mik386
Well-known member
That’s awesome, thanks for sharing
MP&C Shop Projects
- Thread starter MP&C
- Start date
More installing stainless trim. The screw holes for the beltline trim that wraps into the tailgate opening had been filled when we shaved the lead seams. So we used some tape to protect the paint as we aligned the side trim to the lift gate trim before drilling the holes.
One piece to go on the left side, awaiting the trip from WI.
Next, we attempted to install our vent windows in the "reconditioned" frames the owner had bought. Only we noticed they weren't so ready for installation...
and bent...
Well, since we're on a roll, lets check the stainless trim that divides the vent and side windows. This had been "reconditioned" and included with the bent and cracked vent frame. Looks like they just polished up the dents and scratches. Not going to meet our standards.
So we media blasted the original frames, which had no damage, and dropped them off at the Shop at Shorty's for a Cerakote finish.
Inspecting the stainless trim, we found the originals to be less beat up than the reconditioned stuff, so we opted to straighten out the originals. Here's a comparison of the trim, the two on the left are the reconditioned that had been polished right over the defects. The two on the right are the originals, the left of the two has had any dings/dents pushed from the back in prep for our refinement process. (except the one up top I missed) The right one has gone through our w/d 360, 600, 1200, 1500, 2000, and 2500, all done wet. There are some minor scratches still, so we'll go through this process once more prior to buffing to make sure we have a flawless finish.
And a helpful hint for those who dabble in polishing stainless. We've all had occasion where the stainless slips off the buffing wheel, bouncing off the buffer shaft, causing another 2-3 hours to correct. We added a rubber grommet to cover the nut and a plastic end cap to cover the threads. Less chance of damage from those mis-steps.
We did get some more chrome on the front. Look, no bolts!!
One piece to go on the left side, awaiting the trip from WI.
Next, we attempted to install our vent windows in the "reconditioned" frames the owner had bought. Only we noticed they weren't so ready for installation...
and bent...
Well, since we're on a roll, lets check the stainless trim that divides the vent and side windows. This had been "reconditioned" and included with the bent and cracked vent frame. Looks like they just polished up the dents and scratches. Not going to meet our standards.
So we media blasted the original frames, which had no damage, and dropped them off at the Shop at Shorty's for a Cerakote finish.
Inspecting the stainless trim, we found the originals to be less beat up than the reconditioned stuff, so we opted to straighten out the originals. Here's a comparison of the trim, the two on the left are the reconditioned that had been polished right over the defects. The two on the right are the originals, the left of the two has had any dings/dents pushed from the back in prep for our refinement process. (except the one up top I missed) The right one has gone through our w/d 360, 600, 1200, 1500, 2000, and 2500, all done wet. There are some minor scratches still, so we'll go through this process once more prior to buffing to make sure we have a flawless finish.
And a helpful hint for those who dabble in polishing stainless. We've all had occasion where the stainless slips off the buffing wheel, bouncing off the buffer shaft, causing another 2-3 hours to correct. We added a rubber grommet to cover the nut and a plastic end cap to cover the threads. Less chance of damage from those mis-steps.
We did get some more chrome on the front. Look, no bolts!!
BORING HOP YARD
Well-known member
Very nice work as always Robert. Thank you for the buffer tip, I've had the same frustration with damage.
I will be covering those areas on my buffer.
I will be covering those areas on my buffer.
stinkity stoink
Well-known member
That car looks spectacular!! Those colors are perfect
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Beautiful work Robert. Funny you mentioned the shaft on the buffer, I ran into that years ago as well but I ended up using a piece of 5/8" heater hose to cover the shaft and threads to prevent the slip and ding scenario. 
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Boosted1
Well-known member
Outstanding work as always. Bumper looks great.
Picked up the vent window frames from The Shop at Shortys, done in a Gunmetal Gray Cerakote finish.
and we got our final piece of stainless trim from The Stainless Shoppe...
Packaged very well....
Steering column installed...
Friday was our appointment for lettering the blue wagon, rode up to PA to HotRodJen's art studio..
