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 Turquoise '58 Fireflite CoupeJump to page : 1 2 3 4 5 6 Now viewing page 5 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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Powerflite |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456    Location: So. Cal | Thanks Ralf, I was pleased with how it came out. Hopefully I can get it welded on without too much trouble. I'm still trying to decide exactly where I want to cut it. I finished the repairs to the inner repair panel today too, using essentially the same process. Except this time I had to replace most of the lower section. I still have a couple of pin holes to fill and I still need to clean up the inside of it - which will be the only part that you will be able to see when it is installed. I'm sure that I won't be able to clean up the inside to a perfect finish, but I should be able to make it look presentable anyway. (58FF RR Quarter Inner Repair Repaired.jpg) Attachments ----------------  58FF RR Quarter Inner Repair Repaired.jpg (173KB - 409 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I've been working on getting my repair panels installed onto the car. As soon as I roughly cut the outer section off, the quarter panel let go and is no longer straight. That's a problem when I am trying to figure out where everything needs to go. So I am planning to purchase a 6 foot long piece of angle iron and mount that behind the quarter panel, using the lower trim holes to screw into it. That should keep it mostly straight while I get the outer repair panel in place. The rusted section in the rocker was bent inward by the guy that applied all the bondo into the hole. You can see how the upper part of the rocker is too far inward in the first picture below. I pried that section outward with a 6" wide body spoon and hit the bend with a hammer to straighten it out. It came out really well and feels pretty straight now. I'm planning to weld that section last, after the dog leg is done, though I'm not certain if that's a good or bad idea yet. The inner panel had been bent a little as well, but I was able to figure out where it needed to be placed by carefully tracing the outline of the part that I cut off to trim the new part to exactly the same pattern. So far, so good. I'm only going to spot weld the inner panel until I can verify that I like the placement and overall position of the outer panel on the car - after I get the outside panel straight again. By the way, that lone magnet at the trim hole location has a flathead screw stuck to it, and is being used to keep the antennae wire from dangling into my work area.  Edited by Powerflite 2023-08-01 11:44 AM (58FF RR Quarter Rust Cutout.jpg) (58FF RR Quarter Inner Panel Tacked.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF RR Quarter Rust Cutout.jpg (141KB - 402 downloads) 58FF RR Quarter Inner Panel Tacked.jpg (143KB - 386 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I got everything positioned where I planned to weld, with a 6 ft long piece of angle iron screwed behind the quarter to force it straight. You can see the screws & washers for it on the lower trim holes. It was important to screw it in evenly while applying pressure in between the screws to prevent them from causing distortions in the panel. It would have been better to use another piece of angle iron on the outside to clamp it down, but this setup is working fine. Once straightened, I went over it with a straight edge and noticed that the quarter was stretched at the location of the dent that I took out of the panel. So I took some time to shrink that part with a shrinking disc. It worked to make it better, but it isn't completely flat yet, mostly because the edge of the panel is loose, so it doesn't react the same. I will address it further once I get it welded. Everything looked decent, so I welded the inner panel up. Unfortunately, I ran out of welding gas so I con't continue until I get it refilled. Until then, I will clean up the welds I have on there and get everything ready for welding on the outer panel. (58FF Inner RR Quarter Welded.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Inner RR Quarter Welded.jpg (152KB - 415 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I patched up the small rust section in the inner rocker that the dog leg will cover. There is more rust going forward from there, but I needed to patch it before welding in the dog leg panel and I wanted to keep some of the outer rocker structure to use for placement reference. I also cut a small relief in the worst part of the stretched panel. That makes it stress free when I weld to the dog leg, and hopefully the welding will shrink it a little. After a lot of effort I positioned the panel in place and got it cut to where it needs to be. There is a larger gap at the front edge than I would like to have, but I am thinking that once it is tacked in place, I can cut a larger hole in the rocker area and stick my hand up there with a copper plate to back up the gap for better welding. Once it is tacked in place along the large flat area, I am planning to release all of the clamps and weld the upper front-most section first, hoping that by doing so, a minimal amount of warping will occur, going very slowly, keeping the heat to a minimum, and progressing downward with the panel mostly free-floating. Then I will weld the more rigid, curved sections, and finally, the plug welds at the outer edges. That's the plan, and hopefully this will allow me to get it done with a minimal amount of warping. I am not naive to the fact that welding in this area can be problematic - especially with the effects of the dent that was there. This is the most difficult repair section that I have done to date, so I am thinking it through and taking my time on it. (58FF Right Dog Leg Repair Fitted.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Right Dog Leg Repair Fitted.jpg (177KB - 394 downloads) | ||
