Adjusting the bumper & Paying attention to details

I have been unhappy about the rear bumper on the t-bird. The driver's side was half an inch higher than the left. Actually, both sides were too high, and didn't align with the lip on the body. This created an additional problem with the exhaust pipes as they fed through the bumper guards... The bumper was so high that the bumper guards raised the tail pipes to the point that they touched the top of the holes in the rear body panel. Here's a pic with the bumper guard removed showing the tailpipe exiting the body.




The fact that I used oversized 2 inch tailpipes didn't help matters. The heavy clamps for my custom over size slip-on exhaust tips made the problem even worse, and I eventually realized that I would never get the exhaust tips to line up straight until I lowered and aligned the bumper. The bumper was nearly an inch above the body flange...




Note the gap between the body and the rear bumper. There should be about 1/4" clearance, but this is over an inch.




From a distance, this misalignment isn't immediately noticeable. A critical eye might notice that the rear bumper isn't perfectly straight. Looking from the side, one may notice that the exhaust tips don't point exactly the same direction. Admittedly minor points, but slightly annoying. The bumper should be straight, darn it!
The car didn't come from the factory this way. I suspect that the same rear repair that replaced the trunk lid and bondoed the rear fenders also repositioned the bumper and re-routed the exhaust. Since the exhaust was now below the bumper, alignment was far less critical, and the car stayed that way for nearly 50 years.
Over the last 9 months or so, I've been wondering how I could easily reposition the bumper into the correct spot. I didn't find much online that was helpful. Last month I got some professional help from a muffler shop to re-fab the exhaust hangers and fix a few sound shorts. This eliminated the exhaust rattles and improved the driving experience a great deal, but now I was thinking about the exhaust pipes hitting the body at the rear of the car. There had to be a simple way of aligning the bumper!
A week or so ago I took some measurements and pulled the rear bumper off. It is held on with four heavy steel brackets. Perhaps I can simply bend them a little to make the bumper fit better? About an hour with a heavy vise and a light sledge and I began to think this wasn't a good idea. The hammer bounced off the bracket like it was a spring or something! Ok, maybe I need to borrow a torch.
This weekend I had another idea. Perhaps I could simply re-drill the holes where the brackets bolt to the frame? That sounds easy. I started by removing the exhaust tips and bumper guards, then clamping the brackets to the frame and removing the bolts.




By carefully loosening the clamps, I could slide the bumper down and back one side at a time until I got a uniform 1/4" gap with the body flange. Great! Now, how do I know where to drill the new holes in the bumper brackets? I carefully scribed around the brackets on each side, leaving marks on the frame. I first tried using a sharpie, but it didn't leave a good enough mark. With the frame marked, I took off the bumper and the brackets. Note how much further forward the marks are from the original bracket location.




Next I need a way of transferring the new location of the holes to the bumper brackets. Starting on the left side, I marked out a paper template of the bracket.








Then taped the paper template to the frame, lining it up with the score marks.




I could then mark the positions of the holes on the paper, find the centers, and transfer them to the bracket with a center punch.




All that was left to do was to drill the new holes! Easy, right? Well, my first problem was that I didn't have a 1/2" drill. Off to the hardware store. My next problem was more sublime. It turns out that these brackets aren't made of mild steel like the frame... Remember the light sledge bouncing off them? They are made from a kind of spring steel, and are very tough! My drill bits are all simple high speed steel, not the good stuff like carbide. The smaller bits cut though the bracket OK, but as I went to progressively larger and larger bits, the drilling got harder and the bits dulled faster. I ended up drilling the final 1/2" hole alternating between drilling a little, then sharpening the bit on the bench grinder! I'm certainly grateful to my high school metal shop teacher for showing me how to sharpen a drill bit!
By the way, there are four brackets, with two holes each. Drilling and sharpening through those 8 holes took over an hour, but I got pretty good at it by the end! My arms are pretty sore today. Needless to say, the deed got done, and the bumper is now straight.








The tailpipes no longer touch the body, and the exhaust tips can be straightened out. They look cockeyed in this picture, but they really are straight. I blame my cheap pocket camera... I misplaced my good camera two weeks ago.








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Why did I spend so much effort on the bumper, when most people won't even notice? Is this laudable "attention to detail", or just self-serving obsession? The unexpected effort of drilling those 8 holes has left my arms hurting. Was it worth it?
There are times in life when I notice that things aren't quite right. Sometimes, the "not-rightness" is rather subtle, and something I could easily choose to ignore. By not ignoring it, I might be setting myself up for inconvenience or heartache. Sometimes there is nothing I can do to make it right.
I was on a plane on a business trip, having a discussion with the man sitting next to me when I noticed that something wasn't quite right. He let fall a concern with traveling, and hinted at some trouble at home. I opened up to him about my recovery from porn addiction. We were both going to be in the same city for a few days, and he was concerned about maintaining his sexual sobriety. Before we got off the plane, we agreed to meet for dinner the next evening, and go to a Celebrate Recovery meeting together. While this may not have made everything right, it encouraged us both!
A relative of mine is a widow struggling to regain custody of her young children. That is definitely "not quite right"! I've been casually reaching out to her for months, and last week she desperately reached back to me. Her problems are not a thing that I can fix. The more I learn about her situation, the more helpless I feel. Still, I feel compelled to notice, to engage, to console her as best I can.
Her bumpers may never line up. Even if I run out of ideas, however, I won't walk away. I won't ignore the problem or the pain. That's just not the man I want to be.
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Transitions

Haven't written much lately. In the last month, I have attended two memorial services for Dad, and one for Uncle Toronado. Yesterday I took a short boat trip with my sister to lay Dad's remains to rest.

This month I'll be traveling a lot for business, and I don't expect to write much... even though I am writing this from a hotel room. On the advice of my therapist, I have been reading Transitions by William Bridges. I believe that I am on the threshold of a major life transition, spurred not just by Dad's death and my shifting role as a son and caregiver, but also because I'm anticipating taking early retirement from my employer this year. These things are causing me to re-examine my own identity, and to question what I really want to do with the rest of my life. I'm beginning to think that I need to take some time off, and go into the mountains for a while to think about this... A kind of personal retreat for a week or so.

I was able to drive my Cousin to Dad's memorial on Saturday in the t-bird. He owned the car for 10 years (unrestored), and sold it to me two years ago last April. We had the top down, and had a good conversation during the ride.

I haven't done much to the car in the last month. I did take the exhaust use manifolds off and get them thermal coated. This should significantly lower under hood temperatures. I also took the car to a good muffler guy, and had him align the exhaust pipes, including installing new hangers. The stock hangers didn't prevent the pipes from grounding on the frame and the shocks. The exhaust no longer rattles, and the car sounds great!


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2-Year Anniversary

It's been two years since the t-bird came home.  I need to take a moment and settle into that reality.

The time has gone very quickly as I worked on the car with my son.  The time has gone painfully slowly as I cared for my dying parents. 

The car isn't "done", but it is an enjoyable touring car that has been in a parade, a car show, and several cruise nights.  I look forward to enjoying it for a long time, and passing it on as a memento for my boys.

My parents are gone, but I am still managing the estate and the grief.  I know this will pass, but it's not clear what legacy they have left in my soul.

I do really enjoy the car.  It reminds me of an adolescent hope that I had forgotten!  I particularly enjoy driving it at night, basking in the glow of the instruments, and remembering how I longed for that freedom.... a freedom I now find myself experiencing in new ways.

Eulogies and Legacies

Last Sunday Nell was in her first judged, pay-to-enter car show.  She didn't win anything, but the judges were impressed with the fog lights!

The house behind just happens to be where L. Frank Baum wrote some of "The Wizard of Oz"!

 Here is a close up of the fog lights on the car.  I wrote about these in an old blog entry, but only installed them recently.  I really like the way they blend in, and how only seasoned t-bird folks even notice them!

This pic was taken at a cruise night yesterday evening.

Powering the foglights and the electric fan requires long runs of heavy gauge wire from under the dash to the front of the car, and heavy duty switches to control the current they draw.  I went ahead and ran the heavy wires and installed the switches, but I decided to also install a set of relays in the front of the engine compartment to switch the current.  These relays connect directly to the main junction from the alternator, which has the highest voltage in the car when the engine is running.  This is the best place to connect a high-current accessory.  I also installed relays for the high and low beam headlights.  These four things will regularly draw the highest current when the car is running.  The horn, window & seat motors also draw a lot of current, but they already use relays.

