Golden Choices

 Here comes Summer! 

Winter was reluctant to give up, but the next two weeks forecast is for temps to be in the 60s and 70s with the chance of a couple days in the 80s with not much chance of precipitation.

I've done almost nothing on the car for a couple of months, but I did receive the gold vinyl-wrap material I ordered, so I cut a practice piece to see if I could install it correctly and if the color is something I might consider in place of the Mylar. My success with the wrap had mixed results, but I learned quite a bit about working with the material, so I trust that I can improve a lot if I do everything like the YouTube experts say to do.

 Here are pictures of the results to compares to the Mylar. Comments welcome!

In the photos, the Mylar looks closer to the original color, but the vinyl doesn't have as much "greenish" shine as the picture shows and of course the texture is incorrect or missing on both products. Big problem is the wide Mylar pieces are not quite big enough to use the stainless trim without modifying the stock pieces to fit. I hate to do that with rare Fury parts.

One side of me says that nothing about the car is anywhere near a stock Fury anyway so neither would please the purist. The other side of me says to make up my mind and do it the fastest way possible and finish the damn car!

One other thing about the stainless trim installation problem is that I had to give up on finding the preferred 3M PT1500 trim-tape. I finally talked to a 3M regional sales rep and they have no way to determine who might have a stock of the tape. He offered a suggestion of how to use the common 1/4 inch tape that they stock in the paint store, so I'm going to try some samples his way to see if it will do the job.

Medical status...still not back to normal and I'm temporarily carrying a plastic tube in my belly to drain fluid buildup around the skin graft surgery site. Maybe it will be removed next week so I can take advantage of the great weather!

New Year...Same old S***!

 

Wish I had some progress to brag about, but not much is happening. I’ve tried to get a few problems resolved, but the arrival of winter has just slowed me down even more. Too many household jobs for me to dedicate much time to car hobbies, and I don’t have enough strength to do everything.

I did identify a wiring problem that was created by too many functions routed through the ignition switch, but I’m going to wait until it’s time to fire the engine before I do any rewiring. The ignition circuit looks right, so the car should run the way it is wired. It appears that only the accessory switch position has a problem. If I had a diagram of the internal workings of the switch, it would be a lot easier to verify.

Installing the side trim is also problematical. as I need a certain type of 3M tape to attach the stainless. It is a standard product listed in their catalog, but I can’t find it available anywhere on the Internet. The 3M customer support will not talk to me because I’m not a business and they won’t deal with individual customers. Now that the holidays are over, a body shop friend of my son says he will try to contact them, but promises are cheap and easily forgotten.

Speaking of the side trim, I’m having second thoughts about using the embossed Mylar fabric. It just doesn’t look right enough, so I’m back to looking for a better material. At least that problem is not stopping me from finishing the mechanical tasks. First problem is filling and bleeding the brakes without a partner. No helpers around when they are really needed. The remaining mechanical work depends on the  weather and my health, neither of which is predictable.

Only major car news for me is that I traded my ten-year-old Chrysler van for a new one. It’s a leftover ’23 that was discounted so much that I couldn’t pass it up. After all these years, I realize that I just bought my last car...one unloved Chevy and fifty-some Mopars!.

Yet Another Update

 Not much of an update. I've done nothing on the car except an hour or two updating and correcting paperwork. 

The weather has been perfect for working in the garage, but I'm still not up to it physically and the little energy I have is prioritized to keeping the household functioning.

My surgery locations are nearly healed. The skin graft was mostly successful and yesterday the doctor did some touch-up cutting away a few dead skin areas. The malignancy was only about a half-inch in diameter, but they removed a chunk of flesh about three inches in diameter and a quarter inch deep. 

Immediately following the surgery, the underarm lymph node removal was the least noticeable, but it has been the most annoying while healing because it's in an area that flexes and makes me favor my dominant right arm.

The future is still a question mark. I decided not to have the PET scan as I can't comply with some of the requirements to assure a good scan and it doesn't make sense to waste taxpayer's dollars on what would likely be an inaccurate and unusable scan. Even if it had identified any other cancers, it would only mean that they had not caught the melanoma before it spread, so not much gained by finding more.

