Wheel Wells etc!

I had already bead blasted and painted all the wheel well sheet metal, so the only work was getting the mud flaps and fender welt installed and finding all the correct hardware to bolt the parts on. This is the Driver's side wheel well with the top mud flap.
When the car shipped it had all of the mud flaps and body welt attached with staples. This was not an option for me since I didn't have access to the original high powered steel staple machine that could punch the staples through sheet metal. I opted for pop rivets, and drilled holes between the staple holes for each. Rivets worked well, and after installing them I sprayed them black so that they wouldn't be easily seen.
Here you can see most of the mud flaps. I bought a kit which contained most of the mud flaps from McVey's $100ish. I did have to buy a small amount of rubber for the radiator spill guard, which wasn't included in the kit. I also bought and installed fender welting from Steele rubber.
Not the best picture, but this is shows the fender welt, or body cushion on the front front and rear wheel well. This should form a tight seal when the fender is in place.
OK the wheel wells are on and it drives under its own power!! I had to do major brake rework, and a number of other fixes to get the car driving, but now I can safely drive around my neighborhood. You wouldn't believe the looks you get when you drive by people in a 59 caddy without a front clip.
Now that I'm able to get some good outside light on the engine, I had to take a couple of pics of it. Note the fuel line with the crimp in it. I had to bend a new one and flange the ends. Not a big problem but several specialized tools were required.
Painting the air cleaner was easy enough, I found a very close match to the original paint at my local hardware store. After laying the gold on, I sprayed a couple of coats of clear heat resistant paint. It now looks pretty much OEM. I bead blasted the old finish off first, and then fixed polished the metal with a wire wheel.
I found after installing the AC compressor that the clutch wasn't working. I couldn't turn it off!, So it seemed like a good time to yank the compressor and send it out for a rebuild, and update to the latest refrigerant. It should run a couple hundred to get the compressor and expansion chamber updated.
There she is on the first day out of the garage after 1.5 years of work! Notice the slight misadjustment of the front suspension. It sits a little higher on the drivers side. Also notice that I haven't gotten the blinker nodes aligned yet. One is pointing up and the other is straight. Projects, projects.
The paint looks great from here, but unfortunatly it has lots of small nics and dings, I'll probably end up painting the entire car, but that will be the next installment. The Horrors of Body Work! At least it purrrs like a kitten!

Undressing the Caddy!


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Author: Bill McKenna
email bill@mckennasgarage.com