Using relays for the head & fog lights and the fan will make the switches more reliable.  Since they won't have to switch as much current, the contacts will stay cleaner and last longer.  The shorter wire run from the alternator will also give them a little more power.

I put the relays in an old voltage regulator box that I gutted.  It took a few evenings for me to cut holes in the backing plate to accommodate the relay sockets, and then dress the wires appropriately.  I set up this relay box so that I can disconnect it if necessary, and put the wiring back "the old way".  Here are some shots of the relay box with the cover off.

The device above the relays is a 30A circuit breaker.

 I like the way the engine compartment looks clean and stock when the cover is on the relay box.

 I'm still missing the windshield washer bag and plumbing.  I put the washer nozzles in back in the cowl, but I just realized recently that I installed a hard brakeline right in front of the place where the washer footpump goes in the firewall.  I'm not going to change it any time soon, so I may not have washers for a while. 
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I'm still amazed that this car runs and drives, let alone that I can take it to cruise nights and car shows!  What an amazing thing!

My Dad loved car shows.  He couldn't really repair a car, let alone restore one, but he loved them just the same.  As the oldest of his siblings, he was the first in his family to get a car... a 1929 Packard that he bought from a quarry that was using it to haul sand!  

He never restored it, but he did drive it, and gave it to his brother after it broke.  His brother eventually DID restore it, and made it into a national show winner!

While Dad was delighted that his old car had become so beautiful and acquired a certain renown, I think that he kind of resented his brother for doing something with it that he couldn't do himself.  Both of his brothers caught the "old car bug" from Dad, and subsequently restored cars... Packards and Pierce Arrows... but Dad never did.  He had another Packard briefly when I was a kid, but he didn't keep it.

Working on this t-bird has given me some insight into this.  Restoring a car takes more than just  money, it was a mindset and a tenacity, and a willingness to persevere through the inevitable setbacks.  I really don't think my Dad had the patience to do this, and I think he was very conscious of that fact.  I suspect that he knew his limitations, and avoided situations that exposed them.  That may be why he didn't play a very active role with me in restoring the t-bird.  It makes me wonder if I should have been more encouraging to him.  Just the same, I'm grateful that he decided to pay for the paint, and that we got to ride in it together.

Last Saturday I went to a church Men's Retreat.  My goal was to spend some time alone on the mountain to write Dad's eulogy.  I was able to pound out a rough draft, but I found it increasingly hard to say anything nice about Dad.  I found that my heart was full of bitterness for this man who always seemed to be on the edges of my life.  I understand his limitations and his brokenness, but that doesn't change my need for a father who was seldom there, or was too self-conscious to offer me much encouragement himself.

At this point I recognize my own need for therapy, prayer, and healing.  I will begin seeing a counselor next week.  I will resume journaling in more private media.  I will invite God back into those broken, dark places.  Right now, however, I continue to feel unsettled.

Dad's first memorial service is 25 May.  I hope I can write a better eulogy by then!

Goodbye, Uncle Toronado!

Emblem for the 338th Fighter Squadron, RAF Ridgewell, Essex, England 1944

This is a P-38 of the 338th, taken over England in 1944.  Uncle Toronado could well have been the pilot!

Uncle Toronado, who lost his wife of 60 years in January, died comfortably in his armchair yesterday morning while reading the paper.  Even though he never got my Grandma's t-bird running, he owned and cherished it for 20 years.  He finally got to ride in it when I visited him in January.  I felt privileged to share this car with him!  It was a sublime blessing to drive him to breakfast, and then to the hospital to visit his wife.  I regret that I didn't get a picture of the two of us in the car.

Uncle Toronado called me last week, just to see how I was doing after Dad died, and to thank me for spending time with him during his wife's illness.  He was always a thoughtful and compassionate man.   I longed for my own father to be more like him, and was jealous of my cousins for having such a caring Dad. I wish I could have spent more time with him.

I will miss him.

So much loss.  It seems more than I can bear.
Lord, help me to more deeply cherish each relationship you put in my life!

Let's have a Parade!

