Bob's 57 AGIN is back to the shop (Santini's)

[RICH MUISE]

Good score, Bob.! Glad you posted all the pics...always wonder what these places that are talked about look like. Nice to know there's so much there. I'm going to post a link to the pics in Steve's listing in the salvage yard links.

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Here is the latest update.  Repairs have actually began. Who Hoo!!! Jeff worked on the cowl area and where the fender bolt attaches to the upper body.  These areas were dented and ripped by the impact.  Body work 101.  We removed the passenger door and were able to see how badly the doors skin was ripped and separated from the door frame. I was surprised at the rust laying on the door frame under the door skin, obviously an area where previous sanding and painting couldn't get to.

Bob
57 AGIN

[djfordmanjack]

good to see the repair work already started. spring is coming ! ( or it has never been over in California anyways )
concerning the seam rust on the door panels, that is something I fear is in each and every of our cars since Ford didn't dip the body parts in rust protective primer to seal the inside. I have pulled the skins from the tailgates and also will remove the doorskins and fender braces. maybe now would be a good moment to start the repair with rust proofing the replacement door.

[Ford Blue blood]

That is why I pressure wash the inside of the doors, hood and trunk lid best I can, let dry for a couple of days in the sun then pore POR 15 on the panel (1/2 pint, buy the six pack) and roll the door from edge to bottom to edge, same with the hood and trunck.  Most all of the seams will ooze the stuff in less the 15 minutes per edge.  I use foil tape to seal up drain holes and such.  Yes there is a mess to clean up and most of the paint is wasted but if it helps the door, hood and lid last it is worth it.  I have done this on every car I've built.

[Jeff Norwell]

Bill, your the second person to mention this in a week.great solution.

[RICH MUISE]

I'll second that. lol..we were talking evaporust and por-15 on that thread earlier this week and I said I'd try not to get started on the por-15 advantages again. One of the things I was thinking about but didn't bring up was exactly what Bill said. It'll seep into seams on doors, roof, rear inner/outer quarter seams ect. Also a great adhesive and a sealant for pinholes @ welds. When I did my hood scoop, after the mechanical bond, the epoxy, the fiberglass cloth, etc, I also literally poured por-15 on the inside around the 3 sides.

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Thank you for the great preservation suggestions.  Trust me, the new parts won't just be made pretty on the outside while neglecting the rest of the sheet metal.  I'm pretty sure the body shop guys will roll their eyes with what I'll be doing preservation wise, but it's my car.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Guys:

While I was away for a couple of days the new front clip has been disassembled and work has been going on to straighten out the back end of the car.  Since no rear panel (tail light to tail light) was available in Twentynine Palms they have been working on straightening the bent up rear panel.  While at that they dismounted the old slightly bent deck lid and test fit the replacement deck lid.  It fits better than the original, hopefully after media blast it will still be the choice.  The original deck lid was slightly tweaked and was never quite perfect on the driver side by the tail light, the clearances were great but the deck lid height was slightly higher than the body and never  did fit properly.  A real surprise was the replacement fender eyebrows both came off and only one of the bolts wasn't salvageable.  If we don't need to use these I'll make them available, as I remember a while back someone was looking for them.  The same goes for the other pieces of the front clip that don't get used, they will all get media blasted and primed to prevent further rusting.

Bob
57 AG?IN

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Here are a couple of more photos of the replacement parts. At Steve's place he had a selection of doors for all different models of 57 Fords outside his work barn.  There were 8 passenger doors to choose from that would fit the Custom series, Ranchero's and I believe station wagons.  He had similar groupings of doors for the Fairlanes, four door models, etc. As you can probably tell from the sand inside the door all of them are subject to natural media blasting, but because they get next to no rain or humidity in his high desert location the parts don't suffer much from the outdoor storage.  The fender that has the lower rocker panel rust problem very likely got that started a long time before ending up with Steve.

Bob
57 AGIN 

[RICH MUISE]

Bob...That rear tailpan "from taillight to taillight" is being reproduced by EMS as of a few years ago.

[Ford Blue blood]

I was going to say that.....

[JimNolan]

Guys:

Thank you for the great preservation suggestions.  Trust me, the new parts won't just be made pretty on the outside while neglecting the rest of the sheet metal.  I'm pretty sure the body shop guys will roll their eyes with what I'll be doing preservation wise, but it's my car.

Bob
57 AGIN

Bob, I don't doubt the shop guys will be rolling their eyes, especially with the condition the old cars are out there. I bought a 66 Fairlane XL convertible from out there last year with absolutely no rust on it. It had been underneath a patio for over 25 years. I have all my cars undercoated in Indiana, new or old. But you guys should be able to peal the paint off a car, polish the metal and drive from what I've seen. lol

[57AGIN]

 RICH MUISE, Ford Blue blood, etc:

Took my headers to a shop to have the areas that have over the years been bumping into the steering box and idler arm worked on.  The shop used a bit of heat and bumped some nice clearance for the idler arm, but said the steering box area was to the point that he didn't want to try any additional clearancing.  He said it was already bent in to the point where any additional clearancing would really affect the performance.  So I'll just wrap that portion of the header with some good fiberglass heat shield wrap.  The headers are now at Specialized Coatings being ceramic coated again, as well as having the inside coated with an additional heat reduction coating.  The Paxton-Novi blower has been shipped up to Paxton for a check out and replacement crank shaft & blower pulleys, a belt tensioner and blower belt.

Today Santini used his EMS Catalog to order a new tail pan and a lower right fender patch panel.  That is all that is currently holding up progress on getting 57 AGIN back on the road.  Of course that's in addition to re-chroming the replacement bumpers, grill & etc.  This project is going much faster than the original body and painting by Santini four years ago.  I'm excited and grateful.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Time to update you on what has been taking place since my last post.  The parts that were taken to media blasting have been returned and other than the very obvious rust damage on the right side fender's lower rear rocker panel everything came back better than Santini expected. 

The headers came back from Specialized Coatings in a polished ceramic aluminum finish, looking very much like they had been chromed.  The ceramic coating process was interesting to watch and is quite involved.  The result is amazing and I won't have to keep polishing them in the hard to reach spaces and they won't turn blue from heat like chrome does.  (photos attached.

The supercharger came back yesterday from Paxton-Vortec after a minor rebuild (replacing the bearings inside), apparently the bearings don't like being struck by the radiator filler tube. It looks like Santini's body repairman (Jeff Beck) will be able to get back to work on my 57 tomorrow, so there will be lots of photos in the near future.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Latest update:

Santini finally had enough time to closely check out the deck lid and hood now that they are back from media blasting (walnut shells).  He asked me if I can work a deal with Steve Pierce to exchange the two pieces, after he has sprayed them with primer.  It seems like the deck lid, although it fits in the car better than the original has a good deal of basic body work to be done to it to get it to the standards he uses on show cars he does.  He said it would end up costing over $1,000 in labor to get it ready for painting.  Though it would be good enough for a guy working on a driver only type car.  A similar case for the 1957 hood.  So I guess it is back up to Twentynine Palms, CA.  Darn!!!

Bob
57 AGIN