MP&C Shop Projects

[MP&C]

Thanks for the comments guys!!

After welding will it be polished and send out for rechroming? I've a similar action to take care of in the far far distant future.

Yes, the weld seam will be filed down, metal bumping to smooth things out, hidden fasteners added, and then sent off for plating..

 

[Stuart in MN]

I'm glad to hear the bumper will be rechromed. I really don't like painted bumpers.

The trim tag cleaned up pretty well, but if you want to go the extra mile A.G. Backeast makes excellent reproductions: http://www.datatags.com

 

[MP&C]

Thanks for that link, I figured someone had to make reproductions..

 

[Stuart in MN]

I got a tag from him for the '61 Bonneville in my avatar since the original was all beat up and dented, his reproduction was a perfect match. The one you had fixed up looks great, I just figured it would be knowledge worth filing away for future reference on the next project.

 

[MP&C]

Ours had this slight crease at the top right, and since the owner helped with dis-assembly, I thought perhaps it was from trying to pry it off.

Installed it last night and it now appears something that was done at the factory, as it doesn't exactly fit well... So we used a more matching radius over folding the hard crease..

 

[jimkinney]

Robert, it looks great, but not much of a VIN

 

[larry4406]

Robert - On E-body Mopars (yes I know yours is a Chevy) the data tag was fixed to the body using the rear screw, then bent up creating the bend line (hinge) so they could paint the inner fender under the tag. Later the data tag was bent down and the 2nd screw attached. Thus one screw painted and one not with a crease in the tag.

No clue what Chevy did.

Nice job as always!

 

[MP&C]

Robert, it looks great, but not much of a VIN

Jim, VIN plate is on the A-pillar and ONLY has the VIN on it. This is data plate with paint code and other such pertinent info on it..

 

[stinkity stoink]

I’m still staring at that green paint!!

 

[Bears Fan]

I have been following along since the beginning, what an amazing transformation and what a display of great craftsmanship!!!

I bet it feels great to hit a milestone on it and have the frame and body mated back together

 

[Bob Heine]

Whoever said beauty is only skin deep has never seen a Bondo-free work of art like that!

 

[shortykorte]

Thanks Bears for adding the before and after. Spot on Bob.


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[MP&C]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Whoever said beauty is only skin deep has never seen a Bondo-free work of art like that!

Bob, she's no bondo queen but there is a slight bit of filler in it..

 

[MP&C]

Starting some of our electrical work, since the fuel pump and float assembly both connected using ring terminals, we wanted to use some weather pack connectors so there would be a quick disconnect. We had purchased one of the weather pack "kits" from Jegs in order to have a selection to work from as we put the car back together..

On our standard terminal lugs, we pulled insulating sleeve off the back side so we could use a "W" crimp, and then covered with heat shrink.

Some anti seize was applied to the connection to help keep corrosion controlled, and some braid loom and heat shrink was used to add some protection.

Weather pack connection, wires stripped just enough for the W crimp, strain relief crimp remains on top of the wire's jacket insulation.

Next, to finalize our parking brake situation, we needed to drill a hole in the floor, which then had epoxy primer applied to the perimeter. Once cured, we installed a rubber grommet and fed through the floor. If you recall, the Lokar cable did not fit the opening in our donor brake pedal assembly, so a thick washer with the correct smaller hole was found, and the bracket hole was opened up to the outer diameter of the washer...

Then the washer was TIG welded in place..

Next challenge, the brake assembly had an internal pedal return spring that would now rest on the cable and rub in the same place on the ends, so in order to minimize any wear through the cable strands, the spring was relocated to the side of the frame at the adjusters where a shoulder was machined into the adjustment fittings to support the spring ends and not rub into the cable.

To further protect the cable from spring rub, as there surely would be deflection of the spring as the brake was applied, we test fit some heat shrink to act as a protective sleeve. The internal liner of the Lokar cable was roomy enough for the heat shrink to pass up inside, so concept test complete, we ordered some high heat Teflon shrink tubing from McMaster. This was installed over the cable, with plenty of extra slid up in the liner, and assembled all the parts..

That should hold us.....

 

[jimkinney]

Now that's attention to detail. Keep up the good work Robert.

 

[BMW Rider]

On our standard terminal lugs, we pulled insulating sleeve off the back side so we could use a "W" crimp, and then covered with heat shrink.

Good to see I'm not the only one who does that. I have managed to find some non-insulated terminals and whenever I do, I stock up. saves a step in pulling off the plastic insulator sleeve. I've used the Weatherpack connectors a lot too. I cannot tolerate messy wiring and really dislike those pre-wired accessories that always have poor fitting wire lengths. I always end up cutting them down and redoing much of the connectors to tidy them up.

