** BUILD STARTS ON MIDDLE OF PAGE #2 ** My names Luke, 27 years old from dayton.. Graduated from Wyotech in '05.. Cars and bikes have been a passion my whole life. Growing up my dad had old trucks and jeeps laying around and still does.. So rusty metal has always been part of my life. Last year i finished (if thats at all even possible) .. My '77 xs650 bobber .. Today i brought home my new toy .. purchased this '51 Chieftain Coupe about a week ago and finally got a chance to tow it home today with my dad. Talk about an awesome day off. Car has been through a crap resto in the late '90s and has a mostly solid body .. but definately will need some hammer and dolly work. Will be driving it away from the church in March when my fiance and i get hitched. Afterwards its getting the body pulled and will get gone through completely. Anyways heres some pics of it. Good to be on the boards and get my post virginity out of the way.. Nice to meet you all.. Luke
Mods .. Accidently posted this here .. Already re posted in the intro forum.. Please delete. Once again sorry!
No matter, we get to see it on the main board What way will it go? Old style street terror hotrod, or custom? or ?
Thanks the bike was a blast to build.. it was my first bike and my first motorcycle build and i love how it turned out. Only have $3000 in the thing including the price of it.. most everything on it is hand made out of old parts or recycled steel. Id like to go mild custom with this one. Being that its "our" first car .. im not sure my fiance would love the idea of me chopping the top on it right out of the gate. She watched the bike transform and completely trusts me, and is really excited to cruise around town in it so i dont want to push my luck. Im thinking lowering it down a few inches off the ground and keeping it mostly stock. New interior, 12v conversion, ect.. but after the wedding the bodys coming off and its getting redone completely. Frame and body.. ill run the straight 6 until it dies .. then probably paint it up and display it in the shop on a stand for the cool factor and put a nail head or something in it. Just a mild cruiser. Good then i know who to bug when i have questions! Wish my paint was like yours .. As badly as i want to there are a handful of things that need done prior to doing that safely. The floorboards were rusty so the previous owner/restorer thought it would be fine to screw rectangle panels over the holes. I cut out a bunch of the floor sunday for patch panels. The brake lines need bled and checked, tires are dangerously dry rotted and the fuel tank or gas line has a hole in it i think. Lastly i need to take the generator to napa and get it rebuilt. Luckily we fired the motor and it runs with some gas in the carb .. i just want to drain the fluids and replace hoses ect before i run it so its all fresh. Surprising how many people are close by .. definatly will come in handy in the future. Ill start posting pictures of my progress in the next week that ive already started taking.. and this accident of an intro thread can just morf into my build thread. Thanks all for the kind words! Luke
Hi Luke, nice rides there, i say: welcome! Poncho and me are waving hands (and tires or what cars use to wave) from over here! Carsten
Welcome bro, nice bike and amazing Pontiac coupe. Congrats on completing WyoTech and best o luck with gettin hitched. ~sololobo~
Welcome from Indy. Nice Poncho,glad you put up some pics. It brings all the other Pontiac guys out and we get to see their cars too.
Well sunday my friend and i started tearing into the chief. I knew there were some definate problem areas .. so we tackled those first .. As you can see .. apparently ol' George from KY had a different idea when it came to "patch panels".. makes you wonder if he just tents news paper over dog shit when fido accidently goes in the house. Note the floor braces he welded to the frame and the spray foam football i pulled out of the drivers door that assisted in the rot. Rear of the car is actually in really good shape.. other than some squirrel nuts and upholstery fluff, as well as the tunnel area and firewall. Its amazing how much better looking the inside of the car appears after a few cuts.. ha! -Luke
Nice car, I wish mine I found was in that good of shape, got a 52. I am building an XS650 also, fun bikes but they vibrate like hell!!
Another shot of the floor cut outs .. The trunk will end up getting cut out .. typical rust in the spare well .. but along with that looks like both corners had some moisture sitting in there. Im starting to think that alot of the water crept in from trim holes that werent used for chrome and other accessories. Spent the last day or so pulling off all of the chrome .. minus the front bumper and the windshield trims. Also removed the head lights, tail lamps, front fascia, and pulled all of the side glass out. Wow there are sooo many trim pieces inside and out of this thing its rediculous. -Luke
Yeah, theyre alot of fun. Mines hardtailed and lowered.. not much of a distance bike but great for zippin' around town and gettin' a thumbs-up from the old timers. Is your '52 a Pontiac or something else? Also i wanted to ask some advise from people who have had to cut large sections out of their floors like i did.. what method for bracing (in conjunction with bead rolling the panels) has seemed to work best for everyone else? I obviously want to still be able to bolt to the frame for stability and the ability to still remove the body from the frame Thanks for any input! -Luke
Yep, it's a 52 chieftain, 2 door hardtop. I put my xs650 in an old sportster frame and did a hard tail kit on it. More of a pain in the ass then it's probably worth, but cheap fun
The Jalopy Journal
