Projects Truck into a coupe- My next pet project

It's a tough call, I like them 2" channel and 2" chop, but that's me. Nothing crazy but just enough to knock the ugly off. About all you can find is uncut or radical chops.

In that photo , with that stance if the grill is aligned as if with a hood, the grill chin is 4" under the pavement. Some guys like them like that ? I believe that every lowering trick known was used on that one. If one is good 2 is better thinking. Just that some don't compliment each other and actually cause problems when commingled. The channel is also wedged, almost 8 in front and about 5 in the rear.

 

So here is the passenger side post before the cut.
There's another piece in between the windshield and and cowl sections too, about an inch long.
It's not been welded so right now the plan is to open the skin back, properly weld the roof portion of the structure cowl section and probably make a new skin over the posts.

 

Here it is after the cut. The metal was pinching the saw blade and this was a rough cut to make. But after it was cut in two, it jumped about just as much the other way. You could hear the car go aaaaahhh! So, I had to remove the cowl foot shims at the front I put in to get the doors aligned. With the cowl bolted to the frame, the post is almost where it needs to be and the door is really close at the B pillars. I think a hinge twerk will do it. The windshield opening was very hard to get an accurate measurement on, but we could tell the drivers side was higher. So make a sanded to fit MDF template of the drivers side and see if it fits in the passenger side. Nope, about 1/4" shorter. Once the post was cut - the Mdf drivers side template was put in the passenger side to get an identical opening. Part of the problem is that the original cuts were not made at equal heights. That's very very important for reasons that may not be obvious at the moment but they show up later. Wait till you see the back window!! Geeze

 

Holy smokes! Last time I looked at this thread you were polishing a transmission case!

Things have changed somewhat.

Love the headers.

Persevere!

 

You really gotta wonder !!!!

So there's nasty flakey loose rust that you don't bother to even blow the loose shit off that was left after removing the rain gutter. Then hang a 1/4 rod way to far out there off of some crude hammered crap. The next logical thing to do is fill (try too anyway) that void with mud up against the flakey rust.

 

We can only hope Bob.

Yeah they have changed!!
It went from a spare time & fun pet project to full blown build with major issues. I really like them headers too. Actually I'm really pleased with all the things I've done on this one no matter how bad I didn't want to do them. It's enough to piss off just about anyone. This crap wouldn't have lasted a hemi powered trip around the block before it cracked, broke or fell off. We've been trying to figure out what the hell the floor and wheel wells were made from and best that we can come up with is an old bolt together shelving unit. I had planned on a floor and wheel wells, not all this other crap.

 

This is how the Chopped B pillar was put back together. Weld the outer skin together (poor fit up on that too!) and leave a gaping hole/disconnect in the structure, then wrap it with a crudely formed piece of 22 gauge door jamb fixer piece.

Welding at least some of this major structure would have been Soooo easy to get 50-75% of welded back together. Quite A bit more work to get it 100% welded but wrapping (covering it up from view or concealing it) with a piece of 22 gauge spot welded on? Good thing because I was going to let my Mom drive this .

 

hey , the guy was consistent
i have 31 buick coup [future project] i nick named "clint" because there appears to have been 3 types of body work done in the past; the good, the bad and the ugly.

 

Yeah - consistent ? Not really because there were clearly two different types of fab and metal work. Crappy and then really shitty and the two changed sides as they worked together. Ive been watching for something of better quality metal work , something at least "half assed" here but not yet found. The bondo sculpting was pretty damn good, the fine detail body work was lacking and the paint work was exceptional. So what's kinda nick name you got for that one? I'm trying to laugh but its still hard.

 

So here's what I mean by "concealed from view"
After the prying its a little contorted.

 

And then ...
I mean it- why the hell wouldn't someone weld this up? It's right fucking there. I suppose its just a B pillar right and the skin will hold it
"Buyer beware" is one thing but this is really pissing me off.

 

I've been following your thread from the start, even thought, "Wow what a nice body, he's just gotta do the mechanicals". It really sucks that you have to go back in and correct all the shitty work that someone else did. I'm not sure I could be as civil as you seem to have been if I was in your situation.
In any event, the long term fact is that your car will be WAY better than it was. I respect your perseverance in making the car right. I only hope that there are no more unpleasant surprises in your future.
Eli

 

Is that B pillar laying on the work bench? How far apart do you have it now?

That is some of the crappiest work I have ever seen. Who the hell did you buy this thing from?

I'll say this...you are very determined. Most of us would probably still be stewing about the crooked body and not cut into it yet.

