update on Rich's build

[RICH MUISE]

OK...pics of the mess I got into. First pic...straightedge shows where headlight surround should be. Second pic is old flange cut off. I left the old corner radius there for stronger metal to weld to. New piece is laying o the splash pan..not trimmed yet.
Third pic is tacked and ready for a fit check.

[lalessi1]

Looks great Rich, wish I had the skills and the tools to do it that way!

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks, Lynn. No special tools to speak off...cut off tool, a mig, and a grinder.

[RICH MUISE]

inching along, one step at a time. Got the hood repainted..came out alright ecept for one fly! I also got the splash pan repainted and started installing it today. I've got a bit of "fitting" to do on that because my 2 inner splash shields (under the headlight), and the right headlight surround don't have holes. I made the 2 inner shields from scratch, and actually they have holes but they're off about 1/2 hole...so got some slotting to do. I do need to go back and respray the front right fender where I repaired the headlight surround. I shoulldn't have tried to do it at the same time as the hood and unnoticed sealer overspray ended up causing a blending problem.
I spent some more hours fiddling with hood and fender alignment, and I now have it pretty close. After a lot of back and forth with the hood, I realized I was working with a trapazoid instead of a rectangle concerning the fenders and nosepiece, so I moved the right fender and right side of the core support forward not quite 1/8" while the two were still bolted together. That helped quite a bit...the seams are not perfect by any means, but I'm sure they never were...even 55 years ago. My seam at the right fender/door were too close anyway.
Anyhow, most everything in the pics is either yet to be bolted down or still needs to be tweeked, but it's getting close.
The underside of the splash pan is after a cleanup coat of paint over  already undercoated and painted

[Ford Blue blood]

Nice job sir!

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks Bill. BTW, for Lynn and others who also may be fighting this front end assembly thing...if you need to move both the core support and fender forward as I had to, unbolt the fender at all firewall points leaving all other bolts along the inner wheelwell tight. Loosen the core support bolt and put a small machinist jack or similar between the core support and the frame's corner brace. I just jacked it out until the seam at the back of the fender was where I wanted it, tightened all the bolts and removed the little jack. That worked well after trying to just tug the assembly forward was a no go.

[JPotter57]

Rich, that silver looks great..  I can't wait to see it outside in the light..

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks James. I'm glad I made the decision to go with matching color on the splash pan...I just wasn't sure how 2 silvers would have worked out.
Last night I got the grille polished up, and today I por-15'd the backside of it. A few hours with a small brush, but it was already starting to get some surface rust on the backside. I'm gonna do the same with the bumper. I'm sure anxious to get that shiney stuff put on!
I've got to add some grounding wires tonight or tommorrow to the two new parking light assemblies, keeping consistant with my wiring the car as if it was a fiberglass car.
I've got to tweek one end of the nosepiece before I install the grille also.....man, assembling this front end has sure been time consuming.

[RICH MUISE]

Grille ready to be installed. Backside por-15'd, and ground wires added. The repop parking light assembly's wiring socket were not as tight as needed, so I added a loop of electrical wire just to keep the socket from pulling out. Grille is just setting in place...bolted in tommorrow.

[lalessi1]

Any "drive it around the block" date? Lookin' great!

[RICH MUISE]

I'm hoping some time next month to drive it out of the garage and up onto my driveway. I'll wait until the grille and bumper, and front wheels/tires are on. I just want to get it out so I can stand back and have a look at it....see if I have enough brakes for an around the block (no back brakes at all). I'm anxious also to check the stance, and give it a sponge bath. There won't be an around-the-block until I get some mufflers on! Cops are always in my neighborhood!
BTW, to get it out of the "garage", I have to move some stuff, take down a fence, and unbolt/remove the front of the shed...

[RICH MUISE]

First, I think it was Lynn awhile back mentioned his grille was not fitting correctly. Neither does mine, but I can/have to live with it. The problem, once again is with the replacement headlight surrounds. The shape of the circular area under the headlight in the center is too big, not allowing the grille to nest in there all the way. I've got gaps on both sides under the seam where the nose and surround meet. You can see it in the pics if you look. Short of modifying the grille, which I'm not going to do, at my stage of being painted and the grille rechromed, it's gonna have to be one of those "good enough"'s.
I had rebuilt both headlight assemblies a number of years ago, including repairing the bucket itself for major rust problems. The right headlight surround's opening was too small by a considerable amout, so I had to remove about 1/4" all the way around. Doing a local search for sheet metal clips small enough turned up ziltch, but I did find some nylon inserts that worked out great. I drilled the holes for them 9/32 and tapped them in, and used #8 ss sheetmetal screws. I'm going to figure something for disconnects behind the headlights. They'll be 6 wire to include the turn/park lights as well. Not sure if I'm going to go with a male/female connector behind the headlight or terminal strips on the inner fender.
Spent some time wrestling the bumper brackets off the original bumper. Got them all off but one bolt which will have to be done with the cut off tool. Took pics and id'd them as they came off so I wouldn't have to figure how and where they went back on.

[lalessi1]

Yep, my grill doesn't fit well at all under the headlight panels. They are missing a break where they join the fenders under the headlights. I am about to start on that project again. I bought a clip assortment on eBay for the headlight bucket, I repaired one bucket, one to go. I may try to improve the grill fit, not sure...

[RICH MUISE]

I had a number of holes I had to slot to get everything to bolt together.... expected that though since my inner splash panels were made from scratch and the right headlight surround, left headlight surround patch didn't have any holes. I had planned from the getgo to drill thru the components at assembly, and that's just what I did.

[hotroddonnie]

Great job Rich!!!!