Back to it…
With company and vacation, it has been awhile since I have been able to put in a full day's work on this project, but took Friday off and did just that. As usual, progress was slow but steady.
After talking with Quiet Ride about the things that weren't right on the first firewall pad, they very generously offered to make a new one at no charge. I asked that it be shipped 2-day express so it would arrive today at the shop - allowing me to get the dash together - but it didn't arrive. When I got home, I found it was shipped there instead.
One of the pieces missing from this car, and from my coupe so I never even knew it existed, was a pan that fits between the radiator and the front grill. Apparently these either rust out quickly or stress fracture, or are simply never reinstalled by mechanics after working on the car (like engine side pans, timing hole covers, etc.).
Good friend Andy Lee had one on his car and generously made one for me, pictured here hanging up ready for black paint.
At first I didn't think it would fit, but it measured correctly and I knew Andy never did anything less than perfectly. It turns out that you have to take off the front sway bar to make room for it. Once that was done it fits perfectly, or will after it is painted. While I was under there, I also installed the missing LH side pan corner bracket. I didn't have one, but Andy did and sent it along. Without it, the pan surely would have rattled.
Next came the cowl vent, a job the shop manual says takes two people (and they are right). First the gasket from Steele Rubber had to be cut to fit. It comes larger than the area it needs to mate to, a rare thing for Steele since usually their stuff is perfect. I cut it, then glued it together with SuperGlue, then laid it in place with rubber adhesive. Fit perfectly. Once dry, the cowl vent itself was dropped in and the bolts holding it put in place, including the bolt that connects it to the control handle. This is where the two people part comes in: two are necessary to get the proper alignment. It opens and closes as it should now; we'll see whether or not it leaks!
There is also a rubber drain hose that attaches to the vent housing and carries water outside to the engine compartment. The problem is that modern hose of the right outside diameter has too small an inner diameter to slide over the fitting. We solved the problem by drilling out the upper end of the hose – carefully! – and that did the trick. It mounts to the outside of the firewall with a clamp.
This isn't a very good picture of it, but that's it behind the horns.
The floorboards were another issue needing attention. I put the small piece that fits above the steering column and pedal in place, but the pedals rubbed against it when depressed. How to fix that? Well all old car fixes don't necessarily require finesse. Ken just grapped a pry bar and levered them into the proper position! They now fit the slots as they should.
I put the toeboard in place – temporarily – and it fit perfectly, then ditto for the center section over the tranny. The floorboards that came with the car fit quite well, but the driver's side was missing the battery access panel. It didn't have the various cutouts on the underside to accommodate the battery cables either. Ken made up the metal access panel, shown here ready for paint, and I cut the hole with a jigsaw and drilled the holes for the bolts. Ken then cut the underside sections on the table saw. Again, nice to have the coupe floorboard as a model.
The yellow is Formica covering plywood – apparently these were made from old countertops. Both boards will be painted black as original.
Also missing from this car was the spare tire mount, so a fair amount of time was spent centering it on the wooden wall that separates the rumble compartment from the interior. We also reversed the mounting bolts – on a coupe, the nuts are on the rumble side, but thought this was better since they could be easily upholstered over.
And with a tire in place:
Ben made a new hold down nut for the clamp using my coupe original as a model. The only piece I am missing is the lock mechanism that fits over the nut. Auto theft is not a new problem!
A bunch of hardware I ordered from Restoration Supplies arrived via UPS in the afternoon, so we decided to install the windshield garnish molding. As it happened, the #8 screws I ordered – and the body manual specifiies – were too large, but Ken had enough #6s to do the job. With the wiper motor switch removed, the bottom and four other pieces went in easily. Here's a photo of me installing a piece. The woodgrain work was beautifully done by Grain-It Technologies.
This car was also missing a gas filler neck clamp that holds it to the frame, so working from part of one I did have and a photo of the coupe's Ken made up a new one. (It is amazing how quickly he can do that kind of thing!).
