1951 F16

[416Ford]

What did you use on the hood KB? I used a DA on the outside of Vickies, I will have to blast the inside.

[kb426]

I used a purple stripper wheel for a 4" grinder. I bought 2 of them and was concerned that they would melt like scotchbrite does. Not so. It just kept wearing. It wasn't as good on rust that was thick but on light stuff, it was quick and good. I went out and got the other one. It says: Elite Abrasives, 4" clean &strip it, type 27 extra coarse.

[kb426]

O&S had another look at the calendar today. I looked at what I had completed in the last 2 weeks and decided I was more out of time that I thought. I retrieved another bottle of argon and repaired 5 small spots on the hood rail. I made a decision to prime some of the parts that needed some more work because of lack of time. My plan is to get the inside of the cab painted and some bondo on the outside of the cab and primed before I assemble everything. The inside of the doors has some paint removal left. The rest is about going forward without cutting corners. I have the cab and rear fenders left to prime. I ordered another gallon of epoxy. I will end up with around 2.5 gallons to cover everything with 2 coats. I don't remember using that much in the past but I'm sure that means I don't remember.

[kb426]

O&S was at it's finest today. I think the only way I could have gotten less accomplished was to stay in the house. My plan was to install the evaporator. I installed the windshield wiper 1st because of where the motor hangs down. I put all the parts together and one of the arms rubbed at full stroke. There are 2 slots on the motor mounting bracket that slides the motor sideways to center in in the bracket. I changed it 6 times before I quit. It slightly touches on the right hand side. I could see that I might spend all day and not get it any better. I moved on to mounting the evaporator. I had 2 ideas that I wasn't crazy about. I took a break and went for a short cycle ride. I returned and had a completely different idea. 3 sets of brackets later, it is solidly mounted. I have the bulkheads for the hoses in the firewall. I'm planning on putting the battery on the firewall so space is at a premium. The top heater hose will  have to be installed before the evaporator is installed. There is enough room for a screwdriver to tighten a clamp but vision will be very difficult. I have this unit mounted higher than the white 51. It's far enough from the firewall to install sound and thermal mat and not rub.

[kb426]

O&S put in about 1/2 of a day today. I drilled a hole for the condensate drain on the ac and then pulled the seats from the storage shed. I got some height measurements and it all looked odd. Each corner of the seat is a different elevation. The floor pan from a Taurus was not the easy way to start from. I have 2 outside brackets made. The inside brackets were going to hit the floor on top of a rib so I made some individual brackets for the inside on the drivers seat. I'm going to look them over in the morning and see if I can come up with a better idea. The motor on the driver's seat does work. I removed the seat belt latch. It had a device that is energized in an accident. I'm not sure how it works but I don't want to find out by being stupid.

[idrivejunk]

It yanks the lap belt tight just before airbag deployment and may contain explosive.

[kb426]

^^^^
That was my thought. I think I'll cut off the wires before disposing to lessen the chance of something happening.

[idrivejunk]

Stuff like that must be deployed before legally tossing in trash. Send it 12V from a safe distance. Fun side project!

[kb426]

Matt, that's good to know.
O&S was slow and steady today. I started out by changing the 2 inside angles on the passenger seat to almost level with the seat frame rail. That was a little easier to work with. All of the inside mounts are different in angles and height. I pulled the seats back out and radiused the brackets. They will get painted when the inside of the cab is shot. I put the steering column in to center the seat as best as I could with it. When I did that, I noticed that the upper column mount wasn't quite correct in angle so I removed the bracket and bent it until it aligned with the column very closely.  I connected power to the driver's seat and moved it to check the range of motion. I believe that there is enough to handle most body sizes. I had 2 throttle pedals left over from truck projects. One from a 76 had the straightest mount so I choose it. I cut the shaft into so I can set the angle after measuring the travel for the throttle arm on the engine.  I will machine a coupler for the splice and weld it together.

[kb426]

O&S crossed another item off the list today. I now have operational inside door handles. I still have the skin on my hands. I need to add a return spring on both sides but that will be simple. I took 2 pics showing both sides that might be clear enough to see what I did. I made an alum. bracket from a left over motor plate from the top fuel car to attach to the lever on the bear claw. I threaded some more 3/16" rod for 10-32 threads and attached quick release rod ends to that rod. The rod is welded to the original inside door latch apparatus from the inside handle. It's so close in the door that most of the parts have to be assembled outside and then placed inside and bolted to the door. It's testing the dexterity in my fingers. This truck had the original defroster vents on the dash. I checked to see that they will clear everything that is in place. I finished out the day doing some yard work.

[kb426]

O&S was in reverse for most of today. I removed all the parts from the cab. I was able to install more sound mat on the firewall. I welded up the door locks and some small holes I had drilled to install the door handles before I found a different way to do it. It warmed up to a very pleasant temp after lunch. I took the doors outside and used the purple disc and removed the rest of the paint on them. Then I ran the cab outside and did the same thing to it. Tomorrow, the cab goes in bondo jail. I'm not good at that and it might be painful to watch. I won't update until I have something to show that is worth looking at.

[idrivejunk]

Godspeed, friend.

[jaybee]

It's not reverse, it's a planned detour...

[kb426]

O&S made it to the shop for the 1st time in 4 days. Also operating at about 50% power. I'm not done with this cold but today was the last kinda warm day for about 10 days. Remember that sharing the shop with my wife's car has hastened this project to drivable status. The bodywork is way far from being good. The inside and firewall is whimbolen white. I wanted the inside to be completed so when paint time arrives, it wouldn't require a complete disassemble. I would have rather masked off the outside but there wasn't drying time to allow that.

[123pugsy]

Looking good.