Projects Club Coupe+Business Coupe= 3 window :>)

While not new here, I have used the site mainly for classifieds and ofcourse I have enjoyed many project postings. Please follow the following link http://www.photoshow.com/watch/GC7KK7VR to view the chopping of my club coupe 2.5 inches, removing the B pillars back to the deck lid and then adding a business coupe roof plus a fill panel. Next the reversing of an extra set of A pillars to become new B pillars. The sail panels were then wheeled out and added to complete the roof transformation to a 3 Window. The project has a 1957 354 Hemi out of a school bus. (junk yard find) a new TKO-500 and ofcourse all the standard modern ammenities. I am using a mix of 46,7 and 8 parts. IE:fenders , trim and gauges and coming very close to having to choose wheels, paint and interior. The theme of this project is SANO , resto mod without any billet under the hood. If there is any interest, I can post other progress pictures.
George King
Parker, Co.

 

added some pics ..../the link has over 100 pictures

 

pretty cool

 

Nice progess there, George! I ain't seen you in a while.

Tim D.

 

Thanks Tim...I havent had a shop and I am building a new shop here in Parker . Dutch and Marty have been doing the work on my car in their shop. I am looking forward to having fun in it!
Herkimer , New York July 9th if anyone wants to come?
Regards,
george

 

Tim,
Here's a recent picture of Dutch and a couple of passes with filling primer.
No matter how good you are with metal work, you still have to have the patience to be a paint prep man as well. The body is ready for final prime coat and the front cap is next. There was another post here recently about these cars and getting all the front gaps correct. This has now been done ONCE...who knows if it will ever go back together the same? smile.......
George

 

I love it George! Nice work!

 

very nice indeed, thanks for sharing

 

George I really like your coupe. The first time I saw pictures of it was when the top was being chopped along with the other top modifications. It will be unique to say the least. Thanks for posting it here.

 

that is very nice !! it's about time someone did this, and finished it. I did a Business coupe with sedan doors and a 354 Hemi. there is a photo on page 8 of the Dec. 1994 Rod & Custom magazine.
it's still sitting in the corner of my shop. I've seen 3 others including a unchopped one in Ohio (I think) glad to see yours coming along so well.
just saw one at the Washington Billet Proof. had a different approach on the doors.

 

I have to say it is a lot of good work.
But now the car looks like a Willys with a Ford front clip.

 

Nice metal work

 

It's been about a year since I have updated... wow , time flies. I finished my shop and Dutch and Marty shipped my car back to me here in Parker,Co.
Over the past 2 weeks I have removed the tempory rear tranny mount and folded up the two new inner parallel frame rails shown. 11 guage and they are larger toward the rear by .250 than the front. IE: they are tapered. Ask me how I know? I bent the first one up with one measurement. oops. I cut the 2 3/4 holes to match originals with a cheap hole saw from the big box store. Make that 3 hole saws as they got dull real fast.

I cut the 12 inch wide 1/4 plate for the tranny mount with my plasma cutter outside of the desired lines and then finished the part with a belt sander. After punching the mounting holes with a small screw press from Roper, I bolted in the 93 Mustang mount and dropped the tranny in. WOW, the plate bowed almost .300. I had to add (weld in) an upside down U channel to get the rigidity needed.

Next thing was a reinforcing cross member bolted in at the tail shaft and a new piece of 1x2 chanel all the way across. You can see where I have cut a gap for the driveshaft hoop to be welded in. I used 1/4in x 2 inch strap and heated cherry red before bending over a 4inch diameter piece of stock.
I cut to length and welded it in. (Forgot to update the photo). I have been waiting for 2 months for wheels from an Alliance member that is now promising to ship this week. I had to remove the valley cover on the 354 to exchange for one that had an oil filler tube that I prefferred to use for the old school "look".
Next up is exhaust, brake and fuel lines.
Regards,
George
303 847 9980 cell

 

I have finished the back half of emergency brake install (Lokar kit) and put the body back on for determining routing of front cable.

