"Quick and easy" a Fillmore Fib

This summer I quite purposefully took a step back from all "my stuff". I'm not even sure it's fair to say " my stuff" because "my stuff" still includes all the fun stuff like hanging with the kids and spending time with the family, you know moonlit walks with my wife and exercise.......well OK, moonlit walks with my wife anyway. What I did consciously put on the back burner was " my Fillmore stuff".
But progress is still moving forward, even if it's at a snails pace.

My last entry we talked about making the wiper retention bracket. Soldering is complete...

Test fit is almost there, I had to trip the inside flange a bit to make it work.

Once in place it fit like a glove and created a very reliable,stable, and retrievable mounting.

Looking good, for what the second or third time around?

Next I wanted to clean up the window vents in the engine compartment. A challenge they were to remove. Nothing like flat head metal screws rusted into place at near impossible angles to reach. But, if they got them in there I can get them out!

Now they sit in the back of my car waiting for refurbishment!

Inspiration from my baby brother

Today starts on a sad note. The big "C" has taken yet another good person from this world. My good buddy Trevor lost his Dad after a courageous battle with cancer. Knowing full well what you are going through my friend, my heart and all the uplifting wishes in the world are with you and your family.

Last summer when I was in Winnipeg, my "little" brother was showing me his portfolio for school (architecture). Of course I was amazing and impressed with his whacky way of thinking and his creative designs, but then the selfish part of me really started to study his model. You know the part of you that says..." I want to do that!". So I made him show me the technique he used in his model construction. Quite simple he said, just plain old solder technique but using silver solder. More expensive but a better hold.

One afternoon while at the skate park with the kids. I brought all my soldering "stuff". When Anna walked up and asked what I was doing I started to explain, half way through my explanation she started to laugh. Puzzled I asked "what's so funny?" "You sound like a TV show" she snorted!

And thus the solder segment was born...

So I applied Shawn's teachings to Fillmore....not quite in such an artistic creative way....but a much more practical way.

"Well that's a fail!"

Right from the mouth of babes. The title today came from a quote from my son Jeff. It refers to the attempt at a job I had to do on the whole bumper saga, which is explained in the entry below. Fillmore still hasn't taken much more than a few spins around the neighbourhood but it always brings a smile to my face ( and a puzzled look on the neighbour's) when I back Fillmore out into the sunshine and listen to his engine purr.

Back to the Fail

Although I can't say I am done with the two side bumpers (the passenger side needs "tweaking") I set out to work on the centerpiece. The bumper piece I have looks like it's from another vintage truck of the period. The one smaller curve (top to bottom) of the bumper is a dead match the larger curve (left to right) isn't sharp enough.



So I thought, "what the heck, lets try out a red neck bending technique......











I don't need to bend it much......









Problem is I couldn't generate enough force to actually deform the metal, I would start putting pressure on the come-a-long, and the damn car would just be dragged across the driveway. Even after I chocked the tires of the car, my little 1/2 ton Jetta just didn't have the curb weight to "get 'er done".
After trying a time or two my son skidded up on his bike and said..."Well that's a fail!"

Bump and run!

This weekend was a fabulous weekend. Looking back I don't know where all the time went, but the sun was shining and we were busy doing stuff.

I got back into my routine of bus work on Fridays. This past Friday took me to the back of the bus. It was time to finally play with the bumpers. To see what I had and what I need.

During the tear out phase(many moons ago) I bagged and tagged lots of things. Some of which were the bumper rubber....things!


I moaned and groaned trying to figure out where I might find some new ones like this. These ones are old and weathered, the rubber is cracking and brittle. As well some of them were 2-3 inches thick and others were only an inch or so. I thought if I could fine a material that is a similar consistency but only an inch thick, then I could use as many as I needed for the specific location on the rear end.
But what would satisfy those requirements?......




As stompin' Tom Conners sang...."The good ol' hockey game...it's the best game you can name...."

Yup, a Canadian staple...Hockey Pucks!

Test fit on the drivers side went really well. The passenger side (not shown), not so much. It seems a previous owner backed into something at some point. So the body that the bumper mounts onto is bent back and angled up, thus the bumper sits too far in and down. I will have to do some repair work for this to work.

clean and shape

There are many times where , as a family, you'll take a big trip, or go on an epic vacation and those are memorable events. Not every memory has to be a well planned out holiday, sometimes it can be just another day at home, helping Dad in the bus shelter.
At least it will be for me, I can only hope that it means as much to them.
Sometimes when we come home from a family vacation, the kids hit a low, their friends are often still away and they are bored.....perfect....have I got a job for you! Anna happily agreed to help me out with some Fillmore work.
In the engine compartment, on the passenger side, the walls still needed "attention"

So we set out at it with grinding. Get the two of us in there with sanding disks, things get a little cloudy with old rust and paint dust. Proper protection is key, but even then the air is  pretty thick. Enter the power fan!

I had an in line fan in the workshop for the past few years because I thought my ventilation fan was shot. (turned out the wiring just needed to be redone) So I pulled it out and made a mobile construction fan!

So we cleaned and painted, and in the end it looks pretty sharp!

Boxed in

With a little patience, a few cardboard templates and a fan to keep the ambient temperature below 30C I piddled away at a new block cover for the fuse panel.As you can see I still need to trim out the one side and the top but it's starting to look good!

My end vision is to cover the wood with something to dress it up....maybe polished aluminum maybe laminate, maybe just a coat of paint.....details,details!!

Back in the saddle again...

Gene Autry sang about it, getting back to something you love. And I have grown to love the process of the Fillmore remake. Having said that , I thoroughly enjoyed the break I had this summer. June and July flew by in the blink of an eye, but what great times we have had.

The first order of business was to clean up all the new wiring. It wasn't a mess, it was really quite neat, but the problem was the fuse box I had created before wasn't big enough for all the new wiring. So I couldn't actually close the block into the box.

So I decided to grab the bull by the horns and dismantle everything. Keeping the sides for a template was a good idea (saved me some time)

Next I had to plan, design and build. This would have been a lot easier if I had spent some time with paper and pencil, but I found myself in the in-the-moment fabrication. The kids think I'm a pack rat, keeping all sorts of seemingly scrap metal but truth be known these "extras" are just metal that haven't reached their full potential.

A few odds and ends and the next thing you know we have an idea on the way...

Sometimes I buy things knowing deep in my heart that I will use them....I just don't know when. Like these weldable  hinges. I think I have had them for at least a year or more. FINALLY I have the perfect application!

"It's hard to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys!"-Longfellow Deeds