 

[MP&C]

Oh yeah! Made a trip to Annapolis Wednesday, Brandon and Richard were done buffing parts... Hell of a way to transport fenders and doors....

 

[BassProCamaro97]

Robert, that color looks gorgeous in the sun. Nice work

~Jim~

 

[white6589]

Oh yeah! Made a trip to Annapolis Wednesday, Brandon and Richard were done buffing parts... Hell of a way to transport fenders and doors....

The ride back had to be nerve racking to say the least!

 

[Bowtie4life]

Love the attention to detail Robert!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[archerace]

Re: MP&C Shop Projects

Where did you find a tool that makes a "W" crimp? I had no idea they made one. I've always soldered my terminals and used heat shrink. A nice "W" crimp would save me time!

I thought I was the only one that tore the plastic sleeve off the crimp on terminalss and used heat shrink. Nice to see im not alone in finding tacky, crimped terminals unacceptable.

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[MP&C]

Where did you find a tool that makes a "W" crimp? I had no idea they made one. I've always soldered my terminals and used heat shrink. A nice "W" crimp would save me time!

I thought I was the only one that tore the plastic sleeve off the crimp on terminalss and used heat shrink. Nice to see im not alone in finding tacky, crimped terminals unacceptable.

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I thought the W crimp would make the connections more "automotive authentic" than the plastic sleeved lugs. For the crimper, we bought them from Jegs. As we were also getting crimpers for the weather packs, and some of those are rather pricey on Jegs, we found a cheaper set of crimpers and just bought the replacement dies that we wanted. Here's the ones we bought:

 

[MP&C]

Back when we were shaving all the holes in the firewall, the dimmer switch in the floor actually went THROUGH the floor where the connections were made on the outside, and only the push actuator stuck through the floor. Not wanting anymore electrical connections outside the floor than needed, we welded up the center hole, and kept the floor nuts to bolt the new one inside.. Any never gave it any more thought. Until this weekend. Our dimmer switch, a DS115 has a bolt pattern of about 1.75" between hole centers. The factory nuts are about 2.625" between hole centers. Oh well, back up and punt has become second nature with this project..

So we started by fabricating an "adapter bracket" using 16 gauge stainless and a 1/4-20 press stud.

Next, the left bolt needed to be 1/4-20 to fit in the hole of our dimmer switch and with the floor hole at 5/16-18, we need another adapter. So two set screws of appropriate size were welded together, and this allows using an allen wrench to install and hold while tightening the nuts to hold down the dimmer switch.

The right screw remains 5/16-18 through, but we are going to find something with a smaller (shorter) profile for under the carpet.

…..with plenty of room for the wiring inside

Mike and Jarod got the fuel tank along with fill and vent tubes installed...

…..and then finished our "flexible" lines from the hard lines on the frame up to the EFI.

We still have clamps to install.. Up at the EFI, 30* fittings were used to give us a downward trajectory but yet high enough to keep off the heat of the intake (that the 45* would have done).

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Robert, nice fix on the dimmer switch and the assembly work looks spot on.
Thank you for sharing.

 

[Bowtie4life]

Looks good Robert...........love the attention to detail!!!!

 

[WoodsTruck]

With that "adapter" you could bias the dimmer switch to the left or to the right I suppose.

I have big feet so I'm always looking for options when things are in the way.

 

[MP&C]

Thanks for the comments guys!!

With that "adapter" you could bias the dimmer switch to the left or to the right I suppose.

I have big feet so I'm always looking for options when things are in the way.

My thoughts exactly when I shifted it to the left..



A while back I picked up some used body tools, including this bumper puller/straightener (red handle). The rubber pad was about falling off, with exposed rivets, but since I was just hanging it up as wall art, didn't think much past that..

Fast forward to last weekend, and a square body 4WD stopped by, which has the typical bumper ears not parallel to the ground. So I pulled the tool out to show the owner that there was indeed a way to repair that. And then decided we need to go ahead and repair the tool so it could be put back in service for when the next time the truck stopped by...


First order of business was to remove the old fender bolt and nut and replace with a machine bolt and lock nut.

Next, for our "replacement" pad, we had a small piece of horse mat we could cut it out of, and one of our counterbore bits was used to get the screw heads below the surface..

The pad was held in place using 10-32 pan head screws and lock nuts.

This tool works by placing the pad against the bumper face, hooking the top or bottom back edge (depending on direction of pull needed) and prying to twist back into shape.. So now our wall art is all ready for next time...

 

[harley jim]

I love using old tools, people had a different thought process back then and had some good ideas. I like the bumper tool.

