update on Rich's build

[Ford Blue blood]

Nope....wide open and naked as a jay bird.....

[RICH MUISE]

Thought so, Bill, thanks. I may give a stab at making something. If my dash were painted it wouldn't be a problem, but being padded and vinyl covered it's not all that neat looking around the brackets.
Today I'll hopefully get the garnish rails finished up...they are vinyl covered as well, and get the sunvisors wired up (vanity mmirror lights)and mounted . I've got to make some type of visor supports off the mirror bracket...can't do that till the visors are mounted. I was anticipating a real fitment hassle with the garnish rails due to the 1/2 padding on the dash, and the mouldings covered, but it hasn't been a problem at all. The two pieces I mounted last night look real good...great to see that dash area finally being finished up.

[KYBlueOval]

Thought so, Bill, thanks. I may give a stab at making something. If my dash were painted it wouldn't be a problem, but being padded and vinyl covered it's not all that neat looking around the brackets.
Today I'll hopefully get the garnish rails finished up...they are vinyl covered as well, and get the sunvisors wired up (vanity mmirror lights)and mounted . I've got to make some type of visor supports off the mirror bracket...can't do that till the visors are mounted. I was anticipating a real fitment hassle with the garnish rails due to the 1/2 padding on the dash, and the mouldings covered, but it hasn't been a problem at all. The two pieces I mounted last night look real good...great to see that dash area finally being finished up.

Rich........what sunvisors are you using with vanity lights? I've been think of doing the same, but have not done any research as to what will fit. What can you tell me about what you have used?
Thanks
John

[RICH MUISE]

I pulled some out of an 80's(?) Cadilac. I hopefully will have some installed pics tonight, and hoping they fit as well as I think. Because of the wiring, the Caddy's visor arm is hollow. I was able to merge the visor to the '57 bracket by some cutting and sliding the '57 arm inside the caddy's arm, then welding. They are easy to recover and refinish. No sewing involved due to the "clamshell" design. There will be a short run of the wiring exposed, but it shouldn't be that visible.

[RICH MUISE]

One side almost done. Still got to finish the wiring, and also hide the wiring. Man, what a pita finding the hole for the sunvisor bracket, even when I knew where they were, getting the screws to start was a real chore. I thought I was going to have to make something to support the ends of the visor, but once it was on the car, it became obvious I could just slip a ss fuel line clamp under the garnish rail. I've just got a portable 12v power source to the light,...I'll finish wiring after I get the second visor mounted.
The visor will not rotate to the side windows, btw.

[RICH MUISE]

speaking of windshield stuff....I had to pull a wiper arm off to make an adjustment on the knurled post. This worked out very well for getting behind the arm and not having to pry it off risking scratching the new pivot bezels or paint. It's just a cheapy HF 1/2 hose plier, and I did grind some thickness off the backside of the ring area. Neat thing is, when you pull up, it also depresses the little lever/retainer back there you have to pull up on.
BTW, in this photo you can see the "not too neat" area I was talking about that shows under the defroster garnish rail.

[Acrylic man]

Rich,      Your welcome, I was glad to be able to do it,  I just now followed the link, that's a nice shot of the Ford logo.
I got my welding machine a couple of days ago. Now I some home work to do. ....
Larry

[djfordmanjack]

Rich, you are giving that old 57 quite a modern touch, but your work is just great ! I like how you are building everything from scratch like the kick panels and all your love for details. you are getting closer to finishing !

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks guys!! Larry...enjoy that welder..a combo mig and tig is perfect!!
You guys that have recently done your windshields are probably laughing your butts off because you already know what I just found out...the rear view mirror has got to go on FIRST!! Time for a nap...later I'll find out also if the larger-than-an-oem '57 mirror that I got a while back ('56 pickup?)is gonna work with the caddy visor. Stay tuned.

[Limey57]

The hose pliers are a good idea, much better than trying to lever it off with a pair of screwdrivers and risking the paint!

[LAUDY57]

Rich, for the mirror I just put a c'snk hole in a "modern" glue-on windshield mount, used the moulding screw to attach it and now I just keep trying differnt mirrors. Still looking for just the right one -wide with a good drop to the arm.

[RICH MUISE]

I installed the '56 pickup mirror last night. I'll get a pic later. To be honest, I can't even remember why I bought the one I did, as I'm sure '57 repops are available. May have been just the fact that it was a cheap price for a good quality ss mirror. Installation was easy, I just tack welded a 3/8-24 nut inside the '57 oem housing/mounting bracket, then repainted. Welding the nut inside was necessary to keep from having to remove the garnish mouldings and mirror bracket to remove the mirror. The '56 mirror has a smaller threaded post than the '57, so it just passed thru the bracket.

[RICH MUISE]

Forgot to post the pics of the mirror and visors. Pretty much done for now in this area. I'll make some sort of a better bracket to support the visors and get rid of the two fuel line clamps. I've still got to wire the visors, but I do have the wires routed down to under the dash.
I finally located a set of used Motorcraft coils for the cop conversion, so I'll be able to complete the conversion and get all that wiring redone before I put the front fenders on.  Sounds odd, but I'm going to bolt on the hood before the fenders, at least temporarily, so I can get an idea of where my radiator is, and maybe install the hood pins. If I need to alter something to fit the radiator in under the hood, at least the fenders won't be in the way.
After I get the cop wiring redone, I need to figure some way of getting that firewall grommet with all the engine wires sealed off before I put the fenders on.

[Thor]

Looks great Rich!

[redshoes57]

Rich did you make that great looking roll pan your self? If you did. Did you make some extra's? I would like to do something similar. Thanks