Projects My 51 Shoebox build thread

great work man.
keep it up

 

Great Work!

 

nice work... i know a little about rusty floors...but could always learn more..so i will be watching yours with interest....now if i had your energy i could get somewhere..ha ha ha









http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa84/rcplumley/46 caddy hearse project/

 

Thank you guys!
Wow,that hearse projects floors are a real challenge,that will take a lot of sheetmetal and some time too.

 

Wow!
It's hard enough doing a job like this not to mention living in a place where parts are scarce! You have done an excellent job stepping up to the challenge! Keep up the excellent work!

 

Thanks man!
I appreciate your comment.
I guess i could always buy a LOT patch panels from states,but its cheaper to do yourself what you can with the crappy tools.The sheetmetal work will be the cheapest part on this project.Well,its been so far..
Not done much because its just so freaking cold in the garage,but there will be an update soon.

 

Can't wait to see more updates .

 

Here's an update,as promised.
I fabricated a transmissiontunnel...Well,most of it.I am going to finish it when i am working with the firewall.



I guess i could have use more imagination with that,at first i thought the tail section could be a bit lower.
But whatta hell,i guess it works.And i have room for another tranny with longer tail.
I bend it against a small chemical barrell,which was a freebie from work.
I got a permission to take it,didnt steal it.

 

Beautiful!

 

Thanks!
Good to hear that even someone thinks like that,at one point i was almost tearing it off

 

Looks Awesome!

 

thats looking good..i really like seeing alot of hard work and a little imagination used ...it sure is alot more traditional like that, than using some cheap chinese reproduction part...if pats on the back help any...pat pat pat....hopefully i can post some progress soon myself since you give me so much inspiration...

 

Good Work

/Stefan

 

Looks good enough for me... Keep it up at least warm ´cos it's so cooold here!

 

Thanks for all for your words.This is just an amateur build thread with crappy tools,so i am glad that someone got inspiration because of this thread.
At yesterday i went to the post office and picked up a christmas present from me to myself:



Its an ebay score,a transmission adapter for 265 sbc.1955 265 is different than other sbc's.There is no mounting holes for the starter on the block,like other sbc's have.So the iron cast pg is almost an only tranny option for this 265.
If i remember right,there was some manual tranny from same era corvette that fits too.But with this adapter i can use what ever GM transmission i ever want to.
I've been thinking about TH350 or 400,but we'll see...
I have thinked about going to floor shifter,but i havent decided yet,so i didnt make hole to the tunnel for shifter...

 

Good work I am subscribed

 

Nice work..

 

Thanks guys.Right after christmas i catch a nasty flue and i couldnt do anything else than puke slimeballs,it was pretty frustrating...
But i get better after a week and at last week i scored a hood and some other parts.We dont have much parts cars in here,but i was lucky to found this one:



Its a bit crispy from the front corners,but nothing that couldnt be fixed.Its better than the one i got with the car,but if i find critical cancer from the braces,i can take them from the other hood.
I am going to upload some progress pics soon,no more score pics for a while.
I promise

 

I guess its time to add some progress pics,its been a while...
I finished the drivers side toe board.Is it perfect?
I dont know,but its definitely better than the first version was:





I found my favourite thing in the world from the lower cowl area.Hidden cancer,it was worst than i thought.There was few small cracks on the lower corners and pitting on the fender lip.So i did a patch for the drivers side too:



Now i can finish the tranny tunnel and the firewall.I hope i'll get something done at the next weekend.

 

Those repairs look top-notch !

 

Looking real good. You have done some real nice work on the floors.

 

Thanks man!

Thanks,i appreciate your comment.You have done nice work with the chop!
I guess i hadn't buy this one,if the chopwork has been done by different way.

 

Hell yeah, the driver's side toe boards look better. Nice work.

Got your beadroller die plans, thanks. A buddy of mine is looking them over as we speak. Hopefully I'll have my own set soon.

 

Thanks!
I hope that the dies work with your project.After you've rolled the beads,the pans needs hammering because of the shrinking.But i guess its not a problem for you.

 

I made few cardboard templates for the transmission tunnel.It was a lot easier to fab rest of the tunnel with them.Here's how it looks like finished:



So the front floors are done,i think that next step will be fixing the firewall.
I am going to get rid off those lap-welded patches on the firewall and weld new patches with butt-welds,like everything else have been welded so far..

 

Looks great !

 

So jealous of the way your floors and trans tunnel came out-Good job!

 

Thanks guys,i appreciate your comments!
I got a 77' Nova tunnel as a freebie,my first plan was to use that one,but it turned out a rotten piece of crap.I am glad that i didnt use it,there is just too much extra fabbing with donor tunnels..
I was thinking when was the last time,when i did some transmission tunnel fabbing.
I guess it was 15 yrs ago when i was 19,i welded new tunnel for my 70' GT Escort.Those 68-74' Escorts were a really success in rallies back in the 70's.
I dont wonder that at all,little bastards with amazing handling.
I am glad that i didnt have a digital camera in my possession and didnt have internet back then.So that tunnel will be one of my darkest secrets

 

I drilled the spotwelds from the firewalls lap-welded patches,there was some bondo on the other side,so i grinded that stuff off and it looked like this:



I made new patches and welded them by butt-welds:



I am going to use the magic air heater,so i didnt touch(much)to the heater's hole.There was some pitting right under that heater hole,so i had to patch that one too.Plan is to put some modern guts in the heater box,i need to find a small fan from bike or something.
There are few dents that need hammering,but i'll deal with them later.When my bro or some friend pops by,i'll hire him as a dolly operating slave...

 

The firewall patching story continues.I almost forget to shoot the before pic from the drivers side,but i guess this pic will tell whats going on:



And mission accomplished:



There is still one lap-weld patch left on the firewall,but its right behind the distributor,so i am going to take care of it when the motor is lifted off from the car.