Roger Zimmermann

Thank you John! The Avanti was completed in February 2010 and drove maybe 50 meters! This model is full of compromises as just a refresh was planed; this refreshing evolved into an almost new construction with biaised sarting point and wrong decisions. To make it 98% correct, it would be easier to do another one! Let's finish the Mark II... Attached are 2 views of that inner fender. At first glance this part is OK, but it was done by guess.

This is correct, Barry. By the way, you asked already some time ago (months ago!) if I was aware of it. In the real car, the ends are probably closed with a welded plate; I will not do that on the model. It will be easier to me to turn a hollow cylinder and insert it at the correct place. For a long time, during the construction, I used these tubes as a guide to avoid too much distorsion. Anyway, thank you for your comments!

With the form for the idler arm at the outside rail, the frame is ready. There will be cosmetic improvements, but no welding anymore (unless I forgot something)! As I need to locate the engine on the frame, I will now continue with the transmission.

Those pictures would have helped a lot when I was doing my Avanti model...I never had a clear view of the RH inner fender! There are some discrepancies; I can live with that.

It's now ready. Of course, I still need to do the Pitman arm and the universal joint at the steering shaft. Later... I may have to reshape the LH exhaust manifold. Its outlet is very near from the steering gear's valve body; I will see for sure when I can put the engine on the frame. As the box is temporary installed, I can look for the idler arm and modify the frame.

Usually those screws are 1 mm. The side cover will be held with .8 mm screws (.03") and the end cover will get .6 mm screws (.024"). The car is American, but the screws are metric on my model!

Maybe...Do you know that the '56-'58 Cadillac steering box are very similar? The steering from my Brougham is, for that vintage, very precise, much more than the ones from my two '56 Cads, even if the steering box is the same. There was a big change for '57 at Cadillac: ball joints for the front suspension, which explain why the Brougham is more agreable to steer than the other two. With a properly adjusted/restored steering box, you should have a much better behavior than you have now. The adjustment at the Pitman arm is one thing; you may need larger balls and other bushings. I see already your problem: to remove the steering box from a Continental is a major task; on the model it will be more easy to install as the steering shaft will be assembled with a screw to the worm shaft.

By chance, I had a steering box to photograph and measure. This is again a complicated casting part; on top of the form, its function is adding some complexity. I had the good fortune to find in my remaining parts from an other age a worm and pinion which could be usable for that purpose. The distance between axles is indeed very near to the calculated distance; sometimes compromises are necessary. The input and output shafts are made with brass (what else?) but I'm using steel inserts into the "casting". This will prevent to get too much play in a short period of time: brass on brass is not the best, brass on steel is much better. Hardened steel on steel is the best, but we are dealing here with a static model! With my weak machine, I could manage to have less than .01 mm (.0004") play between the shafts and inserts; by necessity, there will be some play between the worm and pinion, otherwise I could not turn the steering wheel. The box is not yet ready: some details must be added as well as the valve body. The pictured screws on the side cover will be replaced with more realistic ones when the box is ready.

Thank you to all! However, I'm not surprised from the reactions: when the frame was pictured in brass, it was looking artificial or unreal as everybody knows that frames are not made with brass. With a little paint on it, many ungainly details are gone and the illusion is much better.

Strange title...Either it's finished or not! Well, there is still a form to be done at the place the bolts for the idler arm are located. First, I have to do the steering box to know where the idler arm should be located. As the frame will be put on side for some time, I decided to clean it, first in cheap vinegar to remove all traces of silver solder cleaning agent, then with sandpaper. To avoid that the surface get oxidized, I applied a good coat of primer.

As you may imagine, the frame is slowly coming to completion. There are however all the small details which are added before it's too late: a bracket here, a support there... The front end is now finished as I added the support for the radiator and the front bumper supports, with one major exception: the outside frame rail at the idler arm has a particular form; for the moment I cannot do it because I don't know yet the angle of the arm and the distance of its mounting bracket relative to a major element of the frame. I will know it when the steering box is completed. That odd stamping will be inserted into the frame and fixed with soft solder. At the back, the frame was not completed: the bumper stop for the rear axle was missing; it's now soldered to the cross member, slightly off-center towards the passenger side. Is that bracket absolutely conforming to the reality? Maybe, in my application, the rear axle will not bump often to that bracket! I added also both support to the body; they are called "body support # 6". I still have to do the reinforcement at the rear of the frame for the rear hanger.

