The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Panels 'N Burbs Restoration of the Golden Phantom

Call it motivation, inspiration, or whatever but I've come to think of it as Stovebolt Therapy

I also hope to make the homecoming this spring. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Well.. The new springs are mostly installed. Boy you can't stress it enough when it comes to going over everything in detail. I knew I had a broken leaf in one, but I didn't really envision so much wear in the shackle pins and bushings. I mean it was pretty bad, not as bad as some I've seen, but with all the slop I'm sure the GF would have handled like a boat on the road. So that's one more thing off the list. By the way, the new springs really makes it stand taller too. As a 1 ton, it was pretty tall anyways, but with new springs it's gotta be at least 3 inches taller. I wished I had measured before.

They are making a push to finish up over the next couple weeks, so I'm getting pretty jazzed about it. I can't wait to take it out for a cruise and also for a photo shoot. I'm pretty sure I'll make homecoming this year, providing the docs don't tie me down, but hopefully that will be over with soon too.

Finally the push to get the Golden Phantom out of the shop is on (alledgedly). Keeping my fingers crossed that not too many parts have gone awol in the 3 yrs that it has been there.

If all goes well, I am hoping it will be drivable in time for home coming. If not I guess I'll have to drive the vette.

Looking forward to meeting you and seeing the Golden Phantom! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you it is ready for Homecoming.

wishing you good luck and no vibrations Ned.

I spent the day sorting through all off the remaining parts and pieces today. For the most part everything I've purchased is there, but seem to be missing a couple small items; I guess I'll have to reorder them. I'm a little annoyed that the shop didn't do a better job of keeping the stuff together, but just glad the items missing are minor. After 3 yrs, I guess I should just be glad that there isn't more.

I've also been lucky that for the most part all of the restoration parts have fit well so far. I have one item, the chome ring (bezel) for the tail light doesn't fit. It looks like the right one, and is so marked, but it's too small to fit over the lens and taillight housing. anyone else run into this? I bought it from Jim Carter I think. Pictues coming soon.

None of those reproduction bezels fit the tail light,but the vendors keep selling them.You need a #55-72 Harley Davidson bezel made by guide,nos#68086-55.The bezel is a exact to what you need.There is one on ebay as we speak.

Hope this helps.
Tim

Thanks Tim.. I've put a bid on that bezel on ebay.

Thanks to Tim, my tail light bezels is on the way. I dont' know how you guys find all this stuff on ebay. I've speent hours looking for things and for the most part with little or no success.

Work on the Golden Phantom continues.. yay... So far, the engine is all but running, most of the new glass is in, all the front underpinnings of the sheet metal are hung but loose waiting for the finall assembly and alignment.

We're shooting for the end of the week, but I'm not very confident at this point.. but as I've said progress is progress.

The #55-72 means from years 1955 to 1972 they were installed on Harley.I had a Harley guy telling me all about them.I'm glad you got one on the way.

Tim

Ned -

The work you are carrying out on the GF is amazing! I just took a peek at the pictures and the progress you were making and I am stunned! That panel looks amazing, and it is serving as inspiration for mine.

I look forward to hearing about you cruising the GF soon.

All the best,

Michael

I've posted a couple snapshots of the Golden Phantom. Not the best but you can see it's coming along. Lots of little details since the pics. Glass is in, wiring is cleand up and mostly routed. Engine is almost ready to fire, except the danged dipstick went AWOL. They claim to throw nothing away, so hope they find it.

Idecided to have the handle on the barn door rechromed. While Alvin shared some tips on adapting a front door handle, the base on mine was so bad I had to do something. So with wallet in hand I went to a reasonably local plater who was recommended. He seems confident that he can do a passable job. Most of you probably know platers hate pot metal parts. So.. well see how good he is.

I also got a pic of my new wheels I've been braggin on. I think they look good and reasonably close to what you might have seen in some cases. Not original, but not too showy either I think.

Anyway the plan is to get the engine fired up and buttoned up, then hang the fenders, hood and all and she should be drivable. I'm hoping to make homecoming, but not certain we'll be quite ready, but who knows. I sure hope so though.

See my link in my sigature for progress pics.

Beautiful.

Thanks Tim.. means a lot coming from an old dog like you

Got up earl and went over the shop today, eager to knock out a couple little details. First was to be the tail light bezel I just recieved. I took out the screws and promply dropped the orignal lens, which hit the floor and shattered into a kazillion bits; I couldn't believe it.. it was like it leaped from my hand. Oh well.. I found a NOS harley lens on ebay so all is not lost.

