Cleaning Up Shop

Those of you that know me well are probably aware that I sometimes have a hard time getting rid of things. And that would be those of you that just laughed at that statement. But guess what? I am, in fact, getting rid of some things. It's not easy, but I feel like it's become necessary. Due to my recent marriage, I've had incentive an opportunity to work out some of these issues with not only truck parts, but various other piles of junk lying around the house. Though not directly related to truck progress, I thought I would share some of the things I have learned.

1. Just because I've had something for a long time isn't necessarily a good reason to keep it. There has been more than one occasion where I've looked at something and been forced to wonder, "why do I still have this?"

2. I don't like throwing things away that don't necessarily have anything wrong with them except that I don't need them anymore. Fortunately, my wife has no such qualm.

3. You're never going to fix that old vacuum. You just aren't. Why would you, when you already have plenty of perfectly good vacuums lying about? Take it apart, save anything useful, and get rid of it.

4. It's surprising what people will take when you list it on cragislist for free.  And that vacuum power head attachment will do more good being used by someone else than it will collecting dust in your closet.

5. There are some things that, although I didn't really want to get rid of when I was done with them, I don't care about at all anymore and would much rather just be rid of.

Despite all that I still have a lot of stuff lying around, but things are getting a bit better. Last week I made the decision that it's time to get rid of some of these extra pieces lying around. The first item on the chopping block was the rear bumper I bought at the auto swap three years ago. Since the rear bumper on there now has a nicer shape (in my opinion), I plan on repairing that one and have listed this one for sale. A bargain for someone at $35.

1963 "Dealership" Rear Bumper

Oh, and of course that Porshce fender is out, too. I had someone contact me about it over the weekend, which is good- all it's doing is taking up space in my office.

The harder decision was which pair of rear fenders to keep. I came home from the auto swap three years ago with this set that had come with some bed box sides, and another set I picked up because they looked better. This past Friday night I threw both drivers side fenders into my truck and headed to a local "cruise in" in hopes to get some free advice. Most of the people I talked to agreed the brown one was better, but a professional panel beater had a look and declared that the, um, green and pink one was better, for the main reason that it had less interior surface rust and therefore was thicker. And I'm sure if I was any good with a hammer and a dolly I would agree with that. But if the Porche

fender is any indication, tin bashing isn't really one of my skills. While I'm sure I would get better with practice, I'd rather not practice on something I care a lot about, so I chose the less dented brown fender. My welding skills are probably better than my hammering skills, which isn't saying much about either of those.

In the case of the passenger side fender, both would be about an equal amount of work. I chose the brown one again, this time because it had less surface rust on the top.

"Clutch Head" Bolt

Therefore, it was time to separate the fender from the box side it had been attached to since I bought it. Not as easy as I thought- they were bolted together with something called "clutch head" bolts. Evidently these were common fasteners for body panels through the '40s and '50s, but had fallen out of favor by the time my truck was made, which indicates the panels I have may be much older. I briefly considered whether to put the fenders back on with new clutch head bolts, but decided against it, since this truck probably didn't have them originally. I went looking for a driver for this thing, but none of the auto parts stores had one, nor did Harbor Freight. If you ever do run into one of these bolts, you can order the driver bit for them online- I know Classic Industries sells a set- or you can do what I did and use a specialty bolt remover tool. (Around the shop it's usually referred to by its common name, angle grinder.) Once the pieces were separated, the bed of the truck was finally cleaned out, which means throwing more stuff away or piling it on the welding cart. The brown fenders went into the bed, and the others went to the back porch for storage. And I'm not going to hang onto them for years on end this time, I'm going to make an attempt to sell them once I decide on a fair asking price.

Today's progress was mostly cleaning up the garage and the shed. To make a long story short (why start now?), I moved some things from the shed to the garage and some things from the garage to the shed. A little sorting and arranging, a few shelves, and it'll all make sense again.