Ernie's Woody Restoration

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