Father son 1941 Chevy project

[tkruger]

November 2020

Rear bumper on, first time. Unfortunately the bumpers we had where not in the best shape. The rear one was straight but rusted and pitted. Front, pitted and rusted to a greater extent. Original plan was to mount it and see what we thought. If nothing else all of the brackets and the rear bumper shelf would now be in place. Turned out the front was so bad it had to be painted. We took the rear off again and painted it so the bumpers matched. Budget did not allow for us to replace these. During the next month installed the rear tail lights and made the wiring harness for that. Plan to install blinkers so I had to get different sockets. Also installed the license plate bracket and light at that time.

 

[tkruger]

March 2021

Lots of polishing fitting and adjusting took place to get to this next step. Also, hunting for little bits like trim clips etc. Online there is a place called the Filing Station that I have found to be extremely useful in finding parts. Started to the smaller parts back on the car. All the door latches had to be reinstalled, door handles installed, trunk latch rebuilt from two damaged ones. The stainless was put on during this time. Also mounted a new exhaust. Amazingly a Toyota muffler fit the car.

Youngest son did all of the inside bolts since he could sit up between the grrill and radiator. Used the jack allot to aline the fenders as we bolted them together.

Piece below the grill mounted.

 

[tkruger]

April 2021

Final window is in. This was done piece by piece around th car as we had time after painting the car. Some windows were delayed waiting for parts to arrive.

 

[tkruger]

November 2021

Between March and now the bumper has been mounted, wiring for the headlights and a lot of little misc. work has been done. Unfortunately the bumper is bent. Good news is it was easy to line up since the bracket for the bumper was also bent to match.

 

[tkruger]

December 2021

Test fitted the seats. Took a break from wiring to do something different for a while. Took the seats from a 1999 Ford Windstar. The rear one in the Windstar was the width needed for the front of the car and the middle bench from the Windstar fits in the rear of the car. We have the original seats but it is not in the budget at this time to get them reupholstered. These were $100 for the pair. We made brackets for them using angle iron. If we get the originals reupholstered in the future its just a few bolts to change them out.

Son designed and made the brackets for the rear seat.

 

[tkruger]

January 2022

Fog lights mounted. Still waiting to get a 6v incandescent sealed beam light. All the other parts are reedy to for the passenger side light. Story of the car. Work on a section till you need to order a part then work on another. At this point we are mounting any part we can to get space back in the garage.

 

[tkruger]

February 2022

Seats are in and seatbelts are now bolted in place.

 

[tkruger]

Items to get this on the road:

• Finish wiring. Most of what is in the dash is the original cloth. Much of the insolation is gone. Wires need to be run to the rear of the car for the taillights to connect to. Fog lights need a harness.
• Clean all the switches. If we are going to rewire everything each switch is getting a good cleaning
• Driver’s front break keeps locking up after sitting. May need adjustment. All others are fine. Shoes have lots of meat left and surprisingly all the parts look recent.
• Fuel ling needs to be connected. If it is not in good shape it needs to be replaced
• Panels given the final alignment
• Sticking gas pedal, I think it needs the return spring replaced
• Tires changed. I have a road worthy set but not putting them on the car till it is ready to run
• Get ice cream. Kids were promised that we are going to get ice cream when there are plates on it and it legally can drive down the road.

When that is done we will start the list of interior items. Seats are what’s needed to go down the road. At this point it will be nice to have a drivable car. As with any old car the vehicle is never done.

More to come…..

 

[DRIVEN]

Very cool. You taught the boys a lot here.

 

[ssn696]

That is a very cool bonding experience. I can't help but hear 'Wax on, wax off" echoing in my head. Thanks for keeping this one on road. What better way for your son to get a car to drive. Next stop - front disc brakes and an S10 T5 overdrive transmission.