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Customs Finally starting on the wife’s 56

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by anthony myrick, Jan 5, 2019.

  1. Perfection is relative.
    There is a 55 wagon thread here and the metal work it outstanding.
    I’m not doing that here. Not on these pieces. I want them to fit and function properly. It’s a beater driver. This is my driver quality work.

    and yep, it’s hot and humid here in the south. These pieces rust fast.
    I’ll address that after it’s welded.
     
  2. I hear you, the '55 Nomad that Robert is doing is not going to be a daily driver, the work he is doing is exceptional and could rival many of the pro shops, you are building your wife's wagon pretty much the way I built ours, just a nice driver. HRP
     
  3. I can when the customer wants it.
    Now if I decide to do the outside of this car, the exterior sheet metal gets more attention.
    The floor and inner structure for this project only needs be functional. Or, Im not metal finishing these pieces of worried about tool marks. Epoxy and undercoating is the plan. And that’s the “perfection” desired.
     
  4. 916FE43E-A945-4CA3-A782-BBADF8C114B9.jpeg
    this piece of scrap from the machine shop floor is one of my favorite shaping tools.
    I also have a bowling ball from the thrift store.
     
  5. I almost didn’t post these pics. They ain’t gonna impress any pros.
    But, maybe some fella thinking he has to have all the equipment they see on TV or the impressive build threads here will realize they can do a lot with a few simple tools.
    The equipment is necessary to make this business profitable, not to build those patch panels to get your beater back on the road.
     
  6. I didn't mean to infer that you are not capable of doing professional work but I and I am sure others can appreciate how you have demonstrated that anyone without thousands of dollars worth of equipment and tools can bring a car back to life with simple tools and determination. HRP
     
  7. I hope my comment didn’t sound like I took it that way. We didn’t
    And correct, demonstrating how you can do cool stuff with average tools.
     
  8. Floor fit and tack welded.
    DD9F8A19-2BC4-43A6-B74C-383B2066B6CF.jpeg
    The butt seam will get hammer and dollied then welded. I prefer to butt weld non OE joints.
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2022
  9. Wife is off work today. Got to show her some pics to figure out stance.
    She said she likes this one.
    42FE8CFD-F6E1-4282-967E-FABFDAA1B248.jpeg
    I’m good with that
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2022
  10. Has she decided on a color? HRP
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  11. anthony myrick likes this.
  12. Paint?
    It’s already painted:):):)
    Plan for now is paint jambs in and spot in the rockers. Blast and paint the chassis.
    If she decides she is ok paying for all the chrome and paint materials then we’ll tackle the outside.
    I like as found beaters. I’ve built other peoples nice cars. I’m glad they like nice paint and body work.
     
  13. I personally like the color. HRP
     
    anthony myrick likes this.
  14. She does as well.
    If it is painted, it’ll be the OE colors.
     
    chryslerfan55, SS327 and guthriesmith like this.
  15. Enjoy following along with your wagon build. Paint looks good to me. Shiny paint is way overrated. Tri 5’s have about 10,001 spot welds to remove when doing the rocker replacements. Done several and it’s always great fun. Carry on. Gonna be great.
     
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  16. Almost all of mine were missing :)
    But the way the floor, inner and outer rockers join, yep, that’s a lot of welds.
     
    SS327 and CornfieldPerformance like this.
  17. 0524EE17-BED3-41FC-A59F-3FA08ACC4809.jpeg
    last major floor piece in the drivers side.
    Hammer/dolly/weld repeat and it’ll be ok
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  18. I guess this is next
    3BBDBBB3-77B2-40D2-8281-BC6EEE4D86A1.jpeg
     
    chryslerfan55 and indyjps like this.
  19. My comment about perfection was meant to infer that not every car needs to be perfect, I’m in awe of the time and talent it takes to make one perfect. I’m quite happy doing decent work and having nice drivers. I do like things sort of shiny, people forget that most of them are meant to be driven and are not show cars. I love build like Anthony’s, this is what the old car stuff should be about.
     
