Projects Truck into a coupe- My next pet project

And just because its Friday night.
Here's a section of the lower cowl. It's hard to say what what here, but there's 7 "layers" or individual pieces here.

 

I was very surprised at how light this actually was.
I suppose the mud outweighed the sheet metal on this section.

 

This is more like a deconstruction thread instead of a build thread huh?
It will start moving towards getting together soon.

 

You think the dash might be O.K.?

 

Looks good from here! Is that a tri-5 Chevy dash or something? Nice whatever it is.

Did I read this thread correctly - you changed out the frame, engine, trans, rear end and front end before starting on the body?

 

^^^That was intended to be humor, since it's the only thing left with paint on it.

 

Yeah I know. It's probably all bondo

 

And crooked.

 

How are you betting ?

 

Yes that's what it is.

Sort of but I think you missed a bunch.
The body was "supposed" to be done and didnt need to be touched, except for a few things that wouldn't involve much more than touch ups.
It was on a chassis I didn't care for with no powertrain.



We were really careful not to scratch the car while all this was going on. Constantly saying watch the paint, cover the car, even put foam pads on the gantry crane. The first thing to move was the firewall for the hemi. Once the stainless cover came off I new I was happy it was getting the firewall replaced. So much care went into removing it so damage wouldn't spred. There were a bunch of tacks that broke with a screwdriver and 4 tubes of seam sealer just to hold it in because the welds were for shit. I knew I was probably introuble then. So now its a big joke " OH FUCK there goes the paint job every time a tool gets near it.

 

Kenny Baker aka Choprods. The man.

 

I'm betting you'll have it cut up too.

 

I saw a 34 3w he put together in minnesota it wasn't a pretty picture either ...31 vickey is doing an excellent job and trying to do things correctly

 

Thanks, I suppose everyone's idea of "correct" is different. Someone though enough of this shit to slather it with mud, sculpt it really well then lay down a killer paint job.

I'm really surprised that the car didnt break when I picked it up thru the 1/4 windows since the b pillars weren't welded back together.

 

I have seen some pretty amazing shit buried in bondo... I think some of it is hold over from the lead days most people don't have metal finishing skills... Nothing wrong with a little bondo .... But if anything you see in bare steel makes you go Ugghh , that's my definition of incorrect

 

Turned the corner today, actually tacked some of the car back together !!! I'm pretty stoked about that, it's a milestone on fixing this mess.

I got some door jambs from Colorado and had to rework them, massage them, and clean them up. They needed the strikers removed and plated for bear claws, the dove tail receivers removed and rebuilt reinstalled , the jamb feet replaced because the guy i got them from cut everything off. then Chop and Fit them to the doors, then align everything. Ran center strings and made sure everything was square, plumb leveled, and symmetrical. Also made some 8' contour gauges and used those the set the jamb/B pillar. Since the doors have a curve, its pretty important that the curve doesn't pass the apex and dive into the rear quarters, then back out.

Then Packing that dip with mud -That's was the case originally. To do this the B pillars needed to move away from center about 2" or 1" on each side. This is further than stock in the original application and further than when I found them. Now I have to re-make new frame mounts but that shouldn't be too bad.

Now I actually have really really nice door gaps that are straight. imagine that, some wouldn't have thought it was possible. All that took was a tape measure, a piece of string and the slightest amout of attention. Funny thing is there was no forceing of any part of the car. Once the cowl was squared everything fell right into place. It was almost scary.

Edit: this was posted April 13, coincidently my original goal was to have it completed mid April. At least I got to actually start something.

 

Have you kept track of the hours envolved in this body correction? Bob

 

No, do you want me to blow a gasket ?

But so far, most of the time has been spent thinking things thru, figuring where the problems lie, not making hasty decisions, and a lot attempting to salvage what I had or damage control. Once the determination was made that there's not anything worth saving (except the dash!) Then I had to spend some time to get over the fact that I lost and wasn't getting out of this unharmed. That's hard to swallow. Then you only have 1 option and that's to move forward. Several ideas there - scrap it, sell it, shelve it or fix it. Conferring with with mentors and loved ones, fix it would be the best option if and only if it was done right. The "concept now" is that I'm building this for someone else who has high standards, just haven't met the individual who the car is for yet. Sucks because this was supposed to be done with free time or time that's usually just waisted- a pet project for me to have some fun with this summer.

