The 53 Chevy 4 door was my first car. Had 55 Buick hub caps, 59 Cadillac tail lights and "Dummy spot lights. Get some white walls on your car and "Slam the front !!! That was "in" back in my day and I'm 71 years old..
Should you decide to drop the tail, 3" blocks should cause no problems. (Tire changing will be tight with non-stock rims.) Shock length will not change. Chevys of the 40's has blocks. //www.chevsofthe40s.com/shop/search.lasso?vehtype=Car&Catalog=All&year=All&search=lowering+blocks&dept=&cat=&new=&sale=&showcase=&searchtype=FT&Seach=Search
Good job to fix the rust and have some learning experience for your kids. Simple lowering blocks in back and cut springs in front will fix the ride height to be more mild custom. Have fun with it, seems your kids are catching the old car bug!
A set of skirts either with or without this stainless wouldnt be bad either, once you get a little further along.
This is a little out of order but this is the repair I did on the light bezel. Was told it couldn't be welded and thanks to someone in a Facebook group that guided me through the process it turned out pretty good.
Yup, Ya cant weld that stuff. Looks like a good job though. Its great to see the kids sanding and wanting to be involved. You KNOW those are the keys they'll want when they get their licence,,,,doncha.
Great job getting the kids involved. We have a 4 door 53 bel air and my son loves that old car! I'm looking forward to seeing more.
. "Have to say I'm starting to get the hang of this. But am still super jealous of the work you guys do." Looks like to me you don't have to be jealous of any body....nice work.. Please save money to chrome those bumpers.
(please note i'm no pro) the light bezels were done with aluminum brazing rods. there are ones advertized online but were quite pricey. these (the ones in the picture) were from a local hardware store. standard propane torch. i use the yellow cans. don't think it makes a difference though. make sure to to keep the metal clean with a wire brush or wire wheel on a grinder.once any parts are blackend the rod wont stick so its a lot of 'weld' clean 'weld' clean. the metal has a low melting point so its a delicate dance of heat, braze, clean, repeat. you can go on you tube and search "pot metal" (i had no idea thats what its called) i really hope this helps. someone was kind enough to walk me through it and i really want to pay it forward.
im north of the border. we have a chain up here called princess auto. i got it from there. it was the cheapest i could find. it seems to be doing the job. havent had the chance to try it on thicker metal yet but looking forward to playing around. especially if i start welding on the frame.
If it doesn't run on atleast 220 then I wouldnt even gamble with any frame welding. (Not sure what power you have north of the border). I have a hobart handler 140 that runs off a standard 120 outlet and Id say its pushing it to get thorough penetration on 1/8" steel. Very cool about that pot metal headlight ring fix, I have a few areas like that on my 50 cad that need some loving and I'll definitely give it a shot!
I'm impressed with the pot metal welding. You're doing this car right, small projects, one bit at a time is the best way to do low budget, too many cars get torn down to nothing as the first step and never go any further. I'd be real tempted to put paint stripper on those bumpers and see if there's any plating left underneath. Even crap chrome would be better than none at all. I'd try the grille bar too. And the moulded grille surround is a good idea.
This isn't an exciting update but I shot some primer on the back end. Bodywork is about 90% done (for a "rat rod" look ) nowhere near a show car but I'm having a blast. Engine is running good. Still haven't taken it for a drive. Waiting for a night that my dad can follow me with my truck and some tow ropes. Just wanted to share cause this group is just so awesome. More updates soon I hope.
Nice work. I am sure envious of your sheet metal welding and patching skills. I can weld heavy metal but have not tried old rusty car body welding yet. With all the rust holes in my 52 Merc I really need to learn how.
So your gonna leave those headlight covers after fixing that bezel? ....and I couldnt hold myself back from simply getting most of that rust off the grille with a SOS pad. Sorry, seeing simple little fixes that could be done, eats at me..........
The Jalopy Journal
