Nomad final assembly

[Gmvette]

The 55 Chevy in post 303 sure would look a lot better with chrome and polished stainless. Might just as well not have trim and bumpers if not. After all it’s intended to accentuate the classic ‘55 body.

[chevynut]

I've been spending most of the recent days straightening, sanding, and polishing trim and I'm pretty burned out on it at this point. I now have 56 pieces on my list which now includes 3 pieces of liftgate weatherstrip retainers. I have finished 37 pieces.

I had planned to buy new slider edge channel and stationary quarter channel since they're reproduced and mine were kind of beat up. Aft ser noticing the stock pieces have a convex shape to the outboard side and the repops do not, I decided to try to restore mine.

First step was filing to show up all the dents....

20191019_001.JPG


Then the dents are tapped out....

20191019_002.JPG

Then the part is sanded and polished....

20191022_004.JPG

Here's a vertical liftgate side trim that was also pretty dented up before I fixed it....

20191022_003.JPG


And here's a finished door beltine molding that was kinda ripply and slightly dented....

20191022_005.JPG

Madmooks is sending me a shipment of his billet stainless tailgate parts and door strikers. I think some of them are going to be un-polished so I'll have to polish them too. I'll have to see what I end up with.

[BamaNomad]

Good work, CN... The restored parts look great!

Didn't the vertical liftgate side trim have the 'fold over' stainless on it which is bent over to hold the weatherstrip? After straightening, it's usually pretty 'rough'... I don't see that on your part. Did you remove it? or ?? If it's still on that part, it must be very straight now, so how did you do that?

[chevynut]

Didn't the vertical liftgate side trim have the 'fold over' stainless on it which is bent over to hold the weatherstrip? After straightening, it's usually pretty 'rough'... I don't see that on your part. Did you remove it? or ?? If it's still on that part, it must be very straight now, so how did you do that?

I bought new weatherstrip retainers from Madmooks and removed the beat up old stuff that was spot welded on.

http://www.madmooks.com/New_Products.html

[BamaNomad]

Thanks CN! I didn't know it was possible to do that.. and didn't know Michael had those parts available (the photos in the link you sent are screwed due to the PhotoBucket fiasco, but I got the gist of it). I've attempted to straighten mine with intent to reuse, but it's not attractive (ie. ugly)...

Was it difficult to remove the old and install the new? Does one need stainless welding capability (ie. tig?) or ??

[chevynut]

Thanks CN! I didn't know it was possible to do that.. and didn't know Michael had those parts available (the photos in the link you sent are screwed due to the PhotoBucket fiasco, but I got the gist of it). I've attempted to straighten mine with intent to reuse, but it's not attractive (ie. ugly)...

Was it difficult to remove the old and install the new? Does one need stainless welding capability (ie. tig?) or ??

Yes Mike has been selling them for a long time and I bought mine from him years ago. I think his may be slightly thicker than stock because I remember the stock ones being really thin......can you measure the thickness of yours for me? I'll post a picture of one of them later.

Removing them is easy with a die grinder or sander. They don't need to be welded to the vertical trim. There are screw holes that match the trim holes and the screws hold them together when installed. Mike doesn't countersink the holes but I'm going to try to do that before installation. He said the flathead screws sink in but I'm afraid it might distort them.

What's the deal with Photobucket? I was going to tell Mike his pics don't work.

[chevynut]

Here's a pic of the retainer...I measured it and it's .020" thick stainless.

IMG_4565.JPG

And here's another challenging piece I polished. No "projectiles" so far.

IMG_4564.JPG

[chevynut]

I just unpacked my taillights to install an AAW Backup Light Kit I bought.

https://www.americanautowire.com/sho...-1955-56-chevy

The instructions are a little weird but I figured it out once I figured out that the rubber boot goes in from the inside of the light. However, it says to use 6-32 x 1/4" self-tapping screws to install the retainer plates into the taillight assembly....but they don't provide the screws. Where do you get screws like that? I've never seen them anywhere. How fricking much trouble is it to add four 5-cent screws to the kit? I dug up the used taillight assemblies I have and found ONE that had the backup light socket so I removed those screws and used them to make threads in the casting. Then I used regular 6-23 screws with lockwashers

Every damn part I assemble seems to be a pain in the ass. I could write a book about all the crappy parts/kits out there. I got to looking at the two sets of six Trim Parts tailgate bars I got and EVERY ONE of them has the same waviness from over-polishing them in the same area. It's weird, but my NOS bars have the exact same defects in the exact same place. All of the bars say "CAV. 2" on back which I assume it came from cavity 2 in the mold. I understand that Trim Parts uses the original GM molds....so you get the original GM defects. I wonder what other cavities there are? I saw one bar at a friends house that said "CAV. 1".

Then there's the hood seal, the Danchuk door handles with the crooked screws, the Vintage Air pieces I had to re-make....it never ends.

Pretty disgusted with this stuff. Sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out to do this since I'm too picky.

Rodney just called and told me he's finished with my long quarter trim pieces. I hope they turn out like most of his stuff I've seen...he's as picky as me.

[BamaNomad]

I just unpacked my taillights to install an AAW Backup Light Kit I bought.

https://www.americanautowire.com/sho...-1955-56-chevy

The instructions are a little weird but I figured it out once I figured out that the rubber boot goes in from the inside of the light. However, it says to use 6-32 x 1/4" self-tapping screws to install the retainer plates into the taillight assembly....but they don't provide the screws. Where do you get screws like that? I've never seen them anywhere. How fricking much trouble is it to add four 5-cent screws to the kit? I dug up the used taillight assemblies I have and found ONE that had the backup light socket so I removed those screws and used them to make threads in the casting. Then I used regular 6-23 screws with lockwashers.

I've got an NOS GM B/U light assembly in the box for a '56. I'd be glad to photograph the parts? or scan/post the instruction sheet if it would help you? Let me know...

Every damn part I assemble seems to be a pain in the ass. I could write a book about all the crappy parts/kits out there. I got to looking at the two sets of six Trim Parts tailgate bars I got and EVERY ONE of them has the same waviness from over-polishing them in the same area. It's weird, but my NOS bars have the exact same defects in the exact same place. All of the bars say "CAV. 2" on back which I assume it came from cavity 2 in the mold. I understand that Trim Parts uses the original GM molds....so you get the original GM defects. I wonder what other cavities there are? I saw one bar at a friends house that said "CAV. 1".

I also have several sets of NOS tailgate bars that I could check for the backside notations...? I did a quickie search and found 3 of these NOS parts in a crate (possibly the last 3 I found or purchased). All three of these were marked as 'CAV.2'

If I come across some of the ones I purchases back in the 70's, I'll try to remember to check those.

[BamaNomad]

Here's a pic of the retainer...I measured it and it's .020" thick stainless.

IMG_4565.JPG

And here's another challenging piece I polished. No "projectiles" so far.

IMG_4564.JPG

Your polished pieces look good CN!

The original 'fold over' portion of the liftgate side stainless (weatherstrip retainers) was VERY THIN; I doubt it was anywhere close to 0.020", but I'll try to remember to mike an original piece tomorrow and post it here...

For fear I'd forget tomorrow, I went to the shop tonight and found the liftgate side pieces; the portion of stainless that is very thin for crimping around the rubber weatherstrip measures to 0.010" +/- ...
The main portion of the stainless measures to 0.020". The crimpable part is approx 1/2 of the thickness of the trim part.