Build project - 1962 wagon deluxe

[Gitanesteel]

Well, this past weekend I finally got some time to drive to my parents south of Spokane and then spend a few days with my dad at my brother's (he has the wagon in his shop) and start some work.

We had done a lot contemplating what we want the car to be and in the end decided on mostly stock for the suspension and have it be a mellow cruiser. After all, I already have a V8 Falcon. I had ordered bushings, lower control arms, wheel cylinders and brake shoes, shocks and a dual mast cylinder. My dad picked up new bearings and seals for the wheels.

Friday morning was deconstruct day. At 57 this is my first time going through a car and it's a little overwhelming since I am not the most mechanically inclined. I got some guidance from my brother who was recovering from surgery and my dad and will lean on them more. I'll also hope to lend a hand to my brother as he builds his 63. Dad helped where he could. We got the fenders, grille, bumper off and called it a day a little earlier so we could drive to the country body shop we want to use for paint. Unfortunately, he wasn't there so we didn't get a chance to talk about the work on the car. We also finally decided on the color - 1999 Aston Martin darker metallic blue.

Saturday morning we continued taking the car apart with the drivers side suspension as well as a few other miscellaneous parts. In the afternoon we were ready to put a lower control arm. Now for the fun part - I had misread the date code on my photo of the vin tag date code because the photo wasn't real clear. I had determined the production date of Dec 31, 1961. Unfortunately, it's really Aug 31, 1961. Kind of a big deal because that means it has the smaller upper ball joints and also lower ball joints. I had ordered the lower control arm that had the bigger ball joint "post". So, my stock spindle didn't fit. I already had upper ball joints on order (just not received yet). That set back had us shut down for the day to contemplate our next course of action.

After much discussion on Saturday night and some evaluation of the spindle we decided to try and have a machinist ream the lower part of the spindle for the new lower ball joint. Frankly, I like the beefier look of the Moog part and we determined the increase would be .1 to .12 of an inch so the tolerance on the spindle should be fine.

I came home Sunday evening cutting my trip a day short. My dad is more comfortable working one side at a time so we didn't take the right side suspension apart yet. I had ordered a new upper control am shaft kit and we tried it on the upper control arm for fit - perfect. I brought the upper control arm and sway bar home to clean up and paint. I also brought the headlight bezels (really nice shape) to clean up and the grille to clean and paint the black spots on the grille.

So, this morning I found out that the upper ball joints were out of stock with no date on when the manufacturer was planning on making more. I called Russ Wall and discussed the issues and he said I just need the 63-65 upper control arm, strut rod and spindle and I should be good to go. Hoping that's true as I'll order them in the morning. I'm hoping to go back in a couple of weeks and we'll start putting the drivers side together and help my brother put the rear end back in his 63 if his leaf springs are back.

Unfortunately, I won't be getting anything done from Feb to May with my daughter playing her first season of college softball while we're traveling every weekend to catch games.

Photos below including some of the upper cowl area at the windshield pillar and the lower portion of the a pillar showing how solid they are.

I readily welcome advice on how to clean the cowl panel out. There's a lot of mouse crap in there.







Just some clean up needed here of the surface rust: