wagon progress

[MP&C]

Had our new apprentice started today, while I cut out the hole in the second seat bracket, Mike got started on punching and drilling holes for plug welding the passenger bucket seat bracket...



After I got the bracket hole cut out, E media blasted the brackets and added some SPI epoxy using a brush. We mainly wanted to get the bottom side well covered as it will be inaccessible once welded in place..




First coat...



Two coats, that should hold us for under a seat...



Meanwhile I got out the John Deere rod bender to see if we could make up some anchors for the shoulder belt..



Bent with relief for a 1/2-13 lock nut..





Welded with short bursts and plenty of cooling between to keep the nylon lock intact..



test fit...





plug weld holes drilled and welded in place....





Mike finished up plug welding the seat bracket in place...

[MP&C]

Had a late start in the shop tonight as I had to go look at a school bus. Yeah, week and a half to go until the end of school.
Looks like something gave the spot mirror a nice push..





The mirror mount looks like it's no longer straight....



OK, so we found it hard to fathom something hitting the mirror that high in the air as the bus was driving into it, so the other possibility was something backed into this one.. A quick search of the buses parked close by revealed this one with some nice shiny metal showing...





A quick test drive showed that the mirror didn't vibrate/move around that much so we're going to address this after school is out so this one can still be used for the next couple weeks..

Back at the shop, time to weld in the seat retainer brackets...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Gj...ature=youtu.be





....and then started the next shoulder harness anchor bracket....

[NickP]

Cool. At least someone is alive and kicking here.

[chevynut]

At least someone is alive and kicking here.

Yeah, it seems when the rules changed and people can't attack and criticize others, some have nothing to say.

Awesome work as usual, Robert. I don't know how you figured out how to do that. I love watching how you solve some of these problems and come up with great ideas.

I've been working on my car a little with nothing significant to post, and have been mostly doing yard work and trying to get multiple C4 projects out the door before summer. Going to throttle it down some this year through the summer and fall.

[BamaNomad]

Well... I've been away at the Smokey Mountain Classic Chevy Roundup for 4 days- great time wtih around 200 beautiful TriFives in attendance and a decent swap meet also.. Since I've gotten back, I've a friend helping me with finishing up the rear end install and brakes in the '56, and also we've stripped down all the wiring harnesses/etc from the LS1 and are trial-fitting it in the CC chassis (need to drill the holes for the trans mount brackets once it's in place and before I set the body on it). I ordered Billy's Steering kit yesterday (IDIDIT chrome tilt column, with steering coupler linkage to the rack and steering wheel).

[MP&C]

Pilot hole drilled for the passenger B-Pillar.....



The center point is spring loaded, but they seem to locate better using a pilot hole vs. just a punch...









The plug weld holes drilled for the anchor and paint cleaned off in prep for welding..



Apprentice E worked on smoothing off the plug welds from last week..





Welding in the anchor .....





For the lower anchor point, which will hold both the retractor and the lap belt, we used some 14 ga that will be plug welded to the back side of the inner quarter panel just behind the B Pillar.. A 1/2" lock nut is welded to the back side, and a spacer added to the front side to keep the lap belt off the side wall.











Or the motion picture version....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4na-...ature=youtu.be

[WagonCrazy]

Nice work (as usual) Robert. Like the way you document this stuff, so we can see your thought process (and learn from you).

How did you get the upper mount in that small hole? The mount looks like its 5 or 6 inches long, and the hole looks like it's 1/2 inch diameter. How'd you get that in there???

[WagonCrazy]

(this website is acting weird with the "reply" function. Wants to post twice for some reason?)

[MP&C]

Came up through the bottom of the B Pillar at the belt line. There's a flap of sheet metal covering the bottom opening, bent it down and out of the way.

[MP&C]

Tonight we have both seat belt retractor anchor plates welded and waiting for apprentice E to media blast and epoxy prime..





Next, we have the side filler panels to either side of the fold down rear seat that don't fit with those pesky wheel tubs in the way...





So we plan to make new ones, with a relief to fit snugly to the wheel tubs at the bottom end.. We used the Baileigh MH19 hammer and the shrinking dies to shape a piece of 14 gauge cold rolled to fit the wheel tub. Glad I didn't have to do all that shrinking by hand.









A flat piece from the top section will be welded to this piece, and then foam will be glued to the assembly and upholstered to match the seat..