Yankee Express RestoMod Project

[Brandy]

Picked up the 70 inch long full close out panel today and got it trimmed and mocked into place. Going to be slick....

 

[5.7 hemi]

This is some Kingdigit type stuff...I like it!

 

[Brandy]

This is some Kingdigit type stuff...I like it!

HA!....lol. Thanks. Not nearly but I am having fun...I wish I had all of their nice tools!!

 

[Brandy]

I would give my left nut for a bead roller...BTW..I left that latch uncovered because I need to rig up a remote pull/cable affair to open it without a key. Nowhere to put the lock hole you see...
I think I will run it down through the floor and turn 90* to come out to just behind the bumper where the license plate cut out is. Just need to be able to get a finger on it and pull the latch release through a 90* turn of the release. It operates easily so no huge pull needed. I'll run the SS cable through a 90* bend of a hunk of old brake line tube. The lever will be a flat tip "S" shaped driver that has one end sliced off. I'll tack/JB WELD the flat tip into the lock release slot, capture the other end with a slot for the SS cable ball end to slide into. I will set a spring to the end of the lever so it rotates the thing back once released, ready for the next time. That will keep the ball end in the socket. Might have to tack an axle end onto the driver inline with the tip and run that through a tab of 20 Gauge so it captures the driver into the slot and it cant come out, and leave me with an un-openable trunk. It will be some small sized work and will be interesting to do...

 

[Brandy]

Took a stab at piecing together the gutter corner. Good job that a member contacted me this evening about a 68 Coronet donor. lol...

View attachment 866869

 

[bearman]

Ghost, trunk release could use a electric instead of a pull cable. Just a thought your project is going to be great.

 

[Brandy]

Ghost, trunk release could use a electric instead of a pull cable. Just a thought your project is going to be great.

I know, I don't trust 'em. Give me a simple mechanical device any time... Always works.

 

[bearman]

I hear you for most part I'm the same way.

 

[conv67bdere]

I know, I don't trust 'em. Give me a simple mechanical device any time... Always works.

LOL . . . I feel the same way - give me mechanical over electrical - ANYDAY ! ! !

By the way, I've got a bead roller that I'd be happy to let you use if you were a little bit closer to me . . . .

 

[Fran Blacker]

LOL . . . I feel the same way - give me mechanical over electrical - ANYDAY ! ! !

By the way, I've got a bead roller that I'd be happy to let you use if you were a little bit closer to me . . . .

Bet the cooked guy in the Tesla would agree.

 

[Brandy]

LOL . . . I feel the same way - give me mechanical over electrical - ANYDAY ! ! !

By the way, I've got a bead roller that I'd be happy to let you use if you were a little bit closer to me . . . .

Story of my life. Up till 2015 I was always too far away some god forsaken place, now, still to far away..lol.

 

[Brandy]

So, waiting for info from a member about the trunk gutter donor. Cleaned that project up and covered it for later. Got the 67 Charger front grill, support frame, headlight buckets and hardware out and got them all on the bench. Assembled everything and then sat and looked at the issues. First, the frame was not correctly positioned at the top plates on either end. Then the buckets wobbled around inside the donuts at the motor ends. So I tried to figure a way to make them stay centered, because I'm not using the OEM motors, AND keep the buckets held back against the plastic bearing on the idler ends. After a while I came up with the idea of using nylon spacers 1 1/2"L x 1"OD with a 5/8ths centered hole. That would slide over the motor connection axle and fit inside the donuts. The length would hold the buckets back against the white plastic bearing on the outer ends. After due considerations about how it could fail I decided it would work and set about finding two. The only ones I could find were at McMaster Carr and they were a pack of 10. Sooo, I went to my local hardware store where I had seen some smaller ones before, in the specialty fasteners section. They didn't have a 1 1/2" long one but did have some 1/2" thick 1"OD ones with a 1/2" hole. So, stacking them gave me the length and drilling out the centers gave me the ID of 5/8ths. Worked like a charm. They are doing exactly what I mean for them to do and should be fine. I don't intend to drive at night much so the lights wont see much use. They spin freely and that's before applying grease. The hold back part is accomplished by me having to hammer the spacers into the donut centers, two in the donut and one behind next to the bucket. The ones in the donuts will never spin or move. Next I assembled the grill in the center and adjusted all parts to line up. Looks great! New motors should be here in the next day or two. Got out the limit switches and stops and see that I need to do some work on those to recondition them. Also need to devise a way to connect the motor double flats shaft to the knob with hole end of the OEM axles. Still considering on that one..

