Previous threads: Intro to the car(s) http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=416339 Firewall clearancing for a big block: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=432349 Here is where I'm at. Due to finances after my wife was laid off recently I have listed the car for sale, but, I'm still going to continue working on it. If it sells, I'll be heartbroken, if it doesn't I will have the majority of the labor only (free no cost) work done. FYI, my wife came up with the name "Knockin Boots" Its an old western reference to sex..I liked it right off the bat! O.K. Here you can see how the firewall, front body mounts, peddles, all of that was hacked out of the car before I got it. I started taking measurements to cut the car apart, but I noticed right off that the body was midly sprung, probably from no front mounts or firewall for years. At this point I decided to go ahead and cut the car apart without bracing. No point in tacking it all together if it wasn't right. Then I could get the new cowl set in and square the body back up. Yikes! Here is the cowl. I wanted to keep the dog leg mounts and outer rockers intact to give me something solid to weld to and as a point of reference. I will be replacing the inner rockers when I do the floors. Here is the car without the cowl set in. You can see the dog leg mount standing up on the corner of the floor. Keep in mind the floor will be getting replaced so I wasn't too concerned with the front edge. I then started working off all of my measurements and pulling with come-a-longs and straps to pull everything back square and start tacking the poor old girl back together. I then hung the doors and measured and verified gaps, hinges, adjustments, everything. The important thing here is ensuring the doors and pillars are square and that the windshield opening is square and true. Here it is with the doors hung and on hinges. They open and close very nicely, gaps are good and all that jazz.. Here is the post in primer. No filler, just ground down. The door looks a little tight here but if the picture was straight on it fits great. And here it is with the front clip set on off the 4 door. Man, it actually looks like a car!!! In the next couple pics the front clip is a little high in the front, the core support mount on the frame is tweaked up. Doesn't matter, I'm using the other frame anyway. It feels really good to see it like this. This is the most complete the car has been since I bought it from Von moldy. Next steps are to finish up the A pillars and the rocker areas. After that I'll get the rear wheel wells radiused. The body is really clean on this car so other than working a few dents in the roof and welding up the 210 trim holes I don't have a ton of bodywork to do here so I'll get the car sanded down and fix the few little things that need fixing without spending cash until my wife finds a job. Wish me luck!!
Grind...Weld....Grind......Weld.....Grind.....Grind.....Grind....Weld.....Grind.... What a day...time for beer and....more welding and grinding!
Build it...unless it sells.....LOL! Basically this is my dream car. That being said...my wife was laid off 2 months ago. Savings are gone and family comes first so the car is up for sale. BUT..I really enjoy working on it so I will continue to do so until it sells or my wife gets hired and I can get busy on it again. I am just trying to take care of the stuff right now that won't cost me anything. I'll continue to do stuff that needs doing like that until I hit a brick wall and would have to spend money to continue. The wellder has a full roll of wire and the gas bottle is full so work work work... I have been making tech posts to help people see even a job as big as cutting a car in half can be very doable for a do it yourselfer. Hopefully this will help someone later in saving another car. Scot
Good luck man hope your not forced to sell. If you really want to keep it, try and think of what you would do if you didnt have it to sell.
Looks good hope things work out so you can keep it, sure would be a shame to have to sell it but like you said family first Good luck
Thanks guys. I'm really torn because I love the car but we could sure use the cash. Time will tell. Scot
I opened the garage door this morning to turn the heat on while I drank coffee and there was a 55 Chev staring at me!
Well if you do sell it for 6500 you should be able to replace it later for that kind of money if it doesnt have huge sentimental value.
Nice work! Hope the wife gets a job. Things will get better someday. Hope you dont have to part with the 55 if possible.
Looking good. I showed my Dad this. Looks like you mad a lot of progress. Hopefully we can see it finished.
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