I'm also not taking the immunotherapy treatments. After more research, I learned it's similar to chemotherapy and the efficacy rate is not spectacular. I would have to take it every three weeks and the side effects could be anything from an upset stomach to destruction of healthy organs, or even fatal in 1%-2% of the patients. 

The wife and I decided to play the hand the way it was dealt. If they caught all the active cells, the AI  prediction was that it would be another year or so before malignancy hit, and at 82 years old, I'm beyond what is expected. If they didn't catch them all, well I'll just do my best to be happy with the odds and enjoy whatever time is left. With any luck, I still might be able to hear the old Plymouth fire up for the first time!

Just an Update

 The past two weeks have been perfect weather to work on outside projects or to throw open the garage doors and after a hot summer enjoy comfortable fall days while working on my car. Unfortunately, I've spent my time doctoring and recovering from Melanoma surgery. They removed a cancerous tumor on my arm and two lymph nodes under my right arm. To patch the hole in my arm, they stripped a 10 X 2-inch piece of skin from my waist and grafted it over the approximate 3-inch diameter hole in my arm. No, I don't know what they did with the leftovers!

Good news is there were no cancer cells in the lymph nodes, so it appears they got everything. Bad news is that it was an aggressive strain, and I could have a recurrence in the same general area within a year or two. In the meantime, I can't do any work on the car or in the yard for at least another two or three weeks while the graft heals.

I will also have to receive Cancer immunotherapy treatments, but they will be done in a local hospital, by a different oncologist. I have no idea what is involved with this process.

Meanwhile, about all I can do with the old Plymouth is catch up on the paperwork that details the work I've done to restore what was original, and to document everything that was drastically modified. That's the kind of job I wanted to leave for winter weather, no for some of the best days of the year! 

I really had hoped to have the engine running and being able to drive in and out of the garage before cold weather hit, but that looks like just one more crushed dream. Did I mention that getting old sucks?

Good News...Bad News

 Good news is that I got the repaired side trim back from Triple F classic cars.

They look good, and though the price was steep, I think it was better than doing it myself with Muggy Weld. It would have taken me forever and the results wouldn't have been nearly as good. It's just one of those many things that we have to accept when we choose to rebuild old Chrysler products with no aftermarket support for reproduced parts.

I also finished one of the one-of-a-kind parts I made just to see what it would look like, I think it came out okay, and it certainly is unique. It's not visible in this picture, but it is a spark plug wire separator made from stainless steel, but I had to move the wires to get a clear picture of the decal. I designed the decal on Microsoft Publisher and printed it on high quality adhesive vinyl that is resistant to abrasion and petroleum products. 

It covers the cast-in SS-X logo in the Chrysler Power designed Poly valve covers and since the center hold down bolt is not used on my engine; the separator is attached with the dummy hold down bolt that is used only to plug the extra hole.

But, as the title said, there is also bad news.

Now that the weather has moderated and the interior house painting is complete, my wife fell while visiting family in Las Vegas and chipped a kneecap She is unable to walk and has to use a wheelchair to get around That means I now have more things to occupy any free time I could find for car hobbies, but that's not the worst news.

Yesterday I was diagnosed with a serious ailment that, depending on surgery success, may put an end to my car project. A visit to a specialist next week will tell me more, but the moral of the story is that getting old really sucks!

Waiting for the Weather

 No matter how much I would love to be working on the car, I can't compete with the heat. My little ductless A/C does a great job if the temperature stays below 95 F, but we've had about 50 days of 100 F to 109 F this summer and only a trace of rain in over two months. I can sometimes work an hour or two in the morning, but progress is minimal as I wilt fast.

I did get the shift linkage adjusted yesterday, so the starter now operates in Neutral instead of between gears. However, it still doesn't work in Park, so according to the service manual, it looks like I'll have to pull the neutral start switch and make an adjustment inside the transmission. 

I also got the ashtray repainted, the glove box door adjusted, and cut some rubber bumpers for the door. Every little bit helps make the dash look more finished.

I still have a problem with wiring that has me puzzled. With the ignition switch in the accessory position, there is no power to the accessories. They work fine in the "On" position, so it doesn't have to be resolved before engine start, but it will need to be fixed before I permanently install the dash and steering wheel.

