And now for this short break...

Going out of the country for eight days. This will be the longest stretch of time that I've not worked on Ol' Yeller since January.
In the meantime, here's a couple of before and afters of the drivers fender vs. the passenger side.

 

A little color...

Rims ready for color

I've been working towards getting the chassis in rolling shape so I can put it away and start on the body. To that end, I needed to repaint the wheels--I had painted two of them back in '99, and blasted the other two a couple of months ago. Since I had to mix up some paint, it made sense to mix enough to paint a few body parts, so that's why I've been working on some of the sheet metal.

Paint day has arrived!

I posted some photos of my fender repairs a while back. Whenever I needed a break from the motor, or I was waiting on this or that part, I would give some attention to the fender and front splash pans. All of the sheet metal on the car is badly pitted, so my work consisted of laying down multiple layers of filler primer and guide coats, until I got to a point where I was ready to top coat.
This past Sunday, I pulled out my VERY expensive gallon of Harvest Gold and mixed up a batch. It was a cool dry day here in Florida, so I took the chance and sprayed with the door open. As expected, I picked up a few specks, mostly
on the fender, but nothing that I can't buff out.

One hour later...

After setting up for two days, I took the rims and my new Coker wide whitewalls to the tire shop this morning. The guys at the shop know what I'm working on, so they're very respectful of my parts and carried each rim like a newborn baby. A couple of hours later and I was back in my own shop mounting them up. It was a little bright this afternoon, so my photo is a bit washed out, but I think it looks damned good!

...and things look a little brighter

My plan for the fender is to reassemble it using the passenger fender as a guide for correct bolts and screws. Once that is done, I can disassemble that one and begin welding again.
My wife doesn't know it, but the upstairs guest bedroom is becoming the safe storage area for finished pieces!

Ready for rubber

Baby's got new shoes!

Day by day, step by step

Progress continues, although slower than I'd like.
Having gotten the motor mostly reassembled, I've focused on other items that will put me closer to

TH350 adapter brackets

the goal of getting the chassis rolling and complete. Since I'm using a Turbo 350 tranny, I purchased an adapter kit to use the transmission with the '55 frame. I've painted and installed the single exhaust system, which was a bit of a bear but eventually everything went together. I dug out and cleaned up the distributor, installing new points and condensor. I also unearthed a Rochester 2bbl carb that I rebuilt about 15 years ago but never used. I took it apart to make sure everything inside was still good, which it appeared to be. I've also had the temporary tires removed from the wheels so I can prep and paint them with the final coat of yellow.

Ready to start

Since I'll be mixing up some color, I've been working on prepping some of the front end sheetmetal so I can maximize the time with the paint gun, as well as minimize or avoid paint waste. The repairs I made to the left front fender have turned out really good, which has given me renewed confidence in my sheetmetal repair skills. Last weekend I finally shot a good coat of filler primer on the fender, as
well as the three pieces that make up the front splash pan. All of these pieces were suffering from minor to bad pitting, which required quite a bit of time and elbow grease to fill and sand, fill and sand. If the weather will give me a break this weekend (that is, no rain or high humidity) I should have some truly finished pieces to admire.
Once I bolted on the carburetor and lined up the distributor, there

Primed and sanding off the guide coat

was no other reason to not try and start the motor. I had done a temporary start with my son's Ford six banger a while back, so I didn't think it could be too different with the Chevy. The only difference was the solenoid, which is mounted on the firewall of the Ford and doesn't come into play. With this motor, I had to go through the solenoid with my wiring.
After hooking it up the way I thought it should go, I took a deep breath and turned the key. She turned over, as I expected, but wouldn't fire. I noticed, however, that just as I would let off the key, for a split second the motor would try to fire. That told me that there wasn't a constant source of power getting to the coil, but no matter how I reconfigured my wiring, I just couldn't make anything happen. Frustrated, I turned my back on the whole thing and let it lie for a day.
Once I cleared my head, I started looking for some direction on the Internet. Every configuration I found resembled what I had already tried, until I finally came upon a hand-drawn schematic that showed one additional wire connecting the coil to the starter switch.
With fresh resolve and hope, I attacked the problem again the next morning. Once I had my wires in place, I again took a deep breath and, well, the result is in the video below...

Head games

It's been over four weeks since I sent my cylinder heads of to be refurbished. Every week, I check in

Moving on with a new relationship

to see what the progress is, only to be told that "it'll be a few more days". Last week, I was told that they were done, only there was a slight problem. It seems that upon "final inspection", a crack was discovered in one of the heads that would have to be pinned. The guy said he would look at it and figure out what it would take to fix it and get back to me on the cost.
That was the last straw. When I initially dropped them off, they told me that the first thing they would do is magnaflux them to check for cracks and determine if they were usable. This was really starting to feel like a bait and switch deal!
Scanning through Craigslist to see what my options were, I stumbled upon an ad for a pair of small block power pack heads, completely rebuilt, for $100. I called the guy up, got a good vibe from him, and stuffed a $100 bill in my pocket.
Turns out that he had a similar experience with the same machine shop, only to the tune of $5000 to rebuild a motor, which was

And moving on with the project

originally supposed to cost $2000. That gave me the confidence I needed to blow off this shop and move on. I suspect I'll never hear from them, as I've had to call them every time.
In the meantime, I've got a pair of nice looking heads bolted to my block. I'll have the rockers adjusted by tomorrow, and the exhaust bolted in by Thursday.
This weekend is the Spring Turkey Run here in Daytona. I've got a small list of things to look for, as well as a long list of things to photograph on finished cars, for reference.

