Engine Redo

A couple weeks ago I left the office and started the car only to have it die on me.  I cranked and cranked and cranked but could not get it started again.  I hopped out of the car, opened the deck lid and removed the air cleaner only to find the carburetor was dripping gas into the engine.  This less than a week after rebuilding the stupid thing.  So I towed the car home and let it sit for a few days while I tried to decide what to do with it.  This was supposed to be a temporary motor so I was not interested in spending $200 on a new carburetor.

 

After a little shopping, I found a good set of used Kadrons for a reasonable price.  To put them on I had to pull the motor.  So I took the chance to paint all the tin right so it would match the car.  I started by stripping it all to bare metal.  Thanks Brian for the use of the basting cabinet.  Next I had to do a ton of metal work on the rear tin, cylinder tins and shroud.  The fresh air and heat riser holes needed to be filled in on the rear tin.  Then the edge that meats the seal had to be trimmed so it fits in the old 36HP engine bay. 

After painting all the tin and assembling the motor I'm reasonably happy with it.  I would like to adapt a hex bar linkage rather than the original Kadron crap I have now.  I would also like to replace the fuel pump with an electric so there is no evidence of fuel lines in the engine compartment.  Finally I would like to get a serpentine belt system with some nice looking pulleys.

Door Windows

My new vent windows showed up on Friday so I spent the little bit of free time I had this weekend installing them.  The passenger side door window is really scratched, so I'll need to take it back out and get a new one sometime.  Once I get that done, I'll take it to Sunscreen and get the door windows tinted to match the back ones.  I also got the aluminum rails installed in the top and the air horn wired up.

Back on the Road!

After 1484 days, the car is licensed, insured and road worthy! Since I don't have a top or door windows, it has to be a really nice day with no chance of rain to drive it. Not that a little water will hurt my lack of an interior but I don't want the seats to get soaked. It was nice enough today to drive it to the inspection station out on the west plains. Boy did that feel good.

Because I only had a bill of sale for the body, I was supposed to be forced into 3 year registration only before I could apply for a title. But it looks like the way the lady at the DOL did the paper work, I should get a title in 4-6 weeks anyway. On top of that, I was able to register the car with the 56 plate so I don't have to pay license fees ever again.

A Few New Pictures

I've gotten a ton of work done in the past month or 2 that I have not really talked much about. So for this post I thought I would just put in a few pictures to show all the work.

Here you can see the running boards. They went on last night. I bought these 20 years ago for my blue 56 so they needed a bit of polishing but they turned out quite well.

Here you can see the 1956 license plate. This plate and tab are both from Benton county which is where I believe the car was originally sold. Some day I may do a title search, but it did have an Overturf Volkswagen sticker in the door jam when I bought it. They don't keep records back that far though, so they were not able to confirm they sold the car.

Here you can see the seats from the 1995 Acura Integra. You can just make out the seat belt on the driver side as well. The covers on these are in great condition for their age. The car these were taken from was in a wreck and the driver side needed some work on the seat back because of it. I have the back seat from the same car and I'll work on fitting it this summer so the whole family can go for a ride.

The dash and steering wheel are nearly complete. The glove box door needs some adjustment so the paint doesn't get chipped when it's closed. I have the latch but I want to color sand the door front before installing it as well. I also picked up a new pedal cluster that I will clean and install with a new aluminum roller pedal. I have not figured out what brake and clutch pedal pads will go on it though.

Finally you can see the reproduction swan neck mirrors. I plan on making a stainless piece to fill the hole where the trim is supposed to slide under the mirror mount. I have not figured out exactly what I want that piece to look like yet, but Hook had the idea of putting an LED in it as a turn signal side marker. Not a bad idea and I just may have to do it.

Seats and Restraints

Tonight I was able to weld in a set of seat belt mounts at both the top and bottom of the B pillars. Since I used the seat belts out of the 95 Integra, the center point is already mounted to the seat so I only needed to do the 2 outer mounts for each belt. I also bolted the seats in and installed the rear windows. The windshield and wipers were done on Sunday night.

More Assembly

I was able to get quite a bit more assembly done between yesterday and today. The gas tank is clean, installed and filled with gas, the heater channel bolts are all undercoated and installed and the wiring/cabling is all hooked up.

My favorite part of the past 2 days is the restoration of the original Formuling wheel! This thing used to be hot pink with a black center. I started by dyeing the vinyl cover and painting the aluminum. Then I replaced the screws with stainless allen head screws.

With all that done, I was finally able to drive the car for the first time tonight. Since it is not licensed or insured I only drove it around my cul-de-sac but it still felt really good to get it out of the garage.

And the 2 Became 1

After 1457 days the body is finally back on the pan for good! It has taken a ton of work over the past couple weeks but it's starting to look like a car again. I had to cut the flange off the header and weld it back on correctly so the muffler fit right, install the engine seals, lower the rear end, align the front the best I could and wrap up the wiring. At this point the front and rear has been bolted down but the heater channel bolts are not in place yet.

Assembly

Since my last post I have gotten quite a bit more done. Paint on all the little parts and pieces is finished. I have the tail lights and ashtray installed. I ordered the inside lens for the license plate light tonight. Once I get the plate holder I can install the plate and light. Notice in this picture the tail lights are on. I have a battery charger hooked up for testing the lights and wipers.