If all goes well, I may still make homecoming with the truck, but will in all likelyhood be missing a few parts at best but maybe, just maybe it will be together enough. We'll see.

The Ned.

I am very sorry I did not suggest that you place multi-layers of a heavy wide blanket under the housing, in case the glass lens dropped. I also broke one when I reassembled my Suburban in 2003.

Be sure to post a picture of the smile on your face when you drive it.

Yeah.. I had similar thoughts.. Hind sight is always 20/20.

Progress continues, though slowly. You look at everthing and say from here out, it's just a matter of bolting and screwing everything together. But then you find a screw hole stripped, the remains of a broken bolt and other gotchas. So you take everything apart and fix the offending item, then put it all back. But so at the end of the day, youi complete maybe two task, where you hoped for four.

Then there's things like the wind lace. Man, even having read the tips from others, they were a bear. They had to have had some special tools at the assembly line for those. But they are done and look good. little left on the doors to be done. New trim panels and knobs are on for fit checks, just gotta lay out the arm rest and then put it back.

head liner bows and other misc small parts are in the paint shop. They were painted once, but have scratches from being shuffled too much.. oh well. Anyway, monday may be finish up the interior day. Seats are all ready to go in, headliner, insulation and matts ready.. everything except a hula girl for trhe dash.

Running boards are all but bolted in place. Fenders and hood are ready too. So hopefully, by the end of the week we will be drivable.

Ned, the truck looks great. Don't worry, progress is progress. I am a year and a half into what I thought would be a year max on my project and now I hope I can finish by next year at this time.
Can't wait to see the Phantom it finished and in person.
Billy

If all goes well, I should get to drive the Golden Phantom tomorrow. I'm finding that a number of restoration parts are junk, no big surprise after hanging at the bolt. But still disappointing to say the least. Most of the offending items have come from one supplier. Like the headliner that was cut short and crooked; what a piece of crap! Door panes also miscut and looks like crap. Gauges that don't work, seals that are not right and many others that are sure to not last. So I can see a trip to the trim shop to redo the interior items and some more time under the dash and hood. But I have expected that, so it's no surprise.

But anyway the truck is running and sounds good. Having issues with the alignment of the drivers door, but closes and latches for now. Lots of other details, but the list get shorter every day.

I've entered it in the Ocean City (Maryland) Cruisein Car Show this weekend, if all goes well, it should be fun. I'm anxious to show the truck off too after 4 yrs of effort and tons of cash invested. I should have pics too, so stay tuned.

Even with the part issues it sounds like some great progress has been made.

Looking forward to seeing some updated photos.

Ned, I have some buddies that are headed to OC too. That is always something I have wanted to do one year. We are headed to South Bend Monday so will have to miss this one, maybe the fall deal.
Sorry to hear about all the inferior parts. I have had a few after market problems but overall not too bad.
Don't for get to take your camera for your first drive and to OC too. Look forward to some nice shots.

Billy

Good job, Ned. She looks awesome. Enjoy the show and we expect lots of pics.

At last... The Golden Phantom is done, well mostly done.. But I took it for it's first drive today.. what a treat. So the first excursion was to a local park for a photo shoot. I'm updating my photos in my pictures of the progress link and will be submitting some pics for the gallery too. Thanks to all who advised and supported my efforts.

I'm eager to see what my fellow bolters think

The Phantom looks stunning!
I wish I could see it in the flesh,I like the wheels too.

Compliments to your 'body guy' as well,that's a remarkably straight looking big panel truck!

Great job.

Looks great!

Great job, loved the pics. now go drive with pride

It's been almost 6 months now since the truck has been out of the shop. I've put about 800 miles on it since and it gets tons of attention wherever I take it. So far it runs great, drives well, but has a vibration coming from the rear (pinion brg I think) which hopefully will go away when I put in the new third member which I am expecting to recieve any day.

I've had a few problems, mostly related to restoration parts. I won't mention the suppliers, but the majority came from two of the best known. While they express thier sympathy, they have done little to help, so I have not bothered going back to them on most issues. So what can you do?... Well you can let them know and hope that they care.

I haven't started on the interior yet, aside from the seats and dash stuff. I hope to start by adding insulation and sound deadening first, along with additional accesories yet TBD.

