#1953 pickup

[playswithcars]

1953 Chevy pickup

[arty7631]

Project #8 Headliner

Now that Smaug's roof is thoroughly insulated, it was time to install the headliner. I was a little nervous about this project, as we had never put in a cardboard headliner before. After reading posts on Stovebolt.com, I was armed with a 50/50 spray of water and ammonia, a sharp razor knife, and several headliner pieces and parts. This headliner is actually a floating headliner, that is suspended by the rubber gaskets around the doors and windshield, the visors, a headliner bow in the center, and screws in the back (with a piece of trim that we are missing). The front piece we put in without spraying it down first, and we had some creasing. The piece was not made anywhere close to the actual truck, and a lot of trimming was required. The image in the magazine also made it appear that the holes for the visors were pre-cut...they are not. The rear piece went in much easier after we sprayed it down (we do learn), but it was also in need of a serious trim job. Overall, the headliner looks passable, but we will be redoing sometime soon, with the first attempt as a template.

[arty7631]

Project #7 Roof Insulation

Well, the insulation paint finally cured on the interior roof. Although I had applied the paint as thick as possible, it dried very compactly. This was described on Hy-Tech's website, so I was not surprised. It did take about a week to cure and harden, but I imagine that was due to the low temperatures we endured all week. We moved Smaug to the house garage to install the headliner, since we were afraid that we would not be able to get the shop warm enough for the install. 

First, we heated up the shop to a sweltering seventy-five degrees. (That temperature may be fine in the house or outside with air movement, but it is HOT when two adults are trying to work in a small space close to a propane heater.) We did the tapping test on the roof of the truck again, and there was a huge difference. What had sounded like an empty tin can before now sounded much more solid, almost like fiberglass. We worked to cover up the hole in the roof next. While not a permanent solution, we chose to cover the hole with a magnetic satellite radio antenna. We intend to install XM Radio in the truck later, so we decided to use the hole available to run the wire for now, at least until we decide to re-paint the truck. After applying the magnetic antenna to the top, and fishing the wire through the hole, we siliconed the antenna from the bottom, to seal any potential leaks. 

Next, it was time for the automotive insulation. I had researched several brands, and even got a sample of Dynamat, but I had not found anything that I really liked. I decided to go out on a limb and order a Thermo-Tec product called "Suppressor Acoustical and Heat Mat". I ordered it through Amazon.com, and paid $49.95 for a 60" x 36" sheet, no shipping with Prime. When it first arrived, I had brought it inside and put it in front of the fireplace to warm up so that I could unroll it. It was a slow process, because the outer layer of the roll would warm, but the inner layers would not. This let me know that the heat suppression did work to some extent. We decided to install this layer of insulation in three pieces, driver's side, passenger side, and a 4"x4" square where the antenna wire came down. After taking some rough measurements and trimming, we test fit it in the truck...1,2,3,4 times, while we were trying to figure out how we wanted to put it in. 

We finally reached the moment of truth and peeled off the backing and stuck it to the roof. We were a little concerned, because the mat did not seem all that sticky.There were some places where the mat folded while we were installing, but we simply made a relief cut, and let it overlap itself. We rolled the entire piece with a installation roller, and removed any and all air bubbles. Using the pieces we had trimmed from the first piece as a guide, we trimmed down the piece for the passenger side. By this time, the mat had gotten really warm in the garage, which made it slightly more difficult to work with. It was not as stiff as the first piece and wanted to fold. We were able to get away with only one test fit, and only needed to make two small adjustments before sticking it. This time, when we removed the backing, the mat acted very different. We had already realized it was more flexible, but the black mat (the side that sticks) was almost like a tar at this point. We got it stuck to the roof and removed any folds and air bubbles. When rolling near the edges of this piece, the black mat would actually squish out the sides, so we did have to be careful. We installed the last piece around the antenna wire, and re-rolled everything one last time. 

After watching a presentation on installing this type of insulation, we did not stress about covering the roof 100%. Only 20% is supposed to be needed for sound, but we went for 95% due to heat. There were quite a few places where the black mat material had gotten on Smaug's interior paint, but Clorox Kitchen wipes took it right off and left the paint as good as new. It was now time for the roof sound test again. There was a huge improvement over the starting point and over just the paint. It now sounded more like hitting solid wood or a refrigerator door. 

We had one more layer of insulation that we wanted to install before the headliner. We put two 24"x24" pieces of this insulation that we got from Home Depot on using a spray adhesive meant for headliners.  

We then ran the antenna wire down the window pillar to the future radio location and called the project done. The one thing that I would like to have done, and will fix in the future, is add some type of insulation to the front lip above the windshield. That will have to wait until later because it is time to install the headliner!

[arty7631]

Project #5 & #6 Hy-Tech Insulation and Interior Handles

This project could also be called "One step forward, two back." After a couple hours of taping up the interior (unnecessary, except for right where I was painting, it turned out), we were ready to paint in the first layer of insulation on the interior roof. After inspecting the plug that a previous owner had put in the hole of the roof, we decided to remove it and cover the hole later with a satellite radio antenna (more on that project later).

