sorry for the lack of progress last week. had to get my truck all dolled up and it took some time, but now its back to business as usual. there is a lot of stuff during a build that isnt really mentioned, thought id mention one of these "things". while the sedan doors fit nicely the vert doors dont. the bottoms of the doors had a downward dip that prevented them from closing. so i remove the door seal retaining strip and hammer / dolly the bottoms up. now they fit. while the doors where on the bench decided to shave the door handles and key holes. now you see the door closes, and now you also see how its got a different profile. yay, more work that will go un-noticed when its done. hahaha put her on the lift to see the floor bottoms, look good, just 1 required a little trim and some hammering, all seams will be seam sealed and primered and undercoated. i dont have a sheet metal bender and had been waiting for weeks to use one. well i got tired of waiting. the trunk and notch floor had been cut and bead rolled weeks ago, so i took matters into my own hands. used the truck bed to form the notch sheet metal. i must say it came out great! so the floor are complete front to back. this week i will finalize some small areas that need massaging. plans are to pull the body off this weekend for the last time. seal the bottom of the body and clean / paint the frame so i can bolt the two once and for all. i will need them as 1 to really work the doors being that now its a vert with more flex its gotta be bolted down for final adjustments. till then.
You should take a couple hours and a few dollars worth of metal and build yourself something to bend your metal on, I know you can do it. This car is coming along nice. I'm still jealous of your Buick. Makes me want to go outside and smack my right in the teeth.
thanks sam. just havent gotten around to making a bender always seem to improvise. doing work. scored a 51 Kaiser grille bar. going to see about getting 2 more in better shape: sealed almost all the floor joints, top and bottom. pulled the body off (for the last time): scratch pad the bare metal and sprayed some etching primer (top and bottom): seat mount provisions: my pal Leo gave me a 71 Chevy convertible seat (fit almost perfect): modified the rear lower mount (took about 1" out): seat down to the metal and sprayed white: shaved the front bumper: modified the trans cross-member for the 700r4: fabricated a K-member to add strength to the now convertible chassis: more work.
so i had a couple of pals offer their night to help me with the shoebox. granted they are not car builders, but every bit of help gets the car closer and closer. we put in work till about 2 am. Eric came through and wire wheeled the frame rails and rear of the frame. it looks very fresh and clean. all that is left now is the bottom of the frame and some of the front suspension areas. Thanks Eric! his roommate Rainer (*spelling?) from Latvia wanted to be a part of the process too. so he got to work on the floors. scrapping off some old undercoating that was on the firewall inside and scratch padding the etching primer to prep for the white paint he applied. Thanks Rainer! more coming soon.
Good looking work. One suggestions though.. Before modifying chromed pieces, take them to your plater and have them stripped. Easier to work with on your end after they're stripped, and less problems for your plater when it comes time.
. Fantastic build. Definitely going in the right direction for a killer street rod and very unique, Thanks for all the time it took to post and do the write up. I have enjoyed what you have so far very much
Wow,great progress.I wish i have time to mess with my shoebox like you do with yours,just been too busy for a while..
i will definitely keep that in mind for the next one! thanks. thank you all for the kind words. i am pushing to drive this rig in November to Daytona. i think i can, i think i can. great weekend! not much to show for it. lots of little things. getting the trunk latch (using a bear-claw universal one) installed, wrapping up some frame welding and finished cleaning the frame for paint. lucky for me my pal has construction equipment to hoist my frame up with so i flipped it on the side and was able to wire wheel it real good. also used it to paint the frame. while everyone tells me i should be at the beach or take a day off i worked. Sunday night: well worth the sacrifice:
Jenny (my wife who says the '51 is hers) loves the taillights, smoothed seam on the quarters and the back bumper. Guess she better get to wrork!!
thats great man! so tonight the rear end got some paint and the steering box. also i like to paint the inside of the side trim to protect it so that got done too thanks to my pal Eric who passed by after work to lend a hand. on another note (slightly off topic), think most of you all know that i like aircooled VWs and built a 67 Squareback a few years back. well it was recently featured in a web based video episode. its well worth checking it out, these guys do some amazing video work. hope you all enjoy it: http://www.awol.tv/episodes/1?episode=74 im honored to have these guys made a short film on my car. Thanks JJ!!!
thanks! its been a while since the last update. quite a bit has been going... my new gas tank from "tanks" arrived, its for a 49 Chevy. price was right and so were the dimensions. i did not want to use the mustang tanks cause that puts the fill neck in the middle of the trunk. aesthetically it doesn't work. worked on making the fill neck behind the taillight so that when the trunk is opened it will be hidden behind the trunk upholstery panel. this required a few changes... frame needed to be drilled and cut to run the fill tube through... finally the tank got painted base coat clear coat along with the straps... moved on to the inner fender wells. i want a clean engine bay so there were a few things to eliminate... sanded them down, still need to go in and do some hand sanding in tight areas then start primer filling them to smooth them out... with tank mocked in the floors are ready for undercoating... chose to use "raptor" its for bed liners so im sure it will protect the bottom of the car for years to come... had cleaned the firewall / wheel wells and masked them off want them to be smooth... all new body pads in place to set the body on frame for the last time... body and frame together. its a roller once again with all new hardware... now progress can be made on the body, hanging the doors properly, framing for the padded top, front fenders ext.
got some NOS skirts and just had to put them on there. also painted the trunk floor now that all the "fab" work for the tank is done... with the body secure on the frame, the doors are finally able to be properl hung, therefore the vent windows finally got chopped... also tilted the wings to match the a-pillar (thanks Paul!) and began to seal the header area... cleaned the firewall up to prep it for paint. fenders will be welded to the body so id rather push this forward before putting the fenders on...
Like everyone has said, great job on the car. But what really gets me is how with a post of a couple of pictures and a couple of paragraphs of text you can put across what most magazine writers couldn't do in a couple of articles. You have a real talent there. Can't wait to see this baby done.
Damn. I'm just gonna go burn my friggin car to the ground. There seems to be no point anymore. I'm so happy for you and you deserve to drive the shit out of that car. Looking extremely fine. Can't wait to see it done. In the time you've done this entire job, I've managed to buy 2 door handles and put them on my car. I believe it is going to take me a while to finish mine. Nope I'm wrong, did get my lowered about 5 inches also.
I like you build, your updates are precise and detailed enough without being to much. Thanks and keep up the good work. Thats going to be a bad F'N car.
great work. Very clean. I need to get a bead roller. I really like the way you made the tail lights. very traditional looking.
thanks! posting the progress kinda helps me stay focused or keep track of whats done and where im going on the build. thanks for all the kind words. still lots and lots of work to do! the radiator arrived on Friday and i wasted no time in exposing the brass top tank. cant wait to see that in the car... my paint and body guy came through to move the firewall along. fenders are planed to be welded on for a seamless fit so the firewall needs to move into primer as soon as possible to be able to hang the fenders... so Friday night i stayed late and played with my wood. remember this was a sedan, i have no vert header other than pics. i was not happy with the look of the stock header so i decide to make my own, how hard could it be? after stroking my wood all night it finally took shape. i wanted more of a 40's looking header, a bit more eyebrow i guess that best way i can describe it? also want the top to hang just over the windshield about 1/2" so far the overall shape is there, still lots to do! then back to striping! the dash is down to the bare, think i will shave the 3rd hole only going to have key and headlight switch... the weekend is not over so off to the shop to strip the doors down to the metal.
The Jalopy Journal
