1941 project fenix

[99 to Life]

no explanation necessary. I know how life gets in the way.

[joedoh]

had a great couple weekends with the family, fixed up my office with a bed and finished the bathroom so a close family friend could stay with us a couple weeks, new job here in town, he is from tulsa.

got some work done previously, the daughter who steals the phone cord is on summer break and never home (mostly) so I picked up another cord.

pulled the doors apart, the windows were jammed and the passenger latch had sat in the field with the window slightly down and the door handle at a 45 degree droop. the latch refused to work, penetrant didnt work, 50/50 acetone/tranny fluid didnt work, heat didnt work.


I pulled the latch and soaked it in vinegar for about a week. it looked better but didnt work still. I ground out the attachments and started grinding out serious rusty crust.



I had to tack weld it back together since the way it was assembled previously was with little tabs that got smashed over to make the assembly. easy peasy though. I replaced the compression spring inside so the door handle would stay at 90 degrees, it is really smooth now



works great now, inside handle hooked up and working. need to install the new window weather stripping/felts because the way the assembly works is to put the window in the channel and then put in the regulator/door latch assembly. I picked up the window kit and some stainless 55 taillights from bowtie bits today.

pedals in and hooked up



you might notice I am missing about 1/3 of the floor.


I have another in the parts pile but rather than "paying it forward" like I always do and borrowing parts from the next truck, I decided to make the missing piece. I picked up a sheet of 20 ga and made a wooden buck to pound on.




I also got the kydex installed in the grille area to make the air scoop to the radiator, and picked up all the fittings to hook up the trans cooler. I also cut another set of 47-54 s10 mounts for a local guy, that took the rest of the day.

[lower50's]

Nice job on the latch. Your floor patch turned out real nice.

[joedoh]

the only thing bowtie bits had for a floor was fiberglass, and I still need a very small trans tunnel, so steel it was!

[99 to Life]

nice progress. what is the video/animated gif file you use to upload? didn't know you could do that on here.

[Palf70Step]

Very nice work on everything!

[joedoh]

thanks!

finished the passenger door up tonight. new felts from repops that have a foam center section to really seal up, I cant wait to hear the wind noise.



got the regulator installed and the new glass. which is tinted, I thought it was film but its actually tinted glass. so I will probably have to pull the drivers window I have so they match. regulator works smooth with some lithium grease


my rebuilt door latch linkage works perfect too.

[mongocanfly]

Looking good joedoh..gotta admire your can-do spirit..

[joedoh]

figuring stuff out is my very favorite thing.


Henry I upload a .mov file at giphy.com and create a gif, only drawback is you are limited to 10 seconds with the free tool. then when its created I download it to my desktop and upload it to photobucket. you can host it on giphy but I think it only lasts a little while.

cant use mp4, so if you are using photo library on a mac (like I am) you will have to export it to your desktop as original (mov) first.

[99 to Life]

hmm I'll have to check that out. I used to do animated gifs with sequence photos for my websites back in the day. never made them from a video though, must be somin somewhat new.

[lower50's]

That's cool

[joedoh]

I made my small trans bump today, if it looks like a spade shovel its because thats what I used for the rough shape.


visited a rusty impala today at the behest of my brother back east, the same guy had this tucked away



yes its a numbers matching car, with what he said about is 20% of its original sheetmetal. it was a very rusty car but looks beautiful now.

I ordered whitewalls and steering parts, closing in on this one! found the broken brake switch parts finally, the one vacuum control switch is called a "cruise release" and took forever to track down.

[joedoh]

went to the hutch swap meet and scored belltech drop spindles and drop springs for the next truck! woot!


finished the floor repairs today. should work nicely. I pulled all the assembly screws except one accidentaly hit it with the welder and its permanent now.


whitewalls are here, man summit is outstanding for shipping, ordered late wednesday had everything friday noon! undecided on wheel color, decided to give the bronze metallic, the color I was thinking of using on the windshield frame because it kind of matches the other windows, a try. I like it


now cap? or no cap?


