Projects West Michigan 49 Shoebox Resurrection

Amazing bead rolling work, looks like you've been at it a long time to turn out the quality. Love the trans tunnel, that needs to be exposed some how!! Ralphie

 

Nice work ! I've always liked the shoe box Fords.

 

Very cool! that's a lot of nice of really nice work, and I really like the trans tunnel with the diamond beading! Thanks for taking the time for sharing and documenting it

 

I think the stock bench seat literally goes right over top on it. I am talking with the owner to possibly do some aluminum inserts here and there throughout the car when it gets to that point.

Justin

 

I love these type of rebuilds. You are resurrecting a rusted hulk and doing a great job at it!!

 

my hat's off to ya. i've had 4 'boxes over the years and, unfortunately, the coupes were the rusty ones. i cannibalized them for my solid sedans.

 

I took on a similar endeavor with my coupe. Not quite as bad as yours, but almost! While I’m happy that that part of the project is done, I must admit that I don’t want to do it again.

 

Man you're doing a great job on her! Will be one sweet little shoebox when you're done! Best to you man!

 

Thanks fellas! It has been a challenge to say the least! Good to see another car back to somewhat of a solid state. And yes, I will be very happy to see this out of my garage and hope to not see another one for a while. HAA!

Justin

 

Watching while you work. Great work and great ideas....thanks for showing us. Can you post some pictures of how you stiffed - up your bead roller. Thanks.

 

Great job. Your project seems very similar to my "frankenstein" in the rust department, but there is one, slight difference- You are doing your car better

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L21 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Here You can see

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L21 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Thanks! Below are some pictures of my bead roller modification. I used some scrap 2x2, 3/16" tube and welded it to the perimeter. It's cool because I can clamp it to my table and put it away when i'm done. I plan on building a larger one and using the scrap Hobart welder feed unit as a power source to run it. Currently my wife is my roller. HA!

 

YES!!! I love the 4-doors!!!

 

And this is what I have to look forward to next. Making this not bluetooth anymore. HA! right now the rocker is attached to the frame supports, but I have some threaded rod holding it up for some more support. I guess the good part is once I figure out one side, I can just mirror it for the other side? I guess that's something to look forward to. LOL


SO MANY KLEKO's!

A shot of the petal area.

And the mess lurking behind me...

 

I love those first style of Clecos you posted. And do please put the do-dads back on that were on the car originally. That`s what makes the car so special.

 

Well, it's has been a busy week working the ole 49 project. The front floor area is now welded out and it is amazing how much lees things flex around now! I really shouldn't be too surprised I guess now that there is some solid steel in the car.
So, on to the back part of the floor, up to the next outboard body mount which is just in front of the rear wheels. To get some steel to attach this to, I figured it would be a good time to temporarily attach the 2 piece rear quarter panel steel. Now how the heck do I get this steel where it needs to go? The passenger side rearward quarter panel was still mostly there behind the rear wheel. To line things up, I did this.. I measured from the tail light foreword and made marks at 6" 12" and 18" right on that nice body line in front of the tail lights. I then used a really flexible tape measure and went from my marks on the body line and wrapped the tape under the quarter panel where the steel ended. I then made the same marks on the driver side. Now I took that info and made the new steel match those dimentions and kleko-ed the panels in place. Seemed to work out well. It took a couple times to get it where I liked it, but it looks pretty good.




Now I have a good place to measure from to make the rear inner rocker panel to attach the new floor steel to.
I started off with a good template and just made the template into actual steel! This is where the frame kicks up, so the flat floor piece splits. One side goes to the outboard body mount and the other part of the floor kicks up and is on top of the chassis. I made a small filler piece to fill that separation gap. In the below pictures, you can see the new lower section of the B-pillar as well. I didn't get any pictures of that going together. Sometimes you have you head down going 100 MPH building. Now it's gonna get serious on adding more bracing and cutting the rest of the old steel out...

 

I thought Ohio weather was bad on them but it looks like Michigan weather is worse,my family had property north of Grand Rapids and had a couple old trucks we used on the property and they did not get any worse the whole time they were there. The ground was sandy and it seemed to suck up the moisture after it rained and not retain it like here in Ohio.

 

Nice work there. Thanks for bringing one back from the beyond!

 

Good job.

 

Amen! We're in a time where this kind of project will be practically required to save what would have one been scrapped. Good on ya'!

 

remember the famous saying:: the more rust you have, the fun you will have

 

Haa, speaking of some fun with rust...
I had a couple beers and thought it would be a good idea to pull out the saw-zall....
But before I did that I had a responsible thought. I should put more bracing in first. To cut the rest of the old steel out I welded in a bunch of supports in the back of the car to keep things where they need to be also to be able to road rally the car when its done....Kidding. Where all the tubes meet on the floor I have a 4x4 between the floor and the axle which is up on jack stands to keep the floor from dropping out. She looks so much better now!

 

Are you also a contortionist?

 

HAAA!! Plenty of holes yet to access things still.

 

It is a shame it was pulled out of the barn to sit outside.

 

I agree. I don't think they thought much about letting it sit outside. After it sat outside it was then pulled back into a barn. Just glad the barn that it was in didn't fall down on the car before we took it to my garage.

 

Much more and it would have become a parts car. Good thing for it there is sentimental attachment, just wish it would have been realized earlier.

 

I hate rust...

After a long pause a few beers and some planning it's time to tackle some wheel tubs. In the trunk area there is just no steel to really fit anything to. What I did was I took some 1" square tubing and made a frame to sit on top of the chassis as a point to measure and hang steel on. All of the body mount bolts broke (go figure) so I just cut them out and welded in a tap plate. This subframe goes all the way to the front of the wheel tub area.
As for whee tubs, the best option were boat trailer fenders! Cheap and heavy duty. They were a little to narrow so I made some extensions to make them a fuzz wider.


I love my shrinker stretcher....



I also made a filler plate for the inside and bead rolled it for some strength and good looks. Some more trimming on the original supports and they went in super nice. The tubs are slightly taller than the originals (perfect if the car is bagged in the future). They aren't as long front to back as the originals, but they will be plenty bog enough for any tire combo. Off of the sub frame, I added some more 1x1 for the tubs to sit on. I really dig how they fit in there.





Now I have to fit the outer sheet metal back on and figure out the outer wheel tub piece that will tie back into the wheel opening.

Justin

 

The weather in Michigan has finally been above 40 for a while! Makes going out and working on stuff a whole lot nicer. I now have the wheel wells tacked in place and needed to build the outer/inner wheel well if that makes any sense. I made some 1x1 angle out of some 20 gauge and used the shrinker and stretcher to get the exact shape of the wheel well opening flange in the back. This will be spot welded to the inside of the wheel well opening on the quarter panels. This gives me a place to also land the other sheet metal to seal this area up. This area was definitely a challenge as there are many different angles and shapes here. Kinda tricky, but it's done.
This is that formed piece that fits into the wheel well opening.



Here you can see how it all fits together.






I'm thinking its time to start moving to the trunk area, or I may start to patch over the axle area.

Justin