55 Wagon Progress

[kev2809]

wow...you guys have some serious skill...and amazing attention to detail.

fun to watch!

[MP&C]

Thanks guys!


Hood side number two completed yesterday. The flanges of the tapered pan get some stretch treatment in the kick Erco to match the profile of the hood side..





For the questions about the cutting device, it is a long nose pneumatic cut off tool from Blue Point. For keeping the cut nice and perpendicular, and disc width, the long nose works better (for me anyhow) by having the long nose as a visual guide to keep it parallel to our centerline. I don't think I would have seen as good of results using the standard cut off tool.








Each slot has stop drill holes at the end, to help remove any cracking issue and also to better determine end of cut.








E helped out with the punching efforts...…








Panel gets tacked in and welded with the TIG...

[MP&C]

Our vent/check valve for the fuel tank will get mounted up behind the driver's tail light by the filler neck. We bent up a piece of stainless tubing last night for the vent line. The glue-lined heat shrink works well to provide a cushion/vibration dampener up against the tank.. For our stainless bends, we had also bought a roll of copper tubing to use for test bends. Inch increments were marked, bends made, and then these marked "starting points" could be transferred to the stainless for more accurate bends.....and less of a scrap pile.














Video version..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE_3...ature=youtu.be



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[MP&C]

Well after about 12 years, the Lennox TE150 is leaving the building. When we did the 35 Chevy louvers for Cody Walls, it hinted then of it's limitations. Simply put, not enough throat capacity with some of the automotive panels.


I bought this from Northwest Airlines and picked it up from their then recently closed DC-9 maintenance facility at the Hartsfield Atlanta airport. They had shut down the operation and moved maintenance overseas. This and a 100 ton drop press was the last that remained in an otherwise vacant building.


I've found another metalshaper that has a larger machine, but doesn't really use it for the capacity. So after negotiating the terms, he will be using this for the (mainly) motorcycle fabrications, where I will have more capacity for larger automotive panels.

[mongocanfly]

wow....that is one huge chunk of steel...

[MP&C]

Good thing I got a tilt bed trailer last year, it came in handy.. As well as borrowing some piano moving jacks..


With rain in the forecast for Friday, we loaded up the TE150 Thursday night and left it inside. All ready for the 2+ hour drive to it's new home on Saturday..





With our "trade-in" situated next to the newsed machine, you get a hint to the comparison in size. What you don't see is what is used on the inside. The TE150 uses 1/2" thick steel plate on the sides, the TE250 uses 1-1/4" thick steel plate. Quite a difference, and easily noticed when moving..








Winch helps with the uphill movement..





We made another stop and also picked up a small spinning lathe, a Model 18 DuaLathe, and a larger 3 phase converter. The motor size on the Lennox jumps from 1.5 hp to 5hp on the new one, and my present converter is a bit undersized for the occasion. All backed in the shop for the unloading ceremonies..









Some square pads were cut out of horse mat for mounting, and 3/4" anchors sunk into the concrete..





….and let's not forget the requisite safety warning label..






Still need to wire in the three phase converter, but glad all the moving is complete.

[Lokin4AReason]

cool bumper sticker ....

[MP&C]

Finished up the fuel lines at the tank, bending and flaring..











test fit to the pump.....








Helpful hint of the day, copper line works well for trial runs...





Side stepped the area above the third member with the fuel line in case of extreme movement... the Adel clamps floating there will attach to the underside of the floor brace.

[oldman3]

Looks great...Jim

[knomadd]

Nice work!

[MP&C]

Well our progress on the wagon is hard to show, other than a pile of sanded paint residue on the floor.. So let's look at the sample louvers just completed, these are rotated 15 degrees..












The new 3 phase converter is wired in, and it sure is nice not having to swap plugs anymore.. this one has three outputs.

[MP&C]

Busy weekend! Saturday we got the power window mechanisms cut to length, and installed for the rear windows. We found some 1/4-20 x 1" standoffs about perfect for spacing the vertical part where it needed to be for locating the window track centered in the opening..





Lock nuts used to keep the spacer from spinning during attachment...





1/4-20 Rivnut added to secure the top..









Track is pretty well centered....





Also made a bracket for the Diacro No. 1A bender so we can use it in our universal stands..















Sunday was the Coming Out Car Show put on by the Southern Knights Rod and Custom Car Club. We got Brad to bring his car out for the event. It's like a magnet, he was answering questions all day. We had some metal fabrications on display, and I enjoyed talking to many people about their projects, welding processes, and our fabrication capabilities.


























*photo credit Mike Tunney, Old Liners Car Club

[mongocanfly]

That's nice Robert...how bout a video of your diacro in action...

[MP&C]

Greg, we'll work one in where we can....



We need to do another spray out test panel, so we can nail down the top color to accent the green. These car bodies just aren't big enough to do a two tone...……..






….so we fabricated a fake quarter panel using the Tommasini wheeling machine, and sprayed it with some epoxy primer. We'll get it blocked on Saturday and spray the bottom using Organic Green Kandy Basecoat, and spray the top with Galaxy gray, to see how well those two go together...

[mongocanfly]

Great idea making the fake panel...should really show the colors good across the radius

[MP&C]

Mike did some component assembly today so we could make sure things fit before powder coating brackets. Good thing we did..








The AC condenser bracket came with the Vintage Air setup, and we bought the alternator bracket to match... I'm not really keen on the mix of vintage air cleaner and AC condenser in front of it, but I think the owner would frown on the lack of cold air exiting from the dash..


While Mike was working on those issues, I added some color to our paint sprayout sample.. It's too cloudy out today but we're hoping for sunlight tomorrow to better show what this will look like. Until then, Milwaukee Sun...








Video version:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhfk84YrQtY



.

[mongocanfly]

Like the air cleaner...it just looks right ....I'd be moving the alt,comp......colors look great together!,

[MP&C]

Here's a sneak peek at our speaker trim rings just back from DGM Chrome in Philly. Looks like we'll get a couple set up with the stainless mesh so we can show them off at this weekend's car show in Leonardtown..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OOk...ature=youtu.be



.

[oldman3]

Robert, trim rings look super. I have one question, lately you pics posted are HUGE, I have to move across my 17" screen 4 times to see the picture, what changed...Jim

[mongocanfly]

Nice and purdy!....

[doowoppwer]

Jim, et al, simply hold the control key and tap the minus (-) key to make those large pics viewable. Hope this helps.

Roger

[mongocanfly]

well...i tried what you suggested doowop..but now the print is extremely tiny....

[MP&C]

Some snafu with PB again... Likely their way of making you upload downsized pictures to take up less storage.. So now we downsize the pictures first.....


Since we got our freshly chromed speaker trim rings back from DGM Chrome in Philly, it only stands to reason that we need to put another sample together for the car show in Leonardtown on Sunday. So today I stopped by Norris Upholstery and picked up a scrap to cover one of the kick panels to make it more presentable. Fake upholstery, if you will..





We planned on adding a plateau to the stainless speaker mesh rather than flat, so some pressing fixtures had been cut out on a water jet for us..

















Comparing the flat to the plateau....








installed...











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrOES4xQv2A



This might even work....

[oldman3]

Robert, beautiful work, should get some attention...Jim

[mongocanfly]

As usual.. extremely nice...