  20. SS327
    Joined: Sep 11, 2017
    Posts: 2,463

    SS327

    For me personally if I’m going to do that much work on a car I might as well make it shiny while I’m at it since it’s not much more work at this stage. Don’t have to be perfect just shiny. And the backside of the new metal por 15 coated. But that’s just me. I really like your metal work!
     
    belair and anthony myrick like this.
  21. Baumi
    Joined: Jan 28, 2003
    Posts: 3,043

    Baumi
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    SLDZ4493.jpg Great job , Anthony! I´m a Tri-5 lover myself , still need a wagon though. As for the heads, I always liked the stock power pack heads for the 283, they give you about 9.5:1 cr with steel shim gaskets, add an RV cam and that little 283 will surprise you, even with a 2bbl carb. And you are doing an awesome job on your repair panels. I´m sure they fit better than those flimsy aftermarket 1-800 pieces that always need tweaking anyways. I´m also always using anything that seems to have the right crown, curve or shape to it to bend my repair panels over and kinda felt like a hack doing so until I met Gene Windfield how drew up what kind of makeshift tools he was and is still using.... I´m sure this car will turn out great!!
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2022
  22. Im not painting it unless I spend the time to get the gaps “perfect”. Most old cars have inconsistent gaps. This wagon is no exception. Why paint when the doors are doing to knock it off in some places. I’ve done cars that I have spent multiple days grinding and welding to get the gaps correct. Then why paint and not do the chrome? The expense of plating plus the stainless repair and polishing.
    It’s a lot of work.
    I’d rather be driving it and building something else.
     
  23. This car
    6173B51D-9525-4241-811B-78E51AC22C24.jpeg
    my former bosses car. Ir was prepped to be shown in bare metal. I spent countless hours on the metal finish work. He and others talented guys did tons of fab work. The most significant is the wheel house being raised (by the boss), full length louvered hood top (not rows of short louvers) the 36 roadster style door top to cowl mod(Tony) and the killer, mostly metal interior (Vinny and Dino)
    Most of my contribution was the hood pieces, grill shell, door gaps and metal finishing. One of my jobs was to follow behind the other fabricators and metal finish their work. To get the door gaps meant using a piece of 3/16 steel as a gauge. Then doing whatever it took to achieve that. Adjusting the body, grinding and welding. I actually removed the skin from the passenger door, planished out the fold from the skin, laid out new fold lines and reattached the original skin to the door frame.
    This is the level I’m not taking this wagon to. And this is what I’m mean about tooling marks.
    You could build 2 -3 roadsters in the time it took to build this one.
    The hood and grill alone have hundreds of hours from start to finish.
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2022
  24. SS327
    Joined: Sep 11, 2017
    Posts: 2,463

    SS327

    Oh, I was not trying to pressure you into painting it. Down south you don’t have any salt on the roads like we do in Indiana. So I had to get everything all sealed up. Might as well make it all one color was my theory.
     
  25. This car had a Michigan inspection sticker from 1977. So I guess that’s what helped eat the rockers.
    The bottom will be taken care of.
    For now, I love the way the outside looks.
     
  26. Gahrajmahal
    Joined: Oct 14, 2008
    Posts: 493

    Gahrajmahal
    Member

    This has been a fun and interesting read. Thanks for going through the effort to post it! It’s like working out all the rusty metal repair logistics but without the sweat, noise, expense effort and time. Driving them is more fun than working towards a higher level and never getting them on the road. Carry on…
     
    427 sleeper, SS327 and anthony myrick like this.
  27. This is another tool I use. 4E913ED2-8E83-4900-B45B-97F8F375C64C.jpeg
    It’s not so good as a hammer. Feels awkward to swing. But it works great as a shaping tool. I’ll use a rubber mallet to strike the flat end or hold it as a dolly in tight radiuses. Being able to turn the head make it fit more places that a regular hammer.
    You can make a step on your bead roller then use the longer head tips to shape add a radius to it.
    Like a mini limier stretch die sorta thing
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2022
    bchctybob, R A Wrench, SS327 and 2 others like this.
  28. belair
    Joined: Jul 10, 2006
    Posts: 9,013

    belair
    Member

    I've never seen a hood top louvered like that. Cool.
     
  29. The boss and his wife punched the full length louvers. (Original Henry steel)
    A pullmax(stamping machine) was used. But, this was the first he knows that this mod was done. We found out why. The louvers removed the radius from the hood. I hammered each louver until the contour returned. A lot of hammering. No body filler was used in the hood. It’s painted black now.
    He’s has since done at least one more hood like this but figured out a die that wouldn’t kill the contour of the hood according to my old boss.
     
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  30. Boatmark
    Joined: Jan 15, 2012
    Posts: 384

    Boatmark
    Member

    That hood was the item that immediately stood out to me. Very cool.
    After your last post about how it was done, I’m curious about the process. Did you (meaning you and your boss) punch an individual louver, then correct the radius, then punch the next, or punch them all then you work it back into shape? It seems like when they are all cut you have an unruly group of semi attached metal ribbons.
    I have zero skills for what you do, so it’s always interesting to learn from those who can.
     
    chryslerfan55 and 427 sleeper like this.

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