Welding and grinding, welding and grinding.....bring a grinder, I will provide the ribs and beer, or coffee, or whiskey, whatever you want! Just show up and let's get this rustbucket on the road! I am finally taking a realistic look at this project and realizing I am not building something to go in the Pebble Beach Concours de Elegance. I come out here to the shop and start looking at the magnitude of this project and it gets overwhelming with everything I need to do to get it on the road. I'm going to dial back some of my perfectionism and build an old car. It wont be laser straight, and it wont be metal finished like a lot of guys' cars on here, as I just don't have those skills...or time, nor inclination....yet! I am going to do my best, with the skills I have and get this thing on the road. I find myself looking at cars for sale, something that I can take and be a part of shows and reliability runs, etc, and it is sitting right here in front of me. I just have to make some progress! I have boxes of parts I have ordered for things like bracketry for the A/C i want to put in it, I just ordered a Newport Engineering wiper motor, and the intermittent delay switch, and who knows what else I have around here that I have forgotten about. I have seats upholstered, I have an engine that purrs like a kitten on a single barrel Holley carb, I have an Offy dual carb intake and split headers half ass bolted onto the 235, I have a wiring harness, and the list just goes on and on. I just have to weld and grind, weld and grind, weld and grind to get this car ready for all the aforementioned pieces and parts. That is my late March update. Back to welding and grinding. If I really look at what I have accomplished so far, Ive done OK for a guy that didn't know shit from shinola when I bought the first Sedan Delivery, and now I have a herd (or hoard) of 49-52 Chevy shit, and have had a lot of advice and help from all the Hambers......thanks guys! I am going to get back to work on this car. See ya going down the road soon.....but not soon enough. Rant over.......
Glad to hear you are turning a corner. I promise that you will have the same fun no matter how perfect or not the car is in the end. Wish I was closer and I would help weld and grind...wait, I don’t have time either. Anyway, hope to see you and and the sedan delivery on the road soon.
Preach it my brother! Perfection is the enemy! Don't get it right, just get it on the road man! Then you can piddle on the rest of it. I catch myself trying to impress the crowd here so much that I forget that I'm a hot rodder, not a perfectionist.
You're right, you have come a long way since I first responded to your post. I have seen your Skill level come way up the ladder. Trust me, perfection is way overrated. I don't do the same level of finish work for myself as I do for customers because I can't pay my hourly rate. I only have to make myself happy just as you should. Let the pickers pick and go have a good time. My favorite saying is "they all look good at 60 M.P.H" and that's why I don't take my cars to any static car shows. This car thing is supposed to be for fun, not look at me. Be proud of where you're at and get it on the road, or at least so you can drive it around the yard. That in itself will put a smile on your face and motivate the hell out of ya.
I showed this to you before but in case you need further spark here it is again: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1952-chevrolet-sedan-delivery/
Each one of us is a unique human being. We should be thankful for that. As a retired English teacher with no high school or military shop training, I attended a welding class at a nearby vocational college after I retired. I do the best I can, which might not be as good as my gear head neighbor, but I believe the main thing is to enjoy the work of the day and not think ahead. Keep on keeping on. You're doing well.
Keep at it! The progress you’ve made is astounding. I believe in you…once you get over this welding and grinding hump, it’s going to start looking a whole lot different with stuff going in left and right!! Go man, go!!
Hey Rmonty, you and I suffer from the same problem. This last update is exactly what I need to hear. I wish I was as ambitious as I was when we just got home from the class in Ark. City. I guess I need to get back at it as well. I hope all is well in Texas. If I was closer I would bring a grinder. See you down the road my friend. At the SK500 hopefully.