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| 22mafeja |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 748  Location: Finland | |||
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| ronbo97 |
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Expert Posts: 4202  Location: Connecticut | |||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | Ralf, I wasn't sure if I should do the rocker area first or last, but I decided that putting the dog leg/wheel lip in first would be better so that it would provide a good reference for the slope of the whole panel first before any other welding is done. The main problem I have here is that the dent I took out has caused a lot of stress in the panel that wants to make it move outward. Without the quarter being mounted to that iron channel, the whole thing would bend outward while trying to weld. Even with the bar, the lower section wants to naturally bow out as well, so controlling it and ensuring that it goes where it is all supposed to go is the challenge with this. To make it even worse, the rust of the inner & outer section made it difficult to know where the lip was supposed to be placed as well. But I have that all figured out and done now. Rusted inner & outer sections, with dented, bowing panels is the hardest to work with because you lose most of your reference points. It just takes a lot of time to make sure you are putting things where they belong, and how to accomplish it well. Ron, I've used that heat fence before and it does work to keep the heat down. But excess heat isn't really what causes warpage in large panels like this, as long as you weld very slowly, doing successive spot welds, rather than trying to weld in a continuous line. It's pretty easy to keep the overall heat low if you go slow, spot welding like this. But large gaps create bigger problems because there is a larger amount of molten metal in the gap that gets hotter than it would if it were smaller, making it expand more. And that large amount cools off and contracts more than it would in a smaller gap - pulling the panel around as you go. That, by itself creates warp problems regardless of the amount of heat around it. So that's why it's important to control the gaps very well on large panels that are subject to warping. To address this problem, I decided to remove my repair panel, and add metal to the edges ahead of time, using a copper backing plate. Then I ground it down to where it needed to be, so that I have much better gaps on it now. That should prevent any of this from causing me problems. I didn't get as much done yesterday as I had hoped. But I was able to reduce all the gaps like I described above, and got it spot welded in the large, more flat areas. I had to push the lower front section in as I welded to get it aligned properly, but it didn't require a lot of force, so it should remain well-controlled. I checked everything out with a straight edge, looking from as many angles and places as I could, and it all looks great where it is. So as long as it all stays where it currently is during the rest of the welding, I'll be very happy. (58FF Right Dog Leg Repair Spotted.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Right Dog Leg Repair Spotted.jpg (161KB - 399 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I took a break from body work for a bit and replaced the harmonic dampener that was coming apart. There is a paint mark on it from the previous owner and it had moved 1/4" more from that mark, so it was slowly working it's way off. The timing cover may have stopped that from happening, but I didn't want to leave it on there to find out. For some reason, the water pump pulley was completely stuck to the water pump. Prying or hitting wasn't getting anywhere with it. I could have applied heat to the aluminum spacer to separate it, but I decided not to mess with it, and just leave it there, but unfortunately, I couldn't get my new dampener on with the pulley on the pump. The new dampener is quite a bit wider and I couldn't angle it up under the pulley. So I pulled the dampener from the '67 383 I have in my garage for my Barracuda to use on it instead. The new dampener will probably suit the Barracuda better anyway. To my surprise, the '67 dampener also has one odd spaced bolt, so that my old DeSoto pulley mounted onto it without modification. When did they switch to evenly spaced bolts? I also painted all the pulleys & fan to get rid of the red paint color that the previous owner had put on them. Not that I like a lot of black everywhere, but the faded red with the blue engine made it look like a cheap circus show. (58FF Replacement Dampener.jpg) (New Dampener on 1968 383S.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Replacement Dampener.jpg (230KB - 387 downloads) New Dampener on 1968 383S.jpg (207KB - 414 downloads) | ||