It seems my truck is only one of a very few panels in this area, in fact in all the shows I've been to in this region, I've only seen one other but it was 3100 not a 3800 like mine. I have seen a couple ford and dodges, but few panels. I have seen a couple burbs and Canopy expresses, but only a couple. I guess most of them here in the rust belt have gone to the crusher.

Thanks again for all the advice I have recieved along the way.

Boy, it looks great, Tony the Tiger Grrrreaaaat!

Yes, I find I'm grateful I can buy re-pop stuff, but I would be willing to pay more, if it was just like the original, in fit, finish, and quality. I guess though if it was easy, everybody would drive an old truck though wouldn't they? I mean, who would want a new one?

Would really love to know what problems you ran into with aftermarket stuff. Sorry if I missed it somewhere.

I think it's important to pass on info about experiences with inferior products!

Snubby.. I've not listed all of the problems, but here are some of them.

1. Headliner was badly miscut and colors on two pieces did not match.
2. New upper radiator hose had a hole.
3. New ignition coil was defective and failed almost immediately.
4. New chrome grill began rusting almost immediately
5. Hood emblem began rusting almost immediately.
6. Gasket for hood ornament was badly miscut.
7. Paint for interior was wrong color.(instead of brownish metalic, looked like black primer.
8. Door latches (both front doors) won't lock.
9. Bezel for tail light didn't fit.
10. New gas gauge (dash unit) doesn't work.
11. New temp. gauge (dash unit) reads incorrectly.
12. New door trim panels badly miscut and don't fit the metal frames.
13. Seals for the hood/cowl were cut way too short.
14. Bumpers for the front of the hood did not fit. (not sure if it's the bumpers or the holes in grill)

That covers the majority, but there were many other issues regarding fit and quality. As Mr. Lang said, I'm happy to be able to buy repro parts, but would also gladly pay for better quality.

That's a surprisingly long list. There's nothing more frustrating than an ill fitting part. Thanks for taking the time to list some of them.

I think most of us expect a reasonable level of quality when ordering things of this nature.

Makes me think a forum dedicated to fit and finish of repop/aftermarket parts might help everyone out. Might save a lot of people headaches and money, and in the long run, cause the companies to tighten up their quality.

Well, the GF reached a milestone of sorts this week. It has accumlated 1000 miles since getting it back on the road.

I've changed the oil again, switching to a synthetic oil. The oil that came out looked good, no metal that could be seen or felt in the drain pan. So that's good.

A couple of weeks ago I got the new (used) pumkin put in with the 4.56 ratio. There is a marked improvement driving on the higway. Certainly you're not going to cruise along at 65 for extended runs, but it feels pretty good at 50. Thats fine, as I've been know to say "life is good in the slow lane."

I'm still having the vibration issue though. I had sent the drive shaft out for rebuilding, where they found the slip yoke was severly worn. So I had that replaced (at considerable expense)and new U-joints for good measure. I wanted to replace the carrier bearing assembly (sling bearing to some) too, because while the bearing seemed ok, the rubber was hard and the bearing seemed very loose in it. But panel is different and nobody is reproducing it. But that didn't fix it.

Then I thought that since the rear was so noisy perhaps a bad pinion bearing was to blame.. nope. Changed out the gears, still there...

So this week the plan it to pull the driveshaft back out, take it to the shop and have them spin it up. It may be the old carrier assy. If so I'm going to have them adapt an available type (might do that anyway in case I have trouble on the road).

Also it could be the damping material that is often used in drive shafts. Sometimes the material decomposes and will cause the shaft to be out of balance. Which could explain why it seems worse at times than at others. Who knows?

I have a laundry list of other things I want to do, but after the vibration gets fixed the next is the steering. It doesn't drive bad, maybe even ok. However It seems to be gettting a bit looser as i have driven it. Over the years I've grown accustomed, as with many, to fast tight power steering. So it could just be me. While everything appeard ok, but in need of a lube job, I'm wondering if the old hard grease was hiding any loose components. So I want to get it on a front end machine and get it all alinged (after all it has been over 30 yrs since it was even on the road)

YeeHaw.... Vibration is gone. I took the drive shaft back to the shop that rebuilt it.. They were very apologetic and had it fixed and back to me within 2 hrs with no additional charges. Of course had it been done right the first time... what can you say. At least I found out they do stand behind their work.

Also crossed a crossed a few minor items off the lst.. made a few tweaks. Feels good to know all the biggies are behind me and now most of the items fall into the category of upgrades.

Bottom line is I feel confident enough that I might start planning some trips.