We opted for a script that deviated from the stock "decals", why hand paint something to match a factory decal? Let's go with looks fast while standing still...
and reassembled for the trip home..
and we got our final piece of stainless trim from The Stainless Shoppe...
Packaged very well....
Steering column installed...
Friday was our appointment for lettering the blue wagon, rode up to PA to HotRodJen's art studio..
We opted for a script that deviated from the stock "decals", why hand paint something to match a factory decal? Let's go with looks fast while standing still...
and reassembled for the trip home..
Last edited:
stinkity stoink
Well-known member
That wagon is slick !
Boosted1
Well-known member
Wagon is so nice.
jbmatth
Well-known member
Nicely done one the wagon, well on both wagons.
JB
JB
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Wagon turned out amazing Robert. Well done. 
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Robert, you should consider changing your screen name to
"Wagon Master"
"Wagon Master"
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
That is one "bad-***" wagon. You the man!
bowtiguy
Well-known member
Robert,
I want to thank you for sharing your SS trim restoration process w/ us. While I did a decent job on my 68' C10 restomod a few years back. I spent about 15 hrs restoring the trim for my 67' Corvette Coupe front/ rear glass a couple weekends ago. Looks so good I'll be pulling the original scratched glass for reproduction glass over the winter before installing teh trim. Your tutelage made it possible!
I want to thank you for sharing your SS trim restoration process w/ us. While I did a decent job on my 68' C10 restomod a few years back. I spent about 15 hrs restoring the trim for my 67' Corvette Coupe front/ rear glass a couple weekends ago. Looks so good I'll be pulling the original scratched glass for reproduction glass over the winter before installing teh trim. Your tutelage made it possible!
Attachments
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Some recent additions to the shop tool arsenal.
A Herbrand “slide hammer” wiper arm remover, supposedly for Trifive Chevies. They came up with these to eliminate prying against the painted cowl cover in removing the wiper arms.
Next, a pry bar/implement of destruction. I love these simple tools that can get you out of a bind in a jiffy.
Next, picked up a Herbrand ball end body hammer. It was a bit worn for wear, so some media blasting, sanding, staining, paint, and polishing were in order. Before and after:
I had shared my finds with a metalshaping buddy up in PA, who then told me about a lot qty of Herbrand tools, body hammers and Dollie’s for sale near him. Couldn’t pass these up, price worked out to about 1/3 the cost of new stuff from Snap-On. It was only after I had received them in the mail that I realized they were all NOS, had been handled but never used. I believe they belonged to either a salesman for the company or a collector. Even still retain most of the ink stamp of the pn’s on the ends of the handles.
A Herbrand “slide hammer” wiper arm remover, supposedly for Trifive Chevies. They came up with these to eliminate prying against the painted cowl cover in removing the wiper arms.
Next, a pry bar/implement of destruction. I love these simple tools that can get you out of a bind in a jiffy.
Next, picked up a Herbrand ball end body hammer. It was a bit worn for wear, so some media blasting, sanding, staining, paint, and polishing were in order. Before and after:
I had shared my finds with a metalshaping buddy up in PA, who then told me about a lot qty of Herbrand tools, body hammers and Dollie’s for sale near him. Couldn’t pass these up, price worked out to about 1/3 the cost of new stuff from Snap-On. It was only after I had received them in the mail that I realized they were all NOS, had been handled but never used. I believe they belonged to either a salesman for the company or a collector. Even still retain most of the ink stamp of the pn’s on the ends of the handles.
jbmatth
Well-known member
That is a pretty cool find, well done.
JB
JB
larry4406
Well-known member
I like how the handles are labeled “BF_”. Would be even better if labeled BFH.
Rockable
Well-known member
Nice score, Robert! You do find some cool tool deals!
stinkity stoink
Well-known member
I was thinking it was a Carlisle or Hershey score.
Ohmthis
Well-known member
Robert, nice score! Can you give an example of what the ball end hammer could be used on?