Thank you! Indeed, the frame is more complicated as at first glance! It was the same with the Avanti frame: at first I thought that it would be quickly done and then, the details came to disturb the plan!

Since the last picture, some elements have been added to the frame: the front engine supports and the "towers" for the front shock absorbers and fixation points for the front suspension's upper levers. This last construction was done twice: when they were temporary installed with screws on the frame, I compared with the many pictures I have. I had the impression that the distance between the upper axle's levers and the frame was too large. Fortunately, the Swiss owner of some Mark II was at his shop and I could measure that element the next day. My parts were effectively wrong: 0.9 mm too high! By chance, I could rescue the dome for the shock absorbers (they are not so easy to fabricate) but had to do the other parts again as a modification was not appropriate. The wrong parts are next to the frame on the first picture before I'm discarding them for good. The second picture is showing the frame with the upper levers. I'm near from completion!

A R3 into a Golden Hawk...It's owner must surprise some other people on the road; however, the chassis is certainly not up to the power.

Thank you for all the responses! That's a good motivation to continue to show what I'm trying to do...

It seems that there are still people looking at it despite the low progress...

Those 4 body supports are oddly shaped; by chance they are all identical. I did a form to have some consistent shapes. Once all supports done, the big question was: "how put the on the frame to silver solder and have all at the correct place?" A small aluminum fixture was fabricated; it's shown on the first picture, the parts are ready to braze. The heat to silver solder is rather high: the aluminum bar melted partially, second image. Fortunately, I could remove all the screws; there is always the danger that one gets brazed into the part which is silver soldered; this is also the reason why I used aluminum and not brass to do the fixture. The supports are now fixed on the frame, ready to get the floor!

After the summer vacation, it's time to continue the model. Right on Monday, I went to the man owning some Mark II to measure the transmission and steering gear among the tasks of the day. Today, I could finish the reinforcements at the junction of the front and rear of the frame. I also added the last bracket for the emergency brake (it will be functional) near the large frame's tube # 3. The 4 brackets for the floor which are located on the top of the reinforcements have to be added; this will be the next job.

I really should have the talented machinist Greg not for away from me!

That's the reason I would never buy something older than 1940...To me, the fifties are the first choice, even if in all obectivity, the cars from this time are overdone. But they have all I expect to have in a US car: automatic, electric windows, power steering/brakes. However, I understand that my opinion may not please the majority!

Strange world! Automatic transmissions were first popular un the USA; they were not so popular in Europe for various reasons. It seems that the people in the US are again "discovering" this kind of transmission; my first cars were equiped with a manual transmission but now, I would never consider to buy or own a vehicle with a manual transmission...

The illusion will be better with some paint on it! You have to wait a little bit to see that...

The front end is slowly looking better. The second crossmember was done last Saturday; it was a challenge to bend it with rather small radiuses. I did that by heating a long tube and bending by hand while a specific spot was almost red. It went better as anticipated, even if I had to do some corrections afterwards. The front rails are almost finished and I began to solder the huge reiforcements at the junction to the rear of the frame. To be completed, following elements must be added: the radiator's support on the front crossmember as well as the front bumper supports, the engine supports on the second crossmember, the already mentioned reinforcements and, of course, the shock absorber towers on which the front upper arms are attached.

As expected, the front end is not easy to do. Complex form - not at first glance - and only guessed dimensions. I hope that I will not be too far away with the dimensions because the package frame-suspension-engine is a tight one. Could be that some modifications will be needed when I will realize that I cannot close the hood because the engine is too tall! On the picture, you can see that the RH front rail is more or less complete and soldered to the rear. The attachment point of the shock absorber and upper arm is not yet born. The LH rail will be soldered when the second crossmember is done. I will try to form that crossmember from a tube tomorrow; I need again a good vice to do that. The junction point at the rear of frame is still a mess; this will be completed later.

3 sides of the front rails are done; the "covers" or 4th sides are still some days away. I could temporarily attach the front rails to the frame with screws; it seems that I'm not too far away from the "truth". I will continue with the crossmembers 1 and 2 before I'm doing the 4th side. This way, I can easily correct the shape of the front rails if needed.