Hot Rods Started spec'ing out parts

Came to a (temporary) screeching halt. Wheeled the mig around, hooked it up and...... out of gas
Looks like the weekend is going to be busier than I thought. At least I can get the legs bent and ready to weld.....

 

The fuel tank needs to have the rear mounts bolt to the rear subrail, but if the rear feet point out it pushes the tank too far forward. The fix? Tuck the feet UNDER the tank cradle and weld a couple bolts on before finish welding to create studs. The body rake is 5 degrees, so the feet need to be bent 85 degrees so the tank is level and I get a little extra room for the seat back.The front feet will have an integrated flange to tighten down the tank straps. I've come up with a kind of cool quick connect for the straps at the rear since access will be a bit tight.

 

Foot on the front rail is 1" higher than the rear to give me the 5 degree angle. The flat on the top is to bolt down the tank strap.

 

great thread. my next car will be a street rod coupe too.

 

Tacked up and fitted to the floor.

 

Last pic with the body on the frame until it goes back together for good. Figured I better cut out the battery access to make sure it can be serviced later.

 

Rain..... we need it, but not the day the body's supposed to come off. Had some make work to do, so it wasn't a wasted day.
Got the battery access panel done, and a sneak peak at the tank straps I'm making so the tank can be serviced in tight quarters. I thought about getting all anal and bead rolling the battery cover then figured this would actually be stronger and nobody's going to see it anyhow. The carpet will be snapped in for easy access.

 

Been staring at it long enough...... cut the tunnel and plug welded it to the floor. Couldn't get the new recess done so we'll pull the body tomorrow, celebrate Xmas and head to the River for a week.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all HAMBers!

 

Cut out the stock depression in the firewall so it's nice and flat. Made a patch and will be fitting and tacking it tomorrow.

 

I still need to shrink it, but at least you can see how how it'll lay out. Looks like I can save the recess I made, it'll just need to be stretched an inch or so.

 

It doesn't seem obvious yet, but the way the panels are being fitted is for a certain "factory" look. Sheetmetal on production cars is tack welded with overlapping flanges, so this is mimicking that look.... my way of taking the "streetrod" look out of it. Probably would be quicker and look smoother by stitch welding and smoothing all the seams, but that'd be too easy. In the end will it matter (or even show)? Probably not to anyone but me, that's OK.

 

Got the other side of the recess bent and started fitting it up to the floor and firewall. There's a certain assembly order this needs to follow, so first up is finishing the recess, then comes bending up the recess around the column and brake pedal.

 

OK, so let me preface this post by repeating something..... this car is a learning project for me. Fabrication, welding, fitting..... I'm learning as I go.
I had delusions of being able to make the recess the way I wanted by just bending it in one piece. I found out that with as many angles and obstacles there are, I couldn't. I came up a 1/4" too narrow and could either try bending another, or working with this one. Trying to fill a 1/4" was too much for a mig, so it was cut in half and made a 1-1/2" joint to stretch it. Cool thing is I got to play with the spot welder to marry the 2 stretched pieces again with the joint. The joint also supplied the base to fill the gap (note crappy welds) as it wasn't supposed to be the main source of rigidity.
The good news is I'll be doing finish bodywork on the firewall and painting it so my learning experience won't show. I'm over the hump... time to haul ass.

 

The noticeable progress will slow for a while as the little details need to be addressed. Since the recess was notched and bent, the slots need to be trimmed and filled. Once again I'm making this more difficult than it probably needs to be, but I want the recess to meet the firewall with a flange on the inside, not welded and ground smooth. There will be a reveal at the joint so it all has to fit perfectly.
There's about a week of work to do before it's ready for the vertical panel. When that's done, this'll go together quick.

 

Moving along. Gonna be a lot of welding over the 3 day weekend.

 

Looking good!

 

NOW I'm happy. Took the firewall to my sheetmetal guy and he sheared it to size and bent the flange. Hard to believe just that can hold up the project. When I got back, trimmed a little here, ground a little there and it's looking like a firewall! Need to trim for the column recess and then it's time to break out the mig and get this thing done. Gonna be a fun 3 day weekend.....

 

I love your build. I have been digging the seventies style lately and you are nailing the stance and style.


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Thanks. Probably the biggest influence on my style was Lil John Lombardo. He had the same eye as another influence.... Pete Chapouris (RIP). They both had the eye to compliment lines and create a simple symmetry that was elegant and understated. The anal retentive side of me tries to do that.

 

Too cool. Reminds me of this Fat Jack Robinson built A.



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I had planned on getting the floor welded in, but here's why it's delayed another day or so.
The floors I got didn't extend all the way to the top of the toe kick (about an inch short). In the interior you can't tell, but if you look from outside, it just looked hacked. I bent some 18ga to match the bend and welded extensions and ground them to match the reveal of the firewall.
Tomorrow I wash everything down with ospho and get a floor in this thing.....

 

That's how they're supposed to be.....

 

Firewall's shrunk, panels fitted, holes drilled. Time to weld tomorrow........

 

Well, the front floor is welded in, but I won't be posting a pic since it's basically the same as the ones above but with plug welds.
Next up is finishing the floors beneath and behind the seat. The actual welding is relatively easy. The HARD part is cleaning the subrails beforehand. 87 year old rust/crap is just plain nasty....
One question for the board.... I will be sealing the floor with seam sealer but have heard pros and cons about sealing before or after priming. I know everyone has a favorite, but would prefer to select a product that doesn't require the purchase of a special gun to apply it. Obviously appearance isn't a big concern since it'll be under the carpet and sound deadener, but I don't want it to look like a tweaker did it at 4am either.

 

On to the disgusting part of finishing the floor. Gotta get the subrails pristine so I can weld the seat support channels in and notch the floor panel to fit over them. I'll wash the panels down with ospho tomorrow to prep them as well.

 

All prepped, seat support channels welded in and started cutting the floor reliefs and trimming. The floor will be done tomorrow and then on to my favorite thing...... painting the firewall (<<<<< obvious lie).

 

The other 2 floor panels are fitted and the seat mounting holes drilled. Kinda cool being able to sit in it with the seat not moving or the floor flexing under it. I have a nights worth of minor work on holes that are easier to work with the floors out, so it'll get tacked in probably mid week. Still shooting for this moving under it's own power by March. Weather'll play a BIG part of that happening.

 

Seems like I'm dragging ass right now, but there's a few things that are best addressed now. First, I HATE rattle traps. I know old cars creak and make noise, but that doesn't mean I can't try to minimize it. The floors will be plug welded to the seat support channels to (hopefully) add some unibody-style strength and cut down on rattles and creaks. You can see the seat track holes that I decided to thru bolt rather than use rivnuts. Rivnuts would've been smoother looking, but it's the bottom and this is stronger.
I got REALLY lucky using an existing hole in the rear crossmember to run the fuel hardline from the tank to the frame rail. Opened it up to accept a grommet and it's protected and insulated.

 

Just a couple places to finish weld on the firewall and the floors done! Good thing the exceptional weld quality of the tacks will be hidden under the Dynamat-ish material I'll be putting down.
Next.... paint the floor, seam seal it and paint the firewall metallic black to match everything else.

 

Lookin good! I'm pretty much at the same place in my build as you are except for my trans hump isn't done yet. I'm always looking at other builds for guidance.