Projects BACK AT IT FINALLY!! RE-BUILD OF AN EARLY CHEVY COUPE WITH A HEMI

Ain't that the truth........./

 

Hey Guys - I'm at the point in my chassis restoration of removing almost all of the surface rust down to bare steel. Most of the rust that does remain is very minor, looking like it's in the pores of the steel, which I'm sure can be completely removed using a chemical rust remover.

Now, I have a few areas where the frame rails have dents, more so in the upper and lower C channels. Since I have not done any chassis repairs before, I need some advice and guidance. I need a particular frame dolly or other items that can be used for these purposes. Something like this came to mind:

 

Put a few hours in the garage to tackle another "GREAZY" job - cleaning the bottom of the body, which had 22 years of oil and grime that needed to get done. I purchased a new complete wood floor kit way back in '96, staining it and protecting it with Thompson's Water Seal. Before I started, you couldn't see any grain in the wood, showing black like my POR-15 painted custom floor pans. Gave a guy my originals and he reproduced them in thicker steel. They did not have repro floor pans for early Chevies back then. They do now. The second photo had POR-15 on them and conveniently peeled off to reveal the metal with NO RUST - the paint did it's job after so many years!

The photos aren't my best, being on a creeper to take them. They'll do. The other task I had to do was clean up my air compressor, tool box and work bench that was covered in paint dust from about 3 months of constantly stripping paint in there. Should have thought about covering the rear that's standing by on my work bench, oh well... Stay tuned!

 

Just recently started to strip the '32 Ford Commercial grille - it's almost down to bare steel. Does anyone know if I can purchase a radiator mounting kit for this grille shell to hold my new (at the time) '32 Ford radiator?

In the meantime, my brother bought me a new pair of '32 Ford front frame horns that are coming shortly (a GREAT birthday present!). Can't wait to size them up and hoping that the height of them toward the cross member will allow me to cut off my originals with the old cross member remains inside of them. My originals are hurtin', showing a pathetic repair at some point before I owned it...

 

You can go to Home Depot and get a gallon of phosphoric acid. It's called Etching something now, I'll have to check when I get back to the garage. Anyway, I mix it 50/50 with water and use a heavy duty spray bottle, rubber gloves, and a mask, bought them all there, spray the rusted areas and leave the garage. Next day I wire brush it off and spray it with Rustoleum etching primer. I'll get the name of it and post it later.

 

Prep and Etch. around $15.00 a gallon, last forever.

 

Some great info Mike - appreciate this a lot - my original chassis is solid as hell, but very old so the rust in the pores of some areas of the frame has got to be normal. Don't want to keep grinding the pores out and thinning the frame rails. Gotta get rid of every spec of rust when the time comes to prep the frame for Tangerine Pearl paint.

Imagine this Tangerine Pearl frame with belled speed holes throughout, featuring an all-chromed dropped and drilled Ford axle with polished hairpins, mostly all chromed rear suspension kit including the ladder bars to hold a Tangerine tubed Winters QCR with a fully polished center section, an all chromed Vega steering box with polished stainless steel steering shafts with polished SS u-joints. And finally, a Candy Orange Prisma metal flaked 392 hemi with dual quads and eventually the 6-71 supercharger within the Chevy rails... Are you seeing the picture like I am, just oozing with nostalgia - partially drooling as I type this post?

 

Sounds real good, an old guy that had built cars for years told me about that. I was doing an old chevy truck, cab had been sand blasted and then left in a barn for several years. It will neutralize rust and turn it black.

 

Hey it's these important small details that prevent any rust from coming back up through Tangerine paint. Thanks again Mike!

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Glad I could help.

 

Nothing will be able to touch the 394 when finished, it will DeSTroyer you!


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I agree Mike, a bit of instigating going on here....

 

Beginning to sound like the old metldown thread in here

 

Mike you keep saying Tangerine I'm hungry for an orange now...

 

It is isn't it? Is that time slip embarrassing or what? My original 283 Chevy that was installed when the car became a hot rod in the late sixties had let go on me while cruising to a cruise night. Tore it down and discovered one of the rods was NOT checked for hairline cracks and finally let go, damaging the cylinder wall skirt too much to have re-sleeved. Broke my heart... So I bought this pathetic 305 Chevy for $200 and took off the intake to discover all of the push rods were cemented in with caked oil from NEVER changing it obviously. After three days at chipping away at it, everything was starting to move normally.

I took the rod over to a Super Chevy event shortly afterwards at our local dragstrip, Palm Beach International Raceway, formerly Moroso Motorsports Park for my first experience on the dragstrip. Keep your laughing to a minimum please, that 305 was a dog with fleas, putting out no power and a pathetic time slip.

Me too...

 

No NOT that time slip Just the back and forth between guys and challenges being made.

 

It's called motivation loudbang to keep our builds going forward to completion. Gotta admit, there are some neat builds going on here...

 

My banter was just for humor and hype. I generally only follow the cool threads that are most interesting IMO. Even those might benefit from more scuttlebutt. I certainly never intentionally speak out to cause harm.
Mamma didn’t raise no low-grade man.

Ps the Tangerine Hemi rocks and so does this build!



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I knew that Runnin shine and appreciate every post from any member on our site. Glad you like my build, knowing I'm not your average experienced member. Only way to learn is just DO IT!

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Hey @31chevymike Mike I had my orange now what's up...

By the way is the Orange Crate tangerine? When I think of Traditional Orange thats pretty up there...

Rock on HemiChevy...

 

That's a good question Stogy, I've only seen the Orange Crate mostly in magazines and it's difficult to tell of the true color. LOVE that hot rod too!

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Heres what I gleaned today from you guessed it the Hamb...

Quoted from the thread..."When the metal was deemed worthy to paint, Von's covered the panels in Naples Orange (minus the peel), and thusly, the tart, tangy Orange Crate was officially born."

So no Tangerine just Tart n Tangy...

Quite a history lesson that one...it has done the quarter mile and then some.

Anyhow Mike back to your Woodsy Hotrod expedition...thanks for sharing......and I need another orange

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/orange-crate-special.793418/

 

No disrespect intended I Know it's all in good FUN just like the guys in the meltdown thread where the cross talk makes for good fun and reading.

 

Well the only difference with the Meltdown thread is that the cross talk was real because they actually DID race for real... We're just day dreaming about our chances... Who knows - soon enough!

 

Went in the garage to remove the dashboard and start stripping the existing wiring and my gauges to expose the dashboard to completely strip the paint as well.

That component box was designed by a buddy, Lou Garcia and featured LED lights under each fuse to light up when I had a blown fuse. Very helpful and the box lasted for years with no trouble.

Those gauges are original Stewart Warner and have been in my rod since the late 60's. Cannot complain about quality and endurance huh?



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Love that dash!

 

Thanks Mike, speaking of which, could you send me a photo of your dash in your '34 Chevy pickup? I've never seen one before.