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Expert Posts: 1252  Location: D-70199 Heslach | |||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | True, Tom. I used to paint every bolt head 2 different colors when I was 14. Welding on the panel went well. There ended up being 2 high spots afterward, but not too significant. They are marked on the photo. One of them is associated with the relief that I made in the section that I couldn't get to sit flat. I may not have cut far enough on it, but I'll hit both spots with a shrinking disc and slap the lower spot with a spoon to see how it goes. It's much easier to deal with high spots than low spots, so in that sense, I got lucky. I noticed that the lip didn't have the full width like it should from my previous repair in this area, so I added a little bit of metal to it and blended it in to the dog leg section. It likely needs more work there, but I need to get some color on it to really see what it needs. (58FF RR Dog Leg Ground.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF RR Dog Leg Ground.jpg (126KB - 413 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I was having lots of trouble getting the driver's door latch to work properly. I had already replaced the latch a while ago, but it still wasn't consistent in how well it latched. It wouldn't open on it's own, but often, it wouldn't hold the door tight like it should. The grab handles on a Fireflite are not very user friendly, so that made the problem worse. So I adjusted it and adjusted it to no avail. I saw that the top of the catch was worn, but I couldn't see how that would affect it. I decided to replace it anyway because I didn't like how it looked. I grabbed one I saved from the '57 New Yorker that I parted out and put it on there. Now the door finally latches correctly! Once removed, I noticed that the lower edge of the old one was indeed quite worn, and likely the cause of most of my troubles. (58FF Worn Drivers Door Latch.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Worn Drivers Door Latch.jpg (181KB - 370 downloads) | ||
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| 22mafeja |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 748 Location: Finland | |||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | Yeah, I don't know Ralf. Some people don't like showing progress pictures. I took a long break from it during the winter. I think I just got burned out for a while. But I'm back at it again. I really need the exercise it provides! I took a lower rocker panel from the Windsor that I parted. It was pretty clean, but had a couple of pits in the backside that I didn't like. So I welded those and cleaned them up before painting the backside. I got it welded in place yesterday and did the second round of filling the pinholes before it got too dark to continue. I just need to clean this up better and prime it now. (58FF Lower Front Quarter Weld.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Lower Front Quarter Weld.jpg (141KB - 362 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I cleaned up the welds better and primed it. There is one low spot that will need to be pulled out a little, and one high spot. I easily slapped the high spot down, but I will wait to get a better stud puller before I tackle the low spot. The left front fender had been heavily dented in the past, and someone made an attempt to straighten it, but it left the metal bulging out from being stretched. I attempted to straighten it a little better, but couldn't proceed until I shrunk the metal to stop my efforts from just bouncing from the oil can effect. It took 3 passes with the shrinking disc, but now it's where it should be. Shrinking actually works better with a thin layer of rust on the metal, but doesn't work at all with any paint. In this case, I didn't have to strip the fender at all. It'll take a lot more straightening to finish it, but I will probably wait until I eventually remove the fender to get it done. (58FF Fender Bulge Shrink.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Fender Bulge Shrink.jpg (93KB - 342 downloads) | ||
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| 22mafeja |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 748 Location: Finland | |||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I received 3 sets of new sill plates from Jan in Sweden today. Very impressive quality! I may spray them with clear to preserve the shine on them and use a sealer on the backsides. I won't use the 300 or New Yorker versions for quite some time, but I'm going to use the DeSoto plates right away on my Fireflite. This Fireflite & my 300C were missing them, and they were very corroded on one New Yorker, so it's very nice to be able to get replacements. Edited by Powerflite 2024-04-09 1:05 AM (New Fwrdlk Sill Plates.jpg) Attachments ---------------- New Fwrdlk Sill Plates.jpg (212KB - 365 downloads) | ||
