Lol, when I got the wagon, I told my wife "If we can't get the motor running we will sell it, if it runs, we'll put the '47 in storage for 6 months while we rewire the wagon, get it road worthy and fix the floors." Here I am 2 years later getting ready to paint it, putting a/c and a stereo system, plus customizing the car. Now 'Mo has me day dreaming about a triple carb 300hp straight 8. But realistically, if my motor ends up running like a champ all year and the smoke clears up some, I will probably build headers and just keep running it. If the motor or trans blows, I will probably do the Atlas LL8 swap. We intend on putting a ton of miles on the wagon and dragging a small travel trailer with it. We currently have a 15' hybrid and intend to some day have a 22' Airstream Sport to go behind it.
I was in Chicago for 4 days last week, so didn't get to work on the wagon until this weekend. But got a good 24 hours in on it. Welding up body lines and smoothing things down. Filling holes on the fenders. 9 on the left and 8 on the right. I'm welding the hood strip in and going to smooth the edges and paint. Made a arrow head tip for it. The Indian will get powder coated like polished aluminum and put back. Should really pop with the paint all around it. And the car is 95% sanded to bare metal and wiped down with ospho. Also fixed the rear splash apron, it was rolled up and pretty fubared from the bumper being smacked.
That thing is looking great! I'm curious to see how it looks with the hood trim molded in. I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with all the chrome on my car, I'm thinking either painting or powdercoating it all bright silver, bumpers and all. There's no way I can afford to get al that re-chromed haha Keep up the good work!
Smoke from the road draft is normal, I'd rig up a pcv and send that back into the motor though. If only so I didn't have to smell it at stop lights. Nice car! I really dig your rework of the HF bead roller.
I have been wanting to weld the strip in on my '47 ever since I bought it (have spent a fortune on chrome for the '47). Can't afford the chrome bill for the wagon, so I started getting creative. Bought Chevrolet front and rear bumpers from Chev's of the 40s for a fraction of what the chrome shop wanted. Grill is down to the three upper bars and one center bar. If I like the powder coated hood ornament, then I am going to do all of the dash stuff with that. All other outside stuff is pretty much stainless. Btw, Woodlouse pushed me over the edge on the hood strip when he did this. Plus I got to noticing the raised area on the same era of Buicks. I realized yesterday that the only place it will say Pontiac anymore is on the dash and hubcaps. Then there is an indian on the steering wheel and hood. All other emblems are going away.
CLM Lookin good man. Do you happen to know if the rear splash apron is the same for sedans and wagons? There is a guy selling on locally and I may pick it up if they are. Jim
Arominus, I have been thinking about adding a pcv conversion to the list of things to do. Need to look into it more. Thanks Buddy, I think it will definitely be one of a kind. Most people lean towards doing the wood, but the lack of it from the factory has grown on me and allowed me to do some body mods that wouldn't have worked well with the wood. I think it will end up letting the lines of the car really pop. Jim, I was lucky enough to be able to spend an hour or so hammering on mine and get it really freaking close. Also cut off most of the channel that held the seal. It was pretty rusted and holding the bends where it wouldn't have straightened so well. But, I just took a look a Chevs of the 40s because the back of these things are the same as the Chevy version. They list their splash apron as for all models Except Station Wagons. I was pretty sure they were different because of the way the body rolls under in the back.
I'm off for the next 4 days, hoping to finish the metal work and primer the roof on Sunday. My wife mentioned that she didn't even notice the body lines before I filled them. So I took a picture before grinding in case someone didn't know how many body seams a wagon has. Btw, I would like to point out how much better that quarter looks than when we got it. Not bad for me and a buddy knocking it out. Also putting solid glass in the back instead of sliders, so I have started on that and made a pattern for the glass, dropping the glass off in the morning so they can start cutting the new stuff.
Didn't get as far as I wanted, but got a lot done. Front bumper is fitted, spring bar is modified to accept a Chevy bumper, then moved back 4" and up 1". Splash pan moved up an inch, back a couple and trimmed down a lot. Still need to eliminate the hump in the middle and finish off the ends. Rear splash pan and one piece Chevy bumper fitted. Passenger rear door was bashed in so bad that I ended up cutting it out, fixing the inner door, banging out the dent and welding back in. Passenger side rust in rear quarter fixed, front fender lower mount replaced and door gaps ground down and welded up to clearance better. Rear hatch has been welded up and fitted. Needs to come back off and be stripped, then installed for last time.
