'59 Panel

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Marla
Posts: 1534
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2013 7:14 am

Re: Sean's '59 Panel

Post by Marla »

Looks amazing Sean!
It's Marla with an " L"
(My list of assets is just too long...)
Six Volt
Posts: 3724
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:25 am

Re: Sean's '59 Panel

Post by Six Volt »

Back at it this afternoon. Got into torsion tubes for the first time. Aren't all those little splines fun? :lol: And spring plates. Those are fun too. :lol: Take them out, put them in, take them back off and put them back on. The combinations are endless! Too much fun! :lol: What I like is all the math and the fact you have to show your work to get credit! :lol:

It was a great lessson. We got the new tank in and although it went in like butter, the replacement tank has the fuel outlet about 2 inches off the original, but no big deal. Bruce hooked me up with some great rubberized support for tank and straps. Got the tranny in with Bruce using the Big M*&%$#( channel locks to pull tranny and mount together. We got the spring plates lined up with RGB's using C clamp and persuasion. Good lesson for me. Everything bolted in.

I could go on talking like I actually know what I'm doing, but you all know better so I'll stop with a few more pics. :D
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Ken
Posts: 1919
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 8:18 am

Re: Sean's '59 Panel

Post by Ken »

Nice work Sean. It's amazing the things you can learn from "Professor Bruce" :D :D :D
1963 Single Cab
1964 Bowman & Sons Camper (Vegas Bus)
1966 Westy S0-42 Hardtop
1967 Westy SO-42 Pop Top
1968 Single Cab
WideFive
Posts: 1270
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:00 pm

Re: Sean's '59 Panel

Post by WideFive »

TRL wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:22 pmMy rgbs are still going strong right W5? :lol:
You'll know when they start making noise, because that's when I'll give it back to you :lol: :lol: :lol:
"There is no restoration process that can give a car legitimacy equal to originality."
WideFive
Posts: 1270
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:00 pm

Re: Sean's '59 Panel

Post by WideFive »

Six Volt wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:53 pmAren't all those little splines fun? :lol: And spring plates. Those are fun too. :lol: Take them out, put them in, take them back off and put them back on. The combinations are endless! Too much fun! :lol:
Try explaining how to do all that over the phone or email/text. Ugh, it's a hoot alright :?
"There is no restoration process that can give a car legitimacy equal to originality."
Six Volt
Posts: 3724
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:25 am

Re: Sean's '59 Panel

Post by Six Volt »

WideFive wrote: Fri Mar 01, 2019 12:11 pm
TRL wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:22 pmMy rgbs are still going strong right W5? :lol:
You'll know when they start making noise, because that's when I'll give it back to you :lol: :lol: :lol:
You're both getting small and big nut RGB's in your Christmas stockings in December. Use fishnet burlap. Small nuts are heavy and big nuts are big and heavy. :)
Six Volt
Posts: 3724
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:25 am

Re: Sean's '59 Panel

Post by Six Volt »

Getting a little closer on this winter project.

I had a couple nice refinished 40hp flywheels I got from RIS several years ago and now seemed like a good time to put one in service. Bruce picked the best one and replaced the main seal and drilled a little relief hole below the crank bearing to let oil more easily seep back in to engine case. Fuel lines were replaced and we jettisoned the fuel tap for now since the lever doesn't line up with the outlet on the replacement tank. Nevertheless, I do like having the fuel tap because, even when not hooked up to the cable, you can move it to the center point and it stops fuel from running past that point. Makes it easy when you disconnect fuel lines for maintenance. So maybe at some point I'll put it back on.

