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Projects Not Your Average Coupe Build: 37’ Chevy Unearthed

Discussion in 'Traditional Customs' started by oneratfink57, Jan 31, 2017.

  1. That's a can of worms,, if the structure isn't weak and rotted.

    just bump the hinge with a hammer towards the direction you want to go.
     
  2. Holy chit!! I would have run screaming from that door! congrats on taking putting another back on the road
     
    Bowtie Coupe and oneratfink57 like this.
  3. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    I'll give it a shot!
     
    Bowtie Coupe likes this.
  4. nunattax
    Joined: Jan 10, 2011
    Posts: 3,052

    nunattax
    Member
    from IRELAND

    heat it ,bump it!
     
    oneratfink57 likes this.
  5. gsnort
    Joined: Feb 5, 2008
    Posts: 281

    gsnort
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Your positive attitude to transforming a "hunk of junk" into what it has become is truly mind bending. Great job.
     
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  6. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Thanks for the kind words Gsnort, I’ve still got a long way to go!


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
    Bowtie Coupe likes this.
  7. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Well I tried the hammer! No movement. I think the only thing I can do at this point is cut the cowl from the floor, or the hinge mount from the cowl. I’ll have a couple coors lights and stare at it a while longer, you never know, maybe it will fix itself!


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
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  8. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Last week I went out in the shop for a few hours and mocked up the inner drivers door skin (salvaging what I can from both the new and old door)

    In one of my earlier posts I added some temporary structure to my drivers door to see where the floor pan height should be.

    So first I had to remove all that

    [​IMG]

    The inner door skin is different on a sedan than a coupe so I’m using as much as I can from the coupe inner skin so the structure looks correct

    [​IMG]

    Right now I’ve only got the inner and outer skins clamped together, but I installed the door latch hardware so at least it can open and close

    [​IMG]

    The drivers door is far from done, but every step forward feels like a 1000 steps on a project like this.

    [​IMG]





    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
  9. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Today I did some pre-Easter fabrication and decided to start on the passenger door. If I can get both doors on the car so they open and close, they will be a huge win for me.

    Before I can bolt the passenger side door on the car, I needed to get some hinges (thanks again kbcookout!) because what I had for passenger hinges weren’t correct.

    Once I got hinges, I needed to fix the upper cowl hinge mount because that was in extremely rough shape.

    What isn’t seen in the first picture is some Swiss cheese that was draped over the inner hinge mount structure on the cowl.

    [​IMG]

    So I had to remake the outer skin that turned it to be about 16 gauge steel


    I found some scrap 16 gauge that I had used to test out my bead roller, hammered it flat, and used my 12” shear to cut it down to size.

    [​IMG]

    Used tin snips to rough in the geometry


    [​IMG]

    Used my hinge and some rough measurements and punched out the bolt holes

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I just realized I didn’t get a final picture of it welded (probably for the better lol) but I didn’t screw it up to bad, and was still able to mount up the hinges

    [​IMG]


    Unfortunately the passenger sedan door I got has the lower door side hinge mount cut out of it, so I’ll have to remake that before both the upper and lower hinge bolts to the door, but this will make both trimming the door length and fabbing up that hinge mount much easier now that it’s on the car.


    [​IMG]


    She’s not pretty yet, but it’s getting there!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
  10. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Inside view of the drivers side unfinished

    [​IMG]


    And here’s a preview of next week’s shenanigans!

    [​IMG]




    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
  11. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    The progress has been few and far between, but the important thing is I’m working on it!

    Got the passenger door cut up, mostly tacked, and bolted onto the car. So now both doors are mounted to the car and are semi functional. Picked up the Cut 40 plasma cutter from jegs and man I’m glad I did! Should of done it years ago.

    Basically followed the same process as I did on the drivers door by laying out my old crusty door skin to get the proper length, and cut the skin down to size


    [​IMG]

    Test fit and marked where the coupe b-pillar should go

    [​IMG]

    Tacked in the b pillar

    [​IMG]

    Then it was time to graft in the lower door hinge mount I got from KB-Cookout since the door had it cut out of it.

