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9-13-2012 I went out to visit the shop. Dan is working hard to get the left front fender finished. It's basically a good sound fender, but it has a lot of surface irregularities -- high and low spots. He also showed me an article he had seen and copied that describes how an Australian chap built the blisters on the sides of his hood to clear the valve covers of a V-8 engine. We'll be facing that in the near future. We also discussed how far back to cut the right fender where it barely misses the exhaust header. Interestingly, this situation only exists on the passenger side of the engine. When you look at the clearance on each side, it's obvious that the engine is offset to that side, even though the centerline of the crankshaft is along the centerline of the car.9-22-2012 Both front fenders are now mounted on the car, along with the mud shield that fits below the radiator shell. Dan says this piece, which I acquired from Andrew Edler, might need a little massaging to fit perfectly, but I expected that. It's very close to being perfect. Here's what it looks like -- with plywood (a pattern for the glass) in the windshield frame:
Friday, 26 October, 2012 -- I went out to Dan and Deron's today to check on status. Dan has been working on the hood top panels to detect and repair any irregularities. Here is the driver's side as it is being worked on:
The channel around the opening for the vent has some minor corrosion, but is remarkably intact considering its age. Dan plans to clean it real well and prime it with epoxy primer. There's no need to replace any metal as it's not rusted through anywhere and it gets covered over with a rubber gasket that the vent cover compresses to seal out weather when the vent is closed.
Dan has also started to evaluate the situation with the hood side panels. I originally elected to go with a 241 Hemi in the hopes that it might fit within the confines of the stock hood on a Model PB Plymouth. This is not the case. Even the "baby" hemi is too wide and extends past the plane of the hood sides when closed. So Dan has covered the valve covers with protective tape as he assesses how big a "blister" we need in the panels and exactly where they need to go:
And now, 11-2-2012, a new challenge has emerged. It's always a challenge; never a problem. Dan has placed one side of the hood top in place, attaching the hood hinge in the location where it belongs. He used this side of the hood to determine the correct location of the radiator shell, since the hood is the rigid piece that alligns with both the cowl section and the radiator shell. Once he had the hood piece mounted, it became apparent that the rear edge does not perfectly align with the embossed edge of the cowl section on which it rests. It will be interesting to see Dan's approach to solving this challenge:
11-7-2012 - The hood is now completely assembled and mounted! Dan needed to put it in place in order to determine the exact location and size required for the "blisters" that will clear the forward corners of the valve covers on the engine. The really good news is that the alignment is now close enough that we will not need to do any further body work on the cowl. It's really looking more and more like a car:
11-13-2012 -- The Blisters
Monday (Veteran's Day) I went to Chattanooga with the Shady Boys to visit Coker Tire and pick up Daniel's new tires for his Model T speedster. When I arrived at the shop, I realized that Dan has started making the "blisters" that will enable the sides of the hood to clear the valve covers on the engine. He first stabilized the position of the louvers by fastening a piece of steel behind the ones he needs to cut. Then he scribed the teardrop shape he believes is needed onto the louvers and flat portion below the louvers and started cutting. Naturally, as you would expect from this fine craftsman, every scrap is saved and labeled. He will form a dish-shaped blister from a flat egg-shaped piece of steel and eventually that will get welded into the cut-out area and smoothed in. Here are some pictures:
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