Projects The 56 Chevy Continued Adventure Build

Nice! Like Christmas at your place!

 

Nothing too picture worthy to share as of late as far as work on the car goes. Just pushing along with restoration work that is nothing sexy. Attended the coastal swap meet in Abbotsford yesterday and scored some great deals. Got the quarter panel side stainless I needed and landed a new in the box one piece rear bumper along with a few small parts I needed. I've been working on restoring some of the small parts as well which I find is a nice break from all the dirty work. Got the Ebrake handle and firewall pulleys all stripped and repainted. With the two pulleys which were quite rusty, that product called Metal Rescue works amazing. Soak the parts in it for 24 hrs and it comes out completely bare metal and ready to clean off and paint. Stuff is kick ass. Got the hood, trunk and splash apron cleaned really good. Perfectly aged patina if I do say so myself.

 

Got the back side of the hood and splash apron painted today. Just simple flat black but nice and clean. had the boy scrape the inside of the roof clean and I'll be putting on sound deadener on it. Everything goes to plan I'll be doing the floors in and out with POR15 next weekend. Moving along...

 

Not much new picture wise to report as I have been finishing off most of the dirty ugly work. Almost ready to apply the POR15 to the floors. I'm only going to do the rear of the inside of the floor where the rear seat sits as that was the only surface rust inside. I will be putting on the peal and stick sound deadener in the car so don't need the 15 up front. This showed up from Summit this week. Have to say the fit and finish of the rad is great. I will be painting it black like most of everything else that will be under the hood. This is the 6 cylinder mount rad as i want to run a mechanical fan as well as an electric. Cold Case says it will cool a big block no problem so we'll see.

 

I have basically the same rad but Griffin, also in the 6 banger position. Painted the tanks and sides black but not the core. Paint on the core is just one more thermal barrier imo. Whether it makes a difference or not, I can't prove. Mechanical Jones fan only, no shroud. Needs a shroud but I haven't made one yet. As long as there's some air movement thru the rad, even 10-15 mph it will stay cool. Stop and go traffic forget it.

 

I have an aluminum rad in my coupe and I painted the whole thing. Has always ran cool so not sure if painting the core makes a difference or not. I'll fab a shroud once I have everything in place and know the dimensions I need.

 

Applied POR15 on the floor boards front and back today. Stuff is nice to work with for sure. Will be doing the underside of the floors tomorrow with the exception of the last few inches in the back as I still have to weld in that new section. Car needs to come off the rotisserie to do that hence why I am saving that for last. I'll be laying dynamat on the floor as well which is why I didn't do the POR15 over the entire floor. Happy to be at this stage and rolling forward.

 

Don’t cheap out paint the whole floor and seal all that rust up. Dynamat will do nothing to protect the floors.

 

Slowly but surely... Really took my time on the final prep of the floor and then the cleaner/degreaser, and metal prep steps to make sure we get the best application. Lots more to go but happy so far.

 

and done! Sure looks a lot better than before. The POR15 gives nice coverage.

 

Keepin the bus movin! Put the sound dedeaner on the roof today. It's the little things that are satisfying on a build...

 

Perfectly aged patina on the roof!

 

Stoked to get this package today! I ordered a set of custom gauges from Classic Instruments and they just arrived. I had them design the tach, volt and oil pressure to match the font and layout of the original gauge cluster as I will be running that cluster that I restored. I can't claim the original idea as I saw a pic of a guy online that did the same thing with just the tach. I just expanded on the idea with the two other gauges which I will mount under the glove box as is traditionally done. Tach will mount on the steering column in a chrome gauge cup. Think they turned out awesome! Not inexpensive by any means but there are a few things I always wanted to do and doing a custom set of gauges was one of them. Can't take it with you so what the hell!

 

WOW, those are awesome. Super jealous.

 

Cool.

 

When I was chatting with the designer on them I told him they should just make them a regular series as there would be a ton of tri five guys that would run them to match the cluster.

 

One of the 3 would need red/orange needles.

 

AGREED. 100%

 

Been doing a ton of work on the car lately. Lots of piddly jobs which aren't worth pics. Painted the frame and all components, built brake lines and assembled rear end, mounted rear discs. mounted the CPP 25 gallon tank and plumbed the fuel line and also ran the battery cable that will run from the trunk to the master shut off etc. Have been painting a lot of different parts like rad support, inner fender wells and other little parts along with the new rad. Got the doors fully scuffed removing all the clear coat that was on them. Will start on body work pretty quick. Got my buddies to colour match the pinecrest green. Will tackle the Sherwood green tomorrow. Should hopefully have everything done far enough to roll the frame under the body in a month or so if everything goes to plan. Starting to get more and more excited! Off to Seattle this weekend to take in the national event at Pacific Raceways. The boys first time seeing top fuel in person. Can't wait for him to have the experience and I'm stoked to see the big boys run again as it's been several years since I have gone down.

 

I agree. I can't believe how many gauge companies claim to have retro designs, with fonts that look like crap! Don't those dumb asses ever look at old stuff??

 

Got the trunk put back on as I'll need it in place for when I do the rear trunk pan replacement. Still need to tweak the alignment but it's on for now. Got the drivers rear garnish moulding mounts fabbed up and juuust for fun I put the rear panel on so I could drool a little. Man the Ciadella stuff is so nice. Stitching is deadly straight and the material they use is top notch. Everything about the kit is killer.

 

winner winner chicken dinner! Think we got a match. Will fun blending the new with the old but I think I'm up for the challenge!

 

Now you REALLY got your work cut out for you!

 

I've watched a bunch of youtube vids on how different guys do it. Lots of different techniques but nothing that looks too crazy.

 

Lots of HAMB illegal activity in the last few weeks. New frame completely together. Brakes installed on all four corners, rearend fully assembled, brake lines built and she's a full roller. Started bodywork today. My first time ever doing body work so after watching lots of how to vids on the ol youtube I dove in and so far happy with what I got done. I guess the one luxury is I really only have a small amount to do vs a full car and because I am matching up to old paint/bodywork it's more forgiving. I am actually purposely not trying to make the filler skim perfectly straight so it doesn't stand out vs the rest of the quarter panel if that makes sense. I'll take it slow and make sure I get it done well/blendable.

 

First time doing bodywork? No way. You're doing way too good.

 

Just a shadow left of its former self...4 no more...No surprise this has become way more popular an option and it really looks fine when its all said and done...great job Fitness...

 

A straightedge is a great tool to use when doing this kind of bodywork, it probably won't be perfectly flat, but the straightedge should rock slightly along the whole area. You don't want to have a low spot at the seam in the quarter panel, or it'll be obvious what was done. A few test-fits of the quarter panel moldings would help too. Sometimes, if you use the type of trim clips that have studs and nuts instead of the factory snap clips, you can actually pull the panel into shape slightly with the molding, and it'll hold it there. If you can get that area nice and flat, you're golden.

I think I've already mentioned it but I'm glad you're blending into the old paint. I wish the old paint was that intact on my '57 conversion.

 

trying. won't take any credit until we squirt some paint on there and it doesn't look like a blind squirrel slapped some mud on there and called it good!