Projects My 51 Shoebox build thread

Just check and jamco carries a front swaybar. Got to save up for that now . 220 bucks.
I got lucky and bought the my jamco A arms and fatman linkage from my buddy half price from original.

Also i have jamco brake booster set up but im afraid it sits too low. I think a bump stop will hit the booster. Any help ideas here? Thanks

 

@joeoldsrocket check out www.shoeboxcentral.com I know for a fact they have sway bars and brake boosters, may actually be cheaper and you'll actually get them in a reasonable amount of time, unlike Jamco.

 

I got the same booster than you do.I had to modify it,because the clearance issues.There's some pics on the first and second page of this thread.If i know how much i had to modify the booster and brake pedal,i would have gone to the different direction with the brake booster unit.

Yeah,Chris is the man.I've done business with him and no complains at all.I cant say same about Jamco...
But joeoldsrocket has Jamco A-arms,not stock ones.I think Chris doesnt sell any Jamco stuff...

 

Didn't know if Chris's swaybar would work with Jamco A-arms. Probably not, but worth a shot.

 

Yea im going to try to put the booster bracket higher . If i knew also i would got firewall mount. But now i have to make it work .

@critchdizzle i have to get jamco swaybar . Im running jamco A arms i dont think shoebox central swaybar would work. But looking at the pics from jamco and showbox central both look the same.

 

Antti,check your PMs.

 

Just checked them and answered!

 

Commercial oring making kits are still available. I know this because I am staring at them on our shelf right now! Now, more often than not, they include both metric and standard cord sizes.

 

Ole red who makes them and where can they be bought?

 

Okey,an update:

I started to notching the front seat.I had to cut the seat skirts off to get access for the seat frame.This is how it looks like after the frame notch is done:





After that i made a filler piece for the skirt with a shrinker/stretcher.I welded a slice of the old skirt to the filler piece,so i can mount the seat bottom zigzag spring back to the seat skirt:



I guess the rear notch is done,the front side notch will be easier to do,because it doesnt have to be such a deep than the rear notch is.



I also got the steering U-joint straight from Borgeson:



It came really fast and looks like its a fine quality part.If anyone needs steering u-joints,i recommend their products.

 

Nice work as always.I think I can see where they polished the "craftsman" lettering off that U-Joint

 

That seat is pretty darn cool. Little stuff that takes time and no one will ever even notice. Nice work.

 

Nice job on the seat notch . I'll be doing that soon , as I'm going to attack my driveline angle issue soon - and I'm sure it'll require a tunnel re-do .

 

Yeah,right.Haha!

Thanks Andrew.Thats the difference building a car than a bike.Spend time with stuff like this and nobody notices them.All the details are easier to notice with the bikes.

Thanks!
The seat tracks will be a pain in the ass in this project too.The track connecting rod will hit the raised tunnel,but there are few ways to solve this issue.I've seen guys re-routing the bar with a miniature u-joints.Another way is to get another pair of seat tracks that are wire operated.
I got mine from my bro,they are from early 80's Chevy truck.Good luck!

 

Damn ! Didn't think of that part ... Grrr ! The old snowball effect .

 

Yep,i know that effect..
Nothing special,but a small update:

I got the front side notch done:





The seat is now on the level that is supposed to be,next i have to redo those damn seat tracks..

 

Nice work! As the old saying goes"the devil is in the details" and you have got some nice detail work in that car!

 

Antti did you ever get your front anti sway bar?Any progress on your car?

 

Kurt,i think the swaybar is sailing somewhere on the atlantic ocean at the moment.It takes usually 6-8 weeks to get my goods in here via seafreight.I guess it will be here at the end of the month.
Well,it took 3-4 months extra to get my off topic GMC truck from Cali to here,but i hope the swaybar doesnt take that long..
Not much progress with the shoebox,i've been busy with the other stuff.But i'll be back at it soon.

 

Even slow progress is still progress Antti, nice job. Waiting for the goods to arrive surely teaches us Finns some patience. Which especially in my case is more than needed anyways...

 

Man , still digging that fuse box . That's hella sweet. Great work by the way one of the best builds I'm following.

 

Thanks guys!
Yeah,i know the patience thing.It just takes sometimes time to get stuff here.I've noticed that here isnt much shoebox stuff on the market,so i have to buy most of the parts i need for this project from US.
Finding the rare stuff is a kind of virtual treasure hunt that takes time,but its fun too.

 

Don't laugh... seen that one here more than once.

 

What are you going to redo you seat springs with? I have debated going to foam. I I need to tie the springs together if not and take everything off the upholstery guy did when he said he knew what he was doing and didnt. Atleast he refunded my money.

 

I think the seats needs a layer of foam on the top.All the springs are in good condition,i havent noticed any broken springs on the seats.They arent lined up perfectly in pics,because some of the rings that factory used to tie them are missing.I think there is no reason replace the springs,they just need some "adjusting".My plan is to remove them temporary,because i am going to sandblast the seat frames and get them powdercoated,so i havent bother to tie them properly yet.
I guess it could be challenging to find an upholstery guy/gal,who has a reasonable pricing and knows what he/she is doing.I guess you cant get all of that in same package..

 

Antti IME you are sure right about that! You have many skills,maybe you could barter with an upholsterer? I did that once to get the seats done in a Nova I had.upholstery guy had a broken evo big twin,I fixed his engine,he did my seats.

 

I had a commercial sand blaster guy do my front and rear seats and frames without taking anything apart. 100 bucks. Then 9 cans of spray paint. We will all be dead by the time they are rusty again. When I tore off the burlap there was nothing holding the tops of the springs. 400 tie wraps later they are all stable. See my "The Interior " gallery on my website.

 

I've used that method for a long time with friend of mine,who knows more wiring than me.So i have done welding jobs for him and he has done wiring work for me.But this is a small country,so finding an upholsterer who needs metal work isnt that easy.But its a good idea anyway!

Thanks for the hint.I am going to powdercoat parts anyway,so i guess i'll pass the rattlecan idea.
But i liked that tie wrap idea,that will make that job a lot faster.I've been thinking to use stainless tie wraps,if i got few hundred of them with reasonable pricing.Thanks!

And now a small update:

Here is how the GM seat tracks looks like under the front seat:



I made these stands and brackets for the seat tracks:



And mounted them with the seat:



I guess i'll mess with the steering column next.I've been thinking about dropping the column,maybe an inch or less.The stock steering column angle looks a kind of weird with chopped top...

 

Mine is dropped 3/4" via spacers on top of the column drop.Makes things look more normal.

 

Good job with the front seat looks like a good fit for the chopped roof!