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now that the fender is off i can see the nuts holding on the trim piece.

one of the ones i can't get off is the one right before the back fender well. it is the vertical one on the front of the fender well in the rear. i just want to be careful as the trim on this car is in great shape. just a few dings and one major smash, but other than that it is perfect w/ no pitting or anything.

enjoy the pics from this morning.

expect to see the whole front of the car off soon. i wanted to do this so i could dip little pieces a time....they are cheaper to dip...about 150 bucks a panel...the body is about 1800, so it will have to wait for now. the frame is about 500.

i will do the doors, hood, trunk lid and front fenders first.

i also plan to lift the body off soon to see everything underneath better.

later for now.....

Hank

p.s. and good location for replacement front floor pans. i saw a set on ebay....

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here are the rest of the pictures, i hit submit too quick.

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nothing special to report tonight. just stripped the fender of it's bits so now it is bare. next will be the other side.

banged on the starter a bit, thinking maybe it was stuck, but still the key wouldn't kick over the motor. i didn't spend much time on this as my dad has a remote start button we are going to use incase the ignition switch has something wrong with it or the wiring for that matter.....i can tell you this i will have to replace all the wiring on this car. it just crumbles in my hand...no use in trying to save it. i found a place that does it off of Hemmings, but i expect it will be well over 1000 for all the harnesses.

until next time,

Hank

update from the weekend:

My wife and i took the driver's door off on saturday. the only problem i had was the 3/4 window was broke on the bottom before i tried to take it out. that little leg that comes down to mount to the front of the door. well, the was already cracked in half. maybe some JB weld will fix it.....looks like really brittle metal, must be more of that pot metal or looks like lead almost....i wouldn't doubt it considering the age.

the other thing i couldn't get off was the slide lock that holds ont he door hand. it was soo curroded it wasn't even funny. the pull tab broke right off, so i was screwed from there. i sprayed it down good with PB, but it didn't matter. i got the handle off, but part of the lock button side broke. those two tabs that hold downt he spring on the push button, well one side broke....maybe need an new one, but i think some JB weld will come in handy again....hopefully....any suggestions on this....or on how to get the slide lock out the end of the door.

there was no way to get the hindges off the car itself...so i left them to be dipped with the body.

my Wife did more bagging and tagging and i restored the windshield washer bottle holder. used some naval jelly (not the greatest stuff, but helped), then some rust converter, then primer and then black high gloss. i will post some pics of it. it isn't perfect, but this car isn't going to be concours.....it will be a really really nice driver...that was what it was built for anyways. it will be frame off, but i like driving my cars...call me ignorant, but i don't just want to be the man that owns one. no offense to the concours guys though.

pics to come tomorrow.....

later,

Hank

here are the pics for Monday morning.

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okay, i took the pan off. the linkage inside was barely loose, so i tightened it....to no avail. the valve is stuck. i disconnected the valve from the linkage and tried to move it by hand....it didn't budge. it is stuck in there good. it will not move in and out.

any thoughts......could it be corroded. there was plenty of tranny fluid so i don't know why it would be.

i will post some pictures tomorrow.

Bob Aller had a thought......


i turned the motor over a couple of turns....nothing exciting there, but the driveshaft hit the underside of the car.....

so long story short his thought is.....

nasty smelling fluid=heat damage

heat damage= locked up torque converter

which = why the drive shart spun only with a ruuurrr of the motor. shouldn't have done that...should have taken more rpm.

i am going to call Bob and talk to him about a replacement, my contact says he said he already has one that is correct for my car that is already painted teal too.

mine is red....what is left of the paint anyways.

Hank

here are some pictures for you to enjoy. you can see in the pictures of the transmission that the valve is sticking out the other side.

Hank

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Just my uninformed opinion but it looks like someone manually moved the valve forward too far and now the valve body needs to be disassembled to place the manual valve in the proper position in the valve body. Loosen the set screw on the piece of linkage on the manual valve shaft and slide it out of the way. Then perhaps you can see where IT should be located vs where it was positioned. I'm not that familiar with 55 trannys but think there should be an indent on that shaft where the set screw would engage.

yeah, that is what i asked of the guy from ultramatic dynamics.....how could the valve get too far forward unless by hand....it wasn't me. that was the way it looked when i droped the pan. i also noticed the screw that was holding the arm connected to the valve to the linkage was not what it says it is supposed to be in the manual. the manual describes a pin type system, but what was there was a screw and square bolt. the screw had a flat head screwdriver indent on it. didn't look factory.

i tried to tap on the bottom of the valve body itsef to see if it would come unstuck, but it didn't. i tried and tried to pull on the linkage that is connected to the valve, you can see i disconnected it from the rest of the linkage, but it will not budge. i guess i could try to tap it from the other end.

Bob aller thinks the tranny is froze....