What have you done to your wagon lately? (Let's keep the thread going!)

A combination of things - yes, the converter mounting pads are "tweaked" which is very disappointing given it is new - and it looks like it came that way. With the Transdapt 3/8" thick adapter there is very little of the trans alignment dowel sticking through to the trans so the alignment of the trans can be off a hair which adds to the torque converter issue. I'm using new thick flexplates.

The front seal on the trans now leaks as does the rear seal on the engine, so out they come. As to whether I grenade the 700R4 and go to a turbo 400 I have in stock, or change the entire power train, is still a matter of discussion between me and our family CEO. She says "just do it - get the new power train and make it functional again so we can drive the wheels off it towing the trailer again". This is much to my surprise, I'd been getting vibes that I should fix what is there.

The other thing though is my darned "thrifty" side kicks in. I can't help it. I found in my supply of spare parts and complete gasket set for the engine, a front seal for the trans, I even have a spare 700R4 with a new converter in stock I'd sort of forgotten about (the converter part), and I hate just giving in so quickly. So the cost to do the swap out to either the 400 or other converter would be the cost of oil. The other cost in the neighborhood of 3 to 5 grand is my best guess given what I can purchase the powertrain for and then other things needed.

Hmmm, what to do, what to do, what to do. I love the look of the 455, but I love the way my truck runs.

As you can see as a retired person I have trouble making quick decisions - well, except for when I say something "smart" around my wife and then I decide very quickly to run away. I have very few bruises because I'm quick to run even sometimes when I don't have to. That causes strange looks from bystanders but oh well........

 

Put a new alternator in Wednesday night. Still charging but bearing went bad...thought the eingine was coming apart!!! All good now.

 

Pulled the front lower door panels and dyed them, installed 6x9 speakers and the CD player. Detailed it for the car show tomorrow. Also adjusted all engine belts to get rid of the star up squell.

 

New custom seat covers so everything matches. Still in the process of installing them. My car is a '67 Mercury Commuter (full-size) that I added buckets to from a '68 Galaxie, and third row seats from a '68 Ranch Wagon, so nothing matched.

Here is a pic of the first few pieces completed.



Trying to get the car road ready before the end of the year so I can do the body work over the winter.

 

VERY nice. It is going to look great when it is all done. You must be getting close.

 

After seeing how Mike/81X11 installed rear door panel lights in his new '92 OCC I had to have them so I picked up a couple of rear door panel lights at the boneyard from a '92 RMW for my factory lightless Custom Cruiser. They were burgundy so I painted them with SEM Shadow Blue, pretty close match to the '91-'93 "TBI" blue interior.
Pulled off the plastic trim panel on the door panel and the connector for the wires was right there like Mike's so I didn't have to pull the door panel. I pulled off the blank light covers then snaked the wire up to the connector and plugged it in then snapped the light housing in. It didn't take as long as I thought it would so I had to kill some time before beer time so I washed the OCC's windows.

 

Pulled the radiator and gas tanks and began process of de-greasing and pressure washing.

 

63 wagonaire

found out the master cylinder was bad-due to the rubber rotting- and then tried to find one....Studebaker International has them, but they want over 350.00 for them-too much for me, so spent the week trying to find what would work-66 ambasador-same bore, same bolt pattern-only have to change the fittings-oh yeah and 45.00 from Napa- so working on that now

 

I finished installing setting and leveling the front posts on my new 4-post lift (woo hoo!) Just need to pack concrete under the base plates to finish it up (found a walk-through of a professional install where they do this).

Then, in my spare time, I worked on recovering the seats and am now down to just one bucket seat left to complete. When they are done and I have all the trim cleaned up and back on, I will post updated pictures.

 

Went to car show Saturday in Ft. Payne, AL. Won a door prize! Only one other wagon there, a 55 Nomad. Not many cars. Coolest one, a 2007 Saturn Sky, with a 6.0 V-8 crammed in it. Looked factory. NICE!

 

chevy5seven, pic's of your 57 please, thanks, Henry. Are you on chevytalk or trifive?

 

Got the radio, clock, and some of the dome lights working again in the wagon today.

 

I picked up a 250 inliner for the Tiki Wagon. The 283 is in need of a rebuild, so I'm pulling that and installing a straight six. I've got V8's in everything else I have... so would like to play around with something different. Maybe get a Clifford intake and 2 carb setup? Already has electronic ignition. Suppose to be a real good, clean runner with no issues.. got a great deal on it.. just couldn't pass it up. Now I just need time to work on it.

 

Still cleaning the 250 to prep for paint. Hoping to paint it this weekend. Still need to finish pulling 283 and transmission out of wagon.. almost there.

Love this shot!

 

Took a 50 mile drive down to Binbrook to pick up some parts from a guy parting out his '96 Roady wagon. I scored a full set of stainless trim with rubber bumpers, all mounting clips, a replacement for my broken A-Pillar trim, some rear door trim panels with door handle bezels, and all 4 door switch panels.

The interior trim panels are all tan but once I get my hands on some SEM I can get them re-coloured blue and into the wagon. Everything's packed away in the garage now as we're doing some renovations on the house in the hopes of moving. I won't likely get any of it done this year but I can't wait for next summer to get it all installed.

It's interesting to note that the rubber trim on the stainless panels mounts differently on the '96 than on my '94. My '94 has all of it's rubber trim installed with adhesive tape. On this trim I've snagged from a '96, all of the rubber is mounted to the stainless with rubber extrusions that project from the back of the trim, through the stainless, and are then melted to hold them in place. Pretty cool but those holes must make it a fair bit harder to remove the rubber and run a stainless only wagon.