55 Wagon Progress

[mongocanfly]

That's nice Robert...how bout a video of your diacro in action...

[MP&C]

Greg, we'll work one in where we can....



We need to do another spray out test panel, so we can nail down the top color to accent the green. These car bodies just aren't big enough to do a two tone...……..






….so we fabricated a fake quarter panel using the Tommasini wheeling machine, and sprayed it with some epoxy primer. We'll get it blocked on Saturday and spray the bottom using Organic Green Kandy Basecoat, and spray the top with Galaxy gray, to see how well those two go together...

[mongocanfly]

Great idea making the fake panel...should really show the colors good across the radius

[MP&C]

Mike did some component assembly today so we could make sure things fit before powder coating brackets. Good thing we did..








The AC condenser bracket came with the Vintage Air setup, and we bought the alternator bracket to match... I'm not really keen on the mix of vintage air cleaner and AC condenser in front of it, but I think the owner would frown on the lack of cold air exiting from the dash..


While Mike was working on those issues, I added some color to our paint sprayout sample.. It's too cloudy out today but we're hoping for sunlight tomorrow to better show what this will look like. Until then, Milwaukee Sun...








Video version:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhfk84YrQtY



.

[mongocanfly]

Like the air cleaner...it just looks right ....I'd be moving the alt,comp......colors look great together!,

[MP&C]

Here's a sneak peek at our speaker trim rings just back from DGM Chrome in Philly. Looks like we'll get a couple set up with the stainless mesh so we can show them off at this weekend's car show in Leonardtown..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OOk...ature=youtu.be



.

[oldman3]

Robert, trim rings look super. I have one question, lately you pics posted are HUGE, I have to move across my 17" screen 4 times to see the picture, what changed...Jim

[mongocanfly]

Nice and purdy!....

[doowoppwer]

Jim, et al, simply hold the control key and tap the minus (-) key to make those large pics viewable. Hope this helps.

Roger

[mongocanfly]

well...i tried what you suggested doowop..but now the print is extremely tiny....

[MP&C]

Some snafu with PB again... Likely their way of making you upload downsized pictures to take up less storage.. So now we downsize the pictures first.....


Since we got our freshly chromed speaker trim rings back from DGM Chrome in Philly, it only stands to reason that we need to put another sample together for the car show in Leonardtown on Sunday. So today I stopped by Norris Upholstery and picked up a scrap to cover one of the kick panels to make it more presentable. Fake upholstery, if you will..





We planned on adding a plateau to the stainless speaker mesh rather than flat, so some pressing fixtures had been cut out on a water jet for us..

















Comparing the flat to the plateau....








installed...











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrOES4xQv2A



This might even work....

[oldman3]

Robert, beautiful work, should get some attention...Jim

[mongocanfly]

As usual.. extremely nice...

[MP&C]

Thanks for the comments fellas! On these grills, to clarify, the smaller (tweeters) use a smaller opening pattern (more holes per inch) than the midrange speaker next to them, so they would appear the same proportionally. McMaster Carr sells a sample kit of the mesh to help in picking out the size, p/n is 9231T11. For the sub we used 5 x 5 mesh (5 openings per inch) p/n 85385T31. For the midrange, 8 x 8 mesh, p/n 85385T42. For the tweeters, 10 x 10 mesh, p/n 85385T48. The grill for the sub will have multiple pressings, one to include a recessed crest emblem. That one will be the test..

[awsum55]

Hey Robert, I somehow lost track of you after I left CT and was wanting to see the results of the '55. It looks like you've made some excellent progress and as usual taught scores of people how it's done. Glad I found this post again and can follow you and your crew as you complete the most amazing build I've seen. Your attention to detail is unmatched.

[mongocanfly]

outstanding detail work on the speaker Robert!!!!!....

[MP&C]

John, thanks for checking in on our progress. Getting down to the nitty gritty now and should be doing some paint here in the coming weeks!!

[MP&C]

Had a busy weekend but didn't get anything done.