 

[Brandy]

Stuck both stops in a can full of CRC break free to loosen up the adjustment screws. The mounting legs are both busted off so I will be drilling and tapping those. The limit switches need to be disassembled and checked for operation, the wires freshened up and the frames sanded down. tomorrow.

 

[Brandy]

Today, so far, I've managed to slice off the adjustment stop bolt ends and drill those out as well as the mounting studs. So those are tapped for new threads and are ready to go. The Limit switches however were a total loss. I ended up just tearing them off of the mounting flanges. I wire wheeled those and got them in epoxy primer so they are ready for new switches.

 

[Brandy]

yay! The motors came today! They are the perfect size and I think I have figured out a way to connect them to the shafts. The shaft end that the OEM motor connects to is 5/8" OD with a 1/4" hole for a set pin. The motor end is a 10mm shaft with a 6mm DD flats. The spacing from end to end will be 1 3/8" give or take a 1/16" or so. I located a 2" long x 5/8" bore with set screws (4) that I can slice down to size for length. That gets me over the bucket shaft ends.
Then I found a connector that's 5/8 OD x 1" long x 10mm ID bore with set screws as well. IT will slip inside the other one. That gets me onto the motor shaft. All that remains is aligning up the set screw holes in both collars and running a set screw all the way through both. Bob's 'yer Uncle. As for mounting the motor here's what I came up with. I will drill through the donut in 3 places that match the motor mounting pattern and run M6 bolts through towards the motors from the bucket side, two nuts with lock washers on the bolts in between the motor and the side of the donut facing the motor, turn those three bolts into the motor mounts little by little till I get the right spacing for the couplers to link up and then run the nuts and washers out in opposite directions to lock the bolts against the donuts and against the motor mounting stud. If that turns out to not be rigid enough I'll make a plate that runs from the underside of the top frame to the top of the bottom frame and place it under the nuts that lock up against the motor studs and bolt that to each frame. That will do the job. This arrangement will not excessively block air flow. The rest is wiring and adjustments. I worked over the whole unit today after suspending the middle by blocking up the ends off of the table, like it sits on the car. Lined up buckets and grill perfectly, they spin freely, mounted the stops on the buckets. So I'm waiting on supplies now, bolts, and collars..fun stuff!

 

[Brandy]

The bolts are SS. I found that if I use the opposite set up motor than the one in the picture it fits in almost vertically and takes up little room. If I were to notch the lower support rail it would set straight up and down in there. I just had another idea while writing this, If I slice some off of the end of that DD 6mm shaft I can get closer to the bucket shaft end AND slide the 10mm base shaft shoulder into the coupler for added strength...

 

[Brandy]

I will be using a DPST 12v rocker as a headlight control switch. On-off-on switch. The limit switches will light up a small green light and a small red light, for Open & Closed indications. The high/low beam functions will be wired to the turn signal stalk. Turning on the headlight switch will energize the lights but not open them. Switch will do the rest. This will allow the headlights to be open/off for maintenance. Turn signals and 4 ways will be wired into the turn signal stalk and the dash mounted emergency flasher button. Running lights will be on the headlights switch in the first position, headlights energized on the second position.

 

[Brandy]

This switch will slip right into a space on the Audi console is if it was always there.

 

[Brandy]

Today was bolt, nut & washer separation day. Dumped all containers and drawers out and organized all of it. Found several things I have been hunting for. lol. I have like 20 something little angle brackets that I have no clue where they go. Most of them might be from that Dodge truck I dismantled. I also mounted the turn signal buckets along side the lights.

 

[Brandy]

Decided I was clever enough to fabricate the mountings for the motors rather than buying a load of stuff. So I did. What I have now are the correct patterns for new ones out of 16 ga. The stuff I made these out of is 18 ga and it may be stiff enough but I would rather err on the side of over kill. So when I did the left side it came out better and I will modify the right when I make it out of new material. I feel like these will be sufficient to both hold the motors in place and allow air to pass through. They are really just another set of the plates that the bucket axle passes through that are next to them. Anyway, I did that and also located and mounted up the vertical support and made sure it was going to fit. I got a box of snack size zip lock bags and as I disassemble this I'll bag and tag for later. Something I should have done 4 years ago.