MCHinson

This morning, I got back to work on the running boards. I did quite a bit of sanding on the tops of the boards, although there are a few spots that will need some additional bondo and some more sanding before I am ready to apply the rubber coating. I then used a air powered wire wheel to go over the bottoms of the boards. They cleaned up well. I then applied a coat of primer to the bottom of the boards. I picked up some additional nuts, bolts and washers this afternoon and this evening, I installed some of the hardware that was missing on one of the running boards. After that, I primed the added parts but did not take any additional photos.

There are lots of different part numbers for trunk lid supports. With a quick glance at the body parts book, it looks like most, if not all, coupes use the same supports. The sedans do not use the same support as the coupes. I would suggest Dave Tacheny as the most likely source for these.

This morning, I covered the front seat cushion valance panels. I then installed the panels on the sides of the front seat frame. This evening, I cut out hardboard for the trunk side panels, covered them in burlap, and installed them.

Today, I installed the left rear vent window drain tube, the left rear arm rest, the left rear quarter panel, and the left rear vent window garnish moulding. I then re-installed the rear seat back and rear seat cushion.

I have seen a few sets of these rear vent window frames. None of the others I have seen have those discs and springs on the bottom. I think you can safely remove them and not worry about them. The two bolts compress the bracket to hold the shaft in place. If you don't have the brackets that hold the shaft in place, I think I may have an extra set.

Today, I pulled my 1937 Buick Century out of the garage and swept that side of the garage. While the 1937 Century was out, I washed it. It has been needing to be washed for at least two months. I then pulled the 1938 Century out and let it run a while. I swept out the other side of the garage while it was out. When warm, the starter has clearly been turning the engine slower than it should. I finally got tired enough of the marginal battery and replaced the battery today. Luckily I had an extra one on hand. With the replacement battery, the engine starts much more easily when warm. I am happy to have resolved the marginal battery issue. I removed the rear seat so I could work on the rear quarter panels and rear seat side arm rests. I finally figured out how the rear quarter panels and rear seat side arm rests are supposed to go together. I installed the right rear quarter panel and arm rest, and rear vent window garnish moulding. When the seat goes back in, the fabric panels will be stretched so that they will look better than they appear in the photo.

You have to remove the screws that hold the window garnish moulding in. After the garnish moulding is removed, you should be able to find the screws around the perimeter of the vent window frame. After you remove those small screws, the entire vent window assembly can be forced inward. After the top of the assembly clears the window frame, you can lift the entire assembly upwards to remove it from the car. The dome light lens is held in by friction fit. A small prying tool can be used to pop the lens off of the light assembly. The rest of the dome light assembly is held in the ceiling by three or four screws that you will see when the lens has been removed.

That is the seat adjustment mechanism. You lift the chrome handle and then you can slide the seat forward or back.

Today, I finished the front seat back. I then moved to the front seat cushion. The front seat cushion had been recovered with some thick cloth by the previous owner of the Model 67 that the seat came out of. I was expecting this one to be a bit easier but I was wrong. Apparently, when he recovered it, he just ripped off the old side fabric and installed some foam and the heavy fabric cover. He also neglected to clean all of the mouse nesting materials out of the burlap covered springs. I found almost all of the springs to be full of mouse nesting materials. I used a vacuum cleaner with a crevice tool to remove as much of the materials as I could. I used a high powered handheld LED light to shine through all of the burlap covered springs to be sure that all of the mouse nesting materials were gone. By holding the light beside each spring, I could look from the other side of each spring to visually see if the light was blocked by any debris. Several times I thought I had removed it all to discover yet another pile to vacuum out. I then picked the spring assembly up and dropped it from a couple of feet over the table repeatedly to dislodge all of the small debris that was left in the spring assembly. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally reached the point that I could bounce the springs up and down without any other debris ending up on the table. I then redid the upholstery and installed the front seat assembly. I still have to cover and install the seat valance panels and see if I need to tweak anything else on the seats but I am happy to have the seats essentially finished.

Today, I continued working on the seats. First I recovered the rear seat cushion. I then installed it. I already knew that I was going to have to do some more work on the rear seat side arm rest assemblies. They really are a tight fit with the rear seat cushion in place. I will deal with them later. Next, I stripped the cover off of the front seat frame assembly. The upholstery, springs and rest of the assembly were in surprisingly good condition. (The reason for this is that these seats did not come out of the Model 61 that sat outside for two plus decades. These seats actually came out the Model 67 that I purchased and resold to Dave Tacheny. That car is also the donor of the better condition running boards that I will be working on again soon.) I reused most of the original upholstery materials. I was able to add a layer of new padding and install the cover. The front seat back and side cloth cover is applied with a combination of tacks and spray glue. The front seat back also has a carpeted foot rest that is installed wtih some tacks and some spray glue. Tomorrow, I will finish the front seat frame assembly. I still need to cut the excess fabric on the top side of the seat back covering and install the wireon that will hide the tacks along the back top edge of the seat. I will also need to install the robe rail later. I will need to find some suitable fabric to recover the robe rail before I reinstall it. I think that the excess fabric that I need to cut off of the seat back tomorrow might work for that. Apparently the McInerney Spring and Wire Company is the subcontractor who built this seat frame assembly. I photographed the original McInerney Part Number 98098 tag and left it in place.

Gary, I should have the metal pieces, I just need to find them. The problem is the fabric flap is probably twice as tall as it should be. It goes from the bottom of the windshield to beyond the top of the windshield. .

I do plan to keep the instructions. I figure I will scan them to be able to furnish them to anybody who wants a copy. I know what you mean about the boxes of loose fabrics, etc. There were a few mostly illegible marks on the back of some of the fabrics but I really had to work to figure out what some things were. I have a few small pieces that I still don't know where they go. The I hope I figure out what they are in the near future, since I am running out of places to put interior stuff. I still have not done anything with the "coach flap" on the windshield pillars since I need to find the short metal pieces that they attach to and I am still trying to figure out the best way to do them since they appear to be about twice as long as they are supposed to be. I am thinking I am going to have to rip some stitching where they are attached to the windlace and and cut out the excess fabric - a job that I have been putting off as long as possible.

While their kits were clearly not perfect and the instructions could have been written to be a bit more user friendly, I am really glad I bought the kit before they went out of business. If I did not have their kit, I would have simply taken the car to a local upholstery shop and had them build an interior for it. I would not have been able to do it myself.

Matt, only you can decide which way you want to go but if it was me, I would pull the existing gas gauge, clean up the mounting area and gauge backing so that it will ground properly and see if that doesn't fix it. Maybe you could install a separate ground wire with less work. I think that a good ground on the existing gauge is likely to solve that problem. With as much work as you have put in it so far, I think that making the gauge work properly will make you feel a lot better about it.

Yes, they told you correctly. A Model A Ford will run better without any air cleaner... just like it was originally designed.