I have also installed the wiper assembly and wired it to the switch in the dash. I've cleaned and undercoated the back sides of the fenders. I still have some undercoating to clean off the lip of the fenders as well as the horn grills, but that is easy. I have also installed 1 of the 2 engine compartment seals and the tar board on the firewall.

Assembly

I have again spent several days working on the car without posting anything. I have the front fenders bolted on with the fender beading. The cover plates are undercoated and screwed in and the hood latch and badges have been bead blasted and installed. However I don't have a hood release that is long enough so I will need to get a new one of those before I put the latch pin in the hood.

I have also all but finished the wiring under the hood. At this point the brake lights and turn signals do not work for some reason. I'm hoping it has to do with the fact that there are no bulbs or that the converter is not grounded, but I need to spend some time figuring that out. I also realized I wired the front turn signals into the output side of the converter rather than the input side. That means if you step on the brakes, the front blinkers come on as well as the back... Oops.

Assembly

I've been so busy working on the car I have not had time to post anything. Now it's time to catch up, so here goes.

I have gotten all the sound deadening in the doors and rear quarter panels. I have also gotten the door latches and striker plates installed and adjusted. With the sound deadening in the doors they have a very nice solid feel to them already. I'll put a little fiberglass insulation in the rear quarters to help eliminate some of the engine noise, but that will likely be when I get to working on the interior. For now it will stay like this.

I have also mounted the rear fenders with the fender beading. The driver side fender has been undercoated but not the wheel well. I had a can of undercoating I had to use before the nozzle got so clogged it wouldn't spray any longer.Once the rest of the undercoating is done and the rear end is lowered, I can bolt the body back on the pan. I also have the deck lid seal installed and the T-handle installed and adjusted.

The wiring is by far the biggest job I have been working on. So far I have the main harness run front to back and hooked up in the front. The headlight harness is also run and half hooked up at the switch side. The wires are poking out of the wheel wells but I don't have the fenders on yet, so that is as far as I can take it. I've also run the dome light wires but I can't do much more until I get the turn signal switch painted and installed.

Finally, I have built a speaker block off plate and installed the speaker grill and radio block off plate. I still need to get the screw to hold the ashtray and glove box in place. I also need to paint the ashtray, glove box door, taillights and license plate light. I will need to get the speedometer rebuilt but I may do that after I get the car on the road. The one I have looks OK except the needle is broken.

Paint's Done!

After many nights of working on sanding and polishing after the girls go to bed, I can finally say the paint on the car is finished. Its taken me 1416 days to get this car painted and ready for assembly. I still have some paint work to do on the gas tank, tail light housings, license plate light housing, ash tray and glove box door but none of that stuff should take very long.

After finishing the paint work today, I decided to put the head lights, Volkswagen script and horn grills on the front of the car. I also fixed the back of the driver seat and installed that. If you look close you can see both front seats in the car. They have cleaned up really nicely. They're not perfect, but they will do the job.

The Dash

I got some unexpected time in the shop tonight so I polished the dash and put the switches in. I have just set the speaker grill, radio block off plate and glove box in for now. I have a few things left to do before I actually mount those.

Dash Knobs

Huge thanks to Bryan Chase! Because the wiper switch in an oval is not the same threads as the choke or headlight switch, it's tough to use anything but the stock dash knobs. Chase cut these out of aluminum for me, I tapped the correct threads and polished them up. As soon as the paint on the dash is polished these are the first thing that goes in the car.

More Paint Work

I really need to get the paint work done before I can start assembling the car, so tonight I decided to start polishing the areas I have already sanded. I think this is the first time I have ever cut and buffed a car wearing a hat and gloves; the shop is only about 35-40 degrees. So far I have gotten the top, hood and most of the passenger side sanded and buffed out with the cutting cream. I'll go back with the polishing cream after the whole car has had a once over.

Seats

These are nearly the same seats I had in my '66 I built when I was in high school. They were gray/blue where these are tan/brown. I have the passenger seat mounted and hope to get the driver side done this coming week. The mounts are all cut from 1/4" plate with an M8 x 1.25 nut welded to the back side. The plates for the inner rail are welded directly to the tunnel while the outer rail mounts are welded to the heater channel.

The back seat will take a little work so I may no tackle it for a little while still. The seat comes in 4 pieces and I need to figure out the best way to make them all come together.

OOPS!

In doing a little research I stumbled on the fact that my car is actually not a '57. It was built in June 1956. I have changed the title and the banner, but I'll be leaving the URL alone.

That means I have owned 2 ovals in my life. Both were 56 on a 69 pan. But that is where the similarities stop. The last one was not painted well, the dash had been cut up, it had crappy wheels and stock size tires and it had been hit several times, the final time it was hit so hard it was rolled up on it's side. Nothing fit right, it had it's share of rust and I was 18 with no money when I built it, so it was not done well at all.

Collecting Parts

Since it's too cold to do much work on the car, I'm starting to collect parts for it. I picked up a set of switches today for $50. The headlight and wiper switches are correct and the ignition is close enough for me. It's for a 58-60ish so it has the screw terminals, but there are only 3 and it took some work to get the bracket to fit the dash correctly. I'm working now on getting keys for the ignition switch.