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little by little

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:21 am
by vic barone
Hi All

You may recall I bought Chuck Hazelton's CVT Sport Fury

Work has been progressing albeit slowly.

I recently sold my Hard Top :( after 15+ years. But the brighter side is that I now get to spend $$$ on my CVT.

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I set out on converting the hard top power window set up to suit the CVT. The front window set up was obviously the same, but the rears were different. Luckily enough I had a mate of mine who is also undertaking a restoration of his 59 CVT and was able to compare my electric window lifts with his.

Turns out that the mounting plates were the same but there were slight differences between the plate and arm and the fact that the right turned out to be the left and visa versa.

Ended up taking the arm & plate coil off, flipping them around, extending the toothed plate, slightly extending the length of the arm and slightly bending it out to give the same throw as the CVT

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My coach builder has also set out on re-fabricating the header bow, centre bow's and other misceallanious brackets,clamps and CVT frame parts that are missing. I have to take my hat off to this guy as he is a magician. He is 80% thru making the header bow and its coming out a treat. He has tacked welded a majority of the bottom half of the bow and is now working on the top half.

Luckily enough the ends are still solid and he can cut and weld these onto the new frame/ He has spent almost 100hrs so far measuring up and fabricating moulds etc to get it spot on. He is worth is weight in gold.

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The next plan of attack is to finish off all of the bolt on panels before we start on the big task ahead of the us...the body

Here are a few more pics of my coach builders quality of work

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I am also in the process of sending my steering wheel to Koch's. I have heard of him thru Roger Howard and also read a few forums on the Forward Look Web Site and have been in touch with him and ran thru what the process is. He only does the clear and coloured handle grips. The re platting and centre horn ring need to be done elsewhere (or by you). He is currently charging $600 as compared to the others that are in the $1200 range. Makes a big difference when you need to send it from Australia.

I touched base with George Laurie, but he is a while away and needs a good wheel to make a mould from.

I will post some more pic's once the header bow is nearing completion

Cheers

Vic

(I always like to take this opportunity to say a special thanks to Roger as he has been a reliable contact, source and mate that has been trustworthy and always a pleasure dealing with. thanks Roger)



some pics attached to show update

Re: litle by little

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:26 am
by sportfury1959
Hello Vic,

Looks like a major undertaking – keep on posting more pictures and maintain this quality work and you won’t regret it (maybe only in your wallet) :wink:

Regards from the other side of this planet

Stefan

Re: little by little

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 5:46 am
by vic barone
Howdy All

Some more progress shots on the header bow

Cheers

Vic
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PS we wont talk about the $$$ this is costing me

Re: little by little

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 1:55 pm
by rogerh
Hi Vic,
I was unable to "open" your latest photos, but I know the work is time-consuming and expensive.
What is the name of your Aussie friend who is also restoring a convertible?
Having another peroso restoring the same model car has got to be motivating!
The ability to compare notes and all, and the moral support as well.
Thanks for staying "in touch".
Roger

Re: little by little

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:12 am
by Faulkner
rogerh wrote:Hi Vic,
I was unable to "open" your latest photos, but I know the work is time-consuming and expensive.
Roger
Another result of the recent hack! Vic, I'll fix it tomorrow -- sorry for the incovenience.

Dan

Re: little by little

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:00 am
by rogerh
Dan,
Dont forget to take a day off it IS Labor Day!

Re: little by little

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:18 am
by vic barone
Hi All

Just got my steering wheel sent back from the US. Had it done by Kosch's. Service was great and end product pretty good. The only downer to the whole exercise was that I sent it over to the US when the currency transfer rate was almost dollar for dollar, but got stung when it was shipped back.

Kosch's currently doing the wheel for $600US
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Re: little by little

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 7:54 am
by rogerh
Looks good in the photo. Dan Morton got his wheel back too, and was pleased with the results.

Re: little by little

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:32 pm
by Denver 59 Fin Convert
Vic, I was looking thru your Convertible header photo's and they helped me out a lot, I am working on my Header piece right now in stripping it and painting. The only part that was bad on mu Header was the channel that held the first material to tack down the canvas, I had half the tacking channel gone and only one of the spears left that are folded down over the tack point and the top material.

After looking at your re-creation of that channel piece I now know what to do to repair mine. None of this header pieces are shown in the Factory Manual so I just had no idea on what it looked like to recreate. How many of the spears/tabs are on that channel piece you had made? And also what is the spacing of the same spears/tabs from each other?

Keep the pictures coming!!

Thanks!

John Q.
Arvada, Colo

Re: little by little

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:19 am
by vic barone
Hi John

Sorry I havent replied sooner. I will get in touch with my coach builder regarding your queries and will try and give you the details

Things have gone a bit slow lately and I havent had much progress nor had time to spend on the car.

Cheers

Vic

Re: little by little

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 9:45 pm
by vic barone
Hello All (back again) apologies for not posting regularly ( I keep reading everyone else's progress so as to keep inspired over the long haul)

Things are finally starting to move along again. The car is in the workshop and every time I go there more panels seem to come off than go on. This being said its all for the better. Trying to take off as much surface rust in those hard to get places rather than just wire brushing tight areas, if I can take the panel off its off and then totally stripped and cleaned e.g. base of front screen panel, rear parcel shelf panel etc

Will be starting work on the motor soon also. It will be a 361 with dual carb set up also. Other points of interest are that I will be trying to make a automated rear parcel shelf that will house a rear mount a/c and speaker system. The intent is to limit as much alteration to the main body panels but to try and achieve a closed rear parcel shelf when the top is up. Will keep you posted on that one.

Other plans are to link the door handle to the power windows so that when the door handle is opened slightly the window drops 1/2 inch or so, so as to not catch on the weather sill to the top rail

These are my hopes any way.

Good to be back again


Cheers

Vic

Re: little by little

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 9:47 pm
by vic barone
oops

I placed the updated pics with the original post. You may need to scroll up to see them

Cheers

Vic

Re: little by little

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:38 pm
by Denver 59 Fin Convert
Hey Vic, yep, better to make a new post then edit the old one.... :)

Your work is remarkable! Keep up the good work on bringing this one back to Day one standards! Keep the pictures coming!


John Q.

Re: little by little

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 3:38 am
by Matthew Keij
Nice work! Can't wait for more pics.

I also need to add you to the Convertible list!

Re: little by little

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:24 pm
by rogerh
I can't figure out a way to enlarge those update photos, but if I squint really hard I can see the bottom half of door skins were removed, as well as teh rear quarter panels. Your bodyman is being thorough, that's for sure! And his talent is evident. Top notch work! (that car came to Chuck from southern California...the car must not be originally from socal, or maybe the owners drove it into the ocean!