Projects BACK AT IT FINALLY!! RE-BUILD OF AN EARLY CHEVY COUPE WITH A HEMI

I Love Hot Rods

How about selecting the LARGE picture option before you hit reply, so we can see your pictures better.

 

I can surely do that, but I know the pictures get bigger anyway when a member clicks on them. My Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus takes the photos in high resolution each time. The photos in the beginning are small because we didn't have digital photos back then. I'll click on the large option anyway Glenn!

 

Making a dusty mess using the mini orbital sander to get the rest of the paint down to bare metal on the body. The chemical stripping process is slow as hell with 4 layers to remove. Can anyone recommend a final rust remover in chemical form to remove the rust in the pores of the steel? Appreciate any advice greatly!

 

Thanks! You too!

 

Eastwood makes a gel rust remover. Worked great removing the rust in the small pits under a vinyl top car I have. The Gell allows it to work on vertical surfaces. After I brushed it on I would lay a sheet of plastic over it to slow down the evaporation process allowing the chemical to dissolve the rust. Good luck with your project.
Pat

 

Thanks Pat, The gel is a better alternative because it stays vertical, just like my POR-15 gel paint stripper. The body is not the issue, it's my chassis where I'm seeing the rust in the pores. I'll look into this for sure, hoping they have smaller size quantities.

 

Finally got down to bare steel on parts of the body. The problem I'm having is that my air compressor is only 30 gallons, thinking when I bought it, it would keep the air pressure steady when using my mini orbital grinder. It's not. I need to be at a constant 90 psi or higher to keep the sander spinning and not see the psi dropping below, affecting the constant performance I need to continue. After a half hour, since the performance drops too much, I shut the compressor off to let her cool down for an hour or so, then I can continue where I left off later when she comes back on. Meantime, I'm just about where I need to be to take out my original front cross member. Also, looking at the very tips of my front frame rails, trying to analyze the best way to remove the leaf spring mounts. Wish they made early Chevrolet frame horn repair kits so I can simply cut the tips off and weld in new frame horns - passenger side had some damage repair and is not as nice as the driver's side (photos coming shortly).

 

Tried to use my air hammer to remove these stubborn original rivets holding the front cross member that I'm going to replace with the '32 Ford cross member. Wouldn't budge. Grinded the rivets down flat, but there's still rivets on the inside bottom of the cross member that I cannot reach. I'm waiting for AMMUSCLE on eBay who will sell me new reproduction front frame horns for a '32 Ford which so far, is the same height as my Chevy frame horns at 3-1/8". Depending on the entire length of these new frame horns, I may be able to cut mine off completely WITH the cross member to eliminate any more headaches...

In the meantime, removed more paint on the body and reminds me when I first performed this task back in 1995, just days after I bought the rod. Covered my hemi with a quality engine cover from all the dust that accumulates from the layers of paint removal.

 

Way Kool Thanks for sharing your build /rebuild .

 

Glad you like my build Pete!

 

Rad build!! Subscribed-


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Appreciate this Tuck! Glad I clicked on your link to your 5 window thread for some serious inspiration!

 

keep at it.....looking good

 

Thanks Jeff - looking into '32 Ford front frame horns to eliminate the leaf spring mounts and clean up my originals which have been repaired badly. Looks like I have to drill out the rivets that hold the original front cross member.

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Very cool, wasn't your car at a show at an old 50's to 60's hotel that was being torn down? Must have been 10 or 12 years ago. Keep it up it looks great

 

I don't believe it was Greyone, but I've been down here in south Florida since '99 and primered hot rods were few and far between, especially early Chevy coupes like mine. Making some SERIOUS changes on this rod and will be worth the wait! Thanks!

 

Today I continued removing the paint on the body down to bare steel, almost at the halfway point, still needing to attend to the trunk lid, above it and around the rear window. I still have to do the door jamb and rocker panels too.

Well, when the front cross member won't come out easily like I thought - just cut the f"""ker out! I'm boggled why Chevrolet put a half circle in the bottom of the C channel just below the front cross member as shown... Soon to purchase the new '32 Ford front frame horns and going to need to repair that section before the new early '32 Ford cross member goes in for good! I'm dying to reach that point because I can hang that awesome, fully chromed '32 Ford dropped and drilled axle!!!!

 

That axle is a jewel!

 

Thanks Greyone - you should have seen my face when I unwrapped the protective wrap on the axle... The high quality of the chrome plating is staggering! Speedway rocks!!!