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[bradpac]

Awesome tool. And it's amazing the different uses you can find for horse mat.

 

[MP&C]

Thanks for the comments guys!!



Some weekend progress... Fine tuning the rear bumper fitment.

Driver's side fits well to the profile of the rear of the quarter...

Passenger side not so much, so the bumper is marked with some fineline tape for where we will sand down the edge to better match..

Leading edge of drivers side needs some trimming...

….as does the center section behind the tail pan..

Next, in order to test fit the front bumper and provide the same "trim fitting" we will need to install the doors and front fenders. So our hinges got some new braid loom and a pull wire installed for the hidden wiring..

The tapped holes in the door's nut plates were chased to insure the fresh paint did not interfere with the bolts..

All buttoned up for the day, and under Kramer's watchful eye..

 

[RivennHewn]

Fun, and inspirational, to watch the progress!

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Welcome home doors we missed you.
The car is looking so good Robert, I cant wait to see the bright work on it.
I'm curious, do you drill and pin the doors at the hinges to assure they go back into the same location when being worked?
Greg

 

[Bowtie4life]

Well...........all I can say is that the old boy is coming together nicely. The door gaps look good and the sides are straight as an arrow!!!!

 

[stinkity stoink]

That car is going to be unbelievable! What is the owners plan ? Do they plan to put some miles on it or just show it ?
Great work, as usual!

 

[MP&C]

Thanks for the comments and questions guys! Appreciate you following along with our progress!

….
I'm curious, do you drill and pin the doors at the hinges to assure they go back into the same location when being worked?
Greg

We did use that on the Fairlane build.... Hinges were left attached to car and drilled "cleco" holes on hinge to doors...

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86935

…..but I didn't feel it saved much if any time, and with reassembly they did get further adjusted where holes no longer aligned perfectly. So on this build we didn't drill any holes.. It was only about 5 minutes to adjust each door.

What is the owners plan ? Do they plan to put some miles on it or just show it ?

Yes and yes, she has indicated it will be at a few shows..

 

[txvwnut]

Man the shine goes on for days. Love that green.

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

I started reading your post when you were about half way with the Fairlane, such a great car and the work you did made me want to learn even more. I drilled and pinned the doors on my 56 truck and it helped me understand how to adjust the door, I'm about 70% self taught and work by myself. I also wanted to ask you about Kyle, I know he left to go out into the world, I hope all is well with him. I also got a chuckle out of the younger version of your shop helper sanding. I have two Daughters that showed very little interest when they were young. Both are now graduated machine apprentice's.

 

[MP&C]

Man the shine goes on for days. Love that green.

Brandon (painter) told me that he had quite a few "guests" at his shop that were self-admittedly green paint haters, that after seeing this car absolutely loved the paint.. Can't wait for more pics in the sunlight..

I started reading your post when you were about half way with the Fairlane, such a great car and the work you did made me want to learn even more. I drilled and pinned the doors on my 56 truck and it helped me understand how to adjust the door, I'm about 70% self taught and work by myself. I also wanted to ask you about Kyle, I know he left to go out into the world, I hope all is well with him. I also got a chuckle out of the younger version of your shop helper sanding. I have two Daughters that showed very little interest when they were young. Both are now graduated machine apprentice's.

Kyle now works at a local heating & AC place, is a lead on an install team.


On my shop helper, I don't just do things for her. Perhaps not on her own accord, but she gets intimately involved in the task at hand. I don't mind helping, I don't mind teaching, but WE typically do something together that she has a better understanding. A recent oil change:






She's been involved in most repairs around the house as well, and you always wonder if she is paying any attention. Well one day in her senior year of high school, she and a few friends were in the ladies room freshening up makeup, brushing hair, etc. When one of the toilets never stopped running after use, she looked up and said, that sounds like the float chain is hung up. As her friends looked on rather bewildered, she popped off the tank lid, found the issue, re-bent the float arm to remove the obstruction, and closed things back up, all fixed.. Turns around and everyone in the room is staring at her, like how did you do that? Proud moment. As I told her months before when we changed out flapper valves at the house, I don't expect you to be a plumber unless you want to. My point in showing you all of this is not necessarily to do them yourself, unless you want to. But I want you to have a good understanding of how things work so later in life you can better recognize when someone attempts pulling the wool over your eyes and overcharging for something they didn't do.

 

[jbmatth]

... I want you to have a good understanding of how things work so later in life you can better recognize when someone attempts pulling the wool over your eyes and overcharging for something they didn't do.

 

[harley jim]

Best Dad move you could teach her [emoji106][emoji106] two thumbs up sir.

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