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My 1967 Belvedere Convertible Plans and Restoration (aka - Mad Scientist Build)

Me too. Especially that silver Charger with the dimples in the roof inside...
 
Got out and did a little work on the car, but I had a "need" that needed attention first. Since I'm still not sure what the winds will be here in Charlotte yet - I had a dead tree on the property that could possibly take out my power lines . . . so it had to come down today. I didn't see the tree until yesterday . . .

So the first thing was to get it on the ground . . . DONE . . .

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And my tractor cart really comes in handy for moving the wood and not killing me in the process ( older and wiser ? ? )
Yes . . . Titus is right there by my side ( looks like he's inspecting my wood stacking techniques ) . . .

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Ant then there was this . . .

Shhhhh .
. . it looked to me that Titus was hiding in the tree and didn't want me to see him
( so I had to snap the picture - and he didn't move an inch ) LMAO . . . I didn't have the heart to tell him . . .

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OH . . . Stopped by Streetside Auto . . . a fairly new pace down the road from me . . .

And saw this 1966 Belvedere II in the building . . . very nice, and sporting a 426 Hemi too ! !

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And then I saw the price tag on the car . . .

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Working on getting my technique with the dimple dies working and adding some to the car . . .

Here's another area that I thought could be "spiffed up" with a dimple die hole . . .

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And the final result . . .

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Getting the hang of this thing - the only holdup would be not being able the get the hydraulic tool into the space where you want the hole placed . . .
 
Got a couple things done . . .

Got some more primer inside the door . . . and got the interior of the door in primer too.
( fired my other painter, this one is doing a much better job - it's still me . . . )

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Got the original holes welded up, and the rough opening for the new handle cut into the door skin . . .

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Having a "load" of fun with the panel shape after welding the holes shut . . . and I've got another spot where the other patch was welded in the bottom front corner too - that I'll need to get fixed ( somehow )
 
Looking great Kahn, lots of cool little touches on this car... maybe just a couple haha.
 
Wishing my metal skills were a bit better, but I work with what I've got and I try to do my best . . . been fighting with this passenger door, and the patch that it needed in the lower front corner . . . and having all kinds of "fun" with the metal . . . but . . .

After another hour fighting with it tonight, I think I've got it where I can work with it now ! ! !

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The "X" on the left was a high spot ( still don't have a clue "how" I managed to do that ) that I got corrected by cutting the X in it and re-welding the joints . . . it worked. However, the end result was that it pulled the panel in, and I did not want to put 3/8" of body filler in the area . . . so I fought with getting it pulled out and it's much better now . . .
 
Wishing my metal skills were a bit better, but I work with what I've got and I try to do my best . . . been fighting with this passenger door, and the patch that it needed in the lower front corner . . . and having all kinds of "fun" with the metal . . . but . . .

After another hour fighting with it tonight, I think I've got it where I can work with it now ! ! !

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The "X" on the left was a high spot ( still don't have a clue "how" I managed to do that ) that I got corrected by cutting the X in it and re-welding the joints . . . it worked. However, the end result was that it pulled the panel in, and I did not want to put 3/8" of body filler in the area . . . so I fought with getting it pulled out and it's much better now . . .
Errrr, I hate fighting warpage!!!
 
Got started on the lathe - and the tear apart and rebuild process . . .

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Looks like the previous owner "abused" this lathe, and it also looks like it eat a bearing too . . .
- - we're finding metal shavings and fine metal particulates in the oil reservoirs
- - some of the bolts are stripped out and will need to be redone with heli-coils
- - bolts and screw replacements don't match, 4 screws are now 4 different type ( very frustrating )
- - they did rebuild it and the bearings are solid - they should not need to be replaced
- - the seals were all "mangled" when they were installed - no wonder it leaked oil . . .
- - this inside of the lathe will be cleaned up and repainted Hemi Orange ( Yeah ! )
- - then the head will be very precisely mounted perpendicular to the bed . . .
- - other upgrades may include - variable speed motor, 3 axis digital readout, we'll keep you posted . . .
 
Got the new seals ordered, and already received them in the mail - thanks to Amazon . . .

Now for the cleanup to continue . . . decided that epoxy primer gray was the best way to go - light color and very durable . . .

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Yeah . . . trying to tape off round openings with square tape does not work really well . . .

