Projects Finally a HAMB friendly ride.

Good for you man! Great trade! Looks pretty solid too!

 

I've been working on what I can on the Pontiac, I just started a new job, so progress will continue kinda slow, but then I will be getting some coin so I'll be able to buy some nice stuff.


We picked up a windsheild washer pump and jar, looks sweet, but we still have to see if it works.


The rear wheel cyls we got are the wrong ones, we need to get some adapters of buy the right ones, so this is how it sits for now.


Cleaned the paint off the air filter and re-painted it.



I spray bombed a skirt with some metallic green to see if it matched the car, nope. I need to do some more body work on the skirt too when I strip this off.

Anyways, more little BS, hopefully I'll be getting some wheels and tires that are road worthy and well be able to go for a decent drive.

 

Finally got to the Pontiac again, its been snowy, and crappy out, but I picked up some inner rocker panels, and my Dad also bought a front emblem on e-bay, its not perfect but will match the car. I got some stock car looking wheels for it too, the hub caps still fit, so maybe it will have two personalities? lol Anyways they will work for now, I think the O.G steelies look best on the 50's cruisers, so I want to get a clean set, ours are fucked.

So when I got the car jacked up high enough to pull the old riveted on inner rockers shit off, I could tell they just welded the rocker panel patch over the old rocker, which was why the inner rocker was so frigged and the outter wasn't. I cut the rocker off carefully so I could re-use it, and the old one was uncovered. The inside of the patch was a bit rusty but re-useable. cut the old rocker off at the seam, and re-cut the new one so I could weld it back on. I then prepped the remaining cross-members by grinding the rust off, and I plug welded the inner rocker to the cross members. I didnt want to cut out the rest of the floor in between the doors because it was pretty floppy already, I will cut that out next and make new panels. Then I started welding the outer rocker on, and ran out of welding wire...


old crap cut off

the front

more rust

Almost all tacked in, I should have taken one of just the inner...

more tacks

From the inside, the rest of the rust will be cut out next.

The next piece needing to be fabbed.

 

Moneys to tight this week for welding wire so I took it off the stands to look at it. I'm just starting back to work normally now that its nice out so I'll be able to buy the last few things it needs no problem, but this week its tight. I should have checked how much wire I had left a few weeks ago...

Still, as it sits, I need to finish the floor/rockers, 2 tires, and figure out why I have tail lights, but they don't flash, so no brake-lights or signals. Then I can drive it.

Anyone have the front signal trim? I have the grill, but not the parts that wrap around the fenders.

 

I got the hood emblem in the mail yesterday, and got a bit more done to the Pontiac.

I still need to clean it up and paint the center.



I made the panel that goes in the door jam, and attaches to the floor, theres still a few areas that need patches like above the crossmembers, but thats next. I left it alittle wide near the front, but I'll see what the patch panel looks like before I trim it. I also finished welding the rocker on the front, and more underneath, but it started raining.

Now I'm going to do the same on the back door, fix the smaller holes around, and grind all the welds down.

 

Got some more stuff done to the 54 today, I'm itching to drive it and motivated lol. I still have to order the rear floor pans and the passenger front so it will be a bit still, but now its not flopping all over the place when I close the doors lol. Seems the previous owner put door bottoms over the old doors(I should be used to that..) so more work there in the future. I tried to take more pictures this time, but I get in the zone...

what it looked like once I cut the old rusty crap off, I trimmed more and ground down the rust after


What I have cut out of this thing so far. All the metal there around there, just screwed on.


After some welding and alittle grind, I still need to go back and fill in pinholes before a final grind.





My Dad cleaned up the wiper motor, inside and out, and got it hooked up to test. It moves half way but seems to get bound up, so we need to see if the linkage moves free.
How it sits, alittle sturdier. I think I need to cut a coil out of the front and put 2" blocks in the rear.

 

My Dad and I got a bunch done to the 54 this weekend, I got some tires put on two of the stock car wheels that had truck tires on em. I painted the wheels too. I did a little more grinding and wire wheeled off the rust that had started since I welded the steel in, and then I sealer primered them, for now. We got a horn center from the evil bay, and my Dad polished the plastic up. Then we spent the next day and a half getting the brake lights and signals to work. It got a new brake light switch, high beam switch and signal light switch, but probably didnt need any of it... We cleaned a bunch of connections and SUCCESS!, brake lights. So we went for a drive, and took a few pics. Still a long way to go, but its getting there.


Steering wheel back on, with new emblem.

Primered for now...

As you can see the brake-lights work! As you can also see they dont go out either... Well they do, but not when we got back, and the brakes seemed to be dragging.