I'm with you on this. I think I bought my project in 2018 and been playing with it for fun ... projects are suppose to be fun. I never really was in a hurry to make it a driver, having the project was good enough. I now find myself where I would like to use the truck as a backup vehicle while rebuilding the engine in my wife car. I figure the truck will be a life long project for me, better if it was licensed & driving. I think we need milestones. When we reach a particular milestone it gives us a enormous boost to keep going. Sometimes we need a push. May be a backup spare vehicle, A cool driver for cruises .. But we get motivated to start working again for different reasons.
I will see you there if you make it! I am probably going to make it a day trip though. I think about that chop class all the time! That was fun for sure. See you down there road brother!!
This is the left side of the car. The right side looked similar. I did a bunch of beating and banging, tapping and welding, then tried my hand at leading. This is the right side obviously. I bought some files and tallow, lead sticks, tinning butter, baking soda, a few rags, and a nozzle for leading. I watched the video Gene Winfield did a few yrs ago and went at it. It was really pretty easy! It takes some prep and setup but it hides a multitude of sins from a rookie....I will use it more I'm sure! I'm happy with the results!
F.Y.I. In the photo of the Right corner showing your welds. If you're going to leave them as shown your Lead will fail in short order. Those dark spots in the crevis need to be as clean as the grit marks left by your grinding disc. If you can't get them removed with a grinding disc, use a roto file or deburring bit to clean them out and tooth up the metal. Even Body filler will not bond in those kinds of places. You will have a bridge and eventually a lift.
PNB, Yes I am going to clean it all up and go at it again. This was my first attempt and I found out in short order that the ENTIRE area will have to be done at the same time for the lead to work like it is supposed to. I went this morning and got a small rotary deburring tool to clean it all up and give it another go around. I truly appreciate the once-over and the constructive comments. This helps me tremendously as I don't have anyone that knows this stuff close at hand.
Man if I lived closer I’d be there in a heartbeat. Will work for food and beer! Too bad I’m in Indiana.
Well I have good news, and bad news! I am going to have a little extra time to work on my project, and the bad news is I have to look for a job while working on my car. I got laid off after 14 yrs at the same company. I think bad things are happening there! I'll bounce back though.....already have a couple of irons in the fire. Weld and grind baby! This car is going to be driven sometime this yr!
Man, I hate to hear that. Praying it works out for the best somehow. Sounds like you have a good attitude and I am sure you will have something better soon. On the bright side, you can get some work done on the car as you mention.
I hate to hear this, but life goes on. Your project is ,some of the best therapy there is, I hope you find a better job.
Ive got a couple of hot irons in the fire. I don't let any moss grow.....In the meantime I have several weeks of paid car time! Its a helluva way to get it but here it is, in your face! Ill make some good progress over the next few weeks!
Gosh, I sure hate to hear that! 14 years! Hoping one of those irons flares up into a flame quick for ya....but not too quick that you can't make use of some good paid time off out in the garage.
I went back to work pretty quickly, and have been helping @trevorsworth with his Model T build in exchange for a flathead engine for my 29 Model A I bought at Pate. I am slowly getting things done though. Thanks for the check in! I havent abandoned the project....I promise!
Got my Vintage Air Gen IV a few days ago and started playing around with how to get a/c vents into a car that never had them. I made up some poster board templates and tried to get the styling flow of the dash in the panels. Thoughts anyone?
I transferred the template to a piecevof 18 ga sheet metal. Went to the drill press and used a good sharp hole saw to make the holes for the vents, then went to the bead roller with a tipping die on it. I should have waited because I was tired, and the bead roller was cramped in the space. As I went around the corners with the tipping die, I ran off the line and I wasn't able to get back on track. I might have been going a bit fast too. Anyway, long story short, it got cattywampus and I couldn't correct it. I went ahead and used a hammer and dolly on it for practice. Other than it not being straight the lip turned out great. I have a plan for the second attempt.
Nice job….even if it is a “first draft.” Going to looks real nice. The outer two on my Chevy are double sided taped to the bottom of the dash until I decide how I want to do them, so you are ahead of me.
The Jalopy Journal
