Technical 1957 Chevrolet rocker, floors, frame and doors... what first??

I agree, it needs to be settled. When you are done you will notice how the body shell tightened up. The doors sound different when they shut.

 

Mine has tall jack stands under the suspension.
Another thing to check is where are the alignment limits at.
Is a part bottomed out to get a gap.
I’ve moved things that were cut loose to get more adjustment.
These cars are old, they’ve been banged around, drove through a field, raced…… things move
My cowl had some damage from what looks like a blown tire.
Lots of interesting things happen to old rides

 

Gene, you can weld some x-bracing in before you shut the doors and weld them.
Then while the doors are still open, weld a couple of small tabs inside the body that stick out toward the door.
Then shut the doors and lean in the window and put a couple of small tack welds where the now closed doors are touching the previously tack welded tabs. I would say that its darn near impossible to mess up a door gap when done that way. You can weld one door and work on one rocker panel and leave the other door unwelded if you want some access. Then when the first side is done...........grind the tack welds off to provide access and tack the other door. Its all only tack welding so there shouldn't be any shrinkage or movement. Easy peasy and everything should stay in the exact same place when you cut the rocker panel out from under it.

 

So, exactly how many of these have you actually done this way? Do you have real hand on experience, or are you going by something you have read or seen in video?
People with real life experience have suggested you not tack weld the doors. I might suggest they may have experience you may not have.

 

Very true Gene, but then apparently they haven't tried what I'm suggesting or at least in the manner I'm suggesting. It doesn't take much movement for door gaps to get out of alignment and require a lot of effort to make them even again. It would seem pretty logical that if you use the two mating parts in their pre-established location as part of the structural brace.......there would be less "room for error" when done.

Look at how a door is installed in a house. They don't remove the door and install bracing, they use the door as part of the installation because that gives them the best fit. Yes its a little different, but the principle is the same.

I respect your opinions and if you see it differently than me, then you should do it the way you and others think is best. Myself, when I get to the 57 Chevy project, I'm going to tack weld the interior panels of the doors.

Virtually everything we do working on old cars has more than one way to be done. I'm not saying my suggestion is the "only right way". I will say that there have been people who were surprised with the fit of their doors after installing new rockers and floor pans with inadequate bracing in place, but I don't see anyway it could be done wrong if the door remains in place while doing the work. Thats why I prefer it.

 

Good luck with your project.

If your way doesn't work out quite as well as you believe it will, these same guys will be willing to help you get it to work. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

I have some experience and I will help if I can, when you are ready to listen. Pic are the car in my Avtar.

 

This thread has been amazing for giving me ideas.

I got bogged down at work, and with weather this week, and haven’t had the time to separate the bad body from good frame. I did however get my gantry crane and lift set up to pop the body.

You guys can laugh at my Canadian hillbilly methods. And of course, suggestions are appreciated. Did a test lift, but parking brake lines stopped and it was getting late so shut er down.

 

here is a link to another Canadian that has done several 4 to 2 door conversions. He does the one piece floors.

For the other videos search dd speed shop black widow on you tube

 

I used some tubing to brace the door openings, and then cross to rear wheelwells. As DDSpeedshop above, I lifted the cowl with engine hoist, leaving the rear most body mount bolts loose. Doors open and close same as before.

 

That’s a decent looking floor

 

Some things are not as they seem. Where ever there was brown, there was perforation. Cross braces were missing their ends, front floor you could push and put your hand through. Good picture, I guess, if I was selling car!
Or, did you mean the new one going in?

 

No laughing here, I appreciate ingenuity. I have done some things in my past that were pretty "cobbled up" solutions, but they usually worked. The one suggestion I would make is to put a couple of boards with a little padding "longways" under the rear trunk/fender area before lifting to spread the load further. They can probably be slipped in place without permanent attachment. Wouldn't want to bend that sheetmetal. Other than that, it looks like it should work well. Kudo's

 

Got er out, now to get to work on the frame.

Going to be cleaning the mud out of the inside, and changing the rear spring eyes and bushings. I know its going to be a pain, so rather put new stuff in now so that if I have to do it later It will be easy. Any other suggestions while the frame is off?

 

Take some X measurements to known points on frame to ensure it's "square". If you're planning on installing side mounts, and a rear trans crossmember, remove the bellhousing mounts now. W-a-a-y easier now.

 

Good time to locate your frame VIN if possible. The pics above are from the 'net. Sometimes they're stamped lightly.

 

Is there any “at home” modifications guys do to stiffen / strengthen frames? Adding bracing at the rear or crossmembers or anything?

 

For what?
Lots of Hp? Supercharger? Demo derby?

 

Just to increase overall rigidity - going to be a mild street car.

 

It’s good as is in my worthless opinion but a decent x-member or 2 or something like this wouldn’t be difficult to build

 

Anthony, that looks great........but how much does it weigh ? I'd do something similar because you need a transmission mount anyway.........but I'd use some 1x2 box tubing at the top and bottom of the frame in the same general configuretion. Think that rear loop needs to be redesigned for driveshaft removal. Probably a lot less expensive and not too heavy.

Something similar to this 32 Ford crossmember, but with 1x2 tubing

 

For a cruiser type build, concentrate on the body work and running gear, oh and brakes etc. I wouldn't worry about chassis stiffeners. Good for high HP, but not necessary for drivers.

 

That was a random pic. But is similar to the setup we used on a 55 once. Most of your aftermarket chassis have x-braces similar to this.
We built the tube style x-members for 32s as well.

 

'57 Chevy frame is pretty stout for a mild street car, but you might consider adding a rear crossmember right above the shocks to mount the tops of the shocks to. From the factory, the tops of '57 Chevy rear shocks mount to the underside of the trunk pan and a lot of people have problems with the trunk pan cracking out around those holes, especially if you run air shocks or coilovers. I think Nomad wagons had a little shock mount crossbar there from the factory, would be easy enough to replicate, doesn't need to be super beefy, I'm sure a smaller piece of square tubing would work.

I have air shocks in my '57 and my trunk pan is holding up just fine, so it doesn't always create an issue, but it's been a problem for others and would be easy to do now.

Also, I swapped my original, weak rear leaf springs for a set of new 5 leaf packs (most plain 2 door sedans had a 4 leaf pack, I think the 5 leaf packs came on convertibles and wagons and stuff) and the difference in handling/stiffness was pretty surprising. It was very mushy with a lot of body roll before, the 5 leaf packs really cured a lot of that. New repop springs aren't all that expensive for the '57. If it's in your budget, and you're already going to change out the bushings, you might consider it.

 

@Squablow Ditto on the shock bar, forgot about that. They are pretty cheap to buy, even cheaper to build. I have a piece of 1-1/2" square tubing and some angle set aside to build mine. My Nomad had some sort of reinforcement from the factory, but it's out already; building a bar instead.

 

Consider moving the springs to the inside of the frame rails. Very simple and makes room for bigger rear tires
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/57-chevy-leaf-spring-relocation.307335/#post-3276715