I love those impala poverty caps, I ran the identical cap (except they had buick emblem instead of the bowtie) on my 65 and loved the look, maybe I will get the tires mounted and see what I think. I also have a 60s set of baby moons to try, but I think the chrome acorn nut look and no caps will be what I settle on.

jeeze. with all the planning, I still make mistakes. tried out the borgeson collapsible shaft today too. perfect length, right u joints, everything good except



it only needs about 1/4" to line up so tomorrow I will modify the alternator support and take off the offending nut. it fits everywhere else just fine.

more to come! my oldest has come for a visit so I have weird work hours this week.

[99 to Life]

nice swap score. I just went to one friday with little funds. it was cool but I coulda blew a load on a slew of AD truck parts. I have so many parts as is and running out of storage, but I did get a few things.

Luv the gold metallic bronzy color. can't go wrong there. will look proper.

[joedoh]

thanks, I originally got it for the windshield frame so I only had one can, had to pick up another (and pull the 4th wheel off the eyetalian donor, it had replaced a stubborn leaky front tire, which is back on now haha)

got the 4th wheel painted


and the frame


looks nice, yes I have overspray



pulled the drivers tinted window from the other extra door I had. it helps to have a deep yard full of stuff. got the drivers door and seals buttoned up.



I also got the steering linkage installed and working enough to ecstatically and unknowingly pump all the fluid in the box out on the ground because I was having fun swiveling the wheel. doom bass, thy have a name. it is joedoh.

I mocked up the vintage air unit, going to the zoo tomorrow but I think I will get some stuff done in the afternoon. blew out the garage too, nice to work outside today and even nicer to be cleaned up slightly.

[lower50's]

Nice color for the rims.

[99 to Life]

hey I'v dumped about 4qts of new oil on my driveway bf cause I forgot to put the oil pan bolt back in. luckily I caught it bf I wasted the last qt!!! I was hoping to see the dang tires on!!! its a magic moment seein the new kicks on the project.

[joedoh]

well I dont bolt them on till its aligned and driving, but here is a shot from getting the tires mounted today


I will have to trim the beauty rings to clear the weights. steel wheels, what are you gonna do?


I also need to find two more poverty caps, because this is gorgeous.


walmart used to be my go to for mount and balance, 12 bucks per tire with new valve stem. today I got charged more than twice that, almost exactly $100 out the door. never again, and I will no longer recommend them.

[rusty76]

I had tires put on my 87 4by years ago at Walmart. They were 31s. The price was good but they nickeled and dimed me on everything. Then the smashed the center caps by beating on them. Never again.

[99 to Life]

I always have them put the lead on the inside of the rim. walmart is terrible. so glad they don't do tires in my town. we have a few local tire heros.

[Kansas T]

Balancing beads work great. There's no exposed weights and they balance themselves every time you drive.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Kansas T

Balancing beads work great. There's no exposed weights and they balance themselves every time you drive.

I have heard they work ok on big monster mudders but when you hit a bump it scatters the bead and it takes a few seconds to rebalance. have you used them to know if thats true or false?

[Kansas T]

Originally Posted by joedoh

I have heard they work ok on big monster mudders but when you hit a bump it scatters the bead and it takes a few seconds to rebalance. have you used them to know if thats true or false?

I've never experienced that. I use them in my daily driver and love them. Its a 3/4 ton truck with a 31 inch tall highway tire. I know a lot of motorcycle guys that use them and have had great results, so they work on any size tire.

[lower50's]

I ran the beads in my Jeep tires 33X15.5X15 for 2 years went back to weights it never was smooth.

[joedoh]

picked up my last cab from down south today, he was scrapping while I was there said they had taken 192 tons the two days prior and 100 the day before that. mostly combines and farm equipment. works out to something like $200 for a grain drill, insane when you say it like that. anyway he had my cab ready to go for me, I will miss going down there!

this one I think is a military 1945 cab, or has leftover military parts, the door handles are zinc painted black, and it has double wipers and a weird number plate.




it HAS a number plate but its rusted, I picked up some evaporust on the way home to see if I could recover the numbers.


edit:
SUCCESS! although the numbers are really worn on the front, from the rear they are relatively clear. this is the difference between a $300 parts cab and a viable project! woot!