The devil is in the details

The nice thing about this re-restoration is that I have time and resources to do things right, meaning having the garage space and tools to work on the car and take care of things the right way.  I could have just threw things together quickly to speed up the process, but that wouldn't be the proper way to honor my dad's memory or end up with a reliable cruiser. My father, like his father, loved to repair and rebuild anything, they both knew the importance of taking care of t he details, doing a project correct the first time. Even if noone noticed or could see the extra care put into a job, they knew it.

Pulling the radiator, heater core, transmission and rear end to have them checked and serviced if needed, makes sense in order to ensure its reliability. Going through the entire braking system, replacing components as needed makes perfect sense.  Some would say, that taking the time to detail parts that are only seen while under the car, or when the wheels are off, is a waste of time... I don't see it that way... I see it as a way to reconnect with the car and my father. When the car was first restored he wanted the undercarriage to be as nice and clean as the outside. I am just honoring his wish by returning it to the condition it was in 1997.  When my family and I cruise in the car and people ask us what was done, I can feel proud that all the work was done in my dad's memory and I did the work.  I will know the car inside and out. I will have had a hand in all mechanical aspects.

So... Today I detailed the calipers and rear rotors, I will detail the front rotors soon. Detailing, not only makes them look clean, but it will prevent rust. I also pieced the motor back together, so it is ready to be pulled out.

Brakes:

 

 

 

 

Motor: Seeing it together almost made me forget its blown and I couldn't turn the key and take it for a drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sway Bar and Motor

Time to reinstall the front sway bar, new sway bar end links (urethane) and front shocks.

 

 

 

After spending all that time cleaning and painting the suspension components, I was disappointed to see how easily the paint chipped. I thought the high temp engine paint would have held up better. I am going to switch to a chassis paint.

I spent some time cleaning under the car, a lot of grease and grime accumulated above the rear end. Some Simple Green, did the trick. In the months to follow, I will detail the entire chassis and undercarriage.

Before:

After:

I will clean the entire undercarriage. As you could tell from the sway bar pics, the front end will need a real scrub down.


I decided to put the motor back together, to get the parts out of the trunk but also so I can connect the motor puller to the heads. Boy did that make a difference, I almost forgot I couldn't fire it up.

Shifter touch up

Since the transmission came out great, I decided to freshen up the shifter linkage.

I think the overall look came out great, even though it will only be seen when crawling under the car! It's a guy thing!!!! Next i have to polish the shifter arm.

"Shifting" colors

When the 55 was originally restored the best undercarriage and everything else under the car was painted turquoise. There needs to be some contrast, so I have been painting the suspension components black and will do the same with the rear end. 

The 4-speed was also painted, so I wanted to paint it a color as close to its original metal finish. I landed on flat silver.

Gassy

Two stripped gas tank sending unit bolts halted my progress last time. Armed with a set of screw extractors and the clutch head bit, I took a second stab at installing the new sending unit... SUCCESS.

Old screws

New clutch head bolts with brass washers

After a little maneuvering the sending unit came out, I was worried I might have to drop the tank.

Old vs new sending unit, new on bottom.

New unit in and ready to go!

While I was there, I decided to remove the front sway bar for some TLC

Every time I remove the car cover, I can't help but smile, even if the 55 is somewhat in pieces.