    [​IMG]

    Trimmed the door and hinge mount to fit

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]

    Trimmed the lower hinge cut out. As you can see I mis marked the outer door skin, and cut out a little more than I should of.

    [​IMG]


    Tacked it in, and the door fit perfect!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
    Last edited: Jun 5, 2019
  12. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Time to chop the passenger door!

    Started by cutting the two door tops into sections. I didn’t take the time to try and lay out the cuts with cardboard, so I just made several small cuts until the door tops aligned correctly. The roof was chopped 2-1/2” so that gave me a ball park of where I needed to be.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    The rear door pillar from the ratty coupe doors had been cut into sections years ago. I’m glad my dad didn’t lose them! The center section was cut out and discarded at some point so luckily it was chopped to rough height.

    [​IMG]

    Took the remaining portions of coupe and sedan door tops and tacked them together. This was by far the most frustrating part because there wasn’t a good way to clamp the middle and front sections to the door. So I went for the tack, bend, hammer, repeat method!

    [​IMG]


    Then I started work on the inner skin. This one was FAR worse than the drivers side. But once again I was able to piece together just barely a enough garbage to make something useable!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Trimmed the stuff beyond saving away with the Jegs plasma (it really is awesome)

    [​IMG]


    Tacked the skin together for a test fit, and it’s pretty darn close!

    [​IMG]






    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
  13. Peanut 1959
    Joined: Oct 11, 2008
    Posts: 2,179

    Peanut 1959
    Member

    It's guys (and gals) like you who give honor to the rusted tin that so many others would simply write off as unsalvageable. Good on ya'.
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2019
  14. 296moon
    Joined: Oct 24, 2007
    Posts: 662

    296moon
    Member
    from england

    Really dont think I could deal with that level of tin worm, I have taken my hat of 5 times reading this.
     
  15. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Thanks for the kind words peanut and moon! It’s certainly not the easiest path, but it’s gratifying. The sad part is,there are far nicer cars that have been sent to the crusher.



    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
  16. Greg Rogers
    Joined: Oct 11, 2016
    Posts: 802

    Greg Rogers
    Member

    WOW. I read your thread all the way thru! Unfreakenbelievable!!! Just amazing work I can take a bunch of tips from you and I will. Thank You for posting !!
     
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  17. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    As it happens far too frequently with our hobby, life got in the way the past year and a half. We were blessed with our third child, sold our first home, moved to a new one, performed renovation projects on the new place, and of course everything going on in the world has made buying parts on the internet a little more frustrating with longer delivery times!

    The good news is I got back in my new garage recently turning wrenches and making sparks.

    First it was to get my 57 back on the road. Nothing major here. Swapped in a new Muncie, a little carb tuning, new sending unit gasket, etc. The best part about the new place, is a mile from my house is a gas station that sells leaded 110 octane at the pump!

    [​IMG]

    Then my focus shifted on the 37 just this past week. Since I have the body up to a condition that most people would start with, I wanted to start getting the mechanical aspects of the car up to speed.

    [​IMG]

    So using the engine hoist, and a little help from my wife, I took the body off the coupe

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Now that I have easy access to the chassis, I intend to make my shock cross member, along with new leaf spring mounts and perches to accommodate the wider 2” drop springs I got from speedway. In addition I’ll be roughing in brake lines, fuel lines, and exhaust.

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]

    I’ve also started work on rebuilding the 283 I’ve had kicking around the shop since before college.

    The 283 had some pretty good ring ridges so the last thing I did before I closed up shop last week was using the ridge reamer and disassemble the short block.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Now I’m waiting for the bore gauges to arrive so I can measure the bore and it’s taper to see if I need to send it to the machine shop before reassembly


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2020
  18. WOW!..just great work all around...
     
  19. brigrat
    Joined: Nov 9, 2007
    Posts: 5,615

    brigrat
    Member
    from Wa.St.

    There's no "if" about it, if you needed a ridge reamer to get pistons out you will need a machine shop before assembly! You have 2 great projects, great thread!
     
  20. GearheadsQCE
    Joined: Mar 23, 2011
    Posts: 3,375

    GearheadsQCE
    Alliance Vendor

    Love your engine builders. Have them bore it to 292 or 301 cu in.
     