Prepping, painting, and...waiting

Well, the cylinder head restoration that was promised to be done in "four to five days" is now

E-brake pulleys after and before sandblasting

stretching into the fourth week, with no end in sight. Last week, they were being reassembled and would be ready on Tuesday. Friday came around and still no call, and when I checked in I was told that they were assembled, but upon final inspection a small crack was discovered around one of the bolt holes. Now, they have to figure out what it will take to pin the crack against further damage.
In the meantime, I've busied myself with prepping a number of parts to be painted with black epoxy. I also took time this week to set the block on the frame and mock it up with the transmission and driveshaft in place. I've always

More parts cleaned and primered

assumed (never a good thing) that the aluminum Powerglide I've been storing for 20 years would be a direct swap with the old cast iron one. Wrong!
When I installed the driveshaft, it turned out that my Powerglide has a 6" tailshaft, and the original had a 9" tailshaft. The yoke barely reached the driveshaft of the transmission.
I spent a day in frustration trying to decide what to do, then concluded that since I can't use this tranny,  I'll just find a Turbo 350 to install. More confusing choices when I learned that there are three different TH350 lengths.
I finally went to see the mechanic who wil be doing the rebuild for me, who gave me direction on a

Some finished, some ready for the epoxy black

number of measurements to take to ensure I get the right size. It turns out the the TH350 I need is the most common of lengths, and he had three or four he could choose from for a rebuild. It's going to cost around $800, plus the cost of an aftermarket mounting kit to use the original Powerglide mounts, as well as a kickdown cable. Oh yes, and eventually a different indicator for the dash.
Last week I also pulled out the driver's side fender and prepped it for paint. There were three areas of rust to attend to, all very small and relatively easy to patch. After the welding, I took it outside and gave it a good sandblasting,

After sandblasting the front fender

followed by a good coat of etching primer.
Yesterday, I decided that I had enough parts ready to warrant mixing up and spraying a batch of epoxy black paint. On Friday after the work day ended, I commandeered the shop that I run my business out of and set up a number of racks to suspend all of the parts to be painted. Yesterday the paint went on, and today I have a good pile of finished parts to be wrapped, boxed and cataloged.
So tomorrow brings another week of waiting for my heads..and looking for other things to work on in the meantime.

Goodbye rust!

Ready for primer and bondo

More rust cut out and patched

New headlight brow

Whole bunch of stuff ready to be painted

Odds and ends

Work has slowed somewhat over the past few weeks. I decided to send the cylinder heads off to be rebuilt, so I'm stuck on my engine restoration until they come back--which is supposed to be sometime this week.
Once I get them back, I can complete the reassembly of the motor and mount it on the frame. Not having the motor in place is holding up other steps I need to take to wrap up the frame and move on to the body, as I don't really have the space to work on both at the same time. Installing the motor and transmission will allow installation of the exhaust system, which in turn will allow me to figure out what I need to do to fab a transmission bracket that will also accommodate the exhaust pipe.
In the meantime, progress creeps forward as I clean and paint small parts, along with some sheetmetal. I've got all of the emergency brake components done, wrapped up and stored away. I've also re-stripped the front splash pan and left front fender, and sprayed a good fresh coat of etching primer on everything. These parts are safely stowed in our upstairs guest bedroom, much to the dismay of my wife!
Hopefully my next post will chronicle the installation and test start of the motor.

Block party

The motor I have for my '55 is a 283 that I purchased as a part of a bunch of stuff removed from a '57

Ready for breakdown

BelAir. The whole lot was $400, which included the motor and a complete '57 rear axle, so I figure the motor cost me around $200. I was told it was a 1963 motor. It was running when pulled from the car, and it spun over good and the plugs were in really good shape, so I earmarked it for use in my '55.
I also have another 283 coupled to an aluminum Powerglide that I pulled out of a '63 Impala that I bought for parts back in 1996. It was a four door that had been parked in someone's back yard in Atlanta since 1982, when a tree fell on the roof.

New double roller timing chain

Before starting on freshening up the motor earlier this week, I researched the serial numbers on both motors and discovered that they are both 1958 models. The one connected to the Powerglide was built as an automatic transmission motor, and the one I'm putting in my car was built to couple with a manual tranny. Not a big deal for me, but interesting nonetheless.
Since the motor seems to be in good condition, my plan is to simply freshen it up, replacing all of the parts that typically wear out. I have a complete gasket set that has been sitting on the shelf for 15 years, so I decided I may as well use it on this project.

Oil pan and timing cover reinstalled

I pulled the manifold off and the valley looked pretty good. Very little sludge build up. Both heads came off to reveal some carbon build up, but nothing out of the ordinary for a motor this old. The timing chain was really loose, so it had to go. It was probably impossible to get the timing to set right. Pulling the oil pan off, again I found a minor amount of sludge and debris. So far so good!
I sandblasted the oil pan, timing cover and intake manifold. I also scrubbed the block with Gunk and Dawn dishwashing detergent (to remove the oil residue).
One nod to modernity was to install an oil filter adapter, so I can use a readily available screw-on filter. I learned that the original canisters were prone to leak and messy when changing he cartridge. It's something that would be easy to refit back to original if desired.
There is the expected amount of carbon buildup on the piston tops. A few swipes with the wire wheel cleaned them up quite nicely!

oil filter adapter

At first I was planning on cleaning up the heads and reinstalling them, but after some clearer thinking, I decided to spend the $400 or so and have them rebuilt. They'll get cleaned, inspected, and new seals and hardened valve seats installed. I should end up with a pretty decent motor by then.

pistons cleaned up nicely