1958 Country Sedan project

Writing the forum link on some- or all of that glass with a bar of soap would likely have provoked the owner into joining

 

Next Sunday I'll leave a note. I was on a mission to deliver worshippers to church.

 

Blue on blue looks really good.

 

Oh boy, what a week.
Started last Monday, or was it Sunday? Anyway, I noticed a bit of brake fluid on the ground under the left front tire.
CRAP!



Doesn't end there.

Pulled the hub off and... broken return spring!
Plus the shoes were on backwards to boot. This is the drivers side and the shorter (primary) shoe is suppose to be in front.



So.... new shoes were purchased about two years ago knowing it was getting close to time.
Parts cleaned, drums were clean and smooth.
Installed new shoes, new wheel cylinder, new return springs... ready to go.



Or so you would think....

Forensic evidence shows that the metal shoe is digging into the drum.
Tried grinding with a die grinder and disc sander. That helped in straight line but turning the car resulted in a terrible grinding.
Good news tho, the brakes work FANTASTIC.



Here is an example of old shoe vs. new shoe. Clearly they are 1/8" wider than mine. The only other shoe Car Quest had was a 1/4" smaller than the old ones.


So... Monday, in 97 degree weather, I removed all four shoes from the front and set about cutting them down by 1/8th inch.
Some might ask... why not find a correct set?
Well, I'm a guy and I have power tools.
Band saw and grinder threw sparks for a few hours.
But once I was done... the car drives like it never has before and brakes are super quiet and FANTASTIC!

Washed off the dust and tree crap and ready to roll!




Respectfully submitted,

 

That cylinder leak turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Otherwise, you might not have noticed the shoes getting mounted backwards

 

Nice work. Interesting that the upper control arms have greasable bearings rather than rubber bushings for the pivots. My '91 Crown Vic has the same thing whereas the regular civilian cars got rubber bushings. I hadn't seen that on another car until now.

 

The whole front end was replaced about 10 years ago before I bought it.
So they used what was available at the time I suppose. (And I greased all the fittings last fall.)
Done a bunch to the rear axle too since: including, parking brake, rear seal, bushings etc.

I also picked up new rear brake shoes but should probably get new return springs before I start.
Project in progress.

 

I'm sure it is the original design. I've just never seen it on another car.

I'm still amazed at how clean and rust free your car appears to be underneath. A 3-4 year old Michigan car would look worse than that.

 

Not a lot to report.
Changed the oil last month and the wagon is running great.
But today I checked the points and they needed adjusting. Fires up on the first turn once again.

Another thing was I had a problem with the surfboard on the roof.
As I posted earlier, I sealed up and re-glassed both boards.
Well, one of them blistered demonstrating moisture was trapped inside creating a separation between the foam and the glass.
Not happy as that was one I bought in Ventura, CA 15 years ago!
It was a really nice "William Dennis" SoCal short board (6'6" board).
Unable to figure out how to fix it, I was helping my parents set up Garage Sale signs when we passed a Garage Sale up the street that had a nice board in the driveway.
$50 bucks later, it was on my saw-horses being repaired.

Now fixed this beautiful Hawaii (Haleiwa 1981) 7' board is now on the roof till the rains start.





Hang Ten my friends!

 

I'm no surfer but I've always been in awe of wave sliders; owing to the year your wagon is, shouldn't you have a pair of Thruster Guns?

 

Nice to hear from you Jairus. Wagon is looking good and the new surfboard looks good too.
Are you going to look into getting the other one repaired?

 

Good question.
No!
I had no idea how to fix it. Sitting in the sun with a clamp, drilling little vent holes, cutting a slot and injecting new resin worked for one small 6" blister. But looked ugly. That two foot long 8" wide blister told me that the "William Dennis" board is slated to become nothing more than Hawaiian pizza sign in a local restaurant, so to that end I put it my parents garage sale.
Sold it for the same $50 price I paid just a few hours earlier.
Wish the buyer luck.
But no good for anything but display and I like stuff useful.

Oh... and my clock in the "Surf Rat" stopped working.
But, I did reset the points on the mighty three ninety! Starts on the first crank again!

 

I went surfing once. The water was freezing, my rented wet suit didn’t fit right. I got one wave. The board popped up and almost broke my nose. By the time I paddled back out I was worn out and defeated. As I sat on the board in the water past the breakers watching the locals rip it up a seal popped up maybe 10 feet away. As we starred curiously at each other it occurred to me that of all the nature shows I’ve seen with seals, they are never the feature creature, rather they’re the food. So I paddled back safely to shore. I’ll stick to thrashing the skateboard. NO SHARKS. Here I am at the world famous “Burnside” in Portland Oregon. I didn’t get to stay long because we were en-route to other plans. Plus I was wearing work boots and had had a few beers ANYWAY.....the wagon looks awesome. Love that blue! Wonder what’s up with the clock? Maybe a light cleaning?

Skate or die dudes

 

Jairus, I was looking at your wheels in the last few pictures you have posted. I thought at one time you had something different, either wheels or hubcaps, on the car. Did you do something different? Or am I just mis-remembering?

 

Hub caps are removed.
Did that when I was working on the brakes and liked the look for now.
Want to get some chrome acorn nuts next week at Baxter Auto Parts and see what happens.