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  21. rjgideon
    Joined: Sep 12, 2005
    Posts: 559

    rjgideon
    Member

    Wow, great progress! It's amazing to see how far you've come with it. The paint job on the 57 looks good as well!
     
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  22. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Yeah I had the feeling it’ll be going there. This thing had a few miles on it. Scored it for $100 with an engine cart 15 years ago, should have known it would catch up to me! Lol




    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
  23. brigrat
    Joined: Nov 9, 2007
    Posts: 5,615

    brigrat
    Member
    from Wa.St.

    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^It's not the end of the world! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     
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  24. Glad to see you're back at it! I have a 283 sitting under my work bench that needs a rebuild. Interested in seeing what it takes to get yours back to life.
     
  25. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Thanks RJ!


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
    Bowtie Coupe likes this.
  26. @oneratfink57, just found your thread. I’m amazed there aren’t more following/commenting. You’ve done a great job saving a car most would not have looked twice at. Can’t wait to see what’s next.
     
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  27. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Thanks for the kind words brEad. It would help if I had been more consistent with posts! Now that life’s settled back down a bit and I’ve got my 57 on the road, I can put my nose to the grind stone on the coupe again.


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
  28. oneratfink57
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 737

    oneratfink57
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Made my upper rear shock mount tonight. It’s been a while since a few of us had a conversation about what concept was best, and I went with a bolt in (from the bottom) cross member rather than two individual mounts. Honestly the cross member was quick and easy, and I had some threaded bosses I wanted to use.

    Started with some 4” wide 3/16” thick plate. I cut them a little long (7.5”) just in case. I used my Eastwood metal saw, which works awesome on steel plate cuts like this!

    IMG_7404.JPG


    Formed them up with my Swag Off Road DIY press brake. Ended up having to over bend it by two degrees to compensate for spring back (1 degree on the digital angle finder)

    IMG_7405.JPG


    IMG_7406.JPG

    Clamped the two end plates to the frame, cut my round tube to length (37”), and placed the tube in place to mark the desired mounting height relative to the brackets.

    Adjustments.JPG

    I then came up with a series of blocks/ shims to prop up the tube to the desired height on my weld table, but I forgot to take pictures of that and the next couple steps.

    I really wanted to use my tig welder for this, but I wasn’t able to make it to airgas on Friday to refill my argon bottle. So flux core MiG it is!

    I used the digital angle finder to find the angle of the frame so I knew how far I had to rotate the tube. I had to do this so that when I drilled the holes, they would be parallel to the floor. 12 degrees!


    I only had a 7/8” hole saw (I think it came with a kit to install exterior door padlocks) that I would use to cut the holes for the 1” diameter bosses..


    IMG_7409.JPG

    I had to follow up with a die grinder and rotary file to open the holes up so the 1” bosses would fit, then welded them up with the MiG.

    IMG_7411.JPG

    Then disaster struck! Or stupidity... I was in a rush to finish up for the day because the wife wanted to go to the grocery store. So I hooked up the air to my plasma cutter at 150 PSI and I blew apart an internal air hose disconnect connected to the internal air/ water separator. I’m lucky that that’s all that happened, and that the hardware store is on the way to the grocery store!

    IMG_7412.JPG

    So once the plasma cutter was back together I transferred a half circle using a contour gauge to the steel plates, and used the newly repaired plasma to cut the bulk of the bracket corners down. I cleaned up the edges with the belt sander and angle grinder with flap disc.

    IMG_7414.JPG

    Finally I clamped the cross member to the frame, used two existing holes in the frame to drill mounting holes in the cross member, and then drilled one interior hole on each side. Had some 5/16” Magniblack Allen cap screws that “sort of look like” factory rivets so I used those a for mounting hardware.

    IMG_7416.JPG

    Voila! I wound up with approximately a 20 degree angle on the shocks. As I recall a 15-30 degree angle is optimal. The upper Mounting location ended up being about 6” from the inner face of the frame rail.

    I have to remake the drivers side spring plate so that way the shock mounting stud faces rear center to mount the bottom of that shock.

    IMG_7415.JPG









    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2020
  29. Nice job on the crossmember!
     

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