2" bolt, grade 8. The "new" seat belts look much more vintage correct.













With console in place and bezel checked to proper height, anchors are set in place for welding to the floor pan. Bolted to shifter plate for proper alignment and standoffs used to provide space to get in there and weld...












Next, our replacement for the parking brake pull handle didn't fit just right so an extension was added that will use factory holes, we do need to drill the firewall for the studs out the front end..











Jake's progress on the rear seat kick panel...











Tipping wheel on the Fasti folds over the top flange that will hold our arm rest..







Bolting bracket that will secure the kick panel to the inner quarter..











And here we're cutting out our console lid...







Thinning bend lines for a more crisp bend...







A piece of round rod in our magnetic brake gives us radius-ed corners...






A few passes in the Tommasini Wheeling Machine gives a bit of crown for better support







Corner details TIG welded in...







Corner detail test fit...







There we go, all caught up!

[mongocanfly]

as usual....great work...that lid turned out great...I like the way you did the radius bend....

[oldman3]

Beautiful work...Jim

[Bomp]

Phenomenal craftsmanship.
Learn something, a new/better way, every time I check in.
Anchors and standoffs to make space for proper height.
Round rod in the brake in making round'ed corners.

Seat belt change out hits the mark.

[MP&C]

Thanks Guys!


More work on the lid...










Lid hangs over slightly in the front to serve as our only pull/lift for opening the lid, nice and tidy. It will be held closed using rare earth magnets.







Video version:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3cAFzk8Zfc



Our kick panels for the rear seat also need some support against the inner quarter panel to help hold the arm rest.







Jake bent up a 1 x 1 angle out of 19 gauge and used the Erco to match the contour of the kick panel. In order to not block off the window mechanism access panel, we'll bolt it to that panel.. As we have yet to install all of our interior/carpet/upholstery, we made the support adjustable so we can match the kick panel height at installation.. Video version:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wicUAwkqvAI







More details on the console, we had hemmed all the edges to help protect the upholstery when it gets wrapped, but the tunnel cutout at the rear still needed an "added" hem. Then our hem is tacked in place, edges adjusted with a drum sander, and the two edges fusion welded together using the TIG.











....and sanded smooth..







Next, layout and folding the insert for the console. Some parts needed to fill in voids will be added later..
















Test fit....







Video:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J20U5oIL8vw

[MP&C]

More progress on the wagon, making our insert for the console whole...





Clamped up for tacking with the TIG welder...





Video of fusion tacks:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO2a915SAuk








https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr69SZk7YXI





Adding in the corner for the rear kick panel...











.....getting closer all the time..

[oldman3]

Beautiful detail work...Jim

[mongocanfly]

that looks great...just curious about the holes drilled in your bend lines on the kick panel...are those just for a guide to bend?

[MP&C]

To help lay out two identical parts (more identical?), and we used this also on console sides, we used a through hole at key locations/intersections on the bend lines to be able to use cleco's to hold the pattern together while transferring the pattern. Then used a punch to make marks on the first line drawn to transpose same line through and to the second piece. Note all the punch marks on the bend lines in kick panel pictures above. Foam underlay beneath the upholstery will hide those well..

[mongocanfly]

thanks for the explanation...makes good sense...

[MP&C]

Finishing up our floor weldments so we can visit the local Line-x for "undercoating" this coming week.. Our bucket seats have one bolt that went through the floor, and we wanted to eliminate the need for two people to install/remove the hardware.. We came up with a plate fitted to the floor pan channel that we welded a hex nut onto. This plate will allow us to plug weld to the floor...
















The rear quarter also has some bolting pads where the side ears to the rear bumper is bolted through. We needed to make stiffener plates to strengthen this area.





We made use of some tubing in the scrap pile to make a punch and anvil... Everything's a tool...





Alignment marks in the centers of the tubes..

















