1958 Ramber American

[Jack 1957]

Good to see you back on the Rambler again, Dane. What's up with the Merc?

[Mike Motage]

Very nice work! Thanks for the updates.

[pplace]

Originally Posted by Jack 1957

Good to see you back on the Rambler again, Dane. What's up with the Merc?

I never stopped on the Rambler, just behind on posting updates (more to come tonight maybe)

As far as the Merc? This project takes priority over the Merc, and enough cash flow to keep the Mercury progressing is always tricky. It’s hard to work in short bursts on a project, then need to wait for funds again.

[cliffrod]

Man, Dane, seeing all this progress is great. I've been thinking about this build recently & was hoping to see more.

Really like seeing the work on the dash and consideration given of all the angles-planes-line of sight issues. Makes the sculpture work done to make it all happen together a lot more significant to me. Very cool.

[pplace]

Catchup update #5

This post mainly covers the transmission tunnel and floor structure.

It also looks like I was getting ahead of myself designing a center console, however the reason for that was the customer was due for a visit and we wanted to mount the steering column, seats, throttle and brake pedals, shifter, etc. to get a feel for "fit" one item of the was a console and getting it set up for a comfortable height for the customer.



I made a tray to mount the shifter to and recessed it into the transmission tunnel.



Here you can see how the shifter cable exits out of the tray and loops around under the firewall back to the transmission.



Designed and rouged out a center console from yellow foam. All of the ignition, window switches, air ride controls, etc. will be under a door as the customer and myself want basically nothing on the dash or console visible when finished.



Close up view of the shifter location in the console.



View from the passenger side. The console does not touch the dash, instead stays under it a couple inches.



A view to the rear. The rear of the console isn't finished....but it would eventually taper up and blend away into the rear deck (mocked up in cardboard)



Transmission and driveshaft tunnels welded into one structure with the muffler and rear suspension clearance bumps.



That whole assemble trimmed and butt welded into the floor panels.

Note: Notice the heavy doubler plates that will be welded to the floor and floor braces in the locations of the body mounts.



Now that the floor is one complete structure it was removed to prep a few things before attaching all the bracing fabricated earlier.



All of the braces and floor sections (under the braces) received corrosion protection and weld thru primer where necessary. Now in the process of plug welding them all on.....



All of the floor braces and structure have been welded together, set the firewall on for some final fitting.



All of the floor braces and structure have been welded together, set the firewall on for some final fitting.



Everything was good to go, so the body was set back on over the floor structure one last time.....



Everything was good to go, so the body was set back on over the floor structure one last time.....



I worked my way around, welding the firewall to the body, the firewall to the transmission tunnel.....

Here I'm getting ready to trim the floor to the toe kick panel.



Here the floor has been trimmed and butt welded to the toe kick panel.



Here I'm plug welding the door jamb rocker structure to the floor side structure (the part that had all the flared holes punched in it)



Cleaned up all the plug welds. I also welded the floor braces to the jamb structure (rear one finished, from yet to weld)

[pplace]

Catchup update #6

This is a pretty basic update, It includes some rust repairs on the top of the cowl and some work I had to do on the engine.

This is a true story, but you can not imagine how many customers, visitors, etc. would come to the shop, see this project and point out the big dent in the door and these rust spots on the cowl and say "How are you going to fix that?!?" I always would say.....I'm basically building a car from scratch, and that's the part you think is difficult?!? It's amazing what people think at times!



Rust repair needed on top of the cowl.

Note, the firewall has been welded to the body in this picture already.



Here the repair is basically completed, I forgot to take pictures, since it was a pretty straight forward process. (I then took more of the passenger side for reference)



Rust repair completed.



Beginning on the passenger side. Also starting to weld the firewall to the body / door post area.



I did the repair in a couple sections so I wouldn't lose any of the shape.



Here all three new pieces were shaped and tacked into position.



All welded, ground and cleaned up.

Note: The door post wasn't repaired, as I will modify that when it comes time to mount the fenders differently.



The customer dropped off his front serpentine drive setup. In between some other work I decided to install the kit (as I will eventually need it when the time comes to design and fabricate all the engine bay area)

I thought it would be a quick and simple bolt on kit....turns out it wasn't!

I needed to swap out the super charger pulley for an adapter they provided in the kit. Turns out, you can't get the super charge / throttle body snout off without pulling the supercharger / intake off. Always love tearing a brand new crate engine apart!



Supercharger / intake loose and lifted up so the snout could be removed.



After the stock supercharger pulley was pulled off and the new supplied adapter pressed on they recommended drilling and pinning it.

Here it is fixtured in the mill and drilling through the adapter and supercharger jack shaft.



Drilled and ready for the pin.



Pin in place and peened over as recommended.



The installed front drive setup.



The installed front drive setup.

[pplace]

Originally Posted by norson

I sure hope your not going to paint that thing.

I like this comment!! I’m looking forward to having it 100% done and in bare metal, before any bodywork and paint! It’s so hard to not finalize stuff as I go though....but I have to hold out for those bare metal pictures!

[Cgarside]

Many tanks for taking the time to photo progress and post - truly an awesome build from which I personally, learn lots !

[daveniemi]

Absolutely beautiful work! Your fabrication skills are incredible and your attention to details is off the charts. That car will be wicked.

Regards
Dave

[John Buchtenkirch]

This is a true story, but you can not imagine how many customers, visitors, etc. would come to the shop, see this project and point out the big dent in the door and these rust spots on the cowl and say "How are you going to fix that?!?" I always would say.....I'm basically building a car from scratch, and that's the part you think is difficult?!? It's amazing what people think at times!> >

Everything else looks so good their eyes are just drawn to the few bad spots that are still left. Thanks for taking the time & remembering to document all your great work, it’s been fun to watch . ~ John Buchtenkirch >>