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Old 09-10-2015, 09:17 AM   #1181
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Many thanks to all of you. It appears that a combination of your suggestions may be pretty much what the doctor ordered. I got with an old artist buddy here last night who is a serious car builder and was an oil field & offshore specialty fabricator for many years. His recommendation was to use both heat and pressure. The pressure to get it into the position and the heat to "relax" the metal into the desired shape/location. And to leave it in that position overnight. He also confirmed Jack's info that you do have to go beyond the final position a bit to overcome it's natural springiness & memory but that the heat will help realign the molecules into the shape wanted. He emphasized that he was not talking about anything near cherry red heat. Just bringing it up to 2-300 degrees overall then once in position, allowing it to cool slowly and set overnight.

Definitely worth a shot but I still need to build or borrow a table large enough & sturdy enough to clamp this sucker down and work on it.
I will update with any new info or pix as this progresses. If it works, the process may come in handy for others as well.

Again, my thanks to all.

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Old 09-10-2015, 10:38 PM   #1182
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More Piddlin' --- with still no major metal to abuse, I had to take out my angst on something else. In this case, it was the passenger side inner fender. My original was a mess. Bent up badly, long cracks & rusted through along the bottom of the louvers. I had ordered what appeared to be a much better set off of Epay that were listed as "1942-1946" but, as is often the case on that site...they were not what was advertised. They are actually for 1940-41 and slightly different. Just enough they would never fit right. So...with cutting wheel in hand, I ever so gently removed a portion that I could make work then welded it into my existing, beat up piece.

I am NOT a body man so thank goodness this will be hidden most of the time. But...it did the job. Nice new louvers and much better metal now.


The light colored portion is what was cut and replaced. At the same time I rebuilt one of the front mounting brackets. Once sandblasted and painted, it should be OK for under the hood/fenders.

ONWARD!
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Old 09-14-2015, 10:18 PM   #1183
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Howdy All - Got my stainless downpipe back from Poly Dyn today. Had it coated inside & out with ceramic. Then I bundled it up in heat wrap. Between the two it should cut the radiant heat down by about 400 degrees. With any luck, Ill get it mounted tomorrow and can finalize the rest of the exhaust measurements. Will likely add a metal heat shield as well since the downpipe runs so close to the doghouse. Don't want it to all meltdown.


Here is the pipe with the ceramic coating...


...and here it is all wrapped up along with the muffler.


Even though diesels are not required to have mufflers, I wanted to tone down the rumble just a bit. This is the equivalent of a "Glasspack" for diesels. Just a straight through resonator.

ONWARD!
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Old 09-15-2015, 02:06 AM   #1184
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She will sound great.

Nat
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Old 09-15-2015, 11:45 PM   #1185
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Minor progress --- Hooked up the downpipe today so I can work up measures & angles on the rest of the exhaust system which will be fairly straightforward. A few 45 degree elbows, a little straight pipe and a shiny SS tip to hang out in front of the driver side rear tires.


All wrapped up and no place to go. Yet.


Tried the muffler on while I was under there. Just need more pipe and clamps and hangers...and money...and time.

And I also figured out a way to save a little money. Use electrical conduit for the driveshaft!

ONWARD!
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Old 09-16-2015, 11:01 AM   #1186
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I discovered that I could save even more money by using flex conduit. It eliminates the need for "U" joints. Also, you could use that huge tranny oil pan as a Thanksgiving turkey roaster thereby saving even more bucks. Jack
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Old 09-16-2015, 04:47 PM   #1187
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I like your thinkin' Jack!
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Old 09-19-2015, 05:59 PM   #1188
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Finally made a little headway --- At least on the steering system. Had to break down & hire an extra pair of hands in order to get everything lined up on this 80# steering box. It's from an '03 Isuzu NPR and quite heavy duty in addition being just plain heavy. It is similar if not identical to the one on Ol' Trump's 1935 Chevy that he transplanted onto an Isuzu chassis.


Had to notch the "fishplate" that extends along and below the frame to clear the adjuster. (Does anyone know where the heck the name "fishplate" came from?)


After a great many "off & on's", we finally got the two 1/4" plate sections lined up & cut. Here they are tacked together.


One more test fit against the frame...


...and one on the gearbox. Looks like we have a "Go" for launch. It is all welded up and ready to begin attaching to the chassis but that will be another day. Still waiting on my firewall & doghouse and can't line up the steering column/wheel until they show up.

Better hurry folks...I'm getting older by the hour.

Till then...

ONWARD!
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Old 09-19-2015, 06:30 PM   #1189
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Nice job!