After waiting 2.5 months for wheels, I have them installed without the missing 34 commercial hub caps that have still not shipped.

I have also included a picture of the dash so you can see the master cylinder install along with hydraulic clutch cylinder. I will hinge the speaker grill for an access door.

If you are close and want to run brake and fuel lines...thats next! smile.
George King
Parker, Co.
303 847 9980

 

Here's a picture of the rear spring mount recessed into the frame to enable a further lowering of the rear of the car.
Also I am using a passenger side OEM exhaust manifold on both sides to be able to make the turn through the chassis rather than having headers and starting out under the chassis.

I have also installed the steering components after needing an amored car to pay for the parts. OUCH!
regards,
george

 

Very nice! I think I like it!

 

I have been working on a few small details that have taken a lot of time. In the first picture below you can see the alternator bracket from Hot Heads is sandwiched behind the water cross over from PAW. I used the brackets from Bob because they are well designed and clever to allow the water to pass through the brackets into the cross over. I used PAW's cross over because I wanted to have a center radiator hose. Here came my first problem.... The water neck for the chrysler only comes in a straight configuration and I wanted a 45 degree angle towards the radiator. see picture with the 45 degree chevy water neck installed and the chrysler sitting next to it. I had to weld the opening up by using a 3/8ths aluminum disk cut out of flat stock. then fly cut smooth and machined the smaller diameter chevy thermostat seat. Why bother? because I added the OEM valley cover with oil fill tube and it angles forward and this made the whole look 'CLEAN'.

 

When I finished the install of the water cross over and new 45 degree water neck I needed a hose to go 45 degrees to the upper radiator inlet.
The first picture is the result with frayed edges cutting on a bandsaw.
the second picture is how I sanded it smooth. (thanks for the tip Nick Buccola)
and the third picture is the smooth result.

 

Nice goin' George...............and thanks for the watermelon.

 

This is actually a commercial wire wheel hub cap on a spun adapter powder coated to match the wheel. If you look at posts above you can see without the cap.

 

Glad to see you slaving away George, and the Nickles' also thank you for their watermelon.

 

Just posting a few pics as I wind up the chassis. The brake plumbing was pretty simple and the only thing left before tear down and paint is a fuel pump mount and line . I am using the ever so popular Carter 7psi mounted to the rear cross member with an early vette in line fuel filter. The picture of the proportioning valve is a std GM 70/30 with adapters to 3/16 line. It's mounting location is just forward of the toe board as my master cylinder is under the the dash and adding more is a little tight!

 

I am finally at the start of going back the other way. I had Maaco, yes really.... Maaco paint the chassis. They used Extreme DTM black primer by Sherwin Williams with a gloss black Base coat + clear polyurathane. She is protected from moisture for at least my life time now. I will start adding the pieces back a little at a time and enjoy the clean assembly process.
I have a little fabrication work left on the interior to house a full size spare tire. It might be a month or two before she's a roller again.
Regards,
George

 

Here's an update with a few more pictures. The chassis is back together with the exception of the fuel tank and fuel line. I would have been through but Dave, Nick and Pete decided to 'VOTE' for an engine color change from Hemi Orange to the same color red as my wheels. It took me almost 2 full days to take it down, wire brush all the gasket residue off and then prep the surfaces with Scoth-Brite Maroon before finally prime and re-paint. While I had the water cross over pipe off, I decided to band saw the extra bosses off and then grind them close before a finish sand to smooth to get a cleaner look. It had been bugging me, but I would have left it alone had it not been for this big effort to change the color. The pics are the repainted Hemi waiting on a redo for the valve covers, The chassis looking shiny and back together and then a shot of the shop floor on my way out of the shop this afternoon. MESSY but too tired to clean up!
regards,
George

 

Hello,
I was wondering if the wheels on your car are Centerline Pro Stock. If they are and you still have them and maybe sell them. I would like to know the specks on them as size, back spacing and bolt pattern.

