Projects 51 buick special "the Shane Asylum"

Lookin' good.

 

Impressive looking Shane . I am jealous !!

 

Like a wet lolypop... I'm also jealouse! Sorry for my bad americana


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Dont be. you will get there too. Take your time. Andy

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Got the front back together.

Polished things
the best i can. Still need to save some cash for the chromer. Gonna leave it this way for the winter.
Lookin for a pair of 55 56 buick dagmars to cover the bumper bolts.
Also im clueless to front turn signals ...ideas?
Something hidden behind or between the grill teeth?

Tried to fix the upper grill
With alumaweld. Had mixed success. worked well on my vent windows in the past. But on the thin bar ... fail .
i think the melt temp is too close
Now got a bigger mess
Not showing pics.

Looking to buy some muggy weld for pot metal. The say it melts at 350 degrees vs the potmetal at 750.
Different than the old muggy for alluminum
Anyone tried this?

 

man, I really like how you did the grill bars all the way across. and the custom upper lip.

 

I posted the french lip earlier in this thread.

Had to french it because the 53 isn't a bolt in to a 51
As for the extra teeth;
I used two 53 grills
cut 3 bars out of each side of donor grill
Cut and Welded in where turn signs were.
Had to add brackets to mount onto bumper.
Also dropped the bumper 2 inches using modified
Brckets and a drop plate at the frame.
Pics tonight.
Somewhat simple cut and paste.

 

That's a toughie; it's such a clean design and you don't have much space between the bars. Maybe swap out the last vertical bar on each side for something that harmonizes with the rest of the grille? I tried a set of '60 Pontiac backup lenses turned vertical with the pointy end on top:

Or use the last teeth as molds for plexiglass lenses? The other idea was a set of '60-'63 Mercury Comet wraparound turn signals in the lower corners of the front bumper.

 

Or use the last teeth as molds for plexiglass lenses?
Thanks Didn't think of that.

 

looking awesome Shane!!

 

sweet grill bro, great job!

 

Thanks guys.
I appreciate you comments.

 

Cutting another Windsheild today.

Ran over the first one i cut a a few years back.
Had a crack in it any way.
From improperly dressing the edge.
I didnt have a belt sander at the time and tried using a
90 degree die grinder with rolock disk. Failed
Nuff said.

2nd time was a success
Heres how i did it...

Match marked the glass on both sides
I liked the old fit

 

Got a new 4.5 inch glass tile bit. Popped it in my grinder.
Rigged a hose to the guard
By drilling a small hole.
Then inserted using my wet sander hose valve.
Put the other end in a 5gal bucket. Hung that from the ceiling. Filled with water.
...gravity feed.

 

Got the obligatory safety gear out.

 

Disclaimer.
Water and electricity don't mix. You could be graveyard dead

 

Duct Taped both sides.
As a guide line.
There's no way i can follow the pen line with the water and debris flying.
Seemed to help keeping the water in the cut line too.

Starting from the back side
I Opened the water valve
Took a deep breath. .

Starting at one end made a light quick steady pass only scoring the glass maybe 20 or 30 seconds end to end.

No pressure lust letting the tool pull and i just steered

Repeated this seveal times till i was half way to the plastic.
Flipped the glass and repeated, stopped halfway to the plastic.
Flip again cut the back to the plastic.
Flip again cut TO and then THROUGH the plastic.

I RECOMMEND. .IMHO Not cutting as if you were cutting plywood.
Take your time

 

Success.
But its just the beginning. .

 

Placed a few sections of
Old window rubber on the lower opening, for a "check fit"

 

1. Its obvious the upper corners need to be radiused.
2. The sides need to be trimmed in a wedge.
3. And 9 inches of each lower bottom outer edge need a quarter inch removed.
Reason for the outer and
bottom?... roof swap.
Upper header is a hair narrower from cutting at junkyard
And the A pillars got laid back 1/4 inch in the build.

 

Marked and taped
my cut lines .
Made several straight cuts.
One at a time. Its hard to cut a curve in one pass.

 

Another check fit.
Getting there

 

Got my El cheapo belt sander out. The belt cost more than the used tool!
What i got will do for now.
Sanded the edges and smoothed the radius' .
Using gravity feed water,
Sanded inline with the edge.
Creating a smooth bevel
Preventing those small chips from becoming long cracks. Don't go across you will only make more chips.

 

Cleaned up the edges.
Put my 4x readers on to check for chips and cracks.
Found this.. just starting
About 3/64 INCH

 

Took another deep breath.
Out comes the tile wheel
Again.
Cut a small curve to the crack. Then smoothed out with the sander.

 

Shane is that a special cutting wheel or can you pick one up at your local Home Depot ? I am assuming its a diamond coated cut off wheel . Also where can a guy get a heaping load of nerve to do this? LOL! How much time is involved ? Later , Andy..

 

Saved

 

Now if i can only find all that trim.

 

Gratuitous bootyshot

 

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