Luv2Wrench

Yeah I had to repeatedly step away from the top/side curtain fitment. I had to mentally accept that it wouldn't be right so I could relax a bit and approach it from different angles. Fortunately I finally found one that worked.

The top is finally on!!! I modified a set of top bows and was able to get the side curtains to fit. It was a heck of a battle but I think I'm going to come out the victor. Here's how it looks (and yes I realize I have some of the short trim pieces in the wrong place). I've marked out the area that is cut away to expose the clear plastic that is sewn inside. Once marked I took everything back apart and I'm going to take the curtains to an auto upholster and have him run a stitch around the mark and then cut away the fabric. I think this is how it was done at the factory.

Such a work of art.

Those parts are so small I'm not surprised that they can defy gravity!! There are few tasks around the house I dread more than the tasks under the sink. Lovely work as always Roger.

Last week when I put gas back in the tank it started leaking in about 2 hours. I think this was a fault of mine and Permatex. I'm not sure if the product was defective or if it just didn't work but chocolate syrup would've done a better job. My fault was thinking I might use a neoprene gasket instead of a fiber gasket. Yeah, I know (now) that doesn't work. Took everything back off, ordered the proper fiber gasket and used a different Permatex product. This was basically how I put the drain plug in and it hasn't leaked so I felt confident it would be ok. A couple of days have passed and it is as dry as a bone. I took the car for a quick drive through the neighborhood this afternoon. It was a GREAT little trip. This is the first time I've driven the car with the new radial tires. Previously it had very old bias-ply in the back and needed most of the road to sorta go straight. With the new radials it was just as smooth and steady as it could be. It drove straight with no hands on the wheel which is a stark contrast to the death grip that was needed before. I briefly got up to 50mph and it seemed very steady. It seemed to have plenty more but I need to get a bit more confidence (not to mention insurance) in the car before I take it out on the roads . Last week I welded up the top bows and I got the assembled and painted with epoxy primer today. Should be ready for a top coat tomorrow. I did a brief test fit with the modified top bows and it seem like I might be able to get a good fit with the top *and* the side curtains. That said... I'm done playing around with the top. If the side curtains don't fit that great then that's just going to be how it is.

Fantastic looking truck and cool shop as well. Really great job, can't wait to see more!!

Great looking fit right there!

I made a double size cabinet out of 3/4" plywood and bought the windows/gloves/gun from TP Tools. If you go that route make sure and buy the Skat Blast Carbide Nozzle pack. It is about $55 which sounds expensive but I haven't replaced a nozzle in over 10 years... vs replacing the regular steel ones every couple weeks. You need to get the double syphon tube or make one yourself as this solves a vast majority on the problems you'll have with a syphon setup. If you use a shop vac for dust collection it'll die in a couple of months... don't ask how I know that. You'll need to have a cyclone style separator at the very least or the fine abrasive dust will eat the shop vac. I have a simple "trash can lid" style cyclone separator between the cabinet and my whole shop dust collection system. Inside the cabinet I put 4 twin outdoor flood lamps with LED spot lights. Also order one and a half million lens protectors. I have doors at both ends so I can get things in and our easier. I sized it to be able to blast an axle. The only downside is the amount of room it takes up, but I have it on wheels and roll it out of the way. I can't imagine life with out. At some point I'll probably add some Formica on the bottom plywood pieces to help the media slide down better and to keep from blasting a hole in it.

