Fuel Tank, Snubbers and Hubcap Planishing

Mike brings up a very good point.

I am a hobby mechanic / car enthusiast and started working on this Cord after finished a 1950 Plymouth, 1955 Fairlane and a few others. I'm driven by 2 fundamental premises...

Do no harm - meaning, keep the car as original as possible ( for me, due to lack of funds that means seek alternatives that I feel do not compromise it, steel brake lines instead of copper, and such )

Do as much work yourself as possible - body, engine, paint, brakes, suspension, interior, once again due to lake of funds and mostly because a car ( like this one ) is just cool to work on, figure things out, find solutions.

If I mention an idea that seems hare-brained it probably is, I make plenty of wrong choices, but occasionally a couple of right ones, so if you know better, please comment, so that others ( including myself ) may benefit along the way.

CORDially Scott

Very true indeed!

Naturally this one had a hole in it as big as my daughter and no gas in it since 1974.

But point well taken.

Beware welding on gas tanks if you want to live another day!
CORDially Mike

Fuel Tank

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Imagine a large hole in at the bottom of your fuel tank, and you will have what I did.

( before starting remove the float )

There are several blogs about a guy who builds them, and given the funds that definitely would be the way to go, but I need those funds for heads, so I decided to fix it myself.

Only notable items would be "make sure you mig welder is set to the lowest possible settings" and be generous about tacking at various locations + naturally super clean the welding surface.

After that apply Fuel Tank Sealer

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ET ... os_product 12.50
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NG ... os_product 21.50

First I ran a solution of CLR and let it set for a day, then did the same thing with the Metal Ready. After rinsing several time, put a blow dryer in the inlet hole on low, let it set for a day then sealed it.
worked like a peach.

Snubbers ( front and rear suspension )

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These are the cone shaped rubber suspension max travel stoppers 2 for the rear axle attached to the frame and 4 for the independent front suspension.

These are dimensionally the same.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BW ... 01_details 17.23
Note: The attachment is different - single embedded bolt ( On the Cord these are glued to a plate )

For the rear - no big deal, just reuse the old plate ( hole should be there ) and drill a releif in the wooden block for the nut.

For the front - With regret, I drilled and tapped a 3/8 inch hole in each of the 4 mounting plates, didn't know what else to do in this case, but the snubbers attached cleanly ( I also added loc tight on the threads and some rubber cement on the mating surfaces to ensure no back out )

Front Spring Insulators ( donuts )

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Mine were shot, but I could not find an acceptable replacement. I was able to find a large square piece of 3/8" black rubber ( the old good rubber made in the USA a long time ago ), anyhow using 2 diameters of hole saw I created an insulator sandwich ( small / large / small ) that worked great, if anyone is completely stuck here, let me know I might be able to make you a set.

Hubcaps

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My hubcaps were badly dented, one had a gash in it. I know there is a member with new ones, but I thought I try fixing them myself...
Bought a planishing hammer.

www.harborfreight.com/planishing ... 96300.html 36 bucks
www.harborfreight.com/pneumatic- ... 94847.html 99 bucks

The hard part was releasing the spot welded insert.

Modify a medium sized cold chisel for the job ( slightly grind one side of the point, so that it's forms an nice and gentle slope to the point ). I did this because I needed to get underneath the insert to release the spot weld. Take your time! my hubcaps rested on a blanket, once I found a spot weld attack it from the sides ( too much pressure directly from the top may cause the chisel to penetrate the hubcap itself - I found that out ) Don't worry about deforming the insert, the planishing hammer straightens that right out.

The Planish away ( yes its louder than hell, but adding the sand into the stand and the hammer does lessen the noise )

If there is a gash you need to weld, remember set the welder to the minimum settings, take your time, then planish again.

Chrome? not there yet, will either send it out or buy a home system ( need to read up on what the EPA has to say about that first ) but I found some triple chrome home kits from 500 - 1000 bucks + so I'll see .