55 Wagon Progress

[Bomp]

After 3 hours of studying this page I had better get out to the shop.
Thank you for the education.

[MP&C]

More progress.....Mike got the new fuel tank all prepped with the fuel pump...










Tank mocked up so we can do test fit/fabrication of the filler neck down to the tank...











An elbow will be needed to join these two together.







The local NAPA store had some smooth elbow exhaust pipe that we used to fabricate the complete filler neck, all the pieces were TIG welded together, and Dana powder coated the assy black for us.







Bracket we fabricated for bolting to the floor flange.















Next, the drip rail area was scuffed well and the car inverted so we can seal the bottom of the drip rail to the top of the quarter area. This is using the self leveling sealer, so we needed to counter the gravity effect.











Next time we'll get the top side done..

[oldman3]

Nice work...Jim

[MP&C]

Thanks Jim!


We found a flat spot in the drip rail that needed to match the rest, found a suitable worn jaw pair of Vise grips that was ripe for modification.


https://youtu.be/RgMLgJQ9Uqw

[MP&C]

Well, we've had about a month long hiatus as I've been in VA for the day job. Back to some wagon progress, we made a sanding block for the drip rail, this will get some PSA paper applied and sand away!







We did have a back up and punt moment. The factory style radiator that we had from Be-Cool did not have quite enough room behind the core support to use a cooling fan. Plus, it was questionable if the size would be enough for the 383 cooling needs. So we are going to use a cross flow, specifically the aluminum version for a V8 S10 pickup. Of course, this will require modification of the core support.







Shown above mocked up with the splash pan, the stiffening edge along the c-channel follows the splash pan. We need to insure any future version also clears the splash pan. Also note the three drilled holes in the side adjacent to the blue sharpie. These were added for our version of the AC car battery tray, so having the new upright just outside the old will allow us to bolt to the new upright on the inside, and keep the battery tray in the same locaton.







So the hired help started grinding out the spot welds that hold the lower radiator baffle in place.







After some modification, one side is taking shape. We will likely add some rings to the weldment to route the water hoses to the front side of the core support.







.....and more progress on the core support... Note comparison to old core support, we've added 3" in width to the opening.







As with most changes we've done to the wagon, we try to keep them subtle enough that they could be mistaken for factory.







Like so.....











Still need to add mounting brackets for the radiator and fabricate a new baffle, but happy with the results so far..



Yesterday we got some seam sealer applied in the drip rail. I had tried a few different brands over the years and have to say I'm really liking the Norton 97121 epoxy sealer. Really smooths out well.













Spreader was modified to help get things consistent, as well as pull the sealer up into the hemmed edge...







Also took delivery on a shop manual for the car, it's nice to have people looking out for you..

[mongocanfly]

that drip rail turned out really nice....
the manual is a cool touch....

[oldman3]

Robert, nice update and great work. Remines me of my 1956 Chevy, with a big block I had, I cut up the core support and installed a cross-flow rad. from a Impala, car ran really cool. Of course my work wasn't anything as nice as yours...Jim

[MP&C]

Thanks for the comments guys!


So we had fabricated a duplicate of the 55 AC car battery tray to get the battery off the firewall. This bolts directly to the outside of the core supports "horseshoe".











So when we decided to widen the opening for a crossflow, the tubing had to be placed directly next to the old upright to locate our battery support in the same location.







This means the new uprights would also conflict with radiator necks. Dominoes, they do fall.... Core support now with relief holes for coolant hoses and lines. Thankfully side baffle plates will hide this ugliness!











Video Version:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRojQ4nWMhw





.

[oldman3]

Very nice...Jim

[Nut Case]

Great build, strong work

Good to see you using your "top hand" on the project, about time.

Nut Case

[MP&C]

Thanks for checking out the progress guys!


Been going through too many sanding discs lately so I decided to pony up for the ceramic ones by 3M (especially since Jegs has them on sale...and free shipping over $100). The sanding discs I was getting locally were about $0.95 each and I would have used about three doing what I did tonight. The sale price on these 3M's worked out to just over $1.50 each. I'm still on the first one and it's still going strong. I think these are going to be another of those "getting what you paid for" type things. Should have bought these long time ago.

[Hammered 77]

Is that a 3M holder/pad that you are using with them? I have the old mil spec type which are no longer available, once my stock pile is gone I'm going to have to change over.

Rick

[MP&C]

Yes, I think they refer to it as a roloc type R holder..

[MP&C]

So this weekend the core support was mocked up and some "sample" radiator hoses bent out of 3/4" EMT. Once bent to fit, these samples were taken to the local NAPA store, where they have become used to me sizing up radiator hoses in the store room. The lower hose was from an S10 pickup or Blazer, but with the battery bracket in place, there was interference to the hose.











So our battery bracket is modified to provide clearance for the hose, and a "hem" added to the inside.



























The upper hose has no such obstacles, so we should have smooth sailing there.

[oldman3]

Looks good...Jim

[mongocanfly]

Using the emt is a great idea...much better than the coathangers I use...

[MP&C]

Well the past few scheduled shop nights (and days) have been a bust, between college open houses and extracurricular activities...











Back in the shop we needed to finalize our console lid design as some parts are getting ready to go for upholstery. Our piano hinge showed to have clearance issues when using it in "hidden" mode..







....as shown here...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puZl_3KBzMg



We could notch the rear of the console and lid and move the hinge flush with the rear, but that would leave the hinge visible when closed, and now require and lanyard to keep it from flopping all the way over..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2AKHWuSlyY



We started looking at hidden hinges at one of our local cabinet maker. Although this one looks plenty stout, it was far to wide for our present design, and would require quite a bit of rework..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBqo7m20H34



With the new options, we narrowed our search to a cabinet hinge that was narrow enough to fit within our side confines, and found this one online..







Test fit, a straightedge is clamped to the hinge, aligned with the rear edge to see what interference this may have. Looks like this is the one..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV4lPQKqBC8



Hope to finish the hinge details up tomorrow. We also took delivery on our stainless mesh samples to make a decision on our speaker grilles..

[mongocanfly]

Very nice solution on the hinge problem......

[MP&C]

More progress on our console, with the new hinges we got for the console lid being such an afterthought, the room provided in our void openings was going to drag the sides of the angle bracket once upholstery was wrapped inside the slot.







Better to make changes (and weld) before the upholstery goes on. So we made some new rear corners that bump us out slightly more than a 16th and use a slightly larger inside radius for a bit extra strength.



















This is much better clearance than we had before, one more corner to go and we can fit up the lid.

[oldman3]

Nice job...Jim

[MP&C]

Thanks Jim!


More progress on the console, the rear corner is opened up for hinge clearance..














8-32 machine screws cut off and sharpened to serve as spotters for our hardware location in the lid..






8-32 rivet nuts installed in our match drilled holes for attaching the lid to the hinges..















video version:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkk9KTbdjJ0




.

[mongocanfly]

Very nice fix!!...it turned out great!!

[oldman3]

Beautiful work...Jim

[Lokin4AReason]

nice work

[MP&C]

Thanks for checking out the thread guys!



My wife's cousin JB, who works at Interiors by Shannon, contacted me the other day about making him a dimpling punch and die for installing door panel fasteners..













There's always room for improvement, so I thought I'd add a flat to one side of the lower die so it could be clamped in a vise for more stability. A short piece of V-block was installed in the Aloris tool holder and viola! We have a Southbend Milling Machine!













The alignment pin was added to the bottom die to help keep the panel aligned during the punching process, a 1/4" hole will be added to the panel where fasteners are needed.










Installing into the vise...









Our .06 aluminum test panel...


















….that should work...