A long but productive day!
After talking with Quiet Ride about the things that weren't right on the first firewall pad, they very generously offered to make a new one at no charge. I asked that it be shipped 2-day express so it would arrive today at the shop - allowing me to get the dash together - but it didn't arrive. When I got home, I found it was shipped there instead.
One of the pieces missing from this car, and from my coupe so I never even knew it existed, was a pan that fits between the radiator and the front grill. Apparently these either rust out quickly or stress fracture, or are simply never reinstalled by mechanics after working on the car (like engine side pans, timing hole covers, etc.).
Good friend Andy Lee had one on his car and generously made one for me, pictured here hanging up ready for black paint.
At first I didn't think it would fit, but it measured correctly and I knew Andy never did anything less than perfectly. It turns out that you have to take off the front sway bar to make room for it. Once that was done it fits perfectly, or will after it is painted. While I was under there, I also installed the missing LH side pan corner bracket. I didn't have one, but Andy did and sent it along. Without it, the pan surely would have rattled.
Next came the cowl vent, a job the shop manual says takes two people (and they are right). First the gasket from Steele Rubber had to be cut to fit. It comes larger than the area it needs to mate to, a rare thing for Steele since usually their stuff is perfect. I cut it, then glued it together with SuperGlue, then laid it in place with rubber adhesive. Fit perfectly. Once dry, the cowl vent itself was dropped in and the bolts holding it put in place, including the bolt that connects it to the control handle. This is where the two people part comes in: two are necessary to get the proper alignment. It opens and closes as it should now; we'll see whether or not it leaks!
There is also a rubber drain hose that attaches to the vent housing and carries water outside to the engine compartment. The problem is that modern hose of the right outside diameter has too small an inner diameter to slide over the fitting. We solved the problem by drilling out the upper end of the hose – carefully! – and that did the trick. It mounts to the outside of the firewall with a clamp.
This isn't a very good picture of it, but that's it behind the horns.
The floorboards were another issue needing attention. I put the small piece that fits above the steering column and pedal in place, but the pedals rubbed against it when depressed. How to fix that? Well all old car fixes don't necessarily require finesse. Ken just grapped a pry bar and levered them into the proper position! They now fit the slots as they should.
I put the toeboard in place – temporarily – and it fit perfectly, then ditto for the center section over the tranny. The floorboards that came with the car fit quite well, but the driver's side was missing the battery access panel. It didn't have the various cutouts on the underside to accommodate the battery cables either. Ken made up the metal access panel, shown here ready for paint, and I cut the hole with a jigsaw and drilled the holes for the bolts. Ken then cut the underside sections on the table saw. Again, nice to have the coupe floorboard as a model.
The yellow is Formica covering plywood – apparently these were made from old countertops. Both boards will be painted black as original.
Also missing from this car was the spare tire mount, so a fair amount of time was spent centering it on the wooden wall that separates the rumble compartment from the interior. We also reversed the mounting bolts – on a coupe, the nuts are on the rumble side, but thought this was better since they could be easily upholstered over.
And with a tire in place:
Ben made a new hold down nut for the clamp using my coupe original as a model. The only piece I am missing is the lock mechanism that fits over the nut. Auto theft is not a new problem!
A bunch of hardware I ordered from Restoration Supplies arrived via UPS in the afternoon, so we decided to install the windshield garnish molding. As it happened, the #8 screws I ordered – and the body manual specifiies – were too large, but Ken had enough #6s to do the job. With the wiper motor switch removed, the bottom and four other pieces went in easily. Here's a photo of me installing a piece. The woodgrain work was beautifully done by Grain-It Technologies.
This car was also missing a gas filler neck clamp that holds it to the frame, so working from part of one I did have and a photo of the coupe's Ken made up a new one. (It is amazing how quickly he can do that kind of thing!).
A long but productive day!
posted by Bob Shafto at 7:10 PM
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