My '54 Coupe, that we call "Curb Appeal"

[mr. warehouse]

This is a long winding road and most of this has been posted in threads elsewhere, so I'll hit you with a little timeline right off the bat, then give the whole run down.

As found -








2009 -





2013 -







2015 -

[mr. warehouse]

March 21st 2009

"Did the deal today...

1954 coupe (COA) says it was originally Silver with Red interior. Same as my other '54. It was a driver until the trans started "clunking" per the previous owners description.

I'm going to fire it up and make sure the engine is cool and then pull everything out for a trans rebuild."


"Loaded up and heading home"

[mr. warehouse]

Got it home with no issues and did some tweaking to the engine. New fuel lines, fresh Optima 6v battery, new gas, checked the floats (one was stuck), had it running in about an hour.

At this point I pulled out the engine put it on my stand and started sorting how to fit IDA's. I also pulled the trans and sent it out to have the cracked R&P repaired. This was March 23rd.

Fast forward to May of 2009 and I decided I wanted to take the car to the VW Classic in So Cal. At that point I worked non-stop for about 3 weeks to get it some what "done"

I found and bought another 519 trans (mine original was not done yet) and did a trans swap, added some dropped spindles (with disks) adjusted the rear down, and worked a bit more on the switch it over to IDA's. I thought since the engine was a 1720cc with the proper jetting it would be OK.

[mr. warehouse]

Once it was on the ground and stopping under it's own power I had a better idea of how it was going to sit, and also that I desperately needed some bumpers.

[mr. warehouse]

June 3rd 2009 (still shooting for a June 11th deadline to head out for SoCal)

022 installed, IDA's dialed (still need smaller idle jets but everyone is out of stock, so it's a little rich when just sitting), bumpers are on the way, wheels / tires mounted, brakes bleed / adjusted, tranny full of gear oil, clutch adjusted, shifter adjusted, visors over the gauges installed, mirror installed, etc.

Engine goes in tomorrow. If that goes smooth the alignment should be the next day and the glass trim (windshield) installed Friday.

[mr. warehouse]

June 4th 2009 -

It fits!!





However..............

I can't "find" 1st or 3rd in my trans, and it doesn't look like my rear bumper is going to clear the exhaust.




Nothing like waiting until the last minute...

[mr. warehouse]

June 6th 2009

The engine is coming out again tonight. I get no response from the clutch pedal, and I think *hope* the disk is stuck to the flywheel... We'll see later.

All show, no go.

Literally........



Let my mistakes help you.

If you are dealing with a car / engine that has been sitting for +/-25 years take a look at EVERYTHING.
In my rush to get the engine back in the car I never even thought of checking the clutch assembly.
When I pulled it apart tonight I found that (as I suspected) the disc was rusted to the flywheel, and the pressure plate.
No slippy means no clutch action.......
I'll deal with that tomorrow, but I can sleep tonight at least knowing what was wrong.

[mr. warehouse]

On a nice side note, these 5.5's and king crabs look bad ass, and the stance with the engine in is "spot on"







I did a quick drive today with no clutch down the shop drive to to road and back. rear tires were rubbing on the torsion housing, so I switched over to 4lug drums with 4lug - Porsche adapters instead of just the drilled drums w/ spacers. I like the look better now that the tire is really pushed out closer to the fender.

Hopefully tomorrow I can take a *real* drive

[mr. warehouse]

June 9th 2009 -

Lesson # 2

No matter how clean the gas tank looks, if it's been sitting for 20+ years you'll need to clean it out.

Lesson #3

Measure twice, cut once




Bumpers and decklid painted yet another shade of white for the car. I really wanted the bottom side of the deck lid as clean as possible so I gave it to the guy that was painting my bumpers and asked if he could strip it and spray it (meaning just the bottom) but he did the whole thing instead. Can't really copy 40 year old white, turning yellow paint but it's good enough to get me through the weekend.

Interior reassembled, clean gas tank in, holding fresh fuel right now, looks clear as water...nice.

Glass guy stopped by and got the trim installed around the front glass, WOW what a difference that small bit made!

All electrical demons have been beat, gas gauge even works!!! It's a crazy pressure style with a push button on the dash.

Front end is on the ground, DONE 100% rear is still up in the air waiting for a hopefully dialed in 1720cc IDA'd power plant to get back from my engine guy. I didn't have time to pull it apart and clean out all the crap I sucked through it from the bad tank so he stepped up for me.
Hopefully first thing tomorrow I'll be able to pick it up and get it in.

[mr. warehouse]

June 10th 2009 4:30pm -

My buddy went to pick up the engine while I was finishing up some other work here. He's not back yet. I should have gone myself. Looks like another late night.......that sucks, cause I want to roll out of here by 6:00AM

June 10 2009 11:37pm -

Loaded and ready to head out in 6 -7 hours.

Damn that was close!

[mr. warehouse]

So you'd think all was fine and dandy at this point, but really the car wasn't running right (popping at low RPM's which I later found out to be a "lean pop" due to the large venturis in the carbs) and the trans wasn't shifting quite right.

But I made it to So Cal and there was a swarm of people around the car when I unloaded it Thursday night at the Host Hotel and cruised it through the parking lot.













Then things went bad.....

[jstenner]

Oh no!

[mr. warehouse]

June 11th - 12th 2009

While driving like an idiot around the host hotel pond / parking lot around 2am I got going way to fast and while trying to take a corner I slid on the wet (smooth) concrete and stuck my car right into the curb. I hit it pretty good. To add insult to injury when I bounced off the curb I stuck it in reverse and punched it a bit to get away from the curb and straighten myself out. Unfortunately I was in first, not reverse (bad shifting issues come into mind here) and I stuck it back into the curb again....

Totally my fault for driving like dick. At any rate. I was pretty bummed to say the least. The late nights, long days, $$$ spent so I could have my car at the weekends shows went right out the window, or did it??

The damage was contained to the front right fender and the front right of the bumper.

Seeing my dismay, one of my buddies asked what I wanted to do? My response, "Fix it!"

So we strapped the car down inside the trailer and used some pulling techniques (via tie down straps) and a 4x6 wood block wrapped in a flannel shirt to beat things around a bit.

When we were done tings didn't look good, but they looked way better than before we started, depending on what side of the car you were looking at.

[mr. warehouse]

June 12th 2009 -

With the curb damage hurdle sorted for the time being a few friends started checking the car out, helping me adjust the doors a bit and trying to sort the shifting issues as well.








I honestly have no idea what happened, I was in my room taking a shower getting ready to head out for the Friday night cruise and when I came down to the trailer / car I was greeted with "your shifter is broke!" and sure enough it was. The car was stuck in 3rd gear, although I would have preferred 1st.

He'll never admit it, be my buddy Darren was behind the wheel when the shifter broke.





At that point I was ready to throw in the towel, but my buddies talked me out of that and we loaded (pushed it in while someone held the clutch) in the trailer and headed off to the cruise spot where we unloaded the car (same driver holding the clutch while we pushed) Instead of pushing the car into the show we let it warm up and put the smallest guy behind the wheel to "drive" in after we gave him a push to get things rolling.



Pretty good shot of the bumper damage we thought we dialed in the night before...

[mr. warehouse]

June 12th - 13th 2009 -

Even with the damage the car got a lot of response at both the cruise night Friday and the big show on Sunday

Here's a few pictures from each.

Thursday night -
















Not so straight at all really...

Friday -