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Expert Posts: 1252 Location: D-70199 Heslach | |||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I certainly will Tom! When I welded the dog leg section, it didn't quite line up to the wheel lip properly, and I welded it with the body relaxed, that solidified a bend in the quarter above the wheel. Not good. So I took it back apart and made a new piece to replace that section. This time, I removed the rear body mount and loosened the other three in the trunk so I could push up on the body with my jack and straighten the quarter panel while I weld up that lip. It came out much better, and I'm quite happy with it now. I cleaned up the welds and painted it primer, but it still needs gobs of body work on that section before it'll be ready for paint. The lower rear quarter behind the wheel is also rusted, and currently filled with bondo, so lots more work there too. But I want to work on something else for a while, so I can drive this car and get some enjoyment out of it first. Time to go cruising! (58FF Right Wheel Lip Rev2.jpg) (1958 DeSoto Ready to Cruise.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Right Wheel Lip Rev2.jpg (141KB - 357 downloads) 1958 DeSoto Ready to Cruise.jpg (174KB - 333 downloads) | ||
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| 22mafeja |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 748 Location: Finland | |||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I moved some cardboard panels in the trunk out of the way and found this old Tucson Daily Citizen newspaper from Sept 5, 1959. The car would have been less than 2yrs old at the time. That leads me to believe that the car was originally sold to Arizona. Not sure at what point it made its way to California. It has more rust than I would expect for an Arizona car, but who knows where it spend most of it's time. (58FF Newspaper Find in Trunk.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Newspaper Find in Trunk.jpg (225KB - 362 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I remember an old Peanuts book called "Happiness Is". One of the entries was a full tank of gas. I didn't really understand that sentiment at the time, as I was only 8 yrs old. But now that I am an adult, I would change that statement to: "Happiness is a fuel gauge that works properly".  There were many issues with it that I had to fix. First the gauge didn't have a proper ground, second the new sender had a bad float, third, it leaked once I filled the tank full. All done now. Another perplexing one to me was: "Happiness is a sad song." What? Edited by Powerflite 2024-05-18 9:28 PM (58FF Fuel Guage Works.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Fuel Guage Works.jpg (181KB - 357 downloads) | ||
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Expert Posts: 1252 Location: D-70199 Heslach | |||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I replaced the driveshaft boot with a new universal CV boot, around 3 years ago and haven't driven the car very many miles since then. But it self-destructed on my way home from church last Sunday. The clamps are still tight on the driveshaft with garbage rubber still underneath them so the rubber itself deteriorated. Why?? Do these require a specific kind of grease to prevent this?? I didn't have a lot of grease in there so it shouldn't have happened. I'm thinking of using this grease and try it again. I think I used bearing grease the last time. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mkt-906033 Also, looking under the car now, the exhaust system is really bugging me. I think it's time to replace that monstrosity. Edited by Powerflite 2024-07-18 2:58 PM (mkt-906033_xl.jpg) Attachments ---------------- mkt-906033_xl.jpg (20KB - 330 downloads) | ||
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| 22mafeja |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 748 Location: Finland | |||
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| 1960fury |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7619 Location: northern germany | |||
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| local2Ed |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | You got that right Ed, these things only ever come apart at 70mph or greater, and make you think the car is coming apart in pieces as it whaps the floor right under you. An older gentleman from Florida is visiting here and took a video of my car at a local car show that I went to. I guess he likes unfinished cars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_1FxWGe6JI | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I decided to calibrate my fuel gauge to make sure I know where the needle ends up when it's truly empty. I bought these two rheostats to get the job done easier, but I could have done it with a handful of cheap, fixed resistors. Calibrating the empty position is easy as it just requires one of them to do the job. I adjusted the resistance to 215 ohms and connected the end of it to the bumper for a good ground connection. Then I checked the gauge and found it was 1/8th