So, I've worn out my old welding gear and decided it was time to upgrade. Went into Tractor Supply to get welding gloves and ended up with a new hat and two welding jackets. I've been looking for years and never found one that fit. Being 6'7" and 260 doesn't make it easy to find things like that. Will be nice to have a 4th hat to throw in rotation as I wear them anytime I'm in the shop and get really dirty. Old gear is ready for the trash. Light weight gear. Heavy duty!
time to break in the new work gear ! nice work on the Poncho wagon... I would re-power for now.. than rather later.. I had a 62 Bonneville Safari , that I had changed to Pontiac 400 and turbo 400.. missed that wagon..
Hi CLM.Nice looking build. Please keep the updates coming.Just be glad you don`t have the height and weight problem of one of my cousins.He stands about 6'11" and 300 pounds.Retired cop. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
Been getting 3-5 hours in each night. Last night I got the valence done except removing the hump. Worked on the firewall and dash more tonight. Should get those finished tomorrow night. I did a test fit of the a/c and vents to make sure everything fit right after all of the modifications. Filled the radio, ash tray and glove box so that I could tuck the a/c as far up as I could. The center two vents will be hidden in the old speaker grill and just blow thru the mesh. After filling a ton of holes, I had to drill 4 for the a/c bulkhead. Also got the a/c condenser and dryer all mounted on Sunday and the holes made to route everything into the engine bay. Didn't take pictures of that yet.
CLM, What did you end up with for heater/ac? I'm about 2 months from that on my 52, I was looking at piecing something together but that quickly added up $$$.
First, that is really going to be a cool long roof. When I was very young, six or seven (1962 ish), my older brother had a 53(IIRC) Chevy wagon, two tone green, man that thing seemed as big as a cave to me then. The first time I saw one converted into a two door; I fell in love with that body style. I am really liking your mods on this one too. About that grinding shirt; I caught holy hell from my wife once, did the same thing to a shirt. In my zeal to get some grinding done, I failed to put my leather apron over it. Didn't even realize I had done it until I came in for dinner. Seeing you and your dog reminded me how I was "in the dog house" over that for some time.
Thanks everyone! Had to take a night off, bounced a piece of metal around my glasses into my eye on Wednesday night while using the band saw. Thought it just bounces in and blinked out, figure out by Thursday evening that it had glued itself to my eye just below the pupil. Ended up going to the ER this morning to have it removed. It's a little sensitive to light. So I spent the night cleaning the garage, setting up my temp lean to, moving stuff out there and setting up a welding area. Then getting the car situated to where there is about 3' on 3 sides and 2' across the front. Going to run sacrificial boards down each side just outside of the lights to staple plastic to. This will be my temporary paint booth for shooting primer.
I went with the largest universal system that Vintage air had so it would cool the wagon. But it required a lot of modifications to the dash to clear. I plan to go with the next size down on my '47 Pontiac Torpedo so it will clear better. Really happy with the system and decided it was worth the extra $ to have something that I knew would work.
Really great work....inspiring to see. What paint did you use on the floorboard? Was it a brush on/roll on? Getting ready to do the same and it sounds a lot easier than aerosol
I used POR15 applied with a brush. I've had friends have mixed success with it, but decided to give it a try. Going to use it inside the doors, under the dash and undercoat the car with it. Then shoot duplicator bed liner over it in the wheel wells and outside the frame rails. Going to use Zero Rust in the engine compartment and behind the grill. It comes in an aerosol to get in the tight spots. Have a friend that swears by it. So it will be a good comparison of the two. This is a driver and I plan on putting a lot of miles on it. So I am going for more utilitarian with something I can easily touch up if needed. Not 100 point show car with mirrors laying under it. Lol
I imagine if you have good weatherstripping it almost wouldnt matter what product is inside. Outside is a different story. Right now I drive my 50 with raw metal patches and some holes in the floor still haha. But its never in rain. Ive heard mixed things about bedliner type products.....like water gets in but not out so it rusts worse than paint. Who knows. I might just use etch primer and paint....if mine was a true daily, any weather type car then I suppose Id do something else.
Roof is in feather fill primer. Found two little dings that we missed, will block it out, fix those and spray it again.
Not a lot of progress pictures to post, a little behind where I was hoping to be. Have the pan off the transmission and axle pulled apart, trying to get the right seals in so I can get that stuff together before I start making dust again. Hopefully the right pinion seal and tail shaft seal will be ready to pickup tomorrow afternoon. New axles bearings are pressed on and the outer seals are in, third member is cleaned up and ready to go back in once the pinion seal is put in. Got the inside of the doors and rear quarters coated in POR15, then fatmat in the doors and the rear half of the car. Did spend some quality family time this weekend and got a little rest, both of which had been lacking for over a month from spending so much time on the car.
The Jalopy Journal