Mixed bag of progress. After several days of the gas staying in the tank... it started leaking from the fitting where the fuel line connects. At first I feared a threading issue but later realized that it wasn't fully screwed in. The threads on the tank side are sketchy and I was very, very conservative when I screwed the fitting in. Some of the tank sealant was on the threads and I left it there because I thought it might help prevent leaking past the threads. What it really ended up doing was stopping the fitting before it was all the way in and thus the gasket didn't compress between fitting and tank. I cleaned everything out, applied Permatex Aviation Gasket maker on the threads, fitting and gasket. I carefully tightened it down until I could see the gasket compress. Tomorrow I'll put some gas in and hope it stays. Most of the electrical issues have been resolved. The short issue was pretty simple, I had the license tag light wired backwards. While the light bulb doesn't care, the way the bulb holder is mounted to the carrier allows the ground to connect with the car chassis. Not a good connection but a little was enough and it would eventually blow the fuse. With that cleared up the side lights no longer blew the fuse. I took the flasher relay apart and aligned the contacts as well as cleaned them. That appeared to do the trick and the turn signals lights flash. Unfortunately they flash too fast and the indicator light on the dash doesn't flash at all. I think the flasher unit (not the relay) is either bad or the wrong type so I'll order one and replace it. Hopefully that fixes both issues. The cloth covered PVC wire arrived and I rewired the fog lights. Another task is the battery. I both a "tar topper" that covers a modern battery is supposed to look like a Lucas battery from the 50s but I think it looks terrible. The tar topped batteries with rubber cases had a very definitive material look... one that was anything but glossy plastic which is what the "tar topper" I bought is. I'm not sure how I'll go about building this battery but I have a 3D printer and I can build models so I don't think it will be too difficult. I still need to finish modifying the top bows and try to get the top fitted correctly. I cut the new extension pieces and marked the out. I needed to clean them up a bit, round over the edges and then they should be ready to weld to the front bar. Once welded and test fitted I'll need to clean the up again, shoot epoxy primer and then paint them. I'll need some warmer weather for that but it seems like Mother Nature is going to deliver that by mid-week.

I'll be crossing a similar bridge in the next 6 months so that you for saving me the trouble of figuring this out.

Rivet gun is a smart choice as they are much easier to control. With an air hammer it is rather trivial to have it suddenly slip off and hammer your finger. Don't ask me how I know.

The wheel you have there is specific to 1912 or before. It has more spokes and the hub is reversible. I think your best bet is to get it rebuilt. If you have all the hubs then it shouldn't be a problem other than, of course, cost.

Getting closer and closer. Got a new front bumper because the original I had re-chromed had a piece of chrome flake off. I chose not to take it back to get them to redo the work as I don't trust them and I'd pay $300 just to not have to drive back to their place. The reproduction chrome piece is acceptable. All of the wiring is done for now. I need to change the wiring for the fog lamps as it is modern PVC. I've ordered some modern PVC wire with a cloth braid exterior that I will rewire them with. The gas thank was filled with (ethanol free) gas and the gas stayed in the tank!! After all the issues I had with the tank I was very relieved that nothing leaked out. The car restarted almost immediately which was another big relief. With everything wired up there was quite a bit of stress when applying power for the first time. Fortunately the "magic smoke" stayed inside the wires. I did cheat and use a lab power supply for the first power-up as I knew it would protect against any short. Overall the results from testing the electrics was pretty good. The horn, headlights, fog lights, brake lights and dash lights all worked. The turn signals sorta worked but they don't flash. I believe the problem is the relay unit is not making contact with the chassis as I didn't realize it needed to be grounded. The side lights worked briefly but then blew a fuse. The good news on this is that the fuse that was blown was one of two that I added to the wiring. The headlights and sidelights were not fused originally. That seems pretty crazy and I'm glad I followed the advice of some of the MG group in adding them. I need to figure out why they blew the fuse as they worked fine on the initial power up (with the lab supply) though were a little dim. They worked fine with the battery for about 10 seconds. Possibly could've been a bad fuse. Tomorrow I'll finish troubleshooting the wiring and try to get the sidelights and flashers working properly. After that it'll be back to that stupid top.

Sorry you didn't get better news. The right path is hard to find, difficult to navigate and exhausting to complete but it usually leads to immense satisfaction experienced only by the few that chose said path. I wish you the best of luck on the rest of your journey!

Great videos and great truck, thanks for sharing!