One downer was we had "the e-brake replacement from hell" descend on this project. As most are aware, the original brake cables are too short when you put a big nut trans in an early split. The replacement 64-67 cables that you must buy are then too long. I checked with Kirk and a lot of guys usually "McGiver" up some remedy to make them work by cutting the lines up front to shorten them then rigging up a splice system to hold the lines together. Not perfect, but I've never heard people say they fail. Maybe those folks have never had to use them or didn't survive the experience when they did! :lol:

Anyway, I thought I'd try a local reputable clutch company that shall remain nameless and after measuring and cutting have them "swedge" new ends on the cables so they would be like stock. $33 later I've got my shortened cables and the installation goes flawlessly until I pull the brake cable and both "swedges" break free. Thankfully it happened inside the shop and not when I was hurting down a hill at 50mph with no brakes. :shock:

So while weighing our options, we were staring at the old cables and came up with a "what if." As in, what if we cut 2" or 3" off the cable housing where it enters the body in front of the rear tire to increase the overall length of the actual cables? The harrowing challenge was to cut the steel casing without damaging the cable inside. Like surgery.

Well, by golly it seems to have been a success. Of course we really won't know until I'm on that hill at 50mph, but creativity seems to have paid off for now. We did replace the return springs with a later version that had a little more beef in it.

Bruce got the axle seals all buttoned up with a nice technique of leveling the axles with a gizmo he put together. I would not try this at home! :o

So we're getting to the home stretch. Bruce has to take a look at the front end. My toe in or toe out is out of whack. I've got pigeon feet and it's wearing my tires. I'm short on the photos because I was too lazy to pull out the camera.

This was Bruce's method of leveling the axles.
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This was the replacement threaded end that failed (one on left) (I'm going to buy that mechanic some Jergens.)
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Here was the McGiver rear brake cable with earlier spring that we replaced with a beefier model.
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Six Volt
Posts: 3724
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:25 am

Re: Sean's '59 Panel

Post by Six Volt »

Back at it today. Still working through some issues. The shifter is somewhat out of whack. Well, it may not actually be the shifter, but the symptom shows up in the shifter. This problem existed with the old small nut and remains with the big nut. The symptom is as follows: When you're in neutral and you move the shifter all the way to the left in preparation to put the bus in first gear, the shifter moves too far to the left. In effect, 1st gear ends up being about 1 inch to the right of the full stop for the shifter on the left. It's fine, if you know that reality, but if you're not familiar with it it will drive you crazy looking for 1st gear. Bruce played around with the shift plate and even swapped it, but the results are still the same. There may well be something out of whack in the rod downstream or at the back coupler causing this, but it's beyond my comprehension.

We had a heck of a time getting the rear wheels back on the bus. The 15" wheels on a big nut are pretty snug under the wheel wells. I guess its not surprising since big nuts are normally mated to 14" rims. I'll bet Rick and Aaron love taking rear wheels off their lowered non-RGB buses. I'll bet that's a hoot.:lol:

We got the engine back in on Friday and today got everything hooked back up. I even took it for a two lap spin in Bruce's lot. Got a white then checkered flag! :D

The rear camber is all sorted out. Bruce did a great job on that and we have zero leaks from engine or tranny.

We still have to drill the dash for the petrol gauge, wire the shift couplers, put lock nuts on the e-brake cables, mess with the shifter some more (maybe) and most important, adjust the front end to take care of the tire wear.

Here are a few pictures.

The engine The Rick Lang secretly dreams of running. The mighty 40HP.
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Getting that manual choke cable through the fan shround is never fun. Bruce got it.
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I noticed the thermostat was bad, but I had replacements that tested good. Having a lift for thermostat repair is heavenly.
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Tires back on, but it wasn't easy! :evil:
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Bumper and vallance back in place.
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That pesky shifter issue.
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WideFive
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Re: Sean's '59 Panel

Post by WideFive »

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Make sure that part of the shifter is round. It'll wear down and allow too much travel to the left. With a '59 you may need to make the whole thing larger in diameter. I'm sure none of that makes any sense to you :lol:
"There is no restoration process that can give a car legitimacy equal to originality."
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wwebner
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Re: Sean's '59 Panel

Post by wwebner »

WideFive wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 10:00 pm PicsArt_03-03-09.47.06.jpg

Make sure that part of the shifter is round. It'll wear down and allow too much travel to the left. With a '59 you may need to make the whole thing larger in diameter. I'm sure none of that makes any sense to you :lol:
My thoughts also.
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