From the pasture; The valiant story of my '66 Valiant
Alright, time for an update. Albeit a small update, and not particularly well written, but hey it still counts right? I mean cmon, its hot out, and im lazy. Fine.
So once I got two large gaping holes in my floor, there was no turning back unless I could figure out some way to rig up some pedals and such. Since that most likely isn't going to happen, I needed floors. So I headed out one morning to start the long and slightly scary prospect of trimming up these new shiny floors, and to fit them (more or less) into the car. The first thing I did was to clamp the new floors to a handy little stainless steel rolling table i liberated from a derelict (and more than slightly terrifying) dentist school about ten years ago, when i was into exploring abandoned places. So feeling pretty smart, I clamped it down to give me a good handy place to work in the open.
What I actually managed to do was blind myself when this super large chunk of reflective material decided to reflect back the 115 degree Texas sun, and nearly burn off my finger prints when i tried to touch it.
Plymouth floor 1
Kirk 0
After a slight adjustment away from the sun, I got started. Measuring. Marking. Measuring again, and again and again. I would like to say I'm kidding about the number of times my OCD made me go back and verify my last measurement, but, I cant. It was about that bad.
All this trimming has me feeling like I’m in the Salon of Oz. Anyone remember that scene where they get ready before they see the Great and Powerful Oz?
Snip Snip here, snip snip there
Working without pause..
That’s how we keep you in repair, in the Merry Old Land of Oz.
Hmm. Maybe the heat is getting to me.
I did find that a towel over the biggest part of the metal kept the migraines at bay, and there were no fires started. I did however find a new tool I really like, that took the sharp, finger removing edges off the metal. This thing is gold!
Okay in all fairness, I did manage to (yes even after measuring so many times) short the passenger pan, but the drivers went in perfectly. Guess its true, you do learn from your mistakes. And boy aint I making plenty.
Okay so after about a half day of trimming and fitting, I had two big pieces that fit my holes real well.
(insert drum Sting here, see also: ba dum tiss )
So like I said originally, I am no pro. I did the best I could with the floors, and my borrowed welder, and thinking that anything im about to do was better than I had, I got started.
Last chance to get out and get your money back.
Still with me? You are? Here we go, in mostly fast forward.
I did have to cut some extra off this passenger side, because it was already bad, so hell, why not. From there I was able to dab in some extra as I went around.
A little grinding later:
Then the drivers side:
After quite sometime later, I sat back marveling at the new floors. Not half bad! I mean, nothing to write home about of course, but like they say, "baby you shoulda seen what I started with." Dunno who says that actually, but I felt like it fit here.
WHEW
I am not a welder. I do not play a welder on TV. I never wanted to play a welder, and the most experience I have ever had was stick welding at the family farm on random things. This is definitely not that. It was at this point that my sun blind, welding weary, covered in flakes of metal and dirt *** decided to go home. Tomorrow we seam seal and get ready to paint the floors!
Until next time, remember that every step forward, no matter how small, is a step forward. With this car it feels more like a weird salsa dance, swinging wildly all over the place, than actual steps forward, but hey, if it was easy, I guess everyone would try to work on old derelict Plymouth's in distress.
The few, the proud, the moronic?
Alright, time for an update. Albeit a small update, and not particularly well written, but hey it still counts right? I mean cmon, its hot out, and im lazy. Fine.
So once I got two large gaping holes in my floor, there was no turning back unless I could figure out some way to rig up some pedals and such. Since that most likely isn't going to happen, I needed floors. So I headed out one morning to start the long and slightly scary prospect of trimming up these new shiny floors, and to fit them (more or less) into the car. The first thing I did was to clamp the new floors to a handy little stainless steel rolling table i liberated from a derelict (and more than slightly terrifying) dentist school about ten years ago, when i was into exploring abandoned places. So feeling pretty smart, I clamped it down to give me a good handy place to work in the open.
What I actually managed to do was blind myself when this super large chunk of reflective material decided to reflect back the 115 degree Texas sun, and nearly burn off my finger prints when i tried to touch it.
Plymouth floor 1
Kirk 0
After a slight adjustment away from the sun, I got started. Measuring. Marking. Measuring again, and again and again. I would like to say I'm kidding about the number of times my OCD made me go back and verify my last measurement, but, I cant. It was about that bad.
All this trimming has me feeling like I’m in the Salon of Oz. Anyone remember that scene where they get ready before they see the Great and Powerful Oz?
Snip Snip here, snip snip there
Working without pause..
That’s how we keep you in repair, in the Merry Old Land of Oz.
Hmm. Maybe the heat is getting to me.
I did find that a towel over the biggest part of the metal kept the migraines at bay, and there were no fires started. I did however find a new tool I really like, that took the sharp, finger removing edges off the metal. This thing is gold!
Okay in all fairness, I did manage to (yes even after measuring so many times) short the passenger pan, but the drivers went in perfectly. Guess its true, you do learn from your mistakes. And boy aint I making plenty.
Okay so after about a half day of trimming and fitting, I had two big pieces that fit my holes real well.
(insert drum Sting here, see also: ba dum tiss )
So like I said originally, I am no pro. I did the best I could with the floors, and my borrowed welder, and thinking that anything im about to do was better than I had, I got started.
Last chance to get out and get your money back.
Still with me? You are? Here we go, in mostly fast forward.
I did have to cut some extra off this passenger side, because it was already bad, so hell, why not. From there I was able to dab in some extra as I went around.
A little grinding later:
Then the drivers side:
After quite sometime later, I sat back marveling at the new floors. Not half bad! I mean, nothing to write home about of course, but like they say, "baby you shoulda seen what I started with." Dunno who says that actually, but I felt like it fit here.
WHEW
I am not a welder. I do not play a welder on TV. I never wanted to play a welder, and the most experience I have ever had was stick welding at the family farm on random things. This is definitely not that. It was at this point that my sun blind, welding weary, covered in flakes of metal and dirt *** decided to go home. Tomorrow we seam seal and get ready to paint the floors!
Until next time, remember that every step forward, no matter how small, is a step forward. With this car it feels more like a weird salsa dance, swinging wildly all over the place, than actual steps forward, but hey, if it was easy, I guess everyone would try to work on old derelict Plymouth's in distress.
The few, the proud, the moronic?
