Winter work and acquisition

  October- December 2010.  I spent the early part of October preparing the shop to be somewhat hospitable for work during the cold months. The garage door has had a history of sticking tight when it gets cold, and I did NOT want to be locked away from the project until Spring. So, after fixing the door, I had one thing left to deal with- heat.

  Enter yet another member of the extended crew. Are any of you yet noticing that this shoestring build is being done with a pretty kickass support network? Maybe I should name the car "Ringo," because I'm getting by with a lot of help from my friends! Could I do this without them? Probably. Would it be a hell of a lot harder, take a hell of a lot longer, and be a hell of a lot less enjoyable? DEFINITELY.

  Actually, he was a member of the extended crew long before I ever bought the car. The knowledge he's passed to me, and the things we've learned together were pretty instrumental in my wanting a project car such as this.

  Carl and I worked together for several years. When I started, he and I were on different shifts, but I had some opportunities to work with him. It didn't take me long to realize that he had a boatload of knowledge (that I wanted), a desire to learn more, and a wilingness to share the knowledge. When a job opening on his shift became available, I asked the boss if I could take that position, and then leave mine to be filled. The boss agreed, and things took off from there. He became a great co-worker almost instantly, a good friend soon after that, and then quickly progressed to the point of being family, as far as I'm concerned. Even though I changed jobs about 4 years ago, and he retired a couple of years after that, our twice weekly project sessions have continued, and shall continue indefinitely.

  Carl is extremely generous to me, always has been. When he heard that I was prepping the shop for winter, he instantly stepped up with a nice 100% combustion propane heater. It's not going to turn the garage to Summer, but it does a great job of making it very livable and workable. It's worth noting that this is just another in a LONG string of ways he's made my shop better. On the rare occasion that I am able to argue him into letting him pay for something, he always sells it to me ridiculously cheap, and grumbles at me, saying I "do so much for him, that I should just let him give it to me" which is balderdash. The more I try to get caught up with him, the further behind I fall.

  So, I'm ready for the cold weather. Our annual family trip to the Smokies took some work time away. The cold weather slowed me a bit, too. But, I did get the front brakes completely redone and reassembled. I also replaced the rest of the brake lines, as I'd only replaced about half of them when I did the rear brakes.

  The funny moment came when I put the front wheels back on and lowered the car down to be back on all four wheels for the first time since I disassembled the front suspension.

  If you compare this with the pictures taken before I did the front suspension work, you'll notice that the car does not sit much if any) lower than it did before. There is tangible proof that shot peening the springs restored strength to them. I removed 9% of the spring, yet the ride height is vitrually unchanged. It likely means more work to get the car lowered to where I want it, but I'll wait until I get more suitable (that means ones that don't make me want to puke) wheels and tires on it. I'll have a better idea of how much more to cut then.

  I did do a good bit of acquiring parts and tools during this time. In addition to building this car in traditional style, I also plan to use traditional techniques extensively. That means gas welding as opposed to MIG for the sheetmetal work. It also means using lead for filler work instead of bondo. Used properly, bondo isn't bad. It had a bad reputation because too many people use it as "bodyman in a can." I have nothing against bondo, but I just want to use lead for the nostalgic value. Well, that and the fact that it's a new skill to learn and master :)

  When Carl learned that I'm going to make the Chevy a TRUE "lead sled," he took me down to his basement, and said "You'll need some of these," and gave me a box of vixen files, used to shape lead once it's applied. You can't sand lead, because the dust will kill you.

  Shortly after this picture was taken, I clearcoated the wood to protect it, and gave all of the files a vinegar soak to remove the rust. (This really works well.)

  In November, the 51 chick calls me to the computer, and says she's found a guy I may want to talk to. The ad listed a LOT of old Chevy parts for sale. Most of the stuff was too old to be of any use to me, but he also had some NICE old hubcaps for sale: 4 bars, late 50's Chevy dog dishes, and '56 Olds Fiesta caps, which caught my eye.

  We drove up to Elwood the next Friday, and spent an hour or so with Ron. His garages were chock FULL of neat stuff. When he first opened the door, I saw the back of a '51 Chevy just like mine. Well, just like mine, except that it was in great shape. Nicely done mild custom. He also had a  '37 Chevy sedan done up in great oldskool style, and a cherry '68 Impala convertible. We had a great talk about cars and life in general. And we left with a set of caps that will look killer on my car! Great find by the 51 Chick!

If you look back a couple of posts, you'll notice that the '51 Chevy owned by John Denich has these same caps on it.

  New Year's eve. If you remember back, the weather was pretty decent that day for the time of year. 51 Chick was working, so me and the 51 kid headed out to batesville, IN chasing down a lead that I'd found on Craigslist.

    This seller was a young guy in his early 20's. He'd bought a 90,000 mile 1955 Chevy 2 door sedan, drove it home, and instantly pulled out the driveline to start building it into a gasser. He'd advertised the engine and transmission for sale, and had said that they were complete. Complete is a good thing in these situations, as those little bits and pieces that get taken off and lost during the removal process can be a royal PITA to find later.

  "Complete." was an understatement. The tranny hadn't been separated from the engine. The generator and starter hadn't been taken out. Heck, it still had the lower radiator hose attached!

  But, I had a bit of a dilemma. If I bought this engine, I had no good place to store it. I didn't even have any way of getting it out of the truck!

  Carl has told me his approach to this type of situation. He says that it can be very easy to talk yourself out of a good deal over things like moving, loading and storing. He syas that if you go ahead and jump on the deal, the logistics are easier to solve once you're comitted and HAVE to find a solution. And I have mentioned before that with this 50-60 year old stuff- you buy it when you find it. So, with those bits of wisdom, I gave Cody the money, we loaded up, and I had an hour's drive back home to work out a way to deal with my purchase.

1955 235 6 cylinder. The second generation Chevy 6 that I mentioned in my post regarding engines

Talk about complete- it still has the air cleaner on it! I even got an extra starter, generator and cap and rotor with it! This engine has the superior oiling system over the engine currently in the car, and the transmission is set up for the open driveline that I want. Big score!