I also must have a small drain on the battery with no activity. After sitting for two days, the battery voltage dropped to 11.5 VDC, so it appears I will have to find and fix that little problem. One more thing that will wait for cooler weather.

I continue to search for textured sheet aluminum to make new gold inserts for the side trim. I found a source in the UK that looks quite similar, but I've tried contacting them to get a sample and to see if they have a North American distributor for their products, but after a week, still no response to my e-mail.

Here's what it looks like on a cafe room divider, but it's hard to tell the size and spacing of the texture, but the color of their anodizing is very close.

This close up look at the original pattern is on the gas fill door. You can see how badly corroded the old parts are!

Starters and Trim

 After my post about the starter problems, I was totally disgusted, so I put that problem on the back burner and began repairing, cleaning and polishing the side trim stainless pieces. That job ate up several heat-shortened days, but I finally got back to the starter issue.

When I first began laying out the new electrical circuits, I consulted several manuals and picked the brains of numerous online automotive electrical websites. Most information for wire gauge and fuse sizes were pretty simple, but I should have further researched start circuit requirements, because I discovered too late that expert opinions varied greatly.

One source I consulted said that a typical old design starter for cars drew from 75 to 100 amps, but that the new high torque starters drew 20 to 40 amps. The wire they suggested for a trunk mounted battery was 2-gauge with a 50-amp circuit breaker mounted near the battery. 

Shame on me for not comparing that opinion with a few others when I started. Since then, I found other sites that claim that old style starters could draw as much as 150 to 200 amps, and modern starters from 40 to 75 amps and a 150-200 amp circuit breaker installed close to the battery. They also recommended that I use a 0-gauge cable, and then run the same size ground wire from the battery all the way to the engine block.

So, I'm now thoroughly embarrassed and confused, but decided that for now I will keep the main feed at 2-gauge with the battery ground cable bolted to the frame below the battery. I also replaced the 50-amp circuit breaker with a 150-amp. I might regret not doing more now, but I first want to get the car running to see what else will need modification or upgrade.

Then, to add to the starter problems, the starter wouldn't spin by turning the key to the start position, but it does spin normally when I jumped the start terminal to the main feed. I checked the start terminal, and it receives 12 volts from the ignition switch, but the starter relay does not switch to feed the cable voltage to the starter I ordered a new starter relay today. The one on the car was a new Wells part, the same number as the one I ordered today. I would have rather bought their Standard part, but they were out of stock.

Since the old/new starter appeared to be drawing a heavy load, I decided to replace the starter too. That is rather frustrating since it was a new-build aftermarket part, but now it's well beyond the warranty terms despite the car having never been started. At least I can return it for the $40 core charge. The one I picked up at O'Reilly's. is remanufactured, but it spins like it should.

I can't resolve the starter problem until I receive the new relay, but the starter now spins when jumping the terminals on the relay, so I can now pump some oil around inside the engine.

The stainless trim restoration went pretty well. All the longer pieces are clean, straight and sanded with 1500 grit paper. They will still need polishing and buffing, but I'll wait for cooler weather so I can move that outside where I have more room.  

The small pieces that join the bigger parts will need some repairs that I can't do myself. Six of the pieces will need new studs welded in and some expert skill to straighten and polish. I'm taking the parts in to a local restoration shop this morning.

I'm still looking for sheet aluminum with a texture similar to the stock '56 Fury pattern. The Mylar ones I got from James Rawa look nice, but the pattern does not match the OEM aluminum parts. The only aluminum I've found in North America doesn't look quite right and it is clear anodized, so if I wanted it with a gold finish, the existing anodizing would have to be removed and the parts re-anodized.in gold. No local plater was willing to take on that job.

Yesterday I did locate a company in Great Britain that makes aluminum sheets that are similar to the '56 pattern and they also sell it with a mill finish without anodizing. I hope they have a US outlet for their products as I'm sure it would be horrendously expensive to ship a large sheet to Texas so I can cut out the parts and then ship them to wherever they can gold anodize them.

I can now sympathize with you Forward Look restorers around the world who are faced with similar shipping problems with your American classic cars!

More Good News-Bad News

Good news first: 

(1). The long-awaited temporary exhaust system is in place, and it feels like a huge step towards the first engine start. The job was surprisingly easy, and I actually survived crawling around on the concrete floor for a couple of hours without too many additional aches and pains. That said, it was a job that would have been much simpler if I had a hoist or a pit in my garage.

