Projects 1949 Buick Sedanette Mild Custom Build

Didn't expect anything less from you for sure. It does look awesome and certainly well worth all your efforts.

 

Me and the Grateful Dead have been brush painting the bottom of the car with Rustoleum. I will spray Wurth SKS on it after it dries.

Hopefully, the powder coater will be finished with the chassis soon. In any event, the body should be ready to,go back on it whenever I get finished reassembling it. Milestones.....

 

Well, Covid 19 is holding up my work on the body. Until Wurth ships my SKS schutz, I'm just looking for things to do. So, I've polished window cranks, rebuilt regulators, etc.

Today, I made brackets and mocked up the SPW wiper transmissions. That turned out to be easy and this is the system you should use to replace the GM cable drives.

Also, I've got my Vintage Air Super mockup case in place. Im glad I cut that hump underneath the dash out. It gave me lots of room. I will post pictures later.

Chassis is ready at the powder coasters, so I'm going to get it tomorrow. I need my SKS, Wurth!

 

I bought the Vintage Air mockup case. You can lift it with one hand easily. It comes with brackets, so you can get all your mounting studs in the right place easily. Highly recommended for 55 bucks!

As you can see, the Super fits very easily under the dash now that I made the firewall modification.

 

Whoo! Frame is back from the powder coater and it looks great
! Thats the good news. The bad news is they forgot to do a bunch of my other parts but promised to jump right on them. We will see. I still dont have my SKS.

 

Unfortunately I didn't think of removing the firewall hump in my 49. In retrospect I had more than enough room for the 455 and could have flattened the firewall. Would have made install of AC unit much simpler and left a lot more room. Good thinking on your part. Coming along nicely.

 

I initially removed it because I didn't like how much of the transmission bell housing was exposed. It worked out great for both interior and under the hood. What did you do on wipers and defroster?

I got the hanging brake pedal mounted today. Im trying to do as much interior firewall work as I can while it is still on the rotisserie. It's a lot easier than lying on your back and doing it.

 

I used the original defroster tube with some modifications. I think there are pictures on my build thread. I also kept the cable WSW set up but used a Newport set up. Think there are pictures of this also.

 

Since i changed to the SPW wiper setup, I wont be able to use the original defroster tube. I will some how adapt the Vintage Air defroster......I hope.

 

Here is how I ended up mounting my AC vents and controls. I used round vents. Have to re order the end vents to get double vane.
The VA pod that uses 2 round vents and houses the control panel was 1/4" too long and sat at the wrong angle, so I made my own.

 

Also used their wiper kit, like it.
Beautiful work, looking good!

 

Can anyone tell me how to build a front bumper like this? My guess is you have to have 2 front bumpers. Correct?

https://images.app.goo.gl/cBrRJk7fZE9Dr5WL9

 

Mounted the SPW wiper drive on the DS kick panel. The motor will be hidden behind the fender and I will make deeper kick panels for both sides. AC lines will go through the slanted floor beside the kick panel on the PS and be behind the front body mount.

I will run the tubing and cable for the wiper drive after I remove the dash.

SKS to be delivered tomorrow!

 

Looking good man! I look for this thread about every day! I’ve got a 51 Buick I’m working on. You just showed me how I’m going to do my wipers lol

 

Undercoated! Hope to get it back on the chassis this coming week. I have to set up my new diff, ring & pinion first.

 

@rockable- every time I see something in your post about SKS, I start looking around for a Russian rifle! I didn't think they were a Buick accessory, LOL!

 

This is the undercoating that Porsche and BMW use. It is water soluble and dries tough, yet pliable. I've used it for a long time. Started when I was restoring Porsches.

 

Finally! I got the rear axle rebuilt after a bad start and having to chase down nickel and dime parts. All internals have been replaced. Eaton Posi, 3.73 gears, new axles and bearings.

Unless the sky falls tonight, I'm setting the body on the chassis tomorrow. I'm ready for this thing to take up less room!

 

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

 

Looking great!! I remember how excited I was to finally set the body back on the frame.

 

Really cleaning that thing up. Very cool project.

 

Same here. Unfortunately I got some of the body mounts wrong and have to redo them . Not a biggie, I'll get em straightened out

 

Look's so great. Thumbs up.
What tire and rim size are you runnig?

 

Those are 235/75-15's. I will likely go to 215/75's because I can't remove the rears without disconnecting the coilovers plus they rub in the front when turned to full lock. I have 215's on my 48 Buick and they work well.

 

Looks fantastic, Rock! you did a lot of damn fine work!

 

I got my braces off! (Of the car, of course!) Now, I'm back to hard work. Fitting the doors, trunk lid, hood, etc. At least it looks like a car again.

 

I can't stand for bad door gaps, especially after I've put as much work into this Buick as I have. So, today I began reworking the gaps on the Driver's side door, which did not fit well at all. This door had wide spots and tight spots. We adjusted it as best we could, drilled 1/8" holes in the hinges on both ends to help relocate the door and then I set out to work to cut the tight spots down and reweld them and to weld in a 1/8" welding rod in the wide spots. Go slowly with the welding and don't get the door hot. Do a tack, move a couple of inches and do another tack, etc. As you add more, always let it cool between tacks or you risk ending up with a mess.

Also, I used a trick my buddy Richard told me about for trimming the tight spots and cutting down the rod at the ends. I used masking tape to establish where I would like my edge to be and then I took a magic marker and marked the exposed area. I then removed the tape and ground to the bare edge of the mark. This is easier to see and won't get hot and slip. This is a LOT of work but I feel it's worth it to have a door, trunk lid, etc that fits. It's also a lot of grinding and a lot of mess. Enjoy!

 

Great attention to detail. The gaps are going to look great and will set your car apart from everyone else.

 

Good work Rock. The fitment area that gave me the most trouble is at the bottom of the fenders where they meet the rocker panels. Getting that curvature to match on both parts was a bear.

While packing stuff to move the shop yesterday I ran across a small piece that I couldn't remember what it was for. One of your pictures indicated that it might be the piece used to hold the small SS trim between the door and the rear fender. I'll have to dig it out and check it.

 

The lower rear corners of the front fenders on most of these cars rust out. This one had gobs of bondo in it before blasting. First, you have to make a template and form the curved door edge. Then cut the rot away.

I used my press brake to "bump" bend a 4" wide piece of 1/8" metal to the curve require and fitted it in to replace the rusted bottom of the brace. Next, I fitted the curve to the sheet metal and put the break in the bottom before tacking it all in place. One down and one to go.