below the empty line, just above the "Y" in the word EMPTY on the gauge. If I wanted to adjust that, I would determine what resistance was required to bring the gauge up to the empty mark, calculate the require resistance, and then add a parallel resistor to the line to bring it where it needed to go. However, I like having a little bit of reserve below the empty mark, so I'm going to leave it alone. The purpose of doing this is to ensure that true empty lies below the mark rather than above it, like on some of my cars that have left me stranded because of that. Checking the full mark is harder with the rheostats because it draws too much current for them. So I had to connect two of them together in parallel at 30 ohms each. This is where a simple 15 ohm power resistor would be much easier to hook up. The gauge went up a little beyond the full mark. I already knew this as I had filled the tank before, but it was good to confirm the position. (Fuel Gauge Calibration.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Fuel Gauge Calibration.jpg (189KB - 337 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I removed the driveshaft and took a closer look at the boot that self-destructed; but I was previously mistaken. I didn't use the wrong grease in the boot, I used the grease that they provided me in the package! So I can't blame the craptastic boot quality on the grease that I used. And you can see that I didn't use too much of it either. There was practically no grease in the area where the boot sits, or on the floor where it self destructed. It's only further up into the joint. And take a look at what remains of the rubber. It just fell apart after only 3 years and about 1000 miles. That's pretty ridiculous. I don't want to be constantly replacing these things. I have the most trouble with new replacement parts. They are just crap quality. Probably made in Chi-na. (58FF Crappy CV Boot Rubber.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Crappy CV Boot Rubber.jpg (152KB - 315 downloads) | ||
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| 22mafeja |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 748 Location: Finland | |||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | Thanks for the suggestion Ralf. It turns out that these Dorman 614-001 boots are made from silicone too, so it's not an issue with rubber quality. I found out that the real problem is that these boots were made to fit onto a much smaller shaft. My shaft is 2.5" on the big end and 1.5" on the smaller end. It took a while to dig up the info, but these boots are designed to fit on 0.93" to 1.24" max shafts on the small end. So although you can stretch it to fit onto the 1.5" shaft, it won't be reliable. Analyzing the failure, I can tell that it did fail at the small end first. That's where the deterioration (from stretching) is very obvious, then ripped off the big end at 80 mph once it came loose. The bad news is that the Dorman 614-002 is worse because the small end is even smaller. So it's max shaft size is 1.18" (30mm). These things are just not designed to work well on our driveshafts. But I realized that I may be able to attach the boot further up at the smaller 1.13" end of the shaft. It doesn't have a lip there to hold the boot in place and keep it from sliding around, but that might not matter - hopefully. So I'm going to try it there. At least I know it won't be over-stretching it on that part of the shaft. Edited by Powerflite 2024-08-17 2:50 PM (58FF CV Shaft Sizes.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF CV Shaft Sizes.jpg (133KB - 308 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I did end up putting the new boot on the smaller section of the shaft and it seems to work there. We'll see how it does after many miles driving. I've been in the process of replacing the exhaust system on the car. I hated all those poorly executed sharp turns with small 1 3/4" pipe. It felt like it was limiting the car's real potential. I purchased 2 1/2" stainless tail pipes for a '57 Chevy and cut them to modify and extend them above the rear axle. I have those finished now and purchased 24" Dynomax mufflers for it. I use 2 ball & socket joints after the mufflers and 2 after the headpipes so that I can easily take it apart in sections to work on various things in the future. I'm working on the front part of the exhaust now. I removed the original manifolds because 2" outlets seems a little anemic. Maybe they are OK for the engine in it's current condition, but eventually, I would want to upgrade it's output, and they won't be good enough then. Even newer 360 engines come with 2 1/4" exhaust. I don't want to have to redo the exhaust, so I'm changing them out now. I'm going to try using HP manifolds from the '60's and also try using shorty headers. I'll probably end up using the shorty headers though, if they work well. Unfortunately, they are stainless and will be very visible when you open the hood. I wish I could easily color them black. But either way, I'm going to need a custom generator mount. So I've designed one up that will fit over the headers or HP manifolds (with some changes to it) that will place the generator in the stock location. If anyone would like a model or drawing of this, let me know and I will be happy to share it. But it would be best to get it from me after I give it a try, just in case I end up needing to modify anything on it. (Big Block Right Generator Mounts.