From a metalshaping perspective, the pointed versions beside it are about as useless as **** on a boar hog. They are too sharp that any “picking” done with them normally creates more damage the other direction and locks you into the absolute need for filler. The ball end is useful in removing dings (from the back side) as it’s plenty rounded for an easy view of where you’re hitting, and doesn’t risk dings going back the other way as a pick hammer does. In addition, it can be used in any concave area to stretch metal. They are kinda rare, and I was looking at that hammer more than the rest of them. But they were in such nice condition I couldn’t even bring myself to ask if he’d break up the set.
Ohmthis
Well-known member
Thank you so much. That makes perfect sense. I’ve not really seen that type before and didn’t know if they had a specific use.
Most body hammers with the pick ends will get modified to a more blunt end where it can better be used for metal bumping. I think I'm going to ruin those two NOS hammers with the points. One with a 7/8" ball, the other with a 1" ball in S2 tool steel. The factory version is 3/4". I'd use one of those sooner than that sharp point.
For the past few weeks we've been doing some fabrication for the day job. They have a couple of trailers that use a stairway and landing platform and were looking to somehow incorporate an awning over these. After several ideas were considered, they ended up using my design to replace existing hand rails with taller ones that also would hold the canvas covers. Original and proposed design:
We started with the platform, which used two separate railings. This gave us a challenge of offset holes in that corner and using either would affect the upper canvas in being out of square. So some elbows were notched to provide the 1.06 offset needed to square up the canvas area.
We used this "portable" notcher from Pro-tools that was purchased through McMaster Carr. Pretty stout for a portable unit and cuts very accurately.
Our design worked on a premise of modular construction in using and inner and outer hoop that had short stubs welded between to accept the cross pieces, for easy assembly/breakdown and less storage room required broken down for transit.
The stairway was a good challenge in that the existing rail "posts" were not perpendicular to the step treads. The fabricator of the stairs did not find these details critical, but as we were going upward considerably, the new version needed this corrected to prevent our frames from contacting at the top. So the lower ends that pushed into the pockets were sliced, bent, and re-welded to accommodate the offset angle, as you can see on the next picture.
the rise/run of the steps worked out that our partial elbows needed to be a mix of 40 and 50 degrees. So a cutting fixture was made to hold the elbows and used in conjunction with our Milwaukee portaband.
The bungee ball straps that will be used to install the canvas covers also came in handy for test fit of various parts.
We wanted to do a dry run before tacking too much together, and since my shop ceiling was too short to accommodate the height inside, we came up with this sketchy arrangement. No Brannon's were injured in this experiment.
Even with our use of the cutting fixture for the elbows, we had some issues with weld shrinking and angles changing. Enter "everything's a tool" and this 2-5/16 hitch ball that was machined for proper pipe clearance and welded on the side of the welding table.
Now, with the right application of leverage, we can tweak the parts to better match each other.
All welded up, on the way to Norris Upholstery for the canvas fabrication.
We started with the platform, which used two separate railings. This gave us a challenge of offset holes in that corner and using either would affect the upper canvas in being out of square. So some elbows were notched to provide the 1.06 offset needed to square up the canvas area.
We used this "portable" notcher from Pro-tools that was purchased through McMaster Carr. Pretty stout for a portable unit and cuts very accurately.
Our design worked on a premise of modular construction in using and inner and outer hoop that had short stubs welded between to accept the cross pieces, for easy assembly/breakdown and less storage room required broken down for transit.
The stairway was a good challenge in that the existing rail "posts" were not perpendicular to the step treads. The fabricator of the stairs did not find these details critical, but as we were going upward considerably, the new version needed this corrected to prevent our frames from contacting at the top. So the lower ends that pushed into the pockets were sliced, bent, and re-welded to accommodate the offset angle, as you can see on the next picture.
the rise/run of the steps worked out that our partial elbows needed to be a mix of 40 and 50 degrees. So a cutting fixture was made to hold the elbows and used in conjunction with our Milwaukee portaband.
The bungee ball straps that will be used to install the canvas covers also came in handy for test fit of various parts.
We wanted to do a dry run before tacking too much together, and since my shop ceiling was too short to accommodate the height inside, we came up with this sketchy arrangement. No Brannon's were injured in this experiment.