The fronts lookin a little better.

 

I meant to add, My Dads got an idea on whats up with the brakes, and I'm ordering the right front floor pan along with both rears. I still need the turn signal/grill pieces!!


Thanks for looking, and let me know what you think.

 

Cool that it has three pedals.

 

The metalwork looks good, glad to see you're still plugging away at it. I'm not feelin' the stock car wheels, but hopefully that'll come soon enough.

 

Thanks guys, the stock car wheels are temporary for sure, atleast the caps will fit on them.

 

Keep up the good work. You are learning and at the same time developing a bond with the car. You will get it looking better and the brakes fixed, just takes time (and money).

 

Just gone throu the thread, first of all great trade. Its getting there....

 

Thanks guys! I do the best I can with what I have. As you can see in the pictures I am doing the fabricating outside. So I try not to get too carried away and piss off my neighbors. I have a garage but I am doing a frame off resto on a bug in there...

I'm going to pick up some 2-3' blocks this week too.

 

Absolutely have to agree... LOL all joking aside great score, I love any make of old car they are ALL worth saving. I'll take an oldie to drive any day over new ones. Lookin awesome!

 

Well this week we got a 6v flasher for the turn signals, but still nothing, so we are in the middle of replacing all of the connections under the dash. I also went to change the headlight springs that broke when I pulled the headlights the first time, and the headlight buckets were rusty as hell, and hardly bolted on. So I pulled those, blasted then, and painted them. When I went to put them back on however, I thankfully took a look at the wiring for the headlights, and the drivers side was just twisted together, no tape, nothing... fucks sake lol.... So I took all of the headlight wiring off, took off any tape, and found lots of just twisted together connections... So I soldered all of those, put some heat shrink on em and there good to go. Then I finally put the headlights back in.

My Dad has been messing with the heater as well, we got a 6 volt motor, becuase the old one was very stiff, even after lubrication, and a new fan becuase the old one had to be torched off. I blasted all of the sheetmetal for it, painted it black and we checked the heater core. Seems this core is good, but looking at the under seat one, it will be the opposite.

So, we almost have heat, and we almost have signals. This car is one of the first, or the first to have them built in, not as an add on. So we have to have them work.

I also fixed the brakes I think, I cleaned out some port in the master cyl, and now the car will coast, so I think I fixed it, the car seemed to have an easier time moving.


Anyways, pictures will come in a few... Thanks for looking.

 

Nice work on the Pontiac will make a cool cruiser. PM sent on parts.

CRUISER

 

Thats my favorite part as well, particularly the "Three on the Tree". There are some funny noises coming from the tranny so we are on the lookout for one and also looking for an eight cylinder if one pops up but so far this engine runs fine. I think the eight will make the car more highway friendly.

Matt (408 Fairmonts dad)

 

Ok, so I havent updated my Pontiac's thread in awhile, my job has been crazy busy, but work has been done, and we are on schedule for once to get to the show we want to drive it too.(The Unfinished Nationals June 2nd) So in the last few weeks I have got the floor patches in the mail, they look better then expected, and were cheap. We also got the master cyl rebuild in the mail, as well as new flex lines. We should have just got them originally, but....
My Dad got some new wheel bolts, which I thought might be hard to get LH thread ones, but at the last show they were there. I also picked up some 54 Chevy turn signal trim pieces, they were real cheap, and I think I can make them work. I'm just going to modify them, and not the car, and see what happens. I think it will work, but more on that later.




This was the scene Saturday morning.


I swapped the brake drums from left to right, I some how mixed them up when I first put them on... We also got some dust caps, they were missing.


New flex line. Everything needs a good wire wheeling and grinding under here.


The heater all cleaned up, and installed, the wiring is temporary.


I cleaned and painted the clutch pedal.


I cut the floor out this morning'


And then tacked the patch in, more patches will be needed, but I didnt want to be to loud all day. So I drove it around.


First drive out of the neighbor hood went great.


I love her rear end.

 

Great read! Cool car!

 

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

I forgot to mention, after rebuilding the master cyl, the car feels so much better, I guess the brakes were dragging a bit becuase it feels quick now, and rolls far. I changed the speedometer cable too, and now it works great. Also the rebuilt heater works great, my dad found a fan wheel that worked, so we got a new motor and I cleaned all of the housings and painted them. after making some shims, we put it together and It blows hot, and warms the car up quick. Awesome.

This week I need to get the front floor cut out, braces repaired, and then the patch welded on,. I have a bunch of little areas to fix but I want to get the main floor almost together first. Then its safety time.