Thank You,
Jerry

 

Jerry,
No , sorry they were "Ford Ranger" junk yard finds for roller stock during the build. Best of luck on your search for the Centerline's.
Best Regards,
George

 

It's been busy this week ...whew! The little things sure take a lot of effort.
....Managed to run the fuel line, install the fuel tank, mount the rear shocks and then tackled installing the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate. I had a little trouble with the pilot "GM26" as the nose was .590 and my bushing is more like .690. The pilot has a taper between the nose and spline that I was able to push into the pilot bushing and hold in while I tightened 2 pressure plate bolts down enough to hold the clutch in place before tightening all 6 bolts. I am very concerned with my hydraulic throw out bearing as it is compressed 100%. I called Keisler and spoke with Ben who told me there was a new set of instructions for install set up. He has shipped them to me. SO, I am in a holding pattern and may have to remove the tranny to adjust the spacers to a different stack up?. We shall see.
I was pleased to see the ride height improve a little more with the added weight. The bottom of my cross member should be at 4 inches from the floor with the lower A arms parrallel to the floor. I am targeting to get this 4 inches to have the rake back to front that is desired when fully finished. She is sitting at 9 inches now and I will see how she sits when fully loaded. Hoping to not have to change the coils. FINGERS CROSSED!
I will have to put the body back on for another round. IE: cutting holes for heater hoses, wiring harness, brake and clutch lines. etc. etc. before being able to have it painted. She will be charcoal gray keeping close to original style.

Still plugging along.........

Regards,
George

 

Finished all that I could without parts for the 1980 Ford rack..ARGH... What kind of fittings are these any way?
I decided to toss the body back on so I can do the throttle cable install and associated other fire wall holes for other items.
There have been other posts about putting bodies on. I do this my self a lot and use a fork lift + telescoping boom pole with straps.
See the pictures for a 10 min. job.
Regards,
George

 

Spent a lot of time searching for the rack fittings and bulkhead parts for the hvac/heater hoses this week. I have ordered them as well as a set of body mounts and hardware. While waiting for parts to arrive, I have accomplished a little work.

First of all , I trial fit the gas filler tube as I bought a stainless tank from rock valley. As luck would have it, I had to "v" notch the frame to get things to line up. I also ordered a flexible gas connector hose from Drake. ( back ordered..sigh) If you look carefully, you can see the cut under the tube. I'll weld in a boxing plate when I pull the body for paint.

I tried to put the full size spare in the factory bracket and it was just to wide to go in. I cut the vertical post from the floor and upper rack and repositioned on the opposite side of the axle hump in the center of the trunk leaned forward. I had to turn an aluminum disk for the wheel hub to keep the wheel centered on the post as the wider rim doesn't work on the factory designed mount.

 

I finished all through the fire wall holes location and drilling with a step drill for wiring, a/c heat, drain, vacuum hose etc. etc. I have included pictures of the 4 place bulkhead I chose to put on the side of the cowl as well as the top of the toe board for my brake and clutch lines. Yes, I am one of those clean fiirewall guys on this effort.

A good friend "Rody" came over this afternoon. Rody is an ex body shop guy, now full time pin striper. He was so very nice to help me with the fire wall. I got us started with a shrinking disk to remove two oil can spots by tightening them up. Rody then roughed up the entire firewall with a 36 grit disk, before skim coating in "Plastic". The dreaded word..Bondo. smile. He then went over the entire surface with 80 grit. Filled in a few low spots. and finished up with 320 grit and a coat of primer.

THANK YOU RODY. Sunday will be a whole lot of cleaning up the work dust from today and starting to add the bolt on rubber mounts on the frame that are top mounted. Next steps are exhaust sytem, start and run in to brake in the cam, check for leaks etc, etc BEFORE using the chassis as a mule to get the body to the paint shop sometime in the next 2 weeks. First up in the body shop will be two coats of polyester before lots and lots and lots of block sanding.