dalef62

Stands for "Dead Broke"!

I was able to get some sanding done on the front of the FOR today. I was using 80 grit on a block to get the sand scratches out of the filler and primer and to smooth things up some. I got the right front fender, windshield support and the top of the left front fender sanded. It is hard to tell in the photos but it is looking pretty good, a few spots will need some attention.

Today was the day to put another coat of primer on the body of the FOR. It wasn't that warm outside but the waste oil furnace is working good and I set the temperature at 65 degrees and it got there in no time! It is looking pretty good, but we will see what happens when I start blocking it. I also got the holes drilled for the spare tire mount on the right side.

It is so nice to have samples of all the parts that I need to copy. With my brother in laws hood and battery cover and now my Super Sports to use the spare tire bracket for, it makes duplicating parts easy. Today I was able to get the spare tire bracket off the Super Sports so I can get the metal to make a bracket for the FOR. Still waiting for a warmer day and time to primer the body.

Thanksgiving vacation is over and I am back at it, I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Borrowed my brother in laws battery cover from his FOR and made a new one for mine today. Just a simple plate of metal with a few small notches at the front and two holes to secure it to the floor. I still need to drill the holes in the floor to hold it down. If I can get a warm day I will put another coat of prime on it also.

I did a little bit of work on the FOR today. I got the rear panel and the hood roughed in and it is almost ready for another coat of primer. All that needs done now is the spare tire bracket and the battery cover made. This will all have to wait till after thanksgiving as we will be out of town till Monday. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving! Give thanks for who we have and what we have!!!!

Yes, it is. A guy my wife works with had it and was going to restore it, but it was in nasty shape when I got it, sitting under pine trees and rusting away. There was no floor, big hole in the roof, engine was stuck, all tires flat, etc. But he told me it came with a plow that was partly under a stack of 60-70 sheets of OSB 1/2"X 4' X 8'. He said if I could get it out without knocking the stack over I could have it, well I got it out easily. My original plans were to part it out, but when it had a plow I decide to see if I could get it running. This was the week before Hershey a couple years ago. I filled the cylinders with transmission fluid and left it sit while I was at Hershey. When I got back I put a little pressure on a breaker bar and it cranked, put a battery in it and cranked it over to loosen every thing up and then dumped some gas down the carburetor and it fired up! Redid the brakes, put a floor in it with leftover Crosley roof sheetmetal, JB Welded the carburetor float bowl, and put a boat motor gas can in the bed. Has been running good ever since, knock on wood. Nothing is pretty on it but it does do what it needs to do. I keep resisting the urge to fix it up. And I have very little in it and it plows much better than the 1973 Chevrolet 3/4 ton stake bed truck that I had before it.

With winter wanting to rear it's ugly head it was time to get things ready. I haven't touched the plow 1956 Jeep since last spring so I decided today was the day to get it ready. Charged battery, put gas in auxiliary boat motor tank in bed, and dumped some fuel in the carburetor and it would fire but not stay running. After several tries and tapping the carburetor and fuel pump it came to life. I checked the operation of the plow and forward and reverse and all were fine till I tried the brakes, pedal goes to the floor. I rebuilt the brakes several years ago when I bought the derelict Jeep that had been sitting in the back yard of a friends place for 8 years under some pine trees. I carefully pulled the Jeep into the garage and filled the master cylinder and pumped the brakes till the pedal returned to normal. Back outside it is now ready for snow (I hope we don't get any!). Then it was on to my winter ride, after my Thunderbird was wrecked I bought a parts car and used the parts from it to rebuild my car. I took the old parts from the wreck and beat them straighter and put them on the parts car. It is a low mileage (86K) car that seems to run good, and has brand new tires on it, so I thought I might as well beat it over the winter and save my Ram truck. It was sold to me with what the previous owner thought was a blown head gasket, but when I put antifreeze in it, the water pump was leaking like a sieve. There is no sign of a blown head gasket so now it is in the shop getting a new water pump. Will get back on the FOR tomorrow to get those last few bits of filler done.

I spent some time this afternoon cleaning the shop some and cleaning the FOR body. It looks pretty nice in the shop now, cleaner is always good. The FOR still needs a little filler in a few places, hood, rear panel, etc, but all in all it is looking pretty good. I also removed the coil bracket and starter solenoid and a few wild screws on the inner fenders. So things are starting to shape up on the body quite nicely. A good sanding and fresh primer should get it looking good. It will not be long before I will be digging out a few more parts to prep for paint like the dash panel, steering column mount, and any other small parts I can find that get body color. I need to get a few more holes drilled in the body before it gets painted though, holes for rubber bumpers on hood, holes for spare tire mount, holes for top brackets, drain holes in rear of tub, etc. Oh, and I still need to make the battery cover plate, and spare tire bracket before I paint it so I can test fit them without scratching the new paint. I hope everyone is enjoying the restoration of the FOR...

I am getting closer to a second coat of primer now with the front panel ready now. Today's plans are to do a thorough cleaning of the body and the work area and see how things look. I still have the rear panel and the hood to rough in where the spot welds are. It shouldn't take too much to get them ready.

I did a little online research and decided that I would give the heat and hammer method. It worked and now the front panel is looking much better. Hope to smooth it out tomorrow.

I was hoping to get the front panel ready today but I have run into a problem with too much metal for the area.? The front fender was damaged and I thought I straighten it good enough but I find that I need to shrink the metal between the headlight bucket and the grille area. I push in on the area near the headlight and the area near the grille pops out, and when I push in on the area near the grille the headlight area pops out. There is a inner fender that is between the grille and headlight supporting the front panel. What is the proper way to shrink metal? I never seem to have much luck in shrinking metal so I put it out there to the experts, and not so experts, for some advice.

Another day of progress on the FOR today. A very light coat of filler on the spot welds on the rear tub area and the upper lip of the tub. With that done, the body is about ready for another coat of primer. Still need the right side of the headlight panel roughed in.

Today I got the front fender and part of the front panel roughed in. It is looking pretty good. Most areas just have a skim coat on them, not much thicker than a sheet of cardstock. I hope to get the rest roughed in by the weekend and possibly get another coat of primer on it.

Today I got the left front fender somewhat roughed in. It will need a little more filler to get it right.