Still need to test '59 engine, minor bodywork

It seems I'm back to once-monthly updates on the progress of the project. I'm sorry to say that there haven't been any major changes in the last month. Much of my free time has been devoted to my family and to our house construction project, which is proceeding rapidly. We hope to be back in our own house in early May.

The '59 engine still needs to be test-run. It is all together and it looks very nice. However, the plastic bell-housing casting that I bought to hold a starter to start the engine on the stand was a poor fit, and the starter doesn't like to engage the flywheel smoothly when bolted to it. I need a real bellhousing/test stand. Chuck has one in the upper shop, and has offered to let me use it, so now it is just a matter of trucking the motor up the hill. I'll get to it one of these days in the near future.

My crankshaft came back from Ollie's after being cut to 1st under on the main and rod journals, and then heat-treated. The thing looks like brand new, I'll get a picture up here soon. Not cheap. Cost to recondition 4 rods and cut and harden the crank, plus shipping, was $650. I'll reiterate what I discovered before: Don't rebuild a 356 motor if you are on a budget. The only major thing I need to get before I can assemble the "C" motor is a new set of pistons and cylinders, and I'm still making up my mind which set to go with.

The car hasn't seen any bodywork in a month. Don Mills has been busy with the Ford he is trying to finish, and the progress has been slower than he expected. One of these weeks, I'm sure. I'm getting tired of waiting though, and I want to go out to the shop and just start doing it myself. I can't wait much longer. If I need a little bit of extra filler because my welding isn't the most beautiful in the world, I'm more and more prepared to live with it!

Yesterday I drove out to Frank Gibson's shop and collected my rear bumper, which has been there for over a year. I kind of forgot about it. The bumper was damaged in the past and repaired somewhat badly; there was a pretty thick layer of filler on the top middle portion, and it still didn't look quite right. Probably part of the accident that damaged the rear of the car. In any case, I stripped off the old filler and Dee gave me some tips on metalworking with a pick hammer, and then a low crown hammer and dolly. It isn't beautiful, but it is better than it was, and will require less filler this time around. Additionally, one (and maybe another) of the captive nuts in the bumper that attach to the bumper brackets had become a "spinner." I.e. the captive nut was not being held captive, and spinning when the bolt that screwed into it was turned. The only way I was able to get it off originally was with an impact wrench, just relying on momentum. I cut open the bracket with the plasma cutter and removed the portion that holds the captive nut. Then I sand blasted this piece and repaired it. I'll weld it back in as soon as I get some more gas for my welder.

The whole backside of the bumper really needs to be sandblasted anyway...right now it is in epoxy primer, but it didn't get stripped/blasted very well when the car was done, so I see old paint and rust. Better do it now, while it is still relatively easy.

Posted by pbrown at February 17, 2005 09:33 AM