Thread: 55 Wagon Progress

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Hinge Covers.. it wasn't until the final picture that I understood what you were talking about. :-) And sometime over the last couple of years I also went back to the first post and noted the date. I figured it was a typo! (nod nod wink wink) LOL

Day job and the travel involved has really cramped my style..

Originally Posted by MP&C

Day job and the travel involved has really cramped my style..

Don't let them drag you down.

Amazing work you're cranking out. I was reminded how many parts are so scarce for these wagons and nomads when I watched DDspeedshop trying to piece his glass and trim together. The pieces you made look so nice. Will you have them chrome plated?

The wiring on that 39 was definitely sketch! My fuse panel was near where you mounted his except mine was farther up and on the bottom of the firewall. That's a big heck no for me this go around. That was such a PITA to get to. Thanks for the tip on the earth magnet trick. I am going to try and remember that one. Do you have a best place you like to get them? McMaster?

.

The hinge covers will be painted to match. We get the magnets from:

www.appliedmagnets.com

We use either the CUP-26, which is a 49 lb pull, or CUP-20, which is 26 lb pull. Much better pricing over McMaster on magnets.

Very nice work...

Wow, 20 years of quality craftsmanship, I can't imagine having a wallet that thick.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Wow, 20 years of quality craftsmanship, I can't imagine having a wallet that thick.

Post 1 dated 01-10-2013... He's only halfway there!! LOL

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Wow, 20 years of quality craftsmanship, I can't imagine having a wallet that thick.

Originally Posted by 34_40

Post 1 dated 01-10-2013... He's only halfway there!! LOL

Yeah Mike, but Robert's put 20 years of quality in the 10 years of work!! Right firebird?

Originally Posted by MP&C

Day job and the travel involved has really cramped my style..

And you still did 20 years worth of amazing top quality work in half that time with some really neat side projects tossed in!

Cosmo and I salute you and the crew.

To break it down, the wagon was put in hold for about 2-1/2 years when we did a resto on a 65 Fairlane and on a 54 Vette. And another year and half when I was traveling non-stop when I started the present job. You don’t walk in the door from travel and then go out in the shop. The boss lady had other ideas. So just over ten years all tolled of about two days a week, unless I was on travel, which was far too often. Should have taken the plunge years ago and done this full time, we’d be on to a few others by now.

Tying up some loose ends, We still need to finish the wiring at the back of the car, but in the middle of modifying the tail light fixtures for bulb relocation. To that end, in an attempt to keep grounding issues to a minimum, quick disconnect tabs are silver soldered to the tail light housings.





Next, we started the installation of the rear power windows. The rear motors had been mocked up a couple of times and the screw holes in the plastic housings were loose/borderline stripped. So they were drilled and tapped, and 10-32 heli-coils installed for a more permanent solution.








Once the power window track was installed, the OEM stop block for downward travel of the window was found to be useless as the window bottomed out into the wheelwell. Some delrin was cut to size, notched for a snug fit onto the track, and two holes drilled for attachment to the track. Worked well...














While here at the rear window, we still needed to drill mounting holes for the shoulder harness through the window garnish moldings. A 1/2-13 bolt was used to fabricate a threaded hole spotter on the lathe, complete with flats for wrench installation.








With garnish molding positioned, a quick tap of the dead blow hammer gives an exact location for the hole.








Next, in order that we don't leave an unfinished hole edge, a punch set was machined for the lathe, complete with stepped shoulders to prevent any movement in the jaws when pressure was applied. This will swage the hole edge for a nice inward flange...

















And we had received our new shipment of Cubitron H/L paper from Three Mules Welding Supply for dressing out stainless, so Jared continued prepping our edge trim parts.





Where the hemming process we used with the bead roller isn't an exacting science, we did have some variance in the gap opening that made the prepping process a challenge. In order to get more consistency in gap width, (and thus flange flatness) a new widget tool was fabricated out of 16 gauge to open up those tight spots.

More progress on the dash inset. In order to form the outer edge trim to fit, we made an "anvil" out of 19 gauge that match the dash inset. The excess flange was trimmed in the area of the sharp bend.











Some heat was applied to the bend area, slight persuasion added to bend a few degrees, the area flattened to remove any puckers, and repeat.








Then we needed to shrink the flange on the insides to match the opening. This was accomplished by squeezing the two edge trim ends together, adding a patch of heat to form a tuck, and then flatten out the tucks to provide the shrink.


https://youtu.be/mDUlnW5rNSA








For attachment to the dash, 8-32 press studs were installed in the inner flanges where they are also out of sight. The ribbed stainless was installed in the edge trim, then wrapped around our oxygen bottle to provide the radius.








And a sneak peek at our trim fitted to the dash...


https://youtu.be/wZk6FftVcC0

More shiny stuff...





























​Since I was on a road trip Sunday, I popped in and visited the patent display that we made the hood for. The owner has it re-wired and reflectors installed. This video gives a better idea of what it was used for..





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw0gYxvY2m4





Back in the early 20's there were lights that would attach to the bumper and a cable driven mechanism attached to the front steering so that the light would follow the direction of travel. Advantageous for the limited brightness of the headlamps in those days. So this was likely a salesman's prop for selling such a lighting accessory.

Before we could install the rear bumper we needed to install the rear bumper seal, this keeps exhaust fumes from sneaking through and getting sucked in the back tailgate. The seal sits in a channel which is then "crimped" with some rounded pliers. Only my rounded pliers did not work, we needed parallel jaw pliers. So these channel locks were modified by adding the round stock. Only that did not hold well enough, so a dimpler was added to the bottom jaw, as shown...








These dimples gave us enough grip, and any chips were removed and then recoated with a couple coats of epoxy primer.





Here's the bumper added, and a video that better shows the hidden hardware...





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLtCAbLpv48


Here's a closer look at the forming of the edge trim for our dash inset trim. We had made a template out of 19 gauge steel to match the dash inset, and used it (and some heat) to form the point. This video shows the shrinking of the flange so the edge trim would match. The upper and lower edge trim was squeezed while applying heat to form a tuck for shrinking the flange and providing the radius.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwpt3_R4284


All shaped, before polishing..





Press studs installed...





Ribbed stainless insert added and our green radius brake used to match the dash profile...





One last touch-up to the polishing and installed in the dash.....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpRCFd29c8Y

Wow, more astounding work by you and your team! Many will have no clue how many hours went into all these details but we sure will.