55 Wagon Progress

[MP&C]

Dan, I think she's about 5'8 or so..


Final design on the bucket seat brackets... and owner approved today as well. One down, one to go.. This is made from 14 gauge cold rolled steel and puts the seat about as low as we can go without cutting the floor pan..

Video of the seat bracket:

https://youtu.be/YF7LOe7eLTQ

Seat test fitted:

[pintoboy77]

It is so cool to see what someone can do with the right tools that knows how to use them. Great job guys.

[MP&C]

Don't think I showed this on the other side, but here's how we find the center of the bend for dimensioning the seat bracket..





Bent up and a test fit...





Relief cuts made for the next fold.....





then rolled through the bead roller





and then the brake is used to fold the outer flange. Here, all welded in place...





The front hole pattern is laid out to match the drivers bracket, and then some perpendicular lines laid out for locating the rear risers...

[silver_bullet]

your posts never cease to amaze me!

[MP&C]

Thanks!


Got a new apprentice that started this past Saturday.. Her mom even thought it was a good idea!








She's getting the driver's seat bracket all prepped for SPI epoxy primer, while I worked on finishing the passenger bracket..

[DanStokes]

Yours? Or forced labor from another source? GREAT for her to get into it at any rate.

Dan

[MP&C]

Mine. And I've already been chastised by an older cousin (female) that she shouldn't be working in my shop unless she WANTED to. My response:

What she wants is spending money. What she doesn't have is a drivers license for another year. What she gets out of it is mechanical background knowledge that may help prevent some shiester from taking her to the cleaners by charging for something bogus later in life.

[DanStokes]

That's a big 10-4! I did body work with my oldest the summer she was 18 or maybe 19. I had the same goal and I'm not sure she picked up on it. Hope yours does. On the other hand I wasn't straightforward in telling her of that goal and probably should have been. Either way, good for both of you. She has a golden opportunity to learn some amazing skills, or at least the concepts behind some amazing skills and I hope she gets it. I'd have killed to work with someone like you at that age.

Dan

[pintoboy77]

Mine. And I've already been chastised by an older cousin (female) that she shouldn't be working in my shop unless she WANTED to. My response:

What she wants is spending money. What she doesn't have is a drivers license for another year. What she gets out of it is mechanical background knowledge that may help prevent some shiester from taking her to the cleaners by charging for something bogus later in life.

I would have the same response but with a dose of don't tell me how to raise mine and I won't tell you how to raise yours.

[silver_bullet]

Sean's made a profession from helping Dad... He's looking to move up, but he's gaining skills while working full time bending wrenches...

[MP&C]

Well the new hire is still here a week later, so I haven't scared her away yet ....


Getting down to the nitty gritty on the seat brackets, number two is all but done, need to weld in three hex nuts and touch up some media blasting. Hoping for good weather this weekend so we can spray some epoxy primer on them and get these installed...














And the last two pipe clamps came in at Napa (installed with lock nuts), so we can now throw some air to the planishing hammer and try out the new fixture..

[SuperBuickGuy]

tell your helper that her matching shirt and shoes really does set that blast cabinet off quite well. ;)

I love people who tell me what to do, because they pretty much always go away in a snit - and then I get to use this classic line "you look so good going away"

[Deaf Bob]

Taught my kid to weld, does it better than I..
He could make a living that way but doesn't

[MP&C]

This weekend we got the three hex nuts welded underneath seat bracket number two, fourth hole is a bolt through......










1/4" tall spacers fabricated to make the seat tracks level, then tacked in place on the front holes..











Prepped and hung up for epoxy primer...





OEM seat bracket holes in the floor pans open to the inside of floor crossmembers. Rather than weld them closed and warp the floor pan, we opted for these fancy hole plugs.











SPI epoxy primer applied...








When it's 39* outside and the paint booth is sucking the heat out of the building, this is how you keep the temps up to a balmy 75* in the paint booth..





We'll let the seat brackets cure for a few days and then get started on plug welding them in place..

[MP&C]

Got started on drilling plug weld holes this evening, here laying out the hole patterns to align with the floor crossmember where possible...





Once drilled to match our piloted burnishing brush, the paint surrounding the plug weld gets cleaned to prevent weld contamination..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELG55mmG2I0