Thread: 1929 Essex Highboy

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And then in just a short time, went from this

To this--------Grind, sand, scrape, fill extra holes in frame, etc.! Then two coats of brushed on Rust-O-Leum Primer, then two coats of spray can Rust-O-Leum Hammered Silver.

Your making some great progress!

Here is a pic of the floor support grid and pictures of the dash area without dash. And pics of the dash and upper ?? dash and instrument panel, what's left of it. I may refurbish this, or rebuild it, who knows? Man, am I having a blast or what? Thankfully the body (front and back) is in pretty good shape. Going to need some patching, but not as bad as some I've seen on here. Ahhemmm, well, the doors leave something to be desired! haahaa
Driver door is correct but holey, pass door is not right year (and holier)
Nights are getting loooonnnngger here now, so more time for computing! So I may get caught up with posts and pics. I trust everyone is enjoying the photos. I've got hundreds, literally. Funny though, I can't find me in any of them! Perley

Here I've cut the temporary tabs off the body that the doors were welded on with (for spacing). The hinges are sooooo rusty that I haven't been able to get them free/working yet.
And shots of it going back together, most everything painted. This is the basic brake kit I bought from Speedway. It has the brackets for the disc calipers along with bolts, a machined slide on increaser to build up the spindles to fit the new bearings and seals that will be in the hubs/rotors, and a spacer to go on the end of the spindle before the castle nut goes on, as the spindle is slightly too long for these hubs. The hubs are from/for a mid-size - mid-seventies GM, like Camaro/elcamino/monte carlo, etc. I bought the hubs/rotors and bearings and seals from our local Advance Auto Parts store because my oldest Grandson works there. Support his job, you know (and doesn't hurt that I get his discount)! haahaaaa
The calipers I got later on also from Advance. They were for '76 Camaro as were the hubs. Much later on I got brake hoses for them, but the stock Camaro hoses were too short to reach the frame/brackett, so the manager at local Parts Plus helped me out by picking through computer pictures and descriptions. These were for a '75-78 Chevy K10 Pickup truck. They had square blocks on them rather than round to match the rotors, so I have to mill off the corners a little to fit. Length is perfect, 19" O.A.! Speedway has complete kits for this conversion but got to cut every corner and save dollars where I can. S.S. doesn't pay very good!
These are engineered by C.P.P. and are well thought out. My axle remember was from a '49 Ford F1 Pickup and originally had drum brakes. I would have rather had them renewed, but cost of parts etc. would have been awful close to what the disc kit cost.

And shots of the rear brakes etc. The brake parts I bought off eBay a couple of years ago for our '47 Ford/S-10 project.
Well --------------- they were just sitting there!
This had new backing plates, new drums, new shoes, new springs, and some used parts. While I was at it I pulled the old seals and outer axle bearings and replaced them with new. I cleaned out the axle tube by pulling a rag through on the end of a coat hanger, cleaned out the banjo too. Both front and rear axles were sand blasted before hand. UGH. Hated doing that. Tip-------Don't move the pinion input shaft while the axles and keepers are out of the rear end! heeeheeee. Ask me how I know. Man, I was an hour getting it back together right. Them spider gears got all out of sync. heeheeee. I'm learning! Remember, I NEVER make mistakes. But when I DO, they're doooozies!

This car is a Johnny Cash car -------- It's a '29, 30, 49, 65, 69, 72, 76, 85, 91 automobile! And yeah, quite often the holes are gone! haahaaaa
But fun! And quite a challenge, believe me!
So, here are pics of the new front rotor hub combo on #13 and #2 bearing sets and seal on the adaptor for the inner bearing from the C.P.P. kit. Calipers will come along later. New tie rod ends on the old tie rod. I took measurements of the old set-up so I can get close on toe adjustment hopefully. And a shot of the flywheel and pressure plate, the starter I got off ebay and had rebuilt, and a shot of the inside of the bell housing showing the clutch release lever and throwout (release) bearing. I've had the devil's own time getting all of the necessary parts to fit this wide array of vintage parts together! Hours on the Internet tracking down information and such. Sometimes I had to tell the parts store what part number(s) I needed because they didn't list them due to being obsolete. And another big thank you to my Mentor in Florida for all of the help via email. Perley

Lookin good. Isn't it fun to try and keep track of all the different stuff we put on our old rods!

Originally Posted by stovens

Lookin good. Isn't it fun to try and keep track of all the different stuff we put on our old rods!

Gets to be even more fun when you have 3 or 4 projects going at the same time!!!!!!!

Especially playing with that chebbie! My disc brake front conversion kit is one part Ford one part Chevy!

Hi Dave and yes, I have actually a second one, a '47 Ford pickup that is sitting on a Chevy S-10 frame and has a 350 SBC from my old work van ('89-90)! It has just sat there for two years while I've been playing with my Essex. Sometimes I get confused as to what part is for what project!!!!!

And Steve, thanks for the support. Yes, it is a nightmare of sorts trying to keep track of things. I had to start a notebook with information in it on the build. All of the part numbers, from what years, even some pictures!
But I supose that this too is a good part of what makes it all fun. Gives me something to do when I can't be out in the garage!

Here is a shot of the '47 project -------- and a -- WHAT? A RARE photo of Your's Truly! haahaaaaa. Enjoy

The hinges are sooooo rusty that I haven't been able to get them free/working yet.

I have 38 and 40 chev pickup cabs that had the same issue. One of the doors was rusted open and so I sprayed some Fluid Film on it when I was out to where they are stored. It was about 2 weeks later before I got back out there and the door was swinging freely.

Thank you for that tip, Pastor Bubba. But what is fluid film, I am not acquainted with that? I haven't tried anything on them yet, just tried to manhandle them!

It is a rust and corrosion preventive and I just came upon it about 3 months or so ago, but have been impressed with what it does. Their website is www.fluid-film.com.

Here I am getting the engine ready for paint. I was going to leave it Chevy Red, but my Friend Jim suggested that black would be better in that it wouldn't show oil spills (UGH) So then I was torn between doing what was right and doing what was quick (and easy)! heeeheee
In the end I figured I better do the right thing, so degreaser (6 cans), scrape and dig, dish detergent spray, and lots of water. Then wire brush, more scraping, more digging, more, more and finally ready. I used the air to blow it off then rattle can spray Hammered Black R.OL. heeeheee.
Perley