Up next: Door hinge rebuild, and a trial idea I am working on about building in some adjustability to our old shoebox hinges. My doors are just hanging out waiting for a car to go on.
Sounds like your a man with a plan Essex. I love shoeboxes and hope to have one myself one o these days. Anyhow im subscribed as well and look forward to seeing you re-animate this one. As I read your story I had to laugh. Im one of the resident artists and coincidently working on a cartoon thats centered around what I like to call "hoard-iculturism". The guy you acquired the car from sounds like a definite practitioner, but its cool you pursuaded him to part with the 51. Look for the toon in one of the upcoming friday art shows. (gotta plug the FAS) Good luck on the build and keep the pics coming!
Morning fellow Hambers! We have Lift Off!! The body and frame are now seperated. The frame will be headed off to the blasters in the next couple of days. Once the blaster gets this thing looking pretty, it is on to the Gambino Notch and 4 Link install! Thanks to all for the nice comments. It gives me motivation to keep moving forward. I appreciate it.
You do nice work bro! I've got a couple of stupid questions for you: First, I've managed to get the doors off the car, but haven't got the hinges off the doors yet (4 doors - double the pain!). I got most of the initial screws out without the screw knocker, but the door screws are TIGHT. What technique did you use to get them out with the screw knocker? Second, I'm almost at the point of pulling the body off the frame as well - how do you get it up on the jackstands/4x4s? Like I said, stupid questions, but I'm new to this kind of teardown/rebuild. Thanks!
Hey essexcoupe thanks heaps mate really appreciate it I'm pretty damn motivated when it comes to my 50 and I got a great bunch of guys in my car club that are keen also. We're goin alright havin heaps of fun in the process, man I thought I got lucky with my body (floors in urs aside) it looks pretty damn good stuff all rust and pretty straight. Nice score and ur progress is making me feel bad and I thought I got shit done ha ga. Keep it up ur gettin me excited love watching what other people do on here. Man our 'side of the pond' is great just gettin cold and shitty and plenty of inside garage time. Ha ha. But no were near as fun as when I go to ur side. That's when it really gets fun ha ha. Cheers keep it up I'm subscribed. Des
Oh ps nice work with the door hinges I just went through this drama a while back what a pain in the ass gettin 60 year old hinges off, just invade anyone's interested what I did and te guy above me might be cause I got the doors off the car then got hinges off with te doors on the panel stand. I tried impact drivers and all sorts of shit. Whip out the oxy set and heat the capture nuts cherry red it doesn't do any damage as its on the side and no where near the outta door skin just don't go waivi tithe flame near that cause u wanna keep the heat away. Once the captive but was red they cracked really easy and just unscrewed. Make sure there red though cause as they cool the screws bind up again and wouldn't come out ha ha. Wish I knew u could buy the re pin kits with the brass bushing. But then again my mate is a machinist and he offered to redo them for free and they came back perfectly honed out door hinges with a brand new machined up binge pins and the doors are back on the car and are smooth as just need some adjustment now. All my pins were broken in half in the hinges from year and years of use ha ha.
Update: A week of Rusty frame repair Well, I decided not to take the frame to the blasters just yet. I wanted to really check it over for rust and damage, so I broke out the grinder and went to work cleaning. I found some pretty bad rust on the drivers' side rail, but that was it for damage. The frame sure looked shitty when I pulled the body off, but its not in bad shape after all. I ended up cuting out an 18-inch strip of shitty metal on the bottom of the rail and filling with new patch out of .120 wall plate.
Sorry about the delay here on this update. My computer at home will not load photos for some reason. So, I am loading them from a different one. Here is the pictures for the rusty frame repair. I am pretty stoked about how it turned out.
Some more of the rusty frame repair. I inserted 3 3/4" square stock struts inside the repaired area to give it some extra strength. I vacuumed out a HUGE pile of old moss, dirt and rat shit from the inside of the frame rail while I was doing the repair. Almost made me want to cut the other rail open, but not quite.
UPDATE: Step Notch is a done deal I busted my ass this weekend and got my step notch done. With the rust repair and the step notch done, I can start working on the triangulated 4-link and airbags. Here are some pictures of the notch work. Hopefully these will help out someone notching and bagging a shoebox. Holler out any questions or concerns. I appreciate all the good comments from everyone.
More of the notch work. I added some square stock braces inside both notches to add some strength. It seemed like a good idea since the bag mount plate will be welded there.
Looking good! Keep it going...I just spend this saturday doing the Gambino C notch on my 49. Haha, yeah "another effen shoebox"
Looking good man. Hey I'm with u brother as u know I want mine low as but I dont think it's a good idea to have one bag blow out or a line or something then all of a suede. Ur dragging frame at 65mps down the highway. Keep it up mate, beside I think there's something kinda cool and impressive about a car that rides into a show or down the main street in a straight line fully aired out just a touch off the ground. But again hey that's I my my option too. I'm diggin what ur doin mate. Des
Whats Up Hambers! I have been really putting in some time on this old girl the past few weeks, so I thought I would share some progress pics. The frame is coming along nicely. Rear suspension is in place and tacked for testing. The front a-arm mods are done, bags and fatman drops are in, so now I am waiting on ECI to ship my disk brake kit. The volvo box mount, Borgeson joint, and trick tie rod kit is also on its way. Here are some frame shots:
Some shots of making the front bag mounts. I still need to mess around with the cup height when the disks are in and wheels mounted. No worries there.
I put the frame back under the body today to get a feel for how things are going to look. I have already cut the rear wheel tubs loose and the lower part of the firewall to get the body down where I want it. I also wanted to start getting some measurements for the height of the channeling - should be 3 inches.
And now for some fun stuff. I have been aquiring many parts lately for the build. I now have all my air-ride shit. I also scored a killer set of 65' Mustang buckets and rear seat with nearly new black skins. I also picked up a perfect NOS 65' Mustang steering wheel. Got the new mustang tank and sending unit too. Then I picked up my new motor - a crate 302 stroker. Dyno sheet says 330-hp, so that should be a kick. I have never had a brand new motor, so I am real stoked about that. I have already talked to JR at Dynamic Racing and will be ordering my Street and Strip C4 within 2 weeks. Another part that I am waaaaaaay stoked about - my new 13-tooth 54' Corvette grill. This is going to be the crown jewel on the nose of this bitch. I am looking forward to doing the metal work to get this beauty installed and looking clean.
On another note.....it is starting to get warm here in Washington. It's funny - when the sun comes out up here, people go nuts. We really only see sunshine in July-August-September, so we enjoy it like today is the last day. Like most of us gearheads, I like just about anything cool with a motor and wheels. I am really partial to bikes too, and I have built a couple japanese and brit bobbers the past few years . The bare metal xs650 is one I finished up last summer. The red and white BMC is my rider. Last sunday my gal and I went on a 80-mile twist around the back country roads and it was great. Just what I needed to get my mind straight after the last 9-months of rain. Hope its cool with you all that I post the bike pics here in my shoebox thread.
Nice progress and nice bikes too. I guess i should do some maintenance for my shovelhead too before the riding season starts.. Keep up the good work!
The Jalopy Journal
