project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[hairnet]

can i just say

LOLSHIRT

ps you need to change the tag................

[PhilA]

Loaded both cars into the garage, gonna board that up over the weekend.

Window assembly piece arrived today though which was good.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

windy here too - enough to make me not go to FOD

hope its not too bad for ya

 

[PhilA]

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

windy here too - enough to make me not go to FOD

hope its not too bad for ya

 

I'll tell you on Wednesday. Tuesday's storm is now meant to go somewhere else. It's all a bit too early to say yet.

[PhilA]

Got creative tonight. Put the sash channel back on the glass by stripping a length of rubber wire insulation and putting that I over the end of the glass and pushing the sash channel up into that.

Now the glass goes up and down with care. That'll do until I can get the correct rubber strip, window felt channel and glass.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Pulled the glass out of the back door tonight and carefully eased the dash channel onto the edge, which now holds the pane flat.

 

Got the mechanism freed up, all the moving parts back in their appropriate slots and the glass back in the door, going up and down.

 

Fixed the rear channel back onto the upright and lined it all up. It goes up and down now, and the glue should be set by tomorrow.

All windows operational now, which is good.

 

Phil

[somewhatfoolish]

Is door glass unobtanium?

[PhilA]

4 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Is door glass unobtanium?

No, GM did a British Leyland and shared the doors between models, so the glass is available. Failing that, it is flat laminated glass so I could always get some cut to shape if all else fails.

The guy I got the window mechanism parts from checked the glass and said the ones on the spares car had all started to go green and bubbly about 4" in from the edges, delamination sucks. 

 

New cut glass is available though, $50 a pop but now at least I can just slot in a new pane when I get it.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Found out why the mechanism falls off the runners at the bottom of its travel.

The panel that's been conveniently removed and discarded on this door has the stop on it. Great.

 

So, because I can't fix that properly right now, I gave the glass a deep clean instead. Comes up all nice, at least.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

After work today, I decided to carry on with the glass as a short task because in the lull of the storm it gets all hot and airless.

 

Significant improvement, without fancy polishes and stuff.

 

From inside, it's clear (get it?) that made an improvement. I since removed the Joint Auxiliary sticker because I'm not part of that, it expired in 2011 and my inspection sticker has to go there.

I also need to find out why the interior mirror doesn't stay where it's put, it should lock in both day and night positions but it's currently stuck in the night one.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Had a quick look at the rearview mirror- nice and easy to take off, just undo the lock nut and unscrew the entire assembly from the pillar.

Nothing overly complex about the construction, thankfully. Just pressed steel sheet, so a screwdriver to carefully prise the lip off the tabs and the front trim came off.

The mirror cleaned up with a bit of glass cleaner, the little tab you flip was covered in decades of grime and nose gold. That was carefully removed and the little tangs that clip onto the mirror tightened up. It was all able to wobble about and I think that's why it wasn't working properly.

I was going to reassemble it, had a bit of a go with some metal polish, which all stuck in the cigarette/oil/nasty grime all over it, so it was brought inside and received a good scrub. That helped but it needed to be hotter so it's gone in the dishwasher. That'll be ready tomorrow morning.

 

Phil

 

[PhilA]

It's not great but it's better. I'll give it a bit more of a clean later.

 

Phil

[busmansholiday]

How's this hurricane affecting you Phil. Bits we see on the UK news don't look good.

[PhilA]

3 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

How's this hurricane affecting you Phil. Bits we see on the UK news don't look good.

Here, we're okay, the localized comparison for you would be a bad storm in London. We have one of the feeder bands over us right now which is providing a large amount of rain, but I've opened the window shutters and hopefully by the end of the weekend it'll be slightly less wet.

[PhilA]

Fixed the mirror.

[hairnet]

eyebrow lol

can you 10x it please (sorry ill go now)

 

[hairnet]

are all the metal pieces proper cast like the back of the mirror the pull tab thing

or are they mazak?

apart from the outside trims theres no stainless?

 

[PhilA]

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

are all the metal pieces proper cast like the back of the mirror the pull tab thing

or are they mazak?

apart from the outside trims theres no stainless?

 

Nope, all stamped sheet metal.

Phil

[Dan_ZTT]

Just caught up on this after somehow missing it for about a year. Awesome job you're doing. 

[PhilA]

I just ordered a couple little goodies for the car. One I need, one is going to be helpful.

Should be in next week.

Phil

[hairnet]

Judson

Port and polish

Ps it's two years since you started this

I know this because

1. Sad bastard

2. It's my mother's birthday

Thanks Phil

[paulplom]

Did you manage to miss the storm?

[PhilA]

Not all of it, but most of it yes.

And yes, 2 years ago I bought this.

[PhilA]

Bought a big jug of diesel oil, antifreeze, brake fluid and screen wash today for the car. 

Wife not impressed. 

 

[PhilA]

Mm. Curves. Finished polishing the paint.

Only took me 2 years but the whole car has a shine to it now.

I took a step back and needed to be a little bit retrospective. So, here's a drive up the street in the car just after I bought it.

Here it is today, on the same route.

Yeah, I am happier with how it is now, for sure.

Phil

[PhilA]

 I stopped earlier to take account of what's changed between those two films.
For one, all the dashboard works now. The switches work correctly. The clock works. The lights all work. The windows go up and down. The horn works. The gearbox changes gear properly. The engine no longer sounds like a bag of bolts. It's got a radio. The antenna works. The rearview mirror works. The wipers work. The screen wash works. All the locks have keys. The paint has a half decent gloss to it. The heater works.
Probably more that I've forgotten, too.

[paulplom]

It's been quite a journey and interesting read. I reckon you've saved it from a scrap yard and made it quite a bit more valuable. You can tell your M rs it's an appreciating asset now and throwing loads of money at it will make it worth more. You could even tell her it's some form of pension.

Any chance of a celebratory doughnut video?

[egg]

Just caught up from March. Great dedication, and even better skills. 

A lot of the time it seems less like working on a car and more like renovating a piece of mobile architecture. 

[Asimo]

That does sound lovely now. What a transformation! 

 

[STUNO]

Thanks for 2 years of interesting reading, looking and jealousy. I admire what you have achieved.