Getting good panel fit, especially doors, is critical before paint. I underestimated the gap needed in two areas and that led to a big deal as I needed to fix the gap and repaint. I remember thinking "that looks pretty good, I can tweak it later." You can't tweak it later. Your panels look good, you're smart to be taking the time to get these right now.

I was browsing along and thought "wow, your shop looks a lot like @chistech's shop and then noticed it was him posting... which really threw me for a loop. I guess that's what I get for only looking at the pictures. @ManualOldsOnly that's a wonderful looking car, glad you're letting us watch the progress... even if *some* of us can't be bothered to actual read.

LOL, I saw the yellow car above and thought to myself... "yeah, typical, he's done already" Love seeing the progress, thanks for taking us along!

The other day in the shop my son stopped by to look at the car. I was complaining about how long it was taking and he said "yeah, but you're doing it right" and, as you can imagine, it was the best feeling in the world. You "know" that in your head but it gets lost at times in the drudgery of all the work. Always good to remember it and let the process happen.

The car is looking awesome with those panels on it. It really looks straight! All of this hard work will be so satisfying once you get the color on. You're doing a great job and you'll be thrilled with the results.

Not much to report but still making good progress. I've managed to work around some of the things I was missing and I've paid some outrageous rates to get a few things sent overnight all in an effort to push this baby past the finish line. There will be a few things I'll have to take back apart and replace some pieces when the proper parts arrive but I think it is worth the effort to keep things moving along.

Great job as always! That is one heck of a saw. My Hendey came with some that big and I can't wait to give one a try.

I managed to work at least half a day all week and the weekend. It was great to have some quality time to work on the car. I got a ton of tedious detail work completed. I also manage to get the carpet in. I need to vacuum it but I'm thrilled with how it turned out. There was a LOT of trimming involved and I was very relieved that I didn't trim too much or in the wrong place. I also start getting the fenders on, including both rear fenders and one of the fronts. Really thrilled with how they look and how the chrome plays off the dark green. As usual the list of things I'm missing continues to grow so my progress slow back down to a crawl over the next week or so.

So... I've given up on the top for now. I made the changes to the top bows and it did fit wonderfully but, of course, it wouldn't fold up!!! Lengthening the piece did fix my fitment issues but since there were two pieces tied in two points the lengthened part kept it from folding correctly. I've decided I will use the original top bows that someone hacked up. It will take some time to repair the damage that they did but I think it will work out in the end. With the top out of the way for now, I've been going around the car and getting all the last little bits done. As you all here have experienced this part is taking forever. Each little detail seems to take hours. The stupid COVID is a pain as well because it certainly takes some energy away. I'm definitely "out of the woods" but it is still a drag. I'll post some pictures this weekend.

Nearly a month has gone by and I'm still fighting with the top and side curtains. I can get either to fit great but I can't get them to fit each other. The top I'm using is, of course, a reproduction and is made by Robbins. It seems to be very high quality and I'm happy with it. The side curtains are also made by Robbins and again, very high quality. I can compare the side curtains to a possibly original set that came with the car and the reproductions are very close. In the places in question they're actually a bit bigger so that should be helping. I'm starting to think that the top bows I have are reproductions and while you can make the top fit great with them, the top will be too high to meet the side curtains. I've noticed pictures online that have this exact problem (too high in the center, too low in the back) and I think it is an issue with the top bows. I have some bows that I think are original but they've been heavily modified in the front. When I tried the top with those bows it did fit better. After a lot of comparisons I think I've found the difference between the two and it shouldn't be that difficult to correct. One of the metal pieces in the front is about 0.35" too short. I've cut some new pieces and look forward to giving it a try after Omicron finishes having its way with me. I managed to evade the COVID virus all through the initial mutations but this last one spreads too easily. It seems mild and if this were 3 years ago I would say I just had a cold... a helluva cold. The kids got it first and they're pretty much fine now so I think I probably have a day or two to go.