Hot Rods 1931 Chevrolet 5 Passenger Coupe

Once the frame was stripped back to basics we cleaned it with a wire brush on our 31/2" grinder then started finish welding the front end and boxing the frame rails. We also set up the rear suspension correctly and built boxing plates for that area.

 

Wow. The 2 of you really have a great project going & I will surely follow this one. I am 76 now & cannot do many of the big projects anymore so my 1946 five passenger coupe shown in my avatar is in San Antonia right now awaiting the installation of the rebuilt 1957 bored & modified 235 installation & a few other things needing done.
My older grandson has been in the Air Force for 2 years now & just back in the States from a hitch in South Korea & will be stationed in Calif now. He will be in for a couple of weeks home soon & has been really talking hot rods on the phone so it is hard to wait till he gets back. My mehanic is really dragging his feet so it is unlikely it will be done when the grandson gets home & if not then we will likely take a trip over for him to check it out.
He had no interest in hot rods while still in school so this recent change is really welcome here.
My younger grandson will be off to Air Force basic training late summer & I will be awaiting to see what new interests he aquires as he goes along.
In any case these 2 young men are really making an old man proud as I know Travis is with you.

Jimmie

 

I spent 4 years in the Air Force myself and it is one of the best places to learn about life and their methods of teaching mechanics are among the very best ever.

 

Once we had the frame cleaned and painted we started installing the running gear again but this time the nuts etc. would be torqued and the cotter pins installed. We also started installing the new wood kit.








The wood kit did not come with any instructions and the old wood wasn't much help so we had to guess on a lot of it but it came out OK. Travis found the missing piece for the rear section, I saw it but just thought it was part of the dash area.

 

well done guys it will be a nice rod

 

Moving along at a pretty quick pace! Lookin good!

 

You two are doing an awesome job. When you get done with the car, next week i'd guess,
wanna come help with my 32.

Looking forward to seeing this project progress.

 

Thanks for the comments but just to clear up the time frame we started this project long ago and are just posting when we have time in order to bring it up to date. We want to have it done and running by the time Travis is old enough to drive and we should make that goal OK.
I am also building a 1957 Corvette using 1988 C-4 Corvette running gear so do have a full dance card. At my age I should be retired but I still work 6 days a week which can use up part of my time as well.

 

what a beautiful body style...
and kudos to you for the project! it's great seeing youngin's involved!

 

We needed a starting point for fitting the sheet metal to the wood so we picked the cowl and welded up all of the extra holes that had been drilled over the years. We will be adding another heater but will use more care when making any holes. The old ones were drilled out by using a 1/4" drill bit and drilling holes in a circle.



We also cleaned the inner surface and etch primed it, the face is not done yet in the picture but it was done also.


We purchased a new fuel tank from Tanks Inc. and it was a pleasant surprise to find it was deeper than the original. It is about a 15 gallon tank as compared with the old one which was a 10 gallon tank.


We started on the doors as they needed to be in place to finish locating the final spots for the wood door frame. About 6 inches of each door bottom was replaced with new metal and of course all new wood.


First we had to install the old skin on the new frame to get all the measurments we needed.


Since the bottom of the door is curved we used the tape to set up measurment points then wrote the dimensions on the tape.


The bottom fold was done using a block of wood that was cut to the correct curve. We screwed the new patch to the door then cut it about six inches at a time using small tack welds to butt weld the seam then went back over it until we had a solid weld.




Once the skin was done it was nailed onto the wood frame and is ready to hang in the opening.

 

Once the doors were complete we could set the opening up in the wood frame so we started putting that together. The wood kit was expensive at $4,400 including shipping but it would have been harder to replace it with steel. When we recieved the kit there wasn't even a hint to tell where each piece belonged so an on-line search enabled us to see where most of the parts fit and we guessed at the rest.

Wood Frame Complete

 

Lookng good and Travis's smile....... well that's just cool. JW

 

Thanks 26 T Ford RPU. Travis is at that age where he tries to be cool about everything but that smile lets me know he's proud of what we are doing.

 

We streched the rear body section over the frame but it was so hard to put it on that way we decided to cut it in 2 parts. The factory did it in 3 parts but we took the easy way and split it through the rear window. I had a very senior moment and thought since the plazma cutter couldn't cut wood I would just use it to cut the body apart, WRONG the flame is hot and charred the wood but we got it put out quickly so no structrual damage was done.
Now we can put each section on for fitting doors etc and when everything is complete the body can be welded back together.

 

Before the sides could be installed on the wood frame the rusted areas were repaired and the inside surface of each one was cleaned with a wire wheel then a coat of Rustoleum self etching primer was applied.

 

Nice work. It's looking good. I have a 30 Buick 5 passenger coupe That's next on my to do list (trying to finish my 40 ford coupe). Who made your wood kit? Thanks

 

What am awesome thread this is. Love what you are doing.

 

biggeorge I went through my receipts for the car but did not find the one for the wood kit, just a hand written note that I paid $2,200.00 down and another note for the balance. I found his name on the vintage Chevrolet site and just called.
Thanks to everyone who has commented on our project, it's nice to know your efforts are of interest to others.

 

We had to make our own front corner brackets as they were missing so we used a corner bracket from the hardware store and bent it to fit in the vice using a BOH. Big Old Hammer Remember Travis is only 13

The rest of the brackets were sand blasted and painted before bolting them in place.
Once we had all the wood frame in position we could start putting the sheet metal back in place.

 

Nice! you guys are doing a great job.
-Pat

 

In order to set the gaps on the rear panel we needed to install the wood on the trunk lid and before it could be nailed on the lid needed to be cleaned and painted inside.


Travis carried the body panels in and we stretched the rear body skin in place then welded it back together, not as nice as I would have liked but it will just need a little filler before painting.


Checking the gaps with the trunk lid proved we had things where they needed to be.

 

That really is something special you have there with your grandson. Excellent work. Subscribed. Can't wait to see more.

 

That is badass sir. Kudos to you and the kiddo. Definitely not an every day rod, you're building. Diggin' it all the way !!

 

Thanks to all who have taken the time to read our thread and post a reply.

 

We have been busy stripping the old paint off and decided to use a large sliding sun roof instead of the fabric top or filling it with metal. To add the sun roof we had to form a metal edge all the way around as the sun roof company said not to attach it to the wood. we welded strips of metal on and the part that shows will be covered with matching fabric along with the trim that would cover the open edge of the original style covering.

Trial fit of Sun Roof

Metal Strips Welded On

Paint Removed
We gave the area where the top would bolt down a quick coat of paint then Travis and his friend Levi installed the top. We still need to add the extra material and the trim strips but it looks good so far. We also need to take some time and clean the garage.

Travis and His Friend Levi Installing Top

 

Looks great!! I love that your grandson is involved. Good way to make sure the hobby keeps going strong.

 

Sorry for the long pause but we have been busy with a fifty year family vacation to retrace our honeymoon trip but this time with the whole family. Surprisingly it went well. Travis started back to school so we have only been able to work about an hour a week on the car.
Most of our time has been taken up by forming patch panels for the rear fenders and welding them in place. I don't have any pictures of that yet but will post some when we get it closer to being correct.

 

Nice job guys! Only another Chevy guy truly understands the amount of work on one of these wooden cars.

 

ditto, good job! and love to see the chevy build threads.

 

x2 on that. JW