Now that the mental masterbation is over, more time can be devoted to putting it back together. Making metal Go from point A to point B while doing xyz is relatively easy in the big scheme of things, and the straighter the lines the Easier and quicker it goes. Correctly establishing point A and B is where the the time and care needs to be taken.

Then the bodywork is a mother fucker for me, I hate hate hate it and that's probably because my skills in that area don't keep up with my standards, my expectations, or my ability to pick the work apart. In other words - my eyes are better trained but my hands can't make it happen quickly. I might just have it dipped and E coated then sell it with nothing to hide, but I don't know yet.

Maybe a excellent top notch body man will fall out of the sky and want to trade for some stuff I'm really proficient at. That would make sense.

Remember, only reason that I bought this was because the bodywork and paint was done.

 

WOW! I just read the entire post. Excellent work and re-work. Very impressive to say the least....and I now know why it is still snowing a week before Easter. Apparently mother nature is extending winter to give you some extra time on your "project that wasn't supposed to be a project"

 

All of a sudden I feel so much better. Thanks curly!

 

Had to take care of some little stuff before heading to the next step. Sort of completing the previous one. Time consuming with little progress but very important.
First was remove and modify the frame mounts,then get them back in.

 

Make the little feet on the bottom of the door jambs where the rockers meet up. X 2.
The jambs I got from Colorado had nice everything but these feet.



To me: its some of these little details that really make or break a car.

 

Get the latches in, I got these from hotrod latches, the proprietor is a Hamb member. Nice stuff and made in the USA !!!!
Along with that job comes some fiddle farting around that takes time and the more attention to detail the better the out come. The plywood was used to hold the jamb gaps while everything was pretending to be a slinky.

I have some other parts coming from Carolina customs to finish the latches up, inside handles outside handles and glass by pass. That will take some time too but for now they latch and I can continue rearward.

 

Got the pieces cut and bent to make the part of the rear quarter that attaches to the door jamb. Since 34 Chevy coupe 1/4s will be mating up to 36 ford truck doors, there's going to be some more attention to details here to make it look right, fit right, blend together, and have a clean door opening inside and nice gaps. all without mud at least not gobs of it to build an edge, I hate mud at edges.

My plan is to make a 2" stub that does this, then weld the 1/4s to it. I would have liked it smaller than 2" but the construction of the jamb doesn't allow and dolly access.

The formed piece you see is part of the truck, but it formed to start the curve around the back. On the truck the apex is about 4-6" into the door. The apex will be about 7-8" into the rear quarter now, so it will look similar but very different. To do that, the doors closed position was manipulated until the last 4" end of doors curve at the bead planed parallel with the center line, just about an inch. Before the door and 1/4 both dived to the center at the b pillar and packed with mud. Ill probably use the belt line bead detail to save some time, but this is today's adventure. This goes from the under side of rocker about 2-1/2" up to the little rocker feet up then up to the roof line & around the top of the door.

 

I suppose it gets worse before it gets better applies well in this situation.

 

Don't know how I missed this one. Great build!

 

Sanitary jambs, lots of work and I suppose that's why clean jambs are a sign of dirty mind or something like that lol

That's rusty looking stuff copper weld thru primer.

 

Mocked the quarters back up, but there's some issues to correct.

 

Easy to see what's twisted up here.
The wheel lip bead follows a nice line, but the upper bead sure looks funny.

 

The other side is fucked up the same at least.

The top bead should fall on a smooth arc even though it narrows from the door to the end of the trunk. The former "mud job" took care of a lot of this. The quarters are actually twisted to center from a more vertical position at just about mid trunk. Should be an easy fix, cut the trunk frame loose, let it relax and fill in the missing wedge. I haven't cut it yet, but that's how I think it will work out.