Projects My 51 Shoebox build thread

Yeah, you'll need to notch those to run tall skinny tires.

 

Yeah,thats what i thought.I made a blister for notching purposes,i hope it'll work.

 

Pretty work! How did you do that?

 

I thought that i wont post any boring details how i did it,but whatta hell..
I have to say that i am not much a carpenter,my carpenter skills are pretty much limited on chopping wood for sauna heater.But making templates from thick plywood isnt that hard.
So,first i made these:



Then i put a piece of sheetmetal between the templates and screwed them together.



And beat the crap out of it with a domed teflon hammer.I noticed that the hammers i have,have pretty small radius,so it took forever to get it done:



And here its after the beating:



After that i made visit to my friends paint/bodyshop and gave a little finishing touch with the planishing hammer.I guess there are a lot easier ways to make notchings on panels like that,but i thought it could be a great practise to do it by this way.

 

Well done...looks really good ...hope you have no tinnitus after this...

 

Nicely done! I can see why you were tired afterwards,that closely resembles work.

 

Antti. You do not have to worry abuot this being boring. This is what I like to see on here, how each and every one making their own tools and bucks to create a specific shape in sheet. This is good stuff. Love it

 

Thanks man!
No tinnitus here,i got my ears protected.But hammering is nothing compared to the planishing hammer.Its a hell to your ears and fingers too,if you dont be careful.

Thanks Kurt!
I am glad that i dont have to jobs like this for living with a crappy equipments i have,but with hobby purposes they are just fine.

Thanks for the compliments Kenneth!
I really like the work you've done with your projects.
And now a little update.
I split the blister:



The OEM panels bottom was so crispy,that i decided to make a new bottom of the split blister.Made some measuring and marked it before braking it.



And after that welded it with tig.I guess that is deep enought:





I havent checked out how crappy the passengers side panel is,but i remember that it was better.If so,i think i dont make a whole new bottom part,but we'll see..
Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Really good build...looks better than an original...and if it is deep enough...mmmh...shure, if you use wheels in nearly original size
Special Question: Have you ever mounted a new doorlock on a shoebox? I earned a new for mine, cause the old one at the driver side was don´t working every time and at the other side the former owner removed the lock
and now in winter i will replace both....Maybe you have some advices for me...
alss Merry Christmas to you

 

Thanks!
Well,i guess the purpose of the notch doesnt show yet.After everything is back,motor,tranny,fenders,interior,doors etc,the car will be lower and i dont want to get any rubbing issues if i decide to use OEM 16" wheels.So i am not building a donk,dont worry
I guess bigger rims are fine on modern cars,but i really hate when people put them on older cars.They just looks like shit to my eyes.
I didnt have any locks either when i bought this car,but my wild guess is that your problems are because of the door latch.I think the lock might be ok,but there must be something wrong with the latch.Something has been worn out,broken springs,loose parts etc.I am sure you will figure it out when you got the latch on your hands.
Merry Christmas to you too!

A little update:
Look what i got from Santa:



The rear '49 bumper arrived right before the Christmas eve.I got the front bumper awhile ago,but i bought them something like 5 months ago from the chromeplater.
It took some time to get them in here,but that doesnt matter.Better late than never.

 

Really nice looking bumpers.I like the "blister" idea for increasing wheel travel,smart!

 

I'm jealous, those bumpers look great! But then, they'd be about the only truly shiny part on mine so I suppose you can keep 'em lol would it be offensive to ask what you paid (before shipping across the world) for comparison purposes?

 

Blisters are genius.

 

Thank you guys!
No offense taken,Brentphx.I'll send a PM about the bumpers.
I was eyeballing the passengers side panel,its not so crappy than that drivers side panel was.
But i guess it could be a lot easier to made another bottom part too.Less welding=less hammering...

 

Nice solution with the blisters, and your bumpers look great!

 

Thanks,Andrew!

 

Nice work! Bumpers looks good to, are they newley chromed?

 

Thanks!
Yes sir,they are recently chromeplated.I bought them straight from the chromeplating shop.

 

Nice, looking forward to more updates from you now that im not having an own shoebox no more to work on.

 

Any progress Antti? I guess it must be pretty cold there ,makes it hard to work on stuff.

 

Sorry Kurt,no updates.Last 2 weeks have been pretty cold.I dont remember when we had this cold winter in here southern Finland.
And yes,i have a heater in the garage,but it doesnt work fine on really cold weather.I guess i have to do some maintenance for the heater next..

 

We have had a record setting warm winter so far.It was 80 degrees F today! I am not looking forward to the summer.

 

Well,our record for this winter has been so far -39 C,thats -38 in fahrenheits.But that was in the north,its a different story in here south.I am really glad that i dont live there.Last time i was there at wintertime was almost 20 yrs ago when i was in the army,looks like i am not going there in the future too...

I messed with the heater and i think i will need a new nozzle for that.It works more like a smoke effect device than a heater with that damn nozzle.
Anyway,after the heater was put in pieces,i finished the passengers side panel.
I guess there is enought space on this side too:



The passengers side panel was a bit wider than the drivers side,but there was enought stuff around the blister,so i was able to make it as a bottom part too:

 

Nice work.

 

Great fab work finn! Not much longer and you will be cruising my man.

 

Anything happening Antti or are you frozen solid ?

 

Thanks guys!
Well,actually i've melted
Its not so cold in here at the moment.
Lately i have struggled with the damn heater,there was no help with the new nozzle or filter.I guess its because of sensor,so i have to hunt new sensor from somewhere.
I made few bungs with lathe,i'll post an update after i've done messing with them..

 

Not a huge update,but something anyway.I had to relocate the little cashbox that i converted to fusebox,because the fresh air channels are back on the firewall.
I made this bracket,the drivers side "blister" panel is bolted on the bracket.



And i made a mounting bracket and welded it on the backside of fusebox:



And here it is:

 

Wish I had seen this cool idea to hide the fuse box before we wired our shoebox. Somehow I end up placing fuse boxes out of the way but also difficult to see what is what in the fuse department.