A quick update . .  many hours have been spent,  but the progress is slow.  

Here is photo of floor panels in test fit.   I am using screws until everything lines up,  then will start to spot weld.   . .   It is tough trying to get everything in place,  when all I have to measure to is "air" and bent rusty metal.   

The gray piece of metal is cut out of a piece of shelving.  I ran out of the raw sheet metal.    It is .075 thick,  not sure what ga. that would be,  but it is stiff to work with,  should make a sturdy floor.  haha
    



This is what's left of the tranny tunnel after cutting it out.   I will be replacing with Walck's M38 removeable panels.  . .  the gas pedal is not attached in photo,  (if it looks a little out of place).  . .  you can see where a PO had cut the tunnel behind the tcase levers,  I assume to make it easier to remove something.   Those stock holes are too small !! 




I decided to bolt the old tunnel to the back of the new plate while fitting it.   This way I can make sure all the holes line up.   I plan to one day put PTO on Hoover,  so want that hole to line up also.

This photo makes it look so easy,   just set it in place,  but it took me a LONG time to get everything lined up.   . .  again,  it is temporarily fastened with screws,   I still need to fabricate the rear tunnel before I start welding.




View from the other side.  . .    for anyone familiar with the M38 panels - >  the upper one actually extends much further up behind the dash.   I cut 4-5" off,  to be able to keep the stock dash bracket.    I am not sure why we would want the cowling to be cut up that high.   I might find out later,  but for now this might look a "liitle" more stock,  and not weaken the tub as much.

I just noticed looking at photo . . you can see my footprint from where I was standing on the back flange,  and pulling the top back,  trying to get it to fit.   

Just imagine how many hours would have been saved, blood not lost, and foul language not dispensed if every 3A had rolled off the line outfitted with panels like yours has now.

BobW:   Thanks!
Ryan: You are right! 

1955CJ-5 wrote on 12/03/14 at 16:34:51:


Very observant!!     . .  I had noticed earlier that the knob appeared to be non-stock,  but did not have a clue it was a brass door knob     . .   today, I removed it,  and sure enough - >  the "hole" is square,    so someone must have forced onto the shaft , forming an internal thread in the process.

In addition -> the tranny shifter knob might be the matching door knob from other side.    it is metallic (brass?) also.

I might just leave these knobs as-is.  .  . to preserve the history of Hoover.   

Changing gears  (pun intended)

To make it easier to get the M38 floor panels in place, (over and over while test fitting)   I decided to remove the tranny cover and shift lever.  . .   I was also curious about the internal condition of the tranny.

I was happy with what I found.  . .  Some occasional surface rust,  but the sychro teeth look decent (I think) 

Any thoughts on condition?

.
Thanks Ryan,  some good info there.

I plan to open up the tranny and tcase to check for condition at some point.  Makes sense to do now while easy to get to.

Your tub is turning out nicely.  I remember taking a similar photo of the pile of rusty metal removed from the tub.  It's kind of fun to look back at those.

Ryan showed you some 2nd gear wear.  I'll show you some clutch hub wear....



In your photo, it looks like the chevrons on the clutch hub may be a bit chewed up, like mine.  I removed the tranny multiple times and replaced multiple parts until it no longer jumped out of 2nd gear.  Adding a shim and replacing this part finally gave me joy.

Tim

wow!  you've done an excellent job!  congratulations!