Thread: 55 Wagon Progress

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Working today on fitting up the wheel wells. The front half is re-popped and uses the same part as the sedans, the rear part is not available. Fitting the front, notice the right lower corner (as shown) tapers up with less overlap for plug/spot welding.





The rear section is NOT available in reproduction, and the notch you see there is for routing the fuel fill on a wagon tank. We've switched to a sedan tank to make room for dual exhaust, and given the widened wheel tubs and tires being used, no need in leaving such a gaping hole. So new parts it is.. The lower flap I'm holding is a separate piece that is spot welded on. In an effort to minimize moisture traps/rust generators in the future, we'll make this in one piece.





To fix our front repop, a piece of 18 gauge is TIG welded to give us a square corner...








To make the new piece for the rear, we'll need a method to add beads that cross each other. This will entail a small table to use on the Lennox, an upper punch, and two pieces of matched MDF. Slots will be cut into the MDF, the top used as a guide for the punch, the bottom acts as our bottom die as it "rests" on the table..

The table will be supported in the lower tool holder using a 3/4 shank. The end is turned down to 1/2" to mate into a 1/2" hole in the 4 x 12 table, which is then plug welded.

















For an upper punch, we'll use some 3/4 oil hardening 4140, making it less pointed than the original just in case we want to use it for something besides the 55.











For a bead guide we first need to get a good template of the inside of the quarter. The adjustable spline comes in handy...











MDF is screwed together and then the edge profile cut..





Cutting our bead pattern..








The offset of the original for the quarter seal is added using a tipping die in the Lennox, slight modification on the backstop for the correct width..





New matches the repop....








This seal will be used against the inside of the quarter..





Running a test pattern... The table height is adjusted to set the punch depth...














All clamped up, ready to go. Kyle has already left for the day so we'll finish up next time..