I have less than $200 in materials. Harbor Freight casters do the trick! I had most of the 2" square tubing I scrounged helping a buddy tear down a commercial fence on a job he had.
metal scrap yards are full of useful stuff. New metal prices up here in Alaska are high. Used is the way to go.
Where do you find the wheels? I have not seen them here in Wisconsin. What industry are they used for? Maybe I could get them in Milwaukee?
The utility companies were putting fiber optic cables along the highway here by my house. The reels hold the flexible conduit that the cable is pulled through. I just stopped and asked how I could get one, and the supervisor/foreman guy told me he would give me 2 of them. I had to meet him one morning at their "yard" where they were storing them and he helped me load them up. I asked him what I owed him and he said nothing. I offered him $50 and he said he couldn't take it. Check on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. I actually found some on there locally for $75 before I stopped and asked the guy about these by the house.
Great idea! I'd like to find two hoops too, checked eBay and there aren't any there. Cable spools, cable reels, what other names do they go by? Bob
I think those are the 2 names that I searched for. You might even try wire spools or reels, metal reels, something like that.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/countyline-galvanized-bale-feeder-8-ft-dia?solr=1&cm_vc=-10005&st=hay bale feeder I thought of using the hoops from one of these feeders from TractorSupply, but I don't have the $199.99. Bob
I doubt I have a total of $199.99 in the entire gizmo but most of it was stuff I scrounged and gathered over the years, you know the whole "I might need that someday!" syndrome.
Slowly making progress. I broke out the plasma cutter and sawzall this morning and started carving away the trunk floor and rotted wheel wells from the 4 door car. I need to start finding spot welds and drilling them out around the floor pans and along where the rockers weld in on both cars. My plan is to splice the Sedan Delivery body to what is left of the 4 door body where the 4 door trunk met the floor pan. There is a common seam there on both cars and seems to be the logical place to do the splice. It should give a nice crisp edge (sorta) to splice. I will be using the Sedan Delivery wheel wells as they are in pretty decent shape, both inner and outer. The cargo floor will be replaced in the Sedan Delivery, it has a bit of cancer, and it will be easiest to just replace all the sheet metal, leaving the factory bracing in place as it is in relatively good shape. I still have to commit to how I am going to splice the front of the car to the cowl. Once I make that decision, I will do the transplant, and start rebuilding the rockers and fitting the longer doors in. I have all new inner and outer rockers so I am good to go there.
I'm rooting for you. You've got much larger cajones than I have. What you're doing is WAY over my head. I have been following since a couple of months after you first started. Go man go.
Thanks for the encouragement atch! This may be way over my head but maybe not. It is the most ambitious project I've ever taken on but I am all in! I think it's just taking one step at a time....we will see!
I broke out the spot weld cutter aka. air chisel and went after it this afternoon. When I was done I had a nice factory seam exposed at which to make the splice. I need to do a bit of patching and cleaning up of 70 year old seam sealer to make it pristine but all in all it should work fine. I now have to step off into the Sedan Delivery and cut everything out in reverse of what I just did. If this works out halfway like I see it in my mind, this won't be too bad of a job.
The shock mounts are a non issue as I installed a Chassis Engineering kit a while back that has it's own shock mounting bracket. You can see it in this picture hiding right below the seam I just exposed.
I feel like you are nearing a significant summit in the course of this build. Measure a billion times before you cut and keep pushing through!
Sneaking up on cutting the floors out of the Sedan Delivery. I made a little test "cut" along the wheel well and it went pretty well. Luckily I dont have to cut much of the floor out around the wheel wells as the majority of the wheel wells get transplanted. I started strategizing about how to keep the body from folding in on itself when I cut the curved floor brace out and the rest of the floors. I am going to have to find a way to brace everything before I cut the remaining floor out. I am studying on that right now. It may be best to leave that curved brace in until right before I do the transplant and have the body off the rotisserie, sitting upright, and cut it out when it's time to move it to the other car. As you can see, the rockers are all but gone. I am looking forward to cutting that mess out and tying everything back together with the 4 door cowl. That should happen pretty soon. I have some momentum built up now that I am practicing "social distancing". I have to say that I couldn't be happier with the rotisserie. It beats the hell out of crawling around on the floor with stuff falling in your face!
I started peeling out the rotted rockers to get access to this panel that I'll have to make prior to the transplant. Shouldnt be too tough to make. I'll need one for the left and one for the right. The floor brace is in great shape, and I believe the ones on the 4 door are shot. I think I can re-use these!
Here is another piece that I will need to make. This caps off the forward lower part of the wheel well. I am going to try to flatten it out, transfer the pattern to some 18 gauge and then fold it up like it needs to be. I have been watching Scott on Cold War Motors on Youtube do some shaping and that guy is amazing! What he can do with a ball peen hammer is incredible.
Got it flattened and transferred to the sheet metal. Need to pick up some sharp aviation snips. The ones I have are old and dull and worn out.
This will be my first attempt at making this complicated of a piece, but I think I have it under control.....time will tell!
For a first time with both 90 degree strait and a 90 degree radi. I might advise doing it in 2 pieces. A 3/4" x 3/4" and make the radi and plug weld it to the part after making the 90 degree strait bends. Before welding the radi. piece on fit it in the cavity it will live in and fit the radi. in place then weld it on.
I hadn't thought of that. I will take a look at it that way the next time i am out in the shop. I wanted to get the shape on a flat piece of stock and evaluate from there....
The Jalopy Journal