We chose a product called Metal Shield #1267 from Hy-Tech Thermal Solutions over some of the more mainstream coatings for three reasons. The first reason was the price. A gallon was right at $100 shipped to my door. The product itself is actually cheaper than that, but it has hazardous shipping fees. The second reason was, unlike the other paint-on ceramic insulation I had researched, Hy-Tech can be painted on with a roller or paint brush instead of sprayed.  Since Smaug is already painted, we did not want to chance over-spray while insulating. The final reason was that the Metal Shield is a rust proof paint, often used on bridges and underpasses. Anything that can prevent rust in an area that cannot be inspected easily, such as under a headliner, is good investment in my opinion. 

The Metal Shield is black, and has millions of small, iridescent beads in it that are supposed to provide the insulation. More information on Hy-Tech products and the science behind it can be found here. After heating up the shop to seventy five degrees, I purposely put the paint on as thick as I could roll it without making a mess. Tapping on the roof, I did not notice any immediate difference in sound. Three and half hours later, I put on the second coat, again building up as much of the product as possible. There was still no noticeable difference in the sound of the roof being tapped. I then removed all of the tape and plastic, with the intention of letting the paint dry on the truck. Results of the Hy-Tech insulation would have to wait until the paint had cured completely.

That afternoon, we decided to work on the passenger door. The control arm in the door had been completely stripped out, and waiting for someone to open the door from the outside or rolling down the window to open the door was getting old very fast. After removing the control arm, and attaching the new one, we discovered we had more problems. It seems that the entire door latch is going to need to be replaced. Quick research online let us know that the re-pop latches did not have the best reviews. We decided to put the old hardware back on the door until we decided what to do to fix the problem. 

[arty7631]

First Bath

Smaug's first bath and wax at home.

Ready for the show at Orange Beach at the end of the month!

[arty7631]

Project #4- Suspension Repairs

After close inspection during the front anti-sway bar insulation, we knew Smaug was in need of some suspension repairs. After a quick shipment from Classic Parts, we were ready to replace the the shackles on the front springs, replace the tie rod ends, knock off a little road grit and rust, and give everything a fresh coat of paint. After dis-assembly, we saw that we had definitely made the correct decision to replace parts.

While dis-assembly was a breeze, re-installation was a bit more of a challenge. Between a small shop press, a few hours of beating and banging, and some shade tree engineering, we were able to get everything back on the truck without any major injury.

After buttoning the truck back up, we went for a quick test run. When I say quick, I mean quick. We got down the driveway and the battery started to lose charge. A u-turn and we were back at the house, sighting the trail of fluid we had just left behind. After limping back up the hill- and praying that we make it- and getting the truck back in the shop, we had a mess. 

Apparently, we had knocked loose a transmission line sometime during the day, and we lost a good bit of fluid. Unfortunately, in addition to fixing the lines, we had quite a mess to clean up. 

We did end the night on a positive note, putting on the "new" old 1953 tag.

[arty7631]

Project #3- Front Anti-Sway Bar

Smaug got an upgrade to its suspension today- a new front anti sway bar. This job was pretty quick with help from a tutorial from Leon Corley at ChevyTrucks.org. The piece bolted right in without an issue. A quick oil change was also in order for Smaug today. Everything looked good on the old oil, but better safe. After installing the anti-sway bar and inspecting the suspension, we have a lot more parts to order and suspension work to do.

[arty7631]

Project #2 Driver's Side Window

The first real project on Smaug is the driver’s side window. At some point, someone cracked the glass while trying to stop wind noise at the top of the door. As an FYI, it is not a good idea to use window glass to wedge an item into the glass track; the window will crack and look something like this. Luckily, the gentleman that we bought the truck from had already ordered a replacement glass for the door, and it matched. Looking at the truck and then looking at the glass package we didn’t see any way that the glass was green tint, but we were wrong. It looks much more like a smoke tint once installed. Since we did have the glass, our first step was finding guidance on how to remove the glass from the truck. In our search for information, we discovered a great resource on Chevrolet trucks- Stovebolt.com. This is where we learned a little more about our 1953 3100 Advance Design (AD) Chevy Truck.  Through Stovebolt.com, we found out about http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/ which had a copy of the assembly manual for the truck and will have to get us by until our new shop manual comes in. Removing the actual glass turned out to be a real challenge. Thankfully, the glass was already broken, or it would have been by the time we were done with it. Through trial and error and a little information from the assembly manual and Stovebolt.com, we discovered that the vent window had to come out first, and then the window glass could come out.  We were not too far off in our initial assessment; we had only missed one bolt on our initial attempt to remove the glass. Said bolt, of course, was located in a spot that only someone with a small hand/ arm could reach easily. After removing the glass and assembly from the truck, the next step was separating the two so that we could install the new piece. A little diesel fuel and elbow grease, and we were ready to install the new glass and play the waiting game while the glue dried. Putting the glass and the assembly back in the truck proved to be just as challenging as taking out- don’t try it without help- but, it looked great when we got through.