Sorting Screws

When I young, I often tried to do projects with my Dad.  He frequently ended up getting distracted by sorting screws.  He had a lot of screws, and apparently they were always getting mixed up.  I found this particularly frustrating... I wanted to build something, and my Dad is standing in a corner with coffee cans sorting screws.  It seemed like he could do that for hours, while my enthusiasm slowly evaporated.  It was sad.

There are times, however, when it is necessary to sort screws.  My "screw box" for this car was impossible to find anything in.  I've already lost several specialized fasteners that I knew I had... like the hood bolts, and the distributor hold-down clamp.  I really don't know where they went.

When I was fitting the pulley onto the water pump, this is what I came up with for fasteners:

Notice anything missing?

Where was the fourth bolt?  This engine originally had a chromed fan... these fan bolts are chrome plated, and inconvenient to replace.

OK, time to sort the "screw box".  Start with a large box top, and dump everything into it:

I also wanted to have a complete set of decent looking manifold bolts.  Well, through trial and error I pulled together half-a-set of rusty bolts that fit, then went to my local industrial-strength professional hardware store.  You know, the one where you can get any kind of fastener ever made.  Of course they had the bolts, but not in stainless or chrome.  I got a set in regular zinc plated steel, along with a similar set of fan bolts.  After dry fitting the intake and exhaust manifolds and carburetor, it's looking pretty good.

The original 6V generator has been installed temporarily.  I still need to fit the front pulley/vibration damper, then the fan belt.

The exhaust manifolds still need to be ceramic coated.  That's a 1957 t-bird carburetor & linkage, on a '57 "B" manifold.

Tube from the manifold to the carb is the choke heater.

I'm missing some exhaust manifold bolts, too.  Back to the hardware store tomorrow.  I'd like to dress the plug wires to the distributor as the next step, and install the heat shields under the exhaust manifolds.

I also stopped by the body shop today.  Here are some phone pictures of the car (I forgot the camera again):

The holes in the trunk have been welded shut... nice work!

Minor cleanup in back

Fender holes welded shut, except for the "V8" emblem.

No more crossed flags emblem on the nose.  I never liked it, and I think the bird looks better with a clean nose.

The windshield needs to be removed in order to bend the cowl to fit the door properly, so I delivered new rubber weatherstripping for it.  The owner of the body shop is 90 years old and needs a heart valve.  He is the body guy.  His wife is also having some health problems, and the owner and his son (65 years old, the paint guy) had taken her to the hospital, so they weren't in the shop to talk to me.  I'll call Monday to see if they are OK.  The car needs to be stripped, the last of the body work done, and then painted.  I need to be patient, but persistent.  I want to be supportive as the  body & paint guys go through their own difficult times, but I also want to make sure they know about my Dad and his difficulty... and my growing sense of urgency to get the car done.

I hope that I'm focused on the big picture here, that I'm engaging with the people around me in supportive and productive ways, and that I'm minimizing the time I spend sorting screws.