Ernie's Woody Restoration

Hi Ann, family and friends! Over the past few weeks we've made a little more progress but have also been awaiting parts and some tools.  Work is beginning again this week and we should begin seeing some real progress The transmission received a fresh coat of paint and looks fantastic if I may say so myself! The bell housing will be stripped and painted the original copper color, which we have sourced.   The engine will also be painted that color once its back from the machine shop. Speaking of which, I was there late last week, to get the intake manifold planed flat and bead blasted and the work is progressing. The block looks like brand new! I can't wait to get it back here and begin assembling  it! The other work is as follows:  Scraped all the grease and gunk from the starter and starter mount plate, Intake manifold, Fuel pump assembly, Cleaned the fuel pump bowl. Before                                             After Cut apar

Hi Ann and Tower family and friends! It's been a productive week now that the weather has finally calmed down.   Here is the latest: The transmission has had the bad gears and main bearings replaced and is fully reassembled.  It is awaiting one more thorough cleaning of it's exterior, prior to painting.   You can see the gears that were replaced to the left side of the picture.  We still need to verify the operation of the electrical parts of the overdrive system but that will occur once we begin getting the car rewired during assembly. The rear axle and frame have been prepped and received several coats of chassis black!  You might not recognize them now but rest assured, these are the same parts the car started it's life with. Take note of these images - These show where the upper suspension arms and shocks mounted.  There was several inches of dirt, rocks, grease and undercoating, such that these towers were all but buried.   Nice to see them!

Hi Ann, family and followers, The past few weeks we've battled inclement weather, wind and been waiting on parts but we did attain some forward progress nonetheless. The exterior of the rear axle was thoroughly cleaned of grease and rust as was the transmission. Since these were under the car, you probably don't realize it, but there was over an inch of crud in some areas and it all had to be scraped down by hand prior to power washing.  My 4100 PSI power washer (which can strip mortar off concrete) couldn't get it off!   We will get them clean as a whistle, painted up and working like new. Click images to enlarge I've epoxy-primed the axle housing in preparation for the finish coat and sanded it.   It will require one more primer coat and sanding before we topcoat it with the chassis black    Piper approved! The transmission was disassembled and as expected, from when we drained it, there was damage to the gears.  Reverse had several

Hi Ann, Thank you again for the books!  They are great and have given me some added inspiration Since your visit last week: Dent removal on roof.  Sanded roof and drip rails to prep for primer. Welded damage in firewall area back together and surface welded area for body working This area will have a small amount of filler (millimeters really) and the welded area will be invisible when finished out Cut open old repair on driver side rocker panel to assess extent of prior damage.   There is internal rust that extends on the inside such it will necessitate replacing much of the metal in this area.   I suspect the passenger side will look similar due to the rust damage on the inner rocker panel.  Unfortunately, the outer rocker is peculiar to the wagon and no one makes it..  We will have to hand form and weld from several pieces of steel. Ordered the replacement inner rocker panels and floor supports that are bad. as well as the lower inner tailgate pane

February 21st was Inspection Day at Dave's Garage in the desert.  Three generations of Ernie & Jane's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren visited the Woody to inspect the progress, ask questions, share memories, ask more questions, and eat warm cookies.  Dave was a wonderful host and we appreciated his  hospitality,  patience, and the opportunity to see the Woody's restoration in progress. Inspection completed to everyone's satisfaction! 

Hi Ann! Click image to enlarge We did get the remaining undercoating off the car this past weekend.  It was a slog but the body, fenders etc, are now ready to move forward as soon as I finish vacuuming and blowing everything out of all crevices.   I will have a few square feet feet of the underside of the hood to hand strip as the blaster was very concerned with warping the metal with the amount of time it would take to get the undercoating off.  I'd leave it except the painting process will be much better with it removed. We discovered a bit more rust in a few areas but again, given the age, its to be expected.  We likely would have missed some of it had we not fully stripped the car. All told, the woody took over 3700 lbs of recycled glass media to remove undercoating, paint and corrosion.  That is more than 2X his previous high mark... Here are a few pictures. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Now begins the process of metal repair... A

Hi Ann, Thank you for the most recent card!  It is crazy to see the car so close to when it was new. I was holding off a few days on this update as I hoped to say the media blasting would be complete.  Alas, we are not there just yet as the media blaster ran out of abrasives.  This undercoating is proving very difficult as I told you on the phone.  If the weather holds, we might get finished today but it could be rain delayed. We can't risk getting the car wet at this stage. The outside of the car and frame are stripped.  We still have about half of the floor, 25% of the back of one fender and the hood remaining.   Here are some pictures of the process.  The metal is in very good condition with just a few additional spots of repair needed aside from some of the problem spots we already knew about. Looking good! A prior repair (poor by today's standards) Firewall looks like NEW ! The floor cleaned up pretty good... -some minor pitting   wit