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Big Block Right Generator Mounts.jpg (27KB - 316 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | The HP manifold looks really good on the right side of the car and exit in a perfect location too. These have a 2.4" outlet, which is plenty big for this engine and the valve is very loose, essentially always open. I'm very tempted to use these on the car. I purchased them fully cleaned, but didn't paint them right away. Now they have a nice coating of rust that I will need to clean off.  It's clear that my custom generator bracket above won't work as designed with these. Not sure how I would redesign it to work...(58FF Right HP Manifold.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Right HP Manifold.jpg (244KB - 306 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | A generator mount like this that extends up to the lower water pump bolt might work well. Although, currently, this would want to occupy the same space as my fuel filter, so some rearranging would be required. I was never very happy with my current fuel line as it extends over the valve cover. It just looks out of place, so moving it wouldn't be a bad idea. (Big Block Right HP Generator Mounts.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Big Block Right HP Generator Mounts.jpg (25KB - 343 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | Unfortunately, it looks like the C-body HP manifold on the left hand side isn't a good fit for these cars. The exhaust exits right toward the biggest part of the steering box with only about 1 1/4" of clearance. Add a flange to that, and you're practically right on top of it. It's also annoyingly close to the starter solenoid for some reason. So this is a no-go. It's a shame because I like the way these look on the engine better than the B-body manifolds that stick up higher. I also determined that another right side manifold wouldn't work on the left as it would conflict with the dipstick & engine mount. You could probably make it work if you really wanted to, but it doesn't seem worth it. I'm perplexed why after draining the radiator at the pet-**** so that the system is mostly empty, you still get a lot of fluid draining out of the exhaust manifold bolts...  I guess it's due to the action of the thermostat?(C-body HP Manifold Interference Top.jpg) (C-body HP Manifold Interference Bottom.jpg) Attachments ---------------- C-body HP Manifold Interference Top.jpg (177KB - 315 downloads) C-body HP Manifold Interference Bottom.jpg (152KB - 325 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I took a look at the B-body manifolds and decided not to use those either. They exit behind the rear-most port in an area that works, but is too close to the brake line. It would also collide with my transmission lines and hit the shifter cable. New brake lines and transmission lines could solve the problem, but it would be difficult to keep the shifter cable away from the exhaust. You would have to keep it pulled away from it. It can be done, but I wasn't impressed and didn't want to go to all that trouble to make it work. So I'm back to the headers. I don't think I will consider using HP manifolds on any of my big block cars. The HP manifolds just aren't very well suited to our vehicles. I'm not thrilled with the look with headers on the engine, but I'll live with it. I think there is a pickling solution (copper-selenide?) that will blacken stainless steel. I may give that a try in the future. (58FF Left SS Header.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Left SS Header.jpg (205KB - 308 downloads) | ||
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| Lancer Mike |
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Location: The Centennial State | |||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I made a small oversight mistake in the generator mount design. I didn't have enough offset from the header to properly clear the valve cover. So I welded in some extra-large nuts to use as spacers. This meant that I had to cut the same amount from the end of it to keep the mount in the same position. But I now have that done and tacked together. With this done, I can make the side supports along with the actual mounting nuts. (Big Block Header Generator Mount Spacers.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Big Block Header Generator Mount Spacers.jpg (135KB - 317 downloads) | ||
