What a pain! I started with the driver side and didn't really have a good idea what to do, but as I went I figured out I needed to slot the bumper brackets to pull the front end back in order to get the side to line up properly.

I was able to do this all by myself, but I have to agree a second set of hands would have helped, but there are lots of time when there is nothing to do. All I could think was "don't scratch the car and don't drop the freshly re-chromed bumpers"!

Fortunately I did do a minor scratch but out of sight so out of mind and I didn't drop those bumpers OMG!

Here ya go, I would have never imaged that doing the bumpers would be such a PAIN!

I need to do some more adjustments on the driver side, the passenger side is about as good as it is going to get. but my butt is dragging tonight and tomorrow is another day!

 

Man that sounds like alot of work! I have a droopy passenger side that the previous idiot....er owner tried to use a block of wood and a floor jack to adjust. All he did was dent the underside of the bumper! My grille on the passenger side is a little bowed also.

I guess I will wait for a weekend when I have absolutely nothing to interfere with my attempts to straighten.

Your car is looking good! Keep us up to date with your endeavors on the front brightwork and thanks for your posts, they are giving me ahhh
confidence.

Regards,

Fred

 

Congratulations! I'm next. When Bubba put the front end on mine, he left the bumpers hanging loose on the sides. I guess he knew how much trouble they were.

P.S. Mighty fine looking car there!

 

die grinder and a dremel with a carbide bit on it make elongating the holes much easier. I am not sure in my case how much more difficult this was made because the car has a new hood surround and a lower valence. So only god knows how much everything is moved from where it started.

Also, it didn't help that the main brackets that mount to the side of the frame got lost on me as well and I bought 2 new ones from Paragon and reproductions well are questionable at best!

I had to slot the main frame bracket all three holes about another hole diameter worth. The driver side needs to be fussed with again and perhaps some more elongating, but my butt was too tired to keep going tonight.

I have about 12 hours in the brackets and fussing......

 

Actually after fussing with the driver side, it was much easier to get the passenger side on the second try. Took many many tries on the drivers side while I was trying to get it right. If it is any consolation, after you do one, you can figure it out pretty quick and it takes about 1/10 the time!

Thanks for the comment on the car.....I have a lot of my heart and soul in this bugger, never mind my wallet (OMG do these cars eat money!)

 

tomorrow I need to put the hood back on and work on the electric hood lift. I put the radiator in, but that needs to come out too. In order to get the electric hood opener set up I need access from the front of the car, hence where the teeth are.....figured that out after I got carried away with putting the bright work on the front.

sometimes when you are getting your butt kicked on some part of the car, it makes good sense to put it down and go on another part of the car, that is what happened when I put the teeth surround stuff in, I was calming my nerves from another section of the car.....I find that happens a lot with this!

 

Looks like ya got the hard part done! Congrats.

You gonna hafta squeeze the bumpers together or pull them apart to get the grill bar on?

Nice job on the headlight buckets, BTW.

You can be ASSURED that the cars were not that well done off the St. Louis assembly line.

Doug

 

All I keep thinking was how the heck did they do this stuff before? I would like to go back in time and see the cars coming off the line back then...just to see how they really did this stuff and how well it fit......

Head light buckets were carefully put in place by Harry during the reconstruction of the front end. He put new mounting strips in place for the buckets and set those in place with the buckets attached so that the little lip that comes up off the head light surrounds centered right over the top fender molding. I have seen too many cars that do not have that centered and we discussed what needed to be done and how to do it. He did real good with that one!

 

Herb, we are waiting on more pictures, what are you keeping from us???????????
Thanks for sharing this information, that part is ahead of me yet, awhhhhh.
Wade

 

haha...I wish I was keeping more from you....

I spent a lot of time getting the mounting brackets glues onto the inside firewall. No fasteners through the firewall, I am trying to keep it pristine and no protrusions coming through it for mounting other than what I need for the steering column, brakes, clutch and throttle cable.

I have a MSD coil firewall feed through to put in and will run the coil wire from the distributor down near the tunnel, again keeping the main firewall clear of anything that might stick through it. I want to keep the wires out of sight as much as possible.



I got my windshield back and I need to get the dash pad on. But before I go to far, I want to be done under that dash, it is such a PIA to get under there. I twisted wrong the other day and hurt my back and have been at the chiropractor twice and the massage therapist once. So I am not under the dash like I should be.

I ordered custom tail light lenses from Lambert Enterprises, http://www.lambertenterprises.com/



I made a template that fits in the back of both rear bumpers where the exhaust should exit. Since the exhaust isn't coming out there, I figured I would put additional tail lights in there, especially since I took off the rear reflectors. These should be in next week some time then the rear bumpers can go on. I will have to figure out how to get them in the rear bumper nicely packaged, that remains to be seen yet.

Lambert's will custom cut any lens configuration you want, he just needs a template. The 2X6 oval is very close to filling the rear bumper exit cavity so it should be nice. I know the rear lights on the early cars mounted up high leaves a lot to be desired for sight. this should help both with brake lights and turn signals.

Ok...so I spilled the beans on what I am up to.....not much time during the week, I get my biggest shot at it on the weekends and last weekend we were in Maine for Sharon's sisters wedding. I told her sister I was missing out on prime building time to be there (haha). It was OK, I like her sister and her new husband and they trusted me to take their wedding photos!

So there ya go.....hopefully I will be able to work on the car next weekend, but there might be a 63 SWC that gets in the way if things work out I may pick up. And of course the weekend of June 2nd is Hot Rod Power Tour and I am going for the first leg of that so that weekend is shot. Maybe I can get this done by mid to late July!!! I will be at Carlisle with it!

thats it for now......tomorrow, the electric hood opener!!!!

 

oh yeah, when I am done it goes back to Harry for some more panels for inside the engine compartment. The panels that go behind the tires would not fit in because of the side exhaust, so he is going to custom make some panels for both sides as well as one that goes between the engine and the radiator opening.

 

I just reassembled mine two weeks ago... yikes... getting the center bar on was a pain. needed to widen the holes on the ataching plates.. off by about 1/8" after I got everything back from the chromer... PIA!!