Ready for Line-x

[AJCK87]

Been following along, your work is amazing!!!! Wish I could have you laid down some of your metal magic on my panel truck

[MP&C]

Thanks!


Doesn't look like we did much, but we got the wheel wells, floor pans, and cross members scuffed up this weekend. Then applied two coats of SPI epoxy primer to address the bare spots, so now we're ready for Line-X..

[MP&C]

We were blocking out the wagon's roof today, and had a few low spots to bump upwards. To locate the lows on the inside, I thought to use one of our rare earth magnets in the center of the low, and use the body hammer on the bottom side of the roof to pinpoint the magnetic pull. These are 65 lb pull magnets that we use for our paper patterns. By a stroke of luck (blind squirrel finds acorn) we noticed in scuffing the inside of the roof that the magnet location readily appeared, for a more accurate locating method.

Video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubq89aPMJjY




.

[BlueJeep]

You widened the rear wheel tubs did you not? Do you have any pictures of that or the rear floor work? Thanks, and looks fantastic as always!

[MP&C]

We widened them 2-1/2" There are pictures in my photobucket, but as you know, that may be short lived. Rather than post them here only to disappear later, here's a link to the page with the wheel well mods..


http://s5.photobucket.com/user/rmcca...sort=3&page=40

[MP&C]

Had a couple questions on what the heck I'm showing in the video.. Haha... so let's clarify..


We were blocking out the primer on the roof and came across a few low spots. These were low enough to be seen in the paint if left alone, and yet mixing and sanding any filler "repair" would have taken longer than some simple bumping of the low area.


Since I don't have a Bullseye Pick, we thought to use some gentle hammering with a crowned body hammer beneath into a small shot bag on the top (outside) of the roof. We have some 65 lb pull rare earth magnets that we typically use for our paper patterns, and this showed to have enough strength to pull through the roof skin. So we placed the magnet in the center of the low area, and in order to locate on the underside, would skim across the roof from beneath with the hammer face to see where the pull was strongest. The location was then marked underneath with a sharpie, magnet removed and replaced with the shot bag, and the area was tapped into the shot bag until blocking showed the area where it should be.


On one of these "marking with a sharpie" efforts, there was a slight bit of dust on the bottom side of the roof, so I gave it a wipe with my hand to displace the dust and instantly saw the outer circle of the magnet. This was much more accurate than using the magnetic pull test, so we changed to this, and the metal bumping effort worked well. We surmise that this "dust" that clings to the magnetic field is likely sanding residue from the primer, or sanding residue from dressing welds inside the car, or both. In any case, it worked well to help transpose the low spot locations to the bottom side for more accurate hammering.

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by MP&C

We widened them 2-1/2" There are pictures in my photobucket, but as you know, that may be short lived. Rather than post them here only to disappear later, here's a link to the page with the wheel well mods..


http://s5.photobucket.com/user/rmcca...sort=3&page=40

Thank you much!

[MP&C]

Glad to help!



Well, we have the new engine dropped in place.











....and she decided on fuel injection over the 770 CFM Holley (still new in the box). Of course this meant and O2 sensor bung on an already finished H-pipe. The bung that came with the FI Tech kit matched well to the outside radius of the exhaust pipe, but was rectangular in shape, and included a gasket for a "clamp installation"... As we aren't having any of that nonsense, the bung found it's way into the lathe, where a round outer perimeter will serve better for our TIG welded installation..





And after some touch up at the powder coaters....











Next, our arm rest enclosures for the rear seat needed a base for the padded arm rests. So Jake used the Go Kart slick to add some radius to 14 gauge cold rolled steel in order to match the enclosure...











.....and trimmed to fit....







These will be held in place with Mopar style door panel retainers, so we can still have ready access for any future maintenance on window mechanisms.

[jhrusk]

Work looks great, not sure what the plans are for fuel system but I would not recommend fitech frame mounted pump.

[MP&C]

In tank pump..

[oldman3]

Robert, been awhile, but nice update...Jim