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I got the generator mount all tacked together and drilled & tapped the holes so that I was ready to go for a trial run with it. It looked good, but I noticed that it was sitting about 1/4 to 3/8" too far forward. Otherwise, no other issues. It's close enough that it probably would work fine because of how far away it is from the other pulleys, but I don't like it. It looks like my measurements weren't quite accurate enough. The best remedy is to move the header mounting holes forward, so I'll need to cut the spacer nuts back off and move the holes a little bit. But it's nice to see it come together. (58FF Generator Mount Trial.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Generator Mount Trial.jpg (173KB - 299 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I carefully compared my new bracket to the original, and found that it was 0.2" too far forward. It looked worse than it was because the adjustment bracket was bent for some reason. But I chose to move it 0.25" back. I cut the mounts back off, marked the new positions, welded the holes back in and re-drilled. I had to weld in new material at the forward edge of the front mount so the hole wouldn't get too close to the edge, I trimmed up the excess on the rear mount and I had to trim the rear section of the front mount to prevent it from hitting the header. With that all done, I straightened the adjustment arm & re-tested it. It looked about perfect so I welded it all up. It just needs a good coat of primer & black paint, and I can mount it to the new header. (Big Block Header Generator Mount Welded.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Big Block Header Generator Mount Welded.jpg (157KB - 278 downloads) | ||
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| Lancer Mike |
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Location: The Centennial State | Nicely done
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| 22mafeja |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 748 Location: Finland | |||
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| 58coupe |
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Expert Posts: 1785 Location: Alaska | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10914 Location: Lower Mainland BC | 22mafeja - 2024-11-24 10:26 PM Solid looking bracket. It is surprisingly challenging to line up beltdrives perfectly straight. Wayfarer (Gary S) previously posted these pulley alignment photos: Edited by 56D500boy 2024-11-25 3:54 PM | ||
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| 22mafeja |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 748 Location: Finland | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | That's an interesting way to line them up. I use a slightly different method. I decided that my generator was too ugly to install it as it was, so I spent a little time to clean it up before I installed it for good. Now to see what kind of shenanigans I need to go through to hook up the wires to the spark plugs. I may need to purchase shorter plugs for the outer ones to get them to fit well behind the header. We'll see. When I painted the gray parts, my spray can clogged up from the inside. It was almost full, so that wasn't cool. I tried to unplug it to no avail and ended up puncturing the valve so I had a continual spray of paint coming out of it. After painting the generator, I had to quickly find something I wanted to paint gray. I ended up painting my vise without any prep in advance. It came out surprisingly good.  At least it's not solid rust color now.Edited by Powerflite 2024-11-28 7:04 PM (58FF Generator Installed.jpg) (Gray Vice.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Generator Installed.jpg (199KB - 309 downloads) Gray Vice.jpg (144KB - 271 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I finally finished welding up the exhaust on this car. I used 4 ball & socket connectors on it so that I could easily take sections of it apart if needed - at least in theory. Two just behind the mufflers and 2 in front of the transmission crossmember. I didn't weld in an O2 sensor bung like I had planned, but I should be able to easily do that in the future by taking it back apart. In hindsight, I wish I would have welded the bolts to the header collectors. It would have made it much easier to attach the pipes to them without having to keep the other side of the bolt from turning. If I ever take the headers off again, I will do that. I haven't tried starting the engine up yet because I stole the battery from this car to use in my '70 Satellite when it's battery died. I'll purchase a new one and give it a try tomorrow. Hopefully, no leaks. (58FF Tailpipes.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF Tailpipes.jpg (127KB - 259 downloads) | ||
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| 22mafeja |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 748 Location: Finland | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10456 Location: So. Cal | I was getting jealous of all those '57 & 59 Dodge and other cars with neat stickers on their valve covers. So I attempted to design one for the '58 DeSoto, hoping to get something like what they might have used. They called these big block engines the Turboflash V8. So I came up with a logo design using the front hood emblem. One with the Turboflash lettering and one without. I think I may like the one without a little better. (TurboFlash Script.jpg) (TurboFlash Emblem Only.jpg) (TurboFlash NoV8.jpg) Attachments ---------------- TurboFlash Script.jpg (27KB - 221 downloads) TurboFlash Emblem Only.jpg (12KB - 249 downloads) TurboFlash NoV8.jpg (22KB - 243 downloads) | ||
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