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But, on the other hand, the inside of the lathe is looking so much better now . . . now we can track easily if something is going awry quickly . . .

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Now for the fun part of this project . . . waiting for the paint to dry . . . ( sigh ) . . . then the rebuild will begin . . .

( hope we can remember how it all came apart . . . )
 
House stuff yesterday . . .

Spent 12 hours under the house with copper plumbing yesterday ( did I ever tell you I hate doing plumbing . . . ) with the goal to get my hot water line set up for installation of the hot water recirculating pump that my dad bought for my years ago . . . just put off crawling under the house to do the work. After 12 hours of work ( and 3 trips to the store ) the complete circuit is fully plumbed, and I've run a line up into the house for the remainder of the work to hook up the pump.

The idea is - circulate hot water in a circuit that runs under all the hot water access points in the house so when you turn on the hot water, you get it very quickly and not have to wait 3-5 minutes to get the water hot.

My plan ( with the help of my friend ) is to set it up on a temperature sensor - then the temp on the return side drops below a temp, the pump turns on to put more hot water into the pipes - the returning water ( still warm ) is dumped back in the the hot water tank.

The good news - no swimming pool under the house this morning - and everything appears to be working . . .

All of the pipes will be wrapped with rubber insulation to help keep the water in the pipes hot longer . . . that will be added after a bit to allow me to check for pin hole water leaks in the new joints.

Glad to have that "nasty" part of the job completed . . . and boy am I sore from crawling around on the hard ground under the house . . . Yay Advil ! !
 
Lathe update . . .

Only (1) of the (4) Grizzly documented seals ( the plans are not for MY lathe as I cannot find the actual plans anywhere ) actually fit properly, and it's been installed successfully, so now I'll have to order a couple new ones so we can continue the rebuild process . . . Also have a pot metal oil cup that is broken on the lather that we'll have to see if we can find a replacement . . .

Very Anxious to get that rebuild moving along . . .
 
Nice work on the lathe so far! Bummer about the seals hopefully you can source everything you need.

That's plumbing job didn't sound fun at all but when that pump is doing it's job it will be a nice novelty to have instant hot water
 
Can you solder, braze or even JB-Weld the pot metal back together?

As for crawling under houses....ya.....spiders!

The spiders don't bother me too much, the "ugly" cave crickets give me the creeps . . . but years ago when I was clearing, leveling, and installing a vapor barrier in the crawlspace, I heard a noise and there was a 6 foot black snake sitting about 6 feet away from me . . . yeah, the spiders aren't much considering that ! !

There's nothing left of the cup - it's toast . . . found this on Amazon . . . for a whopping $4.24 . . . think I'll be ordering it . . .

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House and tool working weekend . . . working on getting my long torn apart bathroom back together and we've started with the lathe rebuild . . .

Setting the seal on the right side of the head stock . . .

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Seal set in place . . .

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Setting the seal on the left side of the head stock . . .

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This is how the inside looks whilw we're setting them . . .

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And the first row of gears is in place . . . but . . . it wasn't an easy task . . .
- - we had (2) ruh roh moments that caused us to undo a bit of the work that we had completed
- - wasn't too bad - we even remembered the belt ( I would have been mad if we forgot that ) . . .

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Tomorrow . . . some more work on putting this lathe back together . . . hopefully . . .
 
Would love to report on progress on my car . . . but life has got in the way and some other projects need to get done . . .

Ever realize how "easy" things come apart, yet when you go to put them back together, it's a living nightmare of Tetris . . . revisited ? ?

Lather-work . . . rebuilding . . . I'd love to report that everything went "smoothly", but then I'd be lying . . . I don't event want to try and count the number of times that this thing had to come back apart and be be put back together because the part needed to go on first, and we thought it would go on afterwards . . . living tetris, really, I swear . . .

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The good news is . . . it's all back together, and everything is lining up really nicely - VERY happy with the rebuilding and this should last me the rest of my lifeime . . .

Then the neighbor took down a big old oak tree, but doesn't bur the wood for the Winter, so he said if I want it, come get it . . .

So I did . . . this is only about 1/3 of the tree - the stuff that I can pick up . . . LOTS of free firewood here ( free = bust my *** to get it ) LOL

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Will be getting the rest of it ASAP - my "country boy friends are seeing indications of this being a very bad Winter - better get stocked up on the firewood now . . .
 
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