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Hey guys, I was just reading a thread on here about QC's... A guy posted this comment which may indeed change my mind from hairpins securing my QC - "When you step on the gas with that HEMI, the torque will transfer to that rear end and the rear end WILL twist and your rear wishbones/trailing arms will bow and eventually crack....because you have eliminated the "torque tube" and have not added upper axle housing ladder bars to prevent this from happening. Just some advice. My .02

 

I rented a garage from an apt complex for years to build the majority of my T bucket... only just recently moved into a more permanent structure. The key is to keep your area clean and free of clutter, which is much easier said than done. I'm glad I found your thread. Nice work so far!

Can't speak for that exact post, but it sounds like it's referring to an early Ford axle housing with a QC center, with an open drive (no torque tube), and split wishbones/radius rods.... The radius rods on the early Ford rear axles only support the axle from the bottom, not the top. A lot of the times when eliminating the torque tube, people don't adequately brace the axle for axle twist/axle wrap... the bottom support is not enough - an axle needs support on the top as well, such as a ladder bar or a hairpin. For a blown hemi, though, I think I would step up to something more stout than a hairpin anyway. Do you have that stuff already purchased or???

 

Just a guess, but I would guess those half moon indentations were used to locate the rails during the manufacturing process.

 

Nothing like a hemi. Your ride is going to be sweet. Great work.

 

Maybe a panhard bar on the top of the rear will control the twisting?

 

Thanks Tim, it would be a treat to hang some of the extra clutter on the wall, but most parts are too heavy to do so. I'm keeping the "shiny" stuff in my room to gawk at every moment... I bought the suspension kit from Speedway and it included the hairpins. It's clear now that I will definitely step up to a ladder bar setup and can attach the front of these ladder bars to the center crossmember that will be welded in soon enough.​

Just never saw any other frame with these indentations. The '32 Ford frame horns should cut most of this out anyway, just have to repair further to eliminate the rest of it.

Thanks man, already plan to cut back my firewall to the cowl band, where the new firewall will be, will give me enough room for the supercharger belts later on!

I already have the rear panhard bar to be welded in eventually. I believe this bar will eliminate any side to side motion. But the twist/axle wrap that Tim with a T mentioned above is the most concern. True, my hemi will be run first with two four barrels, but the day that I drop the supercharger on top with the added 100 or so HP increase will determine if my chassis upgrades will handle it. Adding those beautiful 10" RADIR Mickey Thompson Pie-Cut slicks to this equation - PLANNING FOR IT NOW!!

Why it posted TWO sets of photos of the slicks is beyond me. Just means these tires are TWICE as beautiful!!!!!

 

I used that same rear setup on my 31 pickup....401 nailhead with a 4 speed, dumped the clutch at about 3K, bent a few parts, and broke others when the rear twisted. Speedway makes nice and pretty stuff, probably last good behind a flathead.....just saying

that and i'd gladly buy that front axle setup....but the drive is way to far

 

So far, most of the pictures I've seen on the HAMB with QCR's show ladder bars that are quite long - 40 inches or longer. My hemi will be a "torque monster", let alone being supercharged down the road - I'll save the hairpins for another time. As far as my old front and rear end parts, you must have saw my ads on here. I was uncomfortable seeing my quick change rear shipped to me in a cardboard box - the shipper took quite some time making sure she was protected, and the boxes were still torn through, luckily, NOT A SCRATCH. A '32 Plymouth owner here in West Palm Beach is interested in my front end, because I also put ads on eBay too for both pick up only.

 

Almost down to bare steel on one side of the coupe body - photos enclosed... grinded down some more rivets on the chassis, removed more paint as well. Tomorrow, I'm planning to flip the chassis over and try and remove the rest of the leaf spring mounts, which will be a big relief. The ones on the very tip on the front and rear will be cut off when I remove part of the frame rails - 20 inches at the front and maybe 3 inches or so on the rear. I want the rear frame rails to just stick out a few inches past the end of the body when its back on to put a spreader bar in between and maybe some classic nerf bars to finish them off. We'll see when I get there...

 

Wanted to show you guys how some hot rodders of the late 60's obviously did not care about the overall looks of their rides... Can someone tell me what this guy was thinking when he welded these god awful 1/4" thick plates on this frame? There's not even a hole on the inside of the frame rails to cover up... The rear shock cross member mess is actually myself to blame, because the guy who welded it in didn't want to take the time to do it cleanly and now I need to repair it properly. Well, these mistakes will be corrected soon enough!

Also, does anyone feel that drilling out these rivets that hold the leaf spring mounts will finally remove them? They don't seem to budge with my air hammer...

 

Well don't be too hard on the PO, Back then you had to cut stuff out with a hacksaw and if you were lucky a torch. Then you blasted it on your frame with some kind of stick welder or you welded it with a torch. We are so lucky to have access to the tools we do. Your car looks great!