(2). I decided to take a chance that I won't need to have easy access thru the driver side floor panel and forged ahead with driver' side carpet and seat installation. That job also went quite well and I'm mostly pleased with the results. One semi-serious disappointment is that the seat will not fully recline as the release handle on the seat back hits the wide hardtop style rear armrest. I had relocated seat mounting brackets as close to the console as possible without major redesign, so I'll have to be satisfied with what I have, at least for now.

                                   Now the bad news...and this one could be serious. 

I've been checking all the driveline related systems to make them ready for the big day, and among them was a checkout of the start circuits and the function of the late model mini-starter. Previously, all I had tried was to hit the key and see if the starter relay was switching power to the starter. So far that simple test had not indicated a problem, but now I want to spin it long enough to pump oil into the engine, and after engaging the switch for a few seconds, I could tell the starter was turning much slower than it should have. In a few seconds, the 50amp circuit breaker on the power cable tripped.

 About 30 seconds later the breaker reset, so I turned the key again and the starter began to spin. The dash lights dimmed, and the voltmeter fell to zero, but I stopped before the breaker tripped again. So that is where it sits today, while I contemplate the possible reason, for the heavy draw.

According to the charts I consulted, the 2-gauge main power cable should easily serve the 10 ft from the trunk mounted battery to the starter with only the LED dash lights adding a miniscule draw to the total load.  So, for the time being I'll consider other possibilities.

The obvious first guess is a bad starter, which would be frustrating as it is supposed to be a new part, not remanufactured, but that would be the easiest fix. 

I don't even want to think that something in the engine might be binding. I rebuilt the engine in 2015, so it's not fresh in my mind, but I don't recall anything being a problem. I do remember checking the rod and main bearing clearance with plastigauge, as that's the way I've done it forever without any problems. Since it was assembled, I've turned it over by hand many times and I certainly should have noticed any binding. That said, I no longer trust my memory or my mechanical abilities. Getting old really sucks!

Yesterday, the city water pressure dropped to almost nothing when one of the wells broke down. We could have easily gotten by as I have emergency water storage, but the electric water heater shut off when the pressure dropped. I showered and shaved with cold water this morning as the pump had not yet been repaired. That means that household problems once again takes priority over playing with my car, so it sits for now.

Good News and Bad News

The good news is that I have the passenger seat bolted in place and the wiring connected to the control module inside the console. The way things have been going lately, I expected problems getting belt retractors and inertia locks to function properly, but to my surprise, everything works great!

The bad news is that I'm not satisfied with the seat location and fit. For now, it will be okay as installed, but I will want to redesign the mounting brackets to move it back about an inch and down almost that much so as to provide more legroom and head clearance when entering the car. I'll incorporate those changes in the driver's seat before I install it. I had to order some more angle stock to make them from, but the supplier e-mailed me today that the material is on a ship coming from...guess where...China!! They estimate a couple weeks before it arrives.

I also had to order two new connectors for the power seat control cable. Somehow, I received the wrong style when I ordered them a couple months ago. I probably ordered the wrong part number as they look identical to each other but require different pins and sockets.

No shortage of things to do, so the seats will have to wait for another day!

The Old Girl Has a New Voice!

 As usual, my efforts are misdirected. When I should be concentrating on installing a temporary exhaust system so I can start the engine, instead I've been working on the less important entertainment and navigation features.

The special push-on terminals for the speaker wires finally arrived so I was able to finish the radio/GPS installation. To my surprise, everything works! Even the navigation program receives a signal inside the building, although all I could do was program my home location. 

The only thing left to do for the screen display is install the rearview camera and that will involve cutting a hole in the body somewhere near the license plate. It will have to wait until I can drive the car out of the garage and can determine the best location to mount the camera.

Other than that, not much is being accomplished while I try to catch up on outdoor chores and projects. The late spring put me far behind with time consuming lawn and garden projects like weeding, edging and mulching flower beds. It is ironic that I have too much yard work for one old man, but not enough for a crew of landscapers. I've been trying to hire a part time helper for months, but there is no interest from young people who want a "position", but not a job that gets their hands dirty or makes them sweat.