Toolmaking and tubing

I'm on vacation for the next week, and my primary focus on the car will be to get it to a point that it will fire up. Small matters such as a cooling system, fuel system, and electrical systems need to be finished up. In prep for this, I made a trip to Burns Stainless in Costa Mesa to drool over some headers and pick up some Aluminum maderal bends for the cooling system and for the intake track from the filter to the MAF to the throttle body. I also picked up some 3 1/2 silicon hose to connect part of the track together.

I also made a stop at Mesa Hose to get the AN fittings brazed on my fuel lines for the crossover between the fuel rails and for the supply line. I also had a piece of 1/2 stainless tubing bent to join the two sections. I installed tube nuts and flared that tube myself.

Here's the two radiator lines. The long one is 1 3/8 tube, the 45 is 1 1/2 tube. I cut them to length, then made a bead with my new custom beading tool.

Here's the final section of the intake. Before was a section of steel 3 1/2 tube and a section of hose. I'm replacing that with 3 1/2" aluminum tube and a silicon hose section to join the to the rest of the system.

Here's the rest of the system. The black section and section with the concave portion were from the old system. I trimmed the black piece to get room for the MAF.

Here's the section that will go to the throttle body. It starts with a 4" manderal bend, then goes to the MAF, then to a straight section of 4" tube, then to a 4 to 3 1/2 silicon reducer. The straight section off the MAF had to be expanded to take the transition to the MAF.

Here's my beading tool. I used a couple pieces of angle iron for the swing arm and the base plate. I bolted a couple round sections with grooves for the base. The action part of the tool is a couple washers on a half inch bolt, with a sleeve to space it to the grooves, bolted to the other piece of angle iron.

Arbor ready to come down on the tool.

Here it is with a sample of tube on it. We only mashed one practice piece.

Here's a shot in the arbor press.

A close up of the press arm coming down on the beading tool.

slow going

Spent pretty much a full day in the garage today. Installed outer door handles in both doors. Installed the mirror bracket on the driver's door, and the antenna on the rear fender. Started putting the nuts on the top fender trim and decided it needs to come off to open up a hole slightly so it's not so forced.

Most of the time today was in the dash area. Pulled the column and reinstalled with all the gaskets in place. Put the column/dash support in place. Put the dash in place, but still need to bolt down. Glued the dash pad and put the defroster vents in place. Put more wiring from the engine harness through the firewall. So much more to do.

Reassembly Day One

The car came home yesterday, and I started a couple things last night, but not much. I got the left hand rear bumper brackets in place, but realized the right side would have been a whole lot easier before we bolted the body last week. Had to unbolt some of the right side body bolts and lift the body to get the right side brackets in place.


Along with putting on the bumper brackets, we cleaned the taillights and I mounted them, and we cleaned the chrome around the licence plate, and I installed the back bracket, license plate and the chrome. I also put the trunk lock in place.

The interior took the bulk of the time today, mostly in putting in seven sheets of dynamat and taping all the seams with aluminum tape. I started running the engine harness into the interior - I'll put the PCM on the tranny tunnel. Soon I'll want to get the instrument cluster in place so I can start the remaining wiring and get key gauges hooked up so I can fire the engine.

Home at last

Took a late lunch today and had a tow truck meet me at the shop to get the car home. Tow truck driver rolled her right off the truck and on to the lift. All good.

Ready to come home

Got word today the car is essentially ready to come home. Ron will do one final pass with a glazing compound, and she'll be as good as done. There's also a few small parts that still need paint he'll work on in the next two days.

Ron and Jason hanging the deck lid.

All new weatherstriping on the deck lid - I won't recognize the car without the rattle of fiberglass on fiberglass.

Trunk lid now hung. It also has fresh weatherstripping.

A shot of the back of the car with the trunk lid and deck lid on the car.

And from the front with the hood in place.

Back together again

This morning I trailered the chassis over to CW Restoration Shop to have the guys drop the body back on the chassis. Chris had removed all the bolts on the dolly the body has been on for the past 18 months. Ron measured the door openings before the body was lifted, so that we could ensure the same gap is left when the placed on the frame, and shim appropriately. Our initial stack worked out perfectly, so no additional shimming required. And yes, being early fiberglass, and with some work over the years, there was 7/16" difference between the two door openings.

Using the two post lift, the body was back on the car and the bolts were tight an hour after I pulled up. That included pulling a 1962 Corvette out of the shop, pushing out a cab from a 1957 Chevrolet Cameo pickup, pushing out the chassis of the Cameo, and unloading the trailer.

Next week Ron will get the weatherstripping on the car, and mount the deck lid, trunk lid and hood. He also will do a little more polishing work, since it doesn't quite meet his standard for shine yet.

Here's the chassis in position, prior to lifting the body.

Body in the air, carefully balanced on a pair of 2 x 4's with the chassis basically in position.

Later in the day, after Ron hung the doors. You can barely notice the rear flare, the biggest tell-tail is the slight kick to the rocker right before the tire.

The 1962 behind Mutt is in Eagleton Red, a custom color Ron had mixed just for it. The Eagleton Red has a bit of a pink tinge to it, where Mutt's Victory Red has more of a blue hue.

Full shot from the driver's side.

And a shot from the rear.

Off to CW Restoration Shop

Loaded on the trailer now, off to the shop for the body drop.