Re: Don’s 1937 (120) 138CD Deluxe Touring Limo

Posted by Don B On 2024/4/28 22:03:20

Well, I ddn’t make a lot of progress today, but I did make some progress. I decided that I’m going to attempt to get things loose and remove the front clip as one piece. I’ll recruit three of my younger neighbors to help. I refer to them as the Three Hooligans!. I decided to go this route since everything will have to come off eventually to get the work done that I want (body and paint), so I may as well get set up for that now. Plus, it will let me do a number of things that likely need attention….coolant distribution tube and center steering bearing, for example.

I got the front bumper off and the running board trim. I believe I have the heads of all the necessary nuts and bolts freed from the undercoating. I was able to get the fender support bars removed and got them completely stripped of the undercoating and all loose rust removed. I’ll get them coated with rust encapsulator soon, along with the bumper brackets. I also got those cleaned up.

I was also able to get the top sidemount support nuts loosened on each side. That’s good, because those aren’t easy to get to. I need to get a 1-5/16 impact socket for the lower nuts on the sidemount supports. I’ll have that tomorrow, and I’m pretty optimistic that those will come off pretty easily.

The center bolt under the radiator will be pretty easy since Allen replaced that when he was working on the car.

I also went ahead and got the wiring harness out of the way. That was easy since it’s only the wires going to the right headlight bucket and they are connectorized.

That just leaves three bolts to the running boards and three bolts to the cowl on each side. I’m not too worried about the bolts to the running board, but I’m a little worried about the bolts to the cowl. They look like they are going to be the most difficult as they’re a bit harder to get to. One is a little loose. I’m concerned that it could be rusted out at the nut plate which could be challenging.

I’m pretty nervous about this whole process given my lack of experience. But I keep reminding myself that you get experience from doing. There will likely be some failures/struggles along the way, but that’s been the case with everything in life. New adventure. Plus, I know I have the benefit of a lot of support, tips, and knowledge with this group. If (really when) I get to a point where I’m not sure what to do next, I’ll stop and ask.