New build thread; 48 Plymouth

[akrateffil]

Falcon,

Your Plymouth is looking good. You are an inspiration for me to get working on mine!

[falconvan]

I decided I'm at a point where I'm going to need some help on this; my body skills are fair but I want this to be nice. I've got a friend who's a pretty good body man so I had him come look today. He gave me a pretty good price so we'll start working together on getting the main body work finished starting the last week of December. I'm excited; it's going to come out great plus I get to learn along the way.

[dwaynerz]

falcon.... some of us here would think you already know alot.

[techinspector1]

I'm excited; it's going to come out great plus I get to learn along the way.

It doesn't get much better than that.

[falconvan]

I'm better at the body work than I was a few years ago but still a long way to go. Really we're never done learning; there's always someone better out there.

[falconvan]

Totally worthless today; I went out in the garage, looked around, came back in, and plopped in my office chair. I usually never let a Saturday get away but this week at work beat me to a pulp.

[akrateffil]

Falconvan we all deserve a day of rest every now and then.

[falconvan]

I kind of jumped around on this today; I finished up welding in the trunk panel and a couple of little patches where the spare tire bracket was. I'm going to eliminate the cowl vent so I cut all the brackets off of it and turned it into a patch. This is going to be tough getting this straight so i just tacked it and I'll let my body man finish this up. I've got the whole week of Christmas off so i'm going to try and get a couple of long days to work on the underside and get the welds cleaned up and hopefully POR-15 the whole underside of the body along with a lot of the inner body structure. I know a lot of guys like to paint all that body color but I figure if you're not going to see it once the interior is together, it's getting the POR-15 treatment.

[falconvan]

I'm off work all week and man does that feel good. I think I'm going to start scouting around for a different job; I thought I'd really like a higher level of management but it has been nothing but constant aggravation. I just cant get away from it; long hours plus constant calls and emails when I'm not there. The money was nice at the beginning but It's just not worth it so hopefully I can find a way out.
I got to spend a few hours working on the car the last few days. Lots of prep work underneath but nothing that really shows on a picture. I had a few spots in the floor that had some small pinholes so I mixed up some All-Metal filler and took care of those. I got the door hinges out which was an adventure all in itself. Those big #3 Phillips screws figured they had been there since 1948 so they were staying. It took about 3 hours to get 16 screws out. I saved this brake petal assembly from a 96 Firebird we scrapped and I think it's going to work fine once I trimmed off the unnecessary pieces. I did a little trial fit with the dash and front seat; it might have to come down a few inches but I think it'll work.

[Dave Severson]

Looking good Falcon, pedals should work out fine with a few adjustments!!!! Bet you're gonna have fun being able to spend some quality time with your project!!!

As for the job deal, sometimes the bigger bucks just isn't enough compensation for all the grief!!!! I'm really lucky on the work thing, doing exactly what I want to do and being just a one man shop with a waiting list I'm able to turn down anything that I don't really want to do----most of the one's I turn down are because I see problems coming with the guy who owns it!!!!

[falconvan]

Yeah Dave, I've been in the management end for about 8 years and they keep moving me up but lately I'm really starting to think I'd rather just take my tool pouch and put in a straight 8 hrs. Sounds like you've got a great deal going; I wish I had the capital to do my own thing but that's probably not in the cards. But I'm glad you post your stuff; I've learned a lot from watching you the past few years.
I think the 'bird pedals will work pretty good; I'd much rather have the master cylinder on the firewall than under the floor. I do have the original petal pad so i think I'll cut the big rectangular GM one off and use the 48 one instead. I like keeping everything period correct with subtle looking updates. I think I'm going to take the original column, swap in a GM steering shaft, and use that LeCarra Mark 10 wheel. That's got to be the coolest looking wheel out there for fat fendered cars.

[rspears]

Looking good on the project, and you're going to enjoy the week off to do your thing.
On the job, project management has taken on a whole new approach in the time you've been in it. I watched the transition of e-mail from "informal communications only" to "admissible in court", which means that your team can sink a project (or really make things messy) by agreeing to things that they have no authority to discuss. With e-mail and smart phones you're connected 24/7 like it or not, and taking a real vacation or just a few days off is a challenge. Once there (managing projects), backing off to less responsibility can be tough unless you change companies, and even then people wonder why and consider you "over qualified". Good luck with your decision. Maybe the holiday time off will ease things for you.

[falconvan]

I know exactly what you're saying, Roger. We had a huge dispute with Trane last year over the cost of some VFDs and it was submitting our emails to the attorneys that got it straightened out. It can get pretty relentless some days but I do feel a little better after a week. Although my second day back I ended up being there 23 hours straight because of some major building heat problems.

My friend Kyle has been putting some time in on this and it's nice to have the help. He's been finishing up some metal repair and is getting ready to start at one corner of the car and work his way around smoothing everything. I've been painting some POR-15 in all the hidden cavities and the trunk floor to try and make sure the rust stays gone once we're done. It's moving along pretty good; as soon as we've got the main body finished and primered, I'll move to setting the drive train, and setting up the steering.

[Dave Severson]

Really nice progress Falcon! Sure does go better with some good help, huh?

[falconvan]

Yeah, it does. I didn't think i could afford to hire anyone but we've got a good deal worked out. He's got a really clean late 80's Camaro RS that he wants to transplant an LS motor into. He just needs garage space and an extra hand to build and install the motor and was looking for some side work to fund it. Works out great for both of us.