Today I finished removing all the parts from the frame that will be coming off. I started by grinding off the heads of the rivets holding the rear spring pearches, and driving them out with a punch. Moved up to the transmission crossover mount and did the same thing, Had to do some tricky grinding on the rivets holding the front end and motor mounts. Got them all punched out and dropped out the front end. Those boys at the Ford Company back in 48 sure new how to put in a tight rivet.
This all brought me back to the Hillyard Diesel Shop, when I was a Sheetmetal Worker/Pipefitter, and knocked rivets off the panels on old Great Northern F units. Guess what, I'm still working on a F unit. Also remembered that even though I wear leather gloves to hold the punch, It seems like evey fifth strike with the hammer gets my left index finger top knuckle. The left hand is now slightly larger than the right one. This all goes away with a few beers.
Sandblasting the frame comes next and I still haven't quite got that figured out. I need to get the frame outside I think to keep the mess down in the garage. Still thinking about a portable floor for the blasting booth (maybe a piece of linoleum). Should start on that next week. When the frame is clean, I will start putting the new suspension on. It will be nice to work on clean stuff.
I wonder how many beers before this swelling goes down?
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Wow Norm! You've come a long way. I hope you numbered the pieces, or have a lot better memory than I do. What are you going to do to replace the rivets? You may have to call Rosie.
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