Nell and I were in our first parade together this morning.  We attended with other members of the local Classic Thunderbirds club.  I'll confess that I was a little nervous about doing this, especially after the overheating incident two weeks ago.  But, I took reasonable precautions, and I felt it would be a low-stress way to participate with sympathetic, helpful t-bird owners.

The parade is in a small local town.  We queued up an hour and a half before the parade actually started, surrounded by high school students on big-rig hay ride flatbed "floats", Shriners, and Boy Scout trooops.  It was a slice of small-town Americana.  It was also over 80°F, and crystal clear.

Queueing up and waiting

Nell fits right in, and yet still draws attention.

Seasoned club members have lots of advice.

Backing up a minute, I should probably mention how I prepped the car earlier this week.  In my previous post, I showed the auxiliary electric "pusher" fan I installed in front of the radiator.  I also spent a few evenings converting an old voltage regulator box to hide a bank of relays... I'll probably post on that separately.  I did get a replacement high-flow thermostat (Mr. Gasket #4637)... I tried to get one from Amazon, but they shipped a Fel-pro gasket with the same number instead.  Twice.  After I brought this to their attention the second time, they removed it from their inventory system.  It turns out that O'Reilly's could get me one in a day, local pickup.  Yay!

Put it in the right direction this time!!!

 On advice from the good folks at y-blocksforever.com, I installed a 3/16 orifice in the thermostat bypass line.  This limits how much coolant bypasses the radiator when the thermostat is open, and improves hot weather cooling.

 OK, I also ordered several bottles of Radiator Relief from Amazon over a week ago.  Still not here.  Strike two, Amazon!  As it turns out, a local Pep Boys keeps it in stock.  God is good.

I flushed the cooling system with tap water until there was no more brown in it, then drained it and added the Radiator Relief and about 5 gal of distilled water.  I also hooked up the fan to a dash pull switch.  Idling in my driveway, Nell kept her cool, and never exceed 180°!  We were as ready as we could get.   I carefully reinstalled the grille and front bumper, and drove down to top off the gas tank.

Back to this morning...  The adage that "parades move as fast as a 5-year old can walk" proved true. Getting to the start of the parade was mostly stopping, with occasional moving.  We shut our engines off when we were sitting for more than a minute, and just left the cars in neutral if we were sitting for shorter times.  I turned on the fan when the temp gauge reached 170°.  Even in the stop-and-go 80° heat, the gauge never exceeded 180°!  No dieseling when shutting  of the engine.  Success!

Near the start of the parade, getting passed by a flock of Model A's

I didn't take pictures of the crowd, even though they were taking pictures of me.  I just thought it would be rude to stop waiving and take out my camera.  I did take a shot of the temp gauge in the staging line:

This is about as hot as the original gauge got.  Quite a change from two weeks ago, when it pegged high!

The mechanical temp gauge is on the right.  The pull switch between the gauges is for the electric fan.

 At the end of the parade, two other club members pulled over and opened thier hoods to let their birds cool off.  Nell was doing fine, as long as I kept the electric fan on.   The other members declared her to be a "good parade car", and expect me to show up in future parades!  I couldn't have asked for better.
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Being in a parade in Nell was a uniquely satisfying experience, and not just because of the temperature gauge.  Driving down the road, I kept thinking of how the car looked 2 years ago, of how it looked 40 years ago, and about how restoration has worked in my own life.  I kept thinking about how I had longed for a moment like this...

As I was driving by, young and old folks kept saying "nice car" and "great color"!   More times than I could count!  I felt flooded with affirmation, and savored the feeling.  I tooted the horn and revved the engine for the school kids.  I waved at everybody who looked, and they all waved back.  I waved and smiled for every camera.

It's like all these people where there to see me, to appreciate my legacy, and to affirm me.  Well, at least for a moment.  I was buoyed up by the crowd, and the outpouring of enthusiasm and affection that Nell engendered.  I wanted to tell each of them Nell's story.

One radio announcer asked on the air as I drove by "What color do you call that?".  I answered "Peacock Blue."  "What year is it?" "1955...  It was my Grandmother's car."  "Oh, how cool!  It was his Grandmother's car!  It was his Grandmother's car!"  Some folks applauded!

Very sweet.  I wish that Dad could have ridden with me down that parade route.

