The resurrection of Rusty, the '59 Sport Fury convertible

I am going to watch this build.

 

Why is it I never get the California cars?

You've done more in five hours than I can do in 20, make that 35, years.

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This is a great thread !!! Please keep posting.

 

You have taken on a project of huge proportions, both in the size of the car and the amount of work to be done. I am in awe and I will be watching this thread!

 

I had one heck of a time getting the driver side quarter panel to mate up with the convertible tub, every time I pullled it close to align it, the quarter panel would 'Oil can' inwards, After kicking back,and popping a cold one open, I discovered that this was due to the right side quarter panel having been hit hard, and causing a misalignment. After correcting this damage, it fit in like it should have.
Next was to finalize the welding.
I had very little to go with regarding the top channel drains, as the rust had consumed nearly all the pieces, but I measured them on a DeSoto convertible which was the same, and I was able to get them pretty close. These will not be visible once installed, but I sure as heck did not want rainwater draining into the car after it was completed, so they had to be functional.

 

Next task was to rebuild the quarter window track and guide, as well as repair and install the panels necessary for the convertible. All parts differ from those on a coupe. More rusty bits without much to go on, but a walk through the back lot revealed some similar pieces on a '58 New Yorker 4-door HT. I was able to use the bottoms of those, and weld them to the good part that was remaining of the convertible's.

 

my condolences for the loss of your friend. Way too abrupt. Thanks for sharing your project with us, and thanks for the extra effort to save the car.

 

On to the interior panels-The parts that originallly attached the panels to the inner wheellhouses were complertely gone, and required an unusual compound curve. I ended up making these over an anvil by getting them red hot, and working them with a hammer until they fit both pieces. Then the panel could be welded back in after doing some minor rust repairs on them.

 

After completing the driver's side, the passenger side went quickly.

 

Now that the body [for the most part] was more solid and stable, I decided to use reverse electrolysis on the entire car body.
I had recently cleaned up a property and there was a 20 foot fiberglass tomato bin for bringing the harvest to the processor. I brought it into the barn after taking the Fury outside, and sealed up the drop opening with silicon caulking. I then removed one of the cross bars in the center to allow the car body to fit within. I tested my sealing job on the bin, by running several hundred gallons of water into it. It seeped a bit, but nothing to worry about.
Before setting the body shell into the water, I went over it with a wire wheel and scraper, removing any loose rust, scale, undercoat, etc. that I could find. Using a jib on the forklift and truck straps, I set the body into the bin, and then filled to just above the cowl. I needed to reinstall the center cross brace, as the pressure from all the water would have bowed the bin out in the center.

 

I can't believe how much progress you have made in just two days.

 

Awesome project! Its really cool to see one come back from the brink.

 

Great work, looking forward to following along!

 

The only Mopar products i always seem to be attracted to are the 57-59 Plymouth's and Chrysler's.
Seeing this ragtop being brought back from an almost certain death is GREAT!
I'm lovin' it!
Keep up the hard work!

Tony

 

I'm digging this thread, but wasn't this originally posted within the past few years?

 

This is fun to watch. I think it's further along now.

 

A link may have been posted, but I just learned to post pics here, so the thread never existed prior on this site. There is much more progress, but not having the whole thread up may look rather strange.

---John

 

The folks at Wally World were a bit surprised when I bought all the baking soda on their shelves, 40 something dollars worth, but it was enough to make the electrolyte in the bin. At first, I used some old junk exhaust pipe as an anode, it allowed 3-4 amps to be drawn through the electrolyte, after a few days, I used an old metal store shelf which raised the current draw a bit more. Next, I connected several more shelves in series as a grid, supported above the trunk and floors of the car. I used an old welding cable to join them. Now the current draw increased to nearly 40 amps, and I let 'er bubble away for another several days.

 

The water smelled like the mud at the bottom of a pond, and there was a half inch of sludge in the bottom of the bin that the reverse electrolysis removed, from hidden areas as well. This was what it looked like after the water was drained off.

 

I removed the car body from the bin, and hosed off the sludge outside. Once complete, I removed the bin, and brought the body back inside.

 

I ran a wire wheel over the surfaces briefly to remove anything the hose did not, reveiling good, clean metal. Unfortunately, the floors and trunk area had enough pinholing and deep pitting, that they were going to need replacement. At least everything was clean now.

 

Floorboard work- Not my favorite part of the job, but there were just too many pinholes and soft spots to allow the old floors to remain. I drilled out the spotwelds, and cut a clean line beyond the rust damage to reach good metal.

With a bit of chiseling and prying, the old floor was removed, leaving the reinforcements, body mounts, and outriggers. These appeared rusty, and there was quite a bit of loose dirt and silt among them, but this all cleaned up easily. The reverse electrlolysis had done its job even beneath the floor.

Note: The body is setting on a frame that will not be used, only as a jig to prevent distorting the body while doing this. Also note that one of the main body mounts was missing, it fell off when cutting the floor. Upon closer inspection, you can see that the factory had tack welded just a corner of the mount!

 

Astounding. I love car magic, and you sir, are a magician. this is going to be worth watching.

 

Next I located a '59 Chrysler sedan out in the yard that appeared to have a decent floor in it, so I cut the entire floor out, along with its supports and outriggers. Once inside, I scraped away all the undercoating, and drilled out all the spotwelds in order to remove the underbracing that would not be used.

 

Thanks! I wish I could find more time to stay on it, though. Sometimes its hard to stay focused.

---John

 

There were a few small rust holes in the replacement floor where dirt had gathered anove the braces, so I cut those spots out, and butt-welded pieces in before installing the floor. All underbracing was cleaned, broken and missing welds re-done, and the surface was prepped with Over-Rust [like POR 15].

 

After grinding and smoothing out these spots, the floor was ready to be set in place and aligned. Large screwdrivers and a few taper punches worked well for this. The rear seam was stitch welded first, then completed after. All previously drilled spotwelds were now re-welded. This task was done, outside of hours and hours of grinding to come.

 

You, sir, are fearless.

Bob

 

Brave man!

 

When I saw your first pictures I thought I'd ask how much they paid your friend to haul that off. (Sorry for his loss, sounds like a good friend). Now it is obvious you have the equipment and skills to pull off a truely amazing resurection. 7 years isn't that long for the amount of work here. This obviously isn't your only distraction. Very nice work.
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