"In rail terminology, a fishplate, splice bar or joint bar is a metal bar that is bolted to the ends of two rails to join them together in a track. The name is derived from fish, a wooden bar with a curved profile used to strengthen a ship's mast."

Glad I could help.
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Old 09-19-2015, 06:38 PM   #1190
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Thanks Opus --- Had not considered marine terminology as a source. We had a mast of sorts on the aircraft carrier I was on, but never heard anything about "fish" except for Fridays' meal choices.
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Old 09-20-2015, 03:19 AM   #1191
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango View Post
Thanks Opus --- Had not considered marine terminology as a source. We had a mast of sorts on the aircraft carrier I was on, but never heard anything about "fish" except for Fridays' meal choices.
Tang,

Seeing if we're gillable? Slip us the fin? Just for the halibut? De-bait-able? I'll scale it back for ya...
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Old 09-20-2015, 08:58 PM   #1192
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Hey Jack...just in case you drop in here...what's up with Nomadicista? Appears to have gone offline for several days.
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Old 09-20-2015, 09:09 PM   #1193
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Nice work Tango. Your 1/2" sandwich will be plenty for the steering gear (it is the same as the one on my bus and will give you a really tight turning radius). How are you going to attach it to the "fish plate"? I recall that you were concerned about having enough room for the steering column. Our buses are the same width at the base of the cowl--which on my bus wasn't enough width to clear the column. I finally notched the cowl where it bends down from the windshield and spread the lower cowl just enough to clear the column and avoid having to use extra "U" joints. Since the hood butterflies close over the fenders anyway, the extra 3/4" or so spread at the bottom isn't even noticeable. It kept things simple and allowed me to retain the tilt/extend retract feature of the original Isuzu column.

I can hardly wait for you to get your shorty done so we will have a reason for a midway meet up with our toys--and those of any other interested souls. Jack
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Old 09-20-2015, 09:19 PM   #1194
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Hey tango. It is a planned outage as Stuart is away for a short while and gave us a heads up.

My personal hope is that he took all the money and left for points unknown never to return!

What money?

Can you steal a negative cash flow?

Whether we recover or not, Stuart's, Nomadicista site has been a most interesting and diverse treat and I sincerely hope the shutdown is only temporary. Jack
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Old 09-21-2015, 05:15 AM   #1195
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My good puns are going to waste. But seriously, I'm AMAZED at the process you're doing. WHAT engineering!!!!! I doubt I'd tackle such a project by myself........

AND for some unknown reason, I tried to sign up for the Nomadicista website and THEY BANNED ME PERMANENTLY without me even posting ONCE, or having the guts to explain why.

So, needless to say, even IF they change their mind, I'll never be interested in signing up for their site due to their rudeness.
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Old 09-21-2015, 08:36 AM   #1196
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M1031A1, sorry you had a bad experience there.
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Old 09-21-2015, 09:23 AM   #1197
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Thanks Jack --- studying the pix of your installation was a huge help.

I will likely weld the mount permanently along the bottom of the fishplate plus add some bolt through brackets that will attach to it and the lower frame channel. The fit is so ridiculously tight that there was not room for a fully independent, removable mount. This arrangement puts the box right at the outer edge of the lower cowl (which I had to notch slightly).

But since my firewall has been pushed back to where my old dash was, it appears to allow for reasonable angles and hopefully a not too complicated connection with the column & wheel. I just had to do some chopping to what was the old floor and cab mounts. I may end up with a U-joint somewhere in there, but maybe not. I'm fine with one, just don't want too many. The trickiest part may be sealing up everything going through the firewall/dash. The angle between the two will be so steep that I might wind up having to fab yet another piece just to close it up a bit.

Had an old Dodge Town Wagon years ago that I loved dearly. I could drive it through four feet of water and it wouldn't skip a beat. But on another day I could drive across a tiny puddle...and a stream of water like one coming out of a water pistol would come up from somewhere around the column at the floor and splat me right in the face. I drove that truck all over the US for over seventeen years putting over 380K miles on it and never did find out where the hell that shot in the face was coming from.
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Old 09-21-2015, 07:50 PM   #1198
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I found you parts!

1947 Chevrolet School Bus Project Rat Rod No Reserve | eBay
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Old 09-21-2015, 08:04 PM   #1199
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I'm sure folks will be vying for that little beauty all over the nation--the guy was offering $500 to the first person who'd tow it off wasn't he?
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Old 09-21-2015, 08:20 PM   #1200
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Post-War...way too new for me.
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