Oh, and I also got the foglights working.   Very jet-age!

Cooling the Burning Heart

Business has had me out of town for the past week.  It was a good trip, and rather affirming for me, but I did not feel productive.  In my current frame of mind, I doubt that anything I could do would feel productive.

Next Saturday, I'm scheduled to take Nell on her first parade.  I'm a little concerned about the overheating incident, so this weekend I decided to refresh the cooling system on the t-bird.  I drained and flushed the coolant, then opened up the thermostat housing.   I had a nagging suspicion that something was wrong with the thermostat... I was right.  I had installed it backwards!  This high-flow thermostat design isn't very strong when installed in the backwards direction. The first time I revved the engine, the water pressure acted like a gust of wind under an umbrella, and  separated the poppet from the frame.  I found the poppet rattling around inside the housing.  This unnerving, but I feel fortunate that it didn't block the upper hose completely!  Then instead of taking a little longer to warm up, Nell would have been really damaged by overheating!

The thermostat isn't supposed to be in two pieces!

 I ordered a replacement with next-day delivery.  The cooling system can't be put back together until I get it, which will probably be Tuesday. 

While the thermostat housing is apart, I decided to move the mechanical temperature gauge sensor from the bypass line to the engine side of the thermostat.  I started by stuffing a rag in the water side of the manifold, drilling a hole, and tapping it for the 3/8"  NPT sensor fitting.  It was then a simple thing to clean out the shavings in the manifold, and install the sensor.  This should give a more reliable temperature reading than the previous location in the thermostat bypass line.

The inexpensive electric fan that I ordered last week came while I was traveling.  I knew that I would have to take the grill out to install it, and that would take considerable effort.  I had some things I wanted to do for work this weekend, but I put them off in order to get the fan in this afternoon.  This was something I knew I could do, and I needed to feel that I had accomplished something.

I started by removing the bumper and the grille.  That didn't take long... putting it back will take longer

 The fan is designed to run in either direction, but is set up out of the box as a "puller".  Since I was putting the fan in front of the radiator as a helper for the existing fan, I had to remove and flip the fan wheel, then reverse the polarity to make the motor run the other direction.  This makes it a "pusher", which I successfully tested using a spare battery.  For 5 times what I paid, I could have got a kit specifically for the t-bird with fan, brackets, relays and wiring.  As it is, I was able to make brackets out of metal from my scrap bin, and I already had wire and relays.  Two satisfying hours from the time I started, the fan was installed.

Looking good!  I won't reinstall the grille until all of the wiring is working.

My plan is to wire up a dash switch and relay tomorrow evening, check for correct operation, then reinstall the grille.  Tuesday night or Friday I will install the new thermostat and fill the radiator with distilled water and DEI Radiator Relief.  Gotta love their video demonstration, using a '55 t-bird with almost identical engine modifications to Nell!

It's been a good weekend.  I feel optimistic that Nell will be ready for Saturday's parade.
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Today's sermon focused on the restorative power of love.  The young assistant pastor delivering the sermon related how several older men have stepped into his life, and provided the close, masculine, supportive, accountable relationship that was totally missing from his abusive father.  Needless to say, this resonated with me.  I talked to him after the service, and expressed how much I long for that kind of restoration!  Though therapy and through these men investing themselves in him, my pastor friend has come to terms with his father.  He still maintains boundaries, but now he has the self confidence to seek a relationship with him on healthy terms.

I like to think that I had reached that point with my own Dad before he died.  I also like to think that restoring Nell has opened meaningful relationships with other men, some of whom are nurturing and fathering me.  I am particularly grateful for the deeper relationship I now have with Uncle Packard and Uncle Cord.

Also, I am very grateful for Uncle Toronado, the WWII fighter pilot.  He called me just days after Dad died "just to see how I was doing", and to express how much he appreciated me being there for him when his dear wife died in January.  He is one of the few people that I can really open up to without reservation.  He has no agenda, no time schedule, no demand.  He doesn't blow his top, he isn't grouchy, and he loves to engage in meaningful conversation.  Most importantly, he has a way of letting me know that he cares about me, even when I am feeling inadequate or unproductive.  He cools my burning heart.  I think I need more men in my life like him.

And, you know what?  I want to be more like him.