Even with our use of the cutting fixture for the elbows, we had some issues with weld shrinking and angles changing. Enter "everything's a tool" and this 2-5/16 hitch ball that was machined for proper pipe clearance and welded on the side of the welding table.
Now, with the right application of leverage, we can tweak the parts to better match each other.
All welded up, on the way to Norris Upholstery for the canvas fabrication.
More progress on the wagon, working on the parts so we can assemble and install the vent windows. For our glass installation, we did things twice as the 1/16 rubber did not give a snug enough fit. So here is our second round using 3/32 thick rubber. One inch wide strips were cut out of the sheet and lubricated with an Ivory/water mix.
The rubber was wrapped around the glass and it was pressed down inside the frame by hand. Then a "slight" squeeze of the frame to ensure it wasn't sprung open from the installation process.
These got moved to the attic for a good heat baking (drying the soapy solution) and we'll trim the rubber flush with the chrome vent frame in a couple of days.
Next, onto prepping the stainless trim for the vent windows for buffing, refining the scratches. Detail work like this is more difficult with parts flopping around in your hand, so some MDF was found the correct size (width) to hold the wide portion of the trim, and another piece of MDF was shaved to fit the narrow piece of trim. We should have these done this weekend.
Next, we picked up our battery, but the lifting handle bosses on the ends of the battery interfered with our OEM hold down.
Not to be dissuaded, the belt file made short work of a shave.
Luckily the mount hides our sanding marks. Much better down where it belongs...
Like it's made to go there...
The rubber was wrapped around the glass and it was pressed down inside the frame by hand. Then a "slight" squeeze of the frame to ensure it wasn't sprung open from the installation process.
These got moved to the attic for a good heat baking (drying the soapy solution) and we'll trim the rubber flush with the chrome vent frame in a couple of days.
Next, onto prepping the stainless trim for the vent windows for buffing, refining the scratches. Detail work like this is more difficult with parts flopping around in your hand, so some MDF was found the correct size (width) to hold the wide portion of the trim, and another piece of MDF was shaved to fit the narrow piece of trim. We should have these done this weekend.
Next, we picked up our battery, but the lifting handle bosses on the ends of the battery interfered with our OEM hold down.
Not to be dissuaded, the belt file made short work of a shave.
Luckily the mount hides our sanding marks. Much better down where it belongs...
Like it's made to go there...
TimeWarpF100
Well-known member
Can’t wait to see this car finished!
Uncle Mel who just turned 81 a few days ago ordered a Roadster Shop chassis for his ‘56 BelAir back in March-April. Was told 7 months.
Latest update says it will be here by December 15th.
Prepping for swap now. Going to be huge job.
Uncle Mel who just turned 81 a few days ago ordered a Roadster Shop chassis for his ‘56 BelAir back in March-April. Was told 7 months.
Latest update says it will be here by December 15th.
Prepping for swap now. Going to be huge job.
Robert, maybe this is a sacrilegious question, but will the owner of this car drive it on the street, or will it be an artwork that’ll only get out when it’s trucked from show to show? The level of preparation and execution is so high that it looks like it could compete at the Riddler and similar events.
Just wonderin’
John
Just wonderin’
John
Ohmthis
Well-known member
The level of detail is out of this world. Most people wouldn’t even be able to see the amazing amounts of work that is here. Robert and his crew have really gone over and above on this build.
alwaysFlOoReD
Well-known member
The 2 wooden handle files in the first pic. Those for lead or bondo?
They are vixen files, normally for lead but some people use them for bondo, which tends to load up/clog the teeth. I used one of them for reshaping a hickory hammer handle to make it a bit thinner through the neck. Helps to isolate some of the “shock factor” that transfers back to your hand.
WoodsTruck
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
- Messages
- 1,019
I don't think that "local" guy knew what he was doing. None of the Vice-Grips have been modified for specific tasks like V-crimps and such.
Monza Harry
Well-known member
Robert I aquired a hammer from my dad when he passed, nothing extraordinary there, but I never remembered it and it is a different shape than I know of. So I don't have any history with it. Do you recognize this and what specific purpose does this serve? Can you help with your vast metal bashing knowledge/skills? TIA Harry