Saturday I went to the 15th annual Jalopyrama, this year it was held at the Talbot County Community Center in Easton, MD. I didn't get many pictures this year as there are far too many people taking pictures with much better cameras than I had (iPhone). This year's theme was a focus on vintage race cars, and the indoor arena was filled with dragsters, gassers, etc, as well as some of the nicest hot rods to be found on the East Coast. I did get a shot of my buddy Dirty Dave's gasser, which is basically his daily driver. Odd to see it indoors as much as he drives the wheels off it! haha..





Next to it was the "Hamb Special", a vintage pickup classed race truck built for Bonneville, making it's debut on the salt last year. Owned by John Mullen of Lanexa VA, built by John and many of the members of the VA Hamb. My buddy Dave Russell gets the piloting duties on the salt, and we caught up at the show and talked shop.





It has a 262 Ford 6 cylinder, but caught the attention of many of the racer's inside the building when it was being brought in. That idle didn't sound much like any 6 cylinder I've heard:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ot0UTIhtv4


….and I did get a picture for Joe Unger. This truck would look awesome in front of his Sinclair station in Perry..





Sunday was another car show, this one a bit more local for me, put on in downtown Leonardtown by the St. Mary's Rod and Classic Car Club to benefit Hospice and many other charitable organizations.


We set up in front of John's shop, along with his Biederman truck, and a couple tables of our fabrications. Got a bit too much Sun, but really enjoyed getting out and talking to everyone about their projects.






Last night was repair time for a dirt car. We had a severe fold/wrinkle to remove to get ready for next weekend, and with little in the means to "pull", we resorted to some MacGyver action on some Vise Grips...





















That should hold it for this weekend.

[Troy Sr]

Originally Posted by MP&C

Next to it was the "Hamb Special", a vintage pickup classed race truck built for Bonneville, making it's debut on the salt last year. Owned by John Mullen of Lanexa VA, built by John and many of the members of the VA Hamb. My buddy Dave Russell gets the piloting duties on the salt, and we caught up at the show and talked shop.

What are the west, central, and east names on the tail gate for? My neighbors dad owns the Carroll Shelby Race Engines Co. his name is Bill Denbeste. He bought it from Carroll Shelby just before his death, he is also the largest Shelby Cobra dealer in the world.

[MP&C]

I believe those are for all the sponsors, yes.....from all over.

[mongocanfly]

Sounds like you had a full weekend Robert....that salt truck looks great!...

[MP&C]

So last weekend I went to Ron Yeager's shop in Kingsville, MD for a metalshaping workshop. Reconnected with some old friends and made some new ones.. Thanks to Ron for opening his shop so we could all learn some new tricks and methods..





















Today I got another speaker trim ring put together.....this one for the sub in the cargo area of the wagon. We planned on a recessed crest in the stainless mesh, so the mesh was aligned in our aluminum plates and pressed in the Diacro press brake using flattening dies.




















Video Version....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWMT...ature=youtu.be



.

[oldman3]

Robert, beautiful work...Jim

[MP&C]

Thanks for all the comments guys!



Spent last night getting an assembly line going to get the rest of the speaker grills assembled. Just say no to plastic speaker grills!

[MP&C]

Well it's been rather hectic around the home front as E is nearing graduation. Seems like yesterday she was showing me how to properly wet sand bare foot..





For shop activity, Mike has been working on a sign for a "Drummer's Lounge", since we had the wire edging tool already made up for the Biederman, he used that to give the outside bands of the arrow the beaded look...





CAD drawing:





Parts is parts:














Video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y47I...ature=youtu.be


Meanwhile, I've been block sanding, and priming.... here the rear kick panels are now ready for upholstery...





I did break out the Meco torch again the other day to get the dust off....






This first coupon shows how Peter Tommasini teaches tacking in gas welding. Tack a spot, then the next is placed where the HAZ (blue ring) touches the seam between the halves. And repeat. Note how this method leaves an almost perfect HAZ for minimal distortion..





And we had a blowout. Don't stop, keep going and come back to it.. This is fusion welded, no filler, front side shown first, then back side











Stephen has been mocking up the power windows in the front doors so we can side step all the components and find a good location for our speakers. No pictures yet, I'll get some this week...