 

Very crappy, couple good bumps or one WOT hook and the thing would have fallen apart. 500 lbs of bondo jumping off the car like spitting watermelon seeds and probably get a ticket for unsecured load. Don't forget I bought this because it was a finished body, I paid handsomely for this and had to throw most of the value into the trash. Bodywork isn't like a drivetrain or other parts you can't take the bodywork off and reuse it on another car. I got it off of here actually. If I only paid 1/2 of what i did it would still be 3x too much.

Yes that's the top 1/2 of the drivers side B pillar and some of the rear quarter window attached, for the life of me I can't figure why someone wouldn't weld that up. I have the doors cut apart and realigned and tacked with inner tabs- the outer skins aren't done yet incase I need to twerk a door. The passenger side a pillar has the skin cut off and the inner structure fixed and welded. The drivers side B pillar out of course. I just, moments ago deskinned the drivers side A pillar and when I cut the the last little titty the roof jumped up 1/4" defying gravity. WTF I didn't touch the inner structure so there was Zero weld on that too. ??? It's late and I'm quitting for tonight, too tired to figure out why the roof is floating with no A or B pillar support. That will be my next cut and I don't want to be wrong. Oh yeah, all the stuff pictured in post 161 top of previous page- closest to the door is the firewall, cowl rockers floor all the way back to the tail pan and wheel wells.

 

Ok, found the reason the roof is defying gravity.
The back half roof section is welded on off to the drivers side, it measures about 1/2 different so 1/4" off center. The passenger side roof/rear quarter area and the roof insert/rear window panel is flexing when I push the drivers side A pillar down. Neat huh? The thought experiment of cutting vertical thru the back window and sliding the drivers side rear roof section over that 1/2" alleviates the left turn in the drip line, the lump in the drivers rear quarter and the extra metal holding the the A pillar up and pushing the roof side of it forward of the cowl.

Ill ponder the cut over more coffee. Lol

 

Here's the back window I mentioned earlier.
Just for reference- the grid lines of the camera view finder were dead nuts level with the garage door bracing.

Cut at 5" up from the bead on one side and 5-5/8 on the other.
Look how screwy that makes that opening look. It really crowds the drivers side lower corner too. imagine the mud needed to straighten that out!! It was sculted really well too. All the "brown patches" is rust thats has now been wire brushed and that was under the new bodywork and deep bondo first hold very well to rust. The shiny parts are where the steel had paint and primer stuck to it also under the deep bondo. The top part of the window opening is like Swiss cheesed tinfoil, at least that had a little bit of duraglass.

 

Got the pics flip flopped .

 

This pic is from the build pics I got, apparently the mud was being mixed while the pic was being taken because what you see here is the surface prep I found under the mud.

 

All that crap hiding under this.

 

Was this car bought/painted in Ohio ?

 

Ok, pop quiz.
What happens if you force this together?
I'm not sure but this is where it rests nicely when I cut it apart.

I need to drag the top of the 1/4 window down a little bit with a pie shape section added, not push the roof to make it fit. Other side is sort of the same but different because the cuts and seams are in different locations.

But before that happens, the back half of the car comes off tomorrow and the replacement door jambs get put in, and locked down. Then pro ably cut every weld and redo the puzzle. All the previous fingerprints need to be removed and they rubbed a bunch. Too bad it's all & I mean ALL wrong.

 

Wow...just wow. I just can't believe this is the same car.

 

They say idle hands are the devils tools...safe bet you're going to heaven. The black coupe is way slick by the way.

 

Oh, Just a thought, how was the wiring on this car when you got it? Bob

 

So it's a 35-36 cab , Chevy quarters and would that be a 34 ford4dr back roof? What is the deck lid?

 

Yeah, wow is one way to put it.
Bleep bleeeeeeeeeeeep son of a bleeeep bleep bleeeeep is another.

Yeah, I want to go someday but I really wanted to drive this before.
There's talk of putting the black coupe back together next week to have something to drive. The biggest issue with the black coupe ( besides being channeled a bit to far) is some Einstein bolted the cowl steering to the firewall with zero frame attachment for the box. The red one should have been quicker to hit the pavement.

Lmao Bob!! Always with the wiring.
The only wires in this car are 4 Stubbs for the whispers, 1 fragment of a abandoned ground wire, and 47,000 0.023 mug wire water wicks but most of those are in there way to the dumpster.

Not sure what the deck lid was made from, not chevy dimensions at all. but its very ugly on the bottom. The reinforcement plate was butchered and bent to fit, top side is pretty. I've made a new one and plan on getting Louvers punched in it.

 

Back half is off.

 

It would have been less
Work to just finish the Vicky.

Hindsight is a bitch .

 

Yeah, don't kid yourself by thinking that those same thoughts don't race thru my head about 2x an hour.

 

Here's a fun one,
I figured